The Dangers of False Teaching

Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.” (Jeremiah 14:14)

Prominent theologian Thomas A Howe once rightly observed that if we cannot trust the Word of God in earthly matters, then how can we trust the Word of God when it speaks on spiritual or heavenly matters?

One of the chief threats to authentic Christianity is post-modernity’s belief that we can create our own truths. If we mix this precept with the cultural zeitgeist of the day and political correctness, what we end up with is a toxic potion which threatens the very foundation of the Church.

From 7-11 July, the Church of England will convene its General Synod in York. Among the issues being debated will be Jayne Ozanne’s Private Member’s Motion on banning therapy for people with unwanted same-sex attraction. It reads:

That this Synod:

(a) Endorse the statement of 16 January 2017 signed by The UK Council for Psychotherapy, The Royal College of General Practitioners and others that the practice of conversion therapy has no place in the modern world, is unethical, harmful and not supported by evidence; and

(b) Call upon the Archbishops’ Council to become a co-signatory to the statement on behalf of the Church of England.’

Let me be very clear: Jayne Ozanne is acting in her exclusive capacity as a homosexual rights advocate, not on behalf of the Church, but in order to undermine the Church. Her disdain for authentic Christianity can be found in her published material on so-called ‘spiritual abuse’.

Spiritual abuse is a very serious matter, no allegation of which should be made lightly. But according to Jayne Ozanne, spiritual abuse can be just about anything found in orthodox Christianity that she doesn’t agree with: promoting purity before marriage, preaching that sexual expression belongs within life-long marriage between one man and one woman, or therapeutic help to deal with unwanted same-sex attraction.

Jayne Ozanne specifically targets Church of England churches belonging to the charismatic movement, such as HTB and Soul Survivor, as well as healing ministries such as Ellel and Living Waters. She appears to claim that spiritual gifts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and even raising hands in worship, can be considered spiritual abuse.

Healing ministries singled out by Ms Ozanne in her published material facilitate ministry for all aspects of our broken human nature (including our sexuality). They take seriously Jesus’ John 10:10 claim that He came to bring us life, and life to the full. We surrender our broken desires at the foot of the cross, and He, faithful to those who wholeheartedly seek Him, will bring about healing. But it requires saying ‘Not my will, Oh Lord, but yours be done.’ It is little wonder, then, that Ms Ozanne would claim such ministries are operating abusively.

But the larger question here is why someone participating in the General Synod is even permitted to pursue a Private Member’s Motion which would do enormous damage to the Church’s teaching on biblical sexuality.

There are any number of valid reasons that an individual would seek help with unwanted same-sex attraction – loving Jesus passionately and wanting to be faithful to Him and His teaching, maintaining a heterosexual marriage and preventing a family breakup, or to maintain vows of religious celibacy, to name only a few.

The notion that therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction is harmful and lacking in evidence is simply not true. There is a modern-day adage that no one wants to do any research, they just want to be right. Sadly, this sentiment seems to pervade Jayne Ozanne’s proposed Private Member’s Motion.

Just this year, The New Atlantis, devoted an entire journal to the subjects surrounding sexuality and gender and published the extensive findings of Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer and Dr. Paul R. McHugh of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

These findings refute many of the claims made by LGBT activists. They state that sexual orientation is not an innate biologically fixed trait; that sexual orientation can be particularly fluid throughout adolescence; and that environment, not genetics, plays the largest part in determining same-sex attraction.

It’s a hard truth, but I believe that one of the reasons we have same-sex ‘marriage’ in this nation is because the Church remained silent. By doing so, whether willingly or not, she was complicit in the mainstreaming of homosexual behaviour.

This same Church is now giving a national platform to ideologies which want to destroy biblical Christianity. The Synod is also to debate a motion called ‘Welcoming Transgender People’, which will consider introducing transgender ‘baptisms’ to ‘reaffirm’ those who have decided to identify as the opposite gender to which they are born. This is nothing short of a heretical assault on God’s creation ordinance and the very meaning of baptism.

These ideologies are a poison seeping into the very roots of the Church, and if left unchecked, the roots will rot. We must recognise Jayne Ozanne’s Private Member’s Motion for the deception that it is, and the existential threat that it poses.

Love does not mean celebrating our neighbour’s behaviour no matter how much it offends God’s Word. Love sometimes means flipping a few money changers’ tables in the temple.

This is precisely the task we have before us, to cleanse the proverbial temple. I urge all members of the General Synod to stand against this Private Member’s Motion and all that it represents.

Here is Andrea Williams speaking about the truth of marriage at the General Synod

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5Dk0CSAyrM?rel=0]

What If You Had One Week to Live?

If I could save time in a bottle,The first thing that I’d like to do Is to save every day till eternity passes away, Just to spend them with you.

In 1972, Jim Croce was a young singer/songwriter just beginning to ride the wave of national stardom. He was also a young father whose heart was full of love for his one-year-old boy.

Jim’s music career demanded him being away from his son more than he was with him, which was hard. He could feel the brief, unretrievable time he had to enjoy his wonderful child whipping by. So Jim expressed his parental longing in his touching song, “Time In a Bottle.”

In the song’s chorus, he expressed an angst we all understand:

There never seems to be enough time To do the things you want to do Once you find them.

Jim knew he didn’t have an eternity of time with his boy. But he had less time than he knew. On September 21, 1973, Jim died in a plane crash. He was 30 years old.

Numbering Our Days

Time is short. We know that. But it’s shorter than we know. Moses said our lives are “like grass that is renewed in the morning [and] in the evening it fades and withers” (Psalm 90:5–6). Even if we reach old age,

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10)

To give us some perspective on how brief our grass-like lives are, Moses compares our time with God’s:

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4)

A thousand years are like yesterday. Perhaps Peter was paraphrasing Moses when he wrote, “with the Lord . . . a thousand years [is] as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

So, let’s think about this. If we live 70 years, our days will be 25,500. Or “if by reason of strength” we live 80 years, our days will be 29,200. As I write this, I have lived just over 18,900 days. John Piper’s lived just over 25,900. Steve Jobs’ days were just under 21,000. Jim Croce’s just over 11,200.

