There is good news out of Finland. The Finnish Parliamentarian whom you’ve been praying for was unanimously acquitted of all charges. No jail time. No financial penalties for either her or the Bishop of the Mission Diocese who published the article my friend wrote.

Both Bishop Juhana Pohjola and my friend, Dr. Päivi Räsänen, were on trial for quoting from the Bible. Not only were the charges brought by the Prosecutor an offense against freedom of speech, the charges were an assault upon freedom of religion. 

My friend is elated, as she should be. As you might guess, the Prosecutor who lost the case has pledged to appeal.

In the Rule of Law Index published by the World Justice Project, Finland ranks number five in the world for access to civil justice. It’s alarming that a country with this dedication to the rule of law would indict a member of Parliament who is a Christian and a clerical Bishop for quoting from the Bible, knowing that in so doing, they run slipshod over the freedoms of speech and religion.

This makes no sense. The Prosecutor, as reported by my friend and the media, outright lied about what Päivi said even though her statements are written and published. One would think that a written record would cause a case based upon conjecture to be thrown out, not pursued for three years.

Yes, one would think that.

By the way, the United States of America’s respect for the rule of law ranks 26th of the 97 countries evaluated by the World Justice Project and is ranked at the bottom of the top 20% of wealthy countries. And you say, “How can this be?!”

But then you pause to consider the news headlines over the last few years. Cities set on fire by rioters and no charges brought. District Attorney’s in LA, Minneapolis, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, et al who refuse to prosecute felonies, turn blind eyes to exponential increases in crime rates, all while releasing hardened criminals back onto the streets and blatantly refusing to respect the Federal criminal code regarding illegals who commit felonies. These progressive minds express no awareness that there might be a correlation between soaring crime and the defunding of police departments.

One would think that intelligent people could see that what sounded good in theory isn’t working in practice. One would think.

A year ago, America was energy independent—actually energy positive and exporting our excess abroad. Today, fuel prices have skyrocketed and plans are afoot to help Venezuela, an ally of Russia, restart their oil production to alleviate the shortages in America. While the White House disputes the report, word is that the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE aren’t even taking President Biden’s phone calls. What possibly could be the cause of such disrespect?

One would think that bright people would realize that if you kneecap the ability of domestic fuel producers to produce fuel it would create a dearth of product that drives up domestic prices and causes the nation to look elsewhere for fuel. One would think.

Last week, my news feeds were filled with the news that collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas won the NCAA national women’s championship in the 500-meter freestyle. Not since Mark Spitz or Michael Phelps has there been so much attention paid to swimming.

The underlying story is that before swimming with the University of Pennsylvania women’s team, Lia Thomas swam with the U of Penn’s men’s team as Will Thomas.

Even though Lia is biologically a male—meaning that all 30 trillion cells in Lia’s body have an XY chromosome (females have an XX chromosome)—Lia identifies as a woman. About two weeks ago, Lia’s courage was celebrated in the mainstream when she said, “I’m a woman, just like anybody else on the team.”

Even though women’s athletics are Federally protected under Title IX, the NCAA, the U of Penn, the Progressive media, et al have made it clear to Lia’s teammates that any disrespect by them toward Lia will be met with harsh punishment. Their reticence to speak out is understandable.

The media anxious to advance transgenderism effuse about Lia’s “surgical transition” from man to woman. The implication is clear—except the implication of surgical removal of Lia’s male genitalia hasn’t occurred as of this writing.

While the mainstream is celebrating Lia’s success in the pool, her teammates are speaking anonymously about life in the locker room. One woman on the team said, “It’s definitely awkward because Lia still has male body parts and is still attracted to women.”

Since everyone from Sports Illustrated, to ESPN, to the NCAA, and the administration of the University of Pennsylvania is failing to understand, let me be certain you don’t miss the discreet point this young woman is making: In the U of Penn women’s locker room, there are thirty-six naked bodies, dressing and undressing, showering, toileting, performing hygiene—all locker room stuff—and Lia has an erect penis.

I keep waiting for a reporter who covers women’s athletics to ask Lia, “You are consistently such a strong swimmer. How do you manage this consistency when you are having a tough menstrual period?”

One would think in a room full of naked bodies the distinction between thirty-five curvy bodies could be distinguished between a thirty-sixth body with no curves and an appendage you can hang your hat on.

Yes, one would think. One would think.

The rule of law is clear regarding child abuse and endangerment to a child. Stiff prison sentences await those convicted of such crimes—and once incarcerated, the inmates guilty of harming a child are the lowest of the low among those imprisoned. Child molesters, abusers, and killers live hellish lives inside prisons.

