An Evening of Celebration...and Rededication

Claire and I were very blessed to attend the annual Nebraska Bishop’s Pro-life Banquet last night at the Cornhusker Hotel in downtown Lincoln. But before I share with you a few of the notes I took during the program, let me set the scene. 

The keynote speaker last night was our old friend and pro-life colleague Greg Schleppenbach who had returned to Nebraska from the D.C. area where he now serves as CEO of the Culture Project. A Nebraska native, Greg had previously served the Nebraska Catholic Conference for 25 years and so it was nice to have him come home and celebrate with us the defeat of Amendment 439. Yes, last night was a celebration. And yet Greg and the other presenters sharply reminded us of the awesome work yet before us. The movement to build a culture of life means the changing of untold numbers of minds on abortion. Greg reminded us, however, that the “upstream” culture issues of sexuality, marriage, and family must be priority areas for us. It was an excellent call to arms. Thank you, Greg

Our gratitude also goes to all the other dedicated pro-life servants who made-up the program: Nebraska’s Catholic Bishops (George Lucas, James Conley, and our longtime ally Joseph Hanefeldt), the NCC’s Tom Venzor and Marion Minor; and the winner of last night’s Gospel of Life award, Nikki Shasserre. It was an enlightening and very inspirational evening.

A big delight in these things, of course, is the chance to check in (however briefly) with dear friends and pro-life partners from around the state. Last night we saw several: Sandy Danek, Nate Grasz, Chip Maxwell, Rich and Barb McPhillips, Jim and Suzanne Gage, Julie Lostroh, John Horsechief, Dennis Waggoner, Karen Bowling, and John and Mary Zak.

Okay, now for a few of those notes I jotted down from last night’s conversations and program.

* Nebraska's pro-life victory was a rare one in the post-Dobbs era. And the strategy that Nebraska pro-life leaders selected; namely, to present voters with an alternative to the abortion extremism that had previously captured so many other states, proved to be ultimately successful. Seven states had already fallen to the lies and big money of the abortionists. Several more fell in the elections. True, one of the other states that did hold off the abortion industry was Florida. Congratulations, guys. And thank you, Governor DeSantis. However, it must also be noted that the percentage of the vote required to put an unlimited abortion amendment into the state’s  Constitution was 60%, not the mere 50% here in the Cornhusker state. So, how many Floridians voted for abortion? 57%! You see how things would have worked out had Nebraska not utilized an alternative amendment strategy? Again, thank You, Lord, for all needed mercies!

We were also reminded last night just how hard the climb has been here in Nebraska to pass any pro-life legislation at all. For instance, Ernie Chambers and his abortion-friendly pals over the years (not to mention the help he received from RINOs) were able to block any pro-life measures at all for a seven year stretch. Taking into account such a history with the deep research pro-life experts did into the opinions of current Nebraskans (It turns out we are not nearly as pro-life a state as we thought.) underscores just how far afield from reality are the arguments being made by pro-life abolitionists/absolutists who insist that a majority of Nebraskans would support a ban on all abortions, including those induced by chemical poisons. No, the strategy devised by the NCC, NRL, NFA, and others proved to be the best pro-life option. 

By the way, that seven year drought was broken by the pro-life license plate bill. And, for those of you who thought that wasn’t a very important win, ask yourselves why the left fought it so savagely...including throwing a strident 12-hour filibuster against it. And, with that pro-life victory, the dam began to break and Nebraska’s pro-lifers have since then secured many limitations on abortion as well as winning measures that help moms and babies. 

Every speaker last night gave glory to God for this victory even as they humbly pointed to the heroic efforts of all of the local pro-life warriors around the state whose dedication and perseverance defeated 439. Among all of these folks, however, we must make sure we’re expressing the gratitude due the Ricketts family who donated such an awful lot of financial help to the effort, as well as the female student-athletes who presented such a winsome and profoundly effective pro-life ad. 

The Top 5 (November 23)

* "After the Election -- Round 2 (Including My Top 10 Pro-Life Requests of the New Administration) (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

From the article --  Did this election season show us that masculinity might be making a long overdue comeback? Just imagine what renewal our culture could experience if the manly virtues of courage, perseverance, honor, fortitude, sacrifice, wisdom, loyalty, and faith in God were to once again be encouraged, applauded, and carefully taught. Oh, my. Lord, please grace America with a reawakening of chivalry in all of its ideals. 

And one thing more -- there is nowhere that this masculinity comeback needs to appear more than in our pastoral leadership. Enough wimpiness. Enough compromise. Enough timidity. Enough whining about tax exempt status. Enough of the silence on issues that almighty God cares for very, very much. 

Enough acting as if you’re being fair-minded by speaking such foolish fallacies as “I don’t care what political party you prefer, just vote your conscience.” This when you know full well that the Democrat Party stands proudly for unlimited killing of preborn boys and girls! Good grief, when Congress voted on a law that would require medical care being given to babies who survived an abortion attempt, not a single Democrat would support it! So, enough posturing and pampering and placating. 

Enough listening more to the snowflakes in your congregation than you are to the clear teachings of Holy Scripture. My dear brothers, it is time to call things by their right names and to do so with courage, conviction, and winsome clarity.

* "The pope’s embrace of evil discourse: With his attack on Israel while the nation is fighting for its life, the pontiff has taken the Vatican backwards into a very dark past." (Melanie Phillips, Jewish News Service)

From the article -- In a new book published for the Catholic Church’s jubilee year, he wrote: “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.” In September, he berated Israel for an immoral lack of proportion. “Defense must always be proportionate to the attack,” he said. “When there is something disproportionate, one shows a tendency to dominate which goes beyond what is moral.”

These remarks are deeply troubling. They are the accusations routinely made by the enemies of Israel in the West, and they are shameful on many levels.

For more on this alarming subject, you can check out these articles too:  "Pope Francis’ Genocide Cowardice: He can accuse Israel of genocide, but not the Muslim killers of Christians." (Daniel Greenfield, Front Page) and "Unfulfilled Promise: Pope Francis and the Israel-Hamas war" (Adam Gregerman, Tablet)

* "Washington Post columnist claims 'Republicans want to kill your kids:' 'It's actually true'" (Joseph A. Wulfsohn, Fox News)

From the article -- Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin is urging Democrats to change their messaging to say that "Republicans want to kill your kids."

On Tuesday's installment of her "Jen Rubin's Green Room" podcast, Rubin insisted Senate Republicans who acquiesce to President-elect Trump's cabinet nominees must pay a "political price." 

"The people who irresponsibly put dangerous, treasonous, unfit people in positions of authority are responsible not only for those people, but for all the horrors that will unfold," she said. "And Democrats better get started now tracking these people, holding these people accountable and making clear to ordinary voters who voted for what and who’s responsible for what."

In order to do that, Rubin advised, "You can't talk broad themes. You have to boil it down to nuts and bolts, and you have to be pithy. What do I mean by pithy? How about this: Republicans want to kill your kids. It's actually true." 

* "Shake Up HHS: The department, exposed during the pandemic for its incompetence and groupthink, is in desperate need of reform—which Robert Kennedy Jr., whatever his flaws, will pursue." (Jeffrey H. Anderson, City Journal)

From the article -- Kennedy took the poster boy of the mask-and-lockdown regime to task in his bestselling book, The Real Anthony Fauci. But that book, a compelling and generally well-researched indictment of the public-health establishment, also makes clear that the agency’s problems extend well beyond one unscrupulous, attention-hogging bureaucrat. As former Trump advisor Scott Atlas reports in his own book, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health—all HHS agencies—appear to be infested with groupthink. During the pandemic, Atlas notes, White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Deborah Birx, then-CDC director Robert Redfield, and Fauci “shared thought processes and views to an uncanny level,” and “virtually always agreed” with each other.

