Friends: Occasionally the words I need just aren’t there … and then they show up. See the column ... Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1043

November 10, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

‘Thanks, I Needed That …’

By Bob Walters

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” – Paul, Philippians 4:4

To say I was a little rattled Wednesday morning upon learning the midterm election results doesn’t quite cover it.

You may have seen a rebuke of an American president you don’t like, prices you find uncomfortable, a war you think unnecessary, or morality you consider passe.  

I saw a rebuke of the U.S. Constitution, which I love, honor, respect, rely on, and teach. My problem was that I had to go into school that day and teach high school U.S. History and American Government classes about a Constitution that the American vote count had, evidently, roundly rejected. And it is the U.S. Constitution we are currently studying.

The hue and cry and jeering of anti-Trumpers, for me, wasn’t the issue. There are many in that crowd – family and friends – I dearly love.  And I long ago rejected as fraudulent – and dangerously misleading – the mainstream American media. It does not traffic in truth; it traffics in globalist propaganda and emotional narratives, not American sovereignty or greatness. The leftist media’s anti-republic bias is loud and clear.

But the true perils are socialism and Islam, which too few people understand.

The congressional oath of office demands its members preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Socialism’s U.S. platform seeks to rewrite the Constitution, do away with the Senate and the executive (president), and turn the Supreme Court into a rubber stamp for a one-house congress. Islam, in 1,400 years, has never assimilated peacefully into another culture. Its Koran erases our Constitution.

Ongoing domestic liberal/progressive DEI, Woke, CRT, etc. charades are minor, laughable annoyances compared with these two ascending anti-constitutional forces.

I wasn’t sure what I could say to my Christian high school classes. Thankfully I found a think-piece Peter Heck wrote late on election night. Pete is a preacher, high school civics teacher (in Greentown, Indiana), and crack Christian political commentator who is no Trump fan. I read this excerpt from his post Thoughts on Tonight to all my classes:

“The political idolater will spend tomorrow gloating or mourning, celebrating or fuming, depending on which side of the aisle he finds himself. Christians have an opportunity to set a better example and to demonstrate a different kind of perspective, one rooted in a joy that survives every political outcome. We can care deeply about the direction of our country while remembering that our ultimate hope rests somewhere far beyond its political fortunes.

“Paul commanded, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!’ (Philippians 4:4). Notice where he locates our joy. It rests in the Lord, whose goodness and faithfulness remain unchanged regardless of who occupies the seats of earthly power. Our circumstances may shift dramatically, but the foundation of our hope remains secure.” Pete writes and podcasts as Dashboard Jesus at Substack.com.

I sent Pete a thank-you email, subject line “Thanks, I needed that,” an allusion to a 1970s commercial about the refreshing, jarring slap of a now-forgotten after shave lotion.

Admittedly, my Christian life is occasionally overridden by earthly concerns. That morning I had been prayerfully able to get only as far as, “Keep your eyes upon Jesus,” knowing He came for all humanity. So, I thanked Pete for the words I needed and went about a productive day knowing the tomb was still empty and my true life had not changed.

I suppose I ought to work on consistency; idolatry is a bad look.

Rejoice always.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) wrote this, Jan 23 2007, about Islam and America. His mentor George Bebawi taught Islam, friend Fouad Masri founded the Crescent Project, and Walters recommends the book What Went Wrong by Bernard Lewis.

Btw, Walters read the Lewis book 25 years ago with his new friend Russ Blowers. Walters had just started a life in Christ, 9/11 had just happened, and at lunch with Russ they both realized they needed to know more about Islam. Russ died 19 years ago today, November 10, 2007.

And … the aftershave was Mennen Skin Bracer.  Walters had to look it up. Here’s a link: Mennen Skin Bracer Commercial (1972) - YouTube

Friends: This begins my 21^st year – now 1,042 straight weeks and counting – of offering weekly thoughts and observations about the Bible, theology, and my own late-starting Christian journey. A suggestion was made about six months in that I stop writing it. 

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Spirituality Column #1042

November 3, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

… ’the Heck? Twenty Years?

By Bob Walters

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:8 NIV

In an especially rough patch of my life a few months after I started writing this weekly column 20 years ago – at that time for the newly formed Current in Carmel newspaper – a close, wise, Christian friend suggested I stop writing it.

Another close, wise, Christian friend, insisted I continue. That was Russ Blowers.

