Anglican deacon and British commentator Calvin Robinson gets to the heart of the matter--and does an EXCELLENT job--when discussing what he believes is "the greatest threat" (liberalism) to the Western Church today:
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
New research on marriage has drawn significant attention recently, leading to several widely read articles on the matter. Early last month, at UnHerd, in a piece entitled The best predictor of happiness in America? Marriage, authors W. Bradford Wilcox and David Bass write,
Americans who are married with children are now leading happier and more prosperous lives, on average, than men and women who are single and childless.
Is that statement surprising? In an age that prizes individualism, workism, and a host of other self-centric “isms” above marriage and family, it may well be. But the reality is that nothing currently predicts happiness in life better than a good marriage.
The UnHerd authors base their conclusions on marriage and
happiness on new research
out of the University of Chicago. Looking at “The Socio Political
Demography of Happiness,” the research concluded, “Being married is the most
important differentiator with a 30-percentage point happy-unhappy gap over the
unmarried.”
On the results of the study, the researcher, Sam Peltzman declared,
Marital status is and has been a very important marker for happiness. The happiness landslide comes entirely from the married. Low happiness characterizes all types of non-married. No subsequent population categorization will yield so large a difference in happiness across so many people.
With countless amounts of anecdotal evidence, and with
decades of social
science research that shows
the same, there’s little
doubt that marriage is indeed an important “predictor” or “marker” for
happiness. However, this shouldn’t be confused with the idea that marriage is
the cause of happiness. In other words, if you’re miserably unhappy, or
even moderately so, don’t simply look to marriage to change this.
The latter conclusion is my own, based on my experiences,
knowledge, and observations of the world. However, there is research
that supports my conclusions as well. Additionally, another
article on the recent University of Chicago study—whether it means to or
not—supports my take on marriage and happiness. Ironically, this article is
written by what seems to be a rather liberal author—Olga Khazan—at the leftist
publication The Atlantic.
Miss Khazan begins her piece by citing the University of
Chicago study and concluding,
Married people are much happier than the unmarried, according to these data. Looking at those same 100 people, 40 married people will say they’re happy, and 10 will say they’re not happy. But single people are about evenly split between happy and not happy. It doesn’t really matter if you are divorced, are widowed, or have never married: If you’re not married, you’re less likely to be happy. “The only happy people for 50 years have been married people,” Peltzman told me.
This puzzles Miss Kahzan because, in her own words, “[A]fter
13 years of cohabitation, I’m currently trying to get married, and it’s not
making me very happy at all.” I have news for Miss Kahzan and all of those like
her: It is quite unlikely that marriage will do anything to increase your happiness.
Miss Kahzan’s scenario is quite telling and is a perfect
example to illustrate my conclusion on marriage and happiness. It is not the
mere act of marriage that brings, or increases, happiness. Perhaps this was
once the case in our culture, when there was a widespread, proper understanding
of what is marriage. However, in these times, where we have so perverted
the meaning of marriage, sex,
and
the like, almost certainly many of those who are looking to marriage to
increase their happiness will be sadly disappointed.
In other words, it’s those—whether they are married or not—with
the proper understanding of what is marriage who are most likely to be happy
before and after marriage. As Miss Kahzan herself admits, “marriage doesn’t
make you happy; rather, happy people get married.” She continues,
One 15-year study of more than 24,000 Germans, for instance, found that those who got married and stayed married were happier than the unmarried ones to begin with, and any happiness boost they got from the marriage was short-lived. “Most of the research indicates that the happiest couples marry, not that marriage causes happiness,” Brienna Perelli-Harris, a demography professor at the University of Southampton, in the United Kingdom, told me over email.
So, who are these happy people? Most likely, they’re
Christians, or at least the “religious.” Again, there’s plenty of anecdotal
evidence that proves this true. As we live out our daily lives, typically those
who have a measure of faith in the One who made us are the most pleasant to encounter
and seem most content with the world around them. This is in spite of whatever
difficult circumstances they might find themselves in.
And yes, there is research that shows Christians, or at
least those who are “religious,” to be the happiest among us. In April of this
year, Christian Headlines declared
“Americans Who Believe in God Are the Happiest People in the U.S.” They based
this conclusion on a Wall
Street Journal-NORC survey and report,
A handful of strong beliefs separate those who are “very happy” from
the rest of Americans. An overwhelming majority of “very happy” people – 68
percent – say belief in God is very important to them. That’s a significantly
higher percentage than among the “pretty happy” group (47 percent) and the “not
too happy” group (42 percent).
“They tend to say belief in God is important,” The Wall Street Journal
reported of the very happy group. “Two-thirds describe themselves as very or
moderately religious, compared with less than half of adults overall.”
A 2019 Pew
Research Center study found “regular participation in a religious
community [emphasis by Pew] clearly is linked with higher levels of
happiness and civic engagement (specifically, voting in elections and joining
community groups or other voluntary organizations).” 2016
Pew research found similar results, noting that “highly religious” people
were happier than others. The “highly religious” are “overwhelmingly (95
percent) Protestant, Catholic or other Christians.”
