Heart of a Friend

Highlights: Evangelicals and Politics (Part 4) The Dangers We Face (Ep. 64)

This is about more than just politics. It’s about what kind of civilization we want for generations to come. One based on rage and cruelty? Or one based on justice, empathy and kindness? 

Commitment to the Republican Party is not an evangelical article of faith. 

These all pose serious threats to the kind of life and civilization we want for future generations.

1. Undermining Western Alliances and Aligning with Authoritarian Regimes

How did Canada become our enemy and Russia our friend?

2. Stunning…Unprecedented Corruption and Self-dealing

The line between an official’s personal interests and the public interest has been erased.

3. Defunding Scientific and Medical Research

If you gut the science, you hurt the country.

4. Trashing a Spectacular National Treasure

The National Park System intended for the enjoyment of every person, rich or poor, is on the chopping block and deteriorating.

5. Undermining Our Election System and the Peaceful Transition of Power

For the mid-terms, the U.S. has just joined the only other two countries who refuse to have outside observers at elections - Belarus and Russia. 

6. Attacks on Journalists, the Press and Other Media

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. (Thomas Jefferson)

7. Weaponization of All Aspects of Our Government

The appointment of loyalists and admirers, often regardless of their qualifications.

8. Continuing Imposition of Tariffs to Punish Countries Arbitrarily

The added cost gets passed on to us!

9. Rejection of the Established Consensus of Scientific and Medical Communities

To reject the progress we’ve made, scientifically and medically, is to begin a fearful return to a very dark time of primitive folk wisdom and ignorance.

10. Unrestrained Growth of Political Control by a Wealthy Few

Our democracy is turning into a plutocracy - government by the wealthy. 

11. Cold-blooded Killing in International Waters

Considered by many experts in international law to be an unconscionable, indefensible, “stone cold war crime!”

12. The War with Iran

Dangerous moral, legal, strategic and fiscal irresponsibility. 

There is another way to lead our country that will not diminish our national status. But lead to a a renewal of respect for America’s leadership, a renewal of our place among the community of free nations who share a common vision for a better and more peaceful world.

Tolerance of serious wrong by leaders, sears the conscience of the culture, spawns unrestrained immorality and lawlessness in the society and surely results in God’s judgment. (Southern Baptist Convention, 1998) 

Highlights - I Was a Stranger…Ep. 63 

In favor of: Fixing our current immigration system, securing our borders, and deporting undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of violent crimes. But the administration has an agenda that goes WAY beyond this. The end game is shutting down almost all immigration and removing as many foreign born residents from this country as possible - “net negative immigration.” 

In 2026, not a single religious minority refugee has been resettled in the U.S.. (World Impact) 

America is great not in spite of, but because of our Golden Door. We foolishly shut it, only at great peril to ourselves and our future. 

Are you ok with: 

The detention and deportation of non-criminal, productive, foreign-born members of our communities who have been here for years? 

Separating families? 

Breaking the law to accomplish “net negative immigration?

Are you ok with the ICE budget and priorities? [ More than expenditures on police/law enforcement by state and local governments in all 50 states and the District of Columbia combined! ] 

Our indignation at undocumented immigrants for breaking the law, is monumentally misplaced!!! If you’re in a twist over law-breaking by immigrants, you need to, at the least, devote equal time to law-breaking by the current administration. 

The crucial point is this. The administration’s immigration policy - “net-negative immigration” - has almost nothing to do with enforcing the law. It’s a pretext - a cloak being used to hide a very different agenda - an ideological agenda. Everything that’s happening with our immigration policies points here. Immigrants who do NOT come from western, European civilizational descent are an existential threat to our county and civilization. 

For the ethnocentric-white nationalist, these policies are “text-book!” You couldn’t write a better playbook for their agenda! 

Our current government is already a long way down the slippery slope of bigotry, racism, and savagery. Those, of any age, who do not look or act like us are fair game - victims of a malevolent…and I have to say, evil ideology! 

This barbaric crusade against the foreign-born needs to stop! 

