Despite the fact that we recently had the Democrats hosting the first day of the Impeachment Circus, little news came out of it (just like with the Mueller hearings) other than things that are to the detriment of the Democrats (regardless of what people deep in denial might say about this). So, I turn my attention to another piece of recent news: The Salvation Army being defamed by hateful Leftists who pressured a spineless celebrity to threaten to pull out of their halftime show during the Cowboys-Bills Thanksgiving Day game.
 
Singer Ellie Goulding had initially partnered with the Christian organization that helps the homeless and the poor to sing during their halftime show for the Cowboys-Bills game on Thanksgiving Day. But angry Leftists bashed her for helping out The Salvation Army (Goulding had also been volunteering with them in New York) because they accused the organization of having an “anti-LGBTQ” agenda. In other words, Leftists hate that a celebrity would help out a Christian organization, so they throw out this accusation, which is the same one they use for Chick-fil-A, and just like with the chicken sandwich restaurant, it’s nothing but defamation.
 
Goulding, like many other celebrities, caved to the outrage mob and gave the following statement: “Upon researching this, I have reached out to The Salvation Army and said that I would have no choice but to pull out unless they very quickly make a solid, committed pledge or donation to the LGBTQ community. I am a committed philanthropist as you probably know, and my heart has always been in helping the homeless, but supporting an anti-LGBTQ charity is clearly not something I would ever intentionally do. Thank you for drawing my attention to this.”
 
In other words, she did NOT make any research on this and is taking the word of outright liars as the truth, threatening to pull out of the show if The Salvation Army does not quickly make a contribution to the LGBTQ community, aka extortion.
 
The reason I say she did not make any research is because she herself said that The Salvation Army was anti-LGBTQ when they are not.
 
The Salvation Army began in East London in 1865. It was a Protestant church and is now commonly known worldwide as an international charitable organization with the aim of ministering to the needy and bringing the Gospel to the streets. The Salvation Army’s website has a whole section regarding their helping LGBT homeless people. They explain how 40% of homeless youth in America identify as LGBT, nearly 33% of homeless transgender people are rejected from emergency shelters (not associated with The Salvation Army) and that LGBT Americans have a higher chance of being poor.
 
“The Salvation Army USA serves more than 23 million Americans every year. In every ZIP code of America, services are offered without discrimination… When a transgender person seeks help from us, we serve them in the same manner as any other person seeking assistance,” read their site.
 
Even the Prairie Pride Coalition, a gay rights organization in Illinois, advised locals in their community to go to The Salvation Army for help. The Salvation Army also provides people with shelter, job training, and help with substance abuse and food insecurity.
 
To say that The Salvation Army is anti-LGBTQ is a despicable lie. It’s a Christian organization and as such, they have the OBLIGATION to serve, as followers of Christ are called to serve, those around us who need help. That isn’t to say that they promote or support the LGBT agenda or anything of the sort. But doing so isn’t necessary for an organization to do good. Not that hateful bigots on the Left will see it that way. In their eyes, if an organization doesn’t kowtow to their every whim, it should be considered illegitimate in people’s eyes and should be defamed and destroyed.
 
As I have said multiple times in the past, no Christian or Christian organization (at least no true Christian) hates gay people. Why? Because hate is for evil; for Satan. We hate evil because God hates evil. We recognize that homosexuality is a sin and that it’s evil, which is why we do not endorse it or support it. But everyone is a sinner, including Christians, and if we were to discriminate against anyone who was a sinner, literally nothing would ever be done because there isn’t a single person on this earth who isn’t a sinner.
 
Jesus dined with sinners, not because He agreed with their sin or because He was accepting of their sin. Far from it; He dined with them because He did not want them to sin any longer. He forgave the adulterous woman not because He was okay with her sin but because He called on her to not sin any longer. He healed the blind and the lepers, who were considered to be that way because they sinned, not because He agreed with their sinful ways but because He loved them and called on them to not sin any longer, having them recognize Him as the Son of God and do what’s right in God’s eyes.
 
One doesn’t have to be accepting of homosexuality to be charitable to a homosexual. One doesn’t have to agree with the LGBT agenda in order to help the LGBT community where help might be needed.
 
God loves us despite our sin, not because of it. Likewise, we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, love our neighbors and even love our enemies, hard as that last one might prove to be. The Salvation Army, being a Christian organization, knows this extremely well and shows that in their good works. For anyone to defame them is utterly shameful, but not something I can be surprised by considering who is doing the defaming.
 
The Left hates Christians, hates God and hates anyone who would dare disagree with them. The Salvation Army, being a Christian organization, is one of their targets for defamation and destruction.
 
But The Salvation Army had a very good response to such defamation:
 
“We’d like to thank Ellie Goulding and her fans for shedding light on misconceptions and encouraging others to learn the truth about The Salvation Army’s mission to serve all, without discrimination. We applaud her for taking the time to learn about the services to the LGBTQ community. Regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity, we’re committed to serving anyone in need. Every day, we provide services such as shelter for the transgender community and resources for homeless youth…”
 
The Salvation Army knows that they are not what the hateful Leftists claim they are and are not afraid to fight back against such shameful defamation and ludicrous accusations.
 
As Christians, we are called to witness the Truth of the Gospel to everyone. I don’t know for certain if that is what they do in these shelters still, but I certainly hope they do, as that is what they are supposed to do.
 
But to reiterate, as Christians, we are called to serve and not to judge or discriminate against those who sin. We are, ourselves, sinners and we will be measured by the same rod with which we measure others. When it comes to LGBT people, we are called to rebuke them for their sins with love and try to help them to receive Christ. Same as we would adulterers or criminals or other kinds of sinners, we are to rebuke and help them receive Christ if possible.
 
2 Corinthians 5:21
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.

How would you feel if your brother or sister or any close family member whom you loved was unjustly taken from you? A slew of emotions would flood you, among which would be sadness, grief, shock, perhaps anger. These are the emotions that Botham Jean’s family likely went through after September 6th, 2018, when the young black man was shot and killed inside his own apartment by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who entered his apartment, mistaking it for her own and believing Botham to have been an intruder.
 
Roughly a year and a month after the tragic shooting, Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the charge of manslaughter. Many believe the sentence should be considerably more, with some believing it to have been a premeditated killing simply due to the racial differences between Guyger and Botham and the fact that she was a police officer, but the sentence for manslaughter in Texas usually carries with it a term of 2 to 20 years in a state prison and a fine of no more than $10,000, so ten years is right down the middle (and Texas doesn’t use “voluntary” or “involuntary” in their legal code, so the charge is simply manslaughter).
 
However, despite the fact that Guyger did kill Mr. Botham Jean, in the court room following the sentencing, Botham’s younger brother, Brandt, got to say a few words to Guyger. And they are words that I believe she needed to hear, as do many people in this world.
 
Brandt said, full of emotion in his voice, “I wasn’t ever going to say this in front of my family or anyone, but I don’t even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you because I know that’s exactly what Botham would want you to do. And the best would be to give your life to Christ. I’m not going to say anything else. I think giving your life to Christ would be the best thing that Botham would want you to do. Again, I love you as a person and I don’t wish anything bad on you.”
 
He then proceeded to ask the judge: “I don’t even know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug, please? Please?”
 
After a bit, the equally as emotional judge granted Brandt permission to hug Guyger. This action was met with gasps and loud sobbing as well from those present in the courtroom.
 
What’s more, after Brandt hugged Guyger, Judge Tammy Kemp also proceeded to hug Guyger, with Guyger whispering something inaudible to the judge. The judge quietly replied to Guyger: “Ma’am, it’s not because I am good. It’s because I believe in Christ. None of us are worthy. Forgive yourself.”
 
This is considerably different to what happened outside the courtroom, where there were angry chants regarding the verdict of 10 years that was handed to Guyger, with chants of “no justice, no peace” being heard throughout and even the mother of another young black man who was slain by an Arlington police officer in 2017 crying and asking: “How many of us does it take to get justice? What about my son? What about Botham Jean? How many of us is it going to take before you understand that our lives matter?”
 
While those who are not most affected by the killing of Botham Jean were angry about the verdict (justice was done, regardless of the emotions behind it, as 10 years is in the middle of the range of possible prison terms in the penal code), those who were most affected by it, namely Botham’s younger brother and even parents showed nothing short of grace towards the woman who took away their loved one.
 
