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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 24 July 2023

If you’re a well-balanced individual, you haven’t thought much about child sex-trafficking, but it’s real, if ugly, so will you join me in thinking for a few minutes about sin, darkness, and hope?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #99 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. 

My wife and I recently went to the cinema to watch “Sound of Freedom,” the movie featuring “Passion of the Christ” Jim Caviezel as a federal agent who pursues sex traffickers to rescue a child. As you might expect with a topic like this, not all the scenes are easy to watch, but for my money, I think the director and actors did a good job of drawing attention to this global evil in a way that hopefully raises consciousness, concern, and action.

"’Sound of Freedom’ draws upon the real life of Tim Ballard, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent who is credited with saving countless children, largely from outside the U.S., from traffickers who force them into prostitution rings aimed at pedophiles.”

Jim Caveziel plays Tim Ballard in the film, and his wife is portrayed by actress Mira Sorvino. Her part is small but important in this film.

Years earlier in 2005, Sorvino played the lead role as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in a television miniseries called “Human Trafficking.” Her boss in the miniseries is portrayed by actor Donald Sutherland.

The miniseries followed the stories of three women and girls kidnapped and sold into sex slavery, all of them eventually working out of New York City for an enormously wealthy and ruthless Russian crime boss. The miniseries is especially good at portraying how women and girls get sucked into the trade. This is most assuredly not a so-called “victimless crime.”

“Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.” To lure victims into trafficking situations, traffickers use various approaches, like violence, manipulation, false promises of well-paying jobs, or romantic relationships.

Remember the first “Taken” movie starring Liam Neeson? In it, a retired CIA operative—Neeson—crosses the globe to rescue his 17-year-old daughter after she had been kidnapped by a group of Albanian smugglers while traveling in France.

She and her friend were first enticed by meeting a charming young Frenchman, then she is betrayed, kidnapped, and sold into the sex trade. Of course, this and the later “Taken” films are primarily vehicles for showcasing Neeson as an action hero, but the first film is especially on point as to how even teenagers can be duped and, well, “taken.”

If you are interested in going deeper, several other films or documentaries have been made that examine various aspects of this evil perversion, one that combines greed, sexual hedonism, crime, power, politics, and corruption. Hyperlinks to these sources may be found in the transcript of this podcast.

After her earlier miniseries role, Mira Sorvino stayed involved with this heinous crime. “From 2009 to 2012 she was a United Nations Goodwill ambassador for combatting human trafficking,” I recommend Sorvino’s miniseries, “Human Trafficking,” which you can acquire inexpensively online.

Back to the new film, “Sound of Freedom”— You’d think that, if anything, the ideological Left might find morally compelling the fact that children are being coerced and abused by a huge international sex trade. But believe it or not, I’ve read several reviews of “Sound of Freedom” that seem oblivious to this issue involving children, choosing rather to politicize the motives of the producers and actors, accusing them of conspiracy theories and being tools of the Far Right, yada yada. Really? People can’t even agree that child trafficking is an unholy scourge.

Well, I for one recommend you watch “Sound of Freedom.” I respect Jim Caviezel and Mira Sorvino for their involvement, not just as professional actors but as people who care about human beings. The film presents a real issue, and for all the wretchedness, there is hope in the end.

It is estimated—that’s right, I said “estimated” because one of the problems with stopping human trafficking is getting reliable numbers. Who’s going to provide them? Law enforcement counts what it knows, but criminals know far more,

and they aren’t going to volunteer information. So, it is “estimated that approximately 1,000,000 people are trafficked each year globally and that between 20,000 and 50,000 are trafficked into the United States, which is one of the largest destinations for victims of the sex-trafficking trade.” Based on multiple sources I read, I think the number of trafficked people, and children, is far higher.

“There are tremendous numbers of kids, a multitude of kids that are being sold as sex slaves today in America. These are American kids, American-born, 50 percent to 60 percent of them coming out of the foster care industry…If you are trafficked in the United States, 85 percent of victims that are trafficked here are from here.”

“The United Nations (UN) divides human trafficking into three categories— sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and the removal of organs—and defines human trafficking as the induction by force, fraud, or coercion of a person to engage in the sex trade, or the harboring, transportation, or obtaining of a person for labor service or organ removal.” “Sex slavery involves males and females, both adults and children, and constitutes an estimated 58 percent of all trafficking activities.”