Now, think about it like this. If 1,000 of our years are like one day to God, then a person who dies at age 80 only lives 8% of one God-day. That’s less than two hours in one twenty-four-hour day. That’s short.

But if we use Moses’s “night watch” metaphor, our comparative lives are even shorter. In Moses’s day, a watch in the night was three hours. So if 1,000 of our years are like 3 hours to God, then an 80-year life span is less than 15 minutes of one God-day. Jim Croce lived five minutes.

How many minutes do think you have? You don’t know. And no matter how many you have, they aren’t many.

God Must Teach Us

When we really begin to feel the brevity of our lives, we often lament that there never seems to be enough time do the things we want to do. We also recognize we’ve wasted precious days we’ll never get back, and this makes us want to live differently.

But waking up to the reality of mortality does not itself produce wisdom. It can, in fact, produce great foolishness, and end up wasting even more life. Fear of missing out on life is often at the root of a mid-life crisis that destroys a family. It’s often at the bottom of “bucket lists” that values ephemeral, exotic, adventurous, and exciting experiences above nurturing real love for real people.

Moses knew waking up to death’s fierce reality did not itself lead people to live wisely. That’s why he prayed,

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

Numbering our days is not enough. We need God, the author of life, to teach us what numbering our days really means. We need God to teach us what our few days are for, so we steward them well. Then we will have a heart of wisdom.

The Heart of Wisdom

What exactly is wisdom? God tells us through Job: “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (Job 28:28).

And what exactly is the fear of the Lord? God tells us through Solomon: “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil” (Proverbs 8:13).

And what is evil? God tells us through the author of Hebrews: “an unbelieving heart” (Hebrews 3:12). At root, all moral evil is unbelief in God and any action that results from it, for “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

So then, a heart of wisdom fears the Lord to such a degree that it refuses to exchange the truth about God for a lie (Romans 1:25). A heart of wisdom trusts God’s promises and his wise governance over all of life, and does not trust its limited, fickle perceptions, nor shiny, empty worldly deceptions.

A heart of wisdom fears losing the joy-producing treasure of God himself so much, it sees unbelief as a thief who only steals, kills, and destroys life.

The Reward of Wisdom

Earthly life is short, perhaps far shorter that we expect. It’s too short to waste trying to do all the things we want to do.

We must not just number our days; we must ask God to teach us to number our days. Because if we number them on our terms, we will likely grab for life in food or clothes (Matthew 6:25), or “bucket list” experiences, or career achievements, or even loved ones, only to find in the end that life wasn’t in any of those things or people. Our numbering won’t produce a heart of wisdom.

If we want to “take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:19), we must take hold of eternal life, “and this life is in [God’s] Son” (1 John 5:11). “Life is Christ” (Philippians 1:21), and “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). Which is why the one great work God wants us to focus on is that we believe in his Son (John 6:29).

A heart of wisdom is a heart that learns that life is not how much we can earn, achieve, or experience in our few days of life on earth; life is wholeheartedly trusting the Life (John 14:6). A heart of wisdom learns that the only thing that wastes life is unbelief.

And the reward of a heart of wisdom is eternity, where there is no need to bottle time, where there will be an abundance of time to do the things we want to do, and a God-provided bucket list so long it will take an eternity to complete.

History of Teenagers

I am sure that you remember that Jesus once said about little children “of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” One of the things he meant was that just as small children believe and trust everything that their parents tell them, so Christians (those who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven) believe and trust their Heavenly King. Of course, a child may be deceived or mislead by his parents but Christians are always safe when they trust their all-wise, all-good Heavenly Father.

But children do not stay like this do they? They become adults who no longer need to refer to their parents for information and advice all the time (although, of course, wise adults still do this – sometimes frequently). Children lose the trusting attitude that Jesus was talking about. This does not happen over-night. No one goes to bed a child and wakes up an adult in the morning!

Not that long ago (1939-1945 is not really long ago in the history of the world) there was a terrible war. As in all wars, children suffered as well as adults. In this country and in America some children lost their fathers in battle and in this country some lost their homes as a result of enemy bombing and some lost their lives for the same reason.

All children in Britain suffered some disruption, many were evacuated (moved to safe areas away from their homes and parents), some had a very interrupted education, all felt the effects of rationing (food was very plain and there was only just enough) there were no almost toys in the shops and new clothes were rationed.

When the war ended, families which had been separated because the father was in the armed forces were reunited. Young men returned from the forces and got married. For all these reasons lots of new babies arrived. So many, in fact, that this is often referred to as the “baby boom”!

The parents of these new babies had usually grown up during the war. They felt that their childhood had been spoilt by the war, no toys, no sweets, rationing etc. They were glad their own children would have a much better childhood and they set to work to provide them with as many good things as they could.

Time went on and the baby boom children began to get older. They had more pocket money than their parents had ever had and there were now all sorts of lovely things that they could buy. They had what is called “disposable income.”

Disposable income is money which people have that they can spend as they please. You know that your father earns a wage or salary. Of course, he cannot just go out and spend it on whatever he likes. He has to pay the cost of buying or renting a home, he has to pay central and local government taxes; he has to pay for electricity, gas, water, and other services as well as food, clothes and so on. He also has to put some money aside for emergencies and provide some money for a pension for when he is too old to work.

When all these expenses have been met there might be some money left over. Your father has to work very hard for his money and you may be sure that if he has any disposable income he does not spend it without taking thought. The “baby-boom” children, however, had not earned any money yet. They were given (relatively speaking) lots of pocket money and they were eager to spend it.

At the same time, clever manufacturers began to notice that there was quite a bit of money in the hands of youngsters. They also realised that it was a lot easier to get inexperienced young people to part with money than it was to get it from experienced adults. Young children were more controlled by their parents in what money they spent but young people from about the age of thirteen could be easily lured into spending.

The Bible explains that young people are especially vulnerable. They can be tempted by flashy lifestyles and pleasures. Those who devised the culture soon discovered that selling recordings of “pop groups” to this age group was a very successful way to make money.