Not one of Botham’s family members would’ve been at fault for being angry with Guyger. Not one of them owed forgiveness to her; she certainly didn’t deserve it. But that’s what grace is all about. That’s what mercy is all about.
 
Mercy wouldn’t be mercy if forgiveness were owed. If forgiveness were owed, that’d be justice, not grace. Grace – mercy – is doing what is right to someone who does not deserve it in the least.
 
It’s giving your enemy food and water to eat and drink. It’s forgiving someone for the wrong they did to you even when they do not deserve it whatsoever.
 
Asking for forgiveness is difficult. But forgiving someone else, even more so.
 
When we do wrong and we know we do wrong, it can be hard to ask for forgiveness, knowing full-well that we do not deserve it. But when someone wrongs us, it can be even harder to forgive that someone.
 
It takes a lot to be willing to forgive. It’s one of the most amazing aspects of God and one of the rarest in Man.
 
Brandt didn’t need to forgive Guyger. No one needed to forgive Guyger. No one had to show her grace. It would’ve been easier for Brandt to have shared with Guyger the pain he felt for what she had done, blaming her in the process and reminding her of what evil she had done. It would’ve been easier for him to have lambasted her and shown anger and hatred towards the woman who had taken away his big brother, whom he loved dearly. He easily could’ve withheld forgiveness from her and not a single person in that courtroom would’ve thought he would’ve been unjustified to have done so.
 
But Brandt believes in the God who forgives sins almost no matter what they might be. He believes in His Son, who died on the cross for the sins of the people who might believe in Him. He believes in the Son who died in our place, who died because our sins put Him on that cross. He believes in the Father who forgives those who forgive others.
 
Forgiving others, difficult as it is, is the righteous and right thing to do. No, no one in that courtroom would’ve thought Brandt would’ve done the wrong thing if he had withheld forgiveness. No one apart from God.
 
But God knows Brandt’s heart and that his soul belongs to Him. Brandt understands the importance of forgiveness and showing grace to those who do not deserve any of it.
 
When Jesus taught his followers how to pray, he shared the following: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
 
This is the Lord’s prayer and notice the importance of forgiveness here. It’s not simply the Father who forgives us of our debts, or our trespasses, whichever version you might often use. We are equally as tasked with the challenging task of forgiving others who have trespassed against us or done us wrong.
 
Jesus, in Matthew 6:14-15, then explained to His followers: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
 
We are tasked with showing grace and mercy just as our Father shows us grace and mercy in His forgiveness of our sins. If we do not forgive others’ sins against us, why would our Father forgive us when we do not show the same mercy?
 
Now, don’t get it twisted. Forgiveness has to be actually meant. If you do not forgive others in your heart, then it doesn’t matter what you say to them. Before Brandt could show this kind of grace and mercy to Guyger, he first had to forgive her in his heart, otherwise it would’ve meant nothing.
 
Simply saying “I forgive you” but holding within your heart unforgiveness isn’t going to fool God. For anyone who might try and argue “oh, Brandt had to forgive her otherwise God wouldn’t have forgiven him. How fair is that?” keep in mind that, again, forgiveness isn’t about being fair or about being just. No one is ever owed forgiveness. No one is owed mercy. No one is owed grace.
 
Because if anyone was owed those things, that would be justice, not forgiveness, mercy or grace.
 
What Guyger deserves is unforgiveness and the lengthy prison sentence she received. She was shown grace that she did not deserve when Brandt forgave her.
 
It’s in this same manner that God forgives our own sins. Now, don’t misunderstand, it still takes faith in Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior to be forgiven, but in order for us to be forgiven, we must also be willing and able to forgive others too.
 
It’s part of being a Christian and Brandt understands this. Seemingly, so does the Judge, which was also rather unexpected.
 
Brandt wants Guyger to turn her life over to Christ that she might be saved. This is grace.
 
For those who are Christians, they know exactly why Brandt forgave her. It was the right thing to do, not the just thing to do.
 
If more people showed this kind of grace, the world would be considerably better. Not perfect by any means, of course, but better.
 
God bless Brandt, his family, the Judge and Amber Guyger. I hope that she takes Brandt’s words to heart and the Holy Spirit reaches her.
 
Matthew 18:21-22
“Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.’”
 
And please make sure to check out our free weekly newsletter. As the name suggests, it is a newsletter that comes completely free of charge. What you get is a compilation of the week’s articles sent right into your inbox. So make sure to check it out today!
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.

I have long made the argument that climate alarmism is nothing short of a religious cult following and deeply devoting its members to a “truth” they cannot prove and call those who do not believe “deniers”. However, you would hope and expect Christians to be able to understand what a sham this is and how dangerous it would be to fall for this fake gospel. And yet, people like the Pope and the Church of Sweden have fallen away from Christ and succumbed to the cult of climate change.
 
But while the Pope might be idiotic regarding this, at least he hasn’t been as heinous as to be heretical about it (from what I can tell, at least). No, the Church of Sweden has gone as far as to do that.
 
Back in December of last year (so admittedly, it has been some time, but it’s still necessary to point this out), the Church of Limhamn tweeted the following (which has obviously been translated): “Announcement! Jesus of Nazareth has now appointed one of his successors, Greta Thunberg.”
 
Before I rebuke these guys for saying this, the reason this is being talked about right now is because it resurfaced after its most recent support for the teenage climate puppet, and following an announcement by the Church of Sweden Malmo that they would be ringing their church bells in conjunction with last week’s Global Climate Strike:
 
“In conjunction with the Global Climate Strike, church bells ring and we gather in prayer for the future of the earth. We pray that we believe that man is responsible for nurturing and managing Creation so that children are given the opportunity for a future. We pray that we know that climate change affects the most vulnerable – poor, children and women. We pray that we believe in man’s ability to change and change.”
 
The church’s site also reads: “When the Amazon burns, we gather to fight for Mother Earth together. WELCOME!”
 
So, it’s pretty obvious that these people have abandoned the teachings of Jesus Christ in favor of New Age heresy that preaches man’s role in affecting the climate of the entire planet.
 
The fact that these people say they “fight for Mother Earth” ought to be a sign as to the kind of heresy these people practice. Earth isn’t our “mother”. We live on it and it is part of God’s Creation. To elevate it to the status of “mother” would be to equate it to God and His importance as Father.
 
But as inappropriate as this might be, I have a bit of a bigger issue with the Church of Limhamn’s December 2018 tweet.
 
How in the world could any self-professed Christian even allude to there being any “successor” to Christ? And take note that they aren’t just elevating the teenage climate puppet to Christ’s level. They said “one of [Jesus’] successors.” This indicates a plurality and I only have to wonder who else these people may have elevated to Christ’s level.
 
This goes even beyond idolatry. This is committing one of the most heinous acts one can commit: heresy. One could even make the case that this is blasphemy, the unforgivable sin, but no one can argue against this being heresy, at least not honestly.
 
These people are putting words into Jesus’ mouth by saying He is appointing someone, let alone the teenage climate puppet, as His successor.
 
These people are making the same mistake as the churches of Galatia did in the early life of the church.
 
If you’ve read the book of Galatians, you know that Paul primarily addresses the fact that the churches had turned away from the gospel of Christ, which he had shared with them, in favor of different “gospels”.
 
Galatians 1:1-10 says the following:
 
“Paul, an apostle – not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead – and all the brothers who are with me. To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
 
The churches of Galatia, after Paul had preached to them and shared with them the gospel of Jesus Christ, quickly turned to other “gospels” that were contrary to the gospel of Christ. In a similar manner, the Church of Sweden is doing the same thing. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been shared with them and they have the Scripture readily-available and yet, they turn away from it and turn to other “gospels”, namely the “gospel” of man-made climate change.
 
Man-made climate change is what Man believes nowadays. But regardless of whether it’s that or it’s believing in Baal or the gods of Babylon or any other, let not one Christian turn away from Christ’s gospel in favor of another because no other saves, regardless of its promises.
 
Man-made climate change stands in contradiction to both science and Christianity. For you see, to believe that Man has such a great power as to influence the climate is to believe that he can wrestle away control of it from God.
 
Apart from the fact that there is no scientific evidence to support the idea (no, man-made climate models don’t count, specifically when shared by the highly-corrupt IPCC), it is very disingenuous, maybe even blasphemous, to suggest Man could have any power that even closely matches or even outdoes God’s.
 
It stands in direct conflict with the basic Judeo-Christian principle that God is Lord of all. For if Man could wrestle away power from God in any aspect, God would not be sovereign and would not be God.
 
