Discerning Whitewater

Three months have come and gone since my last post on this blog. There are a number of reasons for this. The spring election took some emotional energy from me. As I told former Police Chief Raap, politics takes away my peace (Mind you, that does not mean my goal is to avoid politics). Also, work has been crazy. Being a single dad has been crazy (in an awesome way) as well. This summer schedule with the kids is something else. Prepare for a longer-than-usual post.

Gallup recently conducted a poll (link here) in which 81% of Americans claimed to believe in God. Only four in ten believed God can intervene on their behalf.

Belief in God has fallen the most in recent years among young adults and people on the left of the political spectrum (liberals and Democrats). These groups show drops of 10 or more percentage points comparing the 2022 figures to an average of the 2013-2017 polls.

Most other key subgroups have experienced at least a modest decline, although conservatives and married adults have had essentially no change.

Belief in God in U.S. Dips to 81%, a New Low

This number is significantly lower for Americans whom Christ is Lord of their Life. Many people go thru their entire lives believing simply acknowledging the presence of a Creator without taking this much further. Even fewer have taken the time to understand to the best of their knowledge that this Creator gave the ultimate act of love in the giving of his own Son.

Those that have… taken the time to understand have received rich rewards. Wisdom, Grace, Love, Kingdom… just to name a few.

One recent “light bulb” moment of my life came during a discussion with my friend Jeff. “I do not say this out of pride or control or anything of the sort.” I told Jeff, “I just want every person around me, and people I do not know to experience the peace and joy I have in my life.”

“That is how Jesus felt.” Jeff responded. “He wants this kingdom for everyone.”

Mic drop.

As a quick point of information, there are times I step out of that peace. Even those with the deepest faith do so. We live in a very broken world. And there is nothing more upsetting than seeing Christians step out of that peace in a semi-permanent way.

There comes a time in a journey of Faith in which a Christian must face the sin in his life. Unhealthy sex, drugs and alcohol, violence, gossip, envy, the list goes on and on and on …. ridding ourselves of these becomes a priority as we find more joy and peace in our lives. It is truly an amazing transformation. I did not see it in my life as it was happening.

I also do not claim to be angelic or perfect by any means. In fact, in the Bible, when the New Testament talks about perfect/perfection, it is not in reference to sin. It is in reference to being “all in” for Christ.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 7:1 New American Standard Bible

So what does this have to do with abortion, Mike?

Another light bulb moment I had in my life happened several years ago. As a mentor and a leader in a ministry, I had a meeting with a minister and a young man who was struggling with something that was a little out of the ordinary. Seeing how this sin manifested in his life until it was destroyed was both sad and fascinating.

But that is what sin does.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8 NASB

Adultery, envy, gossip, out of control anger, drugs, all forms of sin for that matter… if unimpeded, they all progress until destruction takes place.

What if the Bible is correct? I am among the most cynical of people, yet I find no reason not to believe.

I write this not from a perspective of judgement, and I hope it is not viewed in this way. I can promise that I have been no angel in my life. I have many women and men in my life that have repented of such things.

My point being that the abortion is the manifestation of poor choices… drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, a lack of respect for one’s body and the body of another person of the opposite sex. And ultimately it leads to murder.

Are you part of the 81% that believes in God? Have you given any thought to how you got here? Would be a shame if you spent four or five or six years at UWW and never pondered why you are truly here and how you got here.

Never mind all of the watered down language of murder. “My body, my choice” is a denial of science and utterly hypocritical when it comes from the people that just persecuted those who would not get vaccinated. Whitewater’s Democrat running for Assembly calls it “a woman choosing when to have a family.” Sounds pretty innocent, doesn’t it? There is no excuse for their evil. If you died tomorrow would you be willing to stand before God and defend the murder of unborn children?

They are buying your vote with temptations and selfishness and depravity. Do not be so foolish.

My friend, Dr. Will Ryan of Expedition 44 goes into detail how the murder of babies is among the darkest sins of a society (link here).

History is filled with barbaric cultures. One of the worst, though, has to be the ancient Canaanites, but I am actually not convinced that modern America will be viewed much differently in history books hundreds or thousands of years from now, as a nation we have slaughtered Indians, funded terrorists, stole what we wanted, and killed millions of babies in the womb. That sounds pretty bad to me. In Canaan it was customary for parents to offer their newborn children as sacrifices to their god Molech, I wonder if hundreds of thousands of deaths by abortion each year will go down in history the same way, as an utterly evil barbaric culture.

Be an ambassador of Jesus: Molech and Abortion

I personally do not believe that many of the abortions would take place if not for the technology that takes away the short-term consequences of an abortion; however there are always long term consequences to patterns of poor decisions. I have seen in my generation repentance. I have also seen destruction. Generation Z is on a horrible trajectory.

Friday night I got to dinner late and ended up at a downtown pub for wings and a beer. The young woman bartender was apoplectic over the Roe ruling. She was ranting about leaving the U.S. and claiming that interracial marriage was next. She also praised her awesome professor(s) for giving their students abortion resources.

Our young adults are becoming morally depraved at our universities. At some point, this confrontation needs to take place. We need to stop funding the destruction of our country with the futures of our young men and women.

I welcome your comments. Don’t hesitate to contact me. Subscribe here.

Much love and peace and joy to you all,

-mike

Draw near to God, and he WILL draw near to you.