Great changes came to Starkville, Mississippi in the early 1930s. A new school name, Mississippi State College, was implemented as well as the change in nickname from “Aggies” to “Maroons” in 1932. In 1933, Mississippi State joined the SEC and from there things began to take off.
1936 was a landmark year. The stadium was expanded with 8,000 concrete stands on the West side, and steel bleachers on the East side plus endzones to increase the permanent seating to 20,000. Scott Field played was host to a 26-6 win over Mississippi to end a 10-game winless streak vs. the (newly named) Rebels. A 7-2-1 record led the Maroons to their first bowl invitation: the Orange Bowl (loss to #14 Dequesne 13-12).
The golden years of Mississippi State football (1939-1947) ensued shortly thereafter. Allyn McKeen led the Maroons to a 61-15-2 mark during that time frame, including an undefeated season in 1940 (10-0-1) and the SEC Championship in 1941. Unfortunately, most of the biggest games outside of the battle for the Golden Egg did not take place on Scott Field. They were held at neutral sites or the opponent’s home field. So despite having such great teams, the student body missed most of the big wins.
McKeen’s first year ended with a win over Ole Miss to be 8-2. The 1940 team won the Orange Bowl on January 1, 1941 to finish 10-0-1 (Tennessee won the SEC with a 5-0 record to State’s 4-0-1).
The next season they went 8-1-1 and won the SEC. Their final regular season game was a win at San Francisco on December 6, 1941. The next day was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Every man on Mississippi State’s football team enlisted to fight in World War II so they did not play in a bowl game despite being conference champions. Alabama went to the Cotton Bowl in their place, beat Texas A&M and claimed a national championship.
The 1942 team got off to a slow start but ended the season 8-2. MSU canceled 1943 season due to WWII. Despite these setbacks, State pulled off a nice run in the mid-1940s:
1944: 6-2
1945: 6-3
1946: 8-2
1947: 7-3
One bad season in 1948 (4-4-1) ended Allyn McKeen’s tenure as head football coach. Mississippi State then descended into obscure mediocrity for about 30 years.
Jesus is King. He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. His birth on earth was a rescue mission to defeat sin and death, and strip them of their power over humanity.
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing
Now, because of Jesus, every single person can receive the Holy Spirit and eternal life in heaven with Jesus! Each time a new believer professes their faith in Jesus and turns from their sin, all the angels in heaven rejoice!
Joy to the world! the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sound joy
Worship the King! Worship the King! Jesus did it! He is Risen! He has defeated evil! He has given us the Holy Spirit and abundant life in Him! We are free from sin! JOY TO THE WORLD!
He rules the world with truth and grace
Jesus is the PERFECT King. He is full of truth and grace. The truth of his Word is the key to understanding life and how to live. By his grace we are set free – he has paid every debt we owe.
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
Israel knew God, but the other nations did not. Then Jesus came to save not only Israel but all people. He has opened the Kingdom of Heaven up to every single person who places their faith in Him.
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders and wonders of His love
Nothing is better than Jesus! He came into the world as a baby so that he could grow up and experience humanity. He died so we could live. Jesus is love, perfect love that surpasses all understanding!
People today want to skip Thanksgiving. As soon as the calendar turns to November, folks are putting up Christmas decorations. It started with retail stores, but now it’s also in family homes that are so ready for Christmas they are content to skip over Thanksgiving.
Besides the fact that Christmas is a holiday distinctly tied to winter weather (most of the traditions come from winter solstice customs) and November is distinctly fall, skipping Thanksgiving is not only disrespectful of American history but also advances far left ideas about our future.
History
The first Thanksgiving was a three day feast among the Pilgrims and 90 members of the Wampanoag native people. The Pilgrims gave thanks to God and to the native people who helped them survive their first year in Plymouth.
The Pilgrims were deeply religious. Before getting off the Mayflower a year earlier, they signed a compact to pledge themselves to the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. The bounty they enjoyed in those three days was a praise to God for their survival in the New World.
The story of Thanksgiving includes incredible evidence of divine providence through the story of Squnato. He was kidnapped in 1605 and taken to England. There he learned English, and when he returned to his home land in 1618 he found that his Patuxet tribe had been wiped out by a plague the year before. When the Pilgims arrived in 1620, he was able to communicate with them and taught them how to farm the land. Squanto also brokered a peace treaty that would last for 50 years.