The “groups” who produced the music for these records did not have to have any particular musical talent. Instead they relied on outrageous hair styles, clothes and manners. The words of the songs were specially designed to appeal to the sins which most tempt young people, especially rebellion against parents in particular and authority in general. Of course, the singers who urged these sinful attitudes were young themselves.

Like Rehoboam in the Bible, young people were urged to listen to the advice of those of their own age, not to old fashioned counsellors such as their parents. A driving, pulsating beat was the characteristic of the music and it was used because this fills the mind and carries the listener along without any effort on his part.

Fashion in clothes was also used. Fashions began to change quickly and a culture developed in which if young people did not have exactly the right up to date clothes they felt uncomfortable and “out of things”.

This is the background against which the use of the word “teenager” became current in Britain. Originating in the USA (“Teenage” ‒ the adjective ‒ first appeared in in a Canadian publication as early as 1921.) it was in the 1940s that the noun “teen-ager” appeared.

It exactly suited the post war pop-culture-mongers. Children longed to become teenagers. Teenagers had their own style of fashionable clothes, their own special music and it was all sold to them by people who recognised an easy way to make money out of gently leading children into sin.

And sure enough, hard on the heels of pop culture came the use of harmful addictive drugs (often associated with and subtly promoted by the pop songs) which gave the users strange experiences. A generation of “teenagers” grew up, who had been taught to be selfish, who were over-indulged and who were used to having their own way. It would take too long to go into details of all the misery which followed.

The pop groups promoted the idea that normal family life was old fashioned (old fashioned – “square” they used to call it – was the worst thing you could be in this culture) burdensome and unpleasant.

Young people should be free to “love” each other without restrictions such as marriage they said. So sin upon sin was urged on these “teenagers” until the generation whose parents had fondly imagined was going to be so much happier than their own war-torn generation was sunk in sin and misery.

Money is still being made out of “teenagers” in this way. What should be a Christian response to all this? Christians old and young should strive to have a child-like spirit.

Christian young people should be very sensitive to the need to obey parents, be modest in dress, and careful to maintain masculine feminine distinctions in dress and behaviour as well as being neat and tidy and not indulging in day dreaming about boy-girl relationships until they are of an age and in a position to consider marriage.

This is especially the case when you are moving into those years of your life which the world (for its own commercial reasons) calls “teenage” and which the Bible warns about as a serious danger-spot for the unwary.

The Bible has much to say about those whom the world calls “teenagers”. It does not use the word, of course because in had not been invented in 1611 when the English translation of the Bible was made.

In Psalm 25 v.7 the Psalmist looks back on his “teenage” years. How he regrets his “teenage” behaviour and longs for God’s forgiveness! In Ecclesiastes 11 v.9 to 12 v. 1 the preacher (wise King Solomon) gives a serious reminder that we will be held to account for our “teenage” behaviour. The world often speaks as if “teenage” folly and sin will be left behind when we grow out if it and that we will not suffer the consequences. Alas, this is not so.

There are eternal consequences for unrepented sin and also consequences in this life that we do not dream of at the time. The world is full of smashed and broken lives – lives that were lured into “teenage” sin years ago.

The Apostle Paul is even more blunt and pleads with us to “flee youthful (we might say “teenage”) lusts.” Teenagers are very vulnerable to lust and ultimately it is lust that is commercially exploited by the pop music industry, the fashion industry, and the television and film industry – much of which is directly aimed at “teenagers.”

We cannot flee without prayerful determination not to be involved in fashion and music which deliberately promotes an ungodly lifestyle for commercial gain.

Find and read:

Psalm 25 v. 7

Ecclesiastes 11 v. 9 to 12 v.1.

2 Tim. 2 v. 22.

Read the story of Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12 vv. 1 – 16.

A Prophetic Picture of America

It was the act of only one man who drove his vehicle into a Ten Commandments monument in Arkansas, but it reflected the sentiments of a growing number of Americans: “We do not want the Ten Commandments in our midst, nor do we want the God of the Ten Commandments in our midst.” In that sense, the destructive act of this individual reflected the attitude of tens of millions of Americans. This is not simply a decreased interest in the Bible and the God of the Bible. This is outright rebellion.

Enough with God’s laws and standards. Enough with His moral principles. Enough with His prohibitions of idolatry and adultery and murder.

We will do what we want to do, when we want to do it, and no law – or God – will tell us otherwise.

The America we want must have no connection to its Judeo-Christian roots, no connection to the moral values of many of its Founders, no connection to the Scriptures which so influenced their thinking.

We will worship created things more than the Creator, and we will be full of covetousness and greed. We want our idolatry.

We will have sex with whomever we want to, whenever we want to, in any combination and sequence. And if we so desire, we will call these relationships “marriage,” and neither God nor man will tell us anything different. We want our adultery.

We will kill our babies in the womb if we so choose, and anyone who defies our wishes will be trampled underfoot with derision and scorn. We want our murder.

Yes, we will do what we want to do when we want to do it. We declare ourselves free.

Ironically, the man in question, Michael Tate Reed, who livestreamed on Facebook as he drove his vehicle onto the Arkansas statehouse lawn, allegedly yelled “Freedom!” as he crashed into the Ten Commandments monument less than 24 hours after it was erected. (He was previously charged with a similar attack on a Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma in 2014.)

The reality is, the more we depart from God’s laws, the more we find ourselves in bondage, far less free than we were before. Rather than shouting “Freedom!”, Reed should have shouted, “Bondage! Self-destruction! Captivity! Decline!”

Reed claimed that such monuments are a violation of the separation of church and state, a phrase not found in the Constitution (something that seems to have escaped Justice Sotamayor this week) and, more importantly, a phrase that meant the opposite of what Reed envisions.

In truth, the so-called wall of separation was there to keep the State out of the Church, not the Church out of the State. And the idea that having a public Ten Commandments display would be a violation of American principles would be totally foreign to our Founders.

While doing research for my new book, Saving a Sick America: A Prescription for Moral and Cultural Reformation (due out in September), I was struck by how big a role the Bible played in early American education, from the colonies to the late 1800’s. I was also struck by how deeply biblical principles influenced our Founders, even though they did not want America to be a theocracy.

In other words, they were not trying to impose the biblical faith on the nation (which certainly included a significant minority of irreligious people, even back then), nor were they trying to impose biblical morality on the populace by judicial decree. Instead, many of the Founders were convinced that the Bible was filled with practical wisdom and that God’s commands brought life, not death. To the extent we would embrace these principles as a Democratic Republic, the better.

Consider this extraordinary quote from our second president, John Adams: “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. Every member would be obliged in conscience to temperance and frugality and industry, to justice and kindness and charity towards his fellow men, and to piety and love, and reverence towards Almighty God.

In this commonwealth, no man would impair his health by gluttony, drunkenness, or lust—no man would sacrifice his most precious time to cards, or any other trifling and mean amusement—no man would steal or rile or any way defraud his neighbor, but would live in peace and good will with all men—no man would blaspheme his maker or profane his worship, but a rational and manly, a sincere and unaffected piety and devotion would reign in all hearts. What a utopia, what a paradise would this region be.” (This quote, along with those that follow, is found in Saving a Sick America, with attribution.)

Today we are told that the Bible is an evil book and the God of the Bible an evil, bigoted, petty tyrant. Such tyrants deserve our scorn. That is that attitude aflame in many American hearts today.

In sharp contrast, Samuel Adams, one of the leaders of the American Revolution, stated that the rights of the colonists “may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the great Law-giver and head of the Christian Church [Jesus], which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.”

Because of that, Adams could say, “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they can not be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or eternal invader.”

Michael Reed not only represents that “general dissolution of principles and manners.” He articulates it in a full, frontal assault, thereby speaking for millions of Americans.

We do best to quickly re-erect that Ten Commandments monument and, more importantly, recapture the life-giving beauty of God’s commandments in our own hearts and lives. That is the only hope of our nation.

The Watchman and His Message

I will stand upon my post of observation and station myself on the tower or fortress, and will watch to see what He will say within me and what answer I will make as His mouthpiece to the perplexities of my complaint against Him. (Habakkuk 2:1)

Habakkuk was a prophet called to minister to God’s people at a crucial time in the history of the nation of Judah. The Babylonian empire was growing and threatening to engulf the entire neighboring states of the Middle East, including Judah. Habakkuk decides to seek God.

He complains that the he called on the Lord and yet the Lord has not responded. He has cried out concerning the violence and destruction coming upon the land; the strife and the conflict that he sees. He tells God how all Israel’s laws are paralyzed because the wicked pervert justice all the time.

The Lord replies that He is raising up the Babylonian empire against His people to bring judgement on them. Habakkuk’s reply is that this is hardly fair because Babylon is even more wicked than God’s people. The Lord, however, had no intention of ignoring the sins of Babylon. It is just that judgement begins with the household of God.

Habakkuk took his station on the ramparts; he was a watchman, alert to what God was doing, questioning the Lord and receiving revelation about the times in which he lived. Like him we need to be taking up our positions, watching what God is doing among the nations and praying according to His revealed will.

It is no use praying for peace and prosperity if God is sending His judgement. We need to be able to see what God is doing and not make a god out of our own comfort, putting our needs and considerations first. God’s purposes are far higher than that. It’s not that the Lord isn’t concerned about our needs but the greatest agenda is to see His image honored, His kingdom come and His will done.

Key Functions of a Watchman

One of the key functions of a watchman was to guard the city. He was the first of defence because he was high up; he could see what was coming, things still out of sight to those who lived within the city walls. When enemy troops approach, the watchman can see them when they are still far off.

He is able to warn the inhabitants of the city so that they can get ready to defend themselves. The city cannot be taken by surprise and routed. Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain (Psalm 127:1).

The Lord is the real Watchman. So to try to watch in our strength is fruitless; we are called to watch with Him in the Spirit through prayer and intercession. Just as watchmen were stationed to protect the city so we, watching with the Lord, are stationed to protect key ministries and events in the body of Christ.

Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ defeated Satan at the cross. He has been conquered but we are still fighting him. Why? This is because Satan is defeated but not yet fully bound. Scripture makes it clear that the time for his utter destruction will come but we are living in an interim period.

Wherever men and women take their stand for the Lord they become special targets of the enemy. This is especially true of the leaders who are particularly effective in the Lord’s service. If you see any Christian being powerfully used of God in any way at all, pray for them. Cover them and give them all the spiritual protection you can.

The Watchman and the Word of God

We have a great responsibility to seek God, interceding for families, churches, our nation and ourselves. And we have an equal responsibility to obey God and not keep silent when God speaks to us.

We are commanded to take our stand and speak the Word of the Lord in our sphere of influence with authority, clarity and conviction. Ezekiel’s sphere of influence is shown in his call as a watchman of the house of Israel:

Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth and give them warning from Me (Ezekiel 3:17).

You need the heart of an intercessor to bring the Word of God to people because it really is not a comfortable thing to do. God tells Ezekiel that he has been appointed as a watchman.

God was saying to him, ‘If you don’t warn my people, you will pay for it with your blood. But if you warn them, there is no more responsibility on you – they will pay for it with their own blood.’

Another of the best-known passages in Ezekiel is the one where God bemoans the fact that he has looked for even one man who would ‘fill the gap’ between himself and the people, but he has been unable to find one.

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one (Ezekiel 22:30).

But Ezekiel was such a man. Now, of course, Ezekiel was not in Jerusalem – he was far away in Babylon – but he was still a watchman, and when he saw trouble coming, it was his responsibility to warn the people. If he didn’t he would pay for it personally. So in a sense he had no choice but to go through with this costly ministry – he would be held responsible if he didn’t.

Again, chapter 33 of Ezekiel talks about watchmen who stand on the walls of a city, day and night, to warn the inhabitants of danger. If a sentry did not spot an enemy coming, he forfeited his life – it was a capital crime.

Intimacy with God

A watchman should operate from a position of intimacy with God, as the essence of a watchman’s ministry is friendship with God. Both Moses and Daniel operated in their anointing with attributes of God such as compassion, slowness to anger, and abounding in love.

Intimacy with God is reliant not only on having the right vertical relationship with God but also having good relations with other people, as the correct handling of events and circumstances in life is connected with intimacy with God. Maturity in this ministry is measured by how close the watchman is to the Lord and not by the volume of messages received.

