Hey…what’s your sign? I’m a Libra. You know what THAT means…? Absolutely nothing!

The Swedish Parliament, called the Riksdag, recently shocked the world by passing a new law which bans OnlyFans, one of the most popular pornographic sites in the entire world.

At IFI, we seek to raise awareness of and address cultural and political trends here in Illinois and throughout the nation. An increasing number of these trends pose a threat to human dignity, endangering the lives of image-bearers of the living God from conception to natural death.

Deeds, whether good or bad, must have consequences. Bad deeds must be punished.

There has been an intentional effort underway for several decades to bring down the West. The effort is not an open, direct attack. Rather, it involves eroding the foundations of our culture, eating away at the supports, and corroding the superstructure. The attack is indirect.

George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement greatly affected the respect and support that police officers across the nation receive.

Judging by the frequent surveys of employees in the workplace who seem unhappy in their jobs, you’d think companies would make some serious changes. This does not account for the fact that there are perpetual “grumpies" who wish work itself would go away. There are plenty of those! 

“Obscenity isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children.” – Mike Lee

Amid a major push to “protect” children from parents who refuse to “affirm” gender confusion in children, yet another government school in Colorado is in the spotlight for “transitioning” and “grooming” yet another innocent child.

How is it that our elected officials can be so wrong so often? Take Senate Bill 100, introduced and passed as Public Act 99-0456 in 2015, which was intended to eliminate the so-called school-to-prison pipeline by eliminating the disparate discipline of minority students.

It is with fear and trepidation that I write this piece. The backlash could be intense – the resistance could be full bore. So what is my topic? A hot-potato issue like abortion or transgendersim, or simply religion and politics that gets so many folks so fully worked up? No, I want to discuss things like AI and ChatGPT and so on, especially in terms of believers using such devices for the work of the Christian ministry.

Prayer is a direct line to communicate with God which helps us to align our hearts and minds with God’s perfect will. (Phil 4:6-7) The Bible commands prayer (1 Thes 5:17, “pray without ceasing”). Prayer is an act of faithfulness to God’s instruction. It is also a selfless act of love when we intercede for others’ needs. (Mat 22:39, Mark 12:31, Lev 19:18)

Yet another school district in the state of Illinois has come under investigation from the Trump Administration– and for good reason.

My social media feed has recently been flooded with friends and celebrities participating in the ice bucket challenge. As the trend was taken on by those in my close friend circles, like any sane person, I began to pray nobody would pick me to endure such frigid torture.

President Trump, along with his advisors, are currently in the process of debating government programs to incentivize families to have children and thereby fight the declining birth rate.