Dear Brothers and Sisters,
“Are you enjoying our Scottish weather?” This is not Scottish weather; was my response it may be chilly (18 degrees C) but there is constant sunshine. For me this is perfect weather – it’s one of the reasons that so many Europeans say they enjoy Australia.
A German told me that he loved the lifestyle and weather here – but missed the culture. For me that is a similar feeling – there is much to love about being here – but there is also a great deal to miss.
One thing I am not sorry to miss is the Scottish parliamentary election. And I will miss it. Over a week ago I tweeted that I was about to fill out my postal vote – which caused someone to ask – do you have a postal vote? Of course, I do – I am registered to vote – and I have been looking at the candidates and party manifestos before I vote. Then to my shock I discovered that my application to vote had been refused. Apparently, I can vote in a UK parliamentary election, but not in a Scottish one. How is that fair? Someone who is not a Scot, who has been living in Scotland for one month – and may leave in a couple of months – can still vote – but someone who is a Scottish citizen, whose family are in Scotland, who is a registered voter, who still pays tax, who has a house in Scotland, who intends to return and who has lived for decades in Scotland, is not permitted to vote. I guess the Scottish government think that anyone outwith their immediate sphere of influence is too dangerous to be allowed to vote. So, I am not allowed to vote in Australia, nor am I allowed to vote in my home country.
Having said that I suppose I should be relieved that I don’t have to make the choice – it’s not a particularly appealing one. Most of the main political parties seem to be operating on essentially the same philosophy and have the same level of incompetence. There are individual politicians in all parties who I would be inclined to vote for – but they are few and getting fewer – people like Jenny Marra (Labour) leaving parliament is a huge loss. But I guess I could sum up my view right now as belonging to the ABN party – Anyone But Nicola. From having voted for her – something I now regret and repent of – I now see her as either one of the most incompetent or one of the most dangerous and divisive politicians of our time. Perhaps she is both. Why do I feel so strongly about this?
Because I believe that Nicola, and the authoritarian cult around her – (aided and abetted by the Greens – ie. the rebranded Communists) is destroying the Scotland I know and love. I don’t think she is doing it deliberately – but that is largely irrelevant. The destruction she is wrecking is happening – whether deliberate or not. And having read her manifesto it is about to get a lot worse.
Let me list the reasons why I hope that by some kind of miracle, she is not re-elected. (although there are a couple of individual SNP MSPs I would vote for, and although I still support Independence). I say ‘a miracle’ because she is almost certain to be re-elected – the opposition is too weak, the cult of Nicola too strong, the media (especially the BBC) too supine and she has most of ‘civic Scotland’ in her pocket. I don’t like personalising politics as though it is all about the leader, but this is so much about Nicola Sturgeon that the SNP apparently even considered having the party name beside the candidate with her name alongside. Whilst at a personal level she may be a very nice person, and she is certainly an excellent communicator – voters should vote not on perceived personality or on communication skills, but rather on policies and what she is communicating. This is what I have picked up so far. (And I have read far more than is healthy for a sane person to do!)
- Unlike her predecessor she is an economic illiterate. Here for example is Nicola apparently not knowing what the difference is between a debt and a deficit. For ordinary punters, that is fine – but not for the leader of the country. The fact that she admitted to not knowing what independence would mean economically for Scots is breath-taking. She promises over £6 billion worth of freebies but doesn’t tell us how she is going to pay for them (other than drawing on the Bank of Westminster – a bank she says she wants to leave.) It’s also well worth looking at the promises that the SNP made in its last manifesto – which they have not kept. https://twitter.com/_sarahmasson/status/1382738364466614277?s=20
Here is the goodie list as expounded by one of her potential MSPs – note that all of this is to be paid for without increasing income tax – or indeed any tax!
2) She is a disaster for the poor.
