For years, we’ve been force-fed the same sickening story. Young Americans aren’t getting married because they simply can’t afford to. The economy is disastrous, wages are too low, and housing costs require selling a kidney.

If we could just inject another thirty grand into everyone’s bank accounts, young lovers would magically sprint down the aisle. It’s a beautiful, thoroughly victim-centric fairy tale that makes everyone nod along. It’s also absolute nonsense.

Government handouts and cultural decay have combined to tell men that effort is for suckers.

A recent report from the Institute for Family Studies dismantles the narrative. The data reveals that the slow-motion suicide of American marriage has less to do with stagnant pay and much more to do with a mind virus that has convinced an entire generation they are too poor to love.

We love blaming the system because it absolves us of our crippling neuroses. But the numbers don’t lie, even if our Instagram feeds do.

Money changes everything?

Inflation-adjusted median earnings for young men recently hit a near 50-year high. Meanwhile, marriage rates continued their downward spiral. If money were the magic libido potion that many claim it is, these trends should move together. Instead, they look like two bitter, screaming divorcees tearing away from a shattered home in opposite directions.

Young men today generally out-earn the idealized pipe-smoking fathers of the 1960s and ’70s. Those mid-century men somehow managed to marry and breed without first acquiring quartz countertops, stainless-steel appliances, or a diversified stock portfolio. They didn’t postpone children until they could afford a five-star Disney excursion. Instead, they embraced the brutal reality of starting with absolutely nothing, expecting to build a life with someone they could love and trust.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, today’s married 30-year-olds own homes at roughly the same rate as their counterparts in 1970. And those homes are massive, bloated monuments to excess, full of technology that would have looked like witchcraft a few decades ago. Somehow, grandparents survived the unbearable trauma of raising kids without an automated espresso maker, a smart home cinema system, or three streaming subscriptions to numb the existential dread.

RELATED: Masked daredevil couple climb to top of Empire State Building to unfurl banner with message

L-R: Jason Mendez/Getty Images; Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Mergers and acquisitions

Somewhere along the line, the classic vow “for richer or for poorer” was replaced with “call me when your credit score hits 800.” Marriage is no longer the launchpad for adulthood, but the prize handed out at the end of an exhausting corporate obstacle course. You don’t get married to build a life any more; instead, you do it to signal to your peers that you have successfully conquered capitalism. What was once the beginning of a life is now a form of social proof.

We can thank Hollywood and Silicon Valley for this psychological castration. For decades, pop culture has glorified permanent adolescence and consequences-free swiping. Algorithms have transformed regular, middle-class existence into an agonizing, daily comparison against 20-year-old crypto-millionaires who rent private jets for 10 minutes to take a selfie. When every engagement announcement looks like a royal wedding funded by an oil cartel, an ordinary life feels like an insult.

The sickness runs deeper than mere vanity, though. We are also witnessing a strange strike among prime-age men who have voluntarily withdrawn from the workforce to master video games in permanently darkened rooms. Government handouts and cultural decay have combined to tell men that effort is for suckers. Why bother putting on a pair of pants and clocking in when you can just opt out entirely and vape in peace?

‘Know your worth’

Meanwhile, modern relationship advice reads like a venture capital prospectus. Young women are bombarded with articles treating courtship like a hostile corporate takeover. “Know your worth,” the influencers scream. “Never settle. Demand a partner who matches your tax bracket.” And if you find him, make sure he can cook, make you laugh, and respond to texts immediately.

It sounds empowering, but it’s actually a recipe for dying alone with 12 cats. A dependable plumber making a healthy living is discarded because he doesn’t match the lifestyle of a fake TikTok entrepreneur posing next to a Lamborghini he almost certainly doesn’t own. Reality cannot compete with a manufactured version of it.

The ultimate irony is thick enough to choke on. The richest, safest, most pampered generation in human history genuinely believes it is too destitute to commit to another human being. We’ve systematically dismantled every single rung of the societal ladder and are now standing around scratching our heads, wondering why the birth rate resembles a flatline on a hospital monitor.