“Trump ally Stephen Miller leads sweeping push…children. ” The Guardian (Sept. 19, 2026) Page 2 

Highlights: Evangelicals and Politics (Part 2) I Was Hungry and You…??? Episode 62 

Our Government Is Consistently Bringing Harm to the Poor - Both Internationally and in Our Own Country. 

Two Examples: 

I. The Abrupt and Lethal Dismantling of USAID (Beginning in January 2025) 

In 2024 the USAID budget was $21.7 billion dollars. This amounted to a mere 3/10ths of 1% of the federal budget.. So, by dismantling USAID, the amount saved out of the federal budget was almost negligible. But the human cost of these cuts has been incalculable. 

A study forecast that at present rates, the aid defunding will cost and estimated 9.4 million lives by 2030. ( The Lancet ) 

These cuts have been the Trump administration’s most lethal policy to date. 

If USAID had specific problems, shutting the whole agency down instead of addressing the problems is a tremendous overreaction and inhumane. Few American investments, if any, bring such a remarkable return. Shutting it down is callous and represents a tremendous lapse in judgment which ought to call forth bipartisan condemnation. (Kent Hill) 

II. A Methodical Reduction of Programs that Meet the Needs of the Poor in the United States 

a. Cut subsidies for health care premiums under the Affordable Care Act. 

b. Cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over next 10 years. (Starting after the mid-term elections) 

c. Reduction of $1 billion annually for feeding the poor. 

d. Cut funding for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) After only six months at least 1 million children had been affected. 

So if the current system and programs are not working to our satisfaction we should be doing our best - putting in the hard work to fix them. But to simply make draconian cuts and expect people to survive on their own is an inept, lazy and cruel way to go about it. It’s an expression of…Darwinian indifference toward the weak - toward the most vulnerable in our world. 

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they.. did.. not.. help.. the poor.. and needy. (Ezekiel 16:49) 

The world’s richest should not be crushing the world’s poorest. 

Despite the presence of Christians in the administration and Congress…Despite the prayer meetings at the Pentagon…Despite White House visits and endorsements of celebrity pastors…Despite the veneer of religiousity…the policies of this administration tell a different story. It is my conviction that the Christian ideals and morals upon which the best in our country was built are now being significantly undermined. Clear moral and ethical boundaries are being violated. No political party, no political platform, no political leader deserves our unconditional loyalty. As citizens and as followers of Jesus we have a responsibility before God to speak out. 

Highlights: Evangelicals and Politics (Part 1) Episode 61 

In many ways, the word (evangelical) is polarization personified. For some, it’s a rallying cry, a way to quickly situate themselves in social, political and theological space. For others, it’s an epithet. The marriage between the Republican Party and evangelical Christianity may have made the (religious) tradition more attractive…to a subset of the country but is objectionable, if not downright repulsive, to a significant number of Americans.
(The Vanishing Church, Ryan Burge) 

1. Would a declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the U.S. be helpful to the mission of the church? (Christian Nationalism) 

2. Is our exclusive focus on a narrow subset of Christian values an HONEST representation of biblical ethics? (Biblical Values) 

3. Do we lose credibility when we support behavior/policies that contradict our stated beliefs? (Double-Standards) 

Tolerance of serious wrong by leaders, sears the conscience of the culture, spawns unrestrained immorality and lawlessness in the society and surely results in God’s judgment.
(Southern Baptists Convention 1998) 

It’s not so much that the world doesn’t believe what we say we believe, it’s that the world doesn’t believe we believe what we say we believe. 

4. Can we declare war on people and simultaneously hope to win them for the gospel? (Culture War) 

You can’t make disciples of people you demonize publicly and label as enemies of the faith or the state…You can’t hate people and engage them with the gospel at the same time…We should look not for a war to fight, but for feet to wash…
(Not In It to Win It, Andy Stanley) 

5. Are appeals to divine authority an effective way for the church to lead politically in a pluralistic society? (The God Card) 

The case has to be made not simply on the basis of “what the Bible says” because people don’t believe the Bible. The case has to be made on the intrinsic merits of the argument…we can’t just take verses out of Scripture and say, “You have to believe this because…
(Chuck Colson) 

6. Should political compromise be a dirty word or can compromise be a way of building bridges and getting important things done? 