In 2016, using data from a study by Great Britain’s Office
for National Statistics, The
Christian Post reported that, among all faith groups, Christians were the
happiest. The article declared, “Statistics from Britain's national happiness
index have suggested that Christians are among the happiest people in the
nation, while those who don’t identify with any particular religion generally
scored the lowest life satisfaction numbers.”
Christians are among the happiest people in the world, not
simply because of who we are—and not simply because we are more
likely to marry, or because of our
view on what is marriage—but because of who God is and because of all that He’s
done and will do. We’re generally a happy people because of the faith, hope, and
love, and all the other good “fruit” that permeates Christianity. Won’t you
join us?!
(See this column at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle
and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
The "election denying" hypocrisy in the American media and the Democrat Party is blatant, widespread, and downright embarrassing! The video below--which YouTube has demonitized--well illustrates why this is the case:
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
The editorial board of the Idaho Statesman—Scott McIntosh, Bryan Clark, Chadd Cripe, Dana Oland, Jim Keyser and Mary Rohlfing—recently published an opinion piece condemning the actions of Christian organizations Hold the Line and Turning Point USA Faith. The Statesman editorial board doesn’t like the fact that the “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour has made its way to Boise, Idaho.
The Kingdom to the Capitol is a Christian “revival tour”
that holds prayer and
worship events across the U.S. Their goal is to bring praise and worship
music and prayer to every state capitol in the U.S. By my count, they’ve reached 23 so far. Kingdom
to the Capitol is the result of a partnership between Turning Point USA Faith
and Let Us Worship (a sister
organization to Hold the Line).
The title of the Idaho Statesman foolish opinion
piece begins with the old and overused leftist edict, “Keep your religion out
of our government.” The title concludes with the “scary” conclusion that “Dangerous
activists [are] coming to [the] Idaho Capitol.”
What’s so “dangerous” about the Kingdom to the Capitol
event? Statesman editorialists believe that the Christians behind the
event want to “inject their brand of Christianity into government.”
Similarly, later in the opinion piece, the authors declare,
“It’s no accident the rallies are being held at state Capitol buildings, as
these charlatans increasingly want to inject their brand of religion into
politics.” According to the editorialists, examples of injecting “religion into
politics” includes restrictions on abortions as well as restrictions on
so-called “gender-affirming care for transgender youth.”
In other words, it seems that the Statesman doesn’t
want the law in America to protect the most innocent and helpless among us from
death or permanent mutilation. Additionally, in an attempt to smear the event
and its attendees, the Statesman editorialists also use the familiar
“Christian nationalist” label.
Sean Feucht, a Christian singer, song writer, worship
leader, and former congressional candidate, is one of the event organizers. Attacking
Feucht directly, the Statesman editorialists write,
Feucht and his group are playing on the same, tired, worn-out, BS, far-right “fears” that evildoers on the Left are coming for your children, through the schools, through the libraries, at Pride festivals and drag shows. They frame the issue as a fight between good and evil, light vs. dark. Predictably, they clutch their pearls at transgender apparel at Target or popular music videos.
The last two sentences of the editorial declare, “No one is
telling these groups to abandon their religious beliefs. We’re just telling
them to keep their religion in their church and out of our government.”
This garbage opinion piece by the “Secular Nationalists” at
the Idaho Statesman is a perfect example of why so many in America hate
newspapers, and why so many newspapers across the U.S. are dying. (The
McClatchy Company, which owns the Idaho Statesman declared bankruptcy in
2020.) Given that Idaho is a solidly conservative state, it’s almost certain
that this opinion piece is quite unpopular with a significant majority of Idaho’s
residents, and just another reason for them not to give their time or money to
the Idaho Statesman.
Of course, being unpopular doesn’t mean that one is wrong. However,
as most conservatives well know, including the conservatives in Idaho, like so
many opinion writers in America, the Idaho Statesman editorialists are indeed
on the wrong side of the truth in some of the most important moral issues of
our time.
Few things in the moral realm of the universe are more clear
than what is life, and what is a male and a female. Thus, of course any society
governed by the rule of law should have laws that reflect the long-known truth
on these grave matters.
What’s more, the Stateman editorial writers are
seemingly blind to their moral and political hypocrisy here. It seems they are
fine with injecting their leftist worldview into America’s politics and laws,
but don’t like the idea of Christians doing the same.
As I
have long said, all
law the world over is rooted
in someone’s idea of morality. In other words, we either write
our own moral code—which almost certainly will be grossly flawed—and have
our laws reflect this moral code, or, when living our lives and when
legislating, we adhere to the laws of the Law Giver.
“Keep your religion out of our government” is much like the leftist
complaint of “Stop forcing your morality on me!” The proper retort to the
latter is, “Stop forcing your immorality on me!” Thus, to the Idaho Statesman
editorial board, I say, keep your irreligious, godless, and profane ideas out
of our government!
(See this column at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle
and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
Dr. Voddie Baucham is the Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia. He is also a former pastor, an accomplished Martial Artist, celebrated author, a devoted husband to Bridget, and the father of nine children. The video below is the latest episode of "The Sunday Special" from The Daily Wire.