As far as people like the teenage climate puppet go, we have known for a very long time to watch out for false prophets. She is one of the many, many people prophesying that the world will end in a decade or so and that there is currently no future for children as a result, so to call her a false prophet, particularly when supposed Christians are elevating her to the level of “successor to Christ”, whatever that’s supposed to mean, is not exactly inaccurate in my mind.
 
Why would anyone be willing to listen and take seriously such false prophets? Because we seem like ignorant bullies if we don’t? Paul himself raised the question: “for am I seeking the approval of man, or of God?” To bend the knee to this Satanic line of thinking, to accept what these people are saying simply because of the kid’s age is to try and appease Man, not God.
 
And if we were to do so, we would not be servants of Christ.
 
I hope that there are people within the Church of Sweden that are seeing all of this and are spiritually disturbed by it. And I certainly hope the Church of Sweden turns back to the gospel of Christ and not continue down this heretical path, lest they find themselves in the same place as the vast majority of mankind will.
 
I pray that these people will return to Christ and not commit this heresy any longer, submit to another “gospel” or further attempt to please Man as opposed to God.
 
And while the Church of Limhamn did ultimately apologize days later for the tweet, that apology also came with a defense of it, saying: “Our sense has been to talk about Jesus Christ in our own way.” A poor defense on its own, considering the tweet focused more on Greta than it did about Jesus, but any defense of the tweet is an indication that they are still not under the understanding of what they did wrong, so I pray that wisdom and revelation comes their way.
 
1 John 4:1
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
 
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Author: Freddie Marinelli.

Within the Christian religion, there are a number of different denominational beliefs that sometimes present challenges to people. For example, Catholics tend to pray to statues of the Virgin Mary or other Saints, asking them to essentially pass on a message to God that He may bless the praying people or help them to some capacity. And while there may be arguments in favor of doing this, I cannot help but think of this as a form of idolatry, because one is praying to statues, not God.
 
But while I am one to believe that while there are a lot of doctrinal problems within the Catholic Church, I believe there are those who are legitimately Christians and are actually saved among Catholics (though I highly doubt people like the Pope or other “progressive” leaders in the Church are saved).
 
I cannot say the same for anyone within the Union Theological Seminary, a non-denominational Seminary in New York.
 
You see, this past Tuesday, members of the UTS placed plants in the middle of a chapel and confessed their sins to them. “Today in chapel, we confessed to plants,” tweeted UTS, sharing also a picture of the ritual. “Together, we held our grief, joy, regret, hope, guilt and sorrow in prayer; offering them to the beings who sustain us but whose gift we too often fail to honor. What do you confess to the plants in your life?”
 
Upon receiving tons of mockery and rebuking from actual Christians, UTS then tweeted: “When Robin Wall Kimmerer spoke at Union last year, she concluded her lecture by tasking us – and all faith communities – to develop new liturgies by which to mourn, grieve, heal and change in response to our climate emergency. We couldn’t be prouder to participate in this work. So, if you’re poking fun, we’d ask only that you also spend a couple moments asking: Do I treat plants and animals as divinely created beings? What harm do I cause without thinking? How can I enter into new relationship with the natural world?”
 
There is quite a bit to talk about here, but let’s begin with the obvious: THESE PEOPLE ARE COMMITTING IDOLATRY, A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT!
 
Taking aside the fact that these people are obviously environmentalist whackos, they not only violate God’s First Commandment, but also insult Him in doing this.
 
When we sin, we sin against God. Sin is to do evil in the sight of God. We do not sin against PLANTS. We may sin against other people by doing wrong by them, but we do not sin against plants because they are NOT EQUAL to us in the sight of God. That isn’t to say we should not care for the environment, because God tasked Man with taking care of the land in Genesis, but we should not elevate plants and animals to our level or sink Man to the level of plants and animals.
 
Genesis 1:26 reads as follows: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” When God created Man in His own image, He also gave him dominion over all the earth and the things of the earth. In the hierarchy of natural creation, you find plants and animals below Man.
 
To imply that we can in any way sin against plants would be to consider plants to be equal or greater than Man. They are not, as we have dominion over them, given to us by All Mighty God. You don’t even have to be a Christian to read that far into the Bible, and these people somehow got it into their heads that Man is not above animals and plants?
 
They use language like “divinely created beings” to refer to animals and plants yet have no idea what that actually means. God created everything. All things have been divinely created. Are we not to enjoy and rule over that which God has given us dominion?
 
These people aren’t doing God any favors or pleasing God in the least. Aside from the fact that they said the plants sustain us (God sustains us, not the plants), they don’t even trust Him regarding the CLIMATE for crying out loud! Remember, they used the Leftist term of “climate emergency.” Apart from the fact that that’s b.s. largely because we are NOT in a “climate emergency” and are in the middle of what is considered the Modern Warm Period, something that is not exactly rare for the planet, these people believe that God is not powerful enough or sovereign to be able to control the climate of ONE planet.
 
This is the same thing I charge the socialist Pope of: not actually having faith in the Lord.
 
These people aren’t Christians. How could they be, when they don’t trust Him for their salvation and resort to CONFESSING TO PLANTS in order to feel satisfied with themselves?
 
Not to mention the focus on having a relationship with the natural world. Having a relationship with other people is not inherently a bad thing whatsoever. However, the focus should be on the supernatural, not on the natural. The focus should be having a relationship with the God who created the natural world, not the natural world itself.
 
To elevate the natural world in this manner is to do the same as worshiping a statue of a god or a golden calf. It’s utter idolatry, a detestable and abominable thing in the sight of God.
 
Plants cannot save you. Animals cannot save you. The natural world cannot save you. Man cannot save you. Only Christ can save you. These “Christians” have clearly forgotten that, if they ever knew it to begin with.
 
Exodus 20:1-6
“And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.’”
 
And please make sure to check out our free weekly newsletter. As the name suggests, it is a newsletter that comes completely free of charge. What you get is a compilation of the week’s articles sent right into your inbox. So make sure to check it out today!
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.

A rather interesting, but not exactly unheard of, phenomenon of supposedly “Christian” people denouncing their faith has made some news recently, with a former pastor and a songwriter of a popular Christian band both having made public announcements declaring they are no longer Christians. This has led John Cooper, songwriter and lead singer of the Christian rock band “Skillet” (which I was not aware they were Christians, but have downloaded some of their songs in the past) to write a rather lengthy Facebook post calling out the supposed “Christians” for publicly denouncing their faiths.
 
Cooper began his post: “What is happening in Christianity? More and more of our outspoken leaders or influencers who were once ‘faces’ of the faith are falling away. And at the same time they are being very vocal and bold about it. Shockingly they still want to influence others (for what purpose?) as they announce that they are leaving the faith.”
 
“I am stunned that the seemingly most important thing for these leaders who have lost their faith is to make such a bold new stance. Basically saying, ‘I’ve been living and preaching boldly something for 20 years and led generations of people with my teachings and now I no longer believe it. Therefore, I’m going to boldly and loudly tell people it was all wrong while I boldly and loudly lead people in to my next truth.’ I’m perplexed why they aren’t embarrassed? Humbled? Ashamed, fearful, confused? Why be so eager to continue leading people when you clearly don’t know where you are headed?”
 
Skipping a little bit, he continued: “As if someone is courageous simply for sharing virally every thought or dark place. That’s not courageous. It’s cavalier. Have they considered the ramifications? As if they are the harbingers of truth, saying, ‘I used to think one way and practice it and preach it, but now I’ve learned all the new truth and will start practicing it and preaching it.’ So the influencers become the voice for truth in whatever stage of life and whatever evolution takes place in their thinking.”
 
“[A]s these influencers disavow their faith, they always end their statements with their ‘new insight/new truth’ that is basically a regurgitation of Jesus’ words?! It’s truly bizarre and ironic. They’ll say ‘I’m disavowing my faith but remember, love people, be generous, forgive others.’ Ummm, why? That is not human nature. No child is ever born and says, ‘I just want to love others before loving myself. I want to turn the other cheek. I want to give my money away to others in need.’ Those are bible principles taught by a prophet/Priest/King of kings who wants us to live by a higher standard which is not an earthly standard, but rather the ‘Kingdom of God’ standard. Therefore, if Jesus is not the truth and if the Word of God is not absolute, then by preaching Jesus’ teachings you are endorsing the words of a madman. A lunatic who said ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.’ He also said that he was alive before Abraham, and to see him was to see God because he was one with God. So why then would a disavowed Christian leader promote that ‘generosity is good’? How would you know ‘what is good’ without Jesus’ teachings? And will your ideas of what is ‘good’ be different from year to year based on your experience, culture trends, [popular] opinion etc. and furthermore will you continue year by year to lead others into your idea of goodness even though it is not absolute? I’m amazed that so many Christians want the benefits of the kingdom of God, but with the caveat that they themselves will be the King.”
 