The SNP have become the party of middle-class subsidies. Now she is promising to give free dental care, free school meals and free laptops to the middle class (amongst other goodies). This is money that could be spent on the poor and especially on Scotland’s declining education system and NHS. But instead she will waste millions on handouts for the middle class. Her drug policy (where she admitted that she ‘took her eye of the ball’) is a disaster. As is her housing and especially her family policy. I have watched with increasing despair the effect of SNP policy (and the Woke philosophy on which much of it is based) on the poor in Dundee’s housing estates. Free laptops are not much use if your home is dysfunctional, your house is not fit for purpose, and your school is just a social engineering/baby sitting institution. Nicola’s philosophy is that the State is a better parent than real parents – which is why she is promising a ‘wrap around childcare system’…We are in danger of being smothered by Big Mammy!
3) She doesn’t know, or won’t tell us, what a woman is.
I watched one of her online videos in what she introduced herself with her name and then ‘my chosen pronouns are she/her’. Nicola and her politicians cannot tell us what a woman is. Despite significant opposition in her own party – especially from women – she is pressing ahead with her gender recognition bill. One that will do a great deal of harm and one that will continue to permit what I consider to be a form of state sponsored child abuse.
4) She doesn’t want independence.
She talks about independence – but I question whether anyone in the senior ranks of the Scottish government really wants independence. They are proposing to take us out of one union, into an even larger one. When your laws, economy, agriculture, and fishing are largely run by an outside supranational body, whatever you may call it – it is not independence. Nicola does not believe that Scotland could stand on its own (what we used to call independence). The SNP have become the EUNP – and make the same Unionist arguments for the EU, that the Tories make for the UK.
5) She is a supporter of the culture of death.
Not only did her MPs in Westminster (with a couple of honourable exceptions) vote to impose abortion on Northern Ireland – now we are told that the new SNP government will set up a ‘Citizens Assembly’ to look at euthanasia again. Every time it has been brought up in the Scottish parliament it has been defeated. So now the SNP are going to take the cowards way out – set up a ‘Citizens Assembly’ where non-elected, carefully selected members of the public will come up with a report which tells the government to do what the government were going to do anyway.
6) She wants to use the education system to indoctrinate children into her Woke political philosophy.
It has been a custom in Scottish politics that politicians do not tell teachers what to teach – no longer. Now schools are the primary indoctrinators into the cult of Nicola. It’s not just on matters of sexual ethics, or what is a human being. Take this report for example –
The SNP has published plans to force Scottish schoolchildren to “face the UK’s colonial past” in Black Lives Matter-inspired history lessons.Historians and teachers raised concerns that a new programme of “anti-racist education” which Nicola Sturgeon plans to roll out will present pupils with a one-sided, negative, and politicised version of Britain’s history. The SNP included the pledge to commission a taxpayer-funded teaching programme inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in its manifesto for the Holyrood elections next month – which opinion polls suggest the party will almost certainly win.This would highlight “Scotland and the UK’s colonial history” and all schools would be urged to adopt it.“It is blinkered, distorting and racist to teach history through the narrow perspective proposed by the SNP,” Chris McGovern, a retired headteacher and chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said.“Humankind’s capacity for good and evil has nothing to do with skin colour. The SNP’s education policy needs to stop playing truant with truth.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/04/16/snp-force-schoolchildren-face-uks-colonial-past-black-lives/
I suspect that the kind of ‘history’ the SNP are promising will not include the role of Scottish immigrants in the formation of the KKK, or the support of some in the SNP for Hitler, or other historical complexities along those lines. We will get the Woke BLM re-write with a tartan tinge.
7) She is a dishonest and manipulative politician –
I wrote this tweet (which had over 330,000 views) to illustrate one point.It’s how she works.
Mind you Nicola does have some nerve – complaining that Boris Johnson’s government needs to be investigated for corruption when she (and her husband, the head of the SNP) used every trick in the book to prevent them being properly investigated.
8) She is a very divisive person.
Of course, politicians will divide, but such is the cult of Nicola, that if you dare to disagree with her, the finger-wagging starts, and the dog whistle goes out to ‘the people of Scotland’ who leap to her defence with lots of dog’s abuse. Politics in Scotland under Nicola’s watch has become even meaner and more vicious. In the name of love, she is turning my country into a cesspit of hate. This exchange with the inept current leader of the opposition and the impressive Anar Sarwar illustrates it well.
9) She is leading Scotland towards a kind of soft totalitarianism.
Her politicians are not allowed to publicly disagree with her ‘party policy’. But worse than that she uses political power on academics, the arts, businesses and even churches. This SNP party political broadcast is really creepy.