A decade later, the Puritans came to build a “City on a Hill” that would be the example for all other communities in how to live out the Christian faith. They saw ‘New England’ as an opportunity to start fresh with this endeavor.
Modern historians have difficulty comprehending the powerful spiritual movement that led thousands of Puritans to New England. Instead of the typical caricature of square fundamentalists who hate pleasure, they were actually political reformers who called people to obey scripture and fought against evil by calling it out.
When the Puritans arrived in New England in 1630, the native population was estimated to be around 50,000 – 60,000. In an area of 64,000 square miles, that means native lands could conservatively be divided into one person for every square mile (640 acres).
The Puritans needed land, so they acquired sections of wilderness from the native people through trade, treaties, spoils and claimed land when debts couldn’t be repaid. This was necessary as the Puritan population swelled to an equal amount as the native population by 1675.
The Puritans’ calling was to advance the Kingdom of God, so they sought to integrate native people into Christianity whenever they were willing to do so. The native people viewed land ownership as communal, and not something to permanently sell. This led to misunderstandings and mounting tensions as they tried to coexist in neighboring communities.
In 1675, a new generation of Wampanoags and Puritans brutally fought each other in King Philip’s War. The result was a massive loss of native population and the Puritans seized large amounts of land. This effectively ended the native resistance to settlers in New England.
Modern day historians insist that English settlers stole native lands. It is very evident every time there is a “land acknowledgment” apologizing for what they see as an atrocity perpetrated on native people by white men. There are revisionist theories that the American Revolution was actually about land grabs rather than liberty and independence.
The end result of what happened to Native Americans is disappointing. A large amount of English settlers came to a sparsely populated land. The inhabitants of the land chose not to concede it any of it without a fight. Neither understood the other’s way of life. Maybe both were at fault. It’s chronological snobbery to assume we would’ve done it better considering we were not there, and hindsight is 20/20.
Future
As a nation and a culture, we did move on. Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a holiday in 1863, choosing to remember the initial good relationship between settlers and native people before things went sour. Despite a long history of celebrating this event, the far left has chosen to dig up old wounds to further their agenda.
Why are they so hell-bent on the idea that white men stole native land?
The answer is pretty clear when you look to Marxism. Within communism, there is no private property. Everything is owned by the state.
In a way, the native people held a similar belief. They did not own individual property, but instead shared it with one another. They had a more primitive Marxist ideal, one that could never be replicated again.
Communism, however, is very much on the table for the far left. Abolishing private property is a core principle of their system.
Critical theory asserts that all owned property in America is illegitimate because it was stolen through a system of domination by settlers over native people. A huge step in restoring America’s land to its original caregivers is to abolish private property. That would be the ultimate prize for their goal of communism.
Private property is the manifestation of your physical and mental labor. It is more than just physical real estate; it is guns, privacy, thoughts, ideas and what we pass on to our children. Private property is a barrier that prevents the state from complete authoritarian control.
Christians believe our rights come from God, not government. Communists (which are atheists exclusively) believe our rights come from government, not from God.
Liberty is having the ability to make our own decisions and to work for our own property without interference from the government. Government taking the property of others and redistributing it without consent is tyranny.
Save Thanksgiving
We must fight to save Thanksgiving. Do not skip over it and start preparing for Christmas. The far left has already successfully created a dual observance recognizing Columbus Day and “Indigenous Peoples’ Day”. Thanksgiving is next.
Right now, the left just wants to whisper in your ear about how you stole the Native American’s land. It’s all a set up for the ultimate goal of eliminating private property so liberty can be abolished once and for all.
The United States is the first democratic republic in the history of the world, so the Bible doesn’t have too much to say about how voters should approach elections.
There are many ways a citizen can approach voting:
Christians are called to obey Jesus’ commands above all else. So how should we take this into account when voting?
Out of the items in the above list, moral values should be at the top. While the others are important, the Bible focuses more on morality than any of the other issues.
Part of the Great Commission is the teach people to obey all that Jesus has commanded. That starts in the home, then the church but then also the state. It is important that nations are following a Biblical worldview as God set up the nations to be a check against evil, maintain order and protect life. If one nation is corrupt, other nations stand against their evil.
