​This essay by Philosophy professor, Dr. Kelley L. Ross, explores some of the ideas suggested by J.K. Rowling in her Harry Potter series.  Since scripture is very clear that the follower of Jesus must have nothing to do with witchcraft, and because of the current rise of the occult and lack of discernment that is natural in children, I do not recommend Christ-centered families have their children read the Harry Potter books.  However, for those who wish to study popular culture and hold it up to the light of God’s Word, these books provide good material:  

As the story has developed, we know that there is a conspiracy on behalf of Lord Voldemort; we know that some people are definitely in it (the "Death Eaters"); we know that some people are definitely against it (the Order of the Phoenix); and we don't know, for certain, about many other people. As Order of the Phoenix begins, the Government, in the person of the Minister of Magic, denies that there is a conspiracy or that Voldemort is a threat (or even exists). The Government is therefore actively trying to obstruct and discredit the people who are alive to the threat and who have called for action against it, with the identities of many of the Death Eaters in hand. The Government thus functions as an effective ally of Voldemort, intentionally or not, believing and corrupted by known Death Eaters.

Once upon a time, there was a situation much like this in Britain and America. Agents of a mass murderer…

​The topic of religious freedom is hotly contested these days, showing up in Supreme Court debates, state laws, and executive orders.  Some church leaders, comparing the church in America with the church in China, are drawing the conclusion that the growth of Christianity in China is happening because of persecution, while religious freedom in America, they say, has made the Church weak.  Although this idea does contain a grain of truth, it demonstrates a misunderstanding of God's Word and of Chinese and American history. 
 
Francis Chan, for example, recently said:
When you look at the places where there is religious freedom and you compare those places to where there is not religious freedom, what have we done with the freedom? It’s just weakened the Church.

Francis Chan did qualify his remark, saying that he does not wish for the U.S. to lose its religious freedom, but his thoughts echoed a misunderstanding that many believers have repeated in recent years.  Here's why they are mistaken:

God's Word
Scripture is certainly clear that God does use persecution and suffering for our good (Matthew 5:10-12, Acts 5:41).  But nowhere in scripture are God-followers found longing for more restrictions on their freedom to follow God.  A possible exception can be found in 1 Samuel 8, where Israel longs to be ruled over by a worldly king—and this desire is condemned by God, not applauded.  1 Timothy 2:2 tells us to pray “for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”  Our prayer is to be able to live out our godly lifestyle without interference from the government.

So it confuses me when I hear Christians express the idea that we might be better off with more persecution.  Christ's followers are called to leadership, not passive victimhood.  Before Jesus ascended, leaving his Holy Spirit to guide and empower, he made it clear that he has been given all authority, not only over Heaven, but over the whole earth, and he commanded The Church to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything he, Jesus, had commanded.  This commission was not a one-off thought, dropped by Jesus as a nearly forgotten postscript--it was the culmination of history to that point, a working out of Christ's mission of redemption, and the fulfillment of prophesy.   Genesis 12, for example, declares that the seed of Abraham would become a blessing to all peoples on earth.

In his command to disciple and teach the nations, Jesus left room for discipling, baptizing, and teaching even as a persecuted minority, and we are not to be surprised when the world reacts harshly to us (Matt 10:22-25), but persecution and lack of religious freedom were not to be the goal.  On the contrary, The Church, a royal priesthood and holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), was to be blessed by God and be a blessing (Gen 12), making disciples of nations and transforming those societies to serve their Lord Jesus.  We’re not left with a picture of a Church dependent on abuse to keep it strong.

Poor treatment of God’s People in a society would not be the result of successful implementation of Christ’s Great Commission in that society.

American History
To reference pop culture, Bono once shared that, as an Irishman, he had "always believed that America is not just a country, it's an idea, it's a dream that belongs to the whole world."  God brought together the "idea" of America with the Pilgrim and Puritan Founders who sacrificed deeply to build a place for religious freedom. This American idea was then propelled and shepherded by God, and many brave men have given their lives to protect this "dream that belongs to the whole world."