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
Jason Aldean's latest song, "Try That in a Small Town" has the left aghast. Supposedly Aldean's song is--of course--"raaaaacist!" and promotes violence. Of course, almost nothing is further from the truth. Along with lying about Aldean's song, the left also again demonstrates magnificent hypocrisy. The left has LONG looked the other way on a mountain of music that promotes, among many other evils, violence and sexual immorality. This especially includes "rap music." The hip-hop industry is littered with music and artists who promote violence, celebrate crime, degrade women, and attack police. Yet we're supposed to believe Aldean and his song are the problem. Again, the left is on the wrong side of the truth. Matt Walsh does an excellent job of explaining why:
For good measure, here's the full video of Aldean's song:
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
Helen Joyce is an Irish journalist with a background in mathematics. She's an avowed atheist and enthusiastic Darwinian evolutionist. In spite of these shortcomings, she is standing strong against, and speaking much truth to, the evil transgender agenda. She shares many of her views in the hour-plus interview below. TAKE HEED: There is a bit of foul language in the video, and, more importantly, Mrs. Joyce has many misleading views on important facts of the universe. Pray for her salvation!
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
So we are finally done with another “Pride Month,” though if Richard Levine had his way, it would continue through the summer. Alas, the “Pride” movement will likely last until the end of time, when all things will be made right, and then every vestige of “Pride”—along with all other evil—will be swept away. Until then, we must faithfully endure “Pride” and all its perversions.
Pride 2023 seems to have been particularly perverse. In
spite of their many recent “victories”—a legal
redefinition of the oldest institution in the history of humanity, a
corporate culture that embraces, promotes, and celebrates virtually every evil
aspect of the LGBT agenda, an academic culture that does the same, and so on—it’s
as if those who’ve abandoned the truth on sex simply don’t know when or how to
stop.
This is completely unsurprising. As Dr. Jeffrey Satinover
notes in his excellent book, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth,
[A]nother defining feature of homosexuality is the broad range of sexual appetites and behaviors that appear when people do not conform themselves to a code of behavior. Indeed, once people begin to “walk on the wild side,” they have effectively broken one of society’s strongest taboos. Other taboos then fall away easily and rapidly. For homosexual apologists, this feature of the gay lifestyle is not so much a mark of enslavement to sexuality as a sign of homosexuals’ greater freedom from arbitrary and stifling social inhibitions, sexual and otherwise.
Taboos falling away “easily and rapidly” seem to apply to
cultures as well as individuals. Consider that, in the United States, once laws
against homosexual behavior were declared unconstitutional (Lawrence v.
Texas, 2003), in barely a generation we’ve gone from homosexual behavior
being widely (and rightly) seen as immoral and unhealthy, and thus illegal, to
a widespread acceptance of homosexual behavior, to debating what is marriage—with
the vast majority of U.S. states and the population at-large then embracing
the biblical view of marriage—to (via a 5-4 SCOTUS judicial fiat) a legal
redefinition of marriage (giving us same-sex “marriage”), to debating what is a
male and what is a female, to a widespread acceptance—including within the
established medical community!—of the absurd and evil notion that one can
change one’s sex through merely declaring such (sometimes combined with drugs
and surgery), to laws and edicts that enforce this evil absurdity, to allowing
children to embrace and participate in this evil absurdity!
In other words, in barely a generation we’ve gone from “Stay
out of our bedroom!” to boys taking
trophies from girls (As
I warned!), government schools secretly
“transitioning” children, children being hauled to Drag
Queen Story Hour and Pride
parades by their foolishly woke parents, the attempted
normalization of pedophilia, and the like. All of this is because “Stay out
of our bedroom!” has
never really been the
end game for the LGBT agenda. After all, live and let live is not a
hallmark of the LGBT agenda, and they are extreme “mind
your own business” hypocrites.
As was the case in
the marriage debate, the LGBT war on sex (“gender”) is simply another
opportunity for those who want to rule
their own world to thumb their noses at the laws of the Law Giver. The
legalization of same-sex “marriage” was never really only about giving
homosexuals the opportunity to “marry.” It was also always about sticking it to
Christians and Christianity. In other words, as was the case with same-sex
“marriage,” “transgenderism” is a war against the truth.
The LGBT agenda has always been about “progressing” towards a
culture where the Laws of God—especially in the sexually realm—are at least
ignored, and ideally formally abandoned and replaced with the laws and “morals”
of rebellious humans. This “progression” seemingly has no end, thus the perversions
of what is good and right continue to grow into what is more and more perverse.
As noted above, we are now facing those who wish to
normalize pedophilia. As John Hinderacker recently
noted at Powerline, Democrats in Minnesota have now officially come out “in
defense of pedophilia as a matter of law.” Mr. Hinderacker notes,
Minnesota’s crazed DFL [Democrat] majorities have passed one extreme measure after another this session, but this one breaks new ground in service of pedophilia. The bill is HF 1655, sponsored by a man pretending to be a woman named Leigh Finke…Finke’s bill is called the “Take Pride Act.” We might re-name it the “Take Pride in Abuse of Children Act.”
…Now note what Mr. Finke’s bill does: Along with creating all kinds of legal rights on behalf of transgenders, it changes the definition of “Sexual orientation” by deleting the exclusion of pederasty from the definition.