I was meeting with both of them in a conference room at my church (E91 Christian Church in Indy) as the acute pressures of a divorce, finances, and career were noticeably affecting my demeanor. Not dangerously or clinically, these guys just knew I needed the serious, prayerful counsel of Christian men. I’m forever grateful for that.

In that season, and in the preceding months, I was in virtually daily contact with both of them. Both were great encouragers, and both were hyper-aware of my overall situation. They knew me well, and this sit-down was a much-needed, timely, mediation.

We were deep into the session when the first friend suggested taking some things off my plate, starting with the column. It was a pressure perhaps I didn’t need and I was paid very little (I had actually pitched the column idea to the newspaper and started off doing it for free). Also, I had the sense he didn’t trust my Christian judgment.

Point taken. I was still fairly new to the faith with no formal training in ministry or theology. That’s where Russ jumped in immediately and said I should continue writing.

Russ and I were active email pen pals pretty much from when I first came to faith in September 2001 until his death November 10, 2007. Most people knew Russ as a great preacher, pastor, story teller, and friend. One of our connections was that we both had undergraduate journalism degrees. His 50-plus years in ministry and my relative gee-whiz newness and enthusiasm for Christ formed a bond.  What made it special, I think, was my time in the media and public relations. I followed the career path he had trained for, and he was completing the path to which I was now dedicated: i.e., Christ.

Additionally, Russ knew most of the “old media” in town, as did I. He was the Channel 8 on-air preacher in the 1950s and 60s, and chaired Indy’s 1980 Billy Graham Crusade. I had plenty of questions about Jesus and the Bible Russ gladly answered, and he enjoyed our repartee on sports and media. We wrote back and forth constantly.

When the chance to write and publish a weekly, widely distributed Christian essay landed in my lap in late 2006, Russ championed the idea. As a safety net, I made him promise to read the columns before I sent them to the newspaper. He rarely corrected anything, usually commenting with that familiar “gee-whiz” tone of his own – his congregation loved that about him – cheering on my openness at sharing my faith.

Plus, two years earlier Russ and I arranged to have Dr. George Bebawi – an internationally known Bible scholar, church historian, and Cambridge divinity lecturer – begin teaching a Wednesday night Bible and Christian theology class at E91. I’ve written about George often, but my point here is that George’s expertise, and the fact that I edited and kept all his class notes, provided endless column material. Still does.

Russ became ill in the late summer of 2007. Hence, I lost my editor and was writing without a net until I met wife-to-be Pam at Russ’s funeral. An English teacher and preacher’s kid, she was a trusted friend immediately. Pam took Russ’s place as my sounding board and editor, and has cheered on this column ever since.

“What God has promised…” is the joy of writing this, now 20 years and counting.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) would burst if he didn’t have this weekly outlet. He has written often about Russ and George (easy to find them in the CommonChristianity.blogspot.com search box), and intentionally withheld the name of the friend who suggested he cease writing the column. Here are posts about how the column began (LINK 1001) and a series on meeting and marrying Pam (LINK 763, 764, 765).

By the way, the first five years of Bob’s columns, #1 November 2006 to #260 thru October 2011, are online at BelieverBob.blogspot.com. Columns from November 2011 (#261) through today are at CommonChristianity.blogspot.com. The two Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary books Walters published (2011, 2017) can be found online at Bob's Books at Lulu (also Amazon, etc.)

Friends: John Samples, born in Kentucky 93 years ago, surely had a Godly voice. He encouraged me greatly and is now home with our Lord. See the column – Bob

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Spirituality column #1041

October 27, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

John C. Samples, My Friend

By Bob Walters

“I am with you until the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20.

The first thing you’d notice about John Samples was his voice: a beautiful, kindly, reassuring, drawling preacher’s baritone, smooth as a richly aged Kentucky bourbon.

One would not presume that spirited timbre to look at him. Already slightly-built and growing thinner as the years passed and health faltered, John’s steady resonance of faith in Jesus Christ was a mountain of encouragement for all who knew him.

Some preachers thunder; John’s tone was more like a pervasive, deep-cleaning, confident, comforting, and nurturing forest rain. The kind that presages God’s blessings, not His wrath.  It was natural. John prayed that way and expressed his heart that way.

John, 93, was my pastor and friend, and pastor and friend to all he might meet. He was a dominant presence in my faith life ever since the Lord found me 25 years ago. As I mentioned in recent columns, John died peacefully October 6. His celebration of life service will be next Sunday, November 1 at 4 p.m. in the Worship Center at East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. Visitation is 2-4 p.m.