Whatever his flaws, RFK Jr. does not share in such groupthink. And while Kennedy’s critics focus primarily on his being a “vaccine denier,” those accusations don’t undermine his broader case: that Big Pharma has taken too much credit for the improvements in Americans’ health over the past century-plus.

* "Make education great again!" (Adam Ellwanger, Mercator)

From the article -- Teachers, for their part, have good reason to despair. Despite the monumental importance of their work, many are underpaid. They face administrators who value standardized test scores above all else. Meanwhile, declining standards for decorum and discipline, often justified in the name of "social justice," have made schools unsafe for both teachers and students. Violence and insubordination create an environment unfit for serious learning. Some parents treat schools as daycare centers or demand good grades for minimal effort. Worse, parents of disruptive students often refuse to ensure their children do not rob others of the opportunity to learn. 

Yet teachers, too, have failed. They inflate grades to keep their jobs but do no favors for students unprepared for future challenges. This, in turn, lowers the quality of education for students ready for more advanced work, driving gifted students out of public schools. 

Another harsh truth is that many teachers are unprepared for the job. The education system has failed for so long that many teachers have never mastered the material they are supposed to teach. Colleges steer future educators toward "education" majors, where coursework focuses more on leftist "social justice" ideology than on subject mastery. Some graduates believe their mission is to "dismantle" an "unjust" society by creating anti-American activists. When these activist-teachers enter classrooms, they often abandon their duty to transmit America's culture, knowledge, and values. Instead, they teach students to disdain their nation, its people, its past, and its way of life. This undermines social cohesion and deprives disadvantaged students of the tools they need to succeed.

Recapturing Thanksgiving Day Territory

Claire and I are becoming more serious and intentional every year in recapturing the spirit of Thanksgiving Day that we enjoyed (and were inspired by) when we were kids. For since those days, the importance of that holiday has been overwhelmed by many forces -- an intolerant secularism that disdains religious expression, Americans being increasingly ignorant and indifferent to their nation's history, the innumerable distractions arising from the commercialization of Halloween and Christmas, the dwindling devotion to family fellowship, and dare I say it, the overall indifference to the critical virtue of gratitude. 

At any rate, this Thanksgiving season has been a particular blessing to us thus far.

 1) Actually using the Mayflower Compact as the springboard for a sermon at Herman Community Church. 

2) Having a wonderful time reading Thanksgiving-oriented stories and essays but also a new discovery that we are taking great delight in, Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience by Melanie Kirkpatrick. 

3) Preparing for Vital Signs Blog (and the VSM website) a 27-page Thanksgiving Present of poems quotations, presidential proclamations, and more which is available for your encouragement and pleasure. 

4) Recording a brief video for our YouTube channel about the American Christians' spiritual forefathers, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims. 

5) Enjoying the hospitality of friends who have invited us to a Thanksgiving feast (a little bit after the Day itself). 

6) Having the honor of entertaining 7 dinner guests ourselves featuring the
traditional menu fare on Thanksgiving Day. 

And 7) Officially kicking off the Christmas season with our longstanding tradition of watching Miracle on 34th Street on the night of Thanksgiving Day. 

So, Happy Thanksgiving Day -- and Season -- to you all!

The Vital Signs Christmas Card Parties!

For 4 decades now Vital Signs Ministries has been hosting letter-writing parties. At these quarterly events, we use both the power of prayer and the power of the pen to promote issues of life, justice, religious freedom, and Christian chivalry. They are always a meaningful, effective, and fun opportunity for fellowship and service. Well, coming up on Monday, December 2 are two special letter-writing parties with a definite Christmas-theme. Both parties will be held at the Hartford home, the first at 10 in the morning and the second on Tuesday night at 7. 

The “priority recipients” for our Christmas cards that night will be our newly-elected officials, the Nebraska heroes who won the crucial amendment fight against the extremist abortion lobby, the NU women student athletes who appeared on a remarkably powerful pro-life public service video, and pro-life advocates who have been persecuted by the Biden administration. 

Everything is provided -- envelopes, stamps, addresses, bullet points for your messages, and, of course, hot drinks and dessert treats.  Interested? Then give us a call or send along an email or FB message ASAP. 

After the Election -- Round 2 (Including My Top 10 Pro-Life Requests of the New Administration)

Yes, I posted a post-election review on November 8 (“After the Sigh of Relief: 7 Post-Election Observations”), but after reading more analyses from people I trust, talking matters over with friends, developing our priority prayer list oriented to our nation’s reclamation, and asking God for help in answering the always-relevant question, “How should we now live?”,  I have a few more observations. I share them in hopes they will add to a better understanding of these important matters -- and that they might help stimulate prayers, helpful conversations, social media items, and letters to appropriate individuals. So, in no particular order, here they are...

* Among the most striking “Why Trump Won” items is the Democrats so stridently, so cruelly demanding unlimited abortion. It was an electrified pole which they just couldn’t let go of. They knew they were appealing to a voting public that has become used to abortion over the last 50 years and they were confident they had a winning issue. They did not. In fact, the Democrats shrill, constant shrieking that the most important “right” a woman had, a “right” that actually defined her as a woman, was the freedom to kill her own child ended up turning people off. It sounded so ugly, selfish to the max, and cruel that even Democrat women were embarrassed. And that mean-spiritedness, that insistence on the preborn child having no value at all hurt the Democrats chances way, way more than it helped them.

* But, of course, that was only one of the radical positions the Democrats advocated that went against the ideas and feelings of the electorate. For instance, they were remarkably tone deaf to economic realities, touting the strength of the Biden/Harris economy even though American families knew all too well the debacle it actually was. And the national debt? That’s a big deal to voters, yet the Democrats dismissed its importance altogether, even making things terribly worse with such unpopular spending programs as transgender surgery for criminals, forgiving student loan debt, funding corruption and waste under the banner of the Ukraine war, and more.

* The Democrats were also heavily burdened by their pattern of unAmerican actions in recent years. Opening our borders to illegals. Indifference to violent crime. Playing the patsy to China and Iran and other nations. Making war on peaceful pro-lifers, on cars, on coal, on fracking, on grocery chains, on gas stoves, and on parents who wanted a say in their kids’ education. Aiding and abetting Israel’s enemies. A shrug of the shoulders tto riots in the streets and looting in our cities. Tolerance, even encouragement of rabid anti-Semitism on college campuses. Policies designed to divide the American people as they pushed hard for DEI and transgender demands. Openly siding with the defund the police movement. Criminalizing free speech. Establishing illegal partnerships with Big Tech in order to censor speech and better monopolize the flow of thought. Forcing the society to welcome men into women’s sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms. Daring to treat a large section of the populace as fascists, idiots, racists, and garbage. And lying...over and over.

* Did this election season show us that masculinity might be making a long overdue comeback? Just imagine what renewal our culture could experience if the manly virtues of courage, perseverance, honor, fortitude, sacrifice, wisdom, loyalty, and faith in God were to once again be encouraged, applauded, and carefully taught. Oh, my. Lord, please grace America with a reawakening of chivalry in all of its ideals. 

And one thing more -- there is nowhere that this masculinity comeback needs to
appear more than in our pastoral leadership. Enough wimpiness. Enough compromise. Enough timidity. Enough whining about tax exempt status. Enough of the silence on issues that almighty God cares for very, very much. 