There was more to this post, but I think you get the idea. John Cooper is, rightly, calling out the former “Christians” who have “fallen away” from the faith.
 
The only thing I have to disagree with him on is that these people haven’t “fallen away” from the faith; they never truly had it to begin with.
 
Hebrews 6:4-6 says: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”
 
Those who have come to the faith do not leave the faith, and if they proclaim to be Christians one day and proclaim to no longer be Christians the next, they never were one to begin with.
 
Similarly, 2 Peter 2:20-22 says the following: “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.’”
 
There is a significant difference between being ignorant and being wicked. Someone who is ignorant knows nothing of the Lord, not His blessings, nor His character, nor His love, nor His authority. But it is better for someone to be ignorant to the truth than for someone to be knowledgeable to the truth and still deny it. Those are the wicked ones, those who have made proclamations of faith but then make a proclamation to effectively return to sin.
 
Specifically, the two “Christian” people that are being talked about here are former pastor Josh Harris, who said he was leaving the Christian faith and divorcing his wife, having felt guilty with the way gay people were treated and feeling guilty over what the Bible teaches on homosexuality; and Marty Sampson, who is a songwriter for Hillson United, a Christian band, and who recently said: “I’m genuinely losing my faith… and it doesn’t bother me… like, what bothers me now is nothing… I am so happy now, so at peace with the world… It’s crazy.”
 
These two were never Christians in the first place. They are of the world and gladly remain with it until the end. The fact that the songwriter said he wasn’t bothered over losing his faith doesn’t surprise or shock me because I would have to believe he had any faith whatsoever in the first place for this to affect me like that. He was never in Christ to begin with. He is clearly comfortable in the world’s sin, has no problem with it, and finds a peculiar delight in it. That isn’t ignorance; it’s wickedness.
 
These two former “Christians” were never Christians in the first place. But in doing this, they are effectively doing what Christ warned people not to do: be ashamed of Him, particularly in the presence of Man.
 
Mark 8:38 and Luke 9:26 basically teach the same thing: Mark 8:38: “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Luke 9:26: “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
 
But Matthew 10:32-33 makes the most damning statement for these two former “Christians”: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
 
These two are the types of people Christ often talks about, who say “Lord, Lord” but whom Christ never knew. They are comfortable in their sin and even feel a sort of liberation, but what they have done is publicly announce their enslavement to sin and to the devil.
 
These two former “Christians” are the worst type of sinners: they know perfectly well who is the Lord and who is the Savior, but they deny Him. They know perfectly well and have no excuse not to know who Jesus Christ is, but Christ is not their Lord. Satan lords over them, it’s just taken them this long to essentially admit that.
 
All Christians know what Christ said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” To understand this and still deny it, following another way, accepting another “truth” and living another life is utter wickedness that does not deserve to exist in the Kingdom of God.
 
In this, the former “Christians” have signed away their souls to the devil, and upon their deaths, will suffer under him in Hell.
 
We are saved by grace through faith alone. If one lacks that faith, he or she is not saved. He or she who lacks faith is not saved but will die the first and also the second death, perishing in the lake of fire and sulfur.
 
Not to mince my words here, but unless Christ really goes into these two’s hearts, the only place they will go is straight to Hell. But as that is Christ’s decision to make, I don’t quite know what will happen to them. One thing is for sure, though: those who embrace the world will perish alongside it.
 
1 John 2:15-17
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions -is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
 
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Author: Freddie Marinelli.

​Over the weekend, the entire nation was rocked by two mass shootings happening within 24 hours of one another, a particular rarity.
 
A Walmart in El Paso, Texas was shot up by a white supremacist who has been reported as having been inspired by the Christchurch, New Zealand shooter and according to reports of the shooter’s supposed manifesto, was angry at the rise in the Hispanic population in Texas and decided to kill people, possibly targeting Latinos.
 
A bar in Dayton, Ohio was also shot up Sunday morning, though it’s unclear if the two are related (and it’s unlikely).
 
In all, around 30 people died to the combined mass shootings and plenty more were injured. Thankfully, it appears as though police were quick to stop the shooting in Dayton, which could have been more deadly.
 
Of course, as these are fairly-developing stories, the facts will come out as more time goes on and I likely won’t be able to cover as much as I would like. However, what is often expected and tedious following a mass shooting is the fact that the tragic event, which literally takes innocent people’s lives, gets politicized to the point where people who support the 2nd Amendment are accused of having blood on their hands for this.
 
Every. Single. Time. Whenever there is a shooting, the gun is immediately blamed. Not the shooter or his or her motivations (unless they are beneficial to the Left), but the gun. This has led, predictably, to Democrats calling on Congress to cancel the Summer recess in order to pass more gun control legislation that will neither serve to prevent the next tragedy nor serve to alleviate the mourning souls of the families of the victims. Why? Because that would be trying to cure a symptom rather than a disease.
 
What is to blame here isn’t the tool of destruction. Far more people die to automobiles, disease, stabbings, doctor malpractice, etc. than they do in shootings. Even Neil DeGrasse Tyson understands this, having tweeted about it with some figures to back it up.
 
What is to blame isn’t as simple as “the gun did it” because that is not even remotely accurate. It was the person that did it and it was the lack of a strong mental health system in this country that gets us to this point (as well as other factors).
 
The Dayton shooter, according to schoolmates of his, had “kill” and “rape” lists. A massive red flag that has somehow been ignored.
 
But despite that, instead of addressing the actual issues like President Trump is doing, people are pointing fingers at each other. The Left-wing media will focus on the El Paso shooter because he is a white supremacist and they can use that as rhetoric against Trump, saying that it’s his own rhetoric that is similar to the shooter’s when nothing could be further from the truth.
 
The white supremacist shooter reportedly hates Hispanics. Trump does not hate Hispanics. The white supremacist shooter is a freaking white supremacist. Trump is not a white supremacist and has disavowed white supremacists well before he was even President. The white supremacist is a Leftist and Trump is not a Leftist.
 
But the media has been insisting for the past few years that Donald Trump is a white supremacist and as a result, Twitter hashtags like “#TrumpsTerrorists” arise, when placing the blame on him is idiotic (even though the El Paso shooter is a registered Democrat and he used Leftist language such as pro-climate change talking points where he said we were killing our planet, not that the Left will focus on that bit of the manifesto).
 
Simultaneously, they will ignore the Dayton shooter because he was a very open Leftist who often liked Leftists’ tweets and endorsed people like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. On his Twitter bio, he did something only Leftists tend to do: identify himself as “he/him” to let people know what gender pronoun to use on him.
 
Beyond that, he literally had “leftist” in his Twitter bio. And he would often retweet and like tweets from Leftists such as the aforementioned Warren and Sanders, plus others who spew Leftist rhetoric surrounding the border, police, the ICE bomber being considered a martyr by ANTIFA, AOC calling the detention centers at the border “concentration camps”, and literally tweeted: “I want socialism, and I’ll not wait for the idiots to finally come round to understanding.”
 
Oh, and he also said he loved Satan.
 
Had this shooting been the only one to have happened, the MSM would’ve pretended nothing even happened. After all, the story on the Virginia baseball game shooter, who was targeting Republicans, died pretty quickly (and no one on the Left was blaming Bernie Sanders and his rhetoric, despite it basically promoting the attack of right-wingers).
 
Two mass shootings are what are being talked about, with one’s rhetoric taking center stage and the other’s being ignored.
 
Because white supremacy has often been taught to so many people as being a right-wing ideology (when history literally proves otherwise), the media will focus solely on the El Paso shooting and say it was Trump’s fault (2020 Dems have certainly already done this) and that it is his rhetoric that led the white supremacist (who is also a Leftist, I will remind) to target Latinos and Hispanics.
 
In reality, it’s the Left’s rhetoric that has endangered Latinos and Hispanics. In conflating legal immigrants with illegal ones, by simply saying that Trump’s rhetoric is “anti-immigrant”, it leads people to be equally as confused and believe that all Hispanics and Latinos are the same, whether they came here legally or illegally.
 
