Rex M Rogers - Discerning What Is Best

Discerning What Is Best
with Dr. Rex M. Rogers

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 10 July 2023

Have you picked up on the divisive nature of public discourse in America in the past few years, and for that matter in the Church—maybe not your church, but certainly in the denominations? There’re reasons for this.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #96 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

We know from Scripture that division and lying are two of Satan’s principle and most powerful tools for destroying the Church and the world.

Interestingly, “the word ‘devil,’ comes from the Greek word diabolos, which can be translated as, ‘to divide,’ ‘to separate,’ or more literally, ‘to throw against.’”

I used to agree more often with something the late Pope John Paul II said than I do Pope Francis, but when the current Pope Francis said this, I certainly agreed: “Divisions are a handy weapon that the devil uses to destroy the Church from within. He has two weapons, but the main one idivision …Please, fight against division, because it is one of the weapons that the devil uses to destroy the local Church and the universal Church.”

n Scripture, Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies,” John 8:44.

In both the Church and among the citizens of the United States of America, we are today an increasingly divided people. Historic church denominations including Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Reformed are losing thousands of member churches over profound doctrinal or political disagreements about race, gender and LGBTQ+, and other so-called “woke” ideology.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in the US, is battling over women pastors as well as experiencing pressure from some quarters regarding race, sexuality, climate change, and woke social justice priorities.

The American Catholic Church is also deeply divided about these issues, along with abortion, which is one reason Pope Francis offered his caveat about division.

Stepping away from the Church, we can think about American citizens, and guess what? We are also divided and dividing.

In “four areas critical to the survival and viability of the U.S. (and any nation) (we) are (deeply divided, deeply in trouble): economic, military, political, and moral-cultural.”

“Economically, the debt-based economy of the United States is now a house of cards.” Meanwhile, neither Republicans nor Democrats and certainly not Progressives are interested in economic policy that curtails debt.

“Militarily, while the United States is engaged in a proxy war with Russia through Ukraine, the unrestricted warfare against the U.S. by China is by far the greater threat.” Meanwhile, current military leadership talk more about woke ideology concerns for perceived white supremacy, promoting Pride, critical race theory training, and seminars on how to use the correct pronouns than they do military preparedness, not to mention continuing to attempt to justify our embarrassing, “hasty and reckless retreat from Afghanistan.” “No wonder there are now record shortfalls in recruiting new cadets to all branches of the military.”

“Politically, the United States is more divided than it has been at any time since the Civil War. The inability to reign in the aforementioned government deficit spending is a clear sign of a morally bankrupt politics. Equally destructive, but more malicious, are the political forces to weaponize our justice system and all the agencies of our federal government (and) deny Americans their First Amendment rights.” This includes colluding with Big Tech social media and “FBI attempts to silence parents pushing back against school boards imposing critical race theory and agendas to normalize homosexuality, gender confusion, and pornography with their children.”

Remember the opening comments about Satan? There are reasons for the division we’re now experiencing.

According to a recent report from Pew Research Center, as of 2020, Christianity was still the most practiced religion. However, it has declined 26% from the early 1990s.”

Let’s go deeper. According to Christian social researcher George Barna, for decades now the most consistent and reliable source of such information, “Seven out of 10 US adults call themselves ‘Christians’ and yet only 6 in 100 (6%) actually have a biblical worldview.

So, what do the rest of Americans believe?

Well, according to research from (Arizona Christian University’s) Cultural Research Center, there are “seven major worldviews that Americans are most influenced by: biblical theism, Eastern mysticism, Marxism, moralistic therapeutic deism, nihilism, postmodernism, and secular humanism.”

Barna said, “Most Americans blend their beliefs to create ‘a customized worldview.’” “In other words, the dominant worldview in America (and really the West) today is syncretism; a little of this and a little of that, blended into a worldview that’s custom-made by each person.

With such a worldview there’s no ultimate authority—‘truth’ is determined by whatever seems right to each person. And sadly, this isn’t unique to just those outside the church. Actually, Christians…hold to a form of syncretism when they blend millions of years and other evolutionary ideas into the book of Genesis. It’s really taking man’s pagan religion of our age that attempts to explain the universe without God (by natural processes) and meshing it with Scripture.”

“Barna (also) pointed to research that found only 2%—two percent—of US parents with children under the age of 13 have a biblical worldview!”

Overall, “while 51% of American adults said they have a ‘biblical worldview,’ only 6% of American adults actually hold this worldview.

Cultural Research Center revealed survey data compiled in January 2020 showed that 2% of Millennials hold a biblical worldview even though 61% identify as Christian.” Barna commented further, “As things stand today, biblical theism is much closer to extinction in America than it is to influencing the soul of the nation…young people, in particular, are largely isolated from biblical thought in our society and are the most aggressive at rejecting biblical principles in our culture.”

