Who defines what is? It’s a strange question. Most people would struggle to even grasp the question at first. The point is reality. Who defines it? The Founding Fathers had a beautiful way of describing things that are “self-evident.” All men are created equal. Says who?
Reality says—truth. But the truth is under assault in our day and age. The Founders embraced a Judeo-Christian worldview precisely because it best describes (helps explain) the reality of the human heart and experience. It is self-evident that babies are born male or female. We can observe it and know that it is true. When we look at Scripture, we get insight into that observable reality. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
Science, of course, confirms it, as science is based on scientific observations. Our biological makeup, physical, chemical, and psychological, bears witness to that reality. As scientific advancement gives us more information about DNA and XY chromosomes, we only gain more evidence of what is a well-established fact.
But from the beginning, the garden’s serpent came to question what was. “Did God actually say?” was its attack then. It still is today. We must realize that this is the battle, in politics, the culture, the church, within your very soul! We either hold on to reality or succumb to the enemy’s manipulations.
Redefining reality does not change it. A man is not a woman because he believes he is a woman. He does not become a woman if everyone else around him goes along with it. He and those going along with it are living a lie and lies will always conflict with reality. You may believe you are the man of steel, but you step in front of a bullet at your peril…
Click here to read the rest of Mario’s exclusive Substack column. And be sure to subscribe below to never miss one of his posts again!
Words fail to express the sorrow
Of the Body of Christ here in America
As we consider the fate
Of our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan.
The images are just heartbreaking.
The stories, agonizing.
We grieve for those in such perilous situations
Wondering what awaits their families.
Help! Lord.
We humbly ask for Your guidance
For our leaders and those with the
Power and means to come to their aid.
We consider, and plead especially,
For the women and children who are
Specifically targeted by the evil rule
Of the Taliban. Rise against it, Lord.
Stretch out Your mighty hand
And show Your awesome power
For all the world to see that
You are God!
Frustrate the enemy’s plans at every turn.
Let those uncommitted to freedom and liberty
Among our leaders in Washington be exposed,
Let them be removed from their posts.
Let the righteous rule again
That the people may rejoice,
As Your Word says, Lord.
And strengthen the knees of Your Church.
Give us faith to engage the spiritual fight
We so often overlook.
Give us spiritual eyes and help us
To pray fervently in the power of the Spirit.
Hear the plight of those who,
In their distress, cry out to You.
Deliver them and protect them.
Let Your wisdom increase in Afghanistan.
May the threat of persecution
Be a catalyst for Your Word to flourish,
For Your church to do as our Lord and Savior did,
To give our very lives for love.
Teach us to love, Father.
Teach us to have compassion—
To be moved as Jesus when He saw the crowds,
And give us the faith to multiply the loaves and the fish.
For what is impossible with men,
It is possible with God.
We know this to be true, Lord,
And we declare it anew.
We believe.
We believe in You, our Father.
We believe in Your Son, Jesus, in whose name we pray.
We believe in Your Holy Spirit, through whom we pray.
You will find one of the most stunning mysteries of life in John 1:14. Καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, in the original Greek, the Apostle John reveals to us in the most beautiful language that, “The Word,” the Logos, “became flesh.” He is speaking of Christ, of course, but as the Logos? Yes.
God spoke, and it was created (Genesis 1). What else would He speak but “logos.” After creating man, God could have related to us in any number of ways, but again He chooses the word—the logos. Rational thoughts and ideas, blessings and warnings, come to us through words with specific meanings. Yes, even in the beginning, it was understood.
The fall of man comes through the serpent’s word games. “Did God really say?” it asked Eve (Genesis 3:1). God communicates His covenant through words. He gave us prophets to announce and pray, yes, with words.
Even after Christ, Christians are to herald the good news (the Gospel) by using the miracle of God’s Word (the Bible) to tell the story of redemption. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” asked the Apostle Paul (Romans 10:14).
Looking at all this, one might begin to think that words (the logos) matter.
Which brings us to the problem of this present age…
Click here to read the rest of Mario’s exclusive Substack column. And be sure to subscribe below to never miss one of his posts again!
Catholic Social Services (CSS) has been serving the underprivileged children of Philadelphia for over two centuries. The organization serves children through adoption and foster care services as an outpouring of the love embodied in the tenets of the Christian faith.
This is a problem for the Left.
Today’s secular humanist Left is adamant about crushing dissenting views. All people and organizations that refuse to publicly affirm support for LGBTQIA+ desires must be “canceled”—ostracized, isolated, punished, re-educated. Christians, in particular, are a nuisance. They continue to believe in Creation as told in Scripture. They believe every person has intrinsic value as created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). That’s why they just will not shut up about the injustice of abortion.