…The result of this amendment is that all of the special legal protections now given to homosexuals in health care, welfare, employment, housing, education and much else will benefit pederasts.
Tragically, Minnesota is not alone in this evil pursuit. As David
Strom reports
at HotAir,
It turns out that Minnesota isn’t the only state where the Democrats are determined to normalize pedophilia. Connecticut, too, is taking steps to redefine its Human Rights laws to eliminate restrictions on the definition of “sexual orientation” to include paraphilias that are so offensive that legislators specifically banned their consideration for inclusion in protected classes.
…As with Minnesota, the changes do not legalize pedophilic acts–it is, thankfully, going to remain illegal for adults to rape children. However, being a “Minor Attracted Person” is no longer sufficient to exclude you from polite society, and may even entitle one to special protections from the state.
The perversions of the LGBT agenda truly know no bounds. If
we continue down this path of sexual rebellion, the perversions will continue
to shock us, though they shouldn’t surprise those who know the truth.
This past Sunday (July 2, 2023), Dr. Mark Rutland delivered a necessary and powerful message to the congregation at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. It was an Independence Day message, but it was also a warning to America and the American church. We need to hear more of this from our pulpits!
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
On his Fox show, "Life, Liberty, & Levin," Mark Levin says what I've been saying privately for some time: The Democrat Party, as it currently exists, must be destroyed. It must cease to have power and influence in this nation. As I have also said (though more publicly) often in the last few years: The modern Democrat Party is one of the greatest tools of Satan in the world today. Their whole existence is rooted in a mountain of lies, and these lies have infected and corrupted most every institution in America, including, but not limited to: government, education, law enforcement, the military, science (especially medical and climate science), corporations, and the like. Most importantly, the widespread corruption of the Democrat Party has even infected our families and the church. No right-minded voter should ever do anything that would allow Democrats to continue with power and influence in America. This especially means that, for lovers of truth, no one with the privilege of voting in America should ever cast their ballot for a Democrat.
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
As noted at Twitchy,
Senator Josh Hawley delivered a fiery speech in which he held nothing back against the cultural rot that has taken over so many American institutions. Senator Hawley calls out the universities. He calls out the media. He calls out the entertainment industry. He calls out Big Pharma. He calls out Target. He calls out Bud Light. He even calls out Republicans who are too scared to take on this culture war.
Most importantly, he calls on American Christians to rise up and lead. Watch:
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
McNamara was unable to cite one study, falling back on the undefined “standards of care.”“‘The standards of care.’ That’s not a journal. That’s not a study. That’s not an organization. It’s not an institution. You’re just saying words. Name one study,” Crenshaw chided.
Crenshaw cited reviews from the British Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which all conclude there is little evidence that gender transition treatments are beneficial for minors.
He cited a review in the Journal of the Endocrine Society that found there is “low quality evidence for the idea that hormonal treatment improves quality of life, depression, and anxiety among adolescents.”
See the complete exchange here:
Additionally, Dr. Miriam Grossman further exposed the numerous lies of the transgender agenda, specifically calling out Dr. McNamara. It was beautiful to behold:Democrat witness can’t name ONE study that shows how transgender procedures are beneficial for kids
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 14, 2023
pic.twitter.com/LwC3sdmdij
Listen to Dr. Miriam Grossman's (@Miriam_Grossman) powerful testimony at today's Congressional hearing. She expertly counters the assertions made by Dr. Meredithe McNamara, whom you might recall from the Florida Boards of Medicine Workshop in 2022. pic.twitter.com/QR3M2WDkOo
— Jeremy Shaw, MD (@JeremyShawMD) June 14, 2023
When it comes to in-person shopping, one of the more frequent complaints I’ve encountered recently concerns self-checkout registers. It seems many people despise using them. I do not. Whether Kroger, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and the like, I almost always choose the self-checkout station over an in-person cashier. In fact, I will wait in line for the self-checkout even when a line for an in-person cashier is unoccupied.
It’s not that I dislike human cashiers, it’s just that I
prefer being in control of the check-out process, and the typical convenience
of the self-checkout. There’s another reason that I prefer the self-checkout: I
never get solicited by a cashier at a self-checkout.
It seems that retail, fast-food, financial corporations, and
the like, are frequently in the business these days of asking their customers
to donate to one pet cause or another. If you happen to have to deal with a
cashier today, a common method of “charitable” soliciting often goes something
like this: “Would you like to round-up your purchase to support ____________
(fill in the blank)?”
My answer virtually every time: “No, thank you.” Of course,
this is not because I’m against charity, rather it’s because almost every
corporation in America today has proven itself to be quite unworthy of
stewardship over a single penny of my charitable income.
In case you haven’t noticed, one of the largest reasons
we’re currently in a “woke” war is due to the actions of corporate America. On
virtually every moral issue facing the world today, most all of corporate
America stands in opposition to the truth. Whether capitalism—yes, even
capitalism!—climate change, crime, guns, immigration, abortion, the evil LGBT
agenda, and so on, corporate America is almost always on the wrong side of the
truth.
As is the case with our schools, our government, our media, and
tragically, even our churches, our corporations are merely a reflection of the
culture at large. And as is the case with almost any American institution one
can imagine, U.S. corporations are so often on the wrong side of the truth
because there is a widespread ignorance of what is truth in America today. This
is due to the widespread rejection of Christianity that prevails in America
today.