What makes all this more amazing and disheartening are the results of an American Bible Society survey conducted by Barna Research found that “in America, 85% of households own a Bible. Most families own more than one Bible, with a household average of 4.3 Bibles.”

So, we have the truth, but well, so what?

If Christianity is precipitously declining in American culture, and among those who consider themselves Christian, including Evangelicals, they do not really hold a biblical worldview, then we are left with an American citizenry that is woefully biblically illiterate.

In a practical everyday sense, Americans do not believe in accountability to God, do not believe in moral truth, and pretty much make up, meaning syncretize, their own religious views, most of which no longer align with Judeo-Christianity.

Americans being biblically illiterate makes us easy prey to woke ideology masquerading as new religion or any other falsehoods. This makes us easy prey to division, discord, and though I dislike saying it, destruction.

If as the Scripture says, “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17), and the Church is in such a mess in terms of its biblical worldview—and therefore our values—then what do we expect in the nation itself?

If the Church is accommodating to Satan’s lies and dividing, so will America.

Yet the prescription for this illness is a revival of and a recommitment to the transformative power of the Gospel, biblical Christianity, and a biblical worldview that influences culture. Through common grace God restrains sin, evil, misery, and wrath in this fallen world. He will bless not just the Church but the culture.

Personally, if a person acknowledges Christ as Savior and seeks to honor the Lord in life, he or she will be abundantly blessed.

Publicly, if a culture acknowledges God, truth, and morality, as America historically did, the culture’s laws, education, commerce and enterprise, arts will all be blessed, as will the nation’s potential for experiencing a bountiful free society.

Satan knows this. It is why he promotes lies and division, because the more we succumb to chaos, the more his minions and purposes can thwart the will of God in individuals lives and in society.

Christian believers, Christian citizens, should work to express purpose, righteousness, and hope in society. Of course, to do this we need to know whereof we speak. We need to understand biblical theology and a Christian worldview and how to apply them in everyday life. Our work to restore purpose reinforces e pluribus unum.

Not unity at any cost, not unity via accommodation to error, not suppressing truth to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.

Jesus met with publicans and sinners like Zacchaeus and the woman at the well. He loved them, but he told them the truth about their sin and His redemptive living water.

We must not grow weary in standing for truth.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 04 July 2023

Patriotism seems to have fallen out of favor in recent years, but is it really passe or are can we find ways to express a legitimate and responsible Christian patriotism?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #95 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

The original television Superman of my youth was introduced with the statement, “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Superman! Battling for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”

But a few years ago, in the 900th issue of Action Comics, after officials criticize him for joining a million protesters in a peaceful anti-Ahmadinejad vigil in Iran, Superman says, “I am renouncing my US citizenship…I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of US policy. ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’ — it’s not enough anymore. The world’s too small. Too connected.”

It seems that we aren’t sure any more about “Truth” or “Justice,” and we certainly aren’t sure about “the American Way.” More things change, more they remain the same and vice versa. One of the things that has changed is our attitude toward Patriotism. Arguing America had an unworthy beginning, stands for false ideals, and blaming America for all the world’s problems is a cottage industry on the Left.

But everyone is patriotic. The key is not whether we are patriotic, but what we are patriotic for, toward, or about.

Patriotism at its best is about what we believe, what we live for, and what we are willing to die for.

Patriotism is more than moral platitudes. It is a moral enterprise, an expression of a people’s ideals and aspirations relating to their homeland.

America has been described as the "great experiment" because its founding principles and system of governance were revolutionary for their time.

The United States was founded on the idea of individual liberty—most especially freedom of religion and freedom of speech—democratic governance, and a government derived from the consent of the governed. Add First Amendment freedom of religion and speech and you have something unique in history.

This experiment involved testing whether a diverse and vast nation could sustain a democratic republic, with power shared among its citizens and a system of checks and balances.Throughout its history, America has faced challenges and obstacles, including conflicts, social movements, and economic shifts. The experiment lies in its ongoing pursuit of fulfilling the ideals set forth in its founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, to create a more perfect union.The United States' journey as the "great experiment" involves grappling with questions of religious freedom, law and order for e pluribus unum, equality under the law and equality of opportunity, blind justice, and the balance between individual freedom and collective responsibility.

The United States was riven by a Civil War in which the Union was preserved, slavery was disallowed, and once again North and South through a long road became the land of the free and the home of the brave with freedom, abundance, and opportunity the envy of the world.

The terms "republic" and "democracy" are often used interchangeably, but they represent different forms of government, each with its own characteristics.A republic is a system of government in which power resides in elected representatives who are responsible for making and enforcing laws. In a republic, the country is considered a public matter, and decisions are made by representatives chosen by the citizens. The key feature of a republic is the delegation of authority to elected officials who act on behalf of the people. The United States is a federal republic where citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.On the other hand, a democracy is a system of government in which power rests with the people as a whole. In a democracy, all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. This can be achieved directly, through direct democracy, where citizens vote on every issue, or indirectly, through elected representatives.