Christians insist that God created us male and female (Genesis 1:27, Matthew 19:4) and that God instituted marriage and the family as a foundational institution (Genesis 2:24) that reflects the most sacred relationship between Christ and His Bride, the Church (Ephesians 5:31,32). They dare to promote that children honor both their mother and father (Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:2). They insist on loving God above all and neighbors as themselves (Mark 12:30,31). They even believe their help of the poor is akin to serving Christ himself (Matthew 25:40).
This is intolerable. Well, it’s been tolerable for 200 years, but no more. When the Liberal Elites got wind (through a newspaper report) that CSS would not certify same-sex couples to be foster parents due to its religious convictions, they decided to kick them off the state’s programs designed to help needy children. …
Click here to read the rest of Mario’s exclusive Substack column. And be sure to subscribe below to never miss one of his posts again!
In our distress we cry out to You, Lord,
For You hear our prayers.
We stand at the door and knock,
Confident that You will open.
Not to excuse our unfaithfulness,
But to receive us in Your grace
Upon the confession of our sin,
Bidding us to turn from our wicked ways.
We extol You for your goodness and patience.
Our hearts burst with the songs of thanksgiving!
Give us understanding, Father, give us wisdom,
According to Your Word, generously and without reproach.
Restore in us the spiritual tastebuds that
Appreciate the sweetness of Your statutes.
All Your commandments are righteous and good.
They bring life. Peace and joy are its fruit.
May Your hand become our help and rest,
We choose to trust in You, instead of our frantic work.
Help our fellow countryman to value Your ways,
Grant us to see, collectively, that there is no other way.
That Your Law may be our delight is our plight.
For we all as sheep have gone astray;
We know we have lost our way,
And turn to You, Good Shepherd, to guide us again.
Your ways alone are just.
We pray against those who promise
The sort of justice that enslaves,
We pray their self-aggrandizing schemes fail.
We pray for those who get caught up in their ways.
Have mercy, O God, and help us to be there,
Once the deceivers find no use for them and abandons them,
Let Your body delight in that restorative work.
For we are not without hope.
None are beyond Your Love, O God.
There is power in Your Word,
There is power in the blood.
You’ve done it in our lives,
Throughout the ages You have been glorified.
Continue Your work, LORD, in our land.
Glory to God, now and forevermore!
It was supposed to be President Joe Biden’s big night as he delivered his first address to Congress last night, but it was Sen. Tim Scott who delivered light through his hope-filled response. If you did not get a chance to hear it, I urge you to take a moment.
This is the message the country needs at this moment.
We are not adversaries. We are family! We are all in this together. And we get to live in the greatest country on Earth. The country where my grandfather, in his 94 years, saw his family go from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.
So I am more than hopeful — I am confident — that our finest hour is yet to come.
Original sin is never the end of the story. Not in our souls, and not for our nation. The real story is always redemption.
Amen! That is the truth. While President Biden continued to lean in on our divisions, to strengthen his political position further, Sen. Scott focused on our blessings, even ending by proclaiming one over our nation:
I am standing here because my mom has prayed me through some very tough times. I believe our nation has succeeded the same way. Because generations of Americans, in their own ways, have asked for grace — and God has supplied it.
So, I will close with a word from a worship song that helped me through this past year. The music is new, but the words draw from Scripture.
[May] the Lord bless you and keep you,
Make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you.
May His presence go before you,
And behind you, and beside you.
In your weeping and rejoicing,
He is with you.
May His favor be upon [our nation] for a thousand generations
And your family … and your children …
And their children.
It was a stark contrast. While President Biden continued to malign those who disagreed with him, even continuing his pernicious mischaracterization of conservatives’ election integrity efforts, Sen. Scott tackled the issue with dignity and sincerity.
A hundred years ago, kids in classrooms were taught the color of their skin was their most important characteristic — and if they looked a certain way, they were inferior.
Today, kids again are being taught that the color of their skin defines them — and if they look a certain way, they’re an oppressor. From colleges to corporations to our culture, people are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven’t made any progress. By doubling down on the divisions we’ve worked so hard to heal.
You know this stuff is wrong. Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country.
It’s backwards to fight discrimination with different discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present.
I’m an African American who has voted in the South all my life. I take voting rights personally. Republicans support making it easier to vote and harder to cheat. And so do voters! Big majorities of Americans support early voting, and big majorities support Voter I.D. — including African Americans and Hispanics. Common sense makes common ground.