Instead of embracing the absolute, unchanging, undeniable
truths of the universe given to us by the Author of truth Himself and living by
those truths (whether we want to or not), for decades now, much of America—increasing
numbers it seems as time moves onward—has decided to go their own way and
decide “what is truth” for themselves. In other words, many of us have rejected
God as the ultimate Authority in the universe and have decided to rule
our own world.
This secular humanist worldview dominates the thinking in
corporate America today. Thus, instead of merely quietly and subtly heeding what
is good and right, or simply acknowledging a preference to their bottom line,
U.S. corporations today are dedicated to nonsense such as the “diversity,
equity, and inclusion” (DEI) and “environmental,
social, and governance” (ESG) scams. Both DEI and ESG are dogmatic
rejections of truth that are born of modern leftist orthodoxy. Yet, corporate
America has embraced these boondoggles as a means of declaring to the world, “Look
at how much we care!”
If corporate America truly cared about the world we live in
and the human beings who occupy it, then the likes of DEI and ESG would be quickly
and enthusiastically rejected. If corporations truly had the well-being of
humanity in mind, they would realize that true charity is—or should be—far more
than words or actions that make us feel good.
Additionally, charity is about far more than
simply giving to the poor. Giving to or caring for the poor ought to be one of
the most obvious actions of a charitable person or organization. Most
importantly, charity must be rooted in truth. The most charitable person who
ever lived—Jesus Christ—makes this clear. When Jesus healed the sick, fed the
hungry, or even raised the dead, He didn’t do this only to satisfy their
physical needs—though that is indeed a good thing. The ultimate goal of all of
the good works of Jesus was to point people to a magnificent spiritual truth.
In other words, the ministry of God—feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked, healing the sick (things often deemed as “charitable”)—should
never be separated from the message of God—to repent of our sin and believe
that Jesus was who He claimed to be: the Son of God and the Savior of the
world. The ministry of God and the message of God—both together complete the
mission of God. In other words, any sound charity should ultimately help
complete the mission of God.
Thus, even if a corporation is doing what seems like legitimate
charitable work, or even if it has ties to what many conclude are legitimate
charitable organizations, given the current track record with the truth that is
prevalent in corporate America today, I will not trust corporations with my charitable
income. Instead, I choose to do my charitable giving directly myself. I
encourage you to politely do the same.
(See this column at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle
and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
The left-wing propaganda group known as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has come out with its annual “Year in Hate and Extremism” report. This latest report is for 2022. This year’s report supposedly documents “1,225 hate and antigovernment extremist groups across the United States.” According to Fox News, this is up from 733 “hate groups” in 2021. As has been widely reported, even the pro-family, parental rights group “Moms for Liberty” made this year’s list.
Since 1990, the SPLC has published a so-called “hate map.” The
“hate map” has devolved into a “hate and anti-government” map. So, note that, with
its current map, if you merely
oppose the government in a manner that the SPLC doesn’t approve—e.g. the
Moms for Liberty—you could end up as an ugly dot on their map.
These days, opposing the government in a manner the SPLC
doesn’t approve simply means speaking out against the evils of Critical Race
Theory, the grooming of children, the genital mutilation of children, Drag
Queen Story Hour, or boys in girls’ sports and locker rooms.
Opposing the government in a manner that displeases the SPLC
also means standing against all the immorality of the evil LGBT agenda. It
means standing up for the truth on marriage, family, and sex. It means speaking
out against the invasion of illegal immigrants at our southern border. And it
also means treating criminals as they deserve to be treated.
As they have done with the word “racism,” the left—aided and
abetted by the likes of the SPLC—has turned “hate” into a near-meaningless
word. Much of what the SPLC labels as “hate” is merely opposition to the
Democrat Party’s immoral agenda.
Though they once stood for something decent, today the SPLC
is nothing more than a group of truth-hating well-heeled leftist shills who
operate to further the agenda of the Democrat Party. They deserve no one’s
attention or money.
(See this post at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle
and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
In his seminal work Mere Christianity, the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis describes “pride” as “the Great Sin,” “the essential vice,” “the utmost evil.” Lewis concludes,
Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil; Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.
Thus, I suppose it is rather fitting that the “official”
celebration of the evil LGBT agenda is called “Pride Month.” Few
things today more encompass the wretched display of pride than what is exhibited
when those under the throes of the LGBT agenda are unashamedly and boldly “out
of the closet.”
Why was it—as this is typically no longer the case—that
those with homosexual attractions had to come “out of the closet?” It was
because to act on those attractions was often illegal, and—or at least—typically
frowned upon by society at large. Why was homosexual behavior so stigmatized?
Because it was once largely (and rightly) viewed as “unnatural”
and immoral.
It is important to note that things are not—or should not be—immoral
because they are illegal, they are—or should be—illegal because they are immoral.
And this is not to say that all immoral things should be illegal. The biggest
achievement of the LGBT agenda has not been the reversal of U.S. laws that
deemed homosexual behavior illegal, but rather a sea-change in the views on
homosexuality in the American culture at-large.
