Why do The Little Sisters of the Poor Exist

Who are The Little Sisters of the Poor? What is their mission? And why is the Obama administration and federal judicial system hell bent on shutting them down?

The Little Sisters of the Poor was founded to cultivate a culture of life. The sisters pour their hearts out to women who find themselves in what could otherwise seem to be impossible situations -- alone, pregnant, often beset by the many stresses of life, with the world telling them to end the life of their child. The sisters love these mothers and give them the support they need to embrace their lives and the budding lives of their children. The sisters also care for those who have been hurt by a culture of death.

Christians leaders often talk about people on the peripheries in a throwaway society. We cast aside people who seem to be without value. If the poor are even on our radar at all, it may be as a statistic or unfortunate collateral damage in a news story. Caught up in headlines about Obamacare politics, to stop for a moment and consider who the sisters are, what they do and why they do it could be a great consolation and boost for our society at a time when people are despairing and doubling down on chaos or anger. We need to know that such people as the Little Sisters of the Poor exist. They help us see joy.

None of The Little Sisters of the Poor are what the world might traditionally think of when it thinks of mothers. And yet, they are exactly the mothers we need -- at a moment when so much seems impossible. At a moment where the future is unclear. When one looks into the eyes, they see love again. They see hope again. In the smile of someone who didn't have to care for you, to even give a moment's thought to you. To look into the eyes and see someone love your child -- this is the start of a reawakening. Yet our federal government pursues and persecutes them for nothing more than The Little Sisters of the Poor standing ground for reasons of faith and love. Has not our political leadership lost its bearings? Let me see, one group saves lives, the other authorizes, through legislation infanticide. Which is morally conscionable, the group that saves lives or the entity that snuffs them out?  Which group or entity stands on higher ground?

A Celebratory Weekend Indeed

Beginning today, this Friday, as American families draw together in worship, we join with millions of others around the world also celebrating the traditions of their denominational and religious faiths. During these days, at least, regardless of nationality, religion, or ethnicity, we are united by faith in God, and the barriers between us seem less significant.

Observing the rites of Passover and Easter, we are linked in time to the origins of our values and to the yet to be born generations who will celebrate them long after we are departed. As Paul explained in his Epistle to the Ephesians, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. So then you were no longer strangers and aliens, but were fellow citizens of God’s household.”

This is the time of hope and peace when spirits are filled and lifted. It’s a time when we give thanks for our blessings—chief among them, freedom, amity, and the promise of eternal life.

This week Jewish families and friends have been celebrating Passover, rich in symbolism and meaning. Its observance reminds us all that struggle for freedom and the battle against oppression waged by Jews since ancient times is one shared by people everywhere. And Christians have been commemorating the last momentous days leading to the crucifixion of Jesus 1952 years ago. Tomorrow as morning spreads around the planet, we’ll celebrate the triumph over death, he Resurrection of Jesus. Both observances tell of sacrifice and pain. But also hope and victory.

Take a look at the world around us. Do we still find human pain and suffering? Certainly we do. But we also see it answered with individual courage and faith.

The generation of Americans now growing up in schools across our country can make sure the United States will remain a force for good, the champion of peace and freedom, as their parents and grandparents before them have done. And if we live our lives and dedicate our nation to truth, to love, and to God, we will be a part of something much more enduring than any negative or satanic power here on earth. That is why this Easter weekend is a celebration and why there is hope for us all. Christ in us, the hope of Glory.

Is the World in Jeopardy

Is the world in jeopardy of imploding? While the United States is focused on its own politics, the world is unraveling. The danger signals are everywhere. Beheadings, rapes, murders, bombings are taking place every day across North Africa through the Middle East, all the way to Europe. The U.S. military is deploying fighter aircraft to Finland to counter Russia’s moves in that region; China is deploying missiles on an artificial island they have built in the south China sea over the objections of the international community; and North Korea has successfully test fired long-range missiles that have the potential of eventually reaching America with a nuclear bomb. There’s a global epidemic of political and economic instability. All you have to do is look at the headlines and realize that the only hope for the world in which we live is Almighty God. It is imperative that we remember to pray for all “those in authority” as God has commanded in His Word (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

One day He is going to wipe the slate clean and “create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Isaiah 65:17). For those who have trusted His Son Jesus Christ by faith, there is an eternal future with Him to look forward to.

Jesus left us words of reassurance and hope, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

The Voters, Remember Them

To the extent it's still standing after “Super Tuesday”, and the latest primaries, the Stop Trump movement is comforting itself with the world's biggest lie: that John Kasich (or Mitt Romney) is the embodiment of the Republican Party, while Donald Trump is the bastard stepchild. I contend it is precisely the contrary.