But today, this conversation has collapsed. The state of Georgia passed a law that expands early voting; preserves no-excuse mail-in voting; and, despite what the President claimed, did not reduce Election Day hours.
If you actually read this law, it’s mainstream. It will be easier to vote early in Georgia than in Democrat-run New York. But the left doesn’t want you to know that. They want people to virtue-signal by yelling about a law they haven’t even read.
Fact-checkers have called out the White House for misstatements. The President absurdly claims this is worse than Jim Crow. What is going on here?
I’ll tell you. A Washington power grab.
This misplaced outrage is supposed to justify Democrats’ sweeping bill that would take over elections for all 50 states; send public funds to political campaigns you disagree with and make the bipartisan Federal Elections Commission partisan!
This is not about civil rights or our racial past. It’s about rigging elections in the future.
Sen. Scott also called liberals out, including the President, for their reckless and untruthful characterization of the filibuster.
And, no — the same filibuster that President Obama and President Biden praised when they were Senators, that Democrats used just last year, has not suddenly become a racist relic just because the shoe is on the other foot.
Race is not a political weapon to settle every issue the way one side wants.
It’s too important.
His focus was on common ground and common sense. And he exposed how the liberals’ increasing radicalism on issues that should unite us is hurting our country.
The President is abandoning principles he held for decades. Now, he says your tax dollars should fund abortions. He’s laying groundwork to pack the Supreme Court.
This is not common ground.
Indeed.
On issue after issue, he showed that common sense and common ground should be possible. Yet, it is continually being rejected by a hyper partisan Administration that seems to believe the national divide benefits them. His words on education were yet another inspiring example.
Locking vulnerable kids out of the classroom is locking adults out of their future.
Our public schools should have reopened months ago. Other countries did.
Private and religious schools did. Science has shown for months that schools are safe. But too often, powerful grown-ups set science aside. And kids like me were left behind.
The clearest case for school choice in our lifetimes.
I conclude by asking you to pray for Sen. Scott. There is no question he stole the spotlight and delivered the message the country deserved today. And you can bet that the left will hate him for it. Let us pray that his light may only increase in the months and years ahead.
Lord, we cry out to You in our trouble,
To You alone we cry out.
For You hear us in our distress
And You come to our aid time and again.
With love and discipline, You guide Your church
To the place You have set out for us.
You lead us through a straight and narrow way,
To the place You have ordained our dwelling place.
We pray for our country, we plead for America.
We have lost our way; forgive us, Lord.
Help us repent and turn to You again,
Teach us to love one another with sincere hearts.
We give You praise and sing the song of thanksgiving
For Your steadfast love and Your wondrous works among men.
You alone satisfy our souls; You alone can quench our thirst.
Teach us to eat Your Word to be filled and satisfied.
We ask for those in need among us.
Be near the poor and humble, bring Your consolation.
Be present to those in prison, be their guide and salvation.
Be a consolation to those who mourn in this hour.
We pray against those who plan evil against Your people.
We pray their plans will crumble upon them,
May their schemes never prosper, but be exposed instead,
And in their distress, humble them to come to their Damascus Road.
For we know, Omnipotent, Sovereign Lord,
You have the power to turn all things,
To change the heart of man.
The hardest of hearts is no match for Your Love.
You can mend, forgive, restore and heal.
Yet, we know You can also wound and crush
Those who reject Your merciful grace;
With fear and trembling, we ask You these things Father.
Turn the heart of our leaders to the peace of Your people.
May Your miracles stop the lawlessness we are experiencing.
Tune our hearts to the songs of thanksgiving again.
Let Your light shine in the darkness of our days.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
—
Click here for more prayers from our “For America” Prayer Journal.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name forever.
With thankful hearts, we behold
Your awesome works from the beginning.
You are Faithful and True
Still moving in the midst of Your people.
Help us fret not for evildoers.
They are like grass withering away.
But Your Word stands forever.
We delight in Your counsel and Your statutes,
We crave to know You more and more,
To increase in faith and trust; this is our goal.
Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ
To be our Savior—to show us the way of salvation.
His example is our encouragement and aim,
Oh, to be more like Him, each and every day.
We stand in the great promises of Scripture.
We delight ourselves in You Lord,
Knowing You will give us the desires of our heart.
Give us righteous desires Abba, Father.
For often we seek after the wrong things
Thinking they will somehow fill the hole in our hearts,
When we know it is a God-shaped hole we bear,
And only living water will ease our thirst.
Lord, we pray for the assault on sexuality
The enemy is leveling against our world.
We pray against the increasing gender confusion,
Against the identity crisis he seeks to create in Your creation.
But our identity is found in Christ,
Let that healing lesson spread among those who hurt today.
Our hearts break for them; do not let the enemy get away
With his schemes to establish a lie as a foundational truth in their lives.
Let the truth that You are our Creator shine ever so brightly.
May we commit our ways to You, Lord,
For we know You will act. And You are good!
You are God.
In the name of Jesus, we pray,
Amen.
—
Click here for more prayers from our “For America” Prayer Journal.
Dear Reader: Like the quality of the work we do? Donate now to keep the information flowing!
Oh God, our refuge,
We give thanks to You
For Your protection and blessing
Over our land and our people.
You have been our bulwark,
Our shelter and hope.
Let the nations look and marvel
At Your lovingkindness.
You have been patient at every turn,
So, we accept and affirm Your loving correction.
Let our hearts be heavy for the suffering
Among our people—fill us with compassion.
May our hearts break
For the sins we have committed.
Against You we have committed them,
And we repent with contrite hearts.
We stand on Your grace,
In You alone we trust.
Help us to return once more
To Truth, to what is good, to Love.
Restore Your church in America!
Help us as Your bride,
To await Your coming with great expectation—
With great joy and peace. Help us be ready!
We are not.
We have become distracted
With the things of this world.
Help, Lord. Help!
For You reign from eternity to eternity;
How great are Your ways;
How unscrupulous and awesome!
Help us to see—open the eyes of our hearts and spirits.
Help us be light in all that we do,
Help us love You above all,
And help us to love each other more and more
So the world may know we are Yours.
In Christ, we pray these things,
Amen.
—
Click here for more prayers from our “For America” Prayer Journal.
Oh Lord, my God,
We have heard of Your mighty deeds of old.
How You parted the Red Sea, closed the mouths of lions;
How You send fire from heaven and won mighty battles.
We know of Your great name,
We know that trust in human strength or intellect is foolish.
We know we do not save ourselves,
Just like we did not create ourselves.
Victory is commanded by You,
Carried out by Your servants—the seen and unseen.
It is in Your name and to Your glory that history is written.
In You we boast all day.
But You lovingly allow Your judgment to reach us, too.
You let shame do its repentant work in us,
And allow us to discover the pain and solitude
Of trusting in the things of this world.
Forgive us, Oh Lord,
And be quick to come to our aid.
Restore the joy of our salvation in our hearts.
Restore the pursuit of righteousness in our land.
Help us to thirst for justice and peace,
For goodness and beauty, for what is noble and true.
Help us to seek after holiness.
Revive our churches and our communities.
We will not turn our backs on You,
We stand in Your covenant love for us.
You have broken us, and we say only, “amen.”
Thy will be done, Oh God.
You know the state of our hearts,
You know how the world hates us,
As they hated You, just as You said they would,
We are pressed on every side.
But You have promised to never leave us or forsake us.
In this we trust, arise Lord and show Your deeds again.
Let those who stand against You cower in fear.
Arise and help your people. Redeem us, for Your mercies’ sake.
Amen.
—
Click here for more prayers from our “For America” Prayer Journal.
We have joy only in Your strength, Father God.
Attend to our cry for help!
You Who heard Hagar in the Wilderness of Beersheba,
Hear us in our hour of need through this national, spiritual desert.
Restore the joy of our salvation
And guide us in Your ways.
In Your salvation there is a fountain of peace,
Let us drink and be satisfied.
You have been so good to us, Lord,
Forgive our ingratitude.
We are aware of our shortcomings,
And delight in Your grace towards us.
Blessings upon blessings we have received from the Holy One—
Mercy upon mercy, forgiveness and renewal.
Your promises have sustained us for many generations,
But we have forgotten; we have taken our eyes away from the crown You set before us.
You gave us life and made us glad in Your presence.
Help us to return to that first love;
Help us remember Your mighty acts of love towards us.
Help us to never forget what You have done.
We are fully aware that it is only through You that we are not moved.
We take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
Protect us from Your wrath through the cross of Jesus Christ,
We know we have sinned; we claim the blood of the Lamb.
Those who plot against You devise plans they are not able to carry out.
You are the Almighty, who can stand against You?
Be exalted, Oh God, reign in our hearts and in our land
Oh, King Eternal— thy will be done.
Amen.
—
Click here for more prayers from our “For America” Prayer Journal.
