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I am a child of the 80s.  I grew up on Mork & Mindy.  It was there I, like so many others, got laugh-after-laugh watching the crazy antics of Robin Williams.

Robin's suicide is old news by now, but I am not a blogger who feels driven to be the first to comment on everything happening in the news, culture, and world.  I like to ponder, consider, read and listen.  I try to do so, by God's grace, with a biblical worldview as my filter.  Like many others, I am saddened by his death, and my condolences are with his family, though they will never know me or even read this blog.  So, my remarks are not meant as anything other than a generic commentary on the situations faced by Robin Williams.

Like most Americans, I was a "fan," not of his political views or personal views, but purely of his comedy.  I was entertained by him, although not everything he did was worthy of my attention.  But when it came to comedy, Williams was the king.  He would walk onto a talk show and the host might as well have not shown up.  It instantly became The Robin Williams Show.  I got a kick out of his insanity and non-stop shennanigans.  But it was obvious from a biblical perspective that Robin wanted the attention.  He craved it.  Needed it.  He in no way wanted the spotlight on anyone other than himself if he were on a stage.  Though it made for good comedy, it speaks to an underlying darkness or struggle.

Louie Anderson on Fox News actually said exactly what I have just said, in his remarks about what made Robin special.  Louie said Robin wanted that stage, that spotlight, that attention.  And he did whatever it took to get it.

Maybe we label him a control freak?  Maybe we label him selfish or self-centered?  Or maybe, like is often the case, his antics were hiding a deep pain or hurt or struggle.  I don't know if anyone has ever studied those voted "Class Clown" by their senior class, but it would make an interesting project to see what hurts and pains might have been under the surface of their ceaseless clowning around.  We all too often put on a happy face to hide a weeping heart.

I do not know what if any religious affiliations Williams had.  His dad was a Christian raised in a mainline denomination, while his mother was a Christian Scientist (with that being an atrocious misuse of the name of Christ).  To my knowledge, at one point in his career, which was plagued by alcohol and cocaine addictions, he credited the humanistic "mind over matter" mantra of Christian Scientism for helping him sober up.

But it's clear now that he found no lasting freedom, no true healing, in looking deep within himself to tap into some supposed "divine spark" or power in humanity.  Indeed, no one who seeks salvation from within himself will ever find it there.  Jesus said what is inside a man is defiled (Mark 7:20-23).  The Prophet Jeremiah said man's heart (his mind and desires) is "deceitful above all else and desperately sick" (Jer 17:9).  Humanism, in whatever form is comes to us, make us our own saviors.  It did not work out practically in the end for Robin, and most tragically it did not work out spiritually either.

I read recently that anti-depressants are now the most prescribed medicines in America.  I also read that over 30,000 people commit suicide in America every year.  Our citizens have been saturated in public schools and universities and by countless media outlets in the religion of humanism / secularlism / materialism and it leads ultimately to nihilism.  This is the view that everything amounts to nothing.  Nothing really matters.  Live.  Die.  Decay.  Fertilize plants.  Repeat process.  

Maybe in a billion more years, we human animals will evolve the ability to see through these satanic lies?  I'm being sarcastic, of course!  These satanic lies are precisely why we are the most wealthy, depressed people on the planet today.  We are looking anywhere and everywhere for glory, satisfaction, and happiness.  Soul deep peace.  And no wonder, we were created for just such things!

But these high ideals cannot ultimately be found in medicines, drugs, drinks, human friendships, marriages, children, self-help books, essential oils, witchdoctors, mantras, yoga, P90X, sports, 4-H or even in the church, per se.  All these may very well be fine in and of themselves.  But needing any of them to cope with life or treating any of them as ultimate sources of power and satisfaction is idolatry.

These things we most crave are found only in the Christ of the Gospel that the Church has proclaimed for two thousand years plus.  I am not saying true Christians never suffer from depression.  The Bible is chocked full of examples of God's redeemed people battling depression.  Read the Psalms.  Lamentations.  Habakkuk.  2 Corinthians 4.  Time and time again you will see God's people lifting their eyes to their Savior God when they are depressed.  To their God and His Gospel and Promises they fly!  And in Jesus the Savior, they find their rest, again, and again, and again, and again.  Until He calls them home to finally and fully experience perfect, eternal peace, joy, happiness, glory and satisfaction.