As Christians, the best way to view this history is with an attitude of gratefulness and a resolve to defend the historically unique Christian freedoms we enjoy in the United States.  Tragically, I find that the history of the unique Christian freedoms in America are taken for granted and undervalued by today's church.
 
The strength of America’s Christianity was built by God out of the Great Awakenings, the prayer movements, through the work of pastors, and through the multi-generational discipleship of Christian families bringing up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4).

The greatest slide into weakness by the American church has come not through religious freedom, but quite the opposite.  The massive pressure on families to have their children educated in Secular Humanist schools has resulted in an unsustainable position for the church, with three out of four children from Christian families leaving the faith.

Chinese History
Pointing to persecution as the reason for a strong Chinese church is like pointing to Communism as the reason for China's strong economic growth, when, in fact, Communism created poverty and even starvation in the days of the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward.  China's rapid economic development began when its government embraced a form of capitalism in its economic policy.  The Chinese economy blossomed in spite of, not because of Communism.

The growth of the church in China began with the Holy Spirit empowered, sacrificial work of western and native missionaries.  The Gospel spread in spite of, not because of persecution, and when China relaxed its persecution of Christians during the 1990's, the Church began to explode.  God used the relative increase of religious freedom to allow fast growth and fruitfulness, to the point that in 2003 and 2004, Chinese pastors and church leaders met openly to begin a missionary sending movement from the Chinese church into the Middle East.

The World Today
While we can point to encouraging numbers in China, increased persecution in the Middle East has decimated the Christian population.  Since this is the region of the world with the worst Christian persecution, one would think the Middle East would be a good testing ground to see how well a lack of religious freedom helps strengthen the church.  It turns out that over the past 100 years, the number of Christians has dropped from 20% of the population to about 4% in 2019, and the number is still falling.  God is using the suffering in the Middle East to strengthen the faith of some individual believers, He is receiving glory through the death of Christian martyrs, and He will ultimately use everything for His good purposes, but the big picture shows that right now, God is using the Great Commission and the religious freedom it produces as His main tool to grow and strengthen the worldwide church.
 
Conclusion
The idea that religious freedom is a cause of weakness in the American church may seem plausible on the surface, but this idea misses the main lessons of scripture, history, and a survey of the world today.  God can and does use trials of many kinds to train and strengthen His people (James 1:2-4), and He does sometimes use loss of liberty to spread the gospel, as in Acts 11 and the conversion of Scandinavia, which came as a result of Viking raids of Christian areas and the forced relocation of Christian prisoners.  However, God never stops there.  He wants His people to transform their societies into Christ-following sanctuaries, with freedom to build His church and send out the Gospel as the Irish did after the time of Saint Patrick.

School massacres are becoming almost a regular occurrence in the US.  George Washington's application of biblical principles to society points us to a godly response:
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the external rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.

One of Washington's prayers for the county:
I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens ... to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of His example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.

Read more on Washington's answer to school massacres; article by Eddie Hyatt

I was horrified to see the article about the abusive parents in California who shackled some of the children to beds and are accused of torture, neglect, etc. I hope they get what they deserve.

You may have noticed that the mainstream media is suggesting this couple's crimes as a reason to fear religion and home education. After all, the abusive parents were former church-goers and were registered as homeschoolers in California.

There is nothing wrong with studying the case of this family and learning from it. However, it should be also noted that there are massive numbers of abuses of kids in public school families. Up to 28% of US public school children and youth have been sexually abused.  140 public school children are killed by their parents every year in the US.  The Media does not use any of those examples to stir up fear of public education families.

Nor should they. The more important issue at hand is that the Bible places the responsibility of education squarely in the hands of parents (Prov 4:1-2, Prov 1:7-9, Prov 22:6, Deut 6:5-9, Deut 11:19, etc). In America and Western Europe, parents have to continually work to force their ever-expanding governments to grant them freedom to educate their children in the way that God leads them to. That freedom was assumed as a fundamental right by America's founders, but has come under heavy assault in recent decades.

