I am sure you know the story behind including that phrase in our Pledge of Allegiance but let me refresh your memory.  The Reverend George M. Docherty preached a sermon in the presence of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and suggested that the words “under God” be added to the pledge. 

The sermon profoundly affected everyone in attendance, including the President.  Reverend Docherty stated: “Something is missing in the pledge, and that which is missing is the characteristics and definitive factor in the American way of life.  Indeed, apart from the mention of the phrase, the United States of America, it could be the pledge of any republic.  In fact, I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer and sickle flag in Moscow with equal solemnity.”

The pastor went on to illustrate that the American pledge, as it existed, could be recited by citizens from any country, even those in communistic nations that hated God. 

The day following the sermon, U.S. Representative Charles Oakman of Michigan introduced a Joint Resolution (H.L. Res 2371) to add the words “Under God” into the pledge and explained:

“Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Docherty hit the nail squarely on the head.  One of the most fundamental differences between us and the Communists is our belief in God.”

Two days later, on February 10^th, Senator Homer Ferguson, also of Michigan, introduced the Senate Joint Resolution (S.J. 126) explained to the Senate:

“Our nation is founded on a fundamental belief in God, and the first and most important reason for the existence of our government is to protect the God-given rights of our citizens…. Indeed, Mr. President, over one of the doorways of this very Chamber, inscribed in the marble are the words “In God We Trust.”  Unless these words amount to more than a carving in stone, our country will never be able to defend itself.”

Those resolutions were passed, and on June 14, 1954 (Flag Day), President Dwight David Eisenhower signed the bill into law, officially adding the words “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance, telling the nation:

“From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the declaration of our nation and our people to the Almighty.  To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country’s true meaning… In this way, we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way, we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or in war.”

It is astounding to me how far we have drifted from those moorings!  Think about what I have just written.  One Sermon had that kind of impact!  One preacher spoke to the President and the nation with a message from God that affected the thinking and identified the foundational principles that this nation would reaffirm as its bedrock moorings.  

The question should be, “Do we have any preachers today willing to be that voice for God and Country?”  Hopefully, we do!  I long to hear them speak out eloquently, frequently, and loudly!  I want to be that voice; if it is not me, then someone, please!

America and our heritage depend on us!  We need to remember these things in every election cycle.  Our Freedom and Republic depend on it. 

God bless you, and God bless America!

Before someone says, “Well, duh, Captain Obvious,” let me explain what I am talking about in my title assertion.  I am not talking about human diseases in the body but about our political climate in America. An environment that is affecting our society adversely.  A climate that must be altered if we are going to remain a Free Constitutional Republic or return to being one.

We have a sitting president who is tainted, dating back to his first appearance on the political scene decades ago.  The gaffes and faux pas he continues to contribute are not new.  They may well be the result of a diminished mental state, possibly dementia or Alzheimer’s.  However, many of his inane statements and antics have been a part of his public persona for decades.  Therefore, I cannot give him a pass due to illness.

Since being the occupant of the White House, his assault on our Republic and our System of Government has reached epic proportions.  He has shuddered our economy with Bidenomics.  It is an economic disaster that anyone who works for a living and pays taxes should detest, and I believe they do, either privately or publicly.

The Left is assaulting us as being insensitive to poor Joe, and he cannot catch a break.  After all, they insist, his presidency has been a roaring success.  How they come up with that assertion is beyond my ability to comprehend, but they do, and millions of brain-numbed supporters latch on to it.  They insist that those of us who complain are deplorably disconnected from reality and need to be re-educated or eradicated.

A recent Monmouth Poll indicated that the Biden approval rating hovers around 34%.  The reality is that it is not the worst review in the polling community.  The Pew Poll has him at 33%.  The pundits and followers of toxic liberalism insist that those numbers are inconsistent with the booming economy he has produced.  Booming?  My bank account does not reflect booming unless you mean blown to smithereens and emptied.

If one were trying to rekindle support and public approval, you would think they would not have taken the path this administration has taken.  You may or may not agree, but this administration made a mini-gulag in the federal prisons with the January 6^th protesters.  They violated so many constitutional guarantees with that group, which is astounding.  They unleashed the FBI on parents who protested racial agitation and the transgender push at local public school board meetings.  They investigated Catholics who attended Latin mass. 