It's all in Him.  It's all about Him.  It's all for Him (Rom 11:33-36).  Turn your eyes on Jesus, and away from yourselves.  This is the meaning of life:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and for Your pleasure they exist and were created" (Revelation 4:11).

All the money, best doctors, best health foods, best psychiatrists, best secular counselors, best rehab centers and best religions of the world could not save Robin Williams' soul and set him free from sin's heavy chains.  They will fail you too.

God help us give up all fakes and substitutes.  Jesus is the Real Thing.  He is enough.    

Bowdoin College in Maine has joined the slowly-but-surely expanding list of institutions of higher learning that now define "freedom" in terms of tyranny and tolerance (so-called).

Christian groups on Bowdoin's campus must now allow anyone to apply for and obtain leadership positions.  Of course, anyone has always been welcome to attend College Christian Groups as they study the Bible together or participate in various community service activities.  But saying that someone who openly violates fundamental beliefs of a group must now be allowed to vie for leadership in that group is just insane.  Read about it here:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/bowdoin-college-says-gays-must-be-allowed-to-join-and-vie-for-leadership-in-christian-groups-on-campus-121540/

My alma mater (which I am now ashamed to claim), Vanderbilt, did this same thing a year or so ago, forcing most Christian groups off-campus.  One wonders if White Supremacist groups (yes they exist on college campuses) must allow dark-skinned people to seek leadership.  Should Christians also then be expected and permitted to seek leadership positions within GLBT groups, or atheist groups on campus?  Should the Baptist Student Union seek out Roman Catholics and Hindus for their top positions?  Should Philosophy clubs be looking for Engineers who care nothing of the realm of higher human ideals to lead them?  Should Soccer Clubs want non-athletes to bring their pep talks?  Why can't I coach the baseball team?  Big deal I've never played baseball.  Why can't a communist chair the board of a free market economy?  Why can't a pedophile teach Kindergarten?

This is absolute moral and philosophical insanity.  

The burning question we all have, though, is why in the name of all things unholy would an atheist or a Hindu or someone openly committed to murder or adultery or same-sex intimacy even want to lead a group of Christians who believe the Bible is the absolute, authoritative and inerrant truth of God?  For that matter, why would I, a Christian, want to seek leadership in the vile Ku Klux Klan or the gentle local Atheists Club?

Interacting with people of all kinds and all persuasions is definitely something every Bible-believing Christian should do.  After all, we are called to be a witness to Christ and His saving and forgiving power.  The Gospel message must go out to everyone, for "it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes" (Rom 1:16).  But forcing groups to allow anyone of any persuasion to apply for leadership takes this to a level no sane person can even mentally assimilate.

So, this is "academic freedom?"  So, this is "tolerance?"  I cannot just cordially disagree with you and engage you in intelligent, respectful dialogue on why I disagree; now I have to allow you to lead my whole enterprise?  Vive la liberte!  

We all need to remember that universities and colleges are training the generations who will run this country for the next fifty years.  Can anyone possibly hold out hope for a better day in America?

I smell the stench of freedom.  Freedom as it is being defined by our nation's leaders, both present and future.

Feel free to post responses . . . just know that if you disagree with me I will force you off this blog and seek to totally silence your opinions.

Candice Cameron Bure, of childhood stardom, has been an outspoken believer in Jesus Christ for decades now.  She has published books, and is respected among conservative Christian circles.  I, too, have held her in high regard.  So, I want to begin this post by saying "thanks" to Candice for taking a very public and open stand for faith in Christ.

Given her strong faith in Jesus and her professed loyalty to the Bible as God's Word, I was taken aback by her decision to join the cast of ABC's hit show "Dancing With the Stars."  My immediate reaction was to want to scream out at her, "What are you thinking?"  I had to personally stop watching that show after season 2, as the Holy Spirit of God convicted me to "set no evil thing before my eyes" (Psalm 101:3).  And, the sight of barely dressed women frolicking with men who are not their husbands in dances that can only be described as "simulated sex" definitely fit the bill as an evil not worthy of my attention.  I confessed the growing struggle with lust that the show was causing in my heart to my wife, and we have not watched the show since.  This was one way I could "make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires" (Rom 13:14).  God is changing my life to His glory!

So, my first question to Candice is, "Even if you somehow manage to maintain a stance of purity of heart and body on this show, is it honoring to King Jesus for you to participate in such a show?"  1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, "Abstain from every appearance of evil."  By your presence on the show, aren't you contributing to the ongoing promotion and finances of this lust-fest, Candice?  Is this really something you think Lord Jesus would want you to affiliate and link yourself with?