For evangelicalism, “compromise” has become a dirty word, yet, in the world of democratic politics, it’s an absolute necessity. When politicians are incentivized to dig in their heels and not compromise on any issue, just passing a budget becomes a nearly impossible task.
(Ryan Burge) 

Walk toward the messy middle - that’s where problems are solved.
(Andy Stanley) 

7. How should Christians be involved in politics? 

Recognize the serious limitations of government. 

Love our political opponents. 

Respect the fact that well-informed, devout Christ-followers may choose a different party from our own or different sides on an issue. 

Speak out against what is clearly wrong. 

Accept the need for compromise. 

Pay more attention to your own calling. 

Highlights 

Six Things You Can Do That Will Last Forever (Episode 60) 

Confirm the work of our hands…confirm the work of our hands…Give it your approval and make it last. (Psalm 90:17) 

Decide to Follow Jesus What does it profit a person, if they gain the whole world but lose their soul…their eternal soul? (Jesus) 

If individuals live only 70/80 years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But, if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a civilization, compared with his, is only a moment. (C.S. Lewis) 

Be Kind 

Maybe no-one else will remember your good deeds, your acts of kindness/compassion, but Jesus will. And that makes all the difference. 

Complete Your God-given Mission 

Too often, we’re preoccupied trying to imitate some else’s success. Our benchmark for success is a standard that has nothing to do with our own unique assignment. Comparison like this is a graveyard where joy goes to die. 

Practice Extravagant Generosity 

Ironically, in the end, all that we will have left is what we’ve given away. 

Serve Jesus’ Church Forgive Others 

He who cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must travel. (George Herbert) Civilizations will come and go. But he who does the will of God will abide forever. 

The World Without Us, Alan Weisman. 

Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History, John Dickson. 

Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, Tom Holland 

Heart of a Friend - Lord’s Prayer Series (Episode 18) “Set the Prisoner Free” 

Heart of a Friend - Mere Christianity Series (Episode 28) “A Terrible Duty” 

Highlights - Do Miracles Still Happen?
(Episode 59) Finding God in the Psalms - Psalm 90 

What Is the purpose of miracles?
Miracles provide us a glimpse of what it will be like when God’s kingdom comes to earth. They are the signal that the invasion of earth by heaven has begun! A new world order is on the way! As Jesus proclaimed, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” God’s miracles are part of the message. So miracles aren’t random. They have a larger purpose. They are preliminaries/ warm-ups to the grandest miracle of all. 

Weren’t miracles just for Biblical times?
Argument agains Cessationism: First, their viewpoint cannot be successfully supported by a fair reading of the New Testament. Second, it ignores the well documented continuation of miracles throughout church history. And, third, it’s blind to what is clearly happening globally today. Miracles are common-place in most parts of the world where the gospel is advancing. 

Can we really believe all these stories?
If God is the Creator then he’s not necessarily bound by the physics of the universe as defined by us and just because there are some counterfeits doesn't mean we should reject the real thing. 

Why do miracles seem to happen in some places more than others?
1. Our level of faith is a factor. 

2. Miracles most commonly accompany the proclamation of the gospel to unbelievers. 

3. In the affluent west, we don’t pray often enough or desperately enough for miracles. 

Why doesn’t God answer every prayer for a miracle?
1. Level of faith

2. Unconfessed sin 

3. Timing 

4. Wrong diagnosis 

If someone needs a miracle, what should we do?
1. Embrace the role Jesus has given to each of us. 