The watchman should hear from God. From the high ramparts of the city wall a watchman can see what is coming, good or bad. The prophets hear from God and are expected to tell the people what they hear. Watchmen are called to proclaim from their vantage point of prophetic revelation.

The first proclamation is telling God’s people the wonderful things we see God is doing in the heavenly places, so that we can praise Him and thank Him for His faithfulness to us. The second aspect of proclamation is bringing a warning from God concerning the spiritual state of the Church and the nation.

A Watchman as an Intercessor

The number one great need in the modern church is intercessors. They were scarce in the days of Isaiah. This was his complaint;

And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him” (Isaiah 59:16 KJV).

Servants of Christ, set, as watchmen are to cry unto God day and night. Isaiah was also watchman and an intercessor. He had one of the toughest assignments of all the prophets. But in his lifetime he was a failure. Nobody listened – they just got harder and harder for 40 years.

The Lord spoke through Isaiah concerning the intercessory role of the watchman. God says,

For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest until her imputed righteousness and vindication go forth as brightness, and her salvation radiates as does a burning torch (Isaiah 62:1).

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62:6-7).

No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins (Isaiah 64:7).

Isaiah prophesied during four reigns. He began in the year when King Uzziah died and Jotham came to the throne. Ahaz, Hezekiah and finally Manasseh were also on the throne during his ministry.

According to Jewish history, Manasseh ordered a hollow tree-trunk to be brought. Isaiah was tied up, pushed into the hollow tree and sawn in half. He is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as one of the ‘heroes of the faith’.

Praying for the Harvest

There is a great need of intercessors, first for the needy harvest of souls, and the thousands without the gospel, and we need to pray for laborers to be sent forth by God into the needy fields of the earth.

Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into the His harvest” (Matthew 9:37).

There is an intense spiritual war going on right now over the nations of the world. It is essential that watchmen take up their positions both to defend the Church against the onslaught of the enemy and to go on the offensive against Satan’s positions so that souls can be won into the Kingdom.

In his book, The Lost Art of Intercession, James W. Goll tells a fascinating story of watching in prayer:

More than 30 years ago, Dick Simmons was attending Bible College in New York City. He was marked for intercession. In the middle of the night on the bank of Hudson River, he began to cry out to the Lord in intercession for New York City. He prayed at the top of his lungs, “Lord, I beseech Thee that You send forth laborers into Your field!”

His agonized prayers were so loud at 2:00 A.M. (Even by New York standards!) that he suddenly was bathed in floodlights on the riverbank. Cautious police officers shouted out, “What are doing? You have been reported for disturbing the peace because you have been waking up people!” Dick bellowed back, “Oh, I am just praying to the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers into His field.”

The police officers must have been shocked, or else they agreed with Brother Simmons. They let him go without any charges or warning. That very night, the Holy Spirit of God descended on a little skinny preacher in rural Pennsylvania and gave him a divine call to take the gospel to New York City. Do you know his name? It was David Wilkerson. When Wilkerson established the first Teen Challenge Center in New York, he chose Dick Simmons to be its first director.

Oh that it would please the LORD to send out faithful laborers into His vineyard, for if they send themselves, they are good for nothing!

Assassination Pornography

When a Bernie Sanders supporter tried to kill Republican Congressmen on a baseball practice field last week, it brought a growing problem into the glaring public light: American political rhetoric has reached the boiling point.

Though heated political debate and even unabashed mud-slinging is nothing new to American politics, what we are witnessing now is unprecedented and alarming.

In fact, certain members of the media — if not clinical professionals — have coined a new term to describe it: Assassination pornography. That’s defined as “fantasy depictions of assassination.”

I’m certain you can guess who they’re fantasizing about assassinating!

And some of them are not keeping it a secret! Self-described comedienne Kathy Griffin produced a photograph of herself holding a bloody, severed head (ISIS-style) that looked amazingly like that of President Donald Trump. Snoop Dog produced a satirical video in which he shoots a clownish Donald Trump figure at pointblank range.

Even the city of New York (President Trump’s hometown) got in on the act. The infamous New York Public Theater that stages summertime productions in Central Park produced a version of “Julius Caesar” that is set in modern times and features a Donald Trump lookalike (complete with the blue suit, white shirt, and long red tie). Of course, he gets assassinated by his peers. And the audience claps joyously.

To their credit, Bank of America and Delta Airlines pulled their sponsorship of the production. But Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, apparently approves of the message it presents, even in light of the real-life attempted assassinations of Republican Congressmen last week.

These are but three examples of the growing public display of evil that is being touted, even encouraged, by the Left in America today.

But even more alarming to me is the growing onslaught against Christians, and even non-Christians who hold traditional values, by government and individuals in the governments.

Canada recently enacted a piece of legislation called Bill 89. Its net effect is that the Canadian government will be empowered to remove children from the homes of parents who do not agree that their small child may be “transgender.” As if a small child even know what “gender” means, much less can identify his or her own internal gender fluidity! Folks, this is theater of the absurd — to the extreme!

Jack Fonseca of Campaign Life Coalition said: “…we’ve entered an era of totalitarian power by the state, such as never witnessed before in Canada’s history.” And trust me, when a state seizes totalitarian power, it rarely benefits the family, the Christian, or anyone who holds moral, traditional values. It’s always the fringe lunatics who manage to coerce the state into doing their dirty work!

It has gotten so bad that even the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom had to resign his position. Tim Farron said, “To be a political leader… and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me.”

Liberal Democrat must mean something different in the United Kingdom than it does here! I can’t imagine a liberal Democrat resigning his or her position for any reason whatsoever.

In the past, they wouldn’t do that even when they’ve been caught with their hands in the cookie jar! Imagine one doing it because he or she had a crisis of character or conscience! To be fair, though, this could describe a few Republicans, too.

More subtly, though, is this creeping, sinister idea promoted by the Left that Christians are unfit to serve in high positions of government. The latest champion of that idea is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In the past, few people listened to Senator Sanders. He was considered the far left fringe. After having the Democratic nomination for president stolen from him, though, his words carry much more weight now.