Yet, I see tons of Christian women applauding you, and I have seen numerous morning news show clips where you told your professional dance partner on the show you would be "modest" and not be his little "sexy" dance partner.  So far, so good.

And this morning I awake to footage on ABC's "Good Morning America" of you wearing a dress that had your legs totally exposed and uncovered all the way up to your buttocks and groin area.  You might as well have worn a college cheerleader's uniform!

Candice, you are an attractive woman and I did not need to see that much of you.  It was not at all good for my heart and my own fight for purity of heart and mind and body.  So now I must say, "Thanks . . . for nothing."

And then the same clip on GMA showed you wrap that naked leg around your dance partner, who is not your husband, placing your groin against his while he carried you across the dance floor.  Is this your idea of "not sexy" and "modest?"  Do you know that the morning show talking heads used that clip as a launching pad for encouraging women to sometimes do something a bit risky or sexy with a man who is not their husband in order to create jealousy and re-ignite passion in their marriages?

Is this what you wanted, Candice?  Did you really lack discernment in such large measure that you expected different results from your participation in this sinful parade-of-a-show?  Christian women look up to you!  Young girls in churches are watching you!  Jesus warned, "To whom much is given, much shall be required" (Luke 12:48).  Is this activity of yours honoring such a sacred trust from the One who bled out on a tree for you?

So, on behalf of all us pastors down in the trenches who are fighting every single day against fornication (sex before marriage), out-of-wedlock births, fatherlessness, adultery and porn addictions, and all this not outside the church but inside, I say again . . .

Thanks for nothing.

May God grant you a repentant heart and restore you to a more zealous and Christ-exalting path to purity.  The cause of Jesus would have been far better served by your refusal to join the cast of "Dancing with the Stars."  Imagine the impact of your standing against any appearance of sin!  Perhaps the newsreels would then show you quoting 2 Corinthians 6:14-18?  

Therefore, having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1).  

President Obama just made public his new budget proposal.  I'm not an economist.  I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to develop a budget for a nation as sprawling and, `rank`ly, out of control as the United States of America.  Once a government program is in place, it is almost always impossible to cancel or kill it.  The beast grows heads, and our federal government is Medusa on steroids!

So, I am not at all sure much of anything can ever be done about our budgetary crisis.  I don't think any political party can possibly rescue us from our certain demise, as our debt and continued spending is so astronomical as to be incomprehensible to us average folk just trying to hack out a living every day.

But our certain demise is not primarily about economics.  While I don't discount the critical importance of finances, either for us personally or for us nationally, the main issue always has been and always will be spiritual and ethical.

Jesus, the Son of the One True and Living God, said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Luke 12:34).  In the Bible the "heart" refers to our mind (what we think or believe), our will (what we desire), and attitudes (how we view ourselves and others, and our affections (what we love).  Our hearts follow our treasures.  Period.  So, how we spend time and energy and money and talents and what we fear and worry about reveal who and what owns our hearts.  We worship our treasures, essentially.

Now at this point I just want to take a few slices of the President's budget pie to show where the heart of America is.  OK?  Here goes.  Planned Parenthood, a horribly misnamed billion dollar murder machine, is earmarked to receive 2.86 million dollars.  This despite mass fraud, unthinkable tragedies like the Gosnell clinic, and repeated undercover work exposing their encouraging 14 year old prostitutes to go tell all their friends on the street to come get unlimited abortions, thus ensuring these often enslaved women stay chained to spineless pimps.  No attempts to rescue these women or report the obvious unlawfulness of everything going on in their entire world.  Just so long as you keep the money flowing, we'll pick your babies apart limb-by-limb and keep our mouths shut and eyes closed to your desperate plight.

Not mention Planned Parenthood of Northern New England openly promotes bondage and sado-masochism to teens on their website.  Read about it here: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/planned-parenthood-produces-video-promoting-bondage-and.  Our President thinks this is worthy of hundreds of millions of our dollars.  

Meanwhile, the President wants to cut funds to any and all abstinence education efforts.  Where is our heart, America?

Head Start seemed like a great idea back in the 1960s when it began as a governmental solution to poverty.  The mission statement of this government program is:  "Head Start promotes school preparation by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services."

