How did Iran become a theocratic Islamic republic, governed by their version of Sharia, and the world’s largest exporter of terrorism? Iran for most of the 20th century was a peaceful, yet backwards nation. Persia/Iran was a nation that was…
Way back in 1990 I clipped an article from Parade Magazine (the little magazine that was found in many editions of the Sunday paper a long time ago). The article was entitled “It’s Such a Pleasure to Learn” and it…
The New York Times has launched their “1619 Project”– an examination and re-evaluation of the legacy of slavery in America. It’s leading proponent is NY Times reporter Hannah Nikole-Jones. A wide variety of historians, journalists, and other writers will contribute…
An American President has been impeached three times since 1787 and many of us have seen two of them. There is so much to consider in the impeachment events of this day and yet so little of what has been…
Is there no character that Tom Hanks cannot portray in an amazing way? He was a very believable Walt Disney in “Saving Mr. Banks” (a movie I laughed and cried through). He was riveting as Captain Sully. I was scared…
Way back in 1976 I saw the “blockbuster” movie of Midway. It starred Charleton Heston, Henry Fonda, and all the greats. Great actors. Not a great movie. It was riddled with historical inaccuracy and all sorts of fiction. Typical for…
It had been percolating for years. The Soviet Union, with its repressive command and control government, simply could not keep pace with the Free World. In 1989 when communist governments fell in East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania, it…
The Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989, and the old Soviet bloc communist nations of eastern Europe soon became history. Most of them peacefully transitioned into western style free republics. Romania was an exception. On December 15 the…
The impeachment process has been fully exposed. The proceedings work like this: the House Democrats will create any set of charges they like based upon any available resource. You can call it a “whistleblower” report — even though it is…
It’s been 30 years since the Berlin Wall came down? Honestly, it seems like yesterday. My wife and I had been married for about a year and a half. We watched on television and were stunned as people smashed and…
I love old bookstores and the wonderful old used books I can find there. I just picked up Tolstoy’s “A Confession and Other Religious Writings.” So far, the reflections of this man on the world he lived in and his…
In reading about the bizarre life of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, I came across the story of how in 1958 he ordered the Chinese people to kill off all the sparrows in the land. Exterminate all the sparrows? Why?…
The communist government in China for the past 30 years has denied that it every happened. There was nothing to see. There was no massacre. Except that there was. On the evening of June 3rd, 1989, and on into the…
After watching countless hours of the Democrat Presidential Debates there appears to be a similar pattern and tempo in the procedures. Yes, they last forever. Yes, sometimes the commercials are more interesting than the debates, especially Ron Reagan choosing to…
Many of us have seen this before. Some of us have seen it twice. There have only been two Presidents (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton) impeached or brought up on charges to the U.S. Senate. Neither one was convicted and…
The modern police state of the People’s Republic of China began in 1935 when Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai led their rag-tag communist army away from the Nationalists (under the command of Chiang Kai-shek) to the province of Yenan. There…
From 1958 to 1961, Mao Zedong’s economic marvel known as the “Great Leap Forward” resulted in the deaths of some 45 million Chinese–mostly through starvation or being worked to death in his collectivized farms, mines, and factories. After this disaster…
Isn’t it fascinating how so many of the great socialist leaders of world history have never owned a business and made it prosper? They have great ideas on how to redistribute other people’s wealth, but have never actually produced any…
God does not forget that we have memory issues. King David said in Psalm 103 that God “rememberers our frame.” He remembers we are eternal souls in temporary packages. And He remembers we are prone to forget. Have we forgotten…
Here are a few more under-reported quoted from the “Great Helmsman” of communist China: “[A good name after death] cannot bring me any joy, because it belongs to the future and not to my own reality.” “People like me are…
I am currently reading the most thorough biography of the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong (old spelling is Mao Tse-tung). The book is “Mao, The Unknown Story” by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. Chang actually lived through the Cultural Revolution…
You cannot tour Florence, Italy without hearing the names of the great celebrities of the past. In one church alone La Chiesa della Santa Croce (Holy Cross Church) three famous people are buried there: Michaelangelo, Galileo, and Niccolo’ Macchiavelli. Macchiavelli…
I stood at a certain spot in the Piazza Della Signoria in Florence. It is a large plaza in the heart of the old City, right in front of the Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”). There at my feet was a…
Watching the Democrats talk about healthcare is proof that they reinvent history at will. In 1994 they tried Hillarycare and Americans said no. Then Democrats lost the House. In 2010 their party controlled the House, the Senate and the White…
We checked in at our hotel on Via Guelfa in Florence and they told us that the best shopping was just a two minute walk behind the hotel. So we unloaded our luggage and went in search of bargains. I…
The news media and party players just can’t stop their opioid-like addiction to the power of the Presidency. While the Mueller hearings dominated the news a much bigger story regarding U.S. Elections went virtually unreported. Facebook was fined $5 Billion…
The magnificent church towers over all the city. No matter where you are in Florence, all you have to do is look up, spot the dome, and you will know where you are. The Duomo in Florence is one of…
It is simply massive. I am speaking of “il Duomo” in Florence Italy. Standing next to it, you just feel the immensity of it. This magnificent cathedral that sits in the heart of Florence overwhelms, intimidates, and feels you with…
I had never heard of her until I went to Florence, Italy a few months ago. But now I thank God for Anna Maria Luisa de Medici. She was the last of the Medici family, and she was dying without…
Why is it that political candidates for national office are all so breathless in their attempts to impress the national media pundits? Consider the Democrat debates. It just seems like every candidate is trying to outshine the next and to…
From the 14th to the 17th century the Ottoman Turks were a serious force to contend with in Europe. In fact, in 1453 the Turks finally captured Constantinople, the last vestige of the Roman Empire. They continued their sweep into…
One day my wife and I were in a taxi traveling to our Bed and Breakfast in Rome and I saw a sign on Prenestina Street: “Chiesa Cristiana Evangelica” (Evangelical Christian Church). We read enough Italian to say, “Hey! That’s…
It is a city on water. Whether you are approaching by air or traveling by train across a causeway you are stunned the first time you see Venice. It is a city that should not exist. Majestic cathedrals, palaces, and…
There are many monuments at Normandy. All of them tell an important story that must not be forgotten. One of the most recent is the “Leadership” monument which is a simple portrayal of Dick Winters, a college grad from Pennsylvania…
My son’s wedding was in La Basilica di Santa Maria in an area of Rome called Trastevere. That area is what you would think of when you think of an old Italian city. Very narrow winding cobblestone streets with little…
Last month I was in Italy for the wedding of my son to his lovely bride from Rome. Our whole family was there visiting with our new family and seeing all the sights of “the Eternal City.” We did not…
I have just come back from an amazing trip to Italy. I am convinced that Italy is now my second home. The people are wonderful, kind, and gracious. The scenery is stunning. The history is fascinating. The artwork is the…
The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. Psalm 115:16 “It is impossible to conceive of Eternal Being not existing because that immediately would involve Nothing, which is impossible to conceive…
The only way to explain the mindset of many regarding the issue of abortion is to listen to their words and listen to their responses. Such is the case in a recent FOX Town Hall where Mayor Peter Buttigieg endorsed…
The year 1504 was one of the greatest years in the history of mankind. That year three of the greatest artists of all time converged in one Italian city, Florence, and went to work. First there was Leonardo Da Vinci.…
On May 14th, 2018 the United States Supreme Court overturned the ban on internet sports betting. On May 14th 2019, the Governor of Tennessee received a bill on his desk legalizing sports betting in the Volunteer state. Will the Governor…
We took the time last year to note and commend businessman Bill Lee for stepping up and running for Governor of Tennessee. The people of the Volunteer State took notice as well when they elected Mr. Lee with significant and…
She stood by her man as he lied to federal officers, the Courts, the media and the American public. She stood in his defense through impeachment. As Secretary of State she kept her connections with the Clinton Foundation as her…
Recently a team member here at APR posed the following question on the issue of abortion: On NPR last week they featured a show about the pro side of abortion. How women need that access in case of life of…
So what happens when the new atheism gets old? As I look back now, our conversations on “The New Atheism” have spanned the better part of twenty years. In fact there are a good number of young people who have…
So I’m reading along in Ben Shapiro’s new book and really loving how he takes the complicated and makes it simple. He drops some pretty high powered philosophers’ names in there (Aristotle, Spinoza, Rousseau, Kant, etc.) and capably boils down…
Ben Shapiro’s recent book The Right Side of History: the Remaking of the World examines the philosophical history of western Europe and its descendents (most notable the United States of America) and why this particular culture and no other created the…
As I was reading Ben Shapiro’s latest book (The Right Side of History: The Remaking of the World) I was thinking about all the marvels of western civilization. These are marvels we just take for granted. But stop and think…
If there is no Creator, does America makes sense? Recently I pulled out an old copy of Ben Stein’s movie Expelled. It had been a long time since I watched it so I watched it again. This movie is a…
Twelve Presidential debates are coming from the Democrats. They will begin in June of THIS year. So the Presidential campaign will be in full media swing for 16 months according to the Democrats. Why so early and so many ?…
Late in life I have made it my goal to educate myself in the great literature of western civilization. So I am reading the stories we never got to in high school or college English: the writings of Homer, Cervantes,…
When President Trump made a statement about immigrant gang members being “animals” the U.S. Media went wild with criticism. Of course, their rationale was political and their goal was to paint the President as a racist. The President was still…
In my research sometimes I discover things on my way to looking up other items. The other day I discovered the stories and photos of two albums. Both contained photographs of people at Auschwitz in 1944. One was an album…
The other day my wife and I went to go see the movie “The Green Book.” It was in the dollar theater by this time (you know, the kind of theater where you bring your own chair..yes we are cheapskates).…
Is it just a technical error, or perhaps a message being sent? Or is it something much more? It appears that Apple has decided to kill the Drudge Report mobile app. If you have an iPhone, you don’t get access…
Recently I came across a horrible story from our nation’s past. At first I wondered if it were really true (so much on the internet is myth, you know). But the more I looked it up, the more the story…
They could not find a host, the Academy Awards that is. And the reason they could not find one was because the standard was “perfect of nothing”. Perhaps to no one’s surprise, Hollywood could not find anyone who was guiltless…
In 1936, Spanish Nationalist (fascist) general Emelio Mola said that he had four columns of troops attacking the Spanish Republican (communist) forces trapped inside Madrid. Then he added that there was a “fifth column” within the city, sympathizing with his…
From October of 1939 until the end of the war in Europe in 1945, the National Socialists in Germany enacted a government program called “Aktion T-4”. Medical doctors were used by the national government to quietly dispatch all the people…
The ancient Canaanites practiced child sacrifice. Not only does the Bible record it (Deuteronomy 12:31 for example), but Greek historians record in grisly detail how the Carthaginians (direct descendents of the Canaanites) burned their infants alive in sacrifice to their…
In his State of the Union address, President Trump called out the Socialist Left in America while Nancy Pelosi and her allies sat and mocked. Amidst all the hatred, disdain and juvenile behavior exhibited by the U.S. Congress perhaps the…
It is a privilege for me to preach once a month at a drug and alcohol treatment center. What a blessing it is to hold a worship service at New Destiny Treatment Center in Clinton Ohio. They have about 60…
He woke up that morning to the worst day of his life. He had no idea that day…or for the rest of his life…that that day would be looked upon as his finest hour, and one of the greatest moments…
Our friend Dr. Glover used to teach us several truths he learned while he and his friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were deeply involved in the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 60s. One major truth he kept…
This one is different. It is not the typical advice to President Trump. This advice would be to any and every American President. Please Sir, or Madam, whoever is President and will be President, please, oh please stop giving the…
I have been a fan of classical literature for a long time. Although I am a Christian, I think that the pagan world before Christ still has much to offer us in their search for beauty, goodness, and truth. After…
Recently U.S. Senator Charles Schumer attacked the President of the United States regarding the issue of the security of America’s borders. In that attack, Senator Schumer suggested that the Statue of Liberty should be America’s guiding symbol and light. On…
When I was in high school I came across an article in Guideposts magazine about Max Cleland. He was President Carter’s VA chief, and he was a wounded veteran (missing two legs and an arm). Mr. Cleland saw this poem,…
Once again, the United States Congress is locked to the people who elected that body. We the people, the ones in whom the authority of the U.S. Constitution resides, have legally elected members to the House and Senate expecting them…
The Media in the United States is in a downward spiral. They have magnetized their minds to the elimination of Donald Trump. Their singular focus is well beyond the balance of mental health, they are out of bounds in their…
It’s the Christmas season, and I would like to focus on just one word: forgiveness. The purpose of Jesus’ mission to earth was to redeem for Himself a people who would be free to serve Him. Through His sacrificial death…
OK, so this blog is just a shameless promotion about my hometown of Savannah Georgia. Last month I went down there for a Young Life reunion (Young Life is a Christian organization for high school kids; I was a student…
It really has not taken long for the hysteria of the cable news Left to result in dangerous mobs on the streets. The recent attack upon the family home of Tucker Carlson is but one example. The goal of Progressive…
On November 11, 2018 the world will celebrate the end of World War 1. It began in the summer of 1914 when a Serbian terrorist shot and murdered Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Within a month,the powerhouses of…
Since 1912 the Progressive movement has been the dominant force of American politics. The Progressives gave us TR, FDR, LBJ, BHO, the Clintons and with them, the administrative, caretaker State. Of course, after 116 years the bills have also come…
Yet another massacre. Yet another lunatic has invaded a house of worship (a synagogue in Pittsburgh) and mercilessly murdered 11 people, wounding several others (including four police officers). Has your church or synagogue taken precautions to make your place of…
It makes me very sad when I think of the slow demise of Sears. My father was a manager for Sears for almost 20 years. He received his business degree from Auburn University in 1948 and began to work for…
The other day my wife and I went to go see the movie “Operation Finale.” If the movie “Unbroken” was about forgiveness, then this movie was about justice. It was also about perseverance and dedication. The movie was about the…
My youngest son ran in a marathon the other day. It was a really big event…some 25,000 participants. He is a college student, and works full time, but hadn’t been able to put in the amount of training it normally…
Without a doubt the greatest book I have ever read outside the Bible is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It is the true story of Louie Zamperini and his survival from shipwreck and torture by the Japanese. Angelina Jolie directed the movie…
Newt Gingrich has joined hands with George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg and Van Jones in calling for a Constitutional Amendment in Ohio to change drug enforcement and sentencing laws. Ohio Issue 1 now facing the voters in the key swing state…
I remember well how I was picked on in grade school and in junior high because of my size (I was usually the shortest boy). So, I have a special place in my heart for all the “outcasts” in school…
Upon Further Review UPDATE 9/28 4:48 pm: Local law enforcement in Montgomery County, Maryland has added more information regarding the statute of limitations on attempted rape in the state of Maryland. The Maryland General Assembly changed the law in 1996…
In watching the Senate hearings carefully (and painfully) it is clear that both stories being told cannot be true. One person is 100% certain this event has happened. One person denies the event with equal certainty. Emotion demands that we…
How do you become a Marine? You watch a John Wayne movie and presto!, you are a Marine, right? That’s laughable, isn’t it? But that is almost the attitude some people have about learning self defense. “If I just take…
Original Post 9/18/2018 Let us presume that every allegation brought forward regarding Judge Kavanaugh’s behavior as a 17-year old minor is true or considered true enough to stop the Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court. If such is the case,…
Over the past 30 years of pastoral ministry I have counseled victims of sexual assault. I cannot convey the sadness and anger I have felt. Sadness that such a horrible crime has been committed, and anger that in most cases…
I am the youngest of four kids; my brother is six years older than me. Throughout most of my younger years my brother loved to pick on me, bully me, and occasionally beat me. I was always shorter and weighed…
America saw yet another mass shooting the other day–this time at a gaming convention in Jacksonville, Florida. David Katz, 24, was apparently distraught over losing in a gaming tournament. So he pulled out a gun and shot 12 people. Two…
I do not believe the Bible (in particular the New Testament) teaches a total pacifism. I do not believe that the godly Christian response to Hitler and Stalin’s intentions and invasions is passive non-resistance or appeasement. The gas chambers of…
Please tune in to The Public Square® today and for the next several weeks. We are tackling the hottest fad in Progressive politics: the repackaging of socialism. This is sort of the history seminar your kids never got in school.…
I just taught my self defense class to several ladies. I teach every Monday night at a gym. We don’t do any fancy, silly “Karate Kid” moves. Instead I teach teenage girls, middle-aged homemakers, and retirees in their sixties simple,…
You know it’s a bad century when people start enumerating world wars. World War II was certainly the worst man made disaster to befall the human race. Some 60 million people perished in six years of fighting. The war ended…
Why would Mark Zuckerberg and George Soros want to write an entire new section in the Ohio Constitution? Why would they be investing millions of dollars in the creation of a ballot issue for the Ohio November ballot? Clue: this…
This month is the 44th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency. It was the evening of August 8, 1974 when he appeared on television, announcing that he was resigning as President, effective the next day at noon, August…
We never talked about the Korean War when I was a kid. All the movies, TV shows, and comic books were about our great triumph in World War II. The Vietnam War was still raging…so the jury was out (but…
It is 8 am the morning after the Tennessee primary election. The Nashville USA Today paper called the upset victory of Bill Lee the biggest Cinderella story in decades. FOX News had the headline up by midnight. The AP covered…
This spring and summer marks the 100th anniversary of the US military entering World War 1. The United States declared war on Germany in April of 1917 after intercepting a German telegram that was asking Mexico to ally with Germany…