It is no longer a question of what the party wants. The voters -- remember them? -- keep showering Trump and Cruz with favorable percentages. The combined vote for Trump and Cruz is a ringing chorus of what this party wants: a wall, deportation, less immigration, a strong military and no job-killing trade deals. In other words, what the party wants is the diametric opposite of what the benefactor and consultant class wants. One would have to search the history books to find a party establishment so categorically overruled by the voters as today's Republican Party has been.

Trump and Cruz don't agree on everything -- Cruz is more interventionist on foreign policy, and Trump is more aggressive on bringing manufacturing home. But there's not much daylight between them on the crucial issue of whether to dissolve America's borders. By now, they both say build a wall, reduce immigration and protect American jobs. More appropriately, Trump and Cruz have totally rejected the establishment position on immigration. God forbid the party respond to its core constituencies!

Only Ted Cruz was smart enough -- or disliked the Republican establishment enough -- to adopt Trump's pro-American immigration policies. Now the only question for voters is, which one is more electable: an articulate son of a preacher man, or a brash alpha male billionaire?

They've crushed the rest of the field -- winning large majorities of Hispanics along the way, incidentally. Between them, Trump and Cruz have won 77 percent of the delegates (1,067). The donor-approved, mass immigration advocates, John Kasich and the now departed Marco Rubio, have 23 percent (313). You doubt the figures? You do the math.

Gov. John Kasich is awful on immigration and is so unexciting. Think hard, can you remember anything he says? Did Kasich not say, he opposes deporting illegal aliens because that's not "the kind of values that we believe in?" OK! I do remember him saying that. I also remember him saying that illegals are "made in the image of the Lord," which would require America to admit everyone in the world -- provided they can pass the thorough background check of being human.

For those of us who support either Cruz or Trump the last laugh is not on us. It is on the establishment. Did not the establishment want our votes? But then, did the establishment not ignore us? They lied to us about opposing amnesty while repeatedly conspiring to pass it. Now we're going into the presidential election with 80 percent resounding will of the people against immigration. I'm not sure someone who is more preacher than president is the most electable expression of that will, but whether Trump or Cruz, make no mistake about what the will is.

How Does it End if Left Unchecked

Left unchecked, anger is as destructive to a nation as it is to individual souls, always beginning with fear and ending with hate.

As hard as this is for me to write on this fine Tuesday and Wednesday, when I'd rather be outside doing something else, I must get something off my chest after witnessing the shut-down of a political rally and the disrupting of others. How do I, how do we make sense of this?

How do we make sense of Americans physically attacking each other, and friends, to include Facebook friends, and family members turning against one another, in the name of politics? Is it not almost impossible to get to the root of the conundrum if we spend all our time reproaching others? Does it not seem that we would be better served by reflecting on what's happening inside our own heart? I did. And as a result, I discovered something about myself I did not much like.

Like so many Americans, I've been angry about what's happened to this nation that I spent a military career protecting and one I love, which has deteriorated to the point she's no longer recognizable. Rather than praying for those responsible for the chaos, I allowed my ire to metastasize nearly to the point of aversion. When I realized how far I'd wander away, I lifted prayers for forgiveness.

If we proceed past what the Bible describes as "righteous anger" or “righteous indignation” -- when we cross the line from "hating the sin but loving the sinner" to hating the sinner – have we not journeyed to the dark side, whether we like it or not? That's why some rely on riotous behavior in order to silence free speech, or others have little or no difficulty smacking one upside of the head with whom they disagree. Are Americans angry? Yes, we are angry.

Did we not seven and a half years ago, watch Barack Obama rise to power on a wave of resentment over war weariness and an economic crisis that spread over America like Hurricane Katrina? People blindly followed their proverbial knight in shining armor bearing glad tidings of hope and change, defending him at any cost, despite warnings from very concerned commentators and more recently, bloggers like me.

Today, we're witnessing a comparable scenario increased exponentially, now that the wrath level's been raised to fever pitch. Formerly "just angry" people are outraged -- while those on the other side of the aisle are correspondingly roused at GOP politicians and their aborted assurances to stop the out of control train set in motion by the left's phony agent of hope.

How does this end? On one side we have an extremely divisive president who once told supporters to "take guns to knife fights," and defines political opponents as "enemies." On the other side we have the GOP likely victor who has encouraged supporters to punch protestors (as a “self-protection” measure) and send them out of rallies on “stretchers.”