Enough acting as if you’re being fair-minded by speaking such foolish fallacies as “I don’t care what political party you prefer, just vote your conscience.” This when you know full well that the Democrat Party stands proudly for unlimited killing of preborn boys and girls! Good grief, when Congress voted on a law that would require medical care being given to babies who survived an abortion attempt, not a single Democrat would support it! So, enough posturing and pampering and placating. 

Enough listening more to the snowflakes in your congregation than you are to the clear teachings of Holy Scripture. My dear brothers, it is time to call things by their right names and to do so with courage, conviction, and winsome clarity.

* The “establishment press” (I’m now using the term “Democrat Party press”) has long been in the tank for the far left. Even the semblance of fairness, accuracy, and decorum were tossed away in the years of the Obama and Biden presidencies. Therefore, thank the Lord, Americans are turning them off more than ever before, so much so that the bigwigs that run leftist strongholds like the L.A. Times and MSNBC are scrambling to change their ways...maybe. I believe it is still the safest, wisest course to agree with the maxim, “However much you hate the media, it is not enough!”

* Of course, the Deep State remains a source of Deep Trouble for the United States. But the arrogance, the Communist ideologies, and the crimes of the Deep State go way beyond the DOJ, CIA, IRS, and the Pentagon. You find them in the Department of the Interior, the Post Office, the National Endowment for the Arts, and oh-so-many other government run and government-funded agencies. Furthermore, let’s not neglect the Deep State purposes being pursued by the public sector unions, the universities and government school system, Big Business, Big Tech (Google, for instance, is as unfair, manipulating, and lying bunch of thugs as you’ll find anywhere), the socialist bullies who control the academic publications and museums and arts councils and foundations. Don’t think that the devil’s deeds in these places are any less heinous than the shenanigans undertaken by George Soros, Bill Gates, or the U.S. Attorney General. In all these matters, our prayers and advocacy for justice are as desperately important as ever before.

* Yes, it is official. The Democrat Party is the real party of the rich. The only demographic that Kamala Harris won was those making over $100,000 a year.

* Okay, let me get down to that Top 10 that I promised earlier; namely, the Top 10 Pro-life Priorities Claire and I are committing to pray for and actively advocate.

1) The defunding of Planned Parenthood.

2) The appointing of genuine pro-life people to places of high influence in the new administration and, of course, also in the judiciary.

3) The immediate release of all pro-life advocates who the Biden administration has thrown into federal prisons because they dared pray in front of an abortion mill. 

4) To reinstate the Mexico City policy and cut off all other funding to anti-life agencies and programs. 

5) To rescind all Biden administration orders and policies that seek to force radically immoral abortion/gender/sexuality/indoctrination practices on Americans.

6) To end the pollution of our nation’s water system from the dangerous chemicals contained in abortion pills. 

7) To use the power of the federal government to defend the sanctity of life rather than undermine, even criminalize, that noble purpose.

8) To actively enforce the Comstock Act, a law that governs how the Postal Service deals with the mailing of abortion poisons. 

9) To restore the real meaning of Title IX.

10) To do whatever possible to help build a culture of life in America -- a culture that applauds and encourages adoption, that protects freedom of religion and conscience from all attacks, that prohibits Big Tech from maintaining a monopoly on information, and that assists traditional values regarding sexual morality and healthy family life.

* The items above should be, of course, frequent targets for our fervent prayers. And they should be talked about, promoted on our social media, and taught in our churches. But for that last one, we will definitely require that renewal of masculinity in America’s pastoral leadership that I mentioned earlier -- a spiritual warrior commitment that moves our leaders to counteract the false teaching that daily washes over the American churchgoers. My friends, the Lord has given the Church yet another chance to start doing things His way, to stand and fight in the Spirit for His Word against the demonic doctrines that are poisoning American minds and numbing their consciences. We must teach the sanctity of all human life. We must counteract the lies of evolution. We must teach our youth the biblical principles of modesty, self-control, and sexual purity. We must minister more than ever to the least of these. And we must encourage our brothers and sisters to walk in holiness, remaining unstained by the world.

* Are there other issues that Christian citizens should be seriously concerned about? Certainly. Lawlessness and a terribly broken justice system. The national debt. The elimination of voter fraud and inefficiency. Religious freedom in our country as well as our nation as a prophetic, exemplary force against the persecution of Christians and Jews in other parts of the world. School choice. Decency in our institutions and public square. Border security. And more. 

The Top 5 (November 16)

Before I pass along my Top 5 for this weekend, let me drop in a link to something of a quite different character. Indeed, it is a Vital Signs Blog post ("Let Vital Signs Help Inspire Your Holidays") that gives a link to 4 seasonal ways that Vital Signs Ministries can help inform, inspire, and elevate your appreciation of this “most wonderful time of the year." Okay, here's the Top 5:

* "5 Policy Priorities for President Trump’s First 100 Days" (Southern Baptists ERLC Policy Staff)

From the article -- 1. Reinforce policies that ensure the government does not fund abortion...2. Withhold government funding for abortion providers, domestically and abroad...3. Revoke President Biden’s executive order directing agencies to implement radical  gender and sexuality policies...4. Rescind the anti-life, anti-religious liberty, and pro-gender ideology policies advanced by the Biden administration...5. Reverse the Biden administration’s actions that expanded “access” to the abortion pill.

* "Trump’s Masculine Appeal: For all his flaws, the president-elect demonstrates a kind of bravery that men ought to imitate." (Aaron M. Renn, City Journal)

From the article -- Something about Trump appeals to young men. This is a group with many widely reported pathologies: they are falling behind young women in collegiate attendance, and increasingly struggling economically, as documented by scholars such as Richard Reeves in his book Of Boys and Men. What is it that these men see in Trump?

Most of the president-elect’s critics focus on the ways in which he is not a “good man.” They say that he is crude and gratuitously offensive, selfish and egotistic, that he lies and is disloyal. His gaudy consumption style, braggadocio, and love of celebrity, they suggest, are an affront to traditional WASP values. Undoubtedly, Trump is no Teddy Roosevelt or Ward Cleaver. But his critics fail to see the ways in which he embodies a real archetype of masculinity.

* "Trump Should Revive His Pro-America 1776 Commission On Day One" (Robert Busek, Federalist)

From the article -- Trump created the commission the day before Election Day in 2020 with the purpose of “[establishing] a clear historical record of an exceptional Nation dedicated to the ideas and ideals of its founding.” Its goal was to provide a much-needed corrective to anti-American propaganda masquerading as history such as the “1619 Project,” whose “radicalized view of American history lacks perspective, obscures virtues, twists motives, ignores or distorts facts, and magnifies flaws, resulting in the truth being concealed and history disfigured.” The commission’s report, published two days before Trump left office, sketched out a basic curriculum that balanced American exceptionalism as reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with the darker aspects of our history, such as slavery and Jim Crow.

Predictably, the usual suspects had a hissy fit. NBC News accused the commission of “whitewashing historical narratives,” while professional race-baiter Ibram X. Kendi called the report “the last great lie from a Trump administration of great lies.” The journal Foreign Policy published a hatchet job from a grad student “expert” likening the commission’s recommendations to the educational policies of authoritarian regimes like Russia and China.

The unkindest cut of all came from the American Historical Association, which abandoned all pretense of scholarly objectivity by slandering the report as a “call for a form of government indoctrination of American students [that would] elevate ignorance about the past to a civic virtue.”

The new administration heard the message loud and clear. A day after taking the oath of office, President Biden spiked the commission along with most of the other common-sense policies of his predecessor.