2. Wait upon God for the power of the Holy Spirit. 

3. Step out in faith 

4. Persevere - Don’t give up! 

We may not individually receive every miracle that we would like, but anyone else’s miracle is also a gift to the rest of us. Any miracle is an encouragement to all of us to trust the future that God has promised, when God will…renew the heavens and the earth…The miracles God does in this world are a foretaste, evidence that gives courage in present suffering and kindles expectation for the consummation of God’s promises. (Miracles Today, Craig Keener) 

Page of 2 2 The Lord still lives today. His power has never abated. HIs Word has never changed. The things he did in Bible days, he still lives to do today…Here, bring your sins, he’ll wash them away. Here, bring your sicknesses, he’ll heal you today. We serve not a dead but a living God. Not the the great “I WAS,” but “The Great I AM.” (Aimee Semple McPherson) 

The House on McCully Street, Gladys Wilson
Miracles Today, Craig Keener
Healing, Francis McNutt 

Highlights: A Happiness Prayer Episode 58 (Ps. 90) 

Is there any hope for happiness that lasts?

Level One: Happiness in the Present Tense 

What are realistic expectations for the present life? A counter-intuitive answer: Happiness is not something we find by looking for it. It’s a by-product of other pursuits. Ultimately, happiness is a by-product of our walk with God. 

Level Two: Happiness in the Future Tense 

The answer to this prayer (Ps. 90) cannot be in the world today as we know it. Gandalf replies: “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path…one that we all must take. The gray rain-curtain of this world rolls back and all changes to silver glass… and then you see it.” “What, Gandalf, see what?” asks Pippin. “White shores…and beyond. The far green country under a swift sunrise.” (Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien)

The widespread belief and practice of the early Christians is only explicable if we assume that they all believed that Jesus was bodily raised, in an Easter event. The reason they believed…is because the tomb was empty and, over a short period thereafter, they encountered Jesus himself, giving every appearance of being bodily alive once more…I regard this conclusion as coming in the category of historical probability so high as to be virtually certain. (The Resurrection of the Son of God, N.T. Wright)

During World War 2, pioneer pain researcher Henry Beecher found that soldiers wounded during the bloody battle at Anzio needed far less morphine than did civilians with similar wounds. The reason, now known as the “Anzio effect,” was that for civilians the wounds were a source of anxiety: for soldiers they meant going home. 

I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage…that in the world’s finale… something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened. (Fyodor Dostoevsky) 

Highlights

Episode 57 | If You Were to Die Tonight...?  

Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. (Psalm 90:13)

Thankfully, we are meant to stand before God not on the basis of our merit but on the basis of his mercy?

If you were to die tonight, and God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into my eternal kingdom?” What would your answer be? Our eternal destiny depends on getting this right. 

The impulse to be better than others runs so deep in us that we are seldom even aware of it. ...the societal pressure to be superior, not to mention our innate longing for it, is powerful...We live in a particularly competitive culture...But this striving for superiority never leads to rest. There are always people who are below us - that feeds our pride. And then there are always people above us, and that feeds our dis-ease with who we ourselves are....We have to keep in mind that the Apostle Paul...pushes against this and develops his whole theology of grace. (Miroslav Volf - The Trinity Forum Conversations Podcast)

If I’m better than most other people, isn’t that good enough?

In our more honest moments, I think we all realize we’re like the moon. We have a dark side. We all have things for which we feel deeply ashamed...regrets...things we’ve done...things we’ve left undone.

The line between good and evil does not pass between states, nor between classes, nor between parties either - but right through every human heart. (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)

Is it fair for God to hold us to such high standards?

If the plan is to create an everlasting paradise that exceeds our wildest dreams - a finale to our sordid history that is so spectacular, so surpassingly wonderful that our words and imagination fall miserably short in any attempt to describe it. If this is the plan, then...all sin/imperfection needs to be abolished...then all that leads to sorrow and death needs to be banished...He will need to “get all the hell out of earth” and “get all the hell out of us. We are destined for more than what we’ve become. And God won’t settle for anything less. Neither should we!

Can’t my good works compensate for my bad ones?

Love is intrinsic to his nature, but so is righteousness and justice.

How can God forgive us and be just at the same time?

The essence of sin is we human beings substitute ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substitutes himself for us. We...put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God...puts himself where we deserve to be. (John Stott, quoted by Tim Keller, The Reason for God) We are freed to live out our glorious and eternal destiny, not by our doing, but by his dying. Not by our merit but by his mercy.