Direct democracy has rarely worked well or for long, yet there are many today—on the Left and the Right—who press for this form of government today because they want their political perspectives to become law.

Christians have been involved in this country’s history from its founding, through its ups and downs, failures and successes. The key for us on this July 4^th is to think about what might be called a “responsible” Christian patriotism.

Responsible Christian patriotism refers to the idea of expressing love, loyalty, and pride for one's country in a manner consistent with Christian values and principles. It involves recognizing the intersection between one's faith and one's patriotism and striving to align them in a responsible and ethical way.Christianity teaches principles such as love, compassion, justice, humility, and the value of every human being as made in the image of God. Responsible Christian patriotism incorporates these principles into one's love for their country. It means recognizing the inherent dignity and worth of all people, irrespective of their national heritage or race, and advocating for freedom, law and order that reinforces both justice and opportunity, and the common good.At its core, a responsible Christian patriotism encourages a balanced perspective that acknowledges the strengths and achievements of one's country while also recognizing its flaws and areas for improvement. It values the principles of liberty, individual responsibility and accountability, freedom of opportunity, and merit-based advancement as foundational to the well-being and flourishing of both the nation and its citizens.Responsible Christian patriotism is not an unthinking, uncritical, blind loyalty: “America, love it or leave it,” “My country right or wrong but right or wrong my country,” “Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do or die.” This can be national idolatry.

Responsible Christian patriotism is not simply love of space or place: the land. “America the Beautiful” – a great chunk of geography. While it is true, America is a beautiful country, other countries of the world, all enjoy their own kind of beauty. Claiming ours is betters can lead us down into provincial, parochial, or isolationist thinking.

Responsible Christian patriotism is not simply love for a people: “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy, Yankee Doodle Do or Die.” Keying on this thought can lead us into ethnocentric, prejudiced or bigoted, racist, or even xenophobic attitudes and behaviors.

No, responsible Christian patriotism recognizes American patriotism is about freedom of worship, individual worth, dignity, and liberty. “The land of the free and the home of the brave.”

It’s about no king, no president, no dictator or regime, no political entity is of greater value than the single person – free to worship, free to think, free to work and own the fruits of his or her labor, free to pursue opportunity, free to pursue happiness.

Patriotism is an emotion much maligned today by the cynical, (many captured by the intellectual cul-de-sacs of ideology or identity politics). Some now reject all expressions of appreciation or heroes past. But no time, country, or culture, much less people are without failures, or worse. The USA is no different. Yet while acknowledging flaws we can remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion. And we can be patriotic about ideals, the values to which we aspire: freedom of religion, speech, assembly and association, life, liberty, and justice for all.

For all its struggles, the land of the free and the home of the brave is a blessed place to live.

Responsible Christian patriotism expresses gratitude.

If you want to be a good American patriot, start by being a good American Christian.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 03 July 2023

Have you ever felt “isolated”? Do you know that Christian believers in the Middle East and North Africa are often isolated?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #94 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

I’m thinking most of us know isolation exists, but we’ve never experienced it.

Unless of course you have personally lived with isolation, and this is possible.

Isolation can occur in the midst of the many, e.g., reaching back to the famous early 1950s scholarly study and book title, The Lonely Crowd.

Or isolation can occur because one is truly alone, or at least believes they are, like Elijah in the wilderness where he had run from Queen Jezebel for fear of his life (1 Kings 19).

After a short time, the Lord came and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Then the Lord said, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there…anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat…to succeed you as prophet…Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

So, Elijah felt alone, but the Sovereign God was still there, still in charge, and many others remained faithful to the Lord. The “cure” for Elijah’s feeling isolated was for him to refocus on the Lord and his purposes, and to reconnect with other Christian believers. This is so because God made us this way. He created us for relationship with him and with others. When this is lost, suffering results.

Thankfully, most of us do not have experience with isolation, what it is and what it feels like to be truly alone.

But it’s happening in American society. In extreme cases, we’re witnessing the pathology of isolation in the form of mass shooters, young men who very often have come of age without fathers in their lives, many of whom with untrustworthy or detached parents, some struggling with gender dysphoria and a host of other mental disturbances. They get to a point of not just isolation but alienation.

Alienation is estrangement; the feeling that you have no connection with the people around you or that you are not part of a group.”

These mass shooters get separated from themselves, their reason, or the world. Their alienation produces feelings of meaninglessness, powerlessness, normlessness. Finally, after years of neglect and lovelessness, they feel so isolated and alienated they become nihilistic. They believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy. In their warped state, they think that the only way they can “be somebody,” that they can matter, is to kill a lot of people in a violent outburst that is for them a primal scream, a cry for help, significance, and agony.