* "The Election’s Second-Biggest Loser? Legacy Media" (Mike Gonzalez, Daily Signal)

From the article -- It’s not just that the voter has now said the press have no clothes. More importantly, President-elect Donald Trump was able to use an online ecosystem that now far outstrips anything the legacy media have to offer. Conservatives have a right to be excited about this brand-new development.

Part of the reason people have been flocking to nonlegacy media sources, including the many podcasts Trump went out of his way to appear on over the course of his campaign, is that the legacy media long ago shed all semblance of impartiality.

Newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, broadcasters such as NPR and the three major TV networks, as well as wire services such as The Associated Press and Reuters have behaved as though it were up to them to prevent a Trump victory. And they didn’t care if it was obvious.

The Media Research Center, a conservative outfit that has performed invaluable service studying the media for years, confirms that this year’s coverage, in particular, was the worst of any election in history.

* "Parents in Massachusetts School District Can’t Opt Out of ‘Sexuality,’ ‘Gender Identity’ Lessons" (Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, Daily Signal)

From the article -- “November 13th through November 19th is Transgender Awareness Week,” Angiers Elementary Principal Orla Higgins Averill said in an email obtained by The Daily Signal. “This week helps raise the visibility about transgender people and address issues members of the community face.” The link provided takes parents to the website of GLAAD, a radical LGBTQ activist group that claims so-called gender-affirming care is lifesaving for young people who believe they are transgender.

Angiers Elementary teaches kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Newton Public Schools in Newton, Massachusetts, a predominantly liberal area north of Boston.

Parents whose children are enrolled in Newton Public Schools can’t opt them out of lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity, according to guidance approved in October by the district’s school board, called the Newton School Committee. “While parents/guardians/caregivers may opt out of the health curriculum specifically related to sexual reproduction, our commitment to gender and sexuality education remains firm,” the document says.

Let Vital Signs Help Inspire Your Holidays

Remember Andy Williams singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?” Well, with Thanksgiving and Christmas rapidly approaching  -- and with the election results turning out the way they did -- we can join Mr. Williams in those sentiments with even greater gratitude and joy this season.

And to help inform, inspire, and elevate your appreciation of this “most wonderful time,” Vital Signs Ministries has four seasonal opportunities for you:

1) “A Thanksgiving Present.” Think of it as a kind of “starter pack” for your Thanksgiving season -- 27 pages of Scriptures and quotations, excerpts from Presidential Proclamations and other documents, poems, trivia, and historical reviews. It’s a nice resource that you can use in your own holiday reflections, as conversation starters, to pass along in correspondence and social media, and to enrich the Thanksgiving experience with your family.

2) “Making the Most of Christmas.” This very popular collection has helped our friends for over 3 decades now to more thoroughly enjoy their Christmas season. Poetry, brief devotions, stimulating and fun quizzes, and a lot more. 

Both the Thanksgiving and Christmas collections are available (completely free, of course) on the Vital Signs Ministries website. (Look in the Articles section.)

3) As many of you know, Claire and I host a couple of Vital Signs Ministries letter-writing parties every quarter. It’s just one of our outreach, advocacy, and encouragement ministries. But it’s an important one. These gatherings are always full of serious purpose; yet they are very pleasant and engaging activities whereby we shine the lights of love, truth, and justice using personal correspondence. We have done this with excellent effect for over 40 years and we always look forward to these action-oriented fellowship opportunities. But ah...the Christmas card party! That is something particularly fine and festive. And we most heartily invite you to join us on December 2 at either our morning party (10 o’clock) or the evening event (7 o’clock) for 90 minutes or so of “good and noble work” as we write political officials, business leaders, heroes of the faith, Christians under persecution, and media. 

Also, for those unable to attend in person, we do provide a set of “helps” in the form of letter targets, relevant information, addresses, even sample letters. Those “helps” can also be found at the Vital Signs Ministries (in the Taking Action section) and/or Vital Signs Blog and/or through direct request from us. If you are interested in attending or in obtaining the “helps” in order to write a few letters and Christmas cards on your own, please let us know.

And 4) The Christmas edition of “When Swing Was King” is a truly unique inspiration and entertainment. We encourage you to check our schedule -- yes, it’s on the website in the Seniors section -- to perhaps plan to be a part of one of the audiences when we present “When Swing Was King” in several area senior facilities during the month of December. We also ask you to consider it as a special nostalgic treat for your own church family. 

So, there you go. Why not let Vital Signs Ministries be of assistance to you in truly making this “the most wonderful time of the year” in some new and meaningful ways?

A Thanksgiving Present

Sure, it is always the season of thanksgiving for the Christian (Psalm 95:2, Psalm 100:4, 2 Corinthians 9:11-15, Philippians 4:6 and so on), but it is also of great importance for American Christians to cherish the foundations of their national holiday. Indeed, we should be intensifying our efforts to pass on to the next generations the history, the importance, and the present applications of Thanksgiving. After all, the government schools are not going to do it. Neither will Hollywood or the establishment media. And, sad to say, even the church has fumbled this important responsibility. 

It’s up to you and me, pilgrim!

And to help in this effort, we have assembled some remarkable items in this special Thanksgiving present over on the Vital Signs Ministries website. In these 27 pages, you will find the Mayflower Compact, Holy Scriptures and other quotations, excerpts from Presidential Proclamations and other documents, poems, historical tidbits, and more. 

We hope you find it of educational and inspirational value.

Weekend Vital Signs Activities...And So On

It was certainly a significant weekend for Claire and I and things seem to have started in the same spirit to begin this week. Thank You, Lord.  Saturday’s activities involved sermon preparations, shopping, and preparing salad, a rich and spicy bean and vegetable stew, and several desserts for our dinner guests Saturday night -- Kamal and Yogesh from India. We had a marvelous evening together that night and we were delighted to hear them ask if they could come again sometime soon!

Sunday morning found us at one of our favorite churches, Herman Community Church, where I did a Sunday school class on Thanksgiving (both the biblical virtue and the history of the American holiday) and then the sermon on Ephesians 1:1-8. Then, after Claire and I stopped briefly for London Fogs at the Scooters’ in Blair, we conducted our regular Sunday afternoon church service at Aksarben Village Senior Living. It went very well too with 18 residents and our team on hand for a terrific time of teaching, music, and visiting over cookies and coffee.

Our Monday involved writing letters of congratulations to President-elect Trump and other Republican winners -- letters which also reminded them all of four priorities we are asking them to immediately pursue: 

1) The de-funding of the mega-abortion business that is Planned Parenthood.

2) Increased military might in order to better protect America from her enemies.

3) Clean and efficient election procedures.

4) “Cleaning house” in the Deep State, with a special emphasis on considerably strengthening the rights of religion, speech, assembly, and conscience from government harassment.

We also sent thank-you letters to the heroic pro-life leaders at NRL, NFA, and NCC for leading the victorious campaign to defeat the extreme pro-abortion amendment proposal 439.

Later that morning we headed down to Lincoln to present our first “When Swing Was King” show of November. No surprise -- the residents loved it! We then drove a few blocks through the Havelock district to the Engine House restaurant where we enjoyed a terrific lunch and conversation with Harold and Mary Dee Berry. What treasured friends they are.

We finished Monday with thank-you notes to several of our friends who are U.S. military veterans and started in mulching up the leaves from the front yards of ours and the neighbors on both sides of us. My mower, which I’ve had considerable difficulty with all summer, has turned out to be an absolute marvel in mulching leaves into...well, into nothing! That has been a delightful and very helpful surprise.

