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This post may anger or even offend some, but know that I share this truth out of love for you all. My world view is Biblically based and as such, the Bible as God’s word is truth. We live in a very dangerous, divided time in history. These are the darkest times I have witnessed in my 56 years on this planet. As Christians (i.e. followers of Christ) we are called upon to be the salt and light to the world (read Matthew 5:13-16). To live as Jesus lived and to follow Jesus’ commandments – as best we can – it isn’t easy and the standards are high. God is love, but not only love. He is also the God of righteousness and wrath. God is neither weak nor passive, and neither should we be as His children. Let us not repeat history where many Christians were silent while Hitler exterminated 6 million Jews and millions more, including Christians, out of political correctness. 

There is so much at stake with this election cycle but many of the issues are being kept from us or peppered with misinformation and half-truths. Yes – I am pointing a finger at the mainstream media. Elections have become popularity contests based on who will offend less. Have we lost all of our Christian discernment and perspective? I challenge you all to look beyond the individual and focus on what they stand for and believe. Look at their platform and evaluate it through a Christian lens before you vote. 

A vote for a Democrat affirms that you support abortion (i.e. the murder of innocent life), big government control of the people at the expense of personal liberties (i.e. the freedom to believe in and worship Christ and share the Gospel), lawlessness (i.e. defund the police, allow millions of unvetted illegal immigrants into our country unchecked) and the continued dilution of the family (i.e. abolishing parental rights). There is more, but I will stop here.

A vote for a Republican affirms that you are pro-life, want a smaller government focused on protecting the sovereignty of our nation, support law and order, controlled immigration, and support the sanctity of the family as God designed it to be.

I know there are many other complicated issues like the economy, wars, gasoline, etc., but I am only focussing on what I feel are common Christian tenants. I am not delusional and say this blindly. We are all human, born with sin, wretched and in need of a savior. There is good and bad across both parties. I place my trust only in Jesus, not any man or woman. That is why we should focus on the platforms and ask ourselves which most closely fits Christian values and vote accordingly. We must then hold those in office accountable. 

Unfortunately, the problem I have seen is that there are too many lukewarm or false Christians among us (i.e. goats – read Matthew 25:32-46). How many self-professed Christians read the Bible (God’s word) daily? If not, how can any self-professed Christian know let alone understand what God expects from them? Read Matthew 7:13-14; the road and gate to salvation is narrow and lightly traveled whereas the road to destruction is wide and easy.  What road are you on?  There is only one road to God and salvation – Jesus. Read the Word, pray for discernment, repent of your sins, ask for forgiveness, and put your trust in the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. Sola scriptura: “Scripture alone”, Sola fide: “faith alone”, Sola gratia: “grace alone”, Solo Christo: “Christ alone”, Soli Deo gloria: “to the glory of God alone”.

On the final day of judgement, we will all be accountable to God for every deed, every thought, every word expressed during our physical life. Those who chose the narrow path through the narrow gate will find eternal life. For those that took the wide road through the wide gate, God will determine your fate. This extends to the candidates and platforms we supported and voted for at every election. 

In my study of 1 John, chapter 4, verse 21 spoke to me: “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (ESV).

Digging a little further, in 1 John, Chapter 4, the Apostle John repeatedly reminds us that God is love. In fact, John tells us, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 Jn 4:20). 

What does this mean? Well, the ESV Study Bible comments, “Love is presented here as a consequence of, not a precondition for, being born of God. Unbelievers can love others to some degree, but not in the way that God’s indwelling presence enables Christians to love.”¹

I must note here that God has many other attributes of which love is only one. One must be mindful that scripture does not support the common thought that love is God. This just means that God’s love is the ultimate source of any love. For God so loved us, he gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16) so that sinful humanity might receive eternal life. All one needs to do is confess Jesus as Lord and repent of their sins. This is the Gospel that we as Christians place our faith and confess to the world.

Ultimately, the question comes around to who are we to love? Everyone? Well, yes! According to scripture, we are first supposed to love God above all else. Next we are to love our fellow followers of Christ. Finally, we are to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:36-39) – those who do not believe in Jesus. We get further clarification in Luke 10:29 when the wealthy lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbors were. Jesus gave the parable of the Jewish man who was attacked by robbers and left for dead. A priest and a Levite both passed the man by without showing any compassion or providing help. However, a Samaritan had mercy on the beaten man and provided for his recovery. What’s the big deal? Simply that Jews did not like or get along with Samaritans (some would say “despise” would be a better description). This is why Jesus used this example to answer the young lawyer’s question. Once the young lawyer affirms that the one that showed mercy to the beaten man, the Samaritan, was the neighbor, Jesus told him to go and do likewise.

The Bible provides us with a number of direct instruction to love everyone. For example, Matthew 5:43-44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

This is where the rubber meets the road and where most Christians fall short – way too short. Now, I do not believe that as a Christian you have to be best friends with everyone, but love you neighbor implies that we care and appreciate others regardless of who they are to us. Just like the Samaritan. This is tough at a time where Christians are being attacked and marginalized by the current culture, being labeled in derogatory ways, “cancelled”, and mis-characterized. But we as Christians can take this as a challenge, or test from God that we should be joyfully willing to undertake, head on! Why should we? Well, because Jesus told us to, and that is good enough for me. The true depth of our faith, a genuine faith in Jesus, produces fruit with love being top of the list.

