The Bible calls us to stand for righteousness, defend the defenseless, combat lies, and vehemently resist opposition that tries to stifle truth. We cannot afford to remain silent while some sanction sin. We must do what we’re able to thwart evil agendas that threaten freedom and seek to cease the advance of the Gospel message.
Wake up! Stand up and speak up, America, before you lose your freedom of speech, the right to raise your children according to your convictions—your parental rights, the right to defend your property and family, your privacy, and freedom of religion.
Some say it’s okay to take a snooze because an issue isn’t affecting them personally. But the Bible says it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine. Some say they won’t vote because they don’t like either candidate. Many are quick to complain but slow to be part of the solution.
Failure to choose is a choice.We either advance good or enable evil.
First, they came for the socialists, but I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, but I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, but I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
— Holocaust survivor Pastor Martin Niemöller
There are no perfect candidates, but we are blessed with the freedom and responsibility to vote for the ones that best align with our values. For those who are Christians, our values ought to line up with the Bible.
Wake up, America! Your prosperity has blinded you to your poverty. Wake up, Christian! You have become comfortable in your complacency.
It is my honor to introduce you to United States Army Chaplain, Brad Lee. Chaplain Lee is a husband and father of six, and a writer with a forthcoming book inspired by his journey with his young son who has Downs Syndrome and Autism.
In Part 1 of this two part conversation, Chaplain Lee shares the road that led him to become a chaplain in the U.S. Army, some of the adventures, challenges, and opportunities he encounters as he serves our country and our soldiers, as well as some powerful thoughts on and wise counsel to our nation.
Update from Massachusetts Family Institute on Massachusetts Senate Bill 70 (The Counseling Ban)
Updated April 9th, 2019
MA Senate Bill 70 violates freedom of speech, parental rights and religious freedom
SEE YOU IN COURT! Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed the Counseling Ban last night, April 9th, 2019.
Massachusetts Family Institute is already hearing from potential PLAINTIFFS and is prepared to help them protect their rights in court.
PLEASE CALL or TEXT my cell phone at (978) 204-9131 if you know a minor (age 17 or younger) and parents that want therapy to escape LGBTQ lifestyle OR a Licensed Therapist that desires to give such therapy.
The only way now to protect free speech and access to therapy is through the courts. We NEED your help!
Read more about current LGBTQ activist plan to continue to assault religion and family values here: https://tapit.us/lYiuO Please SHARE with EVERYONE YOU KNOW!Michael King www.mafamily.org
(978) 204-9131 (cell)
UPDATE Friday 3/29/19: Unfortunately, Senate Bill 70 passed on Thursday March 28th, 2019 with a vote of 34-0. But I urge you to read this post if you have not already so you can be informed and know what next steps to take to try to stop this threat to freedom of speech, parental rights, freedom of religion and the safety and well being of children. Massachusetts Family institute is urging residents to call Governor Charlie Baker at Phone: (617) 725-4005 NOW and ask him to veto the bill which is set for signing early next week.His office staff informed me today that you may leave a message voicing your concerns after hours and your request will be tallied. *I added more information on the results of the vote and some of my thoughts on them at the end of this article. (A strike-through indicates that information has been updated.)
The Massachusetts Senate will votevoted on Senate Bill, SB. 70, (the Counseling Ban), this Thursday, March 28th at the State House. If this bill goes into law it will violate freedom of speech, religious freedom, and the rights of parents to raise their children according to their moral and religious convictions. This bill would force counselors and parents to go against their beliefs about human sexuality and violates rights to privacy of patients and counselors.
Some think this bill will not affect them as they aren’t facing the situations it addresses. But regardless of where your convictions fall on gender identity and sexual orientation, and whatever your religious persuasion, bills like SB. 70 endanger the freedoms of all. Other states have also been pushing similar bills.
HB. 140/ SB. 70 would make it illegal for licensed health care professionals to offer counselling or talk therapy that encouraged a gender-confused minor to feel comfortable as the biological sex they were born, or to change, suppress, or stop any behavior or feelings in regards to their opposite-sex gender identity or sexual attraction toward others of the same sex. But they would be legally required to promote hormone therapy and sex-change surgery. This applies even if the minor is the one seeking help to change sexual attractions or behavior they don’t want to continue.
Parents who opt for counseling the state doesn’t sanction for their gender-confused child rather than cross-sex hormones or surgery, would be subject to DCF intervention which could result in the child being taken from their home and then receiving sex-change treatments without parental consent.
