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Oct 7, 2024

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California Schemin’

Caesar Against Christ Yet Again


“The State is the Divine Idea as it exists on Earth.”[1]

Jesus answered [Pilate], “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.[2]

“Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s”[3]

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD”[4]

The die has been cast in the Golden State:  Those officials holding, or who have held, the Office of the Attorney General repeatedly use their Statist power to oppose Christ and His precepts.  Most recently, Attorney General Rob Bonta sued a Catholic hospital for allegedly failing to provide “emergency” abortion services.[5]  Is this just a “culture war” matter?  Is it simply “politics as usual”?  Or, is this yet another expression of the Truth having been exchanged for the Lie: The State – part of creation – being worshiped and considered ultimate, instead of the Creator God?  Let’s get to the gist.

A Cautionary Word:  Neither Panic nor Apathy

When we encounter political positions that oppose Christians and their views, we can react in two opposite, but equally mistaken ways.  First, we can panic and act as if the sky is falling and Armageddon is near.  This reaction often expresses itself in hyped and overheated rhetoric: “Democracy is done if Candidate X loses (or wins)”; “If Candidate X loses, this will have been our last real election;” “This is the most important election in history,” “America is facing an existential crisis.”  The antidote for this faithless panic is:  calm down.  We live in precedented times.[6]  Christians have seen and experienced Statist misbehavior for millennia.  We’re still here; and there’s nothing new under the sun.[7]

The second mistaken reaction is apathy or worse, succumbing to a hapless determinism – que sara sara.  This reaction corrodes man’s moral agency, undermines the Second Great Commandment, and thus ethically undermines the Imago Dei.  The antidote to this?  Remembering that the Tomb is empty.  Our lives are not stalled in the Fall; we live in the era of Redemption accomplished and applied,[8] an era in which the very gates of Hell – defensive devices, mind you – shall not prevail – come what may.[9]  Christ is subduing His enemies.[10]  

With these points in mind, let’s survey Caesar’s efforts against God and His standards.  Caesar doesn’t enjoy much actual long-term success, despite headline generating PR machines.

Caesar Against Christ:  How’d That Work Out?

California’s hostile legal conduct lacks innovation.  California is engaging in the same tired attacks on Christ’s people and His precepts that have existed for millennia.  Jesus noted that this conduct actually blesses God’s people:  

 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.[11]

Redemptive history is strewn with pompous arrogant Statist leaders opposing God.  Because they cannot touch Him, they rush to crush His people and malign their good works.  Yes, Christians experience evil; however, these Caesars lose in the long run.  Let’s consider several scriptural examples, examples given to us “for our instruction.”[12]

Pharaoh the Dense Statist

Pharaoh Precludes the Worship of God

Consider the Jews’ captivity in Egypt.  Moses and Aaron sought on behalf of the people, an opportunity to worship the true and living God.  Pharaoh smugly rejected that appeal:

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”[13]

Pharaoh then turned the screws:  he commanded them to get back to work, but in a punitive way that increased their burdens: making bricks without straw.  Pharaoh believed that harder work would crush their impulse to worship:

The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”[14]

Surprise:  God “Baptizes” Pharaoh and His Henchmen

We know the story, and even our children sing about the “horse and rider thrown into the sea.”[15]  But do we see how Covenantally poetic it is?  A Statist leader opposes the worship of the true and living God; he then, despite seeing miracles and being afflicted with plague after plague, hardens his heart toward God.  God then, as this leader, his army, and his chariots pursue God’s people, “baptizes” them by immersion “so the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD:”[16]  

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.[17]

Pharaoh thought work would dissipate worship; God used a sacramental worship device – a “baptism,” if you will – in the midst of Pharaoh doing his evil-minded work to destroy him.