As was the case with all of the rotten and perverse fruit of
the “sexual revolution,” this was largely accomplished by appealing to the
pride of those who wanted to go their own way in the sexual realm. As C.S.
Lewis noted, “pride leads to every other vice.” Homosexuality, pornography,
promiscuity, and the like, are all born of the desire to ignore our Creator and
write
our own moral code.
It is telling that, before the LGBT agenda took root in
America, pornography, promiscuity, sexually explicit displays throughout media,
the “hook-up” culture, abortion (yes, abortion
is a sexual issue), and so on, were being promoted and widely embraced
across the U.S. Thus, no one should be surprised that once heterosexual
immorality became entrenched in our culture, widespread acceptance of
homosexuality would soon follow. Immorality breeds immorality.
It is also telling that, the sexual revolution that infected
America flourished once those devoted to such a perverse agenda gained power.
U.S. courts, politicians, academics, influential media personalities—and most
tragically, even those within the church—alike all played a role in the
pervasive spread of the sexual revolution. Power and pride go hand-in-hand,
“For, of course, power is what Pride really enjoys,” writes Lewis. He adds,
There is nothing that makes a man feel so superior to others as being able to move them about like toy soldiers. What makes a pretty girl spread misery wherever she goes by collecting admirers? Certainly not her sexual instinct; that kind of girl is quite often sexually frigid. It is Pride. What is it that makes a political leader or a whole nation go on and on, demanding more and more? Pride again. Pride is competitive by its very nature; that is why it goes on and on.
Many were duped into believing that those promoting the LGBT
agenda merely wanted to “live and let live.” However, as I’ve often noted, “live and
let live” has never really been a trait of the LGBT agenda. Because of
their desire to use their power to not only push their agenda, but to exact
revenge upon those who stood in their way, the left’s Pride warriors have
enthusiastically gone “on and on” targeting their opponents.
As Dennis Prager rightly noted earlier
this year, “pride is not about tolerance—it is totalitarian.” One only has
to examine those targeted in the marriage debate for evidence of this. However,
the “transing” of America provides most of the recent and most egregious
examples of LGBT totalitarianism. (For a chronicling of these efforts, see here.)
As I noted at the beginning of this piece, few things
display the pride of humanity than unabashed displays of LGBT behavior. This is
because, few things are further from the truth than the legal redefinition of
marriage, and the absurd notion that one can change their sex. Again, almost
nothing in the realm of truth is older than what is marriage, and what is a
male and what is a female. This is because, “in the beginning” God revealed
these foundational truths to us.
Of course, it is hard—if not impossible—to hear God when one
is filled with pride. And if we’re not hearing God, then we are likely clueless
as to what is sin. “Treason doth never prosper,” wrote English poet John
Harington. He asks, “What’s the reason?” He concludes, “For if it prospers,
none dare call it treason.” Likewise, sin “doth” never prosper. Why? Because if
it prospers, none dare call it sin. This is where we are in America, instead of
calling sin what it is, and dealing with it appropriately, we celebrate it, and
misery ensues.
Again, C.S. Lewis was right:
The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began…Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.
In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison— you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.
The ultimate message of Pride Month is that God—if He exists
at all—is a liar, and that you can do whatever you wish in the sexual realm
without consequence. This is why no Christian should have any part of it. (This
is especially the case when you are telling the world about The Chosen.)
(See this column at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle
and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
In all the conversation that is prevalent throughout the Earth today, there is almost nothing further from the truth than the absurd and evil notion that men can become women, and that women can become men, or similarly, the idea that sex (or “gender”) is not binary and rather “a spectrum.” These ideas are so absurd and so far from the truth (in line with 2 + 2 = 5) that many modern liberals refuse—or perhaps more accurately, have yet—to embrace them.
We shouldn’t be surprised that we are now having to debate
what is a male and what is a female, or that sex is binary. Transgenderism, and
all its fallacies, is simply what results when one abandons the notion of
absolute truth. The idea that some things are
settled for all time is not a tenet of modern liberalism.
Saying that “some things are settled for all time” is simply
another way of saying that we live in a universe where “absolute truth” exists.
I’ve never quite understood why it’s “absolute truth” and not simply “truth.” Regardless,
it is folly to suggest that some things aren’t immutably true. If anything
exists, there must be truth. As St. Thomas Aquinas put it,
The existence of truth is self-evident. For whoever denies the existence of truth grants that truth does not exist: and, if truth does not exist, then the proposition ‘Truth does not exist’ is true: and if there is anything true, there must be truth.
The truth about truth flies in the face of those who wish to
rule
their own world and write
their own moral code. So you see, transgenderism—like the marriage
debate—is just another battle in the war on truth. Granted, it is a battle
against one of the oldest truths—even older than the
truth of what is marriage—in the history of humanity. Few things have been known
longer than what is a male, and what is a female, yet the left’s war on this
old and foundational truth rages on.
It rages on because if doubt can be cast on the truth of sex
(males/females), then doubt (and subsequent lies) can creep into virtually ANY
realm of truth. This is why the enemy of all humanity; the enemy of all truth—Satan—is
so hard at work here. Yes, this
is indeed a spiritual war, and The Father of Lies is winning many battles.