Highlights

A Moment that Changed Everything! (Episode 56)
How to Cope with a Life That’s Too Short - Part 2

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Only when we take into account the full measure of our mortality do we have any chance of taking timely and appropriate action. Denial is our enemy. That’s why the first prayer in the second half of this psalm is a necessary step toward making wiser choices about life.

What is a heart of wisdom? In the light of our inevitable expiration date, here are three choices a wise person makes.

First: Make peace with God.

“Begin with the end in mind.” (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey)

The first step of wisdom is to prepare for eternity. Begin with the end on mind. Make your peace with God through Jesus Christ.

Second: Walk with God NOW in this life.

Do some reverse engineering. Start with the fact that we’re going to meet God some day. Wouldn’t it be best to get to know him now.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It points us to this truth, that wisdom is not a set of propositions, it’s a Person. Spending time with God is the fast track to wisdom.

When the Bible speaks of the “fear of God,” it’s not because God is a peevish, temperamental, unpredictable tyrant who may turn on us at any moment. It’s quite the opposite. It’s a fear grounded in the knowledge that God is consistently good and righteous. And we care enough about our relationship with God that we don’t want to disappoint or betray him. We’re afraid to let him down. That’s what the biblical fear of God is all about.

Third: Be coachable.

God is not passive. If we are walking with God, he’s going to begin teaching us some stuff. If we ask Him, who is the source of all wisdom, he will lead us in the way of wisdom. The only catch is whether or not we’re ready to listen. He will insist on being not just Savior, but Lord - Coach with a capital “C.”

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that really counts.” (John Wooden)

Good declarations to make: I will learn. I will grow. I will change. I will become more than what I am. I will get better. I will admit when I’m wrong. I will be humble and receptive to God’s wisdom. I will be coachable. I will ask more questions. I will learn to listen more than I talk. I will ask for advice. I will be receptive to the “kernel of truth” in every criticism. I will not only be a hearer, but a doer of God’s Word.

Highlights: How to Cope with a Life That’s Too Short

Psalm 90 (Part 1) : Finding God in the Psalms

Two responses to the brevity of life:

Resignation: Learn to accept the brutal reality of a life that’s too short. Admit defeat.

Resistance - Affirm that there IS something wrong with the way things are. Death is a tyrant. An enemy to be defeated.

Our hope (is) finally to emerge from the tyranny (of time), the poverty of time, to ride it not to be ridden by it. We are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. “How he’s grown!” We exclaim, “How time flies!” As though the universal form of our experience were again and again a novelty. It’s as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the wetness of water. And that would be strange indeed; unless, of course, the fish were destined to become, one day, a land animal. (Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis)

Is God really angry?

There is both love and anger, both mercy and judgment throughout the whole Bible.

When we love someone - a parent, spouse, child, friend - and they’re being harmed by someone else, isn’t it normal and healthy for us to feel anger? Why would we apply a different standard to God?

Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God’s wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn’t wrathful at the sight of the world’s evil. God isn’t wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love. (Miroslav Wolf)

God’s anger is not the same as our anger. it’s always at the right thing, at the right time and to the right extent. It’s judicial anger. It’s measured. It’s appropriate. In fact, it’s necessary for the well-being of the world.

But the death sentence we are under is not simply a punishment. It’s actually a mercy. A severe mercy, but a mercy, nonetheless.

1. Death is a natural consequence of sin.
2. Death limits the damage that can be done by human sin.
3. Death sends us a message: Something is horribly wrong.

He whispers to us in our pleasures, he speaks to us through our conscience, but he shouts to us in our pain

4. Death means we can only procrastinate for so long.
5. Death is the door to our eternal home.
6. The cross of Christ is proof of God’s loving purpose.

Whatever game God may be playing with the world...He’s playing by the same rules. (The Problem of Pain, C.S.Lewis)

Life in this world is the mere cover and title page of the great story, which none of us on earth has ever read, which goes on forever and ever and in which every chapter will be better than the one before? (Narnia Chronicles - The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis)