U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he would reject any attempt to draft him as a Republican presidential candidate, trying to quash speculation that he could surface as a unity choice should Donald Trump or Ted Cruz falter.

“Let me be clear: I do not want nor will I accept the nomination of our party,” Ryan said in remarks at the Republican National Committee’s Washington headquarters.

Ryan, the top elected Republican in Washington and the party’s 2012 vice presidential candidate, has been the subject of persistent speculation that he could emerge as the nominee if an impasse over the party’s pick develops at the July 18-21 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Ryan has repeatedly said he is not interested in entering the presidential race, but advocates for such a scenario have pointed out that he was cool to becoming House speaker until he was finally persuaded to take over from John Boehner last year.

Some recent steps taken by Ryan generated a new round of political chatter, such as his release of a campaign-style video and a trip to Israel.

Ryan, who will preside over the Cleveland convention, said his goal is to ensure there is integrity in the process.

He said the 2016 nominee should be someone who has actually run this year and said he would urge delegates to pass a rule limiting the nomination only to actual candidates.

“I should not be considered. Period. End of story,” he said.

Still, Ryan offered his views on the state of the race, complaining that “insults get more ink than ideas” and that Republicans still owe it to the voters to show what they would do if given a mandate.

“I believe that we can once again be an optimistic party that is defined by our belief in the limitless possibility of our people,” he said.

Republicans who see a disaster looming in the Nov. 8 presidential election if Trump or U.S. Senator Cruz of Texas is the nominee have harbored hopes of drafting a popular party figure like Ryan or 2012 candidate Mitt Romney.

For that to happen, no candidate would have won the 1,237 delegates required to win the nomination on the first ballot at the convention, and delegates would have to approve a consensus alternative on a second or subsequent ballot.

The latest national Reuters/Ipsos poll said Trump still leads Cruz among Republican voters but that his advantage has been narrowed. Trump had 41 percent support to 35 percent for Cruz of 598 Republicans surveyed from April 8-12.

In the Democratic race, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont each had 48 percent support, according to responses from 719 Democrats polled. The two have been tied frequently since February.

Ryan’s announcement could give some hope to long-shot Republican candidate John Kasich, who portrayed himself as an antidote to what he called the divisive politics of Trump and Cruz.

Kasich Criticizes ‘Path of Darkness’

In a speech in New York City, Kasich criticized his rivals as wanting to take the United States down a “path of darkness” and offered himself as a more optimistic alternative, with a week to go before New York state’s Republican and Democratic primaries on April 19.

Kasich—running a distant third behind Trump and Cruz and with no chance of capturing the Republican nomination unless he can emerge from a contested convention—did not mention Trump and Cruz by name but left no doubt as to who he was talking about.

“Some who feed off of the fears and anger that is felt by some of us and exploit it feed their own insatiable desire for fame or attention. That could drive America down into a ditch, not make us great again,” Kasich said, referring to Trump’s signature line.

Trump is favored to win the April 19 primary in his home state. He holds a huge lead in opinion polls there, with Kasich running a distant second and Cruz in third place.

A victory for Trump would help tamp down concerns among supporters that he is suddenly vulnerable after Cruz beat him in Wisconsin last week and won all Republican delegates in Colorado on Saturday.

At a rally in Rome, New York, Trump blamed the Republican National Committee for setting up a system in which Colorado Republicans picked their delegates without letting people vote.

“The rules are no good when you don’t have democracy,” he said, reiterating his allegation that the delegate selection process was “rigged.”

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told Fox News on Monday that the process for choosing delegates had been set by states for more than a year and was no secret.

In some good news for Trump on Tuesday, he was formally declared the winner of Missouri’s Republican primary, which was held on March 15.

(Additional reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

CLICK HERE to listen to our interview with Katherine Ruonala.

Why is your life on hold while you are waiting for promises to be fulfilled? On this episode of Charisma Connection, Katherine Ruonala shares that God wants to give you joy even in the wilderness seasons of your life.

She teaches that God can still use you in the midst of your waiting because He is not limited by your circumstances, and He can do immeasurably more than you can imagine.

During our interview with Katherine, she also shares testimonies of miraculous healings she has witnessed from around the world. {eoa}

Subscribe to the Charisma Connection podcast free HERE and listen to the stories of ordinary people who are making a big impact for God’s Kingdom.