Morality is where we get laws. Laws are enacted and enforced through the elected government.
Laws in a country calibrate the consciousness of its people to determine what is true, right and good. Laws that follow Biblical truth point people back to the Bible because they lead people to accept its teaching since it’s already part of their consciousness. Secular progressive laws point people away from the Bible because their consciousness is calibrated to view the Bible as oppressive, hateful and problematic.
Laws that are tied to Biblical morality ensure that Christianity is valued in the culture. It promotes liberty and points people back to the source: Jesus. Laws that follow the path secular of progressivism flood the culture with disordered morality and hinder the flourishing of the gospel.
Good governance should not be a distraction from the gospel nor should it be the primary tool for spreading the gospel. It essentially works as pre-evangalism, helping the gospel spread more easily.
Paul wrote in Galatians 3 about how the Old Testament law was intended to point people to God. In Galatians 3:24 he says, “the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith”. In the same way, the laws of a nation can point people to God.
With regard to the personal backgrounds and actions of politicians being a factor in how you vote, here is something to consider: politicians who say they stand for Christian values but act in a way contrary to Jesus’ teaching are almost always immature Christians. They know the truth, understand the commands but are really just spiritual babies in positions of power.
You can have the head knowledge of Christianity, agree with it and advocate for it without actually repenting of sin and surrendering to Christ. This is how a lot of Christians, and politicians, live their lives.
The Bible has plenty to say about the conduct and morality of authorities, but basing your vote on that is what leads many Christians to abstain from voting. Not voting is to forfeit the privilege of advocating your worldview on governance.
God can use individuals or collective groups that are not fully devoted to him to still accomplish his mission….he has done it many times. It is more important to see the big picture that Biblical morality is promoted and defended against the diametrically opposed popular viewpoints of moral relativism, critical theory, secular progressivism, Marxism, Islam and globalism.
America’s history has deep Christian roots. Everything about the aspirations of the earliest settlers to the core principles of the founding fathers, the country’s morality and purpose is tied to the Bible.
As literacy increased in the early Renaissance, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. In 1455, his first large-scale endeavor was the Bible. This eventually led to the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517. The Puritans emerged in the late 1500s, and out of that came the Separatists (Pilgrims) that eventually fled to the New World.
The Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620. The Pilgrims braved a treacherous voyage over the Atlantic fleeing religious persecution. At that time, the Church of England was united with the monarchy, forcing citizens to attend church, follow its doctrine and accept its liturgy. They imposed censorship, imprisonment, surveillance and even execution for dissenting.
The Pilgrims opposed the Church of England because they believed it was corrupt. They wanted a more pure faith without the rituals, vestments and ceremonies.
The Pilgrims fled to Holland, and then to the New World in search of religious liberty. Before arriving in what would become Plymouth, Massachusetts they signed the Mayflower Compact. It was was a self governing document that began by stating their loyalty to God and the guiding principle to advance the Christian faith.
The legacy of the Pilgrims continued throughout the colonial time period. Their Christian faith laid the foundation for liberty.
In 1752, the Liberty Bell was installed at the Pennsylvania State House with the inscription:
“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” -Leviticus 25:10
The Liberty Bell was rung at the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
To declare it’s independence and start the United States of America, the founding fathers included four references to God:
“…law of nature and nature’s God”
“…all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights….”
“…appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.”
…with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.”
Out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, historians gather that 49–50 were clearly affiliated with and active in a Christian church. 5-7 of them were more Deistic/Unitarian-leaning. Zero signers were openly atheist or anti-Christian.
From 1776 – 1789, the United States did not have a centralized federal government with a president, judicial system, currency, taxes, etc. They were essentially 13 allied countries. When it came time to draft state constitutions, they had to build their government on some type of morality. What worldview would they draw from?