It’s like the artwork, “The Scream,” painted by Norwegian Edvard Munch in 1893, featuring a caricature of a bald, human being of indeterminate sex or ethnicity on a bridge with both hands alongside the face, mouth opened wide in an expression of utter anguish.

If you have never viewed “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, look it up. It is at once disturbing and moving.

SAT-7, the Christian ministry with which I serve, seeks to make God’s love visible throughout the 25 countries of the Middle East and North Africa. SAT-7 broadcasts satellite television programming and produces online video on demand and digital content in Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish. Our purpose is not only to share the Gospel but to build the Church throughout this vast region.

We often speak about “isolated believers,” people who have come to Christ but who live in countries dominated religiously, culturally, and often politically by Islam. While it varies by country and even locales within countries, Christians and local churches are generally suppressed, sometimes harassed or oppressed, and periodically persecuted.

It is difficult for us in the United States to comprehend what is it like to be an isolated believer in the MENA. We live in a society where churches can be found within easy driving distance.

We can order Christian materials online, any time of the day or night, or we can listen to Christian pastors preach on radio or watch them on Christian television channels. We can find other believers with whom we can share Christian fellowship. This is certainly not the case for many Christian believers in countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Ayan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and former politician. Ali’s father left Somalia with his family and later become a diplomat, so Ali spent part of her childhood in Somalia, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya. Later in her best-selling autobiographical books, Infidel: My Life, and Nomad: From Islam to America, she spoke of spending part of her youth in Saudi Arabia, where she met older women who whenever anything would go wrong, would say, “The Jews did it.”

Ali pointed out that these Saudi women had never traveled more than a few miles from their place of birth and had never met or even seen a Jew, yet they somehow believed the Jews made their well go dry, or their goat go barren, or their child become ill.

Ali notes that while there are no Jews in Saudi, there are no openly identifiable Christian believers either.

Ali is not a Christian but is rather a former Muslim, now an atheist. Interestingly, though, she is not “anti-Christian.” In fact, she observes what it must be like to be an isolated Christian believer living within a culture wholly dominated by another religious worldview. Ali even recommends Christians speak up and speak out more because they believe in a God of love and forgiveness, something foreign to her earlier religious experiences, Christians offer an opportunity for peace and hope not to be found in other religious worldviews.

Unlike Ali, most Christian believers in Middle East and North Africa countries do not have her talents and opportunities. They cannot leave. They may, even if married, live lonely, isolated lives in terms of their faith in Christ, without Christian friends or fellowship, without Christian encouragement.

Listen to these testimonies SAT-7 has received from viewers:

Sargez in Afghanistan, “I spent 40 years of my life among people of a different faith and for 40 years I was in doubt. I thought that the path I was on was wrong and that I should search for a better way until the Lord Jesus Christ answered my troubled mind…He touched my heart and accepted me, and I came to a deep faith in Jesus Christ. I delight in the faith I have in Him, because the thing for which I searched all my life finally came into my heart and gave me peace. I am very grateful to this channel.”

Soren in Iran, “I have been watching SAT-7 PARS for about six months because one of my friends told me about the Christian faith and SAT-7 PARS. The more I watched your programs and researched, the more I reached the conclusion that Christianity means peace, reconciliation, and kindness. For this reason, I decided to become a Christian. As you know, in Iran there is no opportunity for us to have fellowship. It is true that I have given my heart to Christ, but I really don’t know what I must do now. I cannot believe I so easily became a Christian by simply saying a prayer, but I need teaching and now that I am a Christian, how should I go about being in touch with the Lord?”

Awaz in Afghanistan, “Hello, I hope you are all blessed in every way and that you won't forget to pray for us. Our situation is very bad here and there is no way to know what is going to happen - the Taliban have no mercy. Please don't forget us.”

Being isolated is not fun, not healthy, and not normal as God intended. Pray for isolated Christian believers in the Middle East and North Africa. Pray for them in the U.S. too.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 26 June 2023

Ever hear someone pooh-pooh the existence of God and the afterlife? Ever wonder what really happens after we die?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #93 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

As he got older, beloved Bible teacher, the late Dr. Warren Wiersbe, used to share the joke, “I think more and more about the hereafter. Whenever I go into a room, I think, what am I here after?”

Of course, idea is that as a person gets older, his or her memory typically becomes less sharp, less trustworthy. And the idea, too, is the play on words, thinking about the “hereafter.”

Recently, the global movie star, former body builder, and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 75, responded to a question posed by fellow actor Danny DeVito, 78. Danny asked, “What’s in the future for us?”

In a conversation for Interview Magazine, Schwarzenegger said, “It reminds me of Howard Stern’s question to me. ‘Tell me, governor, what happens to us when we die?’ I said, ‘Nothing. You’re 6 feet under. Anyone that tells you something else is a f–king liar.'”

‘We don’t know what happens with the soul and all this spiritual stuff that I’m not an expert in, but I know that the body as we see each other now, we will never see each other again like that.'”