Katherine Ruonala has a prophetic and healing ministry and travels internationally as a conference speaker bringing a message of love, grace and hope. She and her husband are the founders and senior ministers of Glory City Church Brisbane and oversee the international Glory Gathering church planting network. They have been married for 22 years and have three beautiful children, Jessica, Emily and Joseph. 

Most people probably don’t pay a lot of attention to what Hillary Clinton says, figuring, as we do, that if her lips are moving, she’s lying.

But there’s one issue upon which conservatives, and especially those concerned with maintaining constitutional liberty should pay close attention to what Mrs. Clinton says, and that is on matters related to the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms. 

As leftwing powerhouse influencer Salon observed recently, “Clinton’s campaign recently hit Bernie on the one issue where she resides to his left: Guns.”

Of course as Salon’s Conor Lynch noted, Mrs. Clinton didn’t always hold her current position on gun-grabbing.

In the past Mrs. Clinton bragged about learning to shoot guns as a child and in 2008 she actually hit opponent Barack Obama for his comments about guns. When he opined that that some Americans “cling to guns or religion” Clinton called his comments “elitist” and “out of touch.”

“What might work in New York City is certainly not going to work in Montana,” said Clinton back in 2008. “So, for the federal government to be having any kind of, you know, blanket rules that they’re going to try to impose, I think doesn’t make sense.”

But that was then and this is now.

This time around Clinton has done her best to paint her opponent, socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont (who has a D- rating from the NRA) as a tool of the gun lobby and a closet racist to boot, for saying pretty much the same thing she said back in 2008.

When Senator Sanders said that gun control laws in an urban setting like New York City may not be suitable for a rural area where hunting and farming are widespread, like his state of Vermont, Clinton was quick to pounce.

Now Mrs. Clinton touts in her stump speech the fact that she is challenging the gun lobby, knitting it into her broad pitch that she, as president, will be the champion of those who feel helpless in the face of big corporations, government and cultural mores.

“There are some who say that [gun violence] is an urban problem,” said Clinton, during a speech in Charleston, South Carolina, where the Charleston Church massacre had occurred a few months earlier. “Sometimes what they mean by that is: It’s a black problem. But it’s not. It’s not black, it’s not urban. It’s a deep, profound challenge to who we are.”

“I will take on the gun lobby,” she said to a packed gymnasium at another rally as reported by The Wall Street Journal‘s Valerie Bauerlein. She pledged to fight special interests in Washington, including Wall Street and pharmaceutical companies. “But you know what the strongest lobby is? It’s the gun lobby, which intimidates people, threatens elected officials,” said Mrs. Clinton.

“She lies about the issue in a way to make it seem reasonable, to really advance a radical gun-control agenda,” said NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker, who accused Mrs. Clinton of oversimplifying a complex set of laws and exploiting victims of gun violence.

And of course the NRA’s Jennifer Baker is right—Hillary Clinton does lie, and she is exploiting various violent tragedies for her own political gain.

But that’s not why she is so dangerous to constitutional liberty.

Many liberals live in a Pollyanna world where everyone is (deep down inside) really nice and those humans with the propensity toward appropriation and violence can be brought into the light with a smile and maybe some Midnight basketball, but not Mrs. Clinton.

The Founders of this great republic understood that in order to maintain constitutional liberty its beneficiaries, We the People, must have the means of preserving it. Likewise, those who wish to destroy constitutional liberty and concentrate power in their own hands understand that the first step in doing so must be to reduce the beneficiaries of constitutional liberty to the status of unarmed victims.

And that’s why Mrs. Clinton is so dangerous. It’s not that she has the policy on firearms ownership wrong or her assessment of human nature is softheaded. She has the policy exactly right—if you want to impose despotism on America—and she and her supporters on the Far-Left understand that for them to take power permanently you must be disarmed.

Can you imagine being in need of nothing? Many people want to be self-sufficient, they want to need no one. People love the idea of a self-made man. However, the truth is, if you are human, you were created with a need, a deficit, a lack of something. No matter how hard we try to act like we need nothing, the reality is we are a needy people. I believe we are more aware of our need than we care to admit, for to admit need is to be vulnerable, and people avoid vulnerability at all costs. I believe we are so aware of our need that we have come to believe, preach and teach that God has a need too.