Of course, the vast majority of people are not quite so dumb, but as we are talking about people with clear mental health issues, it’s important to point this out: people’s lies and narratives have consequences.
 
The Left will talk at length about the El Paso shooter and try and blame Trump for it, all-the-while ignoring stories about Trump supporters being punched, harassed or otherwise mistreated just for being Trump supporters.
 
Donald Trump’s rhetoric is against illegal immigration, not because he doesn’t like illegals, but because he doesn’t like them breaking THE LAW to enter the country. If an illegal immigrant were to be deported and then come back in through legal means, all would be well. But the media insists that Trump’s rhetoric is entirely racially-based, which can lead to some people, such as the El Paso shooter, to believe Latinos don’t belong here and killing them is justifiable.
 
Now, having gotten that out of the way, I can imagine some people may be trying to say that I, myself, am politicizing a tragedy after telling people not to do so and will call me hypocritical. I am not politicizing a tragedy, merely responding to the politicization that has surrounded this tragedy already.
 
Like I said, every single time there is a mass shooting, the Left basically jumps for joy at the chance to use it for political gain. And if you think I’m exaggerating, Kamala Harris literally sent out a fundraising e-mail asking people for money following the tragedy, naming the El Paso and Dayton shootings in the e-mail. She is literally trying to profit from the tragedies, so don’t tell me that I shouldn’t say the Left is happy when shootings happen because they are.
 
It is a chance for them to insist we take action against gun ownership and purchases, when all that will do is hinder law-abiding citizens and help law-breakers in the long-run.
 
When tragedies like these happen, instead of putting our issues aside out of respect for the fallen and in mourning of them alongside the families and the communities, we further the divide that already exists and begin blaming people like Trump, the NRA, conservatives, gun owners, etc. Unless the shooter was a Muslim or a Leftist, in which case the Left jumps into defense mode to only attack the gun (and still blame conservatives somehow) while trying to shield Islam, hypocritically saying that not all Muslims are like this (which is true) and that Islam had nothing to do with it (not true) while attacking Trump and conservatives and saying shootings like last weekend’s have everything to do with our ideology.
 
Rather than be mourned over, victims of a tragedy are made into political tools to further the Left’s agenda. Rather than address the root causes of the problems, we focus on the tools used to bring death, destruction and desolation. A life lost is a life lost and it’s a tragedy, no matter the manner in which it was lost.
 
When there is a stabbing, people don’t tend to jump at the chance to spread “knife control” propaganda (unless you’re in the U.K.) because it is impossible to enforce (even full gun control is impossible to enforce, even if you were to get rid of the 2nd Amendment).
 
When there is a terrorist attack in which a vehicle was used to run people over, people don’t jump at the chance to spread “car control” because that would be stupid. It is only when a shooting happens when the actual tool is blamed more than the individual or individuals who perpetrated the heinous act of violence.
 
It doesn’t help anyone at any capacity because, again, you are not addressing the root cause. There are more guns in America than there are people, and while estimates vary, plenty of those are also illegal (far from the majority, but still) with some estimates saying there are over 100 million illegal firearms in the country (though it’s nearly impossible to accurately estimate unregistered and illegal guns, so take that figure with a grain of salt).
 
Still, given the estimates for gun ownership, such as the fact that there are 120.5 guns per 100 people in the U.S. (according to Small Arms Survey), meaning, statistically speaking, every person in the country owns at least one gun, it is quite clear that gun ownership and guns in and of themselves are not the problem, as we would all be long dead by now if they were.
 
Regardless of the estimates you may want to use for gun ownership and even illegal gun ownership, it’s quite evident that the problem lies elsewhere. Namely, mental health issues and, in my opinion, the fact that we live in a post-Christian America.
 
Ignoring and mocking God tends to have consequences for countries in terms of either being blessed by Him or being cursed by Him. And while I’m not usually one to claim that any given tragedy, man-made or natural, is because of our faithlessness to God, I understand that as He is the Sovereign King of the Universe, He has control over everything that happens, good or bad. And He has historically brought both blessing and curse to the people of Israel, blessing in time of faith and curse in time of disobedience to Him.
 
Regardless of whether or not you think that has anything to do with these shootings, one thing is clear: we must pray to God for healing. And while there may be those who say that “thoughts and prayers aren’t enough”, don’t pay them any attention because those are people who, themselves, are not faithful or pray to Him.
 
Prayer works, even if it’s not quite in the way we imagine. So we should continue to pray for the victims of the shootings, as well as their families and communities. Pray that they would be healed and that they would come to Him in their time of need, that those who might need saving would be saved and those who have already been saved may find comfort in Him.
 
I will only pay attention to those who would seek to divide us because it is my job to do so. Apart from that, I will also continue to pray to God that He might heal our nation and draw us closer to Him as one nation under God.
 
James 5:16
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
 
And please make sure to check out our free weekly newsletter. As the name suggests, it is a newsletter that comes completely free of charge. What you get is a compilation of the week’s articles sent right into your inbox. So make sure to check it out today!
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.

For those of you who have read my articles for some time, you know that my favorite sport is basketball. Outside of that, I don’t know much else about other sports or the players, unless they are household names like Tom Brady or Babe Ruth. So forgive me if I don’t know much about former New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera.
 
What I may lack in understanding of his seemingly stellar career I have tried to make up for in understanding his devout Christian faith and seemingly right-wing views, especially when it comes to the State of Israel.
 
As such, I feel it is necessary to defend him from a pathetic man considering himself a journalist attacking the man for holding such beliefs.
 
Over the weekend, Rivera was unanimously elected into the baseball Hall of Fame, becoming the first player to ever achieve such a feat. Regardless of such an accomplishment, and regardless of the kind of career he had in the Major Leagues, a writer by the name of Robert Silverman chose to attack his beliefs and suggested he should be put to shame for having such beliefs.
 
“… over the past three years, he’s also served at the pleasure of a racist president, taken part in thinly veiled propaganda on behalf of a far-right government in Israel, and gotten chummy with outright bigots and apocalyptic loons. None of this will be inscribed on his Hall of Fame plaque. It should, even if much of the sports world would very much like to pretend none of it exists.”
 
Right off the bat, this guy shows some serious lunatic behavior and wording. Let’s start from the beginning of that shortened paragraph. “Served at the pleasure of a racist president…” From the way that sounds, it’s as though Rivera was scouting the Southern Border and shouting out towards Trump, armed with a shotgun, that some illegals were crossing the border. What it actually refers to is Rivera participating in a listening session about the opioid crisis. Nothing partisan, much less racial, about that topic. Taking part in “thinly veiled propaganda on behalf of a far-right government in Israel” is merely supporting a right-wing government in the only Jewish nation on Earth, which continually wins elections in a… wait for it… Democratic manner. But from what it sounds, it’s as if Rivera was writing the Nuremberg Laws.
 
And for having the audacity to listen to Trump talk about fighting the opioid crisis and supporting Israel, his Hall of Fame plaque, a plaque about his BASEBALL CAREER, ought to highlight that this man is not willing to bow down and submit to the Left’s ever-so tolerant views.
 
Later down the article, Silverman regurgitates Leftist talking points about how the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) was slaughtering innocent Palestinian protesters, all-the-while ignoring the fact that most of the people the IDF killed were Hamas terrorists, who own the region of Gaza and use human shields to get the IDF to kill innocent civilians and blame it on Israel, something the far-Left media happily follows.
 
And what is perhaps the last straw for Silverman, Rivera *maybe* supports Trump.
 
“Beyond Rivera’s pro-Israel activism, even though he’s never publicly given his endorsement, the Hall of Famer’s actions make it clear his sympathies lie with the Trump administration, which has backed all manner of far-right policies when it comes to Israel.”
 
What? You mean actually following through on the promise many US President have made in the past about moving the embassy to Jerusalem is considered a “far-right policy”? Actually defending Israel against theocratic fascists who have repeatedly stated their intentions to wipe them off the face of the Earth is far-right policy? Supporting Israel’s right to EXIST is far-right policy?
 
Does this guy have any idea as to why we Republicans, conservatives, Christians support the State of Israel? Funny enough, he does know why:
 
“But the vast majority of Evangelical Christians also believe in a particular messianic biblical prophecy: Jews must rule the Holy Land before Christ can return. Whether Rivera ascribes to those beliefs entirely is unclear, but his support for Israel and the Israel Defense Forces is a matter of public record. He has traveled to Israel on multiple occasions, possibly beginning in 2013.”
 