“California consistently has the highest human trafficking rates in the United States…This is followed by Texas…Florida…and New York. These four states with the highest human trafficking rates have the highest populations in the U.S., which can explain why their numbers of cases are significantly higher than other states and have very high immigrant populations. This, combined with certain industries such as agriculture, creates prime environments for forced labor.”

Hard to believe, but in the United States, “Human trafficking wasn't illegal until 2000, when the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed, which made it a federal crime.”

“In the US, there is no official number of human trafficking victims, but estimates place it in the hundreds of thousands.”

“Globally, an estimated //www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.pdf">25 million people are subjected to human trafficking and forced labor, which is responsible for an estimated $150 billion annually in illicit profits.”

To say the least, human sex trafficking is a heinous crime that violates the basic principles of human dignity. It involves the coercion, abduction, and exploitation of individuals, primarily women and children, for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

At its core, human sex trafficking strips victims of their humanity, freedom, dignity, and autonomy, subjected to physical and emotional abuse, and forced into a life of sexual servitude. The traffickers, driven by greed and power, exploit vulnerable individuals, preying on their desperation, poverty, or lack of social support. This cruel industry thrives on the suffering of its victims and the insidious demand for commercial sex.

The consequences of human sex trafficking on its victims are profound and long-lasting. Physically, victims may endure sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancies, physical injuries, and drug addiction. Emotionally and spiritually, they suffer from trauma, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, often requiring extensive therapy and rehabilitation to regain a sense of normalcy.

Furthermore, the social stigma associated with sex trafficking can leave victims isolated and shunned by society, exacerbating their suffering.

Human sex trafficking not only harms individual victims but also has detrimental effects on society as a whole. The thriving underground market perpetuates violence, organized crime, and corruption. It undermines the rule of law, weakens institutions, and fosters an environment of fear and exploitation. Additionally, sex trafficking contributes to the spread of sexually transmitted and other diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and places an enormous burden on public health systems.

As “Sound of Freedom” demonstrates, children are the most vulnerable and tragic victims of human sex trafficking. “It is believed that one in five human trafficking victims are children, exploited for begging, child pornography, or child labor.”

Often kidnapped or coerced into the trade, they are robbed of their innocence and subjected to unimaginable horrors. The emotional, spiritual, psychological, and often physical scars inflicted on these young souls can haunt them for a lifetime, hindering their development and impeding their ability to lead fulfilling lives. Protecting children from exploitation should be a top priority for every society.

Human sex trafficking is abhorrent. It treats human beings as non-entities, perpetuates violence, undermines law and order in free societies, and is an example of man’s inhumanity to man, an evil straight out of the pit.

There are Christian organizations, among them Women At Risk International, that combat human trafficking and work to help women, girls, and boys enslaved.

Sexual sin and slavery are together as old as mankind. Both sins violate the character of God and the fact that He created every man, woman, boy, and girl in his image.

Let’s pray, and let’s take action to assure “Sound of Freedom” sows seeds that fall on good soil. It could be our children, our loved ones that we save.

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.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023  

*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.  

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 17 July 2023

Were you startled in March 2022, when United States Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson responded to Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s request that she provide a definition of “woman” and Judge Jackson said, “I’m not a biologist”?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #98 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.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R, TN) full questions to Judge Jackson was “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?” The confused chaos of contemporary America’s intellectual elite led Judge Jackson to give a wiggle room answer, actually a non-answer. Ironically, now Justice Jackson, were she asked this question today, would probably not say she’s not a biologist, not because she now can answer the question, but because the Left no longer trusts science, if it ever did.

“What is a woman?” Yes, we’ve come to this. American, or Western, culture has dipped so low in its sophisticated ignorance that we’ve talked ourselves into an intellectual cul-de-sac where one of the easiest and most obvious questions in life cannot be answered for fear of offending someone or otherwise creating a political backlash.

This is the context into which conservative commentator Matt Walsh stepped when he decided to produce and feature in his documentary, What Is a Woman? This film was released in June 2022, but I just watched it a few days ago.

Walsh’s documentary reminded me of actor Ben Stein’s 2008 film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, in which Stein attempted to engage intellectuals on their basic presuppositions about God, or at least an intelligence, but found that many of them could not or would not engage, and even the ones who did, eventually offered outlandish leaps of logic regarding their assumptions.

