Life Matters - January 28, 2026

Modern man, having rejected God, finds himself in an absurd position: he believes he is nothing but the product of chance, yet he demands meaning, value, and purpose in a meaningless universe.’  - Francis Schaeffer

Modernity, as a movement, entered the United States by way of the New England states first, spreading out from there, profoundly infiltrating some of the major church denominations of the northeast, spreading its deadly tentacles through a captivated set of younger church leaders. Doubts in the infallibility of Holy Scripture grew in equal proportion to the growing acceptance of Charles Darwin’s Natural Selection ideas first printed in The Origin of Species. The resulting materialism which came to be known as modern, when adjusted into church theology, adulterated churches so that their message to the world eventually lost its relevance. To such a degree that many stopped attending as the church’s message became diluted by secular ideas.

‘’Modern’’ was soundly rejected by those of my fortunate upbringing, the Amish and the Mennonites, by the southern Fundamentalists and by much of the Midwest. But modern has had its day and its negative results are deeply felt in what is being referred to as the post-modern world that we live in now. Post-modern does not mean that we, as a nation, have left behind modern, materialist ideas and have now become spiritual-minded people who again believe in the infallibility of God’s Word. Post-modern, in application, merely means that the initial struggle of the modern search for an alternate reality to Biblical precedent is past and that there is no fixed principle of truth, all that we know is in a fluid mixture of change. It is Darwinism on steroids.

It is, however, a fixed principle of truth that our spirit, soul, and body makeup does not do well without meaning. A meaningless life is a purposeless life that we instinctively know has no value. Our body may be ever so comfortable while our spirit and soul become distressed in equal or worse proportion to our physical comfort. This is so because God created mankind with a void that only He can fill. Only He gives meaning to life. He gives meaning that has purpose. Purpose that has value. A life that has never-ending value because it is eternal, has purpose, is never boring, is positive, has unspeakable joy and is full of glory. Times of sorrow as well, but even sorrow has purpose.

Sorrow of this world, however, works death. (2nd Corinthians 7:10) What I hear, read, and see pictures of, about these cold January protests, riots and violent confrontations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials leaves no doubt in me that this emotion-driven outrage is ungodly, suffering from a deadly case of rot at its roots. What I seem to see is a crowd of people desperately searching for meaning, for a purpose to addvalue to lives suffering the lack of Real meaning, value and purpose. Putting oneself in harms way for a ‘’good’’ cause is one way to feel purposeful. Getting paid to do so as Crowds for Hire CEO, Adam Swart, alleges of approximately 10,000 protestors in Minneapolis these days adds an artificial ‘’value’’ to a useless waste of time.

So far two lives have been wasted, shot and killed in aggressive confrontations with ICE officers. In another part of the city an ICE officer reportedly lost a finger when it was bitten off by an aggressive (paid?) protestor. The allegation from Adam Swart needs to be taken seriously as he is in a position to know.

These protests are, or at least were, being egged on by Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, Mr. Walz even going so far as to invoke the memory of Anne Frank (a 15 year old girl, who with millions of her Jewish contemporaries, had her life snuffed out in a Nazi concentration camp) likening her to children of scared illegally here immigrant parents fearing deportation. ICE officials have routinely been called Nazis by protestors and even government officials but the reference to Anne Frank hit a new low in dumping fuel on the fire of lawlessness in the streets of Minneapolis.

I’m sorry that Mr. Pretti is dead. But he did voluntarily pack a 9 mm pistol with multiple rounds of ammunition to a protest where he then got aggressive in resisting federal ICE officers, one of whom reportedly saw Pretti’s gun while its owner was tussling with ICE comrades on the sidewalk. As he was trained to do, the officer pulled his own handgun and eliminated the danger to his comrades and to himself. The takeaway should be: do not get physically aggressive with police officers. They are armed and trained to use their guns when in dangerous situations. They are trained to overcome resistance to the laws they represent.

I’m sorry that Ms. Good is dead. But she did voluntarily resist ICE officials with an SUV she was driving. She voluntarily refused to get out of her vehicle. She voluntarily (or perhaps reflexively by this time) gunned her vehicle at a federal ICE agent who opened fire, killing her. They are trained for such situations. The takeaway should be: do not use your vehicle (or any other object, for that matter) as a weapon against law officers. They are armed and trained for such situations.

Religion has its problems, law and order its challenges. Post-modernism though, whose law, order, and ‘’religion’’ reveres nothing beyond itself is demonstrably dead while it lives.

Seek first the kingdom of God. Where life, death, and all in between has meaning, purpose, and value.                                                                                                                           Life Matters!