It has been taught that God needs our worship, our love, our time, our obedience. But the truth is, God, Yahweh, Jesus, Yeshua, is in need of nothing. The LORD is an all-sufficient God. He has no need, no lack, no deficit. He does not need our worship, our money, our time, our obedience, He needs nothing from us. He is all sufficient, complete, lacking nothing. He is light in Him there is no darkness at all. He is love, He is truth, He is power, He is God. He is in need of nothing. Once we realize God is all sufficient, all powerful, all knowing, and in need of nothing, we will realize that we need Him, He doesn’t need us.

We as people are the ones with a need. Psalm 121 says, lift up your eyes to the hills from where does your help come from? Deuteronomy 8 says, obey the Lord your God so that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. When I realized this just this week, it revolutionized the way I think. God doesn’t need my obedience, if I disobey it does not change Him at all, but it sure does affect me. My obedience to Him is critical for my prosperity. If I obey the Lord, I am blessed, I manifest my love for Him, I am rewarded. If I disobey Him, I am the one who suffers the consequences, I am the one that struggles, I am the one that loses out. God does not gain or lose anything from my obedience, but I do.

God is all-sufficient, He does not need my worship. He has myriads of angels attending to Him, He has elders bowing down to Him (Rev. 4), I need to worship Him, He doesn’t need my worship. I need to worship Him for my spiritual health, for my growth as a person, for my soul to prosper. God does not change, is not moved and does not diminish in any way if I do not worship, but it sure does affect me if I do not worship.

When the Lord revealed to me that He is in need of nothing, I realized that everything I do is for my sake, not for His sake. It is advantageous for me to worship, to obey, to love and to serve God, but if I don’t, He does not suffer in any way. Every spirit knows the Jesus is Lord, whether I acknowledge that or not is cause for my blessing or battle. God is God, He has been and always will be God, He is not going to cease being God based on what I do or don’t do. He invites me to worship Him for my sake, He invites me to obey Him for my sake, every invitation from God is for my sake, my blessing, my good. He is a very generous Father and a good God, but He is in need of nothing. Which exposes, yet again, my need for Him!

Lisa Great is an author, speaker and blogger with Mouthpiece Ministries International. She has been in ministry for over 25 years, she has a BA in Youth and Family Studies, a M.A. in Education. She can be reached at ; mouthpieceministries.; or on her Facebook page Lisa Great.

We are apparently living in the time described by Paul: “In the last days perilous times will come: For men shall be lovers of themselves … lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:1-2, 4).

This modern age holds more glittering allurements than any other age in history. Yet we find responsible people trying to gloss over these evils. This is not a time to gloss over, rationalize and explain away, but it is a time to oppose evil, lest our society becomes totally corrupt.

The Bible plainly teaches that one of the characteristics of the end of this age is that people will develop a capacity for delusion rather than the truth.

Today, sin is explained away by psychological terminology. God is portrayed as a sentimental creature who never lets His wrath fall on anyone. Thousands of Americans are deluded by philosophies that are destroying the strength of the nation and threatening our security.

Surely we are living in the day of which the apostle Paul warned when he wrote: “And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:10-12).

What a mysterious and striking statement Paul makes, “For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” And yet what a candid picture of modern man: deceived by the mouthings of demagogues, yet indifferent to the voice of God. Driven by some diabolical, compulsive force, we rush toward the precipice of global destruction.

The Bible indicates that because we have rejected the truth, we are victims of a gigantic delusion. Paul had said earlier to the Romans that the people of his day had “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.”

And “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions” (Rom. 1:25-26). Three times in the first chapter of Romans, the Scripture says, “God gave them up” because of their sins.

Everywhere we look today, we see the propensity for delusion. We see it in our gullibility for false advertising. Madison Avenue has built a gigantic business on the principle that modern man has the capacity for deception.

We see this capacity for delusion in politics. Political platforms, like the platforms of trains, are for the sole purpose of getting a man aboard. When we witness the maneuvering, the use of power, the conniving and the policy of expediency in our political arena, it is no wonder someone has said, “We have the best politicians that money can buy.”

The Scripture teaches that the more sins we commit, the easier it becomes to sin. It lies in the nature of God’s moral government and in the moral constitution of man that sin indulged weakens the strength of resistance, and so invites and prepares the way for more frequent and violent assaults of temptation.

Thus, yielding to sin receives part of its punishment in the slavery to sin. All men and women must believe something; if not the truth, then the lie of the devil.

Paul says that the unbelievers in Thessalonica had their pleasure in evil. Thus, they became “wise” in doing evil and fell so deep in sin that they began to call evil good.