Satan has been so successful in the arena of biological sex that
Scientific American—once a widely respected publication—recently
published an absurd piece entitled Here’s Why Human Sex is Not Binary.
Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the
U.S. Noted scientists such as Einstein and Tesla contributed articles to it. Yet
it seems now that, in order to further the leftist agenda, Scientific
American is willing to abandon biology that children can comprehend.
After the Twitterverse called them out for going woke on
biology, Scientific American doubled
down on their wokeness. Just days after running the Here’s Why Human Sex
is Not Binary column, Laura Helmuth, the Editor-in-Chief of Scientific
American, in a tweet about White-throated sparrows, boldly declared “sex is
not binary.”
The modern leftist agenda—which lies at the foundation of
the Democrat Party, the mainstream American media, government schools, and the
like—is itself a war on truth. As in any war, what the left seeks to do here is
to replace their adversary—truth—with their own idea of “truth.” Of course, as
the last several decades in America have proved, the left has had great success
in supplanting the truth with their own perverse, evil ideology. Their wild
successes in supplanting the truth of what is a male and what is a female alone
proves this point.
In addition to corrupting formerly esteemed science
publications, the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court, is now
publishing opinions where males are referred to as females. Again, this should come as little surprise as
the author of the opinion herself, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, during
her confirmation hearing, refused to define what is a woman. “I’m not a
biologist,” she foolishly declared.
Numerous U.S. corporations are pushing the evil trans
agenda. Adidas recently
published an ad for a women’s swimsuit using a male model, complete with chest
hair and an obvious groin bulge. Starbucks recently
ran an ad in India marketing transgenderism in the Hindu-majority nation. Target
is now selling chest binders, “tuck
friendly” swimwear, and other woke and dangerous clothing to children!
Additionally, there are now near-countless states and other
municipalities (run by Democrats) who are enshrining into law the “right” of
one to simply declare themselves the opposite sex, along with the demand (or
threat) that rest of us support and accommodate this evil. Those who refuse are
targeted. As Orwell predicted, common sense has become heresy. In Nineteen
Eighty-Four, Orwell writes,
In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable—what then?
Again, we shouldn’t be surprised we are debating what is a
male and what is a female, the “logic” of today’s left demands it. The very
existence of “external reality,” or truth, is tacitly loudly denied by
their philosophy. And how do we know the truth about sex, marriage, and the
like? Not merely because of “common sense,” but because of all that the Author
of truth has revealed to us.
This is what is truly terrifying to the left: that there is
a system of values—call it what you will, “absolute truth,” “external reality,”
etc.—that is the ultimate source of all value judgements; that there is an
Author of truth to whom we are all beholden; and that their system of
“values”—especially on matters in the sexual realm—are afoul of what He has
revealed.
(See this column at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle
and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
Most importantly, NEVER forget how wrong they were--on virtually EVERYTHING concerning COVID-19. From lockdowns, to masks, social distancing, testing, vaccines, and so on, the American left--especially those in the media, education, and the Democrat Party--got almost everything on COVID wrong. (For a litany of information on all things COVID, see here (2020), here (2021), here (2022), and here (2023).
Additionally, as the video below highlights, whether media leftists, or Democrats, the COVID-19 zealots slanderously accused the unvaccinated of numerous healthcare "sins." The likes of Mika Brzezinski, Don Lemon, Stephen Colbert, Whoopi Goldberg, Howard Stern, Joy Reid, et al called the unvaccinated "lunatics" who are "killing people." The unvaccinated were told, "You are the problem," and were "not to be trusted."
Jimmy Kimmel was for denying the unvaccinated hospital beds. The unvaccinated were blamed whenever COVID cases rose, though that flew in the face of the mantra that the COVID vaccine would protect one from getting infected (it didn't!). Additionally, unvaccinated were used to keep the foolish, ignorant, and useless mask mandates in place.
As Bob Hoge at RedState rightly puts it,
Entire swaths of citizens were deemed enemies of the country by our own president, and many thought that those who did not want to get the shots were simply stupid or evil or both. This is in spite of the fact that it quickly became apparent to any rational mind that the mRNA jabs weren’t working to stop transmission or infection...The viciousness and self-righteousness displayed by so many “leaders” during the pandemic will go down as one of the darker periods in American history. It would be bad enough if they were right—but they were wrong, and it was they who ignored the science. Trust them again at your peril.
Watch for yourself:
Covid Retrospective Series, Vol. 1
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 12, 2023
Media: The Unvaccinated Are Scum pic.twitter.com/hPvLfEtW3O
(See this post at American Thinker.)
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
In what is described as "corruption at the highest level," the GOP-led U.S. House Oversight Committee held a press conference this morning to give details into how millions of dollars from foreign nationals flowed to the Biden family. In a headline that reads "Bidens Made Millions Exchanging Political Favors For Foreign Money, Then Tried To Cover It Up: Oversight Report," Jordan Boyd at The Federalist declares,
President Joe Biden and his family are at the center of an influence-peddling scheme in which they traded the patriarch’s decades of time in political offices to line their own pockets and then tried to cover up their profiteering with a myriad of complicated transactions and accounts, the House Oversight Committee confirmed during a press conference on Wednesday.