We have evidence that some Democratic staffers have created porn videos in hearing rooms and claimed persecution when fired for the offense.  Our quality of life continues to spiral downward as they advance their agenda, claiming it is defending race, sex, or the climate. 

The down payment on a new home has almost doubled since January 2021, when Biden took office.  Citizens are being forced to work multiple jobs to keep their heads above water and have taken on an enormous amount of credit card debt trying to provide for their families.  The supply chain issues, rising prices of everything, and the usurpations of our freedoms and liberties all matter. 

Joe Biden is not the disease; he is the symptom!  The disease is the decades-long dumbing down of our youth and brainwashing them to believe the lies of liberalism.  Socialism will work, they claim, because they are more intelligent than all the societies that attempted and failed in the past.  They are more attuned to people’s actual needs, sensitive, and caring, so shuddering our free enterprise system is needed to achieve a level playing field and equity. 

I suggest that it is impossible to trust the government today.  We are being asked to accept lies and give our trust to the corrupt and incompetent.  The CATO Institute produced an article worthy of being read, “Congress Is on a Christmas Spending Spree.”  The amazing thing about today’s government is that they appear oblivious to fiscal reality. 

We have annual deficits in the trillions, not billions, and interest rates continue to rise to historic levels.  You would think they know enough about economics to realize that throwing gasoline on a fire will not put out the fire but cause it to burn even hotter and longer.  The insane spending Congress and this president are willing to engage in will likely be the death knell in our Republic.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin recently declared, “My expectation is that inflation will continue to come down into the 2% range by the end of 2024.”  What are you smoking or snorting, Madam Secretary?  With the Fed’s aggressive rate-hiking, the cost of credit is so costly that few can afford it.  With the higher interest rates, the debt our federal government has means more interest and higher payments.  That always produces more taxes and increases our deficit and national debt astronomically.   We are being buried in debt!

U.S. Economist are predicting that 2024 will bring one of the most massive and destructive crashes we have seen in our history.  That is deeply troubling and meshes with what I have been sensing in my spirit for several years.  I have sensed that 2024-2025 will be critical and may bring catastrophic conditions from which our Republic may not survive.  Elections have consequences and this election is the most critical of our Republic.

If Henry Dent is correct, this will go beyond the Great Depression in chaos and collapse.  We have been propping up the economy with false hopes via bailouts and stimulus funds.  We are in a bubble and that bubble will likely burst and when it does, there will be many who are decimated beyond recovery economically.

He called it an ‘everything bubble’ and insisted that the Roaring 20s Bubble was not an ‘everything bubble.’   He believes that the coming crash will not be a correction but will be more akin to the 1929-1932 level.  He believes it could be in the 85-96% range and that would completely wipe out many investors and Americans.  Thanks to the inane and insane spending by Congress and the fiscal lunacy we have been chasing.

America, Joe Biden is a symptom not the disease!  Does he need to go?  Yes, and not only Biden but most of those in Washington.  Both major political parties have been co-conspirators in this collapse and the corruption.  We need to return to moral, spiritual, and fiscal sanity.  We need to see the American patriots rise and reclaim our republic.  We need to return to God and return to a work ethic that make America what it was and could be again.

If we focus on symptoms rather than the real problem, we will continue to allow the political elitists to do their nefarious deeds and watch our republic fade into history and become a distant memory.  I cannot do that silently.  My freedom and my faith prohibit it.  I stand for Faith, Family, and Freedom and will shout from the rooftops as long as I have breath sounding the alarm. 

God bless you and God bless America!  

For too many years, the religious community, or the Evangelical Religious Community, has shunned the idea of participating in politics and either passively or actively embraced the theory of “Separation of Church and State” as a mandate that they should stay out of the political arena. 

First, the Constitution does not restrict or prevent religion from engaging in political discussion. It prohibits the Federal Government from forming a National Church and giving it preference over all others.  The First Amendment and our right to Freedom of Religion do not prevent us from having an opinion or even a preference in a political campaign and frequently involves issues directly connected to our belief system.

In 1633 and up until the 20^th century, churches participated in what was known as annual “Election Sermons,” where preachers preached about particular issues and elections, instructing their parishioners as to what God’s Word had to say about the issue and suggesting how they might vote in keeping with their faith. 

It was not an attempt to force people to vote a particular way but a means of informing the congregations of the views of the church and the Bible on that specific issue or election.  Christians seemed to understand that we hold a “dual citizenship,” being citizens of heaven and earth simultaneously, and were obligated to exercise good stewardship and citizenship. 

In 1954, Congress passed the “Johnson Amendment,” which has since been interpreted as silencing pastors on issues and topics of civil interest.  However, Christians of previous generations would not have submitted to a policy that so egregiously violated not only the Constitution but the Bible. 

In 2008, the Alliance Defense Fund launched a “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” to help churches regain their much-needed voice in politics and civil issues.  They partnered with courageous pastors who decided to participate and preach politically laced sermons about specific issues and even candidates’ stances on issues and compared them to those of the Bible.  We may need to resurrect that type of effort in 2023 and beyond.

Hundreds of churches and pastors participated in that Special Sunday, and the IRS largely refused to come after any of them because they knew they would have a Constitutional lawsuit awaiting them if they did.  A lawsuit that the government knew and knows it cannot win.  Over 2,000 affiliated attorneys were willing to defend for free any Bible-teaching pastor who speaks out with a Biblical voice on current issues or leaders. 

I urge pastors and churches to stop being intimidated and stand up for what is right.  Boldly but lovingly declare what God’s word has to say on the issues and stances of the candidates.  You may suffer from members of your congregations, the community, political ideologues, and peers. 

However, God will honor your commitment to truth, and America will thank you in the end for your courage and willingness to provide the much-needed voice of sanity in this troubled world.  I will fear no man, for God is my Rock and Shield.  Man may destroy the body but cannot touch our souls. 

It is up to us to Pray, Teach, Preach, Beseech, and Reach everyone we can for the cause of the Kingdom of God and to try to preserve the nation as a place of Freedom so we can continue to do that with liberty! 

In every election, remember what is at stake and vote accordingly!  God will help us if we return to Him and do what is right!

God bless you, and God bless America!

I want to allow the founding fathers to speak for themselves and consider their own words regarding their philosophy and willingness or unwillingness to allow the Bible to influence the formation of America and our system of government.  Some will find this objectionable, and some will reject it.  However, if we consider their words, we can see the value of the Original Intent.

Samuel Adams

Father of the American Revolution, Signer of the Declaration of Independence

I . . . recommend my Soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins. – – Will of Samuel Adams

Charles Carroll

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

On the mercy of my Redeemer, I rely for salvation and on His merits, not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts. – – From an autographed letter in our possession written by Charles Carroll to Charles W. Wharton, Esq., on September 27, 1825, from Doughoragen, Maryland.

William Cushing

First Associate Justice Appointed by George Washington to the Supreme Court

Sensible of my mortality, but being of sound mind, after recommending my soul to Almighty God through the merits of my Redeemer and my body to the earth . . . The Last Will and Testament of William Cushing 

John Hancock

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

I John Hancock, . . . being advanced in years and being of perfect mind and memory-thanks be given to God-therefore calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing it is appointed for all men once to die [Hebrews 9:27], do make and ordain this my last will and testament…Principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it: and my body I recommend to the earth . . . nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mercy and power of God. . . The Last Will and Testament of John Hancock.

Patrick Henry

Governor of Virginia, Patriot

This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed. – – The Last Will and Testament of Patrick Henry

John Jay

First Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court

Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by His beloved son. He has been pleased to bless me with excellent parents, with a virtuous wife, and with worthy children. His protection has companied me through many eventful years, faithfully employed in the service of my country; His providence has not only conducted me to this tranquil situation but also given me abundant reason to be contented and thankful. Blessed be His holy name! – – The Last Will and Testament of John Jay

Benjamin Rush 

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly! – Benjamin Rush, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, George Corner, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press for the American Philosophical Society, 1948), p. 166, Travels Through Life, An Account of Sundry Incidents & Events in the Life of Benjamin 

I find it amazing that we are repeatedly told that the founders were not believers and did not value the Bible and the guidance of God in the deliberations of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, yet their writings are replete with references to their faith and dependence on God. 

They considered this nation the providence of God and did not believe it possible to preserve it without His guidance.  Yet, today, there is an assault on the Bible, the faith, and Christians, especially those who hold conservative values as did our founders. 

It is hard to comprehend how we could have drifted so far from the founders’ original intent in just a short time, and I wonder where we will be if we give this sitting President another four years.  I suspect that we will lose most if not all, our freedoms afforded by God and the Constitution and move from a Republican Democracy to, at best, a Soft Tyranny if not a full Despotic Dictatorship. 