Where a person has deviated from the eternal rules of God and morality, there is darkness. And while in darkness, he begins to pass false judgments upon most things of vital import. You, too, can reach such a state in your sinfulness that you can no longer tell the difference between good and evil.

This passage indicates that God sends this delusion upon sinners. The Scriptures and experience suggest that there comes a point when God gives men and women up in their sins. He can do this by withdrawing His enlightening influence from their understanding.

It is never possible to understand the happenings in our times unless God gives us spiritual illumination. Because our sins have become so heinous in His sight, He withdraws this spiritual illumination and we stumble on in our blindness into the deeper darkness.

Even the church is in danger of being led astray and deluded by false teachers and pastors. Jeremiah cried out: “‘Woe to the shepherds [pastors] who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!’ says the Lord” (Jer. 23:1). God warned the people of Jerusalem in that ancient day, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16).

God warned that they say, “You shall have peace,” when there is no peace; that they say, “No evil shall come upon you” (Jer. 23:17) when destruction is about to fall.

God accused the prophets of that day of having perverted the words of the living God, and God warned, “I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten” (Jer. 23:40).

The Scripture teaches that Satan sometimes fashions himself into an angel of light. When the devil approaches to tempt, he does not carry a warning sign saying, “I am the devil.” He comes in a thousand subtle forms, with delusions and lying wonders.

First he brings the delusion that sin will bring fullness to your life.

This was the first delusion that the devil ever brought to the human race. Though it is worn and threadbare, he is still repeating it today. To Adam and Eve he said, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5).

I have a friend who was one of the nation’s youngest golf “pros” at the age of 17. He had high ideals as a young man, but he fell prey to the same delusion when his pals insisted that he conform to their way of life. Because he wanted to fit in, he began to do the things the gang did until he became an alcoholic and a bum. He fell a victim to the age-old delusion that the way to a full life is to break God’s law. Sin pays—but it pays off in remorse, regret and failure.

Many of you think that real fun is found in conforming to this world, living a life of unrestrained appetite and pleasure. Yet the Scriptures warn that “the way of the unfaithful is hard” (Prov. 13:15).

I wish you could look over my shoulder and read some of the letters I receive telling of broken hearts, broken homes and shattered futures. The writers believed a lie rather than the truth.

Second, Satan tries to get us to believe that the soul is of much less importance than the body. Jesus brushed this delusion aside when He asked, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

The Scripture says there is a time to be born and a time to die. The Scripture warns that life is like grass that withers or a flower that fades.

In other words, life is surprisingly short. Yet millions are living as though this were the only life that counted. They have completely lost sight of eternity. Would to God that we would learn to live each day with eternity’s values in view.

Nowhere has the biblical question, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb. 2:3) ever been successfully answered, except in the Scriptures. The answer is: There is no escape from God. Yet thousands of people think that they can escape from the realities of time and eternity.

Men and women are trying to escape through imagination, pleasure, false security or self-sufficiency, but the Bible warns there is no such escape. However, there is good news for all of you who are seeking a way out. There is one way of escape. There is one way of deliverance.

Following the frightening words, “How shall we escape,” we are told about God’s way of escape. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone … and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:9, 15). He is the way of escape that God provided.

The Bible declares, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). The Scripture teaches that He is the embodiment of all truth. Come to Him in simple, childlike faith, and He will be your way of escape. He brings you to Himself, to send you back into the world as His witness.

Finally, many are deceived by Satan into thinking that there is plenty of time to get right with God.

Amos the prophet said to the people of his day, “Prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12). But the people refused to prepare, and judgment came. I am certain that almost all those people planned to make their peace with God sometime.

We neglect our relationship with God because we are deluded into thinking that the Christian faith is just a cosmic fire insurance policy to save us from hell. It does more than that. It saves us from hell on earth.

The older we grow, the dimmer the faculty of hearing becomes. Just so does our capacity to hear the voice of God diminish with age.

You will never find it easier to accept Christ than at this moment. To delay one moment is to find it harder. “Now is the accepted time,” says the Bible. “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

It is a delusion to think that tomorrow will be better than today. Faith in tomorrow, rather than faith in Christ, is a delusion that will cause you to be finally and eternally lost.

©1960 BGEA

Is the current wave of Palestinian terrorism waning? The Israeli Shin Bet security agency’s latest data says yes.

But the agency maintains that the Islamic Movement in Israel is still trying to stir violence on the Temple Mount holy site, and that terrorist groups plan to perpetrate large attacks against Israeli targets in the coming weeks. One of the chief concerns, the Shin Bet says, is that the current lull in violence is designed to conceal preparations for the next large wave of terror.