Until young Americans recognize that a good marriage is built on character rather than curated luxury, churches will remain empty, dating apps will remain an endless purgatory, and cats will eventually inherit more apartments than children.

​Birth rate decline, Cultural decay, Dating apps, Institute for family studies, Marriage crisis, Marriage rates, Culture, Men and women, Wealth, Marriage story 

Steve Hemphill is the former CEO of a seven-figure tech company, lifelong cessationist, and now one of the most unusual ministers in America.

Hemphill tells BlazeTV host Steve Deace that his life changed after his father suddenly passed away of a heart attack, leaving behind an “ancient safe.” What he found was a sealed envelope addressed to him and his brother.

“It said, ‘If you boys find this envelope after I’m dead, do not open it. It is not important. Destroy this envelope without opening it, Dad.’ And it was dated about five months before he died very suddenly and unexpectedly,” he explains.

“So, we burned it without reading it. And I think about it every day.”

“I became very curious about heaven because of the envelope from Dad. It made me curious about what was in the envelope. But that also led to a curiosity about what’s eternity really like,” he explains.

As Hemphill began looking deeper into the Bible, he began to realize that spiritual warfare is real.

“If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you got a demon spirit instead. In other words, only people with the Holy Spirit can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’” he says, recalling a run-in he had with a retired professor from Stanford.

The professor walked into a Burger King, saw Hemphill there reading the Bible in a booth, and began to say “some very strange things about the Bible.”

“So, I gently interrupted this guy and said, ‘Dr. Smith, let me ask you a question. Is Jesus Lord?’ This guy got so angry at that simple three-word question that he jumps up out of the booth and starts running circles around the Burger King dining room there, screaming at me at the top of is lungs, ‘No, who is Jesus? I don’t know who Jesus is. I’m wasting my time talking to you,’” he recalls.

“I looked up at him and said, ‘Sir, I’m going to pray for you that someday you can know Jesus as Lord.’ And that made him even angrier. He leaned into me, and he’s spitting through gritted teeth, and he shakes his finger right in my face,” he continues.

“He says, ‘Don’t you dare pray for me.’ And I don’t know why I did this because I’ve never done it before or since. I smiled and said, ‘I can pray for you right now. You can’t stop me.’ And he screamed and ran out of Burger King and slammed the door,” he adds.

“So, that was the story that turned the tide for me and began to open my eyes that there’s modern-day situations where demonic activity is still happening,”

This recognition of spiritual warfare eventually led to Hemphill using “stakes,” which refers to putting the word of God on evil land.

“My buddy was a Christian, and this guy he was friends with was not a Christian. And so, when I met the guy, I said, ‘What’s wrong? What’s your spiritual warfare problem?’ And he said, ‘I have demons on my property, and I’m getting ready to commit suicide,’” Hemphill tells Deace.

“I said, ‘Let’s take some tent stakes and write Bible verses on them and hammer them all the way in the ground on the four corners of your land where this is happening. Let’s read the verses out loud to honor God and pray and ask him to make all these bad things stop in your life and see what he does,’” he explains.

“The next week he became a Christian and wanted to be baptized. And that was just bizarre to me. It was hard for me to swallow,” he adds.

But when another woman came to him for help after having terrifying demonic dreams every night at 3 a.m., he tried the same thing. Her nightmares stopped.

“Next thing you know, they’re asking me to stake out this public school. And we did that, and all the problems went away there. The guy causing them died of a heart attack immediately, 30-year-old guy,” he explains. “I can’t make this stuff up.”

Want more from Steve Deace?

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​Baptism, Steve deace, Steve deace show, Steve hemphill, Demonic activity, The bible, Christianity, Spiritual warfare 

Most of the time when people talk about spiritual warfare, the focus is on the demonic — oppression, possession, attacks, or counterattacks.

But angels are also part of the unseen realm. In fact, according to standard biblical interpretations of Revelation 12, holy angels outnumber demons by about two to one.

And just like demons, angels interact with human beings. Hebrews 13:2 warns, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

“There are stories about angel encounters that have been handed down throughout history — I’m talking about going all the way back to World War I,” says BlazeTV host Rick Burgess.