This is an impossible column to write, because life’s most difficult things to explain are often the things you love the most and understand the best. John has been that kind of presence as was his wife Joyce who went to the Lord October 15, 2022. My parents passed decades ago yet John and Joyce filled that generational void in my life.

We all thought we’d lose John before Joyce, as he was extremely ill in 2018. Joyce had various health issues in that same time frame, and while John got better, Joyce slipped into heaven first. What I’ve decided to do this week is to provide links to columns I’ve written regarding John and Joyce, with his official obit capping off the list.

275 LINK - Love, Endurance, and Prayer 2-14-12 – A Valentine’s Day tale for the ages, Joyce plus six siblings all celebrated 50^th wedding anniversaries. It’s my favorite story.

535 LINK - Directional Stability 2-14-17 – Joyce had plenty of observations about scripture and Christian life, and for several years wrote and texted daily “Ponders.”

678 LINK – Reasonable Faith 11-12-19 – My encouragers: Russ, Dave, George, John.

764 LINK - 'How About Tomorrow?' 7-6-21 – John married Pam and me in 2009; his pre-marital counseling was about 20 minutes long and consisted mostly of Kentucky jokes. (See also 763 LINK - Our Pastor's Funeral 6-29-21, and 765 LINK - 'That Summer Before He Died...' 7-13-21. It is our wedding story, my favorite series in 20 years of this column.)

831 LINK - She's No Angel 10-18-22 – Joyce went to heaven as an heir, not an angel.

908 LINK - This Exchange Doesn’t Change – ‘He is Here’ 4-9-24 – John's 2024 Easter communion message. It was always a divine treat when John led communion.

957 LINK - The Tie That Binds - 3-18-25 – John’s tale of a neck tie and Russ Blowers

105 LINK - When the Phone Rings Late at Night 11-11-08 – Pondering one year after the night John called at 1 a.m. to tell me of Russ Blowers' death. 

LINK Remembering John Chapman Samples – John’s obituary.

So many other stories. Over lunch, John and Joyce related to Pam and me when they were young and poor, driving home from a preaching gig. They had money for two hot dogs with four people (young sons Dain and John W.) in the car. Everyone got half a hot dog.  Their later affection for birthday and anniversary $1.50 hot dog meals at Costco makes sense. George Bebawi called John the “Cardinal” (Russ was “Pope,” I was “Archbishop”).

John’s rich life in Christ is proven in the wealth of faith, hope, and love he shared with all. We will miss him, but his memory will reside in joyful hearts for ages to come.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) follows up last week’s column with the good news that Pam’s nerve block injection in her leg has helped enormously. Pain largely abated, and walking … may be temporary, but likely found the culprit. Continued prayers, please.    

Friends: We don’t have to want something when we already have it … as a gift. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1040

October 20, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

“… I Shall Not Want”

By Bob Walters

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” – Psalm 23:6 ESV

The structural center of David’s Psalm 23 (verse 4) reads, “for you are with me.”

Jesus promises, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).

Jump to Romans 8:31, Paul writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Here in God’s Word, we see the faith of David, the love of Jesus, and the hope of Paul. God, we can be assured, is with us: He follows us, He leads us, He pursues us.

All we have to do is look to see if God is there.  He is … and He is Jesus.

And He has been very close to us – personally – lately.

My wife Pam and I have been going through a bit of a health “season” these past five months. Well, her more than me, but we are in it together. And Jesus is, too.

Pam woke up May 27^th with upper left leg nerve pain so severe she was unable to walk. The emergency room doctor said it was sciatica. The chiropractor said “I can’t help you, go get an MRI.” The spine PA said, “it has to be a spine issue.” The pain specialist ordered, and sensing danger then cancelled, a spinal pain block. Two different neurology offices declared Pam’s case as “interesting.” Five MRI’s and a spinal surgery later (plus draconian physical therapy, two epidurals, a hip steroid shot, various pills, and blood work), we have ideas but no diagnosis and a train of baffled doctors and providers.

Throughout, Pam has been able to stand for short periods, take a few, slow, halting, painful steps, and blessedly, sleeps soundly, albeit in a pillow-laden reclining chair. She teaches, planted in a tall seat, and gets around school on a red scooter we named “Mario” (as in Andretti, not Kart). The MCA staff and students are amazing: caring, helpful, prayerful, and good-humored about Pam’s current mobility challenges.