The week ahead includes four more “When Swing Was King” shows, preparation for Sunday services at Aksarben Village and again at Herman Community Church, a lunch party with over a dozen friends coming to our house, Saturday morning’s pro-life witness outside the abortion business, finishing up a Thanksgiving package that will be on the Vital Signs Ministries website tomorrow,  and a few other important tasks. Prayers are always appreciated that we do our work in His power and with His abundant blessings upon it. 

The Election is Over. What's YOUR Next Step?

Here’s an idea for you. Copy the picture above (or some creation of your own) and print it off to make “congratulation cards” to the conservatives you supported in Tuesday’s elections. On the inside (or simply the back side if you go with a postcard format), tell them four things on which you want them to press “fast and furious” as soon as they take office. (Those items, of course, may well be different for the various offices your candidates won.)  And keep a copy of your card so you can refer to those priorities in your next communications.

Keep in mind, guys, it’s not enough to get these folks elected. Nor is it enough to applaud them (or ourselves) or feel satisfied and happy that they won out over their Democrat opponents. The job of governing with principle, efficiency, and wisdom is now at hand. Therefore, our prayers, encouragement, and perseverance to keep our political representatives accountable are more important than ever.

By the way, what are the priorities I’m asking them to make priorities? 

1) The de-funding of the mega-abortion business that is Planned Parenthood.

2) Increased military might in order to better protect America from her enemies.

3) Clean and efficient election procedures.

4) “Cleaning house” in the Deep State, with a special emphasis on considerably strengthening the rights of religion, speech, assembly, and conscience from government harassment.

So, what do you say? Send in your cards and letters today. We mobilized for their election. Let’s stay mobilized to insure these folks govern the way they promised.

The Top 5 (November 10)

* "After the Sigh of Relief: 7 Post-Election Observations" (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

From the article -- This brief review includes comments on why Donald Trump won, why Kamala Harris failed, why 434 was an effective strategy against the pro-abortion industry’s desires to capture our state, 434 also overcoming the strange attacks from a collection of contrarian, abolitionist pro-life people, and what this all means for  an American Christian’s answer to the question, “And so what now?”

* "Trump's 10-Part Plan to Dismantle the Deep State" (Sarah Arnold, Town Hall)

From the article -- In arguably one of the most critical first announcements Trump has made as president-elect, he vowed to immediately reissue the 2020 executive order to restore the president’s authority to remove “rogue bureaucrats aggressively.” 

Second, Trump said he would fire all of the corrupt individuals in the country’s national security and intelligence organization so that bureaucrats would no longer be able to target and persecute conservatives and Christians. 

“The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled,” Trump declared. 

* "Morning in America Again: 7 Reflections from Trump’s Election" (Owen Strachan, Washington Stand)

From the article -- But mark this well: Trump is not the true victor here. God is the one who has acted in immeasurable mercy toward our nation. God is the one who gets all the glory and deserves all the praise. In his magnificent kindness and common grace, God has chosen to spare us the plenteous vicissitudes of a Harris administration. The magnitude of common grace in this act is nearly unprecedented in Western history.

This is not hyperbole. We are in one of those rare moments right now when it is clear, abundantly clear, that we are at a hinge point in history. I say this because Kamala Harris represented the specter of Hades in her candidacy. This is not too strong. Death was Harris’s platform. Abortion was her cardinal value, her cherished principle, the beacon that lit her way. Killing precious babies was Harris’s policy. That’s what she ran on.

Not just that, though. Harris took on the very platform of paganism in her candidacy. Most everything that is good, Harris opposed — and opposed to the strong support of the mainstream media, Hollywood, the American academy, and the general drift of our culture. Harris wanted to normalize marijuana usage, transgenderism, the dissolution of traditional strong manhood, crippling federal debt, a truly borderless nation, a weak global presence, with Israel preyed on by a snapping pack of jackals, and much more.

Hear this clear as a bell: Kamala Harris’s campaign was an inversion campaign. In her platform, she championed the inverse of what God loves and blesses.

* "The crumbling of the Democratic empire: The party of the oligarchy thought it had a right to rule forever." (Joel Kotkin, spiked!)

From the article -- Of course, some in the oligarchy, notably Elon Musk, backed Trump in this election. But the bulk of the big money bankrolled Harris. When Musk began supporting Trump, the Atlantic – owned by Harris’s good buddy, Laurene Jobs – accused the X owner of ‘bend[ing] the knee’ to ‘strongman politics’. I guess when oligarchs like LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, George Soros or Bill Gates get the cheque book out for Harris, they are acting for purely selfless, public-spirited reasons.

In its glory days, the British Empire had the best weapons and the most cash. But, as occurred in the American Revolution, it did not always know how to best use them. Similarly, despite the Democrats having near total control over the media, and raising three times as much money as the Trump campaign, their candidate failed to make much of an impression on what we used to call Middle America. Instead, Harris cultivated the support of the elite’s court jesters, as evidenced by her final Pennsylvania event with Lady Gaga, Oprah and Ricky Martin taking the stage. She would have been better off sharing the platform with, say, state governor Josh Shapiro or senator John Fetterman, Democratic politicians who can reach working-class voters.

Although they may see themselves as the natural leaders of the nation, the imperial elites have proven amazingly inept politically. Harris may be a favourite of the oligarchs, but she is also one of the most useless politicians ever to run for president.

* "Spring the Felon, Kill the Squirrel: New York wildlife officers shamefully invade a home and euthanize an innocent man’s pet—all while miscreants roam city and state virtually unbothered." (Tim Rosenberger, City Journal)

From the article -- Dan Longo’s beloved pet, Peanut, was seized at his home in Pine City, New York, on October 30. Responding to anonymous reports of “potentially unsafe housing of wildlife,” Elmira’s overly zealous (to put it kindly) animal control officers from the Department of Environmental Conservation showed up at Longo’s home in a convoy of vehicles. The DEC officers, numbering ten in all, forcibly removed Peanut. After Peanut allegedly bit one of the officers, the squirrel was euthanized—ostensibly to test for rabies, though squirrels “almost never get rabies,” according to no less an authority than the New York State Department of Health. But why should we expect state wildlife workers to know such relevant things?

While the officers were raiding Longo’s home, they took the opportunity to grill his wife about her immigration status. Their interest in this matter is surprising, given the state’s usual course of action: illegal immigrants have swarmed into New York for years now and are severely taxing public services, shelter space, and even schools. Violent Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang members “hide in plain sight” in New York City’s migrant shelters. But Longo’s wife: now there’s a woman to watch.

The raid of Longo’s home lasted five hours. Longo said that the experience made him feel “like a drug dealer.” He should be so lucky. New York drug dealers and addicts can ply their trade free from government interference. Indeed, not only are they left largely unmolested across the state, but in many jurisdictions they enjoy taxpayer-funded paraphernalia.

“After the Sigh of Relief: 7 Post-Election Observations”

(This brief review includes comments on why Donald Trump won, why 
Kamala Harris failed, why 434 was an effective strategy against the pro-abortion industry’s desires to capture our state, 434 also overcoming the strange attacks from a collection of contrarian, abolitionist pro-life people, and what this all means for an American Christian’s answer to the question, “And so what now?”)

1) Yes, I am sighing with relief today. And it’s a continuation of the sigh that began about 2:30 Wednesday morning when Claire and I saw the late vote counts turning for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Adding to our comfort that morning were the late vote counts that assured a Nebraska win for Amendment proposal 434, for Senator Deb Fischer, and for the...uh...usually conservative Republican, Congressman Don Bacon.