The beginning part of that quote is what we’ll focus on for now. Of course, that is only one of many reasons why we support Israel. The fact that Jews must rule Jerusalem for Christ to return is, I think, the main one. But there are plenty of places in the Bible that show us just why we Christians support Israel.
 
Psalm 102:12-16 reads: “But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion, it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For the Lord builds up Zion; he appears in his glory…”
 
Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! ‘May they be secure who love you!’”
 
Isaiah 2:3: “… ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
 
It is important to note Isaiah is most notorious for being a very accurate descriptor of the first coming of Jesus and it is also important to note that one of Jesus’ titles is “the Word of God”, as John wrote in the beginning of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
 
And Luke 1:32 reads: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David…”
 
So there is plenty of reason for Christians to be supportive of Israel apart from, you know, THEM BEING THE CHOSEN PEOPLE OF OUR GOD!
 
It’s not surprising to me at all if Rivera also believes this and it’s not surprising that he would, as a Christian, support Israel.
 
Rivera, in an interview with Sports Spectrum in 2010, expressed his Christian views and credited God for allowing him to create a deadly pitch in 1997 which would be a staple of his career moving forward: “It came from the Lord. Nobody taught me that but Him. It’s been tremendous since the first time that I used it. It’s been effective, so I thank God for that.”
 
Rivera also said: “I believe in Jesus Christ, and I cannot move without His direction. That doesn’t mean that I’m a perfect man. Now I wish I could tell you that I’m perfect, but I’m not. But I’m always trying to please the Lord, and that’s my goal.”
 
So it’s pretty clear to me that the man is very much a man of faith and places his entire faith and being into Christ’s hands. He follows the Lord, supports the people and State of Israel and does not bad-mouth the current President of the United States. For this trifecta of decency, he is marred as having essentially committed a capital crime against the Left, something that Silverman essentially accuses him of in his hit-piece.
 
Now, I’ve read my share of moronic pieces. Last week I even covered a moronic piece on Disney’s “The Lion King”, defending it from the accusation that it was some sort of fascist fantasy, but this I feel far more inclined to cover not simply because of the idiotic reasons behind the piece, but because of what exactly is being attacked.
 
I really couldn’t care much about someone saying “The Lion King” was fascistic apart from the stupidity of the claim because I’m not much of a Disney fan anymore. To remain objective and fair, I defended the movies (original and remake) but this is an entirely different matter. This is an attack on a Christian for the charge of BEING A CHRISTIAN!
 
Sure, Silverman throws in his support of Israel and his silence on the current President (because silence is violence, apparently), but it’s largely an attack on the guy’s overall views and beliefs, which stem from being a Christian.
 
As I said in an article last week, there is no reason for a Christian to not support Trump. You can disagree about his personal choices and his choice of words regarding various subjects, but there’s no disputing the fact that this man, flawed as he may be, loves the Lord and loves this country. Most Christians, certainly true Christians, will support President Trump, particularly over the borderline (or actual) Satanists on display in the Democrat Party. If Rivera is, himself, a Christian, it stands to reason he would support Donald Trump, at least in terms of his policies.
 
Of course, no one could blame Rivera for not being so outspoken about any support he may have of the POTUS. The media will attack him for NOT SAYING ANYTHING, so could you imagine what they would attack him for if he were to endorse the President? They intimidate and bully people into silence and even THEN they continue to bully and intimidate. Again, no one blames him for not speaking out about his potential support of Trump, but that is also in part due to the fact that Donald Trump isn’t the end-all, be-all of good fights.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I think supporting Trump is pretty crucial to our country, but for a man of faith, he will be far less ashamed of supporting the Lord. If someone is attacked for being a Trump supporter, not much happens. They may be targeted for attacks that last a week or so and their reputations might be a little stained in the eyes of people who don’t support Trump. However, if someone is attacked for believing in Christ, that person is blessed.
 
Matthew 5:11-12 says: “’Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
 
If we are attacked for our support of Trump, it doesn’t really matter. We deal with it and fight back. But if we are attacked for our faith in the Lord, we are blessed by Him. All things considered, I don’t care if Rivera never says he supports Trump because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that he follows and loves the Lord Jesus and speaks and acts as God asks us to. He isn’t ashamed, clearly, of expressing his faith and he shouldn’t be.
 
Of course, that doesn’t make what Silverman is doing any better. The guy is attacking a Hall of Fame baseball player for holding beliefs that are antithetical to his own. That’s vile and disgusting and should be considered an example of what garbage journalism has become. But for Rivera, if he is attacked for his beliefs, specifically for his Christian beliefs, that is one of the best things you can do for him. And for any Christian, really.
 
Don’t misunderstand, Christian persecution is still terrible and an injustice, but if we are to be attacked for any given reason, let it be for our faith in the Lord, who is sovereign over all the universe.
 
This is the mentality of a Christian; the mentality of someone like Rivera. If we are to be persecuted for anything, let it be for the right thing.
 
Ephesians 5:11
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”
 
And please make sure to check out our free weekly newsletter. As the name suggests, it is a newsletter that comes completely free of charge. What you get is a compilation of the week’s articles sent right into your inbox. So make sure to check it out today!
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.

Something that often bothers me is the fact that the MSM will sometimes have an anti-Trump, or generally an anti-America pastor who takes the Word of God and says it teaches things it outright does not teach. One example of this is whenever the issue of immigration is brought up and an anti-Trump pastor will try and shame the President and anyone who agrees with him for trying to “separate families at the border” or simply for not letting these people break our laws (not that they ever phrase it that way).
 
And it always leaves me rather perplexed that anyone who claims to have faith in the Lord and who claims to be a practicing Christian, even a pastor of a church, would ever go with whatever the Left stands for, considering what they stand for is often anti-Christian.
 
I believe the answer here is that said people are not truly Christian. They take advantage of the Word of God, the ultimate authority over anything, and interpret it to say what it very much does not say.
 
Returning to the topic of immigration, Leftist preachers are all too happy to jump at the verses where the Lord explicitly tells the Jewish people to allow for strangers to sojourn in their land, to not do them any wrong, to love them as yourself because the Jewish people were themselves strangers in the land of Egypt, but will completely ignore the fact that God also demands sojourners to obey the laws of the land of Israel and ought to be punished for breaking it, as would any Jew be punished for doing the same.
 
It’s one thing to welcome immigrants into our country, it’s another to be taken advantage of by people who break the law and demand we make changes to our system to accommodate them. One is fair and righteous and the other is the exact opposite.
 
So when the Democrat Party hires anti-Trump pastors and preachers who spew this sort of nonsense about accepting and welcoming such law-breakers and leeches in an effort to draw the evangelical vote away from Trump, I can’t help but laugh. The Party of Satan is trying to garner evangelical votes?
 
Actually, that makes an awful lot of sense. Satan loves it when Christians stray from the path of God, begin challenging Him and questioning Him, and ultimately renounce Him. Why would the Democrats, who espouse outright Satanic beliefs of infanticide and utter slavery over people, be any different?
 
I recently read an article from Michael Wear, a man who directed religious outreach for the Obama campaign in 2012, who warned 2020 Democrat candidates not to assume their extreme positions on abortion were mainstream in any way, shape, manner or form. That even Democrat voters aren’t quite that extreme about that stuff and if they continue to embrace their positions, they give good reason for Trump to call them out on their desire to execute babies (and he is right to do so, since that is exactly what they are doing).
 
But not a single one of them is willing to back off on that issue and maybe allow for some amount of restriction (something the vast majority of Americans want). The reason for this is multifaceted. First, the Leftist media, Hollywood and Twitter extremists will castigate them and rip them to shreds for letting off the gas on this issue. If they appear to be in any way compromising, they essentially become “owners of women’s bodies”. And while the far-Left is not the majority, by far, they are very loud and their megaphones are turned up even louder by social media, who are also extremists in their own right.
 
Secondly and finally, they are children of Satan, not of God. They have spent the better part of the last century trying to diminish the impact of Christianity and the Lord. Everything from banning God in the classroom to commercializing Christmas (and policing speech by forcing a switch to “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”) to removing God from the 2012 DNC platform and most recently, getting rid of “so help me God” from U.S. House Committee oaths earlier in the year has been a rather open attack and war against God and Christianity in America.
 