‘There is only one way’ we are told as we seen screens of her face beaming down upon us. It’s Orwell’s 1984 in Scotland 2021. In a way it’s kind of apt in that Nicola has been on our screens every day – even during the election getting all the free publicity she can get as the mother of the nation. I think this borders on illegal – it’s certainly unfair – there are other government officials who can give us the Covid information. We don’t need Mammy to reassure us.
Conclusion: Recoup, Restore, Regenerate.
In the advert it says that we should ‘recoup, restore and regenerate’. I want that. But not in Nicola’s Cult. Recoup will turn into ruin. Restore is a good word. For me voting for Nicola is voting for destruction, not restoration. In fact if I was allowed to I would vote for Ewan Gurr and the Restore party – his manifesto is here… https://restorescotland.org/news/ewan-gurr-why-i-am-standing-for-dundee-west/
But regenerate is the most important word. I weep for Scotland – because I see all that the Lord has done through our wee nation, having declined over a long period of time, now being given the coup de grace by a woman and party who haven’t a clue what they are doing. I see the people like sheep without a shepherd, a church largely which has lost its prophetic voice, and a nation which is regressing in the name of progress, at an alarming rate. Scotland needs to be reborn. The people of Scotland need real regeneration – without which we cannot even see the kingdom of God, never mind enter it. Nicola will not lead us, not into the promised land, but rather 40 years in the wilderness. Lord, bless and pity us! (Psalm 80).
We pray on,
David
Let me add that I hope I am wrong about this – but I have been involved in Scottish politics for over 30 years and I have seen this trajectory – so I don’t think I am (although I would love to be!). It is with increasing horror that I have watched the SNP turn from a chaotic party (with at least some good ideals) into an authoritarian cult like party. The corruption stinks to high heaven….but who dares say it?
PS. I have been asked about the other party leaders. So (this is just my personal perspective) here is a brief summary. Ross seems way out of his depth (the Tories overall have been a major disappointment). Sarwar I don’t really know but he has had a good campaign so far. Rennie is nice but no body seems to take him seriously. Harvie is a dangerous ideologue, who knows exactly what he is doing and, in my view, is the most fanatical and dangerous politician in Scotland.
PPS. I note that people are already commenting with insults. ‘Dangerous right nonsense’ is the kind of comment that the cultists use. There is nothing right wing about what I have said. But even if there was – so what. Answer the points made – don’t just resort to abuse.
The End of the Dream – Why the SNP Have Given up on Independence – Part 1
An Open Challenge to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Leadership
Best bit of good news yet. You hope to return to Scotland!
You have just made my day!
Scotland desperately needs you!
Please make haste
Love to Annabel
Elizabeth
Amen! An excellent presentation. I suspect Scotland (like the UK) will get the Government it deserves, quite possibly as an instrument of judgement from the LORD who is ultimately in control.
Like you David, I can only plead with the Lord, “Remember mercy in the midst of judgement”! “All day long the Lord Jesus Christ is holding out His nail pierced hand to a rebellious & disobedient people”, but who’s interested?
Every blessing to you in your ministry, David Woolley.
Sounds an awful lot like Victoria under Daniel Andrews.
“A German told me that he loved the lifestyle and weather here – but missed the culture.”
Yes, we are gradually becoming a more cultured nation but we have a long, long way still to go.
“Yes, we are gradually becoming a more cultured nation but we have a long, long way still to go.”
You what? In what ways? Reading rates (the highest in the world)? Band and musicians per head of population (second only to Iceland)? Indigenous culture (the oldest in the world)? I am English and have lived all over the UK, Europe and Asia, and I am heartily sick of the cultural cringe, the wilful blindness that still makes out Australia to be some cultural backwater. Open your eyes and ears. It is a wonderful culturally diverse and rich place, for which I am eternally grateful to God for sending me.
Agreed Geraint….Australia is a nation full of many cultures! Love it…
One issue is elitism – in Europe you can go to an opera or classical concert cheaply. Czech school children go to the opera once a year on a school excursion. Here it is relatively expensive and seen as an elitist activity by many. Of course, we have had many great talents, from Nellue Melba to Peter Sculthorpe.