The story of the abusive CA homeschool family leads to the question, "How are kids being protected from these creepy, evil parents.  Who is protecting the children?"  The easy answer is to say that we need to have more oversight in place.  We need laws to provide accountability for these homeschooling families.  So we look to the government as a solution.  But what evidence is there that the government can prevent abuse in the education systems it manages?  Abuse occurs in the government's own top-rated public schools.
  In the US, there are over 4,000 sexual assaults per year on public school children by other public school students—and those are just the cases that are reported to law enforcement.  It would be foolish to argue that it is safer to take children out of the protective care of their parents and entrust them to the "watchful supervision" of public schools.

The Christian Church should learn from scandals like the crimes of these abusive parents in California, but with a consideration of basic risk analysis, common sense, and a biblical worldview.

Have you noticed more and more Christians talking about preparations for an increase in persecution of US Christians?  It does look clear that more persecution is on the horizon.  But then there's a question of how we respond to this threat.  I hear more and more people throwing up their hands and saying, let's prepare to be persecuted. The church grows best in an environment of persecution anyway.  We should pull out of the "culture war" and work on living a quiet life of holy community.  The Great Commission will no longer be pursued through sacrificial proclamation of the gospel but through monkish living and hospitality.

Here's an article that eloquently describes this idea, from the perspective of a "crunchy conservative."  They call it the Benedict Option (or Ben Op to be cool).

I do not agree with the premise of this movement.  God grows His kingdom as he sees fit in all political environments, but historically, the kingdom of God has grown best and most rapidly during eras of peace (watch it grow through history here) and with the efforts of his followers to go out and disciple the nations at great risk to themselves, by people who see themselves as unstoppable because of the presence of King Jesus going with them(Matt 28:18,20b).

So here are my two conclusions: First, the church should not disengage, but instead should work to disciple the nations and teach them to obey everything King Jesus commanded (Matt 28:19-20).  US Christians have far more influence than any other block of Christians in the world.  What a cop-out to go and hide in a corner because of the small pressures we are facing.  Doing so would leave Christians in persecuted countries on their own (look at what the Obama era did to Christianity in the Middle East).  Neglecting our role of cultural impact would be a lousy way to love our US neighbors as well. 

Secondly, US Christians should continue to boldly carry the gospel to our fellow citizens and to the unreached of the world.  In an age where church "missions" has been restricted mostly to relief work, we need to think about how we can use our vast resources and influence to make disciples of all nations and baptize them.  With our technology, relative wealth, and a dominant English language, we have every reason to feel excited about evangelism in our lifetime.  And even if we didn't have those advantages, we would still have the call and empowering of God.

By Chuck Lawless

By Justin Chiarot at Dwaarkill Study Center

Last night my wife ask me a question: “Why do you suppose there is such hatred in the scientific community for those in the ID (Intelligent Design) camp?” I’m sure she was looking for a simple answer, to which there are plenty of decent ones—she, however, did not get one.

The question is well founded, there is a vitriolic hatred spewed in the direction of scientists who support an ID model. It is a palpable hatred, akin to that seen in the ever-partisan and antagonist world of politics. This, however, should come as no surprise, because the hatred is, at its most fundamental level, a political hatred. More specifically, it is a hatred for any worldview that is anti-Marxist.
​
There was a point in history, not that long ago, in the second half of the 20th century, where nearly 40% of the world’s population lived under some form of Marxism. Due to its philosophical naivety and devastating legacy of bloodshed and unappalled human suffering, Marxism no longer holds the same position of political power. But regardless of the shares of political power it has lost, Marxism still holds a massive stake in the intellectual framework of the modern world. So pervasive is the Marxist ideology that even most capitalists unknowingly function from within the larger Marxist metanarrative.

To understand Marx properly one must have a grip on...  Read More at Dwaarkill Study Center

by Matt Walsh, columnist at The Blaze

​by ChristCenteredPolitics.com

​by ChristCenteredPolitics.com

​      In recent years, conservative pastors have avoided controversial topics including anything regarding economics, sexuality, and government.  Many church leaders have taken the position that the church should focus only on topics of piety—politics is too "worldly." "Don't polish the brass on a sinking ship."  As a result, many Christian young people have never been introduced to a Christian worldview.  The young believer's entire worldview training is derived from American pop culture, which looks to the Left for answers.  But the Left is ill-equipped to handle the problems we face today.