Saul the Statist King

Statist opposition to God’s purposes and people is not limited to worldly pagans, that is, those outside the covenant community, like Pharaoh.  Sometimes Statist opposition to Christ’s ways stem from our own tribe.  Consider King Saul.  Saul, motivated by both fear and envy, as a King wielding State power, acted to oppose David, God’s anointed, and sought to have him killed, as summarized:

From the moment Saul started to see David as a potential rival, jealousy consumed the king of Israel, and he began to think of ways to kill the son of Jesse. He twice cast his spear at David while the young man was playing his lyre, yet David remained in the king’s service (1 Sam. 18:6–11). When these attempts on David’s life did not succeed, Saul removed him from the court and placed him in charge of a thousand Israelite soldiers, doubtless to put David in 

Like Pharaoh, it did not end well for Saul.  His cowardice manifested itself in suicide:

The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.[18]

Absalom – The Power Grasper Who Needed a Haircut

King David’s son likewise sought to be “the Man” in the Kingdom.  He held no official office, but he conspired by flattery and lying to plot his father’s demise.  In doing so, he “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”[19]  This conspiracy launched a lot of dramatic Bible-story swashbuckling, yet again did not end well for Absalom:

And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.[20]

Jabin, King of Canaan, who Picked the Wrong Fight

Though the Lord had decreed that Israel would inhabit the Promised Land, Israel encountered pockets of resistance.  King Jabin opposed God and His people – and sought to make war against them.

Israel, led by the Judge Deborah fearlessly confronted Jabin and his large and well-equipped military, led by General Sisera.  After being routed by God at the hand of Barak, Sisera squirted away on foot – a cowardly act:

And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.[21]

Sisera’s escape and refuge proved short lived.  And, again it did not end well for this cowardly Statist operative.  Sisera learned the hard way that “the friend of my friend is NOT necessarily my friend.”  We might say “he got the point” too late:

But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.[22]

Then Jabin, the Statist King who had picked a fight opposing God, encountered:

The hand of the people of Israel [who] pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.[23]

Game.  Set. And Match goes to God’s people.

Haman – The Power-hungry Bureaucrat

The Book of Esther chronicles yet another confrontation between Statist wonks and God’s people.  There we encounter a bureaucrat named Haman, who King Ahasuerus promoted, advanced, and “set his throne above all the officials who were with him.”[24]  Haman took furious offence when Mordecai, a Jew, refused to bow down to him. Haman then “sought to destroy all the Jews” throughout the entire Kingdom.[25]  Evil melodrama wound through the kingdom, with Haman constructing large gallows designed to execute Mordecai based upon false testimony and lies. How’d that work out?  Not so well for Haman, the elevated bureaucrat:

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.[26] . . . 

Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews.[27]

God vanquished the enemy of His people and gave them the enemies’ “stuff.”  And, God used a pagan King to do so.

Nebuchadnezzar:  The Prideful Ponlop

Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian Prefect, laid siege to Jerusalem, ransacked the Temple, and carried many Jews back to Babylon.  There, God’s people became slaves and were ordered to worship idols.  When Daniel and his friends refused, the King’s anger raged, and he had the young men thrown into a super-heated furnace.[28]  And God delivered them.  The King became like a beast[29] and when restored confessed:

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,

      for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

            and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;

      all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

            and he does according to his will among the host of heaven

            and among the inhabitants of the earth;

      and none can stay his hand

            or say to him, “What have you done?”

      At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.[30]

This turnabout reflects what the Psalms depict:  Rulers “kissing the Son”[31] and all kings will “fall down before him” and “all nations [will] serve him.”[32]  Sometimes God destroys his enemies by converting them.  We too were God’s enemies who became His friends.[33]

Herod the Baby Killer

Not every Statist learns the lesson of Nebuchadnezzar. Consider Herod.  Threatened by the coming Messiah – the King of Kings – he “sent and killed all the male children under two in Bethlehem.”[34]  After directing this deceptive murderous campaign, he died unremarkably.  But his legacy of evil echoed in his family line, particularly his son and in his son’s family.

Herodias, the Wicked Adulteress

Opposition to God’s people can also occur because paganism despises God’s standards, not just His people.  John the Baptizer publicly stood for God’s creational norm and standards for marriage.  Because he possessed moral clarity and moral conviction on this matter, he exercised moral courage by confronting the King, Herod Antipas, about his unlawful marriage:

For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”[35]

In a move that shows sin cannot be contained, Herodias, who had long despised John,[36] concocted a plan involving her own daughter. Her daughter impressed the King by dancing for him.  The king was so enthralled that he purposed to grant her by oath any request.  Herodias persuaded her own daughter to request John’s head on a platter – and it was done.[37]  When the State or its official actors reject the reality that their power is derivative,[38] not absolute, they do things because they can do so – to the destruction of many, if not themselves.