In paintkng, look at the cringe and division caused by the government’s purchase of Blue Poles all those years ago.
Look at modern governments’ histility towards arts funding.
We are improving but we have a long way to go.
I find the opera cheaper here than in the UK…!
There are many, many people in Scotland praying that the snp will not get back in. We are all very aware of the subtle communistic ideology she is bringing in. Through all this we know that God knew all this since the beginning and it has not taken him by surprise. We pray and seek his will and yes it may get worse before the people of Scotland stand up and say enough is enough
Thank you for this David. Though it’s really hard to know WHO to vote for, now more than ever, I actually feel afraid for Scotland under the SNP.
Amen to that brother
Bumbling Boris or Nationalist Nicola – I really don’t know who is worst. Or have we got the leaders we deserve?
The sleaze, corruption and cronyism stories which are currently exciting the MSM around Boris were put into context for me by an Indian member of a panel show on Radio4. She pointed out that, with regard to corruption, compared to politicians in many other countries the UK was still in the infants class. She may be right. For me I don’t care about who paid £57K to update Boris’s flat at No. 10. What I do care about is that the government spent £37 billion, yes billion, on a “test, track and trace” system “to prevent a second lockdown” which completely failed (as we emerge from lockdown three with the government still holding out for the possibility of number four when this endemic virus re-emerges in the autumn, as it will). And many, many other complete lunacies costing the taxpayer £££££…… (I will be dead so it will be my children and grandchildren who will have to pay).
Nationalist Nicola’s government has all the symptoms of a party overconfident in its own infallibility, but which has grown stale, authoritarian, corrupt and inept. This is a common feature in all political parties which stay in power too long (including Boris’s lot).
Trouble is the alternatives appear as dire.
I am a disenfranchised Scot (living in England) so I cannot affect the Scottish political scene, although Scots can influence English politics through their UK MPs (the infamous “West Lothian Question”). I feel deeply frustrated that if Nicola wins and pushes through Indiref2 she has the potential to destroy the UK and cause huge damage to England, and also to Scotland, and I have no way to influence this.
“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” Ps. 146, 3-4 NIV
A very important point to remember is that Scotland, which was once known, as the Land of the Book” under this Government have banned Christian speakers I.e. Franklin Graham. His booking was cancelled as LGBT lobby objected to what “he might say, albeit behind closed doors”
You don’t have to agree with his views but surely he had the right to speak.
Next thing was the “hate speech Bill” which could ban the Bible.
Thanks David, very wisely written article
This blog sounds like an amalgamation of Scottish Family Party quotes and ideas – yet Mr Robertson can’t seem to bring himself to endorse the SFP. Why?
As someone who follows Scottish politics closely, I’m sure you have read about the Scottish Family Party. On paper they seem to have very similar views to your own. Could you share your views on their policies?
I don’t support some of their economic and political policies – although agree with their social conservatism.
The SNP’s promises mainly involve extra spending rather than actual outcomes. So they promise a free laptop or tablet, with a free internet connection, for every school pupil rather than any specific improvement in educational standards. There is no mention of any specific improvements to the quality of treatment patients will receive in the NHS.
The only question that both of my daughters want to ask is: Who came second to the SNP in the constituencies where they live.
I wrote to all the candidates in my constituency to ask them how they would respond to any new Bill on legalising assisted suicide. One of them (an Independent) answered immediately. From the others there has been no response.
My Regional List vote went to the Scottish Family Party.
“Rennie is nice.” In what way? You castigate Sturgeon for being a supporter of the culture of death. It would be ‘nice’ to know of any ways in which Rennie disagrees with Sturgeon on the subject of abortion. (BTW, both Sturgeon and Rennie voted against the Bill to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland.)
Thanks David for this article which is spot on about the current situation and worrying, nay alarming, trend in Scottish society. Like yourself I too am a Scot no longer living in Scotland and on the occasions when I am asked whether I would ever return to live there I always answer “not when the SNP are in power”.