Pray that God will give you the courage and compassion to love everyone. I think we can all agree that what the world needs most now is more love and a lot less hate.

¹ Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2435). Crossway Bibles.

The disturbing events of the last few weeks has left an indelible mark on our country. The recent murders of innocent lives has been politicized along with a lot of finger pointing. Some will cast blame on the gun lobby because surely they are to blame. After all, if there were no guns, there would be no murders. Others will cast blame on the police who are charged to protect us but hold back and do little while the gun shots ring out. Some ask what causes a human being to murder others so callously and without conscious. While the outrage voiced over these recent murders echo out, we sit back and allow – actually applaud – the willful murder of babies still in their mothers womb. It is free choice after all, that a woman can decide to terminate the life within her just because she can. Is it me or is there some hypocrisy here? Can someone support abortion and at the same time voice outrage that young, innocent children were murdered? I see little difference, but I digress. 

The question here is not what but rather who is behind all the violence and chaos in the world today. Evil, perpetrated and encouraged by none other than Satan (a.k.a. the devil, or the evil one) is absolutely responsible for the current condition of our communities, country, and world.  The world fell into darkness the minute Adam and Eve succumbed to the lies of the devil, disobeyed God, and plummeted themselves and the world into sin and its consequence, evil and death.

God tells the serpent (the devil) in Genesis 3:15 (ESV): “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring…”  foreshadowing the ongoing struggle between good and evil. The Apostle Peter also warns us in 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV): Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Sin is the gateway to evil. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:12 (ESV): “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Sin is inherent in man’s nature, but not because God willed it so. God gave us free will, and mankind has willfully chosen sin over righteousness, evil over good. That is also the same decision Satan made resulting in his being cast out of Heaven to become the father of lies, the great deceiver, and current ruler of this world. So what do we do?

God gave us an out from our sin through His Son, Jesus. In John 3:16–21 (ESV), Jesus says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” 

Over the past 50 years, or so, society has worked diligently to erase God from the culture, including removing the Ten Commandments from courthouses and prohibiting prayer in school. Christ is no longer the center of most families with many children never being exposed to Biblical truth. It is small wonder that we find ourselves in these evil times where wrong is right and right is wrong. Where truth can be whatever you want it to be. People are confused, hurt, empty and without a moral compass. There is little surprise that drug use and mental illness are increasing along with intolerance, hate, and violence. Guns are nothing more than a tool from which violence can be perpetrated. Evil uses whatever is available to wreak death and destruction, from cars, knives, explosives to airplanes being flown into populated buildings. We need to focus on the root cause that is driving evil. Politicizing the fruits of evil will accomplish nothing other than division and further violence – exactly what the devil wants! The core issue at hand is the absence of God in our lives.

What we need most now is a spiritual reawakening. What we need right now is Jesus who died on the cross to save us from an eternity in hell. All you need to do is accept Jesus as Lord and God, repent of your sins, and walk in His perfect light.   

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communications, or other information on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, or inconvenient (Wikipedia).  What we are currently seeing across all of the social media platforms should be of extreme concern to everyone who value free, open speech and debate on any issue.  There are many issues and questions with the current state of affair, specifically:

1. Who makes the determination on what is objectionable, harmful, or inconvenient?

2. What exactly is objectionable, harmful, or inconvenient content?  Who establishes the definitions?

3. Why are standards not applied equally for the left as we have seen for the right?

4. Why are legitimate conservative news sources being silenced via account cancellations and the demonetization of revenue generating channels like YouTube?  

Despite working in tech, I do not trust social media companies like FaceBook and Twitter that have treated users as the commodity and sold / monetized their information.  Sure, they provide these platforms for “free” or do they?  What price have we paid in terms of information privacy and reputation?  I also do not trust the current partisan government that seems to be more concerned with destroying the other side and willing to take anyone, i.e.  American citizens, with a dissenting opinion as collateral damage.  Seriously, just because someone supported President Trump they must now be “deprogrammed” as stated by various left-leaning media personalities and Democrat politicians.

I remember reading George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm in high school and thinking that we would never see that play out in America.  Unfortunately, the America of today is not the America of yesterday and Orwell is most likely spinning in his grave.

The truth is that all the social media platforms are private companies and can do whatever they want.  They set the rules of engagement that users must adhere to, no matter how one-sided or partisan these rules are and can be.  The only choice we, as individuals can make is to stop using these platforms or find an alternative that still champions free speech and open debate of thoughts and ideas.  If one continues to use these social media platforms, they do so at the risk of being labeled, often in a negative manner, because of their beliefs that dissent from the current liberal narrative and political correctness permeating in our country. 

I have already cancelled some of my social media accounts and have limited my involvement in others.  I will also embrace the new privacy features that Apple will be rolling out soon to further limit the reach these companies have into my life and my information.   You may be thinking why do I still have some of these accounts.  The answer is simple: to stay in contact with family, friends, and groups congruent with my interests – nothing else.  I do not get my news from social media posts nor do I opine on anyone else’s post.  I refuse to participate or be influenced by the hatred, partisanship, labeling, name calling, intolerance, and censorship that social media has become.

The next few years will be very telling.  Will our culture improve or further deteriorate into the abyss of intolerance and hatred?