One would think it is a no-brainer that civil society should protect the defenseless. Yet, POTUS, Senate and House leadership, many corporations, and the entire Progressive party in America are rabid about protecting the legal privilege to terminate the life of a human infant. My liberal friends are adamant not only in their demand to legally commit infanticide, but euthanasia as well.

The past Governor of Virginia suggested that a woman should have the right to decide whether or not she wants to keep the baby she just birthed—the child lying in neonatal care—or if she wishes to kill the child. By the way, while Ralph Northam was Governor of Virginia he signed into law stringent protections for animals. Children were not so lucky.

One would think.

And that’s just it—the point I’m wanting to make: One would think these issues obvious. XY and XX chromosomes is rudimentary High School biology. A baby in a bassinet is a human being—terminating its life is infanticide. If you curtail production, oil stops flowing and costs go up. Stop prosecuting crime and crime rates climb. What’s not to understand?

But the arguments for and against are like ships passing in the night.

It's tempting to say, “People are just dumb.” 

My Progressive friends are considered nonsensical and stupid by my Conservative friends. My Progressive friends consider my Conservative friends deplorable and demented. Currently, both sides are rallying their constituencies by declaring, “They are destroying democracy.”

Both sides can’t be destroying democracy. But failing to accurately understand what’s transpiring in civil life can certainly lead to our collective undoing.

One would think the sane among us would pull up on the reins of society. One would think our leaders would so whatever it takes to halt this precipitous slide toward travesty. One would think our religious leaders would grasp that the church is failing to function as the church is called to act, but instead, our religious leaders use their platforms to endorse political candidates and party platforms.

If we as a society are not dumb, then what’s to account for our failure to communicate in a reasoned manner? If we express our perspectives using the same language, and have access to the same statistics, and have lived through a shared history, then what’s to account for us talking past each other?

My conviction is that America and the West are not contending with a societal problem but a spiritual dilemma. Failing to properly diagnose our problem is as critical as showing up to the doctor with a broken arm and being prescribed laxative for treatment.

One of my life’s greatest privileges was given to me by my atheist neighbor. About fifteen years ago he invited me to join a wine tasting group that he was part of. I soon found out that while there was wine to taste each Friday evening, the group was really a forum to explore every subject you can imagine. The privilege for me was not exposure to wines I knew nothing about, but that the composition of the group was atheists and agnostics, save one, an ordained Baptist minister, yours truly.

These men weren’t the first atheists and agnostics I’d run across. My university professors were mostly of this enlightened persuasion. But this was my first opportunity to sit with spiritually darkened minds, week after week, exploring every subject known to man, building genuine friendships, and observing how some of the brightest minds I’ve ever encountered processed life’s issues independent of God.

Many Friday evenings, when the group broke up, I would close the door to my truck and say, “These guys are really smart—the most intelligent men I know. But they are utter fools.”

It wasn’t that the conversations at the table were nonsensical. They weren’t. But if man is designed to relate to God and depend upon God, then a man dedicated to independence and isolation from God inevitably becomes a desperate thinker. Fleeing from God, avoiding His overtures, and renouncing His love makes a man do and say foolish things.

It's not that I doubted Romans 1:22, “Professing themselves wise, they became fools,” but I guess I didn’t believe the verse literally meant a fool.

Of course, it’s important to define terms. Some dictionaries define a fool as stupid, an idiot, or imbecile, and this clearly did not describe my Friday friends: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Northwestern; successful, respected, funny; doctor, lawyer, optical physicist, accountant, linguist.

My dictionary of choice is The American Heritage Dictionary. It states that a fool is: 1) One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding. 2) One who acts unwisely on a given occasion. 3) One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe.

I would argue that my lost friends were deficient in wise judgement, good sense, and self-aware understanding. How else would you explain a rationale that thinks it wise to joust with God? Personally, I think their rejection of God, their denial that He even exists, an unwise course of action.

The optical physicist, a Jewish man, and one of the most gracious humans I’ve met, said one evening that scientists don’t have any idea what 96% of the universe even is, let alone understand it. I asked him later, “Do you think it’s possible, that somewhere in that 96% of the universe that is unknown, there might be a possibility that God exists?” My gracious buddy nearly snapped my head off. “I see that differently!” No explanation followed, however.

The actual word for fool in this passage from Romans is the same word used to describe salt that is no longer salty, salt that has lost its savor. In the context of its use in Romans 1:22, it conveys: senseless, dull, without understanding; foolish; tasteless, inert.