Recently, President Trump nominated Russell Vought to be the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Now, that doesn’t sound like a position that is going to exert much influence over the thought-life of Americans.

But Senator Sanders strenuously and publicly objected to Mr. Vought’s nomination. In fact, he said that Mr. Vought “is really not someone who this country is supposed to be about.”

Russell Vought’s crime? A few years ago, he wrote an article defending the historic Christian beliefs of his alma mater, Wheaton College. Wheaton is a venerable university founded in 1860 to prepare students for service in Christian ministry. Billy Graham is a Wheaton College graduate!

Senator Sanders read a statement from Mr. Vought’s article: “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, His Son, and they stand condemned.”

Sanders called Vought’s faith an example of “racism and bigotry.” He declared that believing Jesus is the only way to God makes Islam a “second-class religion.” And those who believe other religions are “second class” must not be allowed to hold a high position in government.

Well, I’ve got a couple of pieces of news for Senator Sanders. First, applying a religious test to a nominee for government office is absolutely forbidden by the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Section 3).

Second, everyone who deeply believes the tenets of his or her chosen “religion” will feel that other religions are “second class.”

Islam and Christianity are mutually exclusive doctrines. If one is true, the other is not. Both Christians and Muslims believe in the superiority of their chosen faith. Sanders says if you believe that, you cannot hold high office.

Even atheists prefer their ideas on religious faith to that of others. Atheists see both Christianity and Islam as “second class.” Is Senator Sanders prepared to say that atheists are not allowed to hold high office?

Apparently, Sanders believes that only people who firmly believe nothing are qualified to lead us!

I suppose that is why he feels he should be President.

Jesus warned that the days before His return would be like the days of Noah. (Matthew 24:37) They would be characterized by violence and corruption. (Genesis 6:11)

He also warned that those who name His name would be hated by the world. It’s happening in other parts of the world right now, but in America we are not yet subject to chains and torture.

We are, however, beginning to be marginalized and ostracized. Make no mistake, the day will come when our beliefs will be outlawed and if we stand up for them, we will be prosecuted and punished.

Are you ready for that day?

While there is still time, make certain your relationship with God is clean and vibrant. Make sure your family and friends have the opportunity to come to Christ. And prepare yourself for the day when you must choose between your comfort and speaking aloud the claims of Jesus Christ.

But don’t fear that day. For in it, you will find the strength and power of the Living God to be more than sufficient.

And the reward? Beyond description!

Image Description: The Death of Caesar, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1867. Source: Wikipedia

Revival is Coming to America not Bloodshed!

Bloodshed is coming to America, and it won’t be a response to oppression but the result of aggression – against God and our constitutional form of government.

The increasingly violent acts in our streets, town-hall meetings and university campuses are simply birth pangs for a greater upheaval that’s brewing hot – and it’s not by accident.

Although the narrative is that street protests and student uprisings are simply a response to Trump as president or guest speakers with conservative values, the truth is they are coordinated attacks resulting from a subversive anti-God, anti-American ideology that has indoctrinated our universities for more than 50 years.

Let us explain.

In 1963, a book written by Cleon Skousen titled “The Naked Communist” was presented to Congress by Rep A.S. Herlong Jr. of Florida.

In his remarks, he submitted the book’s list of goals, which revealed how revolutionaries intended to turn our nation from constitutionalism to communism without firing a single bullet. And the schoolroom provided the perfect staging ground.

The full list of goals can be found in the Congressional Record – Appendix, Pages A34-A35, Jan. 10, 1963.

Here are just a few:

17) Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18) Gain control of all student newspapers.

19) Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations, which are under Communist attack.

20) Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.

21) Gain control of key positions in radio, TV and motion pictures.

24) Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.

25) Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.

26) Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”

28) Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”

29) Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30) Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”

31) Belittle all forms of American culture, and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.”

32) Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture – education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

40) Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

42) Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition, that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use “united force” to solve economic, political or social problems.

Sound familiar? These goals aren’t simply being taught to our youth, they are being caught – and now carried out.

The problem is many of the cultural leaders in this movement are now calling for – and sometimes even demanding – bloodshed.

In Canada, Big Brother Is Ready to Raid Your Home and Steal Your Child

We have not been crying wolf. We have not been exaggerating the danger. The unthinkable is now reality in Canada. And it could be coming to America next.

In 2012, headlines announced, “Homeschooling families can’t teach homosexual acts sinful in class says Alberta government.”

As the article explained, “Under Alberta’s new Education Act, homeschoolers and faith-based schools will not be permitted to teach that homosexual acts are sinful as part of their academic program, says the spokesperson for Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk.”

So, in the privacy of your own home, as you teach and instruct your own children, you would be forbidden by law to teach them what the Bible said about homosexual practice. And how, pray tell, was the government planning to monitor this?

In 2015, Dawn Stefanowicz, herself the child of a gay father who died of AIDS, raised her voice as well. The headline to her article read, “A Warning from Canada: Same-Sex Marriage Erodes Fundamental Rights.”

She wrote, “I want to warn America to expect severe erosion of First Amendment freedoms if the US Supreme Court mandates same-sex marriage. The consequences have played out in Canada for ten years now, and they are truly Orwellian in nature and scope.

“In Canada, freedoms of speech, press, religion, and association have suffered greatly due to government pressure. The debate over same-sex marriage that is taking place in the United States could not legally exist in Canada today. Because of legal restrictions on speech, if you say or write anything considered ‘homophobic’ (including, by definition, anything questioning same-sex marriage), you could face discipline, termination of employment, or prosecution by the government.”

She was not exaggerating. In fact, she may have understated her case. The latest headlines from Canada announce something even more Orwellian: “Canada’s New Law Lets Government Take Children Away If Parents Don’t Accept Their Gender Identity.”

What exactly does this mean?

“A Canadian province has passed a law that gives rights to the government to take away children from families that don’t accept their kid’s chosen ‘gender identity’ or ‘gender expression’.

“The Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act of 2017, also know as Bill 89, was passed in Ontario by a vote of 63 to 23, The Christian Times reported.”

This is beyond mind-boggling. It might even be beyond Orwellian. Really now, would even Orwell have predicted that the government could seize your 8-year-old boy if you wouldn’t let him dress like a girl or if you refused to affirm his perceived female identity?

