Haven’t you noticed that there are all kinds of religions welcome in America today:  Paganism, Atheism, Environmentalism, Darwinism and a myriad of others have free reign inside our government schools.   Christianity, which gave us the idea of “freedom of religion”, is now the one on the outside looking in.

How has this happened?  The courts have stuck a big sock in the mouth of our pulpits.  As a result evil has run almost unopposed in our culture with a devastating effect on all facets of society. 

“Obama ain’t black.”

I turned to look over my shoulder to see who had uttered that ridiculous statement. 

“Pardon Me?” I squinted at the dark-skinned man who had just interjected himself into my over-coffee conversation with my buddy, Kevin.

“Obama ain’t black.” He said again more matter-of-factly as he walked around the porcelain dividing wall and stood at our table where he could be more active in our conversation.

“My name’s Andree,”...

Our Founders were brilliant men.  When they wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution they used the phrase “or prohibiting the free-exercise thereof.”  They knew what any back-woods football coach knows…use it or lose it.  If you don’t exercise the muscle then it loses its power.  Exercise is the key to strength.  If we can’t freely exercise our faith, then we might as well not have it.

I get so frustrated that our team won’t play.  As the sports announcers like to say after a sure win suddenly becomes a loss “they let that one slip through their fingers.”  Well, in my mind that is America.  We sure have let her slip through our fingers.

 I flew into Boise, Idaho a few weeks ago and as we were sinking out of the clouds ..

For the past eight years I have joined with a group of men and attended the Gay Pride Parade in Columbus.  We believe it is our obligation to go and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  I have to admit that it often seems futile as we are greatly outnumbered, but we believe that we are the Lord’s ambassadors here on earth and that someone must carry the Truth to them.

I know I make other Christians nervous.  I’m not always sure why that is and to be honest with you, I wish everyone liked me.   But, that’s not the way things are and I've learned to live with that fact.  As Frank Sinatra sang “I Gotta Be Me.”

 “You are like the thing in the middle of the washing machine….the agitator…” Pastor Greg wrote.   “You slap us around real good, shake us all up, and send us off with our heads spinning.  I haven’t figured out yet if I like it or not, but I do have to admit you knock the starch out of us.”

But the thought of disobeying government is almost anathema to the Church Leadership today.  Slowly but surely the chains of government are being forged for American Christianity and hardly a whimper from the “men of the cloth.” 

Leadership is intimidated by passion.

I see it over and over. The one thing that most leaders want to avoid is a crowd of people who really believe something. It is so much easier to be in charge when the natives aren’t restless.

That is especially true in our churches. Lord knows we could use a little passion in the place but “wildfire” is the last thing the pulpit wants to deal with today.

May 11th, Mother’s Day, was Pentecost Sunday. It is the once-a-year celebration of the arrival of the Promise of Jesus that he would send a “Comforter” that would baptize believers in fire.

Daily, our government is becoming more and more removed from the will of the people. I want to gag every time I hear one of our elected officials start pontificating on what “the American people want.” They are so removed from the people that they really have no idea, and they really don’t care what the American people want.

For the past week I have been standing by my friend, John Freshwater, a public school teacher who has been ordered by the Mount Vernon City Schools to remove his own personal Bible from his desk.

The students turned out en masse to support this popular science teacher. The ACLU has done all that they can do to scare everyone.

Yesterday the school board switched tactics. Because the public uproar in support of Mr. Freshwater was so great they decided it was time to pull out the smoke and mirrors.