On this episode of “Strange Encounters,” Rick revisits two of history’s most remarkable stories about angelic encounters.

Psalm 34:7 in action: Angels surround missionaries on cannibal island

In 1858, Scottish missionary John G. Paton and his wife arrived on the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides to bring the gospel to cannibal tribes. One night, hostile natives surrounded their mission station, intending to burn it down and kill them. As the Patons prayed, the attackers suddenly withdrew in fear.

Roughly a year later, they learned from the chief, who had converted to Christianity, why the locals had fled that night: hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords encircled the Patons’ house.

Both Paton and the chief believed the army to be made up of angels.

Over the following decades, the gospel message spread, and thousands upon thousands of former cannibals turned to Christ across the islands.

“Truly a miracle,” says Rick. “And how was this done? With the appearance of big men in shining garments with swords protecting a missionary.”

He then reads from Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”

“This one almost sounds like exactly what happened to John Paton,” he remarks.

The white cavalry of 1918: Golden-haired angel leads charge against the Germans

In May 1918 during WWI, British troops in France were in a desperate position and about to be overwhelmed by a massive German advance. Suddenly, the German soldiers stopped their attack and began firing wildly at something the British could not see. The fighting halted in confusion.

The British later captured two German officers. When interviewed, the officers described seeing a cavalry charge of men in white uniforms riding white horses shining like sunlight bearing down on them. Leading the troop was a towering angelic figure with golden hair, wielding a great sword.

The Germans opened fire, but the riders kept advancing unharmed. Terrified, the German troops broke off their assault and fled in terror.

The heavenly intervention bought enough time for American troops to arrive and capture the Germany army.

“It led to the allies turning toward victory in World War I against the Germans,” says Rick.

While many think that angels do not intervene in human affairs to this scale any more, Rick pushes back.

“I think when we get to heaven that it may be very likely that we meet an angel or angels that we get to converse with that says, ‘You don’t have any idea how many times I was sent into your life to protect you and to help you,”’ he predicts.

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Rick Burgess?

To enjoy more bold talk and big laughs, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Strange encounters, Rick burgess, Spiritual warfare, Angels 

Republican United States Senator Lindsey Graham (S.C.), who turned 71 two days ago on July 9 and who served in the Senate for over two decades, died overnight, according to a statement from his office.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” the statement read. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”

‘He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!’

Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, on July 9, 1955, and received a law degree from the University of South Carolina. In 1982, Graham joined the U.S. Air Force as an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He served on active duty until 1989, in the Guard from 1989 until 1995, and as a member of the Air Force Reserve after that until 2015. He left the Reserve having achieved the rank of colonel.

Graham served stateside during the first Gulf War in legal support of departing troops. He served in Iraq briefly during the War on Terror in both Iraq and Afghanistan and received a Bronze Star for his service.

For most of his career, after leaving active-duty military service, Graham has been involved in politics. He was first elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1992 from Oconee County. Shortly after, in 1994, he was elected to South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District.

After four terms in the House, Graham was elected to replace Strom Thurmond (R) as the U.S. senator from South Carolina. Thurmond had been in office since 1954.

Graham was a strong supporter of an interventionist foreign policy. He was an advocate for U.S. financial support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and had visited the nation shortly before his passing. Graham was also a proponent of military intervention all across the Middle East, including the recent conflict with Iran.

Graham was a longtime friend of fellow Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and supported his campaigns for president of the U.S..

After running for president himself in 2016, Graham became a staunch ally of his opponent in that race, President Donald Trump.

Trump, in a statement on Truth Social, wrote, “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”

Graham was never married and leaves no children.

​Bronze star, Donald trump, John mccain, Lindsey graham, South carolina, Us senate, Military intervention, Obituary, Politics 

Eleven years after the Supreme Court redefined marriage, the robed kings are now attempting to redefine American citizenship.

Notice that I said “are attempting,” not “have redefined.”

‘Whenever a free people should give up in absolute submission to any department of government, retaining for themselves no appeal from it, their liberties were gone.’