In his What Is a Woman film, Walsh travels around the United States, and also across the pond to the Maasai tribe in Africa, simply asking, “What is a woman?” This is a question he considers a defining question of our generation.

Walsh also asked, what is truth? He talks to people on the street, academics who purport to be experts in fields related to gender studies or psychology, medical and psychiatric doctors, elected politicians, transgender people and former transgender or so-called “de-transitioned” people, and counselors, most of whom disagree with his views, along with a couple of key older professionals who share Walsh’s values and concerns.

Since the film was released, predictably, liberal and left-leaning political sources have castigated Walsh and the documentary in harsh, nasty, and angry terms, accusing him of among other things, being a bigot, a hater, and a cheap provocateur. But nowhere in the documentary does Walsh attack anyone, act disrespectfully or dismissively toward them (though some of his interviewees and their supporters do this to him), or otherwise speak down to or angrily at anyone. In interviews, no matter how outrageous the person’s comments, Walsh keeps a straight and serious face.

Only near the end of the documentary, when Walsh gets a couple of minutes to speak to the Loudoun County School Board in Virginia, a district that has experienced sexual assaults on children, and a district one report called the epicenter of the parental rights movement, does Walsh speak forcefully or aggressively from a prepared text. Yet review after review calls him out for perceived bad behavior, and what is this? Walsh dares to ask questions, dares to say he believes in objective truth, dares to wonder aloud if sex surgeries on minors is indeed healthy and moral, and dares to believe those to whom he directs his questions might want to respond. Interestingly, more than one of his interviewees stopped or walked out on the interview.

To those who disagree with him, he produced a “right wing transphobic doc.”  Another reviewer said, the film is “utterly devoid of curiosity or generosity. It’s fueled by anger and fear, and partisan calculation. Walsh poses like a wise man, but he’s a cyberbully.”

I don’t agree. In fact, I recommend you watch this film. It is worth the 90 minutes required, and since it is online, you can watch in segments as you have time if you need to do so. You can find it easily in your search engine, but to aid you I have posted a link to the film in the description of this podcast. (The full documentary is available at this link: https://rumble.com/v26fs5y-what-is-a-woman-full-documentary.html.)

It’s telling, I think, how Walsh is attacked, and I do mean verbally attacked in the abusive vocabulary, for exercising his free speech, not by making arguments, but simply for asking a question. Liberal and left sources decry Walsh’s question as illegitimate, disrespectful, threatening even for making people “feel unsafe,” and do not want to allow him to speak. Liberals and the left preach openness, tolerance, anything goes—unless you disagree with them. Then they become authoritarian in their demand that not simply your argument be refuted but that you be delegitimized, possibly silenced, preferably cancelled.

Several people with whom he talked, asked him, “Why do you care?” They wanted to know why he cared what a transgender person did or became, even a minor, why this should matter to him, because in their worldview, anyone should be permitted or even encouraged to do anything at any time. They see this as compassion and liberation, but this is undiagnosed anarchy. It’s what the Bible said of the days when Israel had no king, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes,” (Judges 17:6).

Among other things, what the question, “Why do you care,” assumes is that individual behavior creates no ripple effects and in no way affects others. It assumes that people should be free to do whatever they wish, for by definition, this is “right.” It isa as Proverbs said, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,” (21:2).

But because people want to do something does not make it correct or good or moral. People are not islands. People who jettison personal morality affect everything about the people and culture around them.

Doing sex surgeries on children will affect their own health and well-being, their families, and their community for the rest of their lives. Promoting transgender ideology and actions is not just a matter of meeting the individual desires of a given person, because transgender behavior is fundamentally divisive and destructive to the foundational order of a free society. Why? Because society is binary and has been since creation.

But transgenders, in fact all LGBQ individuals, want what they want, so they reject God, reality, and life itself. Is this surprising? Heterosexuals who wish to sin do the same thing, reject God, reality, and sometimes life itself.

“Whether it’s the idolatry of climate, sexual politics or anything else, this estrangement from God is in keeping with the strategic goals of authoritarians. They do not wish to compete with God for the devotion of the people so it’s necessary to replace Him with something else. The result is ideological idolatry designed to estrange us from God in our personal and civic lives.”