Statists Against the Common Good

Jesus sends the 12 disciples.  He tells them they will do marvelous things, things that utterly benefit the whole community, whether they follow God or not – and at zero cost to anyone.  The disciples will: 

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.[39]

Yet, Jesus further informs them to anticipate opposition – Statist opposition from officials and their collaborators despite having done these miraculous and clearly beneficial good works:

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.[40]

The reality is that the Christian life, faithfully and publicly lived, contains an irreducible offense.  Be prepared.  On the other hand, a lack of persecution and Statist opposition may simply mean one’s faith has become tepid[41] or too private.[42]  Though we pray for a peaceful, quiet, and godly life,[43] we are to be salt and light impacting,[44] if not confronting and exposing,[45] the world’s schemes, acting to deliver us from that evil.[46]

1st Century Cancel Culture Then and Today

Today’s culture increasingly instantiates Critical Theorist Herbert Marcuse’s notion of “repressive tolerance.”[47]  Marcuse, a radical designer of the New Left developed the predicate – in 1965 – for what is commonly called “cancel culture.”  The idea is that some ideas should be suppressed and censored in an effort to “liberate” the “oppressed” from those holding cultural hegemony:  Western cultural norms aka Christianity.  Academics today also question the value and use of free speech, contending that the 1st Amendment has outlived its purpose.[48]  Hillary Clinton recently pushed for State regulation of social media, fearing that “We lose control” without it.”[49]  Question: Who’s “we”??!!  I digress, but understand:  Statist censorship is nothing new, especially regarding speech involving Christian belief and practice.  Early on, the disciples encountered hostility from officials.  What did these officials propose?  Stifling religious speech:

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.[50]

And, the book of Acts records further instances of Statist opposition to the Gospel’s proclamation.  These persecutions ebbed and flowed as the church grew – and as Tertullian noted, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”[51]  

Roman persecution lacked subtlety; Christians were routinely gathered, tortured – or worse – and murdered grotesquely under Nero[52] and traditionally under Domitian.[53]  And, today, the same Statist opposition remains, though Caesar’s weapons are less crude, but no less alarming.  Understand that these statist efforts as not merely political; they represent deep worldview commitments that oppose God, His Image, and His creational norms.  Enter the Caesars of California.  

California Schemin’ – Same Song, Different Verse

Let’s consider actions by California’s former Attorney General, Kamala Harris.  She vigorously defended – as did her successor, Xavier Beccera[54] a state law mandating that pro-life pregnancy resource centers – frequently operated and funded by Christians – refer clients to “free” state-funded abortion centers.  This position not only opposes life, a gift of God, but also comprises unconstitutional compelled speech.  It’s one thing to silence a political opponent, which is sufficiently wrong in itself; it’s quite another to coerce an opponent to speak – confess – a message wholly opposed to their convictions.[55]  Yet, this is precisely what the California law imposed, and both Harris and Beccera enthusiastically championed it with a straight face.

Thankfully, the Supreme Court recognized the constitutional flaws in this legislative scheme.[56]  Caesar is hardly undefeated, yet his opposition to Christianity remains undeterred. 

California’s opposition to Christianity and creational norms, including its assault on life, continues.  As mentioned, the current Attorney General, Rob Bonta, initiated litigation against a Catholic hospital, essentially punishing it for acting consistently with its Christian convictions, trying to force it – against those convictions (as well as sound medical expertise) – to perform abortions.[57]

On another front, General Bonta vigorously opposes parents from being informed about – let alone consenting to – injurious so-called “gender affirming” measures performed upon their own children.  He contends that the state’s constitution prevents such disclosure to parents; notice the spin his office puts on this measure:

Forced disclosure policies require schools to inform parents whenever a student requests to use a name or pronoun different from that on their birth certificate or official records, even without the student’s permission or when doing so would put them at risk of physical, emotional, or psychological harm. Such policies also require notification if a student requests to use facilities or participates in programs that do not align with their sex on official records.[58] 

Do not be deceived.  These smooth words typify what motived the Apostle Paul to warn Christians as they encounter concepts and views contra to Christ, the Creator:

I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.[59]

Bonta, in the same vein, again using the power of Caesar and a smooth tongue, opposed a ballot measure designed to protect minors – that is, children – from being subjected to harmful and damaging “gender affirming” actions.[60]  In an Orwellian, if not Kafkaesque flourish, Bonta asserts that stopping disclosure to parents somehow benefits the child yet fails to acknowledge this places the child on a conveyor belt leading to irreversible hormone-infused mutilation.  Yet, notice how his office spins it, using language that tickles ears,[61] while concealing what’s really entailed by these practices:

The ruling permanently halts enforcement of the Policy’s provisions that required schools to inform parents, with minimal exceptions, whenever a student requests to use a name or pronoun—or access facilities or programs—that do not align with the sex on their birth certificate or official records, even when the school district knows that such disclosure will result in mental, psychological, or physical harm to the student.[62] 

Sacrificing children can hardly be rightly categorized as preventing “mental, psychological or physical harm.”  Injecting children with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and then mutilating their perfectly healthy reproductive systems comprise actions – which by definition – constitute “mental, psychological or physical harm.”  Bonta’s strident opposition to parents even being informed of this situation involving their own children – let alone having a say in whether to subject their child to this life-long hormonal dependency – reflects great moral darkness.  And, it ignores real medical truths.[63]

A Concluding Word

California’s Schemin’ Caesars – Harris, Beccera, and Bonta – despite having sterling law school credentials (Hastings, Stanford, and Yale), deploy a moral compass devoid of truth and justice.  Because “law is a backstage pass to theology,”[64] we can see that these California Caesars advance an idolatrous ethic, where the truth has been exchanged for the lie.  Put bluntly, when you’re in the killing and mutilation business, lying is easy.  They are truly California Schemin’.  Pray that they learn the lessons of Pharaoh, Jabin, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, and the other Caesarian Statists who also opposed the Creator God – and in doing so, one way or another, came to “know that I am the LORD.”[65]  His is the way of life[66]; yet “all who hate [God], love death.”[67]  By their fruit we will recognize them.[68]


[1] Hegel, https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1346145

[2] John 19:11

[3] Jesus, Matt. 22:21

[4] Ps. 127:3

[5] https://truthout.org/articles/california-sues-catholic-hospital-for-denying-woman-necessary-abortion-care/

[6] Brian Mattson, Precedented Timeshttps://brianmattson.substack.com/p/precedented-times

[7] Eccl. 1:9

[8] John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (1955)

[9] Matt. 16:18

[10] 1 Cor. 15:25

[11] Matt. 5:10-12

[12] 1 Cor. 10:11; see also, 1 Cor. 10:6

[13] Ex. 5:1,2

[14] Ex. 5:6-9

[15] https://hymnary.org/text/i_will_sing_unto_the_lord_for_he_has_tri#google_vignette

[16] Ex. 14:4

[17] Ex. 14:21-28

[18][18] 1 Sam. 31:3, 4

[19] 2 Sam. 15:6 – sadly, this pattern of fomenting a coup still occurs in Christian circles and ministries – this is no doubt one reason God hates“[A] false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Prov. 6:19

[20] 2 Sam. 18:9 – ironic that Absalom, in attempting to supplant David – a Christ figure – died by hanging on a tree – just as the true Messiah did.  (Gal. 3:13)

[21] Judges 4:15, 16

[22] Judges 4:17-22

[23] Judges 4:24

[24] Esther 3:1

[25] Esther 3:6

[26] Esther 7:9, 10

[27] Esther 8:7

[28] Daniel 3:13-18

[29] Daniel 4:28-33

[30] Daniel 4:34-37

[31] Ps. 2:10-12

[32] Ps. 72:11

[33] John 15:15

[34] Matt. 2:16

[35] Matt. 14:3, 4

[36] Mark 6:19

[37] Matt. 14:6-11

[38] Jesus reminded another Statist leader of the limits of his authority during His own trial:  Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” John 19:11 