Court orders are not self-executing. Nor are they universally binding on the coordinate branches that wield the powers of execution and appropriation. The ruling need not determine how those branches treat future cases.

The Republican response has nevertheless been underwhelming and devoid of urgency — much as it was when the party folded on marriage in 2015.

This time, the stakes are higher. If Republicans respond with the same passivity, we may not have a country left to conserve.

Republicans were apparently so outraged by the ruling that they went on recess for two weeks rather than use the July Fourth period to reassert citizenship by consent of the governed.

Many now insist the only remedy is a constitutional amendment, knowing it would never come close to ratification.

That response accepts the premise that Congress may exercise its powers only within the political rule announced by the court in a case brought by individual plaintiffs.

Conservatives must understand that they cannot comply their way out of judicial usurpation. The political branches must exercise their own constitutional judgment.

Courts do not possess a veto over Congress

Here is the central point Republicans are missing: Courts can decide individual cases. They can affirm, reverse, or vacate judgments.

They do not issue passports, birth certificates, Social Security cards, or citizenship documents to future children born on American soil.

Children already granted citizenship under the prevailing interpretation present a different question. The immediate issue concerns future births.

President Trump should use the veto pen and budget process to prevent the political result the left sought through the court.

RELATED: The courts are running the country — and Trump is letting it happen

Denis-Art/iStock/Getty Images

Congress’ first priority should be a reconciliation bill prohibiting funds for the State Department, Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration, or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to issue citizenship documents to children born to illegal aliens or birth tourists.

Some will call that “defiance” of the Supreme Court.

Last I checked, the Supreme Court does not issue birth certificates. It does not appropriate money for them, either.

Even under a strong theory of judicial supremacy, courts may invalidate a positive action by another branch, such as imposing punishment under an unconstitutional law.

But when a court demands that Congress fund and the executive administer a citizenship regime, the political branches retain the right and obligation to interpret the Constitution for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln made this distinction during his sixth debate with Stephen Douglas.

While acknowledging that courts decide individual cases, Lincoln rejected the notion that a judicial opinion automatically becomes a political rule binding Congress and the president in every future controversy.

“We nevertheless do oppose that decision as a political rule,” Lincoln said in Quincy, Illinois, in 1858, “… which shall be binding on the members of Congress or the President to favor no measure that does not actually concur with the principles of that decision.”

James Madison expressed a similar understanding in his second “Helvidius” essay, describing “a concurrent right to expound the Constitution.”

The branches were designed to check one another, not submit automatically to judicial command.

Use power of the purse

Congress should do more than defund citizenship documents for the children of illegal aliens and birth tourists. It should also restrict jurisdiction and funding for federal cases brought to compel their issuance.

Congress possesses broad authority over the jurisdiction, structure, and funding of the lower federal courts. It also controls judicial appropriations.

That power is not theoretical. Supreme Court justices routinely appear before congressional appropriators to seek funding.

Congress may therefore restrict funds for proceedings intended to force the executive branch to issue citizenship documents contrary to congressional policy.

Such provisions would have an obvious budgetary effect and could be included in reconciliation. Congress could prohibit spending both on the documents and on litigation seeking to compel them.

The same legislation should defund:

the diversity visa lottery;grants to sanctuary jurisdictions and states issuing commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens;Census Bureau operations used to count illegal aliens for apportionment;visas prohibited by presidential orders but revived through lower-court injunctions.

Republican leaders will hide behind the Byrd rule, which excludes provisions deemed extraneous to the budget. But Republicans found ways around it when extending tax cuts, even where provisions increased the deficit.

These immigration restrictions would reduce federal spending.

Where there is political will, there is a procedural way.

RELATED: The founders gave us the remedy for rogue state judges: Impeach

RapidEye/iStock/Getty Images

Confront judicial supremacy now

Eventually, however, the political branches must simply be prepared to say no to judicial usurpation.

The left will always find a judge willing to declare even jurisdiction stripping or spending restrictions unconstitutional.

That is why judicial supremacy must be confronted directly.