Speaking at Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, the head of the Shin Bet research division told government ministers that there has been a dramatic decline in the number of Palestinian terrorist attacks in recent weeks. He added, however, that efforts to perpetrate complex attacks such as suicide bombings or abductions of soldiers still pose a concrete threat.

“The Shin Bet and the Israeli security forces have thwarted 290 substantial attacks, including 25 attempted abductions and 15 attempted suicide bombings,” said the official, who remained anonymous. “Therefore, the success of the security forces is even greater.”

Since Sept. 13, 2015, the Palestinian terror wave has claimed the lives of 34 people and injured more than 400 others. The attacks have mainly consisted of stabbings, shootings and car-rammings. Yet there were 20 terrorist attacks in March and there have been only three so far in April, compared to 78 substantial attacks last October, the Shin Bet official said.

“Israel’s actions have convinced the Palestinian public that escalation is futile,” he said, adding that “most of the terrorist attacks were perpetrated by young people. Some of the attacks were motivated by nationalistic sentiments, but most of them were personally motivated by things like financial distress or personal crises. … Alongside these attacks, in recent months terrorist organizations, with an emphasis on Hamas, have been trying to perpetrate substantial attacks in Judea and Samaria and inside Israel in an effort to accelerate the escalation of violence.”

The official stressed the security agency’s “great effectiveness” in preventing Jewish terrorism, citing the arrests of the Jewish group that firebombed a Palestinian home in Duma last July, killing three members of the Dawabshe family.

“This also contributed to calming the escalation,” he said.

At Sunday’s meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Shin Bet’s success in combating terrorism is evident.

“I say this with great caution because this trend could reverse,” Netanyahu said. “But we know this [decrease in terrorism] has been achieved as a result of this government’s aggressive, responsible and systematic policy. And I want to commend the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police for their implementation of this policy.”

Separately, at Israel’s annual commemoration ceremony for past presidents and prime ministers on Sunday, Netanyahu also remarked on the security situation, saying that the current wave of terrorism has been characterized by lone wolf attacks Israel is “not allowing terrorists to organize.”

Netanyahu said that after Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, in which then-prime minister Ariel Sharon tried to crush terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, “the Palestinians realized that we will not hesitate to go deep in order to restore security for the citizens of Israel. We are adhering to this principle: We will go anywhere, whenever necessary. We do it all the time, and the decline that we are witnessing in the number of terror incidents is, among other things, a result of this policy and the way it is implemented by the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Israel Police.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu instructed Israeli security forces and the justice minister to “take action to expel Sheikh Raed Salah,” the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Salah, a vocal critic of Israeli policy, has been accused of inciting to violence against Israel and has been imprisoned in Israel twice. In Sunday’s address, Netanyahu maintained that Salah was actively trying to stir up violence on the Temple Mount, three months after the Islamic Movement in Israel was outlawed.

“We have identified efforts by Salah to sow dissent in the area of the Temple Mount ahead of Passover. This man is a one-man powder keg,” Netanyahu said, recalling that Salah was supposed to begin serving an eight-month prison sentence last November, but that the sentence was postponed at his request.

“This man should be in prison,” Netanyahu said. {eoa}

For the original article, visit .

In late August 1968, two months after an assassin killed presidential candidate Sen. Robert Kennedy and shortly after Republicans nominated Richard Nixon for president, the Democrats gathered in Chicago to pick their candidate.

The Democratic Party “establishment” supported Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was opposed by antiwar contenders Senator Eugene McCarthy and Senator George McGovern. The culminating point occurred on Aug. 28 when delegates debated two rival Vietnam policy planks. The Johnson administration supported the continued, if also limited, bombing of North Vietnam. The opposing “dove plank” called for suspending the bombing of North Vietnam and vigorous negotiations. A raucous three-hour debate, punctuated with shouts of “stop the war” and the New York delegation singing “We Shall Overcome,” ended when the convention voted 1,567 to 1,041 to support the Johnson administration’s plank.

Several months earlier, leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, the anarchic Yippies, Black Panthers and the “Old Left'” War Resisters League met to organize massive antiwar protests during the Chicago convention. Subsequently, while delegates debated, an estimated 10,000 protestors, half of them from out of town, gathered at nearby Grant Park. Television split coverage between the convention and the mob. While speakers inside denounced President Johnson’s Vietnam policies, Yippies outside nominated a pig named “Pigasus” for president. When three young men attempted to haul down an American flag flying over Grant Park’s band shell, blue-helmeted police rushed to stop them but were opposed by demonstrators. When an officer tossed a tear-gas canister, a protester picked it up and heaved it back.