“The ideologies of the left are about more than enacting policies that history has proved to be failures. They’re about dissolving our relationship with God in pursuit of a destructive agenda that cements power among a select group of elites at the expense of individual liberty. We need to understand this because to know and reject this American Idolatry is to reject tyranny.”

Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii, said this about gender politics: "They are asking us to take something that is clearly not real and believe that it is real...Are we going to live in a society of common sense and reality or are we going to buy into this insanity and this fantasy?"

"We have leaders in the Democratic Party unfortunately and those in our society who are pushing this fantasy," she continued. "They are asking us to take something that is clearly not real and believe that it’s real. They're asking us to take something that is very clearly a mental illness that creates this delusion where you have people saying 'why, I’m a man in a woman’s body' and vice versa, and then doctors committing, in the case of children especially, this medical malpractice trying to turn this fantasy into reality and creating incredibly negative short and long-term consequences both physically and psychologically."

"Are we going to live in a society of common sense and reality or are we going buy into this insanity and this fantasy?" she asked rhetorically. "This is one of the reasons why I left the Democratic Party, because we have the Democratic Party today selling this fantasy and catering to it and giving credibility to this fantasy, these mental delusions all because they think it’ll give them more political power, a party that is willing to do anything, especially things that are damaging to children, all for the sake of political power should be frightening to everybody."

Matt Walsh’s question, “What is a woman?” is basic, but it opens a giant philosophic wormhole into which our culture has been drawn.

The entire sexual liberation movement, particularly as now manifested by LGBTQ+ politics with a focus on the point of the spear, transgender ideology, undermines a whole list of Judeo-Christian values that helped American culture flourish:

o   Belief in a Sovereign God, as Thomas Jefferson noted in the Declaration of Independence, “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

o   Belief in truth, as the Declaration of Independence began, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

o   Belief in God’s created order, including humanity, as in “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” (Gen. 1:27).

o   Belief that children belong to parents, that parents have authority and rights, as in “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him,” (Ps 127:3).

There’s more, but perhaps you get the picture. I know family and friends who do not like to talk about LGBTQ+ or gender issues, much less child sex trafficking, pornography, or similar perversions. I get this, and I respect it.

But I also think we are living in a time when Satan is launching a full-blown onslaught on the very foundations of families, churches, American society, and the potential for individual and religious freedom over and against tyranny. And it seems that many Christians are willingly uninformed and unaware.

Whether you agree with everything Matt Walsh, says or concludes, his What Is a Woman? documentary is worth your time. It is not a diatribe, not a right-wing screed, certainly not religious sermonizing. It just asks a question because it presumes truth exists.

It’s a question no one would have seriously asked just a decade ago. But now, the need to ask it reveals, yes, we’ve come to this.

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.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023  

*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.  

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 17 July 2023

Have you stopped to think about what worldview motivates you? Is it a secular, religious, Christian, or some other philosophy of life?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #97 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 was privileged to grow up in what we call a “Christian home,” in the best sense of the term. It means my parents were believers, serious about their Christian faith, introduced me to the Word of God and salvation by faith in Christ, took me to church every time the doors were open, and invested in my spiritual upbringing.

At church, in Sunday School, summer Daily Vacation Bible School, youth groups, and of course the services, I learned more about the Bible and its teachings, and I learned biblical stories and memorized verses.

So, no question I was hugely blessed with what might be called a Christian upbringing, including most importantly me making a personal commitment to faith in Christ when I was six years old, and later make the decision to be baptized. In other words, I owned the Christian faith as my own.

I learned that one should rightly divide the Word of Truth or as other Bible versions say, “correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

I wasn’t really encouraged to stop at memorizing verses, though a lot of churches did this, intentionally or otherwise, and thus people learned to do what we called “proof texting,” the idea that you learn a verse for a given topic and that’s it. You don’t learn much else about the Word or God’s purposes and sometimes you end up not being able to handle the more complex issues that now face us in our culture. Os Guinness called it being unprepared with “a Sunday School level faith for a university level society.”

Back in my other life as a university president, I used to talk about Christian college students who would show up on campus – good kids who knew the Lord—kids who could quote verses and tell Bible stories but many of whom could not tell you what Daniel and the Lions’ Den, for example, meant for them or us today. In other words, they knew biblical data, content, but they did not really understand how to apply it.