Many assume that because no formal veto exists over a Supreme Court decision, the court must possess final authority. The opposite is closer to the constitutional design.

No special veto was needed because the judiciary possessed neither purse nor sword. Courts depended on the other branches to execute their judgments.

Alexander Hamilton described the judiciary as possessing “neither force nor will, but merely judgment.”

Every Republican serious about reclaiming American sovereignty must reach the same conclusion: Judicial supremacy cannot be evaded indefinitely. It must be confronted head-on.

Consider the favored Republican response to the citizenship ruling: Accelerate mass deportations so illegal aliens cannot give birth here. Some lawmakers have also floated restrictions on pregnant foreign visitors.

Those policies are necessary. But the irony should be obvious. The same judges who distorted citizenship law will interfere with every serious immigration-enforcement measure.

Why has the administration struggled to achieve mass deportation? Because federal courts continue to enjoin policies involving ICE arrests, detention, removal, benefits, and visa restrictions. Even policies already upheld by the Supreme Court remain targets.

In Trump v. Hawaii, the court recognized the president’s broad authority to restrict entry from designated countries. Yet lower-court judges continue to obstruct portions of later restrictions.

The same problem will arise when the administration tries to stop counting illegal aliens in the census.

RELATED: Trump’s mass-deportation promise needs receipts

Douglas Rissing/iStock/Getty Images

If Republicans accept judicial supremacy without resistance, judges will almost certainly hold that the 14th Amendment requires every person, regardless of legal status, to be counted for representation.

That argument may even be textually stronger than the claim that every child born to an illegal alien must receive citizenship.

The deeper issue is sovereignty. If Republicans emerge from the final Trump governing trifecta without correcting stolen citizenship, illegal representation, and judicial sabotage of immigration enforcement, the party will have betrayed the promise that launched Trump’s political career 11 years ago.

At that point, another convention and another round of slogans will mean nothing.

Lincoln, citing Jefferson during his fifth debate with Douglas, warned what happens when a free people submit absolutely to any branch of government: “Whenever a free people should give up in absolute submission to any department of government, retaining for themselves no appeal from it, their liberties were gone.”

That is the choice before Congress. Submit to judicial supremacy or use the powers the Constitution still gives the political branches.

The Supreme Court has spoken. Congress does not have to surrender.

​Opinion & analysis, Birthright citizenship, Supreme court, Judicial supremacy, Immigration, Impeachment, Congress, Constitution, Amendment 

A Florida 13-year-old male was arrested after photos of a gun and a written death threat were sent over social media, authorities said Thursday.

Deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the incident on July 7 after the victim’s mother called 911 to report the threat to law enforcement, authorities said.

‘I want to remind parents to stay engaged in what their kids are doing online and who they’re talking to.’

The victim, also 13, received several Instagram messages earlier in the day from the suspect that included a photo of the suspect holding a handgun as well as a written message that read, “Tn 8:00 pm we be there we alr got lo,” which translates to, “Tonight 8:00 pm we be there we already got location,” authorities said.

The victim told deputies he believed the suspect planned to show up at his home and shoot him at 8 p.m. that night, authorities said.

The suspect later told deputies that he and the victim used to be friends but had a falling-out, authorities said, adding that the suspect also stated that he had messaged the victim that day, and they were planning to fight.

Deputies arrested the suspect and transported him to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where he was later transferred to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, authorities said.

“Threats are no joke, and we take every threat seriously. This teen had already made plans to fight the victim, and he made it clear it wasn’t going to be a fistfight,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “I want to remind parents to stay engaged in what their kids are doing online and who they’re talking to. Teach them the proper way of handling disagreements and be the sheriff of your home.”

