Recent Viewpoints

Franklin Graham made quite an announcement the other day. First he explained his exasperation with the Republican Party when members of Congress passed the $1.1 trillion, pork-laden omnibus bill that failed to defund Planned Parenthood. He said: “Shame on [Congress] for passing such a wasteful spending bill last week. And to top it off, funding Planned Parenthood! A Huffington Post article called it ‘a big win for Planned Parenthood.’ I call it a big loss for America. After all of…

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently released an annual report covering its activities for 2014. The report indicates that 323,999 babies were aborted at Planned Parenthood clinics that year. This is down from 2013’s total: 327, 653. Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League and longtime critic of Planned Parenthood, says that is “the lowest number of annual abortions at Planned Parenthood since 2007.” But Planned Parenthood is still, by far, the nation’s largest abortion provider. And abortion…

A report by the Pew Research Center warned that the U.S. birth rate dropped to its lowest level since the beginning of the Great Depression. The birth rate of 63.2 per 1,000 women of childbearing age is the lowest since at least 1920. The major reason for the decline in births was due to a drop in births among immigrants. America would have dropped below replacement levels if it were not for the significant number of births among immigrants. The…

During this election season we will be hearing quite a bit about the middle class. Candidates will claim that they want to fight for the middle class and argue that their policies will help middle class families. They will also say that members of the opposite party are the reason for the decline of the middle class, even though this decline has been happening under both Republican and Democratic presidents and Congress. The Pew Research Center documented that the middle…

It seems that welfare has replaced work in America. In the last few years, we have seen the largest expansion of the welfare state since President Lyndon Johnson. We have also seen the largest decline in the labor force in 30 years. Stephen Moore with the Heritage Foundation (and formerly with The Wall Street Journal) believes it is time to ask whether welfare has contributed to the reduction in the percentage of Americans holding a job. More than 46 million…

What is the relationship of elections to culture? Many Christians argue that elections are downstream from where real change is taking place. Often politicians and judges are making decisions to “catch-up” with the culture. Mark Steyn understands this. He writes about this in his book, The Undocumented Mark Steyn. He explains this in his New York Post article, The real battle for America is over culture, not elections. His argument is simple. Culture trumps politics. In many ways politics is…

Sometimes it seems a little presumptuous to ask God’s blessing on this nation. We’re aborting more than a million babies a year. Same-sex marriage is legal across America and the federal government is forcing the mainstreaming of homosexual sin. The ability to live according to the tenets of our faith is under attack. Knowing all this, how do we approach God? Prayerfully. Will you join me? Lord, thank you for the many blessings You bestowed upon our nation last year…

by Kerby Anderson On this Christmas day, I think it would be good to reflect for just a moment on the Incarnation. God became man and took on human flesh. This is a great theological wonder and mystery. Malcolm Muggeridge wrote this to describe the importance of the birth of Christ. “Thanks to the great mercy and marvel of the Incarnation, the cosmic scene is resolved into a human drama. A human drama in which God reached down to relate…

by Kerby Anderson During this Christmas week, I have taken the time to discuss the theology of some of the Christmas hymns and carols that we sing. Today I would like to talk about The First Noel. It is an English song dating back to the sixteenth century. Some people believe that the First Noel was French because of the French spelling of Noel, but it is actually an English song. The French word Noël does mean “Christmas” and is…

by Kerby Anderson It is estimated that Charles Wesley wrote over 6500 hymns. Perhaps his best-known hymn is “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Over the years it has been edited slightly, but the meaning and theology remains as he wrote it more than two centuries ago. It begins with a proclamation of the birth of Jesus: “Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” The hymn reminds us…

by Kerby Anderson This is Christmas week, and so I thought we might reflect on the hymn, “O Holy Night” by John Dwight. “O holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.” Jesus came into the world to save us and so we feel valuable and our soul feels its worth. Perhaps the most…