“’When people talk about, ‘I will see them again in heaven,’ it sounds so good,

but the reality is that we won’t see each other again after we’re gone. That’s the sad part. I know people feel comfortable with death, but I don’t,’”

The former California governor said he had lost about 15 friends from back in his bodybuilding days in the last two decades, and said the tragic news forced him to shift his perspective on an afterlife.

“To me, heaven is where I put a person who I love dearly, who is kind, who is generous, who made a difference in my life and other people’s lives,” he explained.

Schwarzenegger recently participated in a three-part Netflix documentary called “Arnold,” released May 2023.

This sort of autobiographical television program statement follows a trend – as successful individuals approach advanced age, much like former presidents write memoirs, actors, athletes, entertainers, or assorted famous people want to have their “say.” It’s partly about making money and partly about getting their own interpretations on record.

Like “David Crosby – Remember Me” (2019), “Tina” (2021) from Tina Turner before their deaths, and “Moonage Daydream” (2022), David Bowie, or “Donna Summer – Love to Love You” (2023), long after their demise.

Schwarzenegger is particularly pointed. He asserts heaven is a fantasy.

Schwarzenegger’s take is a bit of a departure from what we usually hear from celebrities thinking about their mortality. I remember John Wayne saying he hoped the “good Lord” would tally the good things he’d done as more than the not so good things. That was it. He had no assurance of where he was going other than that wishful thinking.

Near the end of his life, an emaciated Mickey Mantle, a sad decimation of the incredible athlete he once had been, sat down for a 30-min video interview in which he said, “Don’t be like me.”

“All you have to do is look at me and see where (my life) was wasted,'…’I want to get across to the kids not to drink or do drugs. Mom and dad should be the role models. That's what I think. 'I was given so much and I blew it.'”

Mantle was an unbelievable baseball talent, but he squandered his health, talent, fame, and fortune on illicit liaisons, drugs, and alcohol abuse, resulting in liver cancer that took his life.

Fellow major leaguer and Christian speaker Bobby Richardson said, “I believe what drew Mickey to me was that I had the relationship with Christ that he was searching for, even if he didn’t realize it. He often attended our baseball chapel services.”

When the time drew near, Bobby and his wife Betsy walked into Mantle’s hospital room, and Mantle said, ‘I can’t wait to tell you this. I have accepted Christ as my Savior.’ Bobby was elated, but wanted to be sure, so he went through the plan of salvation with Mantle again. Betsy later asked him, ‘Mickey, if you were to stand before a holy God today and He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?’ Mantle replied, ‘We are talking about God, right?’ Betsy acknowledged they were. He then quoted John 3:16.”

Richardson noted, “Mickey found that peace in his last days…In those last days, he told the doctors he was ready. Mickey was not afraid to die. He was at peace.”

I remember when Frank Sinatra died and a person at his funeral said, “Boy, heaven will be rockin’ tonight,” like it was some Brat Pack reunion. It was not clear on what basis the man thought Frank was singing in heaven.

British physicist and famed atheist Stephen Hawking said, “’There is no heaven...That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.’” Hawking passed away in 2018, so it seems snarky to say, “Well, he knows better now,” but it is nevertheless true.

Meanwhile, in 2011, “92 percent of Americans said they believe in a god or universal spirit, and 74 percent said they believe that there is a heaven.” In 2021, 73% believe in heaven and a few less, 62%, believe in hell, and belief in God has dipped to 81%, the lowest since Gallup first asked this question in 1944.

Of course, saying you believe something exists and acting in a manner that makes an impact upon your life are different things. I believe Neptune exists, but as near as I can tell I’ll never go there, and its existence does not change anything about my day to day. This appears to be how a lot of people think about God or the hereafter, might be there but so what? Or as Arnold sadly thinks, just a fantasy.

According to Christian social researcher George Barna, “Most Americans (68%) still consider themselves to be Christians. Among these self-identified Christians, though, only 6% have a biblical worldview. Less than half of the self-identified Christians can be classified as born-again, defined as believing that they will go to Heaven after they die but only because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Within the born-again population (just 33% of the adult population), a shockingly small proportion (13%) hold a biblical worldview.”

Americans are generally educated, tech savvy, in many ways, “with it.” We’re sophisticated. But insofar as many reject God and the truth – and accountability – of the hereafter, we might better be understood as “sophisticatedly ignorant.”

We’re like the ancient intellectuals at Athens to whom the Apostle Paul spoke as recorded in Acts 17. We believe in an unknown God but in terms of everyday application, many are now practical agnostics. Our affirmation of a god does not amount to the same thing as faith in the God.

Thinking about the afterlife is not a popular pastime. This is understandable in one sense. We are living our lives today. But thinking about the afterlife is also a matter of wisdom and good stewardship, because, as the old saying goes, “the only thing certain in life are death and taxes.” With taxes you might find a loophole, legal or otherwise, but with death, there is no off-ramp to a detour around it. Death is the great equalizer. One day it comes to us all, and as Scripture says, after that the judgment (Heb. 9:27).