Millions of TV viewers watched as demonstrators faced off against platoons of club-wielding police. Throughout the night and into the early morning, the melee moved between Grant Park, the International Amphitheater Convention Center, and the Democratic Party headquarters in the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Television kept both the delegates and demonstrators informed. After McGovern supporter Sen. Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut declared, “With George McGovern as president we wouldn’t have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago,” the camera caught Mayor Daley shouting obscenities at Ribicoff.

Intermittent violence continued throughout the week, resulting in 668 arrests. Although no one was killed, over 100 demonstrators and bystanders were treated at hospitals. Local physicians treated hundreds more. Police reported 192 officers treated for injuries. Perhaps the most seriously injured victims were Hubert Humphrey and the Democratic Party.

At the Republican convention in July, Richard Nixon, seeking to attract white southern voters feeling alienated from the Democrats, spurned New York Mayor John Lindsay, the Republican establishment candidate for vice president, in favor of tough-talking “law and order” and “state’s rights” advocate, Maryland Gov. Spiro Agnew. Despite the third-party candidacy of Alabama Governor George Wallace, who carried Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, Nixon eked out a narrow victory.

Forty-eight years later, leftist’s mobs, at the behest of , want to torpedo Donald Trump’s candidacy. Donald Trump’s Republican campaign competitors (along with conservative pundits George Will, Charles Krauthammer, and others), fearing Trump cannot beat Clinton, seemingly want what the mob wants: Trump out.

Trump’s Republican opponents need to consider that if Trump wins the nomination the surest way for Republican’s to lose the general election is to stay home come November. Both Trump and the Republican Party will lose if Republicans stay home.

Additionally, if Trump goes to the convention in Cleveland as the leading contender but without enough delegates to win, and a brokered convention gives the convention to another candidate, dedicated Trump supporters will stay home. Trump won’t be president but the Republican Party also may lose. Again, both Trump and the Republican Party will lose if Republicans stay home.

On the other hand,  should remember that for all its “sound and fury” America’s Les Enrages of 1968 and 1972 contributed substantially to Richard Nixon’s election and reelection. History shows that the far left’s antics can easily backfire and work on behalf of Republicans.

In 1968, the antics of the far left fractured the Democratic Party so that it lost five of the next eight presidential elections. While Donald Trump’s bombastic remarks turn off many Americans, they also attract a significant number, though he has stumbled in recent  primaries. Both parties should consider the possible emergence of a 21st-century “silent majority” that won for Nixon and years later, Ronald Reagan. {eoa}

Dr. Earl Tilford is a military historian and fellow for the Middle East & terrorism with The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. He currently lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where he is writing a history of the University of Alabama in the 1960s. A retired Air Force intelligence officer, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, he served as Director of Research at the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute. In 2001, he left Government service for a professorship at Grove City College, where he taught courses in military history, national security, and international and domestic terrorism and counter-terrorism.

Is it just me, or does it seem like people today are way too angry? There have been three highly publicized incidents of road rage in our nation in the past seven days, including one on a New Orleans street that killed former NFL player Will Smith. Last week in Houston, two women began pulling each other’s hair and punching each other in the parking lot of the Houston Zoo. They were fighting over a parking space.

And then there’s the embarrassing video, now going viral, of a woman screaming at an American Airlines ticket agent on March 24 because her flight to Florida from New York  was delayed. She felt she had the right to verbally assault the airline employee because she had been waiting a year to take her children on a Disney cruise.

I don’t know what triggered this sudden volcanic eruption of national anger. Is it too much coffee? Are people not getting enough sleep? Is it social media, which now allows otherwise rational people to mount their virtual soapboxes and launch hateful tirades against the outrage-of-the-day on Facebook: Obamacare, illegal immigrants, racism in Hollywood, Hillary Clinton’s emails, Donald Trump’s tweets or Kim Kardashian’s latest inappropriate Instagram post?

We may not have all the information about the topic we are angry about. But we are upset! We have an opinion! We will stomp our feet and drop F-bombs to make our points! WE WILL USE ALL CAPS AND MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!