They did not understand theology. I called this lack of ability to go from content to application the “Christian missing link.”

One of the reasons some of these students arrived with a lot of Bible knowledge but little ability to think critically and apply it in the world around them, or even in their personal lives, is that their theologically conservative churches had offered them a form of Pietism and little more.

Pietism, especially when coupled with what’s been called Fundamentalism, emphasized the personal spiritual life over and above or separate from any real concern for the public expression of the Christian faith and living in the culture in which they live. In other words, in the vocabulary of John 17, pietistic, fundamentalist churches and adherents did a good job of being “not of the world,” but they tended to forget the other prepositional phrases in that chapter, being “in the world,” or the command to go “into the world.” By the same token, theologically liberal churches and adherents have historically done a fair job of being “in the world” while seeming to forget what it means to be “not of the world.”

I was exposed to some of this in a solid, Bible-believing, good Fundamentalist church as a kid we learned to “Don’t smoke and chew or go with girls who do.” We learned a lot of biblical teaching but did not always learn “Why” or how to connect it with other teachings in Scripture or how to apply it. I’m not biting the hand that fed me. I learned well in this home church and owe it a great deal spiritually. I’m just being honest about what I did not learn as well, and perhaps this was my doing, not the church.

When I got to Christian college, I heard the terms “Christian theistic world life view” as we called it then, what later became better known as a Christian worldview or a biblical worldview.

A worldview is a way of looking at our place in the world. Simply put, it is a philosophy of life. Whether they realize it, or whether they can identify it, everyone possesses a worldview. Our worldview is the foundation and guide for every decision we make.

Our worldview helps us answer life’s existential questions: Who is God? What is truth and moral absolutes? Who is man and what is human nature? What is man’s purpose? What is good and evil? What is sin and morality? What is time and history? What happens when we die? Is God there, and does he care? Does he know me? How can I be loved, forgiven, redeemed? What hope can I have?

Not everyone, in fact most people, can even name their worldview, and most people do not think consistently in alignment with every precept of a given worldview, including Christians.

A Christian worldview is simply a Christian philosophy of life. Theologically, it involves Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration.

What we need to do, what we are commanded by God to do, what Scripture in John 17 meant when it said we are to be in the world but not of the world and go into the world, is develop and live out a consistent, God-honoring Christian philosophy of life. We are to “think Christianly.”

In James Avery White’s book A Mind for God, Os Guinness is quoted, saying, “Thinking Christianly is thinking by Christians about anything and everything in a consistently Christian way – in a manner that is shaped, directed, and restrained by the truth of God’s Word and God’s Spirit.”

Christians are to walk as Jesus did. In 1 John 2:6, John said, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” Or as the late Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer put it, we need to answer the biblical question from Ezekiel, “How should we then live?” 

Now how do we answer this question?

1. Well, as Christians, we go to the Word of God, because,

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim. 3:16-17

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 2 Pet. 1:3

2. We seek to integrate our faith and life by drawing on the principles of Scripture in order to proclaim the Lordship of Christ in all of life.

1 Cor. 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

3. We must work to understand biblical teaching and theology so that we can discern – that’s the point of this podcast, “Discerning what is best” as drawn from Phil. 1:9-10 – and we work to understand biblical teaching and theology so that we can avoid error as we’re commanded in Col. 2:8:

If we do not Know the Truth, we cannot Speak the Truth. Therefore, Bible study, knowledge is imperative, especially in a post-Christian culture.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

And also Rom. 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

For we know that God said to “keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Josh. 1:8

4. We must speak because not to speak yields to the Devil by default.

And when we speak, i.e., define truth, we recognize that we will inevitably alienate.

Culture no longer aligns with or reinforces Christian life. The movement to stop “unacceptable views” now worldwide and popular.

5. We remember that Jesus never withdrew from sinners, but neither did he ever stop proclaiming the truth.

He ate with tax collectors, spoke with prostitutes. Jesus was “full of grace and truth.” Jn 1:14. He never compromised truth to avoid alienating people or to attract converts. 

6. We are to walk as Jesus did.

We believe the window to speak truth is closing. Yet God said, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” Jn 9:4

“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

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.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023  

*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.  

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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.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023  

*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.  

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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.

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.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023  

*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.