America, our future is in the balance in this election. What Will We Do?

God bless you, and God bless America is my prayer and desire!

I cannot count the number of times I have been told to keep my faith and politics separate because they are incompatible.  However, the more I study the American Revolution and the role of the ministers, churches, and Christians, I find that argument invalid.  If you have studied Colonial History, you have undoubtedly seen how active the preachers and churches were.

I do not believe anyone can logically or factually argue that the colonists, patriots, politicians, or ministers of that era believed religion had no place in the political arena.  Preachers far and wide preached from their pulpits the righteousness of the cause of the revolution.  Today, they would be told (unless they are on the left) that they would lose their status by doing so. 

But there was no IRS then either, or should not be one now, but that is another topic.  The ministers of the revolutionary era assured the people that resistance to tyranny was a righteous cause and effectively built a fire of patriotism in the hearts and minds of most colonials.  Ministers served as military chaplains, penmen for committees of correspondence, and members of state legislatures, the constitutional convention, and the National Congress.  Some even took up arms and led troops into battle.

• Jonathan Mayhew, pastor of the West Church in Boston, wrote and preached of the Crown’s diabolical nature and God’s desire for all men to be free. 
• Peter Muhlenberg was called “The Fighting Parson.” He threw off his clerical robes after a fiery sermon concerning the revolution, donned a military uniform, and led troops into battle. 
• James Caldwell, a Presbyterian minister in Elizabeth, New Jersey, was one of many chaplains in the army. 
• John Witherspoon was possibly the most important “political parson” of that era as he represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress from 1776-1782 and signed the Declaration of Independence while preaching in support of the cause. 
• Even Quakers who called themselves “Free Quakers” took up arms.

For anyone to assume that the founding fathers and the religious leaders of that day wanted to keep religion out of the political arena is to ignore the facts.  It is beyond my comprehension why preachers today shy away from speaking out in support of truth, standing for biblical principles, and standing against those things that directly conflict with the Bible. 

There is only one way to silence me, and unless God tells me to stop speaking out, I will continue to proclaim the message of Christ, the Love of God, and the cause of Liberty and Freedom.  I am not a cat; I do not have many lives. I have a LIFE, and it is the total of everything that touches me, and politics touches me too.

So, I plead for everyone to stand for the right and biblical principles in this day and join in the fight to restore America and keep those who would destroy her from succeeding.  If we do not unite and stand firm, America, as the founders intended and as we have enjoyed and desired, will be no more!  Remember what is at stake in every election!   Our Freedom depends on it!

God bless you, and God bless America is my prayer and desire!

After the Elections of 2023, my title fits my objectivity regarding where we are in America politically, morally, socially, societally, and nationally.  It seems that each time hope springs up from something positive that transpires, there is a dash of gloom that follows it.  The attitude of the American people leaves one perplexed politically.

However, my hope and confidence are not in politics but in God; therefore, I have hope even in those things that could produce a sense of hopelessness.  I want to walk you through a few recent things that gave me hope and those that smashed hope to the ground.  I climb upon Cloud Nine to be plunged into Apartment Number Nine, where the sun never shines.

I saw a recent poll contrasting Joe Biden and Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election.  It indicated that Biden does not (I do not believe he ever did) have the popular vote, and his margin of error is gone.  The RealClearPolitics poll released on September 26, 2023, indicated that the Biden approval rating was 40.8%.  (How it can be that high is a mystery.)  His disapproval rating was 54.5%. (How it can be that low is equally a mystery.)

The 40.8% approval rating is approximately 10% below the recorded votes he received in 2020.  In July 2022, his approval rating was 37.2% (and probably still is), 15% below his approval rating on January 31, 2021.  All the indicators are that America is waking up, feeling the pain, and moving away from the lunacy of this administration. 

One would think that if voters are waking up, the GOP should have continued to gain in 2023, right?  Election night in 2023 saw the Democrats produce a winning night and the GOP on the losing side of the equation.  In Kentucky, normally a Red State, Democratic Governor Andy Beshear had an easy win.  In Virginia, Democrats flipped control of the House of Delegates and maintained control in the state Senate.  Likewise, abortion, a key Democrat issue, enjoyed wins in Ohio and other areas.  That tramples on the hope that Biden was losing ground and people were waking up.  Maybe they are just rejecting Biden but not the toxic liberal agenda and ideology.

