By Graham Glover –
“You shall honor your father and mother that it may be well with you and you may live long upon the earth.”
I’ve given up trying to figure out how this year’s election will unfold. Every prediction of mine has been wrong. I still think Hillary wins in an Electoral College blowout, but now I’m even starting to doubt that prognosis. The Donald, despite himself, just might pull off the most improbable of campaigns.
By Jaime Nava –
There’s a lot of voting going on this year. For Missouri-Synod members at the Convention, we’ll be voting on a multitude, even a plethora, of resolutions and positions. I’m on my way there now. The deacon thing is sure to be a hot topic. So is that constitutional thing I got all the propaganda about from that megachurch near the Purple Palace. I’m sure every convention has its hot topic. Let’s not forget the circus, err, election coming up for the United States (as if you could). We’ve got Donald Drumpf posing as a Republican, kinda like Gov. Arnold did here in KAH-LEE-FORRR-NYAA. Then you’ve got Hillary, who didn’t get in trouble because she’s basically not an ordinary citizen, I guess? There’re some others, sure, but overall, it looks to be a loser of an election and a loser Supreme Court nomination term, as well. Great.
By Caleb Keith –
It’s Tuesday evening. I am sitting in front of my computer trying to think of something meaningful to write for my blog tomorrow morning. The trouble is, I am finding it difficult to connect any topic on my mind right now to Jesus or the Gospel. However, as I sit here, I am reminded of the most recent episode of the Thinking Fellows that I posted last Friday on the doctrine of God’s two kingdoms. If you haven’t already, you should go check it out. That episode is a solid reminder that, while everything in our lives is impacted by the Gospel, not everything is directly related to it. In fact, much of the day-in, day-out of our lives happens in what’s referred to as the left-hand kingdom.
By Joel A. Hess –
Surely, this 4th of July has been one of saddest for me. It’s hard to get excited about the freedoms our country was founded upon as they are speedily being stolen from us by the current administration, aristocratic courts, and big businesses. The current forced cultural revolution looks exactly like the one imposed by the Chinese tyrant Mao Zedong. Leaders who come in the name of progress almost always leave the people they say they are helping dead.
By Scott Keith –
Today, we celebrate our independence. Today, we shoot fireworks into the air, dress in red, white, and blue, drink American beer, and try to remember what makes the 4th of July such a big deal. Today, I wonder why I’m no longer patriotic. Today, I look around me and wonder if those who are celebrating so intently even know why they celebrate. (Watch this at your own risk: FAIL – Americans Don’t Know Why We Celebrate 4th of July!) Today, I ask myself why I no longer feel free.
By Jaime Nava –
A pastor friend posted on Facebook that a religion’s beliefs are in line with their founder. So someone calling themselves a Buddhist will follow Gautama Buddha and his teachings. Christians find themselves following Christ. Do Muslims follow the teachings of Muhammed, and do those teachings contain the violence we have seen from recent attacks? Fort Hood saw the deaths of 13 when a psychiatrist proclaimed “Allah Akbar” in 2009. The Boston Marathon was attacked by religiously motivated Chechen Muslims, killing 3 and maiming or injuring another 264 in 2013. San Bernardino suffered the deaths of 14 and another 17 injured at the end of 2015. Now we have Orlando with 49 dead and 53 injured. Are these people claiming to follow the teachings of the Koran, or are they on the fringe?
By Jaime Nava –
The United States feels like it’s in a tail spin, at least to me. More than likely, I think the next president will be a goon. Subjective morality has become the local truth which is no truth at all without absolute truth. Socialism is the glimmer in the eye of so many millennials now. We’re setting ourselves up for the same wall that Germany and Russia ran into. First, we’ll try to be great one last time only to get kicked in the nuts as a nation. Next, we’ll sulk and blame the old ways for all the troubles. Following that will be a leader who promises to send us to greatness. He’ll do this with total control because the people want him to have it. With each and every step, the church will be relegated to a room, then a corner, then finally kicked out.
By Jaime Nava –
America has been considered a Christian nation for quite some time. It’s considered that because of the number of Christians who are here and the values they hold, not because everyone here is automatically converted. People have been saying for years that America is becoming or has become a post-Christian nation. What do they mean by that? Usually, it means that there are fewer people going to church in the US or that attendance is down. Those things are true. Attendance across all denominations is dropping.
By Caleb Keith –
Most of the people reading this probably haven’t heard of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty (LCRL). I hadn’t heard of the LCRL until this past summer, and it wasn’t until this last semester that I really understood what the LCRL is and what they do. As part of a research paper for my Christians and Ethics course this semester, I examined the LCRL and reviewed its functions in light of the classical view of Lutheran two-kingdom theory.
By Graham Glover –
As much as I wish it would happen, I doubt it ever will – the Democratic Party supporting the Pro-Life Movement. It boggles my mind why the party that so passionately advocates on behalf of the less fortunate, the outcast, and the voiceless, is eerily silent when it comes to the unborn child. But I’m not politically naïve, I get the underlying narrative that prevents this from happening, which is why I have no expectation that those who do not support abortion on demand will ever be given a role, much less a platform, in Democratic politics.
By Graham Glover –
It’s been 10 years since the nationally syndicated columnist Rod Dreher penned, ‘Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)”. I was a fan of the book when it was published and am an even bigger proponent of the ideas Dreher is advocating today.
Yes, I am a Crunchy Con. And you, the readers of The Jagged Word, should be as well.
By Joel A Hess –
When logic is no longer used to determine what is right, might is right.
Many are flabbergasted by the rise of Donald Trump. They can’t believe he says what he says and gets away with it. More than that, his harsh tone and outlandish Jerry Springer Show campaign only increases his popularity! Predictably, the knee jerk reaction by people who believe they have a right to never be offended by anyone is to protest – not argue – and sometimes violently. “Use your words,” our mothers used to say.
By Joel A Hess –
“It’s better to live one day as a lion than a sheep for a hundred years” – Donald Trump and Benito Mussolini
Whether or not Donald Trump knew this quote was taken from the il Duce, the baldheaded embarrassment to both dictators and Italians, doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he desires to own and live by this quote. It should be noted that the original author of the quote was eventually mocked by the Germans, who really know how to do dictatorship, and dragged naked through the streets by his own people. I’m not sure Mussolini’s words are ingredients for success.
By Graham Glover –
We are less than 9 months away from electing the next President of the United States. After months of talk and preparation, the electorate and pundits are knee deep in the primaries. There are still a lot of votes to be cast, but I suspect that after the 15th of March we will have a pretty good idea of who the nominees are going to be for each party.
Like almost every other political prognosticator, I am at a loss for how the 2016 election is unfolding.
By Graham Glover –
I recently returned from a 2-week field exercise with my Soldiers. Apart from being away from my family, sleeping in a 1-man pup tent, not showering, and eating more MREs than my digestive tract prefers – it was a phenomenal time of training with my new Battalion.
There are many things an Army chaplain can do to earn the trust and respect of his Soldiers, to include, above all, being a faithful man of God. But living with them in their training environment – enduring the “suck” that everyone experiences while in the field, is one of the best ways for a Soldier to realize that where they go, their chaplain goes – when they suffer, their chaplain does so as well.
By Graham Glover –
What would you do? If you were “Emperor for the Day” – completely in charge of all things for 24 hours, how would you change the United States? (Or would you do nothing at all?!)
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