At the time of America’s founding, 9 of 13 states required you to be a Christian to serve in government:
Religious Requirements in the Original 13 State Constitutions
State
Year of First Constitution
Religious Requirement / Language
Delaware
1776
Required officials to profess belief in the Trinity and in “Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the World.” (Art. 22)
Maryland
1776
Officeholders had to declare belief in the Christian religion. (Declaration of Rights, Art. 36)
Pennsylvania
1776
Required acknowledgment of one God, and the divine inspiration of the Old & New Testament. (Decl. of Rights, Sec. 10)
New Jersey
1776
Required belief in the Protestant faith for officeholders. (Art. 19)
Massachusetts
1780
Required officeholders to be Christians (specifically Protestants); supported public worship. (Pt. 2, Ch. VI)
New Hampshire
1784
Required legislators to be Protestants; officeholders must be of the Protestant religion.
North Carolina
1776
No one could hold office who denied God, the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old & New Testament. (Art. 32)
South Carolina
1778
Recognized the “Christian Protestant religion” as established; required churches to align with certain Christian doctrines. (Art. 38)
Georgia
1777
Required officeholders to be Protestants. (Art. 6)
Connecticut
Colonial charter still in use until 1818
Strongly supported Congregationalist (Puritan) Christianity; officials effectively had to be Protestant.
Rhode Island
Colonial charter still in use until 1842
Known for religious liberty, but still a broadly Christian colony in culture. No explicit profession of Christ required.
Virginia
1776
Declaration of Rights affirmed freedom of religion but still assumed a Christian framework; no strict test for Jesus Christ.
New York
1777
Required officeholders to renounce foreign authorities (like the Pope), but didn’t explicitly require affirmation of Christ; still broadly Christian.
During the Revolutionary War, in 1777, the continental congress promoted religious instruction for the troops by importing 20,000 copies of the Bible. In 1782, congress authorized a Philadelphia printer to publish the first English Bible in the U.S.
The U.S. Constitution was signed in 1787, ratified in 1788 and the new unified federal government was underway by 1789. It was heavily influenced by William Blackstone, John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu who all drew their philosophies from Christian teaching. Much of the Constitution is rooted in Common Law by Blackstone who was devout.
The separation of powers in the system of checks and balances was influenced by the biblical idea that people are sinful and prone to abuse power (Jeremiah 17:9). Due process (Deuteronomy 19:15-19), rule of law (Deuteronomy 17:18-20) and equal justice (Deuteronomy 1:16-17) were all taken from biblical concepts.
James Madison, who once said, “the only sure foundation for civil liberty is the Bible”, wrote the Bill of Rights in 1789. They became the first 10 amendments to the Constitution in 1791.
The most famous line item of the Bill of Rights is the 1st amendment which says in part, “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Why put this in there? To protect the church from the government. Just as the Pilgrims had fled to the New World from tyrannical Church of England headed by King James.
Fast forward to present day, and the idea of ‘separation of church and state’ has had its original intention inverted. The first amendment is written to be understood that the federal government shall not make any law declaring a national church from a particular denomination. Therefore, the people of the United States may have freedom of religion. That is to say, choose your own denomination without the government choosing it for you.
The modern day idea of “secular neutrality” offers little evidence of how or why we have laws. And laws are legislated morality. Who gets to decide morality in a secular society? America’s laws are inherited from a Christian form of government, however, we no longer have a Christian nation. The incompatibility of that reality has created a lot of friction.
Bibles were read in school classrooms for over 300 years in America until the Supreme Court disallowed it in the 1960s. None of the information above is taught in schools anymore. There has been a revisionist history by academia, demonizing America’s history as a violent and oppressive.
The understood truths of the Bible that America was founded on are constantly questioned non-Christians who believe in secular neutrality and progressives who accept the idea of relative truth. So we are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when we accommodate those ideas.
The solution is to go back to our roots as a country. Back to the core principles of faith, morality, education, law and liberty like the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts points us back to. The standard of morality that our country was built on is the Bible. Without Christian principles you cannot have liberty. America has been by far the most successful country in the history of the world. Moving away from biblical principles is sentencing the country to destruction.
Charlie Kirk had a profound impact on the political landscape during his career. To the outside world, that was what he was known for. To those who followed his leadership within the conservative movement, he was known for promoting a Biblical worldview. Because of this, his memorial service was a spiritual revival meeting rather than a somber remembrance.