I’m saying all this not as a plea for pity but as a witness to God’s closeness and Pam’s faithful steadfastness. Perfectly timed, Psalm 23 popped up this week in my Ray Stedman devotional emails. “Goodness and mercy ... follow[ing] me” got me to thinking.

We all have our “default” setting of how we read scripture and what various verses mean.  It is the strength of the Bible that it can be so all-encompassing and at the same time be so personal.  I have always read “follow me all the days of my life” as though it meant God would stay with me as I aged.  Well, I am old, I guess (so is Pam), but the abiding presence of Jesus is not about our latter days; it is about every day.

This challenging season has emphasized closeness to and trust in Jesus, not distance or disappointment. Hebrew literary structure often locates the main point in the middle of a passage, not at its beginning or end. Knowing that structure dramatically expands our understanding, for example, of Paul’s letters. In the 23^rd Psalm, the important Hebrew middle reads, “for you are with me.” God sent Jesus to “be with us.”

I’m not sure I had previously noticed that this “Psalm of David” models exactly the presence of Jesus in humanity and our salvation in His sacrifice. Jesus gives us what we need, and we know it, as long as we are at his side. We may “want” only healing; but Jesus strengthens our faith and assures our hope. It is not always easy.

This is indeed the “age” of Jesus, all 2,000 years so far. And despite that which is demonstrably against us in this world – sickness, sin, despair, disappointment, whatever – trusting the divine presence of our Creator, our Savior, and the Lord of all truth and goodness, molds the daily, sustaining strength and courage of seasons such as these.

We don’t have to “want” it because in His grace, we already have it.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) (Pam) notes the on-going power of prayer, as the best medical efforts, so far, have been generally ineffective while the prayer of friends and family has sustained her – and us – massively. Nerve block this week … we’ll see.

 

 

Special note ... our dear friend and pastor John Samples passed away peacefully Tuesday morning, October 6. Pam and I visited John Monday and are thankful we had the chance to say goodbye (John married us in 2009). John’s Celebration of Life will be at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at East 91^st Street Christian Church, Indianapolis. Visitation 2-4 p.m. – Bob

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Friends: Ask a simple question, get a simple answer. Some questions appear harder than they are.  Blessings, Bob

Spirituality Column #1039

October 13, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

The Simple Stuff, Part 2   

By Bob Walters

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth … and in one Lord, Jesus Christ … who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven …” – from the Apostle’s Creed, Book of Common Prayer, Episcopal Church, 1789

Here is where we ended last week: “…it is the simple stuff of Christianity – the orthodoxy and doctrines – that our students need to have on hand without hesitation or confusion.”

Mission Christian Academy in Fishers, Ind., where Pam and I teach high school English (her) and history/civics (me), is a highly biblically literate environment.  Faculty and staff all sign Christian faith statements, while the students (and their parents) who are drawn to that environment don’t have to sign anything; they just know what – and Who – is there.

Also mentioned last week in Part 1 was that teaching western culture, literature, history, civics, and economics becomes a much more complete experience when the foundation of western culture, i.e., Jesus Christ (we’ll get to the Greeks, Romans, and Jews in a minute) and the Bible, are not ignored, pre-empted, or outright banned as they have been in American public education since the early 1960s. (U.S. Supreme Court refresher:  Engle v. Vitale, 1962, vigorously restricted public prayer; Abington School District v. Schempp, 1963, banned mandated daily Bible readings and recitation in public schools.)

Twenty-first century anti-Christian sensitivities and atheistic liberalism have made cultural things worse, spiraling into the Woke, DEI, gender fluid, critical race theory, globalist morass that now defines universities, the media, entertainment, public school, much industry, and government bureaucracies. It is called “Progressive,” but I see no progress toward truth.

I see zero progress, in the public academic square, toward Jesus.

Anyway, back to my MCA students.  A few weeks ago, in both U.S. history and American government, we were studying pre-Revolutionary War colonial society including the Great Awakening of the mid-1700s. The Awakening developed a spiritual cohesion among the not-always-copacetic Christian denominations that coalesced into a common cause for developing a free nation independent from the British king.

In the discussion of how these 13 separate colonies – separate nations, really, each with a dominant local denomination – united in a religious sense toward becoming one nation, words like “doctrine” and “orthodoxy” came up.

