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By Tyson Thorne

February 18, 2021
 
 

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It seems like a lifetime ago now, when I was helping my friend Bill Jack design the cover for his (then) latest VHS video: Jack Theist Meets Doctor Secular. It was a great teaching video and it deserved a great cover and, if I do say so myself, it turned out really well. But the cover art isn’t the point, the point is that even back then (this was late 1980’s, maybe early 1990’s) Bill was onto the game that many in American culture were playing. The game was to turn America into a secular society.

A couple decades later Bill O’Rielly (who started his television career right here in Denver, Colorado) would take up the same warning call. It was clear that the political powers on the left were attempting to remove all vestiges of religious symbolism from the public square. Some may have thought he was going too far, but in truth he didn’t go far enough. There are many in political power today who are on the same mission and are taking the battle to a whole other level. Now these powerful people are attempting to remove not just religious symbolism, but religious speech. I wonder if that wasn’t part of their strategy from the beginning, on their way to eliminate religion in general?

Now you probably think I’ve taken it too far. Have I, though? Consider the following facts of American history:

1925 – The Supreme Court takes the famous “Scopes Trial” and determines that Darwin’s book The Origin of the Species and Preservation of the Favored Races was to be taught in public schools rather than the Bible’s account regarding the origin of man.

1962 – The Supreme Court hears the case of Engle v. Vitale and decides that a prayer which was approved for use in public schools by the New York Board of Regents constituted the establishment of a religion and therefore in violation of the First Amendment.

1963 – The supreme Court decides Bible readings in the public schools do the same in Abington School District v. Schempp.

For decades these landmark cases would be used to silence Christian teachers – and students should any be bold enough to cause a stir. Getting Christian beliefs and practices out of the public schools, however, was only the first step. In the new millennia this movement has only gained bolder tactics.

2012 – The Democrat Convention removes any mention of God from their political platform.

2014 – The Supreme Court rules that Hobby Lobby and other privately held companies can be exempt from the Obama Care requirement to provide contraception and abortion in their medical care packages but were careful to note that this right was NOT based on the First Amendment, but on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (passed in 1993).

2016 – John Podesta, a part of the Clinton Administration in the 1990’s, an advisor to President Obama and head of Hillary Clinton’s run for President in 2016, found his email account had been hacked and many of his emails made public. In those emails it became clear that he and the campaign were targeting Christian’s, and Catholics in particular, and revealed a loathing for their beliefs.

2019 – the Democrat National Committee passes a resolution that denounces Christian belief and activity stating in one paragraph, “Those most loudly claiming that morals, values, and patriotism must be defined by their particular religious views have used those religious views, with misplaced claims of “religious liberty,” to justify public policy that has threatened the civil rights and liberties of many Americans, including but not limited to the LGBT community, women, and ethnic and religious/nonreligious minorities…”

The most recent example is from Jerry Nadler who tells a fellow Congressman, “…what any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.” He made this statement after the House of Representatives passed a bill called The Equality Act, which has consequences for churches if they teach against homosexuality and anything having to do with the LGBTQ’s beliefs. The bill has yet to be voted on by the Senate.

There are a great many more actions against Christian non-profits, churches and charities we could cite as well, but I think you get the point. The question is, where is all this coming from? Is it from Socialists in Washington, or Marxists attempting to redefine the Democrat party as many right-wing opinion personalities claim? I don’t think so. I think those groups are merely useful idiots to promote secularism. And what is “secularism”? It is the “indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations” (Merriam-Webster dictionary). How can one claim to be for law and order while simultaneously rejecting the Law-giver? We have a name for a person who is opposed to God’s rule, the Man of Lawlessness. The “Man of Lawlessness” is also a title given to the Anti-Christ in the New Testament (2 Thessalonians 2.3-10).

I know there is a lot to digest in that last paragraph. I make the connection between secularism and the Anti-Christ; I connect a current philosophy of governance to an enemy of God who is to be revealed in the last days. I’m telling you, however, more than that. I’m saying that those who support secularism are (albeit possibly unknowingly) in league with the Anti-Christ and hastening his coming to power. Before you think I’ve gone off the rails, let me point out a few important facts.

First, I’m not saying we are in the last days and the coming of the anti-Christ is imminent. I have no idea when that day will be, but I do know that a country as strong as America with a Christian foundation would thwart the plans drawn up by the powers of darkness. America must go or be fundamentally changed. Second, in the passage I noted earlier we see two important truths. The first is that the dark powers are working today: “For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work…” (verse 7). The second is that part of Satan’s plan is to deceive – and not deceive believer’s as one would expect, but unbeliever’s – so that they will not know the truth about what is happening (verse 10). In other words, the world will be inundated by fake news. This is how evil plans to overtake America, fake news and the spread of secular thought over Biblical thinking. What we need now, is a counter-strategy and the best place to start is by thinking Biblically.