Great article and all so true. Sadly, Nicola Sturgeon and her ilk seem intent on casting off a rich national heritage that allowed the Scots to exercise worldwide influence as a result of its protestant Christian heritage and one of the best education systems in the world. Scotland’s reputation for producing top-rate scientists, medics, engineers, entrepreneurs and even theologians was legendary. If ever there was a case for so called ‘progressive’ policies proving to be patently regressive, it must be that of the SNP. I hope and pray that sensible Scots will see through Nicola’s warped vision of an independent socialist Scotland sucked back into a failing EU and reject her and all her kind.
Great to hear that you plan to return. Hopefully it will be on a decent British passport, not some horrid EU thing with a thistle on that plays ‘Flower of Scotland’ when you open it… OK, it might appeal to some!
“I wonder who would lead us, if none of us would vote.” (Larry Norman)
Pretty much sums up where I’m at with politics these days.
Well said David. I firmly believe you have called it right. I too weep for Scotland. It is indeed blinkered, distorting and racist to teach history through the narrow perspective proposed by the SNP, I have never regarded myself remotely political in my life but I too belonging to the ABN party. Thank you for having the balls to speak the truth.
Powerful article David. My heart weeps for my Scotland. I am astonished daily by the snp announcements. Our once brilliant education system is now pathetic, we have the worst drugs record in Europe, they want to lower the age of consent to 10 (yes 10)The Hate Crime Bill. Last week they announced they were supporting so called Assisted Dying, etc etc. The sad manifesto list is too long to mention here. Independence for Scotland would be disastrous in many ways. The only way to stop the nats romping home again in the election is for us to vote tactically. However, most Scots would never tactically vote Tory, so to be honest, we will only have ourselves to blame.
Nationalist ideology (as opposed to proper national pride) is like those drugs that give a temporary dopamine high but in doing so they make havoc of the neural connections in the brain. Extreme nationalism seems to leave a cultural scorched earth in its wake. So the SNP doesn’t seem to have any clear idea of what they are trying to preserve or promote in the strata of civil society in Scotland as a particular nation. Is the noble (if to my mind misguided) ideal of Scottish independence no more than a vehicle by which Scotland will become a de-cultured, ahistorical atomised wasteland? Paradoxically an independent Scotland will be less Scottish. The lineaments and angularities of Scottish nationhood will be smoothed out by the application of the bland Botox of the New World Order. All the platitudes of woke ideology conceal the underlying impetus to regulate our thinking and behaviour. Sturgeon’s rhetoric is totally in line with the international Zeitgeist. One Ring to rule them all….
Sturgeon fooled another one . She is no more a Nationalist than Ian Paisley was Opus Dei.
Australia is being undermined by ( Overseas ) Chinese immigration on the one hand, and by lack of over – mining by a reluctance to import Oz’s iron ore.
During the 50’s and 60’s , ” the ten pound tourists” , an artisan influx of Brits became the, non – education emphasising, parents of a generation of Aussies.
That Oz – born generation had to compete with Chinese immigrants from South East Asia.
The Chinese work ethic and ( because of Sino parental professional qualifications being added as important Oz immigration criteria ) Thatcherite dedication to money – getting and status – seeking is visible now at every graduation ceremony at every Aussie University. – at least in subjects that matter.
Yeah who dares say it indeed David. But there may be many thinking it. It will be interesting to see what happens with the result of the election. I suspect many voters will be able to see past the rhetoric and emotion and are not as ill informed as some would believe.
I think you are right to be concerned about the church losing its prophetic voice. Or could it be not dissimilar to what you say wiht who dares be prophetic in the church in Scotland. It’s not an easy calling at any time and there is something that is true in that we cannot control many things that we may have concern about but we can participate in change that we would like to see with having control over ourselves being better than controlling many cities.
And looking at prophecy, there’s nothing new under the sun with human nature. To a besieged Jerusalem, this word came about those that attack it “I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,’ declares the Lord” (Zech 12:4).
It was a little bit like watching a punch and Judy show in the link you provided between “mummy” and the “inept current leader of the opposition” with Anas Sarwar having a wry smile. Was Nicola going mad in it? Well – she was mad towards the honourable leader of the opposition. Of course it’s not difficult to sit back and look like a white knight coming in to save the country with the other two leaders going at it like a couple of savage dogs and he has nothing to be