So, I’m glad for that story about one of the heroes of my youth, Mickey Mantle, coming to Christ on his deathbed. It is heartening.

And by the same token, I feel for another hero of my youth, Arnold Schwarzenegger. But for him, there is yet hope for he yet breathes. I pray someone reaches him with the Gospel – though my guess is he already knows the truth.

I pray the same for you. Have you thought about the afterlife, not in abstract, out there terms, but in personal, “Hey this is me” terms? The Apostle Paul admonished young Timothy to pray for leaders, saying, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). That’s Arnold and that’s you and that’s me.

I heard evangelist Billy Graham speak in person one time at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium when I was a teenager. His text was: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 19 June 2023

Perhaps you have wanted to share your convictions about June Pride issues but were hesitant to speak because traditional Judeo-Christian values are no longer welcome.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #92 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

One of the things I’ve felt about June Pride month, or rather all the issues that designation implies, is that Christians, or conservatives, two groups that overlap but are not the same, don’t seem to know how to respond or address these matters.

The Gay Rights—later LGBTQ+—Movement has gotten the upper hand in public discourse. Their messaging is better, winning the war for public opinion.

Since 1969, the date of the Stonewall Riots at a nightclub in New York City, an event generally regarded as the genesis of the LGBTQ+ Movement, activists and advocates of this sexual liberation philosophy have marketed, promoted, and politicked their social-political message with astounding success.

At first, their strategy took on culture, then later legal and political status, resulting in an unprecedented moral acceptance, or at least acquiescence, among the majority of the American public.

Representatives of the LGBTQ+ Movement constantly claim they are victims, are not accepted or affirmed, are in danger of violence, and much more, yet the Movement possesses documentable momentum in entertainment, academia, sports, business, and religion. No sector of American society has been left untouched or even allowed to sit quietly on the sideline.

In 1978, the Rainbow Flag was first used in a Gay Pride parade.

1979 – the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

1980 – American Psychiatric Association added “gender identity disorder” to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.

1993 – “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” via Bill Clinton, allowing Gays to serve in military. This law was repealed under President Obama in 2011.

2013 – American Psychiatric Association changed “gender identity disorder” to a non-negative “gender dysphoria.”

2015 – Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 US 644 (2015), same sex marriage allowed by SCOTUS.

2021 – 2023 – The Biden Administration made sexual orientation and gender identity, one of its most prominent, oft-referenced issues, advocating for advancing the LGBTQ+ Movement in virtually every corner of American life.

By 2023 – Some 22 states passed laws protecting women and girls’ sports by limiting participation to biologically determined female athletes, thus banning transgender students from participating. These laws are consistently referred to by media and online not as protecting women and girls but as “anti-trans” and thus discriminatory or even bigoted or hate legislation.

Things can and will get worse. Who would have predicted that the Los Angeles Dodgers would honor an anti-Catholic hate group of Drag Queen “Nuns” called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as part of a “Pride Night” celebration? In doing this, the Dodgers not only exalt a perverted group, the Dodgers also attack Christianity.

The LGBTQ+ Movement continues to log one success after another in its push for social revolution affirming their views. Why?

Why have American institutions and the public so rapidly embraced the amoral and immoral views of the LGBTQ+ Movement, making them a virtual new cult religion in America?

The answer is in part because the Movement’s messaging tactics have been strategically, consistently, ruthlessly, and sad to say effectively pursued. The Movement

1) changes or hijacks the meaning of words. Word definitions are considered fluid, are weaponized, and leveraged against those who disagree.

2) demands its vocabulary be used in media or even by those who disagree such that when others do this, they’ve already conceded the argument. For example, being expected to use gender identity pronouns for trans individuals that do not align with their biological birth sex.

3) argues all criticisms or critiques are rooted in transphobia and are ipso facto intolerant, bigoted, hateful.

4) demands its views not just be allowed or tolerated but saluted, celebrated.

5) recognizes no truth but its own ever-changing “truth.”

6) argues immoral behavior is freedom of expression.

7) contends sexual behaviors are not choices as such but evidence of who LGBTQ+ people innately are in their identity.

8) co-opts the Civil Rights Movement and vocabulary, arguing all sexual choices are civil rights.

Meanwhile, many Christians have been asleep at the switch, seemingly unaware or unconcerned about this lie marching through American institutions.

Clearly, Christians need to respond. “We need to speak clearly and consistently about biblical norms. The title of Dr. Albert Mohler’s most recent book has it exactly right: We Cannot Be Silent. This means we need to ready and willing to engage in public debate and dialogue. We also need to present a compelling counter-narrative. If we fail to do that, the mainstream narrative will win by default; theirs will be seen as the only plausible position to take…(It) is our responsibility as Christians to promote the public good, especially when it comes to protecting children from damaging parental practices and destructive ideologies…(And) there is the need to preserve religious freedom—above all the freedom to preach the Bible and proclaim the gospel—which is increasingly threatened by the demand for LGBT rights (a demand that invariably translates into the suppression of those who continue to stand firm on biblical norms).”