This bill mis-labels certain counsel as child abuse and dictates and limits healthcare workers in the diagnosis and treatment of their patients. Prohibiting licensed counselors from guiding those who seek help with their struggles by freely discussing and exploring a patient’s symptoms and feelings is negligent medical practice and abuse. If one doubts a healthcare worker’s advice they can choose to get a second opinion.
Many who identify as one sexual orientation shift to another, or between several categories over time. They change their minds. So why the push to alter one’s body with hormones or surgery? What’s the rush? This is especially true for children who do not yet have the capacity to fully comprehend the choices and their long term ramifications.
If a child identifies as a dog should the parent allow them to undergo treatment to become like a dog?
If a child thinks he is Superman, is it abuse if their parent doesn’t allow him or her to leap from buildings with a single bound?
If a white child declares they are a black child trapped in a white body, or a black child identifies as a white child, should their parents be forced to let them undergo treatment to permanently change their skin color?
It’s loud out there. Much of the voices are of those in error, who sow division, stir up strife, and spew hate, and doctrines of loose living. They seek to cast off the restraints and Biblical principles our Nation was founded on which secured our freedom and bound us to the blessings of the Almighty, our Creator.
Too often those who believe in righteousness choose to remain silent or are not given the platform to stand and speak. Or sometimes when they do, others do not support them. There is no neutral ground. If we say nothing and do nothing when we are called to stand and speak we become part of the problem. Speak the truth in love, because that’s what love does.
I write to make Truth Himself, Jesus Christ known, so lost ones can find Home. I write to shed light and hope and truth abroad, through His Word, the words He gives me, and sometimes through the words of others. I write to encourage and inspire the well doing and weary ones to hold on and carry on.
So, what are you doing? What has God called you to do? Better find out if you don’t know. Tick-tock-tick-tock—
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)
Truth must speak more loudly than lies. Those who walk with wisdom must lead so others can follow and be saved from stumbling, foolishness and folly. Hope is not meant to be hidden in our hands but offered to the needy, the thirsty.
Yes, light casts out darkness, but only if we hold our candles high. Encourage. Educate. Empower, inspire, motivate. See. Stand. Speak Truth. Speak life.
As told to me by Jean Taylor Colby and Sara Clay. Originally Published: January 16th, 2017
It is my pleasure to feature this story in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and for all who stood and stand for freedom, justice, and righteous unity.
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,” Acts 17:26 (NKJV)
Despite the passage of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965, change was slow. James Meredith, the first African American to enroll at the University of Mississippi, set out to draw attention to the continuing racial oppression in the Mississippi Delta and to encourage voter registration by African Americans, in the face of great opposition and despite the fear it produced. He embarked on his solo mission, The March Against Fear, in June 1966, starting in Memphis, Tennessee with the intent of ending at the State house in Jackson Mississippi, the state capital. On the second day of his march, Meredith was shot by a white sniper by the name of James Aubrey. Upon learning of the shooting, other Civil rights leaders, organizations and supporters, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., decided to continue the march.
Jean’s Story
In June, 1966 my husband, Roy, and I participated in the March Against Fear. The purpose of the march was to non violently support and encourage voter registration of the black population and to not be hindered by fear or from the hateful opposition they faced. We took our four children with us. Their ages were 5, 7, 9, and 12. The night before we marched, we stayed with families from neighboring black churches, my husband and son with one family, and myself and our daughters with another.
The next day was brutally hot, so our hosts gave us salt pills to prevent dehydration.There were about 200 of us, and as we marched through each town we kept picking up more people. We were among the few whites in the mostly black crowd. Angry faced locals lined the highway, some carrying rifles, harassing us as we walked by. Our oldest child, Sara, remembers the hate filled face of a woman riding in a truck, with guns on a rack in the back. The woman shouted obscenities in her face and spit on her. Immediately our 12 year old was swept into the middle of the marchers to keep her safe. A grandmotherly black woman right behind her said, “Don’t you fret about it honey, we’re just gonna sing.” And they did.
“This little light of mine; I’m gonna let it shine.”
This is how you fight back. You sing.
Then the horrifying word came through that a black man had been lynched that same day outside the town we had just passed through.
As we walked along highway 51, we often saw poor black people bending over in the cotton fields. As soon as they saw us they would rise up tall, wave and give the marchers huge smiles of encouragement.
