I often make the point that we do not rightly confess the truth when we treat the things of this world as matters indifferent. When we confess the fact that Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, we must necessarily condemn abortion. When we endorse so-called gay marriage, so also do we undermine the doctrine that Christ gave His life for His Bride, the Church. Likewise, when we are quiet about the transgender problem, we leave young people in misery and deny the God of creation.

But likewise, it does us no good to be against abortion, gay marriage, and the like, if we do not take seriously the need for pure doctrine. And in a world where traditions are undermined in the name of wokeness and critical theory, we would be fools not to seek to preserve the liturgy and hymnody in richness, as they connect us to the wisdom of those who have come before us. When people say we are picky, we simply refer to the words of our Lord that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, for false doctrine is like a cancer that may metastasize and overtake the whole body.

So, again, while a socialist government may permit Christians, at least for a time, to gather, sing hymns, receive the Sacraments, and speak privately about Jesus, a telltale sign of its trajectory is its irritation when the Church steps into the public square, points at the state, calls it to task, and says, “You are not the highest authority. We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Socialism won’t tolerate such things. And by the way, remember this key indicator when your pastor or Christian friend tongue-lashes you for offending the supposed Church and state divide, insisting that the Church must not engage in the political realm. Kindly remind them they’re aligning with one of the most basic socialist principles.

Christian engagement in the public square offends socialism in the worst way. It’s a stick in the spokes of the socialist machine because it understands and confesses biblical truths that the machine cannot accommodate. For example, it understands that the state doesn’t give children to parents. God does (Psalm 127:3). It confesses that the state doesn’t define marriage. God does (Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:4-6). It goes to the mat arguing that the state doesn’t create male and female. God does (Genesis 1:27). It will not back down from saying that the state doesn’t grant human life its value. God does (Psalm 139:13-16). And it would never agree that the state owns the fruits of a man’s labor. God gives property and commands its faithful use (Exodus 20:15 and Acts 5:4). These are all basic doctrines of the Christian faith.

As faithful Lutherans, we need constantly to guard against those forces seeking to undermine our faith — particularly the faith of our young people. We must send clear and consistent messages regarding issues of biblical sexuality to help them stand up to and see through the lies of the world around them.

Unfortunately, too many Christian young people are buying into the lie that it is just fine for couples to cohabitate before marriage as long they intend to tie the knot sometime in the future. In some cases, they feel it’s OK to live together even if they do not intend to marry. The Pew Research Center, The Institute for Family Studies and other research organizations have, over the last decade and a half, released a series of alarming statistics regarding the acceptance of — and deliberate choice to participate in — cohabitation before marriage by evangelical Christians, including Lutherans.

Our nation could not have arisen in any other place at any other time. Providence played a mighty hand. The Pilgrim spirit looms large, and the free exercise of religion is the first right of the First Amendment. That's no small thing, for it sets forth an ordered liberty. We love our country precisely because we value other things before it, God and family. Without an acknowledgement of God, the true God, it would have been impossible. I was thinking just this when visiting the home of President Rutherford B. Hayes, whose first activity of the morning was the reading of the Bible.

No America, or anything like it, could arise in the Islamic world. Bring in too many Muslims and our own experiment in ordered liberty is sure to collapse. Hindus, for whatever they purport to bring to humanity, posit the idea that a person may die and become an animal, higher or lower on the food chain. All men are created equal? Such a thought is not possible in a society whose main religion creates a caste system. Communism is, of course, predicated on atheism, where the state is all in all. In such a world, you may be cared for as long as you are useful to the state, which takes for itself divine rights.

Engaged? For what? That the two may become one. Living together before marriage is a no-no, a big mistake. If you would like God's blessing, and why wouldn't you, why don't you go about it the right way? But then there is another matter. When the two become one, they are fruitful and multiply. Or at least most have a kid or two. What do you want for that child? A house divided can hardly stand. What happens on Sunday morning, if anything at all? It's painful to see loved ones plan for a future while neglecting the future that lasts forever.

The new report released this week by the Department of Justice’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias is a wake-up call. The task force, led by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, has produced one of the most, if not the most, substantive works of this administration. The report, entitled “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias within the Federal Government,” lays bare what is at the heart of the Left’s disdain for religious freedom: it is a clash of “worldviews” over abortion, gender ideology, and sexual orientation.