With the help of whistleblowers and congressional subpoenas, Republicans are confidently reporting that the Bidens received at least $10 million worth of diluted payments from foreign companies during and after the president’s time in the Obama White House. [Read the rest here.]
A Fox News panel discusses the report:
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
In a response to "woke corporate America," and declaring themselves "a company that believes in truth," Egard Watch Company produced the following excellent ad:
#erased Our ad response to woke corporate America. We are a company that believes in truth. @elonmusk @TuckerCarlson @libsoftiktok @benshapiro @MattWalshBlog @stillgray @piersmorgan @alx @JackPosobiec @Malcolm_fleX48 @carolinecwilder @OliLondonTV @RealSaavedra @josh_hammer pic.twitter.com/tRD5ogzEyJ
— Egard Watch Company (@EgardWatchCo) April 14, 2023
As countless U.S. businesses and corporations abandon the truth for wokeness, it is refreshing to a company tell the truth on one of the most important moral issues of our time. Thank you, Egard Watch Company!
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
In one of my favorite songs—Worlds Apart by Jars of Clay—singing of the death of Jesus, the lyrics ask (at about the 2:29 mark in the linked video) “Did you really have to die for me?” The answer, of course, is a resounding “YES!”
One of the most important questions in the history of the universe is “Why did Jesus have to die?” This is especially the case as we are in the throes of what some are referring to as the “Negative World” era, where “Everybody Wants to Rule Their World.”
Aaron Renn describes the “Negative World” (2014-the present) as a period when a culture adopts a negative view of Christianity, “particularly in the elite domains of society.” Mr. Renn adds that, in the Negative World “Christian morality is expressly repudiated and seen as a threat to the public good and the new public moral order. Subscribing to Christian moral views or violating the secular moral order brings negative consequences.”
Of course, this is exactly what we see in America today, especially where the “woke” rule. Much of the disdain for Christianity that we see today—and throughout time—is due to what God has had to say and do about sin. Far too many Americans today have refused to close their minds on matters that have been settled for all time, and instead have decided to adopt their own moral code (especially on matters in the sexual realm).
We are a nation littered with those who are deciding for themselves what is good, what is truth, and what is sin. We have largely abandoned the notion that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Thus, unsurprisingly, few Americans truly understand the reasons behind the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The late-great Oswald Chambers provides one of the best
descriptions of why
Jesus went to the cross:
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin…There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
One of my favorite Scriptures that explains the death of
Jesus is near the end of the first chapter of the book of Colossians.
Colossians 1:19-20 reads:
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
In other words, Jesus was, in the words of C.S. Lewis, “The Perfect Penitent.”
As Lewis puts it,
We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed.
Christ dying for our sins is an amazing—and necessary—act of love and sacrifice, but it is not the end of the matter. Just as important as Christ dying for our sins is His resurrection. The physical resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of Christianity. British theologian Michael Green said it well when he noted, “Without faith in the resurrection there would be no Christianity at all.”
The facts of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection all are, of course, central to Christianity. For millennia, each of these events has been celebrated, studied, taught, and preached on. Most everyone—from the fervently faithful to the lukewarm to the “near Christian” to those outside Christianity—at least admires the loving life, work, and words of Jesus. However, for a complete understanding of the events of Jesus’ life—especially His death and resurrection—one must seek to understand sin and its sorrowful, destructive, and deadly effect upon humanity.
Unless you have a proper understanding of sin—especially the sin in your own life—you don’t really understand why Jesus came into this world, why He said the things He said, why He did the things He did, and why He died and was raised to life again. The first act of Jesus’ public ministry was His baptism by John. As Jesus came to the Jordan River, John declared (John 1:29), “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Since the first humans decided that they wanted to “be like God,” the world has been plagued—literally cursed—by sin. More so than any other human who has walked this planet, Jesus knew—and knows—what we need most. He understood perfectly the sin-sickness of humanity and that He alone had—and still has—the cure.
People don’t like hearing that things in their life need to change; that they are on the wrong path; that the things they are currently enjoying are really quite evil and deadly. In other words, people don’t like being told that they need to “repent.”
As I noted several years ago, the greatest lie ever told is that there is no God. The second greatest lie ever told is that the devil does not exist. The third greatest lie ever told is that your (and my) sin is not really sin. One of the greatest debates within the church today surrounds the question of what is sin. If we can’t answer that question well and accurately, then we will fall short of understanding and appreciating all that Jesus did for us.
As Oswald Chambers reveals above, Jesus came for no other reason than to redeem us, to save us. Save us from what? From the sin that leads to death, hell, and eternal separation from God. We don’t get to come to God and accept Jesus on our own terms. It must be unconditional surrender. We must be willing to lay down everything that is an affront to God. He created us, He sustains us, and He alone can save us.
The ministry of God—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick—should never be separated from the message of God—to repent of our sin and believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be: the Son of God and the savior of the world. The ministry of God and the message of God—both together complete the mission of God. In other words, God became man not simply to improve us, or to help us out of a jam, or to give us what we ask for, or to make us feel better, but to make us into new creatures.
Happy Resurrection Day!
(See this column at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of
America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