There was a time when everyone was doing it – the hula hoop that is. Back in 1958 there was even a hoola hoop song on the Ed Sullivan Show. Good ol’ Wham-O toys made a whole lot of money…
The other week we were visiting the city of Denver, Colorado. Much to my surprise, their city was hosting a display of the Dead Sea Scrolls on loan from the nation of Israel. What a wonderful presentation. Tons of ancient…
Recently I have had to travel across the country, and I like to rent a car from the rental company I’ve been doing business with for years. I went to the desk to pick up the keys to the car.…
In an editorial for USA Today, sports journalist Christine Brennan boiled down the entire Ohio State Richard Strauss abuse scandal into a single statement. These are the final words of her opinion piece: “If Jordan is found to have known…
The decision the President is facing is monumental. His choice of the next nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court must be made with profound wisdom. And wisdom comes from The Lord. Please join us in prayer and fasting for the…
It makes sense. The Masterpiece Cakes decision was a telling sign. Nobody on the Court wanted to tweak Justice Kennedy on his way out the door. So they punted on Masterpiece Cakes. The Court’s holding was narrow, limited and returned…
The other day, my wife and I were honored to attend a graduation ceremony. Our son has just graduated as an officer in the uniformed division of the US Secret Service! We were taken on a tour where we saw…
Recent news reports reveal that about 40% of Americans have dropped out of “social media” in the last year or so. Count us among them. In a recent edition of The Public Square titled, “The Circle -Breaking Free” we announced…
The famous generals of World War 2 are Eisenhower, Montgomery, Bradley, MacArthur and Patton. But one of my favorite ones to study is the American general whose name keeps popping up whenever I read about D-Day: General Norman “Dutch” Cota…
Most people celebrate their birthday once a year. I celebrate my birthday twice every year. The first was the day I entered this world in the flesh in 1962. My second birthday was June 7, 1981…the day I was born…
It was the morning of June 6, 1944 and the US Army was pinned down under withering gunfire from the Germans on Omaha Beach. An American General from the US 29th infantry division stumbled across a Major Max Schneider of…
As if the TV commercials were not annoying enough, now Mr. John Morgan of “Morgan and Morgan” is taking to bold-face bullying. He recently attacked Florida Governor Rick Scott basically threatening Scott’s electoral future. Morgan threatened that if Scott does…
The US Coast Guard is the smallest branch of our military (only about 45,000 active duty and 15,000 reservists), but it played a major role in World War II. Coast Guardsmen were the ones who manned the landing craft that…
You have heard of the Army’s Green Berets, and the Navy’s SEALs, but have you ever heard of the Air Force’s Parajumpers? Affectionately known as the “PJs”, these special forces troops drop into the toughest situations to rescue people in…
The US Global War on Terrorism was already four years old when LT Michael Murphy, a US Navy SEAL was sent to hunt for a Taliban warlord. He and the other three SEALs were scrambling up and over the high…
America’s first major offensive against the Japanese was on the small South Pacific island of Guadalcanal. The Marines landed and were eager to engage their fierce and fanatical enemy. Sergeant John Basilone of Raritan New Jersey was in charge of…
The narrative is getting old. That is the feeling we are getting from key primary states. The identity politics of division plays well on cable news but voters are growing weary of the check list of who is “the bad…
Alfie Evans is gone but he is not forgotten. He is not the first child to face the injustice of the British Nationalized Health Care System. His is not the first family to know the pain of an untimely death…
What should bother us about Alfie Evans is…everything. The incredible sorrow of a sick child and parents struggling to help their beloved. No words can be added here. Unfortunately the sorrow does not end with the pilgrimage of pain and…
My wife and I were out running in a park the other day. She said to me, “Did you see those little boys over there?”. I did not know what she was talking about. She then told me about two…
On April 12 of this year CBS News released the story that four in ten millennials either don’t know about or aren’t sure if they’ve heard about the Holocaust. One of the most evil things ever done on planet Earth–the…
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, just recently pronounced that he knows what you need and don’t need. He said, “No excuses, there is never a reason to carry a knife.” And then he threatened the full force of the…
It’s such a catchy phrase: “If you’re gonna have a gun on our campus, you’re gonna have a badge.” That is the statement of the Leon County School Board in Tallahassee, Florida. They voted to NOT permit teachers or school…
The other day I was driving my daughter somewhere and she commented on the recent “March for Our Lives” protest around the country. She actually knows some people who attended the rally in DC. She commented: “You know Daddy, I…
The New York Times has an op-ed from former Justice John Paul Stevens yesterday. In the article, he clearly states his belief that the Second Amendment was a relic from the eighteenth century, and should be repealed. Interestingly enough, he says…
Did you watch the CBS interview on Sunday night? We did. The story is inescapable. But does that make it true? Furthermore, the lawyer for plaintiff Daniels claimed that his motivation in this matter is “righteous”. Here is the quote…
The special election for the United States House of Representatives in Pennsylvania District 18 is over, or sort of over. The election results are so close that a recount is likely and it is quite possible that the outcome may…
We are posting this blog on Sunday March 11, a few days BEFORE the special election for PA House District 18. We are doing this as evidence of our analysis BEFORE the outcome of the special election for a single…
The South African parliament recently voted 241 to 83 to seize without compensation all the land owned by white farmers. Whites own about 72% of all farmland in South Africa– in some cases these farms have been in same family…
President Donald Trump attended the funeral service for Dr. Billy Graham. He was the only living president to attend. Where were the others? Why did the others choose not to be there? This is a much bigger question than at…
I have been listening intently the past two weeks in the ever increasing intense debate between the right to keep and bare arms, and the desire of many for more “gun control”. I heard Senator Feinstein yesterday speak of the…
Every so often we just cannot absorb any more of the world’s insanity, right? Well that’s how I feel right now. I know I cannot stop the world and get off. But I have hit my saturation point (for now)…
Did anyone see this story? Two shooters. Two guns. Same day but very different outcomes. Here is the story of Tony Garces and his colleagues at the Faith City Mission in Amarillo Texas. Over 100 lives were at risk on…
The lessons of Parkland are a portal into the real problem of active shooters and soft targets in the United States. The real problem is not courage or physical ability or resources. The real problem is denial. As the layers…