Before detailing abuses across the federal government, the 550+ page report lays the foundation for why the anti-Christian bias, pervasive in the Biden administration, is a threat to our nation. Beginning with an extensive quote from the farewell address of America’s first president, George Washington, the report provides the historical context for why vibrant Christian faith should be embraced, not suppressed.

The second paragraph of the Declaration proclaims: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights… .” Throughout my youth, these truths were articles of faith that were impervious to bigotry or discrimination.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines “self-evident” as “obviously true, and requiring no proof, argument or explanation.” Whether they had a divine source, or a worldly one, they were never questioned. They were the Holy Grail, the North Star, the rock — immovable and unquestioned.

“What is marriage?” It seems like a silly question. But its one our society is vigorously fighting about. For thousands of years, and for all of recorded history prior to the year 2000, societies around the world recognized that marriage was an exclusive relationship of faithful permanence between one man and one woman, who vowed to remain together until death parts them. However, in a matter of a few short years (in the scope of human history), the institution of marriage has gone from being exclusively defined between one man and one woman, to being debated by society (it’s now at the highest court in our land), to consider if it might also be applicable to two homosexual men or two homosexual women. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. . . . [A few years ago] Thailand saw three men get married. Of course, activists are not stopping there. Marriage contracts (i.e., five-year marriage arrangements), throuples (three-people marriages), quartets (four-people marriages), as well as polygamy (one man with multiple wives), polyamory (multiple bisexual partners), pedophilia (adult/child sexual relationships) and bestiality (human and animal sexual relationships) are now also being put on the discussion table.

Indiana Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith has been under fire for calling attention to the ideology of Islam. It's perplexing to see the Left defending Islam and a little disappointing not seeing more folks defending him, especially when we have so much evidence as to the problem. Sharia Law is a most dangerous thing, and it now predominates in many places in the Western world. Islam advances through intimidation. What's darkly humorous is that Islam actually teaches and puts into practice the very things that the Left falsely accuses evangelicals of promoting.

Nuclear Family Month? That was controversial? Maybe we could extend it out to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins nearby. But it's hardly a religious thing. In a world of artificial sweeteners, toxic preservatives, and questionable additives, the nuclear family is the most natural thing in the world. To be sure, many families are broken. And we work together to heal, to make the best of things. If you had to ask what the whole nuclear family thing is all about, it's simply that a kid deserves a mom and dad. And if we want to get even simpler, it generally means that it's a good thing when Dad lives at home with his wife and children.

To call life, marriage, family, manhood, womanhood, religious liberty, and natural law “adiaphora” is to drain that word entirely of its meaning. Adiaphora are matters neither commanded nor forbidden by God. In other words, God did not say you must drive a car. Therefore, how you choose to travel to work is adiaphora.

On July 4th, we are reminded that our temporal liberties are always in service to something bigger. We are reminded that it is a worthy thing to celebrate and even to fight for “the protections and responsibilities of religious liberty;” it is a worthy thing to fight for “equal protection under the law.” But all of those blessings are not enough. For God didn’t create and redeem this world merely so that we might live freely among its sinfulness and brokenness. God didn’t engage the world through the person and work of Jesus merely to make a sinful world a little bit better place. He ushered in a new and eternal kingdom amidst the temporal kingdoms of the world so that all might receive His everlasting kingdom by grace through faith and then live in service to others, both now and forever. Wow!

Surrogacy is on the rise, even accepted and practiced by those who should know better. Father, forgive them; they know not what they do. But we can all learn, can all admit that we have been going in the wrong direction. And so it is with surrogacy, which involves wombs for rent, a practice largely employed by the wealthy, involving women whose bodies are exploited, and whose psyches are often damaged permanently. So also the child: conceived, born, and raised in a state of purposeful disorientation.

We might say that the Obergefell mindset put surrogacy into hyperdrive. Gay married men tend to be financially well off, among the highest earners, at least as an overall average. But then they want children. The problem, at least as they might see it, remains that a child comes only from the union of one man and one woman. So, surrogacy is the answer. The questions then become, “Where do you get the eggs to go with the sperm? And whose womb will bear the child?”