Conservatives, Trump is not the Adversary

Many of my friends, to include Facebook friends are opposed to Trump’s presidential candidacy. Their arguments are sound, and don’t look to me to argue that they should vote for a former Demo-donating, ill-mannered fabricator with CCD (Consistency Deficit Disorder) other than to say I will if he’s the nominee because he’s better than the malevolent progressives from the evil Democratic empire. But his National Socialist rhetoric must be toned down. If you really think a substantial portion of the conservative-leaning segment of the American people are active fascists, then you might as well take your ball and go home—Game over. And I refuse to lower myself to despondency when a guy wearing a ball cap who probably got shot at in Fallujah or Afghanistan thumps some semi-illiterate reprobate skulk who wittingly crashes a Trump rally to set fire to Old Glory.

Let’s be clear, conservatives: During this race, Trump supporters are our rivals. But always and forever, the leftist lowlifes of Occupy.org, BLM, MoveOn and their leaders like Bill Ayers, and George Soros are our adversaries, and if it’s a choice between the two I’ll side with the team that at least is not repulsed by conservativism, American exceptionalism and the “American Dream.” No prevarication. No reluctance. No qualms.

This nonsense in Chicago was a preview; to the extent Rubio, Cruz and Kasich hinted that somehow Trump himself was even partially responsible for an organized mass of leftist goons shutting down his speech they were at a minimum wrong and possibly strategically confused in thinking they can ride the progressive tiger for a bit until it eats Trump. If the left wants to rumble in the jungle, then we need to say “Let’s go,” not “Use your words.”

Do Progressive Rights Supercede Other's Rights

What was on display at the recent Chicago Trump rally was anti-American. It is also the new American left. That lawless rabble in Chicago is progressive, and I contend the petri dish from which this modern progressive rabble springs is, for the most part, our college campuses.

Young people are being taught they have a right not to hear anything they disagree with and that this right supersedes someone else’s right to say it. Yet these fragile shells of people, these soft-boiled eggs, feel compelled to go beyond not attending an event to stopping the event from happening in the first place. As if their tenured-teacher-implanted “safe space” is a fragile black hole, sucking up words whether they’re said directly to them or simply nearby.  

A Sad Day for The "Queen City"

A sad day indeed for the “Queen City.” Shame on Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the city council members who voted to support an ordinance that allows people to use the public restrooms of their choice, not based on their biological sex. Has not this recently passed ordinance thrown privacy into the privy?

Regardless of party affiliation, I find it to be inconceivable that Charlotte’s mayor and the council members would acquiesce or willingly succumbed to the pressures from aberrant sexual militants and are willing to put females, young and old at risk.

Are people just not thinking clearly? Does this ordinance not allow pedophiles, perverts and sexual marauders into women’s bathrooms? Is this not iniquitous and lecherous? To think that anyone’s granddaughters could go into a restroom and a man be in there exposing himself not set off mental alarm bells? What are we setting our children and grandchildren up for? There’s not a public restroom in Charlotte that would be safe. For that matter, the same goes for any municipality that has adopted or will adopt a similar policy as Charlotte has. The point is, this type ordinance creates major public safety issues by putting citizens in possible danger from deviant actions by individuals taking improper advantage of a bad policy.

It Comes Down to Power

Did you watch last week’s Republican “debate” (and I use the term loosely)? Did you hear the responses from the candidates for the highest office in the land? Were these men not supposed to be debating plans for the future of America? I must confess I was somewhat dismayed by the discourteous interruptions, smart ass retorts (pardon the phrase) and accusations and even offensive references. The “debate” left me wondering what on earth I was witnessing and why anyone would spend time in front of a television watching this circus. It was indeed an egregious display. As I reflected on it, I was reminded why the “debate” was, as it was. It comes down to power both the usurpation of and abdication of same.

The current set of problems in America exists primarily from the usurpation of power at the national level because of the abdication of personal responsibility at the local level. We are experiencing massive changes within our society and the societal traditions or mores on which the American republic rests. The substantial changes have transpired because we (the public) have allowed it. This being the case, and I assert it is, we must learn what that means, how to survive it and that traditional values can still be taught in an unfriendly and anti-morality society. A free society without moral ground work cannot continue to survive, but will, in fact, as with any structure that lacks foundational support, implode. Take a walk down history's memory lane and see  how ancient Greece or Rome fared?

America, The Church and A Slippery Slope

America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, by moral leaders, many of whom were strong Christians themselves. The first settlers were committed Christians seeking refuge from religious persecution abroad. In the last hundred years, America has been on a slippery slope, moving away from its founding principles, and in large part with little resistance from the Church. Is it a time for action? If so, is there a simple underlying message? For Christians, Jesus Christ should be the foundation of the lives they build and they should be active in making a difference in the world around them. In practical terms, that means we should strive for a free society that respects each of God’s children; we should embrace the Judeo-Christian values of love, joy, and peace; and we should seek a relationship with the living God. It means people of faith should actively participate in the political process in order to combat the debilitating and deceptive progressive mantra that there should be a separation of church and state.