The 6th Commandment says “You shall not murder”. When a human fetus is brutally separated from his or her mother and the life that was growing inside that womb is eliminated, what other thing can we possibly call that apart from murder? And yet, this is the position the Left holds: kill the babies that are unwanted by the mother, regardless of anything else. A father wishes to save his child? Doesn’t matter if the mother doesn’t want the child. A mentally slow woman wishes to have a child? Doesn’t matter if the judicial system doesn’t think she is fit for motherhood and the most reasonable and logical course of action would be abortion.
 
Not one 2020 Democrat knows God. Even the gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana doesn’t know Him despite what he might say. All of them defy the Lord openly, hate Him vehemently, and seek to force that way of thinking on everyone else. The only Christian that would be willing to vote for them is a Christian that is absolutely not paying attention to the world around them at all or someone who isn’t a Christian at all, just says he is outwardly.
 
That’s not to say they can’t be changed by the Lord should He choose to. I used to be rather socially liberal about some things (particularly homosexuality and gay marriage) and would still call myself a Christian at the time. But by no means was I actually a good or knowledgeable Christian. Jesus was still my Lord and Savior at the time (still is, don’t misunderstand) and the Holy Spirit fully entered my heart, but my Christianity was in its infancy. I did not, at the time, understand why God forbade this or that, just knew that He did and wondered why. But I ultimately understood why He forbids these things: they are sinful and the Lord can’t stand even the sight of sin.
 
I used to think Man was naturally good until I understood that he absolutely is not. So Christianity is most certainly a journey not only of the soul, but of the mind. I say this because there may be some people out there who might take offense at being told they were not Christian who might disagree with SOME of the things I am saying. But the truth is that true Christians will abhor abortion, hate law-breakers and understand that while Trump isn’t perfect (obviously, since Jesus is the only One who is perfect), he is far closer to someone like King David (sins and all), who loved the Lord, than someone like Stalin, who hated the God he claimed not to believe in.
 
When looking at the Democrat field, and most Democrats in general, even the ones not running for President, I see the type of Stalinist bigots who would love nothing more than to send people like us to the gulags. No true Christian would support anything the Democrats have been supporting recently. Which is why I hang my head in shame whenever I read that some churches gave illegals sanctuary prior to ICE raids or that some Christians hate the fact that a Virginia pastor actually had the audacity to pray for the President. Such people are not Christians, in reality.
 
They may call themselves that and show outward expressions of faith, but the Lord is not in their hearts.
 
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
 
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Author: Freddie Marinelli.

Within the last few days, I (and likely others as well) have heard of two stories from two different campaigns: Beto O’Rourke campaigning IN MEXICO, despite the obvious fact that not one Mexican citizen is bound (or allowed) to vote either in the Democrat primaries or the 2020 election, and the other story of the Trump campaign trying their hardest to reach the evangelical vote.
 
While Beto O’Rourke is campaigning in Mexico (in what is obviously an attempt at securing illegal immigrant votes States-side), the President is trying to reach those of us who follow the Lord.
 
According to Axios, a Trump campaign advisor told them: “There is a significant evangelical outreach effort. It’s going to be state specific. It’s going to exist in important battleground states and focus on churches and areas where we can have an impact. African American outreach will be a component of that… It’s robust, and it will be well-funded.”
 
Another campaign official told Axios that “this is about finding voters,” and Axios reported that in 2016, Trump got 81% of the evangelical vote. As it stands right now, the Pew Research Center says that 69% of evangelicals think the President is doing a good job.
 
Governing.com also reported that evangelicals have moved closer to Trump since his 2016 victory:
 
“Exit polls showed that 75 percent cast their ballots for Republican candidates. That number includes evangelicals of all ages, but surveys taken shortly before the election showed that 78 percent of white evangelicals ages 18 to 29 identified as Republican. ‘Did we see white evangelicals moving toward the middle of the political spectrum in 2018? Clearly no,’ says Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University (and a Baptist minister). ‘White evangelicals are more Republican now than they were two years ago.’”
 
Burge also noted that the percentage of evangelicals rose in 45 states from 2000 to 2010, coming largely from a rise in Latino evangelicals in states like Arizona, Florida, Maryland and Ohio.
 
And back in May, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said that evangelicals and Trump are so close because “there’s a mutual respect. I think they have a good relationship because of the fact that he has delivered on the promises he made during the campaign.”
 
And there’s certainly a lot to that. As far as other Republicans go, the ones that do not keep their promises, like that snake Paul Ryan, seriously tick us off because he was essentially doing the Left’s bidding, which is far from good for the country. We respect Trump because he actually keeps his promises and is legitimately making America great again, despite all the hurdles in his way.
 
Now, I know what rather hypocritical Leftists will say about this: “how can evangelicals support Trump? He likes to grab women by their privates! He has had affairs on his wives and has been married three times! He is far from a man after God’s own heart!” To which I say: while the Access Hollywood tape of him saying what he said was definitely not a nice thing to say, it was locker room talk and he has never actually sexually assaulted or harassed any woman. While he has had affairs with his wives (his second wife was his mistress while he was married to Ivana), while there’s the whole Stormy Daniels thing (which I don’t fully believe anyway), and while those things are certainly sinful and not right, what is important to understand is whether or not Donald Trump has asked for forgiveness for his sins.
 
Which brings me to the last one, about him not being a man after God’s own heart. The biblically-illiterate Left will be quick to judge, but slow to understand, but David, while anointed as a man after God’s own heart by the Lord Himself, eventually sinned greatly by sleeping with one of his most loyal soldier’s wife, Bathsheba, and then plotted to send said soldier off to die in battle to keep his sins buried.
 
The story of King David would be seen as a massive fall from grace if it weren’t for the fact that much of the book of Psalms is about David’s recognition and repentance of his sins, begging for God’s forgiveness and eventually receiving it.
 
And that’s what is important: to be forgiven by the Lord. What Trump did decades ago, or even a few years ago, is irrelevant if he has asked for forgiveness from Jesus Christ.
 
What’s more, what he did in the past is greatly overshadowed by the atrocities the Left advocates for TODAY.
 
I’ll take a former adulterer who cares for this country and loves the Lord over a current advocate for death, lust, obscenity and evil who hates this country and wishes for nothing more than to see it turn into the antithesis of what the founders intended.
 
President Trump has flaws, yes, but that comes naturally as HE IS HUMAN TOO! And while there may be evangelical NeverTrumpers like David French who honestly can’t see past Trump’s former mistakes and judges him on those things as a result (not exactly a very Christian thing to do either), most recognize that if we were to wait for the perfect candidate to show up to run for President, we would literally have to wait for rapture to occur because no one is perfect apart from the Lord.
 
And believe me, Jesus Christ wouldn’t run for President of the United States, as He already is the King of all the Earth and Heaven.
 
The fact that President Trump is trying this hard to get the evangelical vote (which will almost certainly go to him over anyone on the Left who currently advocate for literally demonic things) shows us who he wants to be part of his base.
 
Evangelicals love the Lord, love this country and love Trump in that order. And the reason they (we, really, as I’m also a Christian) love Trump is because he ALSO loves the Lord and this country. Whatever mistake he may have done in the past is forgiven provided he has asked for said forgiveness (and I have no reason to believe he hasn’t).
 
The entire story of the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, is a story of redemption. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord, God has provided salvation after salvation for His people – all of them with a similar theme: have faith in the Lord.
 
It was Noah’s faith that saved him from God’s wrath during the flood. It was Abraham’s faith that saved him. It was Lot’s faith that saved his family (minus his wife, who disobeyed God) from the judgment over Sodom. It was Moses’ and the Israelites faith that saved them from Pharaoh. And it is all of our faith in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, that saves us from God’s judgment. Sola Gratia and Sola Fide. By grace alone, we are saved through faith alone.
 
Even the most spiteful of humans to ever exist can be saved if he or she were to place their faith in the Lord Jesus. Even every single person on the Democrat ticket who currently advocates for Satan’s wish list could be saved if they were to place their faith in Jesus Christ. Granted, that is not likely to happen as it stands, and it is up to the Lord to choose whom He shows mercy, so it is possible none of them will be saved (and no, Buttigieg is not a Christian, he is not saved, no matter how much he tries to say he is a Christian. Outward proclamation of faith does not always equal actual faith).
 
So it really doesn’t matter what Donald Trump did in his past. As long as he has repented of his sins, he has been forgiven by the Lord. As a result, I see no reason not to forgive him myself for those things. So as far as his reelection campaign goes, I, along with many other Christians, will be voting for President Trump.
 