For good reason, Jack Fonseca, a political strategist for Campaign Life Coalition, slammed the new bill in no uncertain terms: “With the passage of Bill 89, we’ve entered an era of totalitarian power by the state, such as never witnessed before in Canada’s history. Make no mistake, Bill 89 is a grave threat to Christians and all people of faith who have children, or who hope to grow their family through adoption.”

And it is not just an era of totalitarian power. It is an era of misguided totalitarian power.

Not only is it saying that the government, not the parent, knows best. It is saying that the child, not the parent, knows best. It is saying that it is impossible that little Johnny is confused and that one day, he will outgrow his belief that he is really a girl.

No. If he’s convinced he’s a girl and his parents don’t affirm this, he could presumably tell his teachers at school, who would then report this to the government.

Soon enough, there’s a knock at your door, and government agents are taking your son – yes, your very own child – and putting him in a new environment where he can live as Jane.

As nightmarish as this scenario sounds, it is now the law. And it was passed with ease by a vote of 63 to 23.

Soon enough, Johnny will be taking hormone blockers to stop the onset of puberty, and before you know it, he’ll be a lovely young lady, sex-change surgery and all. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Nothing.

There’s a reason that so many of us have been raising our voices so loudly for so many years. It’s not because we hate gays or transgenders. It’s because we foresaw the disastrous consequences of LGBT activism and have been standing as watchmen on the wall, sounding the alarm. I urge you from the bottom of my heart: Please don’t hit the snooze button again.

And please don’t console yourself by saying, “Well, that’s Canada, not America.”

First, are the people of Canada unimportant? Does something matter only if it affects America? Surely you won’t say, “Who cares if Christian families in Canada have their children seized by the government? I’m OK here in America.”

Second, we’ve seen how LGBT activism has become the principle threat to our freedoms of speech, conscience and religion here in the States. Canada is just one step ahead.

Third, already in America, “A federal district court judge just dismissed a mother’s lawsuit, essentially upholding Minnesota’s very harmful and unconstitutional ‘emancipation statute’ that allows minor children — with the aid of outside groups — to leave their families whenever there is conflict, as long as the child is living independently and can support himself or herself.”

In the case at hand, the mother’s minor son had “decided to be treated with hormones in an effort to ‘change’ his biological sex and to change his name.” The mother opposed this, which was one of the reasons the child sought “emancipation.” Now, the government (here in America!) is helping to underwrite his “transition,” and there’s nothing his mother can do to prevent it.

Recently, the flagship gay publication The Advocate, celebrated an 8-year-old drag queen – meaning, a boy who identifies as a boy but who likes to dress up as a girl. (Interestingly, the boy lives in Canada.)

Yes, “Montreal’s newest drag superstar has the poise of someone four times his age.

“A new girl on the Montreal drag scene is making the city’s other queens look geriatric by comparison. That would be Lactatia — a.k.a. Nemis Quinn Mélançon Golden, an 8-year-old who started getting into drag at the ripe old age of 7.”

In this case, the boy’s parents are highly supportive of him (that’s bad enough). But if they weren’t supportive of him, since this is part of his gender expression, the government could remove him from his home.

This madness must be stopped.

Is There Any Word From The Lord?

The nation is reeling – but why, and what can we do about it?

I have had a few days up in the Austrian Tyrol, walking, praying and breathing fresh mountain air. It was a little glimpse of paradise – physically and spiritually refreshing. Coming back to Britain there was a palpable sense of heaviness and depression hanging over the nation. Even the immigration officer inspecting my passport at London airport gloomily referred to the state of the nation and commented that I would have done better not to have come back!

We reached home at 1 o’clock on Wednesday morning, which was just the time the terrible fire broke out in the Kensington tower block. The tragic news in the morning could only add to the depression hanging over the nation like the thick black cloud of smoke drifting over London.

Since then I’ve been searching for good news – something I could say in this editorial that would lift the hearts of our readers. The last thing I want to do is to add to the doom and gloom coming out of Westminster and filling our news media. Then, with the still burning Grenfell Tower in the background, the TV news showed crowds of people bringing food and clothing and toiletries and a multitude of gifts for the survivors of the inferno.

The spontaneous generosity and goodness of the ordinary people of London who immediately sprang into action on behalf of their neighbours was a wonderful reminder that love and goodness are not dead in our nation. People were coming from every part of the multi-ethnic community in Kensington, which was a powerful testimony to the latent goodness of human nature that goes beyond race, colour, class, nationality and every other human distinction.

Nation Under Judgment

This outpouring of love and generosity is a true picture of our nature created in the image of God. But we reserve this outpouring for special occasions; we do not carry it over into our everyday lives, where we display our fallen human nature marred by selfishness and corrupted by personal ambition.

This gives us a clue to the central problem affecting the nation. Everyone is asking why the nation is in such a mess. The plain and honest answer is that we are a nation under judgment.

The spontaneous generosity of the ordinary people of London was a wonderful reminder that love and goodness are not dead in our nation.

No-one really wants to face this unpleasant truth because Christians who firmly hold to biblical values are scorned and labelled, ‘right-wing’, ‘homophobic’, ‘Islamophobic’ and all the other clichés and invectives invented by secular humanists to try to discredit those who stand firm against the liberalisation of the nation and the rejection of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Sadly, some who call themselves Christians have adopted this language to abuse those who remain true to the Bible.

God’s Ultimate Authority

Just look at the facts: our Prime Minister had a perfectly workable majority in the Commons which she gambled and lost through putting her trust in the polls. It is probable that she also trusted advisers who elevated her to ‘celebrity’ status, basing the election campaign around her rather than the ‘strong and stable’ government we were promised. So the hoped-for landslide fell into the valley of disaster.

This is where Scripture comes to our aid in understanding what has happened in the political sphere. Paul’s teaching is very clear: “There is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Rom 13:1).

Then in Deuteronomy 28:20 we read what God does when a nation deliberately turns their backs upon biblical truth: “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.”

But this harsh statement is tempered by the solemn promise of God in Jeremiah 18:7: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.”