This tendency toward exclamatory outrage certainly characterizes the 2016 presidential election. We are so polarized now—Red v. Blue, Fox v. CNN, Trump v. Cruz, Hillary v. Bernie—that close relatives and good friends have stopped speaking to each other. Verbal barbs, laced with profanity, are flying everywhere. Everybody is mad. We are at war, and it is anything but civil.

What grieves me most about this barrage of anger is that Christians are fueling it along with everyone else. In the name of “righteous anger” we lob our verbal grenades—not only at the evils of the world but also at each other when someone disagrees with us.

I want to simply remind my brothers and sisters of three biblical guidelines that are very relevant during this season of frayed nerves:

1. Think before you speak, and consider saying nothing at all. The apostle James said it best: “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James 1:19). My Southern relatives often say of an argument that does not affect them: “I don’t have a dog in this fight.” You don’t have to jump into every debate. Oftentimes, the wisest man is the one who says nothing. Throwing in your “two cents” can sometimes cause a raging fire to spread. Just be quiet and let the fire go out.

2. Promote peace, not arguments. We are called to be “ambassadors” for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). But the best ambassadors are those with tact. They don’t go around stirring up emotions, flaring their nostrils and rattling swords. Skilled ambassadors use wisdom to promote goodwill. This doesn’t mean they don’t confront wrong or bring correction, but their words are “seasoned with grace” (Col. 4:6). The apostle Paul told the earliest Christians: “So then pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another” (Rom. 14:19). Don’t let the devil use you to tear people down.

3. Frame your words with kindness. It is currently hip to be hot-headed, and this is true among both Democrats and Republicans. But the last time I checked, Fox News was not commissioned by God to provide the standard for Christian behavior. Your favorite political pundit may be cheered for his verbal jabs and snappy comebacks, but that does not give you the right to be abrasive with people who disagree with your views. The fruit of the Spirit includes love, peace, kindness and gentleness (Gal. 5:22-23).

The Bible doesn’t have good things to say about angry people. Proverbs 29:22 says: “An angry man stirs up strife, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.” Proverbs 22:24 warns that we should not be friends with hot-tempered people, while Proverbs 14:16 states bluntly that “hot-headed” people are actually fools. Meanwhile the book of James, which has been called the “Proverbs of the New Testament,” declares: “For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

Anger is in style today, and our culture may get so angry that the fury boils over in the streets. But those who follow Christ shouldn’t be taking our cues from this outraged world. A soft answer turns away wrath. Let God filter your words before you say them. Let’s respond in the Holy Spirit rather than react in the flesh.{eoa}

The other day, someone close to me asked me a very disturbing and heartbreaking question about her marriage. “Because of how we got together, is our marriage ultimately doomed?”

I must admit, I was taken aback. It’s no secret to anyone that the husband and wife first came together through an adulterous relationship. However, that was years ago, and I knew the couple—both of whom love the Lord will all of their hearts—had repented and asked for and received forgiveness.

Therefore, according to Hebrews 8:12 (MEV), which says, “For I will be merciful toward their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more,” the two are forgiven and should rejoice because of the fixedness of this pardon.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Hebrews 8:12 says, “It is so final and so fixed that God will remember their sins no more; he will not recall his pardon; he will not only forgive their sins but forget them, treat them as if he had forgotten them.”

From this, we know that God has forgotten the sin. It stands to reason that we, the beneficiaries of God’s grace and mercy, should forget them as well.

Deep in her heart, I know this person knows that she and her husband are forgiven. And the husband knows this too, but he at times hearkens back to past sins. Both are undoubtedly allowing Satan to wreak havoc with their minds every time they have an argument. They begin believing the lies of the enemy, who wants to convince them that they once committed a sin that is “unpardonable” and that they are still committing an unpardonable sin because they remarried.

There is only one “unpardonable” sin in the eyes of God, as it says in Mark 3:28-29, “Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they speak. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal condemnation” (MEV).

It is a condemnation that, because of the grace and mercy of the Cross, is very specialized. I believe you would actually have to be very intentional about committing that sin. But that’s for another column.

Otherwise, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1, MEV).

Please do not think I am advocating divorce or adultery. It breaks my heart to see anyone who goes through the pain of divorce or who is sucked into the perilous and treacherous world of adultery. Both acts destroy families and both destroy lives. Everyone should pray daily against these two destructive spirits. (Pray Psalm 91.)

But if this has happened to you, or you have facilitated either, you should repent, ask for forgiveness and work hard to restore what has been shattered. If you have truly repented, God will honor your heart for restoration.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Ps. 51:1-2, MEV).