Christians must support not simply the value of personal and public morality for the good of individuals but also for the ongoing potential of free government that cannot survive without citizens embracing moral restraint on their own.

Why? Because the less people voluntarily restrain themselves, the more the government must do it, and thus the less ‘freedom’ society will have, and the more ‘tyrannical’ government will become.

John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Recognize Pride month for what it is. Pride month is not about freedom. Those who pursue the lifestyles it references already have freedom. Pride is about promoting licentiousness and tyrannically demanding affirmation from anyone who disagrees, e.g., legally attempting to force businesses to display rainbow flags.

So, what do we do?

Well, remember this: No matter how rational, articulate, historically and biblically justifiable our presentation, we cannot argue people into right views, correct theology, or changing their sinful behavior. Because the other side rejects God and truth, they are virtually “un-convincible.” So this is not a “May the best ideas win” contest.

In his book, We Will Not Be Silenced, (2020), Erwin Lutzer said, “If we think we can fight against deceived culture by winning the war of ideas, we are mistaken.

The best ideas do not win very often in a culture obsessed with empty utopian promises.”

Only the Spirit of God can ultimately change hearts. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” Eph. 6:12.

In Christians in a Cancel Culture, (2021), Joe Dallas reminded us that “to preach the gospel we have to speak the truth about man’s sinful nature and his need for salvation.” This is our “compelling counter narrative.” But it’s not about our arguments. It’s about the Word and Spirit of God.

So how do we do this?

Listen. No need for sermons. Listen for the hurt. People pursuing LGBTQ+ lifestyles experience a boatload of emotional, spiritual, mental, physical trauma. This is one reason they constantly talk about wanting “affirmation.” They are human beings made in God’s image and loved by him even if they do not know or acknowledge this truth.
Ground your comments in the Creator who loves and created human beings in a manner that granted them blessings via heterosexual marriage, not in other sexual behaviors that fall short.
Don’t be hateful, ever, but recognize that if you share the truth, you, not just your comments, may be rejected or despised.
Be honest, kind, speak the truth in love, but by all means speak the truth.
Share the Gospel, ultimately, the greatest transformative power on earth through which all sinners can become New Creations in Christ.

Then remember, our foundation is still the solid rock. The Word of God is our source of strength and hope.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Gal 6:9

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 12 June 2023

June Pride Month dates to the Clinton Administration. How is it that a month ostensibly dedicated to freedom is morphing into a month of demands, cultural repression, and even legal backlash?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #91 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

June Pride month has become a cultural tour de force. Despite LGBTQ+ advocacy groups proclaiming people who choose this lifestyle are somehow at extreme risk, their interest and ideology is making seemingly unstoppable headway at every level of society across the country.

No field of human endeavor in American life is immune from pressure to participate without reservation in a celebration of a percentage of the population’s decision to pursue immoral behaviors.

We celebrate Mothers on a given day and Fathers on another day. We salute Veterans on their day and remember their courage and sacrifice on Memorial Day.

Even the country’s birthday, July 4^th, is, well, a day. LGBTQ+ lifestyle choices somehow rate an entire month of societal observance.

LGBTQ+ is the only group, or community, or movement, as its proponents now claim, that is rhapsodized for a decision to engage in sin. Think about it? Is there a day or month celebrating adulterers? The promiscuous? Pedophiles? No there is not. Only people who decide to express themselves sexually in an LGBTQ+ manner are socially celebrated.

We could say, “Pride, who cares? It’s a free country,” with the corollary that people already enjoy the liberty to choose any form of sexual expression, short of harming others. While Christians believe it is immoral, for example, to cheat on one’s spouse in an affair, or pursue sexual gratification outside of marriage, or engage in homosexuality, still, these behaviors are not illegal, and I am not arguing they should be.

But while “It’s a free country” may allow for individuals to pursue LGBTQ+ behaviors, including celebrating their own Pride parades or festivals—

it is another thing to turn that “free country” upside down by demanding unreserved, cult-like affirmation—no disagreement tolerated—of LGBTQ+ lifestyles, including Pride activities, transgender ideology in grade schools, blocking parents from being informed about their child’s trans choices, legally demanding transgender males be permitted to participate in female athletic events, and forcing social institutions to provide “non-binary” options in bathrooms, locker rooms, and much more. There is nothing “free” about any of these expectations, only authoritarian, tyrannical ultimatum.

“The concept of Pride Month has been heavily commercialized; many companies incorporate Pride Month imagery in packaging, commercials, press releases, social media, and so forth. Even within the LGBTQ community, some object to these developments, seeing them as insincere pandering.”