Sounds super!  Only one problem: The latest HHS Study reveals this program is an abject failure.  It is not accomplishing anything it has set out to do.  Read more about that HHS study here: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/11/hhs-study-yep-head-start-doesnt-work/

So what do we do with an obviously failed, flawed and useless government program?  We increase funding!  President Obama wants Head Start to get $76 billion.  The whole project from its inception has cost $180 billion, but in one year, the President wants to give nearly half that again to this total loser of a program.  And why does Head Start not work?  Dare I say it?  Maybe it's because God Almighty gave children dads and moms to raise, train, teach and educate them and pulling them out of homes as early as possible and turning them over to the government violates this Divine design?!

Where is our heart, America?

Well, it is doing exactly what Jesus said it would . . . following our treasure.

"Oh Lord . . . in wrath, remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).

It was inevitable.

Several years ago, before anyone knew who "Uncle Si" was, I met Phil Robertson and heard him speak at an outdoor men's ministry venue in North Carolina. Although I disagree with several of his doctrinal beliefs (he does not believe children are born sinners, for example, but only become so once they willfully disobey God), what was clear to me was that this Christian man speaks his mind. He was raw back then and unashamed of God's Word. He has not changed.

So, when the plain-speaking Phil and his family became mega-stars, I knew the day would come when an interviewer would ask Phil straight-forward questions and would receive straight-forward, biblically-based answers. And then the real war would begin, or more accurately, the real war that has been raging for several thousand years would reveal itself in clear battle lines. One did not have to have the gift of prophecy to see it on the horizon!

Maybe like me, you are not surprised. Why should it be surprising to anyone that a Christian believes the Bible? The fact that so many in the lost world, be it our neighbors or the media, actually are shocked when Phil or one of us says that we believe the Bible and bend our lives to it only shows how pathetic most who claim the Name of Jesus have become in America. There are so many "non-Bible believing believers" filling so-called churches today that our witness to the world is anemic. How sad is it when tons of people in America really do think Christians are OK with homosexual behavior? How pitiful is it that many in our culture think followers of Christ are OK with the work-discouraging "hand-out" welfare-nanny state that is now America?

These are the very comments that got Phil fired from his hit show. Personally, I am hoping for the Robertson clan to stage a "walk-out" on A&E Network in a show of solidarity with their patriarch. And if they never get their show back, "big whoop." Who cares? Will Jesus condemn them for not smoothing things over by softening their stance on sexual sins? No! On the Great Judgment Day the King of kings will be the One and Only Mega-Star! Every knee, including the knees of Lady Gaga and Phil Robertson will bow to King Jesus on that day. And the only words and viewpoint that will matter on that day will be His!

Can Bible-believing Christians really even expect to be beloved mega-stars in America today? Gone are the days of Roy Rogers. The culture's elite now hate Phil Robertson because he condemned a sinful lifestyle that they love and think should be promoted. The reaction of hate, however, is just as bad when a mother I know refuses to tell Santa lies to her kids this time of year. Her lost family members act like she has just done the worst thing in the world by telling her children the truth instead of trying to prop up poor Jesus and His birth with big fat Satan lies!

Why do people hate it when someone gives up her life and rights to live by the words of God in Christ? Why was Phil so beloved right up to the point he expressed his allegiance to not sugar-coat God's view of sin?

Well, this is what surprises me most - that we Christians are surprised when people hate one of us. We've had it good in America for a long time, but we had better wake up and realize the Supreme Court and our lost culture cares not for our Constitution or our Bibles. They are driven by intense hatred that overrides even the American form of government and our long-cherished rights / freedoms. If given the option to keep the 1st Amendment even if it means Phil Robertson can go on TV and say homosexuality is a sin, or to ditch the whole Constitution in order to force everyone to stop all this "sin talk," it is clear which will be chosen. Our children will not enjoy these freedoms. They are as good as gone and our kids will need to have spiritual spine that far outstrips our own. What will my daughters receive for following Jesus whatever the cost? God only knows, and only He can sustain their faith in the midst of a culture that has an ever-growing hatred for all things Christian.

But why are we surprised by all of this? Why the shock and mass petitions now being signed by Christians? Why are we dumb-founded that one of our "stars" which we perhaps wrongly placed on a pedestal reserved only for Jesus is now being castigated for following the words of Jesus? Why? Have we so quickly forgotten we follow a Savior who was nailed to a cross? Do we now think if Jesus came in our day the American culture would do any less to Him?

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you" (Jesus recorded in John 15:18-19).