Here are 10 core ideas he left behind:
1. Put your faith in Jesus and repent of your sin.
2. Fight evil (spiritual warfare, not physical warfare).
3. Have bold faith: “make heaven crowded”.
4. Get married, have kids and raise families of God.
5. Salt and light change the environments they are in: so preserve truth, beauty and goodness.
Southern Miss and Mississippi State resume their series this week.
State currently leads the series 16-14-1…..although the on the field results are actually in favor of MSU 18-12-1 due to forfiets in 1975 and 1976.
These two in-state rivals last played in 2023, and before that in 2019, 2015 and 2014. Prior to that, State and USM had not played since 1990. The reason: Southern Miss had won 10 of the previous 14 meetings.
This used to be an annual matchup. The Bulldogs and Golden Eagles met every year from 1964-1990 (except 1971 and 1974). And that’s pretty much the entire series except for a couple of Mississippi State wins in 1935 and 1947.
Early on the games were always held in Starkville….11 straight to be exact after the first matchup was in Hattiesburg. The Dawgs were 8-2-1 in those games. Then in 1976 we begun to alternate and everything changed from there. While State won that particular game on the field, it was forfeited due to the Larry Gilliard “discount”.
Then Southern pulled off a string of seven consecutive victories.
After Bulldog wins in 1984 and ’85, the Golden Eagles regained momentum to win another four straight. Finally, Rockey Felker’s crew won in 1989 and 1990 before the series was discontinued until 2014.
The 1980s were a miserable time for MSU to play USM. Every game from 1981-88 was played in Jackson, MS and it was rough on the Dawgs. The final two games were shifted back to the campuses and State fared much better….despite Brett Favre being their QB.
The 1981 game was the only time both teams were ranked….#20 USM beat #15 MSU 7-6. Perhaps the high note in the 80s was in 1989 when MSU beat #18 USM 26-23 – it was only the second time they had been ranked when playing State.
The 1980 season was a great one for MSU, featuring wins over #1 Alabama, #18 Miami (FL), Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss; but it also featured a 42-14 loss to Southern Miss at home. In 1986, a newly expanded Scott Field and new head coach Rockey Felker started the season 6-1 including a win over #8 Tennessee, and they soared to #13 in the polls…but that one loss was to USM.
In the 1770s, a group of brave and faithful men rebelled against the tyranny of King George III. It was an underdog story – the colonists had no standing miliary and they were challenging Great Britian who had the strongest military in the world.
Only one third of the colonists were for going to war with the British. An equal amount of one third were against the war and the final third were neutral. The result was only 3% of the population actually faught in the Revolutionary War.
The odds were clearly stacked against the dreams of the founding fathers, but they persevered anyway. They wanted to be right by God above all. They were willing to fight for this cause of liberty; to build a new experimental country even if they were unsure if it would work.
The founding fathers’ faith in God was so strong they were willing to risk everything. By signing the Declaration of Independence they were putting a mark on their lives. Many of the signers lost their homes and had their families destroyed after the British purposefully attacked them for their roles in the rebellion.
The Declaration of Independence itself includes four references to God:
“…laws of nature and nature’s God” – from the first paragraph to explain where human rights come from, laying down a foundational theistic worldview from the outset. These universal rights which are discoverable by human reason and conscience are only that way because they were divinely given by our Creator. Every human being is sacred because they are made in the image of God.
“…all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…” – from the second paragraph, further cementing their belief in a God who created human beings. And God’s intention was for His creation to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
“…appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.” – from the final paragraph, deliberately calling upon Jesus Christ, the Supreme Judge of the world, to be the one who decides whether or not this declaration is justified and necessary.
“…with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.” – again from the final paragraph, in the last sentence they made a final statement of faith to God and then to each other, putting everything they have on the line in devotion to the cause.
The men who founded the United States of America studied the Bible, knew it, and courageously displayed their Christian faith when they set up this country.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams
“The only sure foundation for civil liberty is the Bible.” – James Madison
“This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” – Patrick Henry
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There is always the critical view of the founders that half of them were slave owners, therefore, not as pious as some want to believe. But the original draft of the Declaration of Independance did include anti-slavery language that criticized King George III for perpetuating the slave trade. Ultimately, the southern states (which leaned more towards loyalism to the crown) did not want to include slavery language in the declaration, so it was tabled until another day and time.