Yet along with the sigh of relief, there is a more poignant, painful, and continual sigh caused by deep regret and spiritual challenge. For the stark evidence from those election numbers emphasize how terribly soiled, torn, and rotting is the cultural fabric of our nation. For instance, those numbers show that nearly half of American voters knowingly voted to expand yet further the slaughter of the innocents through chemical poisons, surgical knives, and violent suction machines that tear preborn boys and girls to pieces. Nearly half of American voters knowingly voted for lawlessness in our cities, on our borders, and in our White House. Nearly half of American voters knowingly voted for elitists being allowed to criminalize free speech, deny rights of conscience, override parental rights, and audaciously deny the most basic of biological realities.  And nearly half of American voters swallowed “whole hog” the lies, hatred, and outlandish conspiracies that were so irresponsibly and incessantly preached by leftist political officials and their media henchmen. 

Thus, that second and ongoing sigh. Our work, brothers and sisters, is far from over.

2) In light of this, let’s be sure to recognize the limits of government. I certainly believe that the election of Donald Trump is a blessing to America and to the world. And so I am both quick and keen to thank the Lord for answers to our prayers regarding the election and for all of His other abundant graces to our nation. However, Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Senate and Congress cannot do what is the job of the Church. So don’t expect that. Oh, no; let that sigh of relief be but a brief thing and then let’s you and I get to those critical culture duties that are laid down in Holy Scripture: to occupy until Jesus comes, to strengthen the things that remain, to shine our light into the darkness, to overcome evil with good, to defend those being dragged away to slaughter, to hold forth the word of truth, to pray without ceasing, to do justice, to disciple the nations, to preach the gospel to every creature, and so on. 

Indeed, in these last days, let us intensify and make more frequent our prayers, even as we freshly commit our efforts to better serve the Lord Jesus as His ambassadors in this bleak and oh-so-desperate world.

3) In Nebraska, the proposed ballot amendment (439) that would have enshrined unlimited and unregulated abortion into our state constitution was defeated. But please note that it wasn’t defeated by a whole lot. And there were three reasons why. First of all, sad to say, but Nebraska’s citizenry is not nearly as pro-life as we have often fooled ourselves into thinking, let alone as pro-life as we would desire. Let’s face the hard truth. 50 years of Roe v Wade, 50 years of abortion propaganda from media and government schools, and 50 years of an irresponsible lack of pushback against abortion by Church leaders have taken a terrible toll. And so it shouldn’t shock us all that much to learn that the in-depth research done here in Nebraska early in the year revealed how impossible it would be to pass the kind of laws that all pro-lifers desire; namely, a ban on all abortions. 

Thus came the wording of 434 which protects as much as possible the pro-life gains achieved over the years AND creates means and momentum for further pro-life laws. But furthermore, 434 was carefully, prayerfully designed as the best chance possible to defeat 439, the extremely pro-abortion measure which was very much like those passed in several other states in Tuesday’s elections -- as well as 7 states before that. 

The second reason that 439, “the abortionist’s delight,” failed was that the efforts of Nebraska pro-lifers to counter the lies and cold-heartedness behind 439 proved successful. Way to go everyone -- but a special shout-out to those lovely female athletes who presented an absolutely stunning pro-life ad. Wow! The battle to secure Nebraska’s pro-life gains and to keep unrestricted abortion from becoming the law here was a very tough fight because big, big money came in from Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and other deep pocket abortion proponents invested heavily to spread the most dastardly and devious lies. And yet, thank the Lord, the pro-life prayers, efforts, and that provision of a strategic alternative gave Nebraska babies and their moms a huge win.

But 434 had one other obstacle to overcome. That was the naive, counterproductive, and extremely harsh criticism of certain pro-life people in our state. That’s right, believe it or not, 434 was strenuously opposed by a group of contrarians who insisted that the only truly pro-life position was the absolutist/abolitionist (I’m using their terms, by the way, not mine) one they had drafted last spring. But that effort had been a complete failure. It was never even remotely close to making it on the ballot. Nonetheless, this minority collection of pro-life people chose a most irresponsible, dangerous way to express their disappointment. They decided to do all they could to discourage Nebraskans from voting on 434 -- even though they knew this could well backfire and allow 439 to secure more votes than 434. Indeed, these people vehemently scolded pro-lifers intending to vote for 434 that they would then be guilty of sin, being a traitor to the unborn babies, committing an evil and pro-abortion act. Good grief.

To be sure, the majority of this contrarian group (not all, only most) were people whose service to the pro-life cause over the years ranges from minimal to missing altogether. That’s sad enough. Yet, from many of these armchair quarterbacks (again, not all) came the most unjust, mean-spirited, even slanderous charges against not only the strategy behind 434, but the character and motives of anyone who supported it. Believe me, some of those criticisms were ugly. And they were leveled at such dedicated, noble pro-life veterans as Nebraska Right to Life, the Nebraska Catholic Conference, Vital Signs Ministries, Nebraska Family Alliance, Assure Women’s Center, Students for the Life of America, Essential Pregnancy Services, Abortion Dialogue Academy, Business and Professional People for Life, a few hundred churches, and still more. To make such a wholesale, vindictive denunciation of this whole band of heroes shows...well, some pretty remarkable gall. 

So, let’s consider the future. Will the absolutists now lay down the ugly words and weapons they used against the pro-life heroes representing the organizations and ministries I’ve named above? Will they apologize (not for honest differences in opinion about the best strategy, that’s more than acceptable), but apologies for the needless, heedless smears against reputations that were publicly spread abroad? After all, we (for I’m one of those roundly criticized) not only had to deal with gross distortions of our positions from the absolutist folks, but also slanders against our personal character, motivation, and sincerity. I surely hope reconciliations will start taking place. And soon. But, given the depth of animosity some of the abolitionists demonstrated in their fight against 434, I fear that the harm done to the pro-life movement in our state may be profound and enduring. Lord, please help us repair the damage and get a fresh start -- together.

4) Another point. One of the most crucial of all prerequisites for American Christians improving their service to the Lord Jesus is the development of a purer, wiser worldview. And a simple step towards that is that we stop watching, reading, and listening to the Democrat Party media! And yes, this includes your hometown newspaper and your local television news. Guys, they are all in the tank. They all blather about inconsequentials; they all lean left; and they all exclude the most important news and most truthful of perspectives. So, instead of continuing your dependence on the State media, please utilize the wide array of alternative sources of news, information, and commentary that are now available to you. There are way too many websites, podcasts, and publications for me to list here. But the fact is that quality news and information are there waiting for you. Therefore, unplug yourself from media that misinforms, misdirects, and manipulates you and your family. And then, kindly and respectfully encourage others to do the same.

5) I drop in a very brief word here about preachers and pastors that I believe relevant to the election. This has been one of the subjects my good friend and pro-life colleague, John Malek, and I have talked about for some long while at our Thursday morning coffee. It is simply this. Pastors should be diligent in taking care of their sheep, don’t we all agree? Of course. And we normally think of the duties therein to be feeding and comforting said sheep. That’s spot on as well. But comforting counsel, intercessory prayer, and teaching the rudiments of Christian doctrines cannot be the only responsibilities of the shepherd -- when there are wolves in the vicinity. And, my oh my, pastor; do we have plenty of wolves lurking about! And those wolves not only tear apart their prey in literal ways (abortionists, drug dealers, murderers, sex traffickers), they are destroying innocence, justice, and the historic ideals of Christian-based Western Civilization. They do so through the aforementioned media but also through Marxism, Darwinism, hedonism, and other thoroughly pagan philosophies -- all of which are standard (almost unrivaled) features of the media, government schools, and their allies in the museums, PBS, pseudoscientific publications, libraries, pop entertainment, Big Business and Big Tech, and the social media giants like Google and Facebook and tiktok.