RELATED: Florida girl, 12, accused of threatening to ‘shoot up’ elementary school, threatening teacher

Image source: Flagler County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

Blaze News has reported extensively on similar arrests in Florida recently:

In May, a 12-year-old girl was accused of threatening to “shoot up” an elementary school and threatening a teacher.An 11-year-old boy who was arrested in March for making a death threat was charged with the same crime in October, officials said.Also in March, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 10-year-old boy and perp-walked him on camera after officials said he threatened to bring a gun to his elementary school and left a kill list in his classroom.In February, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said officers arrested a 12-year-old girl after she posted online a “detailed manifesto” about carrying out a mass shooting at a middle school due to bullying.Also in February, a pair of 15-year-olds were arrested after being accused of threatening to shoot up high schools, police said.In late October, an 11-year-old girl was arrested after writing a “kill list” at her desk at school, police said. Then just two weeks later, an 11-year-old boy from the same school district was arrested after allegedly creating a “kill list” at school, police said.Also in October, a Florida sheriff’s office came under fire for posting a 9-year-old male’s mug shot on Facebook after his felony arrest for allegedly bringing a knife into his elementary school.Just a week prior, that same sheriff’s office said a 10-year-old was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, a third-degree felony, after bringing a pocketknife to school and threatening another student. The sheriff’s office posted the suspect’s name and mug shot.

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​Florida, 13-year-old, Arrest, Instagram, Flagler county sheriff’s office, Death threats, Gun, Social media, Florida department of juvenile justice, Crime 

Tucked into a draw on our Montana property stands a Douglas fir that a forester estimated to be more than 600 years old.

It grows beside a creek, sheltered by surrounding hills from the worst of the wind. The draw stretches back toward the forest and up the mountain, while the opposite hillside rises steeply above it.

God never promised His people a life without storms. He promised His presence in the midst of them. Still, we are tempted to believe the world has somehow spun beyond His control.

It is an easy place to linger.

Long before my father-in-law bought this property, others recognized that. Arrowheads and stone tools have been found nearby over the years. With fresh water, shelter from the wind, and a commanding view of the valley, it was a natural place to camp.

I sometimes wonder who sat beneath those branches centuries ago.

When friends and family visit, I often take them to see the tree. Some stare in wonder. Others shrug.

My father-in-law never shrugged.

He was so taken with the old fir that he made a simple wooden sign and named it “Legacy Tree.”

The name stuck.

Whenever I stand there, I find myself reaching out to touch its weathered trunk.

Sometimes, it helps to touch something living that has survived.

Six centuries have a way of putting things in perspective.

When this tree was young, Christopher Columbus was still trying to persuade Queen Isabella to finance an uncertain voyage across the Atlantic.

While Martin Luther challenged the church in Wittenberg, the tree quietly added another ring beneath its bark.

It stood while America’s founders pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.”

It was already centuries old before anyone called this land Montana.

Generations passed beneath its branches. Empires rose and fell. Men walked on the moon beneath the same sky that has watched over this tree for more than six centuries.

RELATED: America’s birth defect did not define our destiny

Stevanovicigor/Getty Images

History hurried by. The tree kept growing.

It survived fire, lightning, drought, insects, brutal winters, heavy snow, fierce winds, and everything else the Montana mountains could throw at it.

Fallen trees lie scattered across the property. Some finally yielded to age. Others were struck by lightning or brought down by wind and snow.

Why this Douglas fir still stands while others do not is a mystery known only to its creator.

One day, it too will fall.

Until then, it stands because God sustains it.

Jesus told us to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. He pointed to ordinary things people passed every day and used them to reveal extraordinary truths about His Father’s care.

Standing beneath this old fir, I have begun to wonder whether that invitation extends beyond flowers and sparrows.

If our heavenly Father clothes lilies that bloom for only a season;

if He watches over birds that few people notice;

if He has sustained this tree through six centuries of Montana winters, lightning, and fire;

how much more will He sustain His children?

That question lands differently today than it did a few years ago.

We live in an age of perpetual anxiety. Every news cycle insists catastrophe is moments away. Every political fight is described as the final chance to save civilization. Social media rewards outrage.

Fear has become a business model.

Wars rage overseas. Political divisions deepen at home. Each day seems to bring another reason to worry about tomorrow.

Scripture repeatedly tells us, “Do not be afraid.”

The world profits by feeding our fears. Scripture answers by reminding us who reigns.

RELATED: Every child needs to hear: Daddy’s here

A-Digit/Getty Images

God never promised His people a life without storms. He promised His presence in the midst of them.