Just as Noah was described in Genesis 6 as a man who was “blameless among the people of his time”, so could that trait be attributed to the founding fathers. In 1776, slavery was widespread among almost every culture. Even in European cultures that had outlawed it on their own soil, they still heavily participated in the slave trade abroad. In consideration of how common the practice was up to that point in the entirety of human history, it’s not hard to understand their worldview.
The deeply embedded customs and means of production (which was an unfortunate evil) at that time should not detract from the core intentions the founders had in laying the foundation of the United States.
America was first and foremost set on the foundation of Jesus Christ. It has never been a perfect nation, but it is one that was designed to follow God. Like all generations before and after, there have been cultural pitfalls that have caused us to fall short of God’s expectation. But the goal is ultimately to pursue righteousness as we grow more and more like Christ every day.
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As time moves along and culture shifts, things tend to mold into a different shape. America is no different. The bedrock principles on which the founding fathers declared independence in 1776 could never continuously be equaled with the same intense application all through the generations. Without the oppression of Great Britian and with the intended freedom of the founders in our grasp, there was a less concentrated effort to apply the original intention.
So in the late 1800s with mass immigration on the rise amid the industrial revolution, what would be the unifying force among Americans? With many different languages, faiths and cultures converging upon the country, how could we keep patriotism alive? Perhaps the answer was the unifying civic symbol of the American flag.
In 1892, Francis Bellemy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance. His original pledge did not include “The United States of America” or “Under God”. Bellemy also included a salute that looked exactly like the one the Nazis used later under Adolf Hitler (which is why the salute was changed to hands over hearts). The intent of the pledge was to recite it at schools and public buildings so Americans could all stand under one cause.
Eventually “Under God” was added to the pledge in the 1950s, mostly to differentiate America from the communist (atheist) USSR during the cold war. By the time this was done, however, America’s Christian heritage was fading into the background.
In schools, American children had switched from a classical education to a Prussian model. The idea was: to keep pace with the industrial revolution schools needed to churn out workers, not critical thinkers. For every turnover in classical studies, something had to be cast aside. It may have taken a century to complete the task (1860s to 1960s), but eventually the Bible lost its place in American schools.
The things you teach children will be what they learn. And the same goes for what you don’t teach them. Leave out Truth and virtue and you get a society absent of Truth and virtue. The same goes for critical thinking, rhetoric and character development.
200 years ago, children went to school and learned about the Christian faith. 100 years ago they learned about patriotism and how the country was founded in the Christian faith. Now they say the Pledge of Allegiance as a mere statement of their geographical location than patriotism, and God is taboo.
______________________________________
The American flag, though bruised and battered from a half century’s worth of abuse, still stands as a unifying symbol in a melting pot culture. The flag stands for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness just as it did nearly 250 years ago. But are those guiding principles still true today?
With a bloated administrative state, countless laws, criminality, corruption and exploitation not being prosecuted…. perhaps people from both sides of the aisle would argue we have drifted too far from the freedoms we once enjoyed. If we are overwhelmed by these issues have we engulfed ourselves in bureaucratic tyranny?
There is no doubt America was founded on Christian principles. But it would be disingenuous to say America is a Christian nation now. That is because, as a country, we do not promote and protect Christian values. We have ceased to ensure that our values, rights and morals align with what the Bible teaches.
Instead of the absolutism the founders based the country on, we have moved to a version of relativism that is indirectly based on majority rule. And when you take God away from the education system that American children derive most of their knowledge, you’re left with a majority that don’t think they need the Bible.
Do the American citizens of today understand that we have freedom not just for freedom’s sake, but because the United States was founded on Biblical principles? Without the backbone of Christ, we are just headed toward whatever random outcome progressivism results in.
The left likes to name Christians who would like to see America get back to its roots as “Christian Nationalists”. I’d suppose that’s not such a bad way to be framed, although they intend for it to be a pejorative term.
What Christian Nationalism should not be is a patriotic theocracy that punishes those that don’t cow tow to the flag or to Christ. What it should be is a movement to get back to 1776 values rooted in absolute Truth from the God of the universe. It should aim to move away from the confusion, chaos and meaninglessness of relativism and into the clear, orderly and purposeful life as intended by our Creator.
The Savannah Bananas have increased their popularity to such a degree that I can find them on ESPN every weekend playing in front of a sold out MLB stadium. It’s a different stadium every weekend – they are popular all over the United States.
I went to a Bananas game in March of 2025. What stood out to me was the total lack of advertisements that were a part of the entertainment. It was in the Braves stadium – and going to a Braves game is about 40% commercials and 60% baseball. The Bananas were 0% commercials and 100% entertainment.
They offer something for everybody, which is rear in today’s society. Little kids like it. Women like it. Non-baseball fans like it. Baseball fans like it. And they keep their prices reasonable so it can be a family affair.
This used to be the way things were. It’s amazing to me that we can get all the music we want for a nominal subscription fee, but concert tickets cost hundreds of dollars. Or a trip to the movie theater cost $15-20 per ticket despite the fact that it will be streaming in a few weeks. When I was a kid, I paid $10-15 for one album, but you could get a concert ticket for ~$20. A movie ticket cost about $5, and that’s when you would expect it to be close to a year before it was made available at the video store.
It’s like supply and demand theory turned upside down. But that’s the way it works in this super-niche, premium offer culture we have now. Everyone is in their silos where they are fed only what they are interested in, and many times have no awareness of what going on in the silos of the person next door.
There’s not much that is made for everyone to enjoy. To me, that what really makes the Savannah Bananas unique.
I’ve heard Nate Bargatze say that part of his comedic approach is to make something for everyone to enjoy. That’s one of the reasons he’s moving to acting….and it’s the primary reason he’s risen to be the most popular comedian in the country.
Michael Jordan was famously apolitical, because “Republicans buy sneakers too”. And he’s filthy rich making over $100 million each year off the Air Jordan brand. He didn’t alienate people, so most people liked him or at least respected him.
The days of a movie or song taking over as a cultural phenomenon are pretty much gone. Those touchstones that provided a shared experience for Americans can’t exist in the social media age where things go “viral”; (but that just means that people who spend most of their time on the internet saw it briefly).
While I am lamenting the foregone days of my youth in the 1980s and 90s, I have to also realize the period of time where we did have those shared experiences is more of an outlier than a historical normality.
Prior to the 20th century, when national radio and TV came into prominence, shared experiences were more regionalized and local. While newspapers have been in existence for the entirety of America’s existence, they were more focused on local events. What was happening in the next state over, or even the next county over was a lot less relevant to their daily lives. What’s more, national newspapers could take days or weeks to arrive.
So, you could argue that for the first 150 – 175 years of the United States’ sovereignty, people were in their silos as they are today. Only, in that time the silos would’ve encompassed entire communities rather than just individuals.
The era that existed in the mid-late 20th century will be the only time in history where the predominate technology influencing the distribution of media was advanced enough to reach all Americans yet limited enough do prevent people from dividing themselves into niche silos.
I don’t know how long Banasa Ball will be popular (because the novelty has pretty much worn off for me) but I hope it sticks around because it’s pretty cool to have something that everyone can collectively enjoy again.
The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 could really be called the parable of the soils. Because it’s the soil that represents people’s response to the gospel.
The first example (Mark 13:19) is the seed that fell by the wayside. This is hard soil. Someone hears the gospel but they do not understand it, so the enemy snatches it up. Their hard soil did not allow the gospel to penetrate.
The second example (Mark 13:20-21) is the seed that fell in rocky places. This is shallow soil. Someone hears the gospel and they receive it with joy, however, it does not take root and does not last.
The third example (Mark 13:22) is the seed that fell in the thorns. This is spoiled soil. Someone hears the gospels, believes it and receives salvation, however, the worries of the world choke out the life of their faith. Busyness, ambition and focus on earthy things are what spoil this soil.
The fourth example (Mark 13:23) is the seed that fell on good soil. This is someone who hears the gospel, responds to it and understands it. They experience freedom from sin, discover their purpose and make a difference for the Kingdom of God.
The way to produce good soil:
Know the look and feel of it (self-evaluate your spiritual life, seek accountability)
Protect it (equip ourselves with the armor of God, be sober and vigilant for attacks by the enemy)
Water it (read the Word of God, pray, seek Jesus, follow the Holy Spirit)
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