1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
 
And please make sure to check out our free weekly newsletter. As the name suggests, it is a newsletter that comes completely free of charge. What you get is a compilation of the week’s articles sent right into your inbox. So make sure to check it out today!
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.

The thing that is so surprising about this is not the fact that the NYT found that the happiest wives in America are religious conservatives but that the New York Times actually reported on this at all. As far as their actual findings go, I say they make an awful lot of sense.
 
Researchers W. Bradford Wilcox, Jason S. Carroll and Laurie DeRose wrote that “Fully 73 percent of wives who hold conservative gender values and attend religious services regularly with their husbands have high-quality marriages.”
 
“When it comes to relationship quality, there is a J-curve in women’s marital happiness, with women on the left and the right enjoying higher quality marriages than those in the middle – but especially wives on the right,” read the report.
 
Yes, they found that following the 73% of religious conservative women who are happy with their marriages are their political counterparts: religious progressive wives. Basically, the categories are conservative women who are religious (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.); conservative women who are not religious; progressive women who are religious (which is kind of an oxymoron); and progressive women who are utterly secular.
 
The report finds that married couples who are in the middle, both in terms of religion and political ideology, are less likely to experience a high-quality marriage:
 
“We suspect that part of their relative unhappiness, compared with religiously conservative women, is that they don’t enjoy the social, emotional and practical support for family life provided by a church, mosque or synagogue. We also suspect that these groups are less likely to have husbands who have made the transition to the ‘new father’ ideal that’s gained currency in modern America – and they’re not happy with their partners’ disengagement.”
 
While 73% of religious conservative women are happy in their marriages, they are followed by religious progressive wives (60%), secular liberal wives (55%) and then comes the considerable minority of secular, non-political wives (33%).
 
The report says that the central reason for religious conservative and progressive wives’ happiness was devoted husbands and fathers:
 
“In listening to the happiest secular progressive wives and their religiously conservative counterparts, we noticed something they share in common: devoted family men. Both feminism and faith give family men a clear code: They are supposed to play a big role in their kids’ lives. Devoted dads are de rigueur in these two communities. And it shows. Both culturally progressive and religiously conservative fathers report high levels of paternal engagement.”
 
This one, I find interesting, and I think it makes a lot of sense. Despite the differences in political ideology, both feminist men and religious men have their own reasons to spend time with their kids. For feminist men, the reason is their belief that they ought to be perfectly equal to their wives, and that includes raising their children equally. For religious men (I will largely be speaking for Christian men, as I am not all that certain about how Muslim or Jewish families would interact, more so Muslim ones), the reason is that Scripture tells us we ought to be a big part of our children’s lives.
 
There are many places in the Bible where we are taught to teach our children, both in the Old and the New Testaments. Proverbs 22:6 says: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
 
Ephesians 6:4 says: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
 
One of the most memorable verses and moments for this type of situation comes in the Book of Deuteronomy, in the 6th Chapter. Shortly after Moses delivered the 10 Commandments to the Jewish people, he said in Deuteronomy 6:6-7: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk away, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
 
So God commands us to teach our children the ways of the Lord, the Word of God, and to raise them right. As a result, a good, Christian husband and father will spend time with his children, which in turn makes their wives very happy. And as they say, a happy wife is a happy life.
 
But returning to the actual report, I think the biggest reason for such happiness is not necessarily because of the work the husbands do in the marriage when it comes to raising the children (though that plays a big factor), but because both religious conservative and religious progressive women set some sort of path, or purpose, within the marriage.
 
Matt Walsh from The Daily Wire puts it this way: “The secular understanding of marriage is that it’s a union between two people who love each other…” and he poses fair questions surrounding that belief such as “what happens when that love is no longer there?” and more specifically “why do you need marriage for love?”
 
Back when the issue of gay marriage was at the forefront of the political world, one of the arguments often posed is that we should “let people who love each other get married to show that love”. But the problem here is that marriage is not about a union of two people who love each other (and I’m hard-pressed to believe people aren’t conflating lust with love in this scenario). Marriage is a holy union (why it’s called “holy matrimony”) in the eyes of the Lord. That is where marriage comes from, after all. A marriage certificate isn’t what tells someone they are married (legally, yes, but not necessarily in the eyes of the Lord). A union that is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord is a marriage.
 
For example, look at Genesis 24:67, after Rebekah was taken to Isaac by Abraham’s servant: “Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her…”
 
It mentions that Isaac loved Rebekah, and I have no doubt that he did, but they literally just met and she became his wife because the Lord found it to be not only an acceptable marriage but entirely ordained as well. She was supposed to be Isaac’s wife that she might give birth to Esau and Jacob. I can assure you they did not receive a marriage certificate to make it official and their marriage was not simply a union of two people who loved each other.
 
Returning to Matt Walsh’s point, he says that “Religion grants a higher purpose to marriage. Religious people know that their vows have been consecrated by God; that they are now taking part in something bigger that themselves.”
 
And it’s that last part where we can also find another similarity between a religious conservative married couple and a progressive one. Both couples believe they are taking part in something bigger than themselves. To the religious conservative couple, that is holy matrimony in the eyes of the Creator and sovereign King of the universe. To the progressive couple, that is the union of two like-minded people who wish to be part of a larger global community (supposedly for good).
 
But one can still notice the considerable gap between religious progressive wives and religious conservative wives. A 13-point difference is hard to ignore. And while this comes as no honest surprise to me, there were plenty of people on social media who refused to accept this.
 
For example, one Twitter user replied to the NYT’s tweet by saying: “I know Christians from having been in the evangelical church for 20 awful years of my life. Several different ones, different denominations. But all the same. Full of hate. Full of fear. Pretending everything is okay for fear that being ungrateful will make them lose everything.”
 
While I am not sure I would count myself as an “evangelical” (though I do like Billy and Franklin Graham), they are Christians all the same and this really tries to speak for Christians as a whole, but it only shows this man’s own hatred. It is unfortunate that after 20 years of going to church he did not receive the Holy Spirit at any point (granted, some churches do suck so it depends on the pastor and the congregation, but still), otherwise he would understand that there is nothing but love to be had with Jesus Christ and the only fear Christians have is the fear of the Lord. But unlike what many think, it is not an unhealthy fear, but rather, a healthy one.
 
Similar to how you respect and fear your parents (especially the punishments you would receive upon doing something bad), we Christians hold nothing but respect for our Father and fear His Wrath, but know we would not receive it, and be spared, by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior. His Wrath only falls on unrepentant sinners, not on the repentant ones. What fear Christians have is not the same type of fear people in Venezuela or North Korea or Russia have, where they feel like they are under constant threat by an evil dictator who will punish them for the most ridiculous of reasons. God is Just, Man is not.
 
This is something Christians understand and find happiness and joy as a result. If people pretend things are okay when they are not, it is not out of “fear that being ungrateful will make them lose everything.” What will make people lose everything would be turning away from God, as this man has done.
 
Another Twitter user said: “This is hilarious. They all asked their spouses if it was ok to answer the survey in the first place. Then they made it a dinner table conversation to make sure they answered the questions correctly. I know evangelicals. Women do not have separate lives.”
 
Someone is rather salty that they are not as happy as religious conservative wives are. First, that’s rather insulting to the wives, isn’t it? The idea that religious wives are essentially slaves to their husbands is ridiculous (well, outside of Islam, at least). And as far as “separate lives” goes, I take that to mean separate lives away from their husbands and family, to which I would say: does a career make a woman happy? Happier than a happy marriage and family?
 
I can assure you the women that say their careers make them happy largely do not have families of their own. And what’s more, 66% of divorced couples in the U.S. do not have children, according to Smart Marriages. So children also bring about some unique happiness to wives. So they might not have “separate lives”, but the lives they do have are far better than many others’.
 
When a wife has a devoted husband, has children of her own and they are engaged in a marriage that is centered around God, the wife will tend to be considerably happier than people who are not in such relationships. As you can see, many people hate that and consider that to be fake news, but it makes complete and total sense to me.
 
When your life is focused on God, you tend to be happier than someone who is not focused on God. That happiness is multiplied when that focus is shared with someone else.
 
Again, not surprising to me.
 
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
And please make sure to check out our free weekly newsletter. As the name suggests, it is a newsletter that comes completely free of charge. What you get is a compilation of the week’s articles sent right into your inbox. So make sure to check it out today!
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.