In Manhattan, surrounding the plaza at Rockefeller Center, 193 flagpoles each fly a “Pride” flag.

The US Army Military Police Corp issued a meme featuring a rainbow flag behind the symbols of each branch of the Armed Forces.

The Department of the Air Force published a social media meme saying, “Celebrate Pride Month,” featuring a rainbow background, the seal of the Air Force, and a soldier in silhouette saluting. No American flag is portrayed. What, one wonders, is the silhouette soldier saluting? It is illegal for an armed services member to salute anything but the American flag.

The U.S. Dept. of Education issued a Pride month rainbow colored meme saying, “Happy Pride Month.”

San Francisco Police raised a rainbow flag along with the American flag and stood at attention saluting both.

LGBTQ+ activists have been masterful in developing both their plan and their messaging, the latter of which often twists constitutional, political, and religious principles to make it nearly impossible to disagree without sounding like a so-called “hater.”

But Pride month is not a harmless expression of love, freedom, and happiness, as its proponents and sycophants contend. Pride is not about freedom or “see me,” or “you are welcome here.” All those who pursue LGBTQ+ lifestyles are already free, seen, and able to do whatever they wish in American society.

Rather, Pride is about disavowing moral restraint in the name of sexual liberation, more accurately described as licentiousness. Pride promotes an ideology that is anti-God, anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-morality, anti-sexual fulfillment, anti-humanity-made-in-the-image-of-God.

Pride Month is modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, and if this seems like an overstatement, I challenge anyone to watch video of a Pride parade in a major American city and tell me it is not a public orgy of vile wickedness far beyond anything Mardi Gras or Carnival have contemplated.

Pride, “an ideology that triumphs human desire and power over a meaningful, embodied human nature eventually ends up targeting the most vulnerable: women and children. This is evident in the absurd and nihilistic way women are no longer able to be defined or defended in everything from athletics, to locker rooms, to Supreme Court confirmations.”

“The direct harm is also evident in Queer Theory’s calculus that exposing children to adult sexuality is a necessary part of social liberation. Videos went viral this week of provocatively dressed men dancing while young children pressed cash into their G-strings at a “Drag the Kids to Drag Pride” event. In the name of Pride, Kellogg’s put cartoon characters on their cereal box urging kids to pick their pronouns and reminding them that no matter who they love, they’re too awesome to fit in a box. Also taking a knee in obeisance to Pride, WaPo featured a salvo for why ‘kink’ is for kids too.”

This is resulting in “heart-breaking yet predictable chaos and disruption of childhood. The rapidly rising numbers of minors seeking to hormonally halt puberty and mutilate their bodies before they are old enough to drive a car should convince us that something has gone catastrophically wrong and that, regardless of any particular person’s good intentions, this is far from a benevolent movement.”

Pride “is a creed that reduces and redefines the human person and calls them by their sin.”

“Pride month is not about human dignity. It is about human deification.”

“We need to raise and influence children to be so secure in their identity in Christ that the world can scream at them, throw temptation in the path and subtly condition them… and it will all land on infertile soil. Because they know that they were created in the image of God.”

“At least four strikingly sinister ironies define the secular celebration of gay pride month.

First, is the false advertising that says we are devoting merely a month to the celebration of homosexuality when, in truth, our culture demands the near-constant celebration of homosexuality every day and every month of every year.

Second, is waving the banner of ‘pride’ over a lifestyle choice that is transparently sinful…

Third, is the insistence from our sinful culture that anyone who opposes the infinite manifestations of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle is on the ‘wrong side of history.’…

Finally, the LGBTQ+ movement has attempted to steal from God himself, one of the most significant demonstrations of redemptive love in the Bible. When most people in our culture see a rainbow, they do not think of God’s patient determination to extend salvation to a sinful humanity but instead recognize a symbol of destructive sexuality.”

“The Christian responsibility in a confused culture…is to stand on the truth of the Word of God and on the grace of Jesus himself…The Bible says that Jesus came into this sinful world full of grace and truth (John 1:14). We must present ourselves to this sinful world in the same way.”

How can we respond to June Pride Month?

o Don’t hate, don’t be hateful—ever. Don’t speak the truth with anything but love, but by all means speak the truth. Only the truth of God’s Word can transform a sexually confused culture.

o Don’t participate. You need not attend Pride parades or festivals.

Certainly, do not take your children. If your workplace buys into Pride, you can opt for low key, polite and respectful ways to not participate.

o Learn whereof you speak. In other words, don’t “Just say No,” but Know why you say No, why you disagree, why, how, and what God’s Word offers that is immeasurably more hopeful than the message of false ideology coming from Pride activists. Know how to respond to non sequiturs like “love is love” with biblical understanding.

o Ultimately, Christians are called to be witnesses of the Way, the Truth, and Life (John 14:6; Acts 1:8).

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

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