Back in 1980 my parents and I went camping. A relative came with us…she was a hardened atheist. An admitted communist, actually. Yes, that did make for an interesting camping trip; so long as we steered clear of politics or…
I can hardly measure the effect this man has had on my life. I vaguely remember hearing about Billy Graham or seeing just a snippet of his TV special when I was a little boy. I know that whenever the…
Listener response to our recent broadcast on the State of the Union address was…mixed – to say the best. One listener wrote in and blasted us for being racists and in the tank for Donald Trump. Another wrote in accusing…
If we could halt the drama queens on cable news just long enough to get a serious question into the “Memo Debate,” the question would be:”What authority does the FBI have to abrogate the rights of a U.S. Citizen and…
Dr. Nathan Busenitz documents very well in his book “Long Before Luther” (Moody, 2017) that the idea of justification by faith alone was most definitely believed and taught by many of the early church fathers in the first five centuries…
I don’t like long speeches. I don’t like making them and especially listening to them. When I heard that President Trump’s first State of the Union address would hit an hour and ten minutes I prayed for a rain out.…
Were the main ideas of the Protestant Reformation (sola fide and sola scriptura) novel ideas unheard of before Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses in 1517? One Protestant historian, Alistair McGrath claims that the idea of justification by faith alone…
I saw the movie “12 Strong” starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Pena. Pretty good war flick. Not as good as “Lone Survivor” or “American Sniper”– it definitely needed more character development– but still a pretty good movie that kept me…
A little over two weeks ago a teenager at Perry High School, near Canton Ohio, committed suicide. That is the SIXTH suicide in that school district in the past five months. Last week at the same school a teenager was…
The great political shell game is in full swing. Please dear friends, let us all be careful to not get caught in the politics of the hour and miss the point. What is happening on Capitol Hill right now is…
We got a hot one here! Just a few days on the air and the email responses are flying into our studio. We are talking about the legalization of marijuana this week on The Public Square and we have clearly…
Funny, how in an age of over-inflated self-esteem, the acts of kindness that really matter, that are really important are so often overlooked. We somehow look at the “crowd” of mass media and see our reflection as small and unimportant.…
After watching “Darkest Hour” the other day with my family, I am reminded of this quote by Winston Churchill: “…Still, if will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when…
What is the day AFTER Christmas like for you? A day to take unwanted presents back to the store? A day to clean up or go back to work or just a day to lazily putz around the house? It…
What a difference a year can make. Only twelve months before the United States and Britain were reeling from massive defeats at the hands of the Japanese. The Pacific was a Japanese lake. The Germans were at the gates of…
The Republican Leadership, the Freedom Caucus, The Republican Study Group and the Trump Adminstration all decided to give non-profits, Christian churches, Jewish synagogues, schools and colleges and thousands of ministries and missions a collective lump of coal this Christmas. Regardless…
This will take a while. The story has several pieces and parts. Lets begin with this: Conservative Republicans refused to put up a fight or barely even a whimper on one of the most important challenges to the Constituion in…
Today the U.S. Supreme Court is arguing about a wedding cake. Is this another sequel in the “Father of the Bride” film series? Where is Franck the wedding planner when we need him? For just a moment let us take…
We live in the digital information age. There is more information now available on our smart phones than in many of the college libraries of a generation ago. Yet we are in a desperate race against forgetfulness. Each day a…
It was not a merry Christmas. Pearl Harbor was still digging out from the drubbing the Japanese Imperial Navy had delivered to our Navy and Army. The Japanese were running rampant all over Asia, and our Army in the Philippines…
On July 4, 1776 our nation the United States of America was born. It sure was a great day. Followed by months of relentless defeat. Under the command of General Washington, the Continental Army was driven out of New York…
Tax reform smax reform… Who cares about tax reform if the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans are destroyed in the process? That unfortunately is what the Establishment Republicans and their Progressive Democrat friends are about to do to…
“By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore…
It was October 3, 1789. Our first president had been in office for only eight months. Everything was so new and different in a new Republic operating under a new Constitution. Both houses of Congress had just recently urged President…
Congress just might blow another golden opportunity. This time it is a simple task that atheists and believers can agree upon: the defense of free speech, regardless of where that speech is being conducted. The Johnson Amendment is thirty words…
It has come to this. The historic Christ Church has removed the plaque commemorating the membership of George Washington, the First President of the United States. The sight of his name and the history of his attendance in the Alexandria…
This October 31 is the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. He had no idea that day that he was sparking a titanic revolution;…
Over 25 years ago a pastor friend of mine introduced me to a book called “The Valley of Vision”. It is a collection of prayers by Puritans from 300-400 years ago. What beautiful expressions of faith to God! The Puritans,…
Notice the title of this article. It is clear that with the recapture of Mosul a few months ago and Raqqa just the other day, the Islamic State is finished in Iraq and Syria. But for how long? Nobody knows…
My wife and I have just returned from a missions trip with Samaritan’s Purse in Houston. We witnessed first hand some of the devastation in southeast Texas. We went past hundreds of homes and businesses that may have looked fine…
We have been talking about this a lot on radio stations across the nation. Something about the behavior of Mandalay Bay and those in charge of the investigation of the horrific shooting there is NOT right. This is a conspiracy…
Yes, Paper is back and yes we told the world it would happen. In the quest to spend money and look cool politicians all surged to convert voting machines to magical electronic booths. Only problem is, voters only use the…
I was at Gettysburg the other day. I had not been there in about 20 years. It is an incredibly moving part of the American landscape. Warren Wiersbe told me, “It was the greatest slaughter of teenagers in American history.”…
I have finally gotten around to reading the book “12 Years a Slave” by Solomon Northrup. I have only seen snippets of the movie on YouTube…now I know why it earned an Oscar. The book is mighty compelling. It is…
The other day I ran in the Akron Marathon. I ran the half (13.1 miles); my son ran the full (26.2 miles). It was tougher than usual because of the heat. Twenty thousand people ran in one of the most…
Wapo, Huffpo and “the Times” will miss the point and the moment. They have to miss the real story behind Roy Moore’s election win to run for the U.S. Senate in a special December election. The fact that Roy Moore…
His coach does not like it. His “owner” does not like it. The US Media does not like it. But what else could Alejandro Villonueva do? After three tours of duty, under fire, in Afghanistan, how could this decorated veteran…
The Philippines is the only country in Asia in which the vast majority professes belief in the Christian faith. However, their is a sizable minority of Muslims, living primarily on the southern island of Mindanao. The Muslims there far outnumber…
Major League Baseball is in an uproar over Apple technology being used to steal signs. The Commissioner of Baseball is reviewing the constitutional requirements to issue rulings and punishments against the Red Sox for an alleged complicated high-tech scheme at…
If you could sit down with someone from Antifa and ask them “What is fascism? What, historically speaking, has fascism believed for the last 100 years?”, what would they say? As I have been scanning the videos of the numerous…
Who are these people? They call themselves “Antifa”, and they seem to have just popped up recently. The media has broadcasted numerous riots across the country, showing black-clad people (usually in their 20s and 30s) brandishing shields, baseball bats, and…
Wrap up all the protest, the marches, violence, smoke and blood. The people in the streets and their spokespeople on cable news all boil down their mission to a single word: Justice. What a word, what a concept what a…
Well all the hype is over and the dust has settled, and Floyd Mayweather is still undefeated in his twenty year boxing career. He’s still the champ, and Conor McGregor should learn a lesson in humility. (But he probably won’t.)…
My wife and I were recently traveling through the great state of Pennsylvania. While we were there, we noticed that the Flight 93 Memorial was just off the highway. On the spur of the moment, we decided to go. We…
“The problem with the world is America. So the person who ‘discovered’ this place and all the Europeans that followed are really to blame. In other words, the answer for modern man is remove all the white people or at…
“Donald is not from around here, right.” That sort of sums up the comments of Senate President Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. In a recent speech back home, McConnell lamented that Trump’s expectations of the Legislative process are simply unrealistic and…
So what do you think of Facebook now? The founder of Facebook, at 33 years of age, is hiring up the consulting experts who made Barack Obama President. Why would he do this? To run for public office? This claim…
I just saw the movie “Dunkirk”. If you have not seen it yet, go. Go now–before it leaves the silver screen and you are forced to watch it on DVD. You need to see it on a very large screen…
There is no way to put a pretty picture on this one. There is no hidden, better strategy that can justify the actions of the U.S. Senate on healthcare. We can all see the man behind the curtain so there…
I guess I am always amazed at how some people (usually those living in Europe) can be fluent in multiple languages. I have studied several ancient and a few modern ones, but I am not “fluent” in any of them.…
We saw what happened in the wee hours of this morning. We saw the Progressives keep Obamacare on the books, led by Senator John McCain. By one vote the law no one ever read stays on the books. That was…
In a recent speech, made public (in edited fashion) by the Washington Post, former Speaker of the House John Boehner attacked conservatives in Congress describing them as the “knucklehead caucus” and “anarchist”. There is a whole lot that could and…
Sometimes, the happiest events are the ones you don’t expect. Such was our experience in Montreal with a restaurant called “Chez Thony”. Alice and I had walked for miles, uphill from the downtown area to go see a spectacular looking…
When we travel, we love to sample the delicious food of the different cultures we encounter. You can really find out how people think and what is important to them when you sit and eat what they eat. It’s best…
We just came back from a trip to Montreal. My wife and I like to travel to really different places, experience different cultures, and sample really different food. We’ve been to Canada a few times (Niagara Falls, Toronto) but never…
The ads are on the radio. “Call your Senator. Tell him/her to oppose the Republican healthcare plan.” But here is the question: have any of these people read the Republican plans in either the House or Senate version? Has a…
We celebrate this document every year. We can never talk about it too much. Sadly, we have stopped teaching this foundational element to America’s children. The 4th of July comes and goes as a picnic with fireworks but we forget…
I have recently come across a discussion about the influence of certain ancient and medieval books upon C.S. Lewis…. particularly in relation to his conversion to Christ. Lewis loved reading the classics, whether it was Virgil’s “Aeneid” or Caesar’s “Gallic…
As I am currently reading Helen Castor’s book “Joan of Arc” I am struck by the wide variety of people whom God uses as He orchestrates history. Literary geniuses such as Boethius or Dante, theologians such as Augustine or Aquinas,…
I don’t know why I missed this ancient Roman in my studies of history. But Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius is a fascinating character from the past who teaches us today. He’s also simply known as “Boethius”– a Roman senator, consul,…
As I am reading more and more in Medieval and Renaissance history, I continue to have my pre-conceived ideas overturned. I am still reading (and re-reading) Thomas Cahill’s “Mysteries of the Middle Ages” (2006). I have been fascinated with some…
It was a political shooting. A hate crime against Donald Trump and against Republican members of Congress. The Facebook page stated it in print. The shooter specifically asked if the people on the field were Republicans. This cannot be covered…
Progressives are out of ammo. Their signature policy of the 20th Century is marooned on the island of misfit toys. The fantasy that centralized government can do much of anything well is now hemmed in by a 20 trillion dollar…
We just left The Public Square® studio after a long conversation about the proposed Trump budget. The first question we asked was basic math. Which is bigger: 3.7 Billion or 4.1 billion? The answer does seem pretty obvious, right. Then…
Recently we have witnessed yet another terrorist attack from the jihadists. Those who want to create a world wide caliphate and impose Sharia on us all blew up 22 people at a concert in Manchester England. Dozens more were dismembered…
Europe has been invaded, colonized, and attacked by savages who call themselves jihadists. Their goal is the enslavement of the world in submission to Sharia. They immigrate, refuse to assimilate to European custom or laws, intimidate others to “respect” their…
If he broke the law, prosecute. If guilty, convict and throw him in jail. Those are the rules. We live in a land based upon the rule of law. No one is supposed to be above the law in America.…
You know I am a “history-nut”. I read books about Medieval history or the history of World War II or the history of ancient Mesopotamia just for fun. Well, I gotta tell ya…I have just discovered the GREATEST youtube channel…
He is a big opportunity, this President. Lots of people can’t get past making him the object of their discontent. Sometimes he makes it easy to criticize. But this conversation is not about all the current hubbub in the world…
“We have to pass this law to find out what is in it.” Yes, that was Nancy Pelosi advising the nation on why Obamacare had to pass in the middle of the night with no time to read the 2400+-page…
There is a lot more work to do. Yes, we tried to remind everyone that Congress governs the nation. We tried to expose the fallacy that a single election of a President would fix it all. The delusion of our…
A few years ago a friend of mine who is Roman Catholic gave me a bookmark to put in my Bible (I have umpteen dozen bookmarks stuffed in various Bibles I use.) This bookmark has a prayer written by St.…
I have just read that the city council of New Orleans has finally begun the removal of a memorial and three statues that they deem offensive. The memorial is to the Battle of Liberty Place (a bloody riot between the…
I usually read about six or seven books at once. I can’t help it. So, right now I am also reading Thomas Cahill’s “Mysteries of the Middle Ages” in which he tells several fascinating stories about real people in real…
Here is a great place to start. Gather up your loved ones and friends. Pour a generous serving of your favorite beverage. Turn on your phone app or laptop or tablet or home computer and log onto thepublicsquare.com. Then take…
I am currently reading some books about the Italian Renaissance. One book is “Death in Florence– the Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of a Renaissance City” by Paul Strathern (2015). Much of the book is about the…
Lots of people are asking this question, including a whole host of Hollywood celebrities, Silicon Valley billionaires, and giants in high tech. They are thinking about living forever – here. They are spending hundreds of millions to develop hardware and…
Cloture is the term. The rule began in 1917 in the US Senate in the era of Woodrow Wilson. The idea of ending a filibuster in the Senate with a supermajority of 60 votes has turned into a blockade, regardless…
So the other day we took a “business trip” to the great city of Philadelphia. We decided to end our visit by running up the steps of the impressive Philadelphia Museum of Art. (Cue the theme song to “Rocky”.) My…
No contest. I know Jim Jordan. I have known him since before he was in politics, when he was a wrestling coach and a home school dad. Wrestlers around the nation know the Jordan boys. They are more than survivors.…
I go to my local public libraries on a regular basis to check out books and read up for these blogs. So one day I found a really nice colorful book by National Geographic. Aside from their belief in macro-evolution,…
Adolf Eichman was an “Oberstrumbannfuhrer” (Lt. Colonel) in the SS in World War II. He was hand picked by SS General Reinhard Heydrich to manage the logistics of transporting millions and millions of Jews to be murdered in the Nazi…
A law is not repealed when it is left on the books and you reserve the right to utilize over 1100 provisions contained within that law. So can we please quit pretending. The current bill on Obamacare in the House…
I watched Dr. Tom Price on a CNN “Town Hall” the other night. Who is Tom Price? He is a Physician, former member of Congress and now the Secretary of Health and Human Services in charge of Obamacare. No, Congress…
I just recently came back from a visit to Dallas Texas. An unusual city. . . no shopping area filled with restaurants in the downtown area (unlike New York or Chicago). We wandered into a Western Wear store where I…
Music often notes a change of heart or mind. Music even notes changes in culture. We sing Yankee Doodle and teach it to our children when they learn of the War for Independence. We sing Yankee Doodle Dandy because of…
So the Democrats had to come up with a response to President Trump’s first address to Congress. How easy should that have been? After eight years of the most elegant rhetoric from President Obama surely the Democrats would have someone…
They were Americans, willing to fight and die for America. And they were “nisei”– “second generation” Japanese who were born and raised here in the USA. Immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt had all of the…
It was a conference of 15 high ranking Nazis, lasting only an hour and a half. But it was a meeting that sealed the fate of millions of Jews in Europe who were enduring Nazi occupation. Reinhard Heydrich, second in…
Many, many years ago as I studied World War II my mind was filled with stories of the Allies valiantly fighting the evil Nazis and Imperial Japanese and in the end we vanquished all the evil empires and brought the…
Unit 731. Unit 1644. Unit 100. These were the main killing units of the Imperial Japanese military’s experiments in biological and chemical warfare. From 1935 to 1945 Unit 731 and it’s “siblings” murdered an estimated 250,000 human beings in some…
Is it all a distraction designed to destroy a Presidency? It is driven by deep psychological needs and a profound hatred of an individual. If you stare at it or focus upon it you will be wasting a lot of…
Once again the media, the parties, and the partisans are playing silly games with national defense and serious constitutional questions This time the contest is over the President’s Executive Order calling for vetting for immigrant refugees. Sadly, the federal Court…
Who knew Betsy DeVos was a part of Lucifer’s legion of soul snatchers? Who could have imagined that this women was secretly hiding in the woods stirring a cauldron of potients and spells to destroy public education as we know…
The Radical Progressives would destroy President Trump. That is their plan and they have millions to do it. They are organized and their attacks on Republican members of Congress have begun. Their hero and voice is Rachel Maddow. She describes…
An elite force within an elite force? It was quite the radical idea over 70 years ago in the early years of World War II. But President Franklin Roosevelt had been captivated by the success of newly formed British commandos…
Donald Trump kept his word. He nominated an outstanding candidate for the US Supreme Court. The folks at FOX News are spinning the story as if Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation by the US Senate is inevitable. But wishing does not make…
Donald Trump fired someone tonight. An Obama appointee in the Justice Department caught a break and was being held over in her job as “acting Attorney General”. She was being held over because Chuck Schumer and the Progressive Left members…
She was offered a blindfold, but refused it and looked straight ahead at the firing squad as they were given the order to fire. Hannah Senesh was a Hungarian young lady who had emigrated to Israel (called the British Mandate…
What would you call publishing a recording of a private meeting where the press and the public were specifically prohibited? Would you call that hacking into the content of a confidential meeting? Those darn Russians. Or not… This time is…
By 1942 the US military saw the need for an elite light infantry unit that could penetrate deep behind enemy lines, destroy supply depots, intercept enemy convoys and communications, and seize key airfields. In 1943 the US Army created the…