If I ask almost any of my students simply “what do you believe,” they would effortlessly answer that they believe in God, that Jesus is Lord and Savior, and that one day they will go to heaven, forgiven of their sins. And most would add flourishes beyond that. 

But, ask them to name one orthodox Christian belief, or to explain any part of Christian doctrine, every student in every class clammed up. They didn’t realize they already knew the answers.

The problem was the words, “orthodox” and “doctrine.” These are simply descriptors for articles of faith that remain the same across all Christian denominations. Things like the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That Jesus, the Son of God, was fully human and fully God. That Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, lived, taught, was crucified, was dead, buried and resurrected. That his death was a perfect sacrifice that frees us from our sins and restores our relationship with God the Father.

That, forgiven, we will spend eternity in a new life in heaven with Jesus and the communion of saints.  That the Bible is Spirit-inspired and carries God’s authority. That the Old Testament prophesizes about Christ.

Every one of these is an orthodox Christian belief; each is a bit of universal Christian doctrine.  Christians have fought to defend them since the time of Christ. Depart from any, and you may have a religion but it is heretical in relation to Christianity.

The miracle of America’s founding had help and inspiration from the pre-Christian Greek and Roman republics, and of course the Jewish laws, scripture, and commandments. Even the more modern Enlightenment asked many right questions about man’s sovereignty vs. government.

Our job is not to freeze up when asked about our faith; the basics are pretty simple.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that the phrase “Judeo-Christian” came into modern parlance in a 1939 book review by George Orwell; the phrase wasn’t known at America’s founding.     

 

(Special note ... our dear friend and pastor John Samples is in hospice. I just found out this afternoon.  I have no more details, but please keep him, his son John W. and wife Bobbi in your prayers.  I spoke with Amy B. from E91 a few minutes ago. May we all be at peace. – Bob)

Friends: What are the basics of what you believe as a Christian? Creeds are an answer, but what is your heart telling you?  It’s kids’ stuff, really. See Part 1 of the column below. Have a great week!

Blessings, Bob

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October 6, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

The Simple Stuff, Part 1

By Bob Walters

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth … and in one Lord, Jesus Christ … who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven …” – from the Apostle’s Creed, Book of Common Prayer, Episcopal Church, 1789

I am going to talk about the faith and witness of Christian high school students, not the history and esoterics of creedal Christian faith, but let’s review some basics.

Basics of the faith, I mean, along with some post-Reformation church history.

Bible-based evangelical Christianity, by and large, does not depend on the ancient creeds (list of beliefs) for its understanding of Jesus, church, or scripture. We read the Bible, study the Bible, pray with the Bible, and we ingest all the preaching and teaching and Christian church fellowship we can consume. Ideally, we live daily and perpetually, with faith in Jesus Christ, love for God, love for others, reliance on the Holy Spirit, and the imperfectly understood but absolute truth and authority of the Bible. Sola scriptura.

The above quoted bit of the Apostle’s Creed, dating from the second century AD, and it’s slightly longer and younger cousin, the Nicene Creed, fourth century, have differences but say pretty much the same thing. If you’re inspired to do so, Google both and enjoy the deep dive.

I grew up in the Episcopal Church, where Bible literacy among the congregation was far subordinate to a congregant’s trust in the church, its priests, its traditions, and its authority.  Prior to its arrival in the American colonies, it was the Anglican Church, founded in 1534 by Britain’s King Henry VIII. This followed a tiff with Roman Catholic Pope Clement VII regarding Henry divorcing his wife, Anne Boleyn. You can Google that one, too. The upshot? England gained a church; Boleyn lost her head.

Like the Catholic Church, the Anglican and then Episcopal Church in its worship practices is creedal, with established liturgies (weekly worship plans), litany (prayers), and hierarchies (leadership). That big book on a Catholic or Episcopal Altar is not a Bible, it is a Missal, or what I grew up knowing as the Book of Common Prayer. While the Bible is a direct conversation with God, in my experience, the Book of Common Prayer is more of a training-wheels version of what church is supposed to be like.

Meaning, it contains the curated basics of the church, including much scripture, prayers, Psalms, and rituals (e.g. baptisms, weddings, funerals, etc.). My point is that knowing Church basics is not necessarily knowing Christ. And here’s where I wanted to share something about my Christian teenage students and “the basics.”