I was encouraged when the House of Representatives voted to censure Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, after she defended Hamas and called for the elimination of Israel.  The House voted 234 to 188, with 22 Democrats joining all but 4 Republicans voting to censure here.  Four voted present, which is a cowardly act.

She was videoed at a rally chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”  In an interview, she was asked to condemn Hamas’ actions of beheading babies, and she refused.  Hate is hate, and the House was right in censuring her, although that is a virtually meaningless action.

Then, basking in that ray of hope, I discovered that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials created a ‘disinformation group’ at Stanford University to help censor Americans’ free speech on social media ahead of the 2020 election.  Hope was seen exiting stage left with that one.  We knew it, but the continuing revelations of verifiable data dampen hope of enlightenment and restoring the Republic.

In September, federal appeals found that the Biden administration ‘likely violated the First Amendment.’  Likely?  They did so by pressuring social media companies to scrub posts the White House deemed false or misleading.  That would include anything that did not fit their agenda and rhetoric.  The Judiciary Committee uncovered emails that revealed months-long discussions between CISA and social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, over a proposed misinformation portal.  Was their corruption and fraud?  Do wild bears live in the woods?

The timidity of this administration and duplicity regarding Israel smacks with the overt support of the Muslim terrorist of his former boss.  We now know that the leaders of Hamas, like the leaders of BLM and other activist groups, are incredibly rich.  That is quite different from Osama bin Laden, who, after 9/11, was seen hiding in caves in rags.  Was that optics?  Maybe, but it engendered more sympathy for him than the revelation that Hamas leaders are living high on the hog in Qatar in billionaire lifestyles.

The New York Post had this article: “While their people languish in poverty and are treated as human shields, the leaders of Hamas live billionaire lifestyles.  The terror group’s three top leaders alone are worth a staggering $11 billion and enjoy a life of luxury and the sanctuary of the emirate of Qatar.   The emirate has long welcomed the leaders of the terror group and installed them in its luxury hotels and villas at the same time as hosting a vast American military presence.”

Hamas runs an office in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and leaders Ismael Haniyeh, Moussa Abu Marzuk, and Khaled Mashal live luxurious lifestyles.  They have been seen at diplomatic clubs, photographed on private jets, and travel widely and extensively.  They were there for the soccer World Cup in 2022.  Nobody in Qatar and, for that matter, few in Washington seem even to care.

I applaud people like Chani Malul for their fearlessness in speaking out against evil and terror.  She grew up in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem and attended ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools.  She now lives in suburban Maryland, is a mother, and is unafraid to declare the truth.  She said, “My former community drilled into us an important lesson: no matter what the whole world thinks, no matter what people around us say, we have to be upright and strong and do the right thing, even when it is not popular.”  That is the truth and much needed today.

The claim that the Palestinians, not controlled by Hamas, want peace and prosperity and a two-state solution is false.  If they wanted that, they could already have it.  In 2005, the Palestinian Arabs were given autonomy over the Gaza Strip.  To facilitate that, the Israeli government forcibly removed thousands of Israelis from the area.  They knew that without military protection, Jews would be murdered by Palestinians, who prefer their land, Judenfrei.  (No Jews).

By 2007, the unity government between the PLO and Hamas fell apart, and Hamas won in a landslide election in 2006 and began defenestrating its political opponents. That was a warning and a shot across the bow.  There has not been a genuine election there since.  Mr. Biden claims that Hamas does not speak for the Palestinian people. Still, the reality is they are more attuned to the people than the “moderate” Fatah party, which we keep going with billions of taxpayer dollars.

No Palestinian leader can agree to a deal on statehood because if they did, their life expectancy would be minutes, not years.  The Palestinians living in Gaza have been unwilling to build the necessary infrastructure despite receiving hundreds of millions in aid. Instead, they allow Hamas to build underground infrastructure from which to hide and launch their acts of terror.

The world is in chaos, and unless we in America and the world return to sanity and repel hate, we will see a world conflict like never seen before.  The illogical hate for the Jewish people was birthed in hell and will not end until Jesus returns.  However, we can have some semblance of peace if we unite against hate and force those practicing terrorism to suffer the consequences of their heinous acts. 

God bless you, and God bless America!