Still, we are tempted to believe the world has somehow spun beyond His control.

We all endure our own Montana winters and summers filled with lightning: illness, grief, financial strain, broken relationships, uncertain futures, seasons when the wind seems relentless and hope feels scarce.

Standing beneath the old fir, I hear Christ’s words with fresh ears.

Consider the lilies. Consider the birds. And perhaps, if you will permit one Montana addition to the list, consider an old Douglas fir.

Sometimes, it helps to touch something living that has survived.

Each time I leave that quiet draw, I remember that the God who has faithfully sustained that tree throughout its existence has faithfully sustained me throughout mine.

The headlines will keep shouting.

God will remain faithful.

​Montana, Douglas fir, Martin luther, History, Lilies of the field, Scripture, Politics, Opinion & analysis, Caregivers, Faith, Jesus christ, Christianity 

Alex Reads Tarot had nearly 1 million followers, but her following has dropped significantly after renouncing her former practice and publicly declaring her faith in Jesus Christ.

In a farewell message posted to social media, she explained that some might find her decision surprising.

“And some people may wonder how I can be saying this after spending years of doing the work that I’ve done, doing it professionally. But all I can do is be honest,” she said. “I am not going to be offering any more readings or sessions. I’m not going to be creating any more tarot content. And once this account is gone, I will not be returning.”

“And I don’t know exactly what comes next for me, but what I do know is that Jesus Christ has saved my life, and I can no longer ignore that reality,” she added.

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is impressed.

“She had nearly 1 million followers. She deleted all of her tarot-related content, said she would no longer create social media videos. She explained that her change of heart wasn’t something that was sudden, but it happened gradually over the past year,” she says.

“As her faith in Jesus grew, as her beliefs deepened, she found herself wrestling with questions she could no longer ignore. And this is so important,” she adds.

However, her past followers are not impressed.

One commenter on Reddit wrote, “I’m all for people exploring their own spirituality, but I felt so disappointed when she said, ‘Jesus Christ saved my life,’ or whatever she said. She used to seem so open about everything … she could have at least left her videos up since they seemed to genuinely help people. I can’t help but think someone is influencing her in some way. I hope I’m wrong and I hope she finds happiness.”

“Someone like this who is not a Christian on Reddit clearly just doesn’t understand that light can’t have fellowship with darkness, and eventually the light crowds out the darkness,” Stuckey comments.

“You can’t practice witchcraft and promote witchcraft and also be walking with Christ,” she adds.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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​Alex reads tarot, Allie beth stuckey, Jesus christ, Witchcraft, Spirituality, Religion, Christianity, Relatable with allie beth stuckey 

The resurrection lies at the very heart of the Christian faith.

When Paul describes what the gospel consists of, he lists two foundational elements — “Christ died for our sins” and “he was raised on the third day.” Both events happened “in accordance with the Scriptures,” and the risen Jesus was seen by numerous individuals (1 Corinthians 15:3⁠–8).

‘After all the reasoning and all the rationales, I’d still desperately prefer to be a conscious, healthy human being than a corpse. Who wouldn’t?’

Unlike most other religions, whose teachings consist of moral or metaphysical principles, Christianity depends crucially on the historical death and resurrection of its founder.

As New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg observes in his commentary on 1 Corinthians:

Older Eastern religions do not even require the actual historical existence of their founders for their beliefs and practices to make sense. In some ways they are more akin to philosophies than to historical truth-claims (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism). But Christianity lives or dies with the claim of Christ’s resurrection.

‘If Christ has not been raised’

Indeed, Paul states this to be the case: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. … Your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17).

But Christ has been raised, and his resurrection vindicates his divine identity and all that he taught. Having proclaimed that “This Jesus God raised up,” Peter summarizes what this reveals: “God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:32, 36). Similarly, in Acts 17, Paul tells the philosophers in Athens that the evidence that Jesus will one day judge the world is that God “has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (17:31).