The verse prior is telling in its diagnosis: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

In a world designed by God, for God, and held together by God, an individual who denies His existence in order to cling to their independence from Him is destined for their reasoning to become futile speculation.

Here's the deal: You can’t reason with a fool.

That is a scary statement. It’s a statement that has taken a long time for me to put in writing. I have my Friday friends to thank for helping me look Romans 1:22 square in the eye and grapple with its meaning.

The news today is that POTUS wishes to legalize chemical sex change and surgical procedures for children. You, the child’s parent or guardian, will not be consulted. We are preparing as a nation to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, who was selected and nominated by POTUS because she is a woman, who when asked what a woman is said, “I have no idea.” Rep. Maxine Waters (D) assembled a meeting of homeless people to pass out vouchers. When the meeting ran off the rails, Rep. Waters told the homeless people, “I want everybody to go home.” One homeless person in attendance said, “We ain’t got no home. That’s why we’re here. Where we gonna go to?” To that, Rep. Waters grew frustrated and replied, "Excuse me, there’s nobody in Washington who works for their people any f— harder than I do. I don’t want to hear this. No, no, no." Last week, USA Today recognized Rachel Levine, who is a biological male, and serves as US Assistant Secretary for Health for the US Department of Health and Human Services, as one of its women of the year. The Babylon Bee, a satirical website, wrote about Lia Thomas benefitting from “performance-enhancing testicles” and named Rachel Levine their man of the year. Twitter suspended the Babylon Bee’s account for publishing hate speech.

I can’t get past the third definition of fool listed by The American Heritage Dictionary: One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe.

I think of 2Corinthians 4:4 where the text states that “… the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.”

You can’t reason with a fool and you can’t show a blind person the way.

If you open your news feed each morning, read stories like these I’ve named, and find yourself fantasizing a rational argument with those of the opposite persuasion, or consoling yourself that the mid-term elections are coming soon, then you have misdiagnosed society’s problem. Western society is not in need of facts and stats and explanation. Western society is in need of those called to be salt to enter society and create savor and thirst for the One called, Living Water. Western society is in need of those called as light to enter darkened society with the light of Jesus Christ.

The dark foolishness plaguing us, and the blind guides leading us, are people either lost and apart from God or deluded about how God’s Kingdom works. Friends, this is the world you were designed to live in. This is the world you are equipped to speak into. The transformation you celebrate as a redeemed child of God is all the security you need to live as light in a dark place.

Yes, we pay attention to what’s going on politically. We engage. We vote, etc. But we must understand: Our world is not run by intellectually stupid people. Our world is run by spiritual fools, duped into futile speculation by the Prince of Darkness such that their actions are ridiculous.

You can’t reason with a fool because these folks didn’t get to be fools by being clueless. They became fools by determining to live independent of God. Our issues will not be resolved by providing additional information while arguing our point. People living in darkness need light, not an assessment of the dark condition. Our issues will be resolved by shining light into darkness. That is our calling.

Every time you read an inane story in the news, pray. Each day, as you encounter the inanities of life, pray. Only a spiritual enlightenment, a revival of faith in God, will heal our land. Pray.

One of my college degrees is in the study of ancient things: antiquities. So, I spent lots of hours reading and studying ancient literature, cultures, and events.

In my studies, I noticed—and then researched—that all of the miracles Jesus performed were replicated in other ancient writings with one exception. In all of ancient literature, only Jesus is reported to have healed those who were blind.

So in your praying, pray that Jesus will open blinded minds. Pray and ask Him how He would have you practically show His light in the dark recesses where you live and work and play. Ask Him to make you salty through His love.

Salt adds savor to a recipe. Salt also makes you thirsty. It is no accident that Jesus described Himself as the Water of Life. Pray that your life will cause people who’ve lost their savor to become thirsty. This is the moment for which you were called and destined and discipled.

Tony Clark and I continue to discuss important issues on his VineLife podcast. You can view our discussions on the spiritual practices by clicking here.

Please keep Päivi Räsänen in your prayers. Not only is her legal fight not yet over, but many believe that as her trial goes, so goes much of the world’s freedoms of speech and religion.

Finally, I ask you to continue to share my writings with your friends and colleagues. Once again, delivery of both my writing and the devotionals from Lifetime are being throttled. It’s a complex issue to remedy, but it’s not hard to understand why. I value your prayers about this. I must admit that I find dealing with pettiness very tiring. Father knows, however.