Call to Remain Faithful

We should always be careful not to apply biblical statements literally to our contemporary situation, but look at the situation when they were written. The Deuteronomy quote was specifically to Israel, a nation in a covenant relationship with God. The promise given in Jeremiah was to all nations at any time. Paul’s teaching was designed to re-assure the Roman authorities that the small company of Christian believers had no political ambitions or desire to challenge the authority of the Emperor.

We are a nation under judgment – but nobody wants to face this unpleasant truth.

Again, look at the facts: Britain is a self-declared Christian nation in which our monarch pledged on behalf of us all to be faithful to the Protestant religion and to uphold the word of the Lord. So long as we, as a nation, remain faithful to uphold biblical values and the Lord’s name, we can be sure of his protection and blessing. When we forsake the Truth, we put ourselves outside God’s protection. That is judgment.

Although the Conservatives have the most seats in the new Parliament, the only way they can form a Government is by co-operating with the DUP, whose distinctive feature is their commitment to upholding biblical beliefs and values. Surely we have to conclude that God is speaking to our nation through this situation.

Time for Christians to Rise Up

Disasters will continue to happen unless we acknowledge that as a nation we have departed from the ways of truth and earnestly seek God’s forgiveness and blessing, which he is more than eager to bestow upon us. We cannot expect the whole nation to understand this situation and to respond rightly: but surely Christians can understand the ways of God! Now is the time for us to steady the nation with the word of the Lord. God’s love has not been withdrawn and never will be, but we have brought this situation upon ourselves.

It is time for Christians to steady the nation with the word of the Lord.

The greatest need today is for the mobilisation of Christians to intercede on behalf of the nation. God does not wait until there is a democratic majority before responding – he’s looking for the faithful remnant of believers to break their silence, to ask for the power of his Holy Spirit in making our witness in the nation and to re-affirm our love for him and for Britain. The fruit of judgment will quickly be removed if we are faithful and blessings will flow.

Is America Already in a Civil War?

This week we were shocked when a deranged leftist named James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on lawmakers – specifically Republican lawmakers – holding a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. Once the dust settled, it emerged the gunman was an extreme progressive who loathed the right and followed dozens of anti-right groups on social media.

Immediately, of course, progressives tried to distance themselves from Hodgkinson’s violence. “He’s a nut job,” they said. “He acted alone,” they said.

But one thing they couldn’t say was: “He’s not one of us.”

Unable to spin the shooter as anything except an extreme progressive, the left immediately went into damage control, claiming he shot in “self-defense” and it was really all Trump’s fault. But Hodgkinson’s actions are merely the culmination (so far) of what progressives have been urging, suggesting, cultivating and encouraging from the moment Trump set foot in office.

The increasing militarization and violence of the left is a disturbing trend. Even as they mouth pacifistic platitudes, progressives are far from being the peaceniks they’d like us to believe. There are endless examples:

As David Horowitz says it in “Big Agenda,” “Being an activist in the service of the higher good becomes a license to do anything required to achieve that good. The ends justify the means.”

“Too many guns in America is not the problem,” added Joseph Farah. “The real problem is too many Democrats with killer instincts, seething with hatred and violence in their hearts.”

Very true. In fact, within hours of the shootings social media was abuzz with leftists cheering on the revolution. A Nebraska Democratic Party official called the shootings “so funny.” It’s only a matter of time before other nut jobs (egged on by inflamed rhetoric) will lose it and start gunning down those on the other side of the political spectrum.

Violence is by no means contained to the left. I’ve seen enough threats from conservatives to turn my stomach. The difference, I believe, is there are no calls from the right to attack leftists. There are no party leaders calling for increased violence.

This leads to the inevitable question: Are we already in a civil war?

The 2016 election results took progressives totally, utterly and completely by surprise. Late in the afternoon of Election Day, the Huffington Post was still giving Hillary a 98 percent chance of winning.

When Hillary lost, the left – stunned that they didn’t get their way – began engaging in brutal tactics to emotionally incite followers. They whip up violent sentiment over non-issues and lies. They appeal to the feeeeelings of the uneducated – and we all know progressives think emotionally, not rationally or logically.

These tactics are nothing new, of course. Hitler famously had his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, who admitted: “The best propaganda is that which, as it were, works invisibly, penetrates the whole of life without the public having any knowledge of the propagandistic initiative.” And don’t forget Vladimir Lenin’s statement: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

The lies (“fake news”) the left is spreading about Trump are legion. It doesn’t matter that these lies can’t be backed by truth, evidence, or documentation. That’s not important. All they have to do is repeat the lies often enough on the evening news, and a significant portion of the nation’s gullible and uninformed people will swallow them – and believe. Then the less stable among them will snap and begin shooting people at baseball practices.

One person noted, “I hate to say it, but we are already in a civil war. The right just hasn’t started fighting back yet.”

There are always those on the right spoiling for a fight. “Bring it on!” they sneer. “We’re better armed than you, and you can’t hit the broad side of a barn.” True, but do these armchair warriors really want to engage in warfare with their neighbors?

People can only be pushed so far. Conflict, it sometimes seems, is inevitable. As a peace-loving person, I find this distressing. Yet clearly there are some things worth fighting for. Patrick Henry said it very well: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Progressives seem intent on ignoring any and all constitutional restraints and going on their merry way, regardless of what’s legal. “California and Hawaii have recently announced that they would sign agreements with other nations so they could join the Paris climate change accord,” noted Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips. “Liberal states have this amazing ability to find things in the U.S. Constitution that people haven’t been able to find for over 200 years, but they ignore the plain language of the document that organizes the United States of America.

At this point, is there any way that America can hold together as a single, united country? When states are wanting to sign their own treaties with other nations and when one-half of the political spectrum in this nation wants to strip the other half of its rights and engage in violence against them, survival seems improbable.”

I want to make one thing perfectly clear: The vast, vast majority of Americans, both left and right, simply want to be left alone to live their lives. They want to work their jobs, raise their children, engage their hobbies, enjoy their senior years and otherwise be outside the mayhem caused by activists. But to do this, in the words of Peggy Noonan, “we have to lower the political temperature.”

It’s a pity the progressive activists won’t let us.