This has to be written for the record. Please listen to this week’s edition of The Public Square®: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Please pay careful attention to the discussion of Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) visiting the Lincoln Memorial. We…
The biggest lie of the past eight years has been the passage of Obamacare because it was a bill that not one of the Democrats read. The bill was passed in the Senate and the House with only the votes…
Otto “Scarface” Skorzeny was a legend in his own time. As an SS Commando he was a fearless hero to his men. To the British and Americans he was “the most dangerous man in Europe”. Otto Skorzeny was an Austrian,…
If Americans had only known… How could the media and Congress ever let a President-elect get away with this? How could such business and land holdings ever be permitted outside of a conflict of interest? How could the people have…
For Democrat leaders the election of Donald Trump means war. Listen to their statements. Listen to Jerry Brown, the Governor of California. Listen to the threats and the rage. Listen to Chuck Schumer pledging to stop any and every Trump…
I love reading and writing about little known heroes who creatively did their job, and whose work had great impact. Rex Applegate is one of the unsung American heroes of World War II. He developed what would become the standard…
They say it was the strangest battle of World War II. On May 4, 1945, just days before the German surrender, SS troops abandoned the Castle Itter which had been holding a number of high level French VIPs: former prime…
One of the weirdest and funniest and most touching stories to emerge from World War II is the story of Wojtek (pronounced “Voy-chek”) the beer-guzzling, cigarette-smoking warrior-bear of the Polish II Corps that fought with the Allies in Italy. Yes,…
Yep. Another forgotten story of World War II is that Brazil sent it’s tiny little army, navy, and air force to help us in the fight against Nazism. The United States had been pressuring Brazil to join the Allies. Brazil…
In the spring of 1940 Nazi Germany burst through the French and British armies and forced them to evacuate at Dunkirk. One French naval officer, Philippe Kieffer, fled to Great Britain in order to carry on the fight against the…
The government of France was knocked out of World War II in 1940, but not all of its fighting men. Charles De Gaulle (along with a few other French generals) led the charge to keep Frenchmen fighting against the Nazi…
I just saw the latest Mel Gibson film “Hacksaw Ridge.” Very well done movie. It tells the story of the devout Seventh Day Adventist and pacifist Desmond Does and his incredibly heroic actions on Hacksaw Ridge at the Battle of…
The French military was humiliated in the spring of 1940, with the German armies rapidly cutting off their army and the British at Dunkirk. The French government collapsed, and those remaining in power quickly signed an armistice with the Germans.…
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) used by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) has allegedly enabled a calculation of the age of the universe and plotted the curvature of space. It mapped the cosmic microwave background radiation and,…
Diabetes may either be a risk factor in, or a symptom of, pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is two times more likely to occur in people who have diabetes than in people who do not have diabetes. In pancreatic cancer patients…
The following article, copied and pasted from the internet, affirms what we have been averring here at APR for the past five years. The continued waste of funds on embryonic stem cell research must come to an end. NFL quarterback…
In the 3-21-86 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) an article was published describing in detail the patho-physiology of Christ’s death on the Cross. It is the most, scientific, graphic and detailed explanation I have ever…
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical building block that is used in the manufacturing of polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastic is a lightweight, high-performance plastic that possesses an exceptional balance of toughness, optical precision, high heat resistance, and…
According to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, the phrase “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” dates back to at least 1615 when Miguel de Cervantes published Don Quixote. This comic novel follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano who set…
No this isn’t about an audible floor vote in Congress where ayes and nays make the difference in legislation and the Speaker pounds the gavel and pronounces “The ayes have it!” This is about a physician’s ability to make a…
Citizens for Objective Public Education (COPE) put the answer to that question this way: “Objectivity opens rather than closes the minds of students. It encourages critical thinking about answers to ultimate questions that may profoundly affect the way they choose…
Objectivity implies impartiality, neutrality or detachment. Look up the antonym for objectivity in any Thesaurus and you will find that the word is “subjectivity.” That expression is synonymous with bias, prejudice and devotion to a cause. Its antonym is in…
Community Health Improvement Project Specializing In Holistic Office Training and Treatment Services Goals: Chipping away at health care costs by improving the health of our local citizens. Methods: – Developing special clinics to deal with the two leading causes of…
Here are some positive solutions to health care reform. First Principles 1. Abide by the Constitution. 2. Do no harm – especially in the arena of civil rights including the rights of conscience, therapeutics and privacy. 3. Empower doctors and…
In the previous blog I posited the notion that today’s elder population, of which I am part, will probably be the last one to set records for longevity in the 21st century. I already have pointed out the first of…
NBC’s former anchorman, Tom Brokaw wrote in his 1998 book The Greatest Generation, “It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.” He rightly said so because they had lived through the great depression and fought and…
The American College of Physicians updated its Ethics Manual in 2012. Having read it through once again, two points in the section of Human Rights struck home to my sense of morality, and with which I entirely concur: “Participation by…
Back in the late 30s, 40s and early 50s, while I was growing up and summer was arriving, my mom would always designate one of our few closets in which to sequester our wool clothes and blankets, complete with an…
There appeared a commentary in the October 13, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) entitled, Wisdom a Neuroscience Perspective: co-authored by Drs D.V. Jeste and J.C. Harris. The opening paragraph of the article began, “Philosophers,…
– Give people now on Medicare (46 million of them as of May 2011) one of two options: (1) stay with the current program and continue to pay the monthly premium ($96) out of their SS checks plus whatever they…
It’s graduation time and the ACLU (Which should stand for Atheists Civil Liberties Union) is making certain that God and His name are not invoked in any of the ceremonies. Philosophers have long pondered the question as to why something…