After a few hours, we stopped at a small farmhouse. We all took drinks of water from the well out front. It was there that our Hartford Seminary classmate and good friend, Andy Young, a colleague of Martin Luther King Jr., discovered us. He said, “Wait right here just a minute.” He went inside the house where Dr. King was involved in a strategy meeting with other leaders. Dr. King stopped what he was doing, came out to the road, and greeted our family. He then blessed each of our children. It is forever a treasured memory. Then some printed handbills appeared and were passed among us with these encouraging words from Dr. King:
“We’re moving up the highway of Freedom toward the City of Equality. We can’t stop now.
In the evening we had supper in the school yard. Out of nowhere came enough food for over 200 people, as in the Bible account where on the mountainside 5,000 were fed. Peanut butter sandwiches, apples, and piles of fried chicken prepared by women from local black churches, who could ill afford it. To protect us while we ate, Federal Marshals with machine guns sat on top of the roof of the school.
After supper, as we left to head back home to Chicago, there were no federal marshals, just an angry white crowd lining the highway, shouting and shaking their fists at us, some with rifles. My husband yelled at us to get down on the floor of the car as he drove quickly out of there.
We were never afraid while walking up that highway, because we were all together, over 200 of us. We kept on singing, and we kept on walking. What a privilege it was to be there.
Meredith recovered from his wounds and rejoined the march, walking on the front lines next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and other Civil Rights leaders. The marchers grew in number to an estimated 15,000 participants and on June 26th, 1966, the 220 mile march ended with their arrival at the Statehouse in Jackson, Mississippi. Figures released by the US Justice department, showed that over 4,000 black people registered to vote during the march.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Sarah, you were only twelve years old. How did you feel about participating in the march?
I was never afraid. There were too many of us together to be afraid. I wasn’t even sure where my parents were. I think Mom was driving the First Aid car, and I didn’t know where Dad was, but we were all going to meet for dinner at the picnic place, so it was fine.
Tell me about the woman in the truck who spat at you.
I remember an ugly, angry face, hatred personified. She was screaming obscenities at me, a twelve year old girl- like, “Are you gonna sleep with that #?*# n—–?! You little n—– lover!” She was probably a beautiful woman, but that day she was very ugly.
Suddenly, these big black men surrounded me and put themselves between me and the vehicles. And I remember this big black grandmotherly lady saying to me, “Don’t you pay them no mind. We’re just gonna keep on singing.” Then we sang, This Little Light of Mine.
How did that make you feel? What was going through your head?
I wasn’t shocked. I had encountered southern racism before when I was eight years old and our family moved from Chicago where I attended an integrated school, to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. On the ride to Oak Ridge, we stopped at a gas station and I went to go to the bathroom. One bathroom had a door with a sign over it that said, “Whites Only.” The other bathroom had a sign which read, “Coloreds Only” and had no door with just a hole in the ground for a toilet. It looked like it had never been cleaned. I refused to get the key for the white toilet, but instead went around the back and peed in the grass. I wasn’t using the White’s Only bathroom.
Sarah, were white, and only eight years old. That’s very young to have such conviction and make a stand. It would have been really easy for you to just go get the key and use the nice clean White’s Only bathroom.
If everyone couldn’t use it, then I wasn’t using it either. I wasn’t getting that key! I wasn’t any kind of hero; I just had the same gut reaction any decent person would have had.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Jean, if then was now, or a similar situation presented itself, knowing the dangers, would you participate? Would you bring your children or grandchildren to it?
Yes. Children need to know, to see and be with people who aren’t like them. And when you gotta stand up for justice, it’s what you gotta do.
“the time is always right to do the right thing”― Martin Luther King Jr.
Jean, did you expect the level of opposition you faced during the march?
I don’t know if I thought about it beforehand, but I knew there had always been opposition to the Civil Rights Movement in the past.
Why did you do it? If you faced the same situation today, would you take the risk again and bring your children with you, even being separated from your husband and son and staying with strangers?
We felt it was important, and yes, I would. When you feel strongly about a cause you know is right, you do something about it. You make a stand.
“The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Russ Taff, Alicia Williamson, We Will Stand, (Live)
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:35 (NKJV)
(I am truly blessed to have Jean as my mother-in-law, and Sara as my sister-in -law )
Dear reader,
I’d like to invite you to read about our young friend, Alek’s, battle against Lymes disease. Please consider sharing on your social media and with friends, family and co-workers.
*Matching funds on new donations from February 1st- February 14th, 2018! Link to read his story or donate toward his ongoing treatment. the information on Lymes disease in this article by his mom is a good education on the disease and may be helpful to others battling it or with undiagnosed similar symptoms:
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Tattoo It On Your Heart 