With all that King David, and King Solomon, for that matter, were forgiven for, I refuse to believe that someone’s marriage is condemned to failure because of past sins. When the above-mentioned couple asked for forgiveness and repented, they were washed clean:

• “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; they are red like crimson, they shall become wool” (Is. 1:18).
• “If we confess our sins, he is faith and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
• “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19)
• “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14).

I know some women who, years after having an abortion, are still beating themselves up over their past transgression. They can’t forgive themselves for taking a human life.

Ladies, it’s a lie from the devil. If you’ve repented and asked for forgiveness, you’ve been given grace through the Cross. It’s done; it’s over with. Allow Jesus’ selfless act to wipe away your guilt.

As author Christine Hoover puts it, “There are two words to stop self-condemnation—’but God.’“

Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz, who murdered six people and shot 13 in the mid-1970s, accepted God’s grace and forgiveness, as I wrote about here. Although society condemned him, and he will be in prison for the rest of his life, he is not condemned by Christ.

What about you? When you get discouraged and things look bleak, do you begin to believe that your relationship with Christ or your horizontal relationships on Earth are doomed because of past sin?

You can squash the spirit of condemnation immediately by speaking these scriptures:

• “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21, MEV).
• “But because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, whom God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30, MEV).
• “This righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all and upon all who believe, for there is no distinction” (Rom. 3:22, MEV).

Don’t let the devil lie to you. Remember Romans 8:1. Remember, you are not condemned.

And as I always like to say, “there is that.” {eoa}

Step Out of the Boat is a ministry created by Charisma Media Online Manging Editor Shawn A. Akers and dedicated to helping Christ followers strengthen their faith to get beyond their comfort zone and come to a more intimate relationship with Jesus. With its articles, podcasts and other forms of media, Step Out of the Boat encourages Christ followers to daily reach to a higher level in their calling. Please visit . You can contact him at @.

Ever since our ministry, Christ for all Nations, was incorporated in the United States in 1987, we have never owned any property here because we always felt it was our mandate to fast-track all available funds to the mission field to invest in souls rather than in bricks and mortar. We were renting offices in Orlando and were very content with what the Lord had provided.

But several months ago on a Saturday morning, I received a call from our founder, Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. He said, “The Lord spoke to me this morning and said that He has a ‘Harvest Home’ for us in Orlando.”

Evangelist Bonnke believed God wanted to give us a facility of our own. The problem was, we didn’t have a penny in any sort of building fund and had never even considered such a project. But Reverend Bonnke was sure the Lord had spoken, so he said, “I am coming to Orlando, and I want to meet with you right now.” He drove two hours to meet with several of us about the “Harvest Home” that Saturday morning. Obviously nothing could have been done at that very moment. Even if God had spoken, much groundwork, research, and due diligence had to be done.

When I asked Evangelist Bonnke why he was in such a hurry to meet, he said, “I feel that the eyes of God are on me, and I want Him to see that when He speaks, I jump.” Over the next few weeks we were witnesses to a miracle, as literally every penny for the purchase of a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility was provided supernaturally! I saw a direct correlation between Evangelist Bonnke’s wholehearted to God’s word and His dramatic supply of our miracle.

If God has revealed His will to you but you are not sure exactly what to do—do something! Let God see that you take His word seriously and that when He speaks, you respond. As I have already mentioned, even God can’t steer a parked car! You need to give Him something to work with. There are so many people who seek God’s will, find it, and then never see it manifest in their lives because they were never willing to take any kind of action.

Some people are waiting for God to do everything for them. Some people have an attitude that says, “If this vision is from God, then it will just happen on its own.” But my friend, it doesn’t work that way! In Matthew 6:26 Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (NIV).

Yes, it’s true, God provides for the birds of the air, but He doesn’t build their nests for them or gather their food for them. They must spread their wings, and they must do their part. If you are sitting at home waiting for God to spoon-feed His will to you, you are going to be waiting for a very long time. You’d better spread your wings and get moving in faith and obedience.

Show God that when He speaks, you jump! {eoa}

This Bible study has been taken from chapter 17 of Daniel Kolenda’s book, Live Before You Die.

Daniel Kolenda is a missionary evangelist who has led more than 10 million people to Christ face to face through massive, open-air evangelistic campaigns in some of the most dangerous, difficult and remote locations on earth. He is president and CEO of Christ for All Nations and hosts an internationally syndicated television program.