[39]Matt. 10:8

[40] Matt. 10:17-19

[41] Rev. 3:16

[42] Matt. 5:14-16

[43] 1 Tim. 2:2

[44] Matt 5:13-16

[45] Eph. 5:11

[46] Matt. 6:13

[47][47] Herbert Marcuse, Repressive Tolerance (1965), https://www.marcuse.org/herbert/publications/1960s/1965-repressive-tolerance-fulltext.html

[48] Two decades ago the ACLU supported curtailing free speech relating to political campaigns: https://www.marcuse.org/herbert/publications/1960s/1965-repressive-tolerance-fulltext.html

This view is becoming increasingly popular:  First Amendment outdated, should be rewritten, say majority, [capitalization in original],  https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/31/first-amendment-outdated-should-be-rewritten-major/

Academics, who during the 60’s fawned over protecting speech like “burning draft cards” [United States v. O’Brian, 391 U.S. 367 (1968)] and vulgar anti-war slogans on high school jackets, [Cohen v. California, 403. U.S. 15 (1971)] have now reversed course.  For example Columbia professor Tim Wu seeks to constrict free speech:  A Law Professor’s Beef With a First Amendment ‘Spinning Out of Control’:  Too  Much Speech of the Wrong Sort, https://reason.com/2024/07/02/a-law-professors-beef-with-a-first-amendment-spinning-out-of-control-too-much-speech-of-the-wrong-sort/

[49] https://nypost.com/2024/10/06/us-news/hillary-clinton-warns-that-allowing-free-speech-on-social-media-means-we-lose-control/

[50] Acts 5:27-30

[51] Every apostle except John, died at the hands of the State or its agents, executed for their message and their faith.

[52] https://www.thecollector.com/how-did-emperor-nero-treat-christians-during-his-reign/

[53]The Domitian persecution is now subject to historical revision: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/post-biblical-period/domitian-persecution-of-christians/  However, there is no doubt Christians and Christianity remained legally unprotected and socially excluded until Constantine’s Edit of Milan in 313.  https://www.christianitytoday.com/1990/10/313-edict-of-milan/

[54] Both Harris and Beccera actively climb the political power pyramid.  Harris, after a short stint as California Attorney General became a US Senator making room for Beccera to become Attorney General.  Harris then became Vice-President and then President Biden, no doubt with Harris’ input, appointed Beccera as Secretary of Health and Human Services – in their mutual assent, the Harris and Beccera opposition to life and their promotion of state-funded abortion has been a central and unrelenting focus of their political life.

[55] In some ways, this coercion is not unlike Mao’s “Struggle Sessions” in which political opponents were made to confess conformity to the State’s official narrative:  Doug Bandow, The Chinese Revolution:  Lessons for America’s Cancel Culturehttps://www.cato.org/commentary/chinese-cultural-revolution-lessons-americas-cancel-culture

[56] https://nifla.org/nifla-vs-becerra/

[57] https://truthout.org/articles/california-sues-catholic-hospital-for-denying-woman-necessary-abortion-care/- the patient aborted her child at another facility; this tells us that the State’s real objection is not primarily the denial of the option to kill one’s child, but the fact that Christians have the gall to hold a different life-affirming position, which the State’s Ceasars despise. 

[58] https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-issues-legal-alert-warning-school-districts-against

[59] Col. 2:4

[60] https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&id=332793

[61] 2 Tim. 4:3

[62] https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-superior-courts-final-ruling-against-chino-valleys-forced

[63] Miriam Grossman, Lost in Trans Nation:  A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness (2023)

[64] Jonathan Burnside, God, Justice, and Society (2010), https://academic.oup.com/search-results?page=1&q=backstage&fl_SiteID=191&SearchSourceType=1&fl_BookID=25931

[65] Ex. 14:4  For insight into how to pray for those serving in political office, consider the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1662/baskerville.htm

[66] John 14:6

[67] Prov. 8:36b

[68] Matt. 7:16

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