Consider the weight of a 30-minute sermon, a few songs, and maybe even a Sunday School class to the untold hours your parishioners are spending every week with these wolves. Think of how their minds and emotions and habits and priorities are being shaped. And, with that being the case, do we really think we have been serious and skilled enough about teaching Christians what God says (and in specific, meaningful, prioritized ways) about His order of creation, evolution, sanctity of life, modesty, sexual chastity, marriage, family life, honoring our elders, the seductions posed by the world’s system, financial saving and giving, freedom, Christian apologetics, history, the furniture of one’s mind being what is beautiful and true, and so on. The answer, of course...well, you know the answer. And it should motivate us to start doing much better. Wolf patrols, assemble!

6) Okay, back to the election itself for these last couple of points. The Democrat candidates ran primarily on three things: a) against the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, b) against the truths quite obvious to most of the country’s citizens regarding theDemocrat's own disastrous tenure in office, and c) their unlimited appetite for more abortion and sexual perversities. 

But the Republicans? Donald Trump made it clear that his priorities were securing the border; restoring the rule of law; building the U.S. military; removing the red tape and other severe restrictions on business and the economy; lower taxes; stopping the overreach of the federal government into the rights of states, communities and individuals; proper oversight of government waste, including monies going overseas as foreign aid; standing with Israel; prohibiting the federal government from pushing yet further abortion and Planned Parenthood; dealing with vote fraud and election tampering; cleaning house in the corrupt alphabet federal agencies like the DOJ, IRS, FBI, and so on; increasing jobs; checking the power of international thugs like China and Iran; and renewing pride in America’s history and ideals. Those issues were winners -- every single one of them.

Along the way there were, of course, other highlights -- and lowlights -- of the respective campaigns. And, I believe they were, of course, orchestrated by God Himself Who desires to offer America yet another chance to clean up at least some of the mess we’ve made of our nation in recent years. Want me to mention a few? I do so in no particular order. Kamala Harris’ selection of Tim Walz, a pitiful fellow who turned out to be an even more lousy person and candidate than she was... Donald Trump’s brilliant stints as a McDonald’s worker and his garbage truck photo op... The dramatic and historic shift of a considerable amount of Latino, black, union member, and Jewish support from Democrat to Trump... Elon Musk and Robert Kennedy Jr... The decision of the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and others to refuse an endorsement for Harris... The bold strategy of Donald Trump to hold rallies even in heavily Democrat states -- this was a counter-intuitive but extremely nifty move which resonated with the whole of America, building enthusiasm and confidence in his base and heavily contributing to the invaluable momentum he achieved in winning the popular vote... President Biden’s ill-timed and inept “assistance” to the Harris campaign... Kamala Harris’ inappropriate and excessive laughter, her rambling word salads, refusing to do press conferences, skipping the Al Smith dinner, and the failure to distance herself in any specifics from the disastrous Biden presidency. 

A few more? How about Trump’s interview by Joe Rogan...Tulsi Gabbard and Nikki Haley... The way-over-the-top hatred, arrogance, and fear mongering perpetrated by Harris, Walz, and the Democrat Party media... Republicans scoring several victories against vote fraud schemes leading up to the election... NBC’s unlawfully giving Harris a time slot on Saturday Night Live which not only underscored the media’s slobbering partnership with the Democrat Party, but being then required to offer Trump equal time on Sunday, time that he took not only to best Harris’ performance by far, but doing so to a much larger viewership... J.D. Vance’s overwhelming superiority to Tim Walz in their debate... Harris getting caught peddling contrary messages to the Jews of Pennsylvania and the Muslims of Michigan... The enthusiasm of the Republicans, independents, and awakened Democrats that made the vote totals just “too big to rig” this time around... Donald Trump surviving an assassination attempt and the horrendously inept performance of the Secret Service even after that tragedy... And many more which you yourselves can add to the count.

Again, God answered the prayers of His people around the world for the pagan left to fall into its own snares and therefore allow for a Republican victory that gives America another chance to repair the moral fabric of the nation, to help Israel, and to once again be a beacon of freedom, opportunity, and justice for the whole world.

7) But as I end this post-election wrap, let me again stress the overwhelming importance of you and I keeping our own house in order...to let the Lordship of Jesus Christ move us daily to love and good deeds in His name and by His mighty power...to forgive our enemies, be patient and gracious with them (without compromise) and pray for their enlightenment, correction and, when required, their conversion...to build up our spiritual disciplines to make our sanctification more consistent and appealing to a watching world...to stop the flow of lies and meaninglessness that moves into our heads and hearts and homes through the Democrat Party media and, for that matter, through the unhealthy entertainment the world dishes up for us...to become better ambassadors, better defenders of the faith, better in our prayers and personal discipleship...and to get on with our Father’s business in our homes, our churches, and yes, in the public square too. 

And let me drop in before I close a couple of ways that I think Vital Signs Ministries can help you out. Please consider utilizing the free information materials offered by Vital Signs Ministries: Vital Signs Blog, the Vital Signs Ministries website, the Top 5 offered every Saturday. There are also service opportunities like coming alongside us as we testify to the sanctity of life outside Planned Parenthood, or the visitation ministries of “When Swing Was King” and our Sunday afternoon church services at Aksarben Village Senior Living, or our quarterly letter-writing parties. In fact, the next letter parties are on December 2 at our home (one in the morning and one in the evening) where we will be writing letters and Christmas cards to the newly elected public servants, the heroes that led the fight for 434 (including those Nebraska female athletes), and many others. It’s always a good, productive, and fun time so please plan on joining us. Just contact us if you’re interested.

A New Bible Interaction Approach

Yesterday not only marked our marriage anniversary, it also marked the completion of a year’s worth of very valuable interaction with Tim Tebow’s Mission Possible One-Year Devotional. It has been a very helpful resource. Claire and I are regular donors to the Tim Tebow Foundation; we pray for them at least once a week; and we were blessed to participate in the “Night To Shine” ministry last year with plans to do so again this year and beyond. So, yes; we think a great deal of this young man, his family, and the multifaceted ministries he and his team lead. But spending time each morning with this devotional this last year has increased even more our admiration and gratitude for what the Lord is doing in Tim Tebow’s life and ministries. Thus, we recommend both the devotional and the Foundation’s work very highly.

However, beginning today we are trying a new method for our daily devotionals. It is one that involves 5 days a week of Scripture readings (the specific schedule of which I will organize as we go along) and a simple five step interaction with the text. 

1) Read. Take your time and read carefully and prayerfully the scheduled text. 

2) Reflect. Think about what you are reading with a specific attention to relevant applications. 3) Consider. Consider things from the day’s text that might prompt more study, what stimulates a specific action response, what things you might want to talk about with your spouse and others, etc. 4) Write. Write down items from Steps 2 and 3 plus perhaps other items to thank God for, to confess, to apply more wisely and diligently, to pray about, and so on. 5) Pray. Take a few minutes to talk to God about these matters.

By the way, why is it only a 5-day schedule? Well, it makes for a more do-able plan in that gives you a couple days grace to deal with other texts (like the Sunday sermon or a podcast that you’ve heard), to catch up in case you missed a day during the week, to use the time to pursue some of the questions arising from the week’s previous readings, and so on. 

Anyhow, we’re going to give it a go. Lord Jesus, please bless this effort with success.

Our first schedule is listed below. Feel free to use it or to share here in the comments section a devotional approach that you have found successful. And, by all means, if you are looking for a devotional book, you would do very well indeed to select Tim Tebow’s Mission Possible Daily Devotional.

1) Ephesians 1: 1-10 (Take 2 days with this text.)
2) Stay with Ephesians 1: 1-10
3) Ephesians 1: 11-14
4) Ephesians 1: 15-23 (2 days)
5) Stay with Ephesians 1: 15-23

6) Ephesians 2: 1-7 (2 days)
7) Stay with Ephesians 2: 1-7 
8) Ephesians 2: 8-10
9) Ephesians 2: 11-18
10) Ephesians 2: 19-22

11) Ephesians 3: 1-7
12) Ephesians 3: 8-13
13) Ephesians 3: 14-21 (2 days)
14) Stay with Ephesians 3:14-21
15) Ephesians 4: 1-6

16) Ephesians 4: 7-16
17) Ephesians 4: 17-24
18) Ephesians 4: 25-31 (2 days)
19) Stay with Ephesians 4: 25-31
20) Ephesians 5: 1-7

21) Ephesians 5: 8-14
22) Ephesians 5: 15-21
23) Ephesians 5: 22-33
24) Ephesians 6: 1-9
25) Ephesians 6: 10-20 (3 days)

26) Stay with Ephesians 6: 10-20 
27) Stay with Ephesians 6: 10-20 
28) Ephesians 6: 21-24

It's An Anniversary Day!

Claire and I are celebrating our 53rd wedding anniversary today. Well, true enough, ours wasn’t the traditional wedding service. For instead of a church and a minister, we had the Council Bluffs courthouse and a judge. And instead of a service featuring candles, flowers, and lovely music, ours featured something quite unusual; namely, an interruption and delay of the proceedings in order that the judge could sentence a handcuffed and shackled prisoner! 

But though, the regular wedding it was not, we were legally, lovingly, and in the sight of the gracious God who brought us together, wedded indeed. We have very much enjoyed the adventure we started on that day, especially the wonderful opportunity God gave us to minister together for His Kingdom. As a matter of fact, that’s how today's anniversary began -- joining a few beloved colleagues for prayers and public pro-life witness in front of the wickedly misnamed abortion business, Planned Parenthood.

By the way, the photo collage here shows that kind-hearted judge smiling upon our first married kiss whereas the photo in the lower right corner shows the same couple 53 years later to the day, now old warhorses from the pro-life battles of the last several decades. (In between are a couple of photos of those love-struck kids as they grew up.)

The Top 5 (November 2)

* "This Race Is Close Only Because the Public Education Indoctrination Mill Has Succeeded" (Stephen Kruiser, PJ Media)

From the article -- The United States of America should not be on the precipice that it is now, with freedom-loving citizens terrified of being tossed into the abyss by this election. In a sane world, Kamala Harris wouldn't have made it out of San Francisco, let alone this close to the presidency. Now we're hoping for the best amid all this craziness....If we get lucky and Trump returns to the Oval Office, Republicans really need to move the school choice issue up higher on the priorities list, or they'll find themselves in this precarious existential threat position in every presidential election. It does get moved to the front burner once in a while — Trump has often spoken strongly in favor of it — but it too often gets moved to a back burner when there are so many problems with national security and the economy. 

Again, Republicans won't be in much of a position to address issues like national security and the economy if we keep spending egregious amounts of taxpayer money to crank out good little Dem automatons.  Obviously, the well-indoctrinated K-12 kids who go on to college have the ripest minds for the final corruption by tenured professors who are ideologically about 10 miles to the left of Karl Marx.

* "What’s behind the Explosion of Churches Starting Christian Schools?" (Sarah Holliday, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Part of this wake-up call, Backholm went on to say, is also because the church is starting to see “the consequences of what happens [when] we allow pagans to be the leaders and the disciples of all of those hours.” Perkins added, “When pagans are teaching and training” children in the education system, “you get pagans” as a result. “That’s what happens,” he contended. “We send our kids off to Babylon, and we wonder why they come back as Babylonians.” But churches are waking up to this reality and “increasingly … stepping up to take charge,” Backholm said, which is largely fueling the growth in Christian schools.

Perkins pointed out that the efforts across the country to promote school choice are also playing a role. Backholm agreed, noting how Americans have noticed “there are partisan differences in the way states are being led,” especially regarding the education system. There are now “dozens of states [that] have recognized that we want parents to be the guardians and the leaders and the shapers of their children’s education,” which in many cases has led to the “decision that we should not force children to be placed in a school that teaches only secularism.”

Ultimately, Backholm emphasized, “All schools teach morals. All schools teach a worldview. All schools teach some form of functional religion.” In recent history, he noted, there’s been “this idea … that the government schools, the secularism of the government school, is the only religion that should be taught.”

* "Subcontracting Our Minds" (Timothy Burns, Public Discourse)

From the article -- As Rousseau put it, for the inhabitant of bourgeois society, it is necessary “to be or to seem.” AI will hand you the means to seem—at least so long as you are delivering the speech. It will deprive you of the ability to be...

AI will surely also further the path toward soulless homogeneity that characterizes so much of the modern world, the drift toward what James Kunstler has called “the geography of nowhere.” We will experience the rapid loss of the charming particulars that have hitherto been found in speeches drawn from the speakers’ own individual experiences and the admiration of how those experiences have been artfully crafted into a speech. AI will offer collections of cylinders for a music-box mind.

* "What’s Behind Kamala Harris’ Connection To A Mass Murdering Cult Leader?" (Paul Siewers, Federalist)

From the article -- In the 1970s, support from Democrat leaders enabled Jones to operate his abusive cult. Harris’ ex-boyfriend Brown, a former California Assembly speaker and San Francisco mayor, reportedly attended Jones’ Peoples Temple several dozen times and praised Jones liberally. San Francisco Mayor George Moscone appointed Jones chair of the city Housing Authority Commission.

LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk spoke often at Jones’ congregation, saying he found there “a sense of being … I can never leave.” Brown introduced Jones at a testimonial dinner positively as “a combination of Martin King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein … Chairman Mao.” Brown’s flippancy about Mao, likely the greatest mass-killing leader of history, was more chilling given Jones’ finale, the greatest cluster of forced civilian deaths of Americans prior to 9/11.

Until then, with Jones as an ally Brown spearheaded legalizing homosexuality in California, building his political clout in what became ground zero of the new American civil religion, now also known as “wokeness.” The new quasi-religious awokening from the start sought to override the “laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” cited in the Declaration of Independence.

Brown disavowed Jones, but only after the tragedy at Jonestown. Harris never disavowed Brown...

* "Preventable Tragedies: Why De-transitioners Are Suing Doctors: As many doctors are dangerously pushing gender-transition drugs and surgeries, de-transitioners are speaking out about the harms." (Grant Atkinson, ADF)

From the article -- Broadly speaking, de-transitioners are individuals who have chosen to stop receiving dangerous transition drugs or pursuing other body-altering procedures that doctors said would resolve their mental health struggles or discomfort with their sex. De-transitioners have typically come to embrace their biological sex and no longer wish to identify inconsistently with it.

Tragically, some transition efforts are irreversible. When a doctor removes a young woman’s healthy breasts, for example, she will never be able to nurse her children. And prescribing dangerous puberty-blocking drugs can cause irreversible damage on a child’s brain development and even affect a young woman’s ability to later conceive. Health-care professionals who tell parents and young people that these drugs and procedures are “safe and reversible” are lying.

Doctors who push their patients to undergo these dangerous “gender transition” efforts fail to follow the basic medical dictate to “do no harm.”