Why the post-9/11 message behind The Harbinger hits home for me—and should be read by every American

My first months in prison were filled with overwhelming emotion and brutally honest questions. “God, why do You hate me?,” I remember asking. Another time I cried out, “Are you there, God?” And at one point, I even questioned: Is there really a God to hear my prayer—and if so, is He trying to get even with me for my sins?

I repented of every sin I could remember ever committing, and for any I may have missed and couldn’t remember! I felt God had left me, or worse yet, wasn’t there at all. At the lowest and loneliest time of my life, I cried out and said, “God, even if You are not there, I choose to believe in You and serve You. Even if I die and just go back to dust, I’m going to serve You the rest of my life.”

After those months of repenting, it was as if God spoke directly to me. He let me know He wasn’t trying to get even with me for my sins. “I got even for your sins on the cross,” He said. From that time on, God let me know that He had allowed me to come to prison so I could get to know Him; my loneliness became a time of solitude and study of His Word. read more

Christians must adopt a new “kingdom” plan to see our nation through its current leadership crisis

It doesn’t take a prophet to point out that our nation is in trouble and that the trouble we’re facing won’t go away anytime soon. The body of Christ must prepare to stand in the midst of it to exert influence for the kingdom of God, and the clock is ticking.

At virtually every crisis point in the United States’ history God has provided great men to lead the nation so that we’ve come out the other side victorious and ready to build on what has been won. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt ... the list goes on of men who helped set the stage for the unprecedented level of prosperity and influence the U.S. has enjoyed since 1945. Clearly, God has favored us. 

We haven’t always lived out the full implications of the godly values our founding fathers articulated and that we claimed to believe in. Neither have we always been a moral people by such a basic standard as the Ten Commandments. We did, however, always acknowledge God and His place in our nation at both cultural and governmental levels. read more

Easter took on an entirely new meaning after the sudden death of my 25-year-old son

Six of us piled into our Suburban early on Easter morning. We were silent. I felt empty.

After what seemed like a long road trip, we finally arrived at the local cemetery where the body of my 25-year-old son, Nathan, was buried. He had unexpectedly died in a rock-climbing fall, just one day after we buried my husband’s father.

We slowly made the dreaded walk to Nathan’s grave. A year earlier, no one would have ever thought that this would be our first activity on our next Easter. read more