Given the centrality of this event to Christianity, is there good reason to believe it truly happened? It’s beyond the scope of this article to provide an in-depth defense of the resurrection, but a few points will suffice to show that it stands on solid historical ground.

Original creed

Returning to 1 Corinthians 15, scholars have recognized that Paul is quoting a pre-existing creed addressing the resurrection in verses 3⁠-7. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in approximately A.D. 54, a mere 20 years (roughly) after Jesus’s death. The creed he quotes, however, is much earlier than this, showing that belief in the resurrection was present from the beginning of the Christian movement and not a later legend that developed over decades, as some skeptics assert.

The eminent New Testament scholar James D.G. Dunn concurs, stating we can be “entirely confident” that this tradition was formulated within months of Jesus’ death. Other scholars date the creed somewhat later, to within a few years of Jesus’ death, but in any case, it is an extremely early witness to belief in the resurrection, and Paul likely received it directly from Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, both of whom were eyewitnesses (Galatians 1:18-24).

Thus, the belief that Jesus rose from the dead was present almost immediately after the crucifixion and was based on the firsthand testimony of those who say they witnessed it.

Our deepest longings

As human beings, we yearn to find meaning for our lives and see death as something to be avoided. The renowned psychiatrist Viktor Frankl observed that the “striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” Likewise, philosopher Clifford Williams points out that we “intensely want our lives to be meaningful, to count for something, to matter not only in individual and social ways but in a ‘cosmic’ way.”

If we accept the West’s dominant philosophy of naturalism, however, objective meaning is lost and mortality is assured. Naturalist philosopher Alex Rosenberg expresses it this way:

What is the purpose of the universe? There is none.

What is the meaning of life? Ditto.

Why am I here? Just dumb luck.

… Is there a soul? Is it immortal? Are you kidding?

… What happens when we die? Everything pretty much goes on as before, except us.

Rosenberg attempts to obscure the implications of naturalism with humor and nonchalance, but it’s undeniable that losing meaning and facing our own extinction is devastating. As physician Alex Lickerman confesses in Psychology Today, “I’ve tried to resolve my fear of death intellectually and come to the conclusion that it can’t be done, at least not by me.”

In that same article Lickerman notes that he’s “always surprised by people who say they’re not afraid to die. … I’ve always wondered if that answer hides a denial so deeply seated it cannot be faced by most. Certainly, this has been the case with me. I love being here and don’t want to leave.”

RELATED: Fine-tuned for life: How our one-in-a-million universe points to God

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No consolation

Most prominent nonbelievers seem to agree.

Even in “The Consolations of Mortality” — a book meant to help readers accept death — writer Andrew Stark admits, “After all the reasoning and all the rationales, I’d still desperately prefer to be a conscious, healthy human being than a corpse. Who wouldn’t?”

Similarly, notable atheist Sam Harris concedes that his philosophy does little to banish dread of mortality: “I think we can admit that atheism doesn’t offer real consolation on this point. … The thing that gets lost, the thing for which there is no real substitute, is total consolation in the face of death.”

Death defeated

But what if death has been overcome and God has a purpose for our lives?

The apostle Peter declares that God has given believers “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead … so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:3, 21). The resurrection doesn’t merely demonstrate that human beings survive death, but that Jesus conquered death for all of us. “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). Even now, while on earth, we can experience “the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).

Contrary to naturalism, for those who place their faith in Christ, life will continue in the presence of loved ones and in fellowship with our Creator. We will fulfill the purpose for which we were created: to know God, to love him, and to enjoy him forever. The paradise we lost in Eden will be regained in a new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21). We’ll spend eternity learning more about God’s infinite nature and enjoying fellowship with his people from every age. We’ll also continue to create things of “glory and honor” that will contribute to the splendor of God’s kingdom (Revelation 21:26). The popular idea that people in heaven will spend their days floating on clouds while playing harps has no basis in Scripture.

Let’s be thankful to God that because of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and resurrection, we have a glorious destiny if we receive this gift. May we also share this good news with those who lack hope and see no real purpose for their lives.

​Christian faith, Mortality, Resurrection, Fear of death, Atheism, Gospel, Jesus christ, Faith