Our Mission Christian Academy in Fishers, Ind., where my wife Pam and I teach high school English (her) and history / civics (me), have plenty of students who know the Bible pretty well.  Many of them can cite all 66 books from memory, know the Old Testament from the New, know the Gospels from the Pauline letters, and attend weekly extracurricular Bible studies and church youth groups. By and large, the students know Christ.

That makes teaching Western literature and civics a more complete enterprise because Christianity is the foundation of Western culture the past 2,000 years.  We can include the reality of God, the truth of Jesus, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the authority of scripture, and the communion of the saints (church), Were there other influences? Of course – Greek, Roman, and Jewish philosophy before Christ, and the Enlightenment and modernism that has tried to re-define God the past 400 years or so.

Plus Islam, since the seventh century, which has tried to erase the whole thing.

But it is the simple stuff of Christianity – the orthodoxy and doctrines – that our students need to have on hand without hesitation or confusion. More next week.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) still has his mangled Book of Common Prayer from his Episcopal confirmation in 1965, which his dog Kramer Too chewed up 15 years ago.

 

Friends: We always love talking about Jesus, but that doesn’t mean we can always be sheep. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1037

September 29, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Gentleness, Respect, and Tenacity

By Bob Walters

“… Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” – 1 Peter 3:15

This is among my favorite Bible verses for a couple of reasons.

First, it is calming; I only have to explain why I, personally, have hope. I can do that all day long. I can always explain Jesus to my own satisfaction, but whether I can explain Him adequately to someone else is a more daunting challenge. We find Jesus in our own hearts; that is why we know Him as a personal Lord and Savior. He is everyone’s, as well as ours alone. That is why everyone’s testimony is unique.

I envy, in a good way, the natural evangelists; but my gifts lie elsewhere.      

Second, the verse instructs us not to be a jerk about Jesus; to have “gentleness and respect.” Jesus was kind, but also direct with the truth and creatively vivid with His illustrations (swallowing a camel, plank in the eye, brood of vipers etc.). People will argue about whether Jesus ever laughed (the Bible doesn’t tell us), but it takes an educated, period-specific, cultural sense of Jewish humor to cull the humorous bits from the Gospels. My erudite Bible mentor George Bebawi, who grew up Jewish (in Egypt of all places) before finding Christ in his late teens, thought Jesus was hilarious.

Anyway, we should fearlessly share about Jesus, live in confident hope, be kind to others, show our faith by virtue of a caring and intelligent demeanor, love – but do not bow to – our enemies, and pray mightily for guidance, discernment, and the right words.

Jesus knew how to temper his language. He spoke kindly to the lost, softly and confidently to the demons who knew who He was and feared Him, but was often harsh and condemning – and cunning – with the Pharisees who refused to recognize Him.

The Pharisees, you see, had inherited the “world,” i.e., status, wealth, power, pride, and jealousy of their position. They forgot there was a Messiah with whom they could inherit the Kingdom of God. They lost sight of the truth, and could not see Jesus.

And that’s today’s lesson for today’s Christians: let’s keep clear sight of Jesus.

Jesus was tenacious and wise. By his truth and authority, believers were drawn to Him then and are still drawn to Him today. Hebrew scripture, i.e., the Old Testament, was replete with prophesies of His coming, His person, His purpose, His providence, and His destiny. The Pharisees of His time were willfully blind to the scrolls, but John the Baptist, the Disciples, and many others saw the divine in Jesus’s person.

Today, we have the whole New Testament to explain prophecy to us and we wonder how anyone, ever, could be in the presence of Jesus, whatever he looked like, and not sense the glory of His person, relationship with God, and love for mankind.

But … folks make those errors all the time.  In our current age, in a rapidly deteriorating post-Christian American culture, our mission becomes not just personal reflection and prayer, but the tenacity of Jesus and of Jude 1:3-4, “to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. … [against] ungodly people who pervert the grace of our Lord.” How do we contend for the faith … our faith?

One way is simple: vote. Get to the polls this fall. Don’t lay back. Be tenacious against threats. In a nation slipping from its Christian underpinnings, whether by the ignorant secular culture or heretical progressive Christians – e.g., “Islam is just another religion,” “Jesus was non-binary”– sane Christian citizens must pick up the mantle of tenacity defending our nation from those who attack truth and seek to remove our freedom to worship.

The ungodly, freedom-squashing left will be at the polls. Will we?

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) asserts the current American faith and political contest is not between Christianity and Islam; it is between a Constitutional Republic and Sharia Law.