Eisenhower, the Domino Effect, and Vietnam as a Just War

April 7, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

April 7 marks the day when Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of our most underrated Presidents, gave a speech arguing that small nations like Vietnam mattered to American foreign policy. He talked about the “domino effect,” where one nation falls and causes instability in another nation. This idea stuck and played a major role in Americans opposing Communist take overs in small nations all over the world. Let’s recall that whenever the Communists did take over (Cuba, Angola, Cambodia, to give... Read more

How Qualified is Secretary Clinton?

April 6, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

Yet again people are chatting about how Secretary Clinton is the “most qualified” person to run for President . . . ever. Today in my social media feed the junior senator from California commented on her qualifications. Her qualifications are certainly better than President Obama’s before he took office or Abraham Lincoln before he was elected, but saying she is the most qualified person ever? She ranks (at best) in the middle of the pack if she were to be... Read more

The Best Time to Be Alive Is Now

April 5, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

Jesus is Lord. That is true today. It was true the day they crucified the Lord. When we look at the “news” we are looking at the parts of the story that history will most often forget. Nobody much recalls who was the most popular court celebrity in the days of Caesar Augustus, but everyone celebrates what happened to a Jewish girl on the first Christmas Day. Tiberius made some important decisions, but the bad choices by his procurator, Pontius... Read more

Everyone Opposed to My Point of View is in the Pay of Evil

April 4, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

I am fortunate in my friends. They stick by me through my bad opinions (Romney can win!) and my monomaniacal study habits (Another book on James Garfield!). My social media feed indicates there is another type of person out there who apparently thinks everyone opposed to their point of view is in the pay of Satan, the Koch Brothers, or George Soros (depending on political preference). Having once made it into a Lyndon Larouche conspiracy site chart back when that... Read more

Mrs. Clinton: You are a Human, You Have a Right to Life, and the Constitution Has Nothing to Do With It

April 3, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

Secretary Clinton is (sort of) right when she says the “unborn child does not have rights” under the Constitution of 1789. In fact, all children have important limitations placed on their Constitutional rights. Children have no “right to vote” until they are eighteen. They have limited freedom of speech until they are no longer children. Parents can “force” their children to attend church or refuse them permission to go to religious services. Unborn persons share in those limits. For some... Read more

So Things Are Not So Bad. . . Right?

April 2, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

I feel cheerful and I am afraid to admit it. I learned a very big lesson fifteen years ago when speaking to a Christian group: cheerfulness does not sell. When I pointed out (then) that we had a decade before the battle for traditional Christian morality was lost forever, most groups would listen and line up for questions. When I pointed out that we were also making moral progress in other areas and life was getting better, people got mad.... Read more

Misunderstood, but not by God

April 1, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

Motives are mixed because in people that’ s what motives do: they confuse themselves and work out in all kinds of actions. Probably the best way to stop God’s work is to sit down and wonder why one is doing what one is doing. Who can be sure? Sometimes we sit doing nothing, examining our hearts until the moment to act is past, fearful that we will do something good with bad motives. This is a special insanity that inflicts the... Read more

Miracles, Belief, Politics, and a Sane Life

March 31, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

Miracles in a Sane Life I once watched a person run from a meeting cursing God. My father followed the man out of the meeting and rebuked demonic powers in the name of Jesus. The fleeing man flew up in the air exactly as if he had been cross body blocked. He did not crumple, he did not fall, he flew through the air and landed in the dirt. He got up in his right mind. What do I make... Read more

Unafraid of Risk Without Being a Lunatic

March 30, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

A wonderful side of living motivated by love is being unafraid of risk without becoming a lunatic. I watched my Mom and Dad model sane risk taking based in their love for each other, us, and for the people they were serving. Some interesting and wonderful people stayed with us and my brother and I, being upstairs, would often go to sleep to the murmuring sounds of late night counseling sessions. You could not hear (generally!) what was being said,... Read more

Love God and Do What You You Will

March 29, 2016 By John Mark N. Reynolds

Between the state of the Presidential race and a world where a pastor is crucified on Good Friday, one could be . . . anxious. It is never good to act from anxiety. How do I know? Believe me. I know. How can I avoid doing things out of anxiety? This happens when I am filled with love . . . a sentiment vague enough to be nearly useless, trite enough to be annoying, but true enough to demand explanation.... Read more