James Madison drafted the formal amendment to adopt these principles, and the addition was finally ratified by the states on March 1, 1792: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's Monday, August 5, 2019, and I appreciate you taking the time to read my musings. I keep up with the professional Santa Claus community through a variety of social media postings and email communications. A lady who books Santa appearances recently had an interesting interaction with a major client. They told her this year they were shooting for a totally agnostic approach to having their Santa Claus program this upcoming season. No mention of anything relating to Christmas being a religious holiday. Only Santas' that can function in that way will be allowed at their locations. She was floored. That was a first for her. It is, after all, named Christ-mas for a reason. My eldest mentioned to me another story and I found it and read it. An organization who has helped hundreds of military folks dealing with PTSD was suddenly blocked by YouTube from posting their videos. It was because one of their keywords was 'Christian'. YouTube said their new policy does not permit targeting one particular religion. The people at the organization changed the keyword from 'Christian' to 'Muslim' and YouTube allowed the video to be posted. YouTube has not responded to this latest situation as of my last check. Facebook blocked the sending of a link to my blog as being outside of their community standards. Folks, there is a war going on. The forces of evil are being marshaled against any and all things pertaining to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You don't have to read fake news accounts to see this. It is real and it is now. Freedom of speech for those who name the name of Jesus is considered to be either hate speech or inappropriate. These are not isolated instances, it is a campaign to keep people in darkness. And, we all know who is behind this. (2nd Corinthians 4, Verse 4: "In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.")

I am not being an alarmist here. I am well aware of some of the hate-mongering types of postings that show up from folks who claim to be God-fearing people. Those who post things like that do not help the cause of Christ. Often, the things they post have no basis in fact. They vilify those thought to be enemies and they do so with horrific cartoons and other outlandish images. Those who post them when challenged respond by saying they did not originate the meme, they just passed it on. I would suggest they should read their Bible concerning God's views on those who pass on unverified, hate-filled information and then claim it wasn't them who authored it. We already know how much the mainstream media slants their reporting in order to help shape opinions. Most believers decry this manipulative use of the airwaves. However, what do we say to those within our own camp who essentially do the very same thing? I've mentioned before if I confront someone about the lack of factual basis for a mean-spirited posting, often they get angry with me. I've even been told it might not be true but it does reflect how things go. Really? What kind of standard is that for believers? Okay. I felt like some balance was in order here and now you know how I see it. For now, I'm still allowed to have an opinion. For now.

It's no wonder folks are tuning out when it comes to these types of issues. Almost any form of escapism seems like a better option. I don't have to guess about that because often it's me too! I quit watching the nightly news broadcasts on mainstream channels some time ago. Too much open bias. Andy Griffith or John Wayne is always a better alternative. However, I know it is in my interest to find ways to keep up with what is happening in our country and in particular, in our government. Most important clips are available for review. Editorials from all points of view can be found and read. I would be hard-pressed to come up with my favorite John Wayne movie. 'True Grit' is a good one, 'Big Jake', is good, and 'The Quiet Man' is a favorite as well. The other day some of our grandkids who are not children anymore were here and they were watching cartoons. They were perhaps being nostalgic about their times here as kids visiting their MiMi and Poppy. I sat down and watched them as well. Some of them were the old 'Tom and Jerry' classics. Not a bad escape. I know. Don't let your children watch those because they teach violence. Give me a break! I'll save my thoughts on that one for another day. Enjoy. You can do so because God is in control. It may not look that way, but, He is. We have His Word on it. He will have the final say and He will, in His own good time, make all things right. Amen. ....More later.