What Päivi Räsänen . . . has gone through is more than almost all of us could endure, and she has done it with faithfulness and good cheer. Her crime? Speaking the truth about God's good creation, male and female. And she has spoken because she loves our heavenly Father and knows Jesus, the Bridegroom, as her Lord.

The trials have been farcical. Judges have shown themselves injudicious, and the press has egged them on. On what charges? If this doesn't stick, try something else. Everything she has said is dissected, misrepresented. Of what is she guilty? That matters not nearly as much as the fact that she must be found guilty, because she says things that are true, things that the secular elites would rather not hear. She has challenged their dogma. So it has always been. Say that Jesus is an insurrectionist, if we can make the charge stick. Say that Jesus is an enemy of Caesar, even if it ends up meaning that those who are said to be the leaders of Israel cry out, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Late in 1821, Rev. Frederick Schaeffer presided over the cornerstone laying of a new building for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew* in New York City. Afterward, he sent his homily to James Madison, the “Father of the U.S. Constitution,” and chief author of the Bill of Rights.

Pastor Schaeffer’s address was rather strongly Lutheran, in spite of the general weakness of American Lutheranism prior to 1840. Madison replied:

Montpellier, Dec. 3rd ,1821

      Revd Sir,–I have received, with your letter of November 19th, the copy of your address at the ceremonial of laying the corner-stone of St Matthew’s Church in New York.

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Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys recently filed a lawsuit  “on behalf of two Michigan pro-life organizations that are challenging a state law that forces them to recruit and hire individuals who oppose their fundamental beliefs and mission.” Learn more about the case and why it matters here.

So I see, here and there, Christians speaking about persecution and how we should expect it, how we should not be surprised or thrown off our game. But really, that is for the persecuted to say, not for the onlooker. Peter may be beaten and rejoice that he has been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ, but that is for him to say. The question for us is whether we will stand by the one persecuted, whether we will take up their cause, whether we are willing also to have our names and reputations dragged through the dirt.

Paivi is indeed a cheerful warrior. She has kept a smile on her face, even as she has run through the gauntlet. But think of it. She has spent twenty years being dragged in by the police, being forced to sit accused in a courtroom. I think more locally, to faithful Barronelle Stutzman the flower designer, to Jack Phillips the cake decorator, or Indiana's John Kluge. They had precious few friends along the way and a lot more people who would say, "Prayers ascend," or opine on Christian suffering. But suffering is always ok if it is someone else who is facing trouble for a belief that we should be speaking and living out in our own lives.

Always on trial. Can't believe he said that. Who is he to tell me? St. Paul was long ago thrown under the bus. Critical scholars try to turn Jesus into something He's not. An old friend, claiming to be Christian, rails at, I kid you not, the virgin birth. Something about men controlling women's bodies. Some charges are just lies, turning Christ into a revolutionary, one who seeks to topple Caesar or destroy the temple. Claims of resurrection are strong, but usually avoided as inconvenient.

 Religious leaders put Christ on trial for getting in their way, stealing their thunder, threatening their grip on the purse strings of the parishioners. But the mob we will always have with us. Crucify Him, crucify Him! But why? Because of His claim to be Lord. If Jesus is Lord, then I am not. I have to do what He says. Harrumph! So I embrace rainbow pride, though it was the Lord who put the rainbow up in the sky in the first place. Who wants a mansion in the sky when I can make a lot of money now? So one leaves his family? The heart wants what the heart wants. But He dies for your sins. Who are you to tell me I am a sinner? I don't need your saving.

My new book, What Really Matters: Restoring a Legacy of Faith, Freedom, and Family, is a collection of columns I have written over the past several years calling on Americans to return to these core values that will bring about cultural and political renewal.

So many of our current problems have come about because of our abandonment of the values of faith, family, and freedom, but we still have hope, even during the darkest times, if we remain faithful as Christians and citizens to be salt and light in our culture. That is why I wrote these columns and compiled them together with assistance from my friend Craig Osten, in this book.

My inbox regularly scolds me that pastors should keep their noses out of “politics.” For some of my fans, this weekly column only raises their eyebrows. For others, it ceaselessly raises their ire.

I’m usually too busy giving my opinion to bother with self-justifications. But there is something so foundational that it should be discussed from time to time. Sadly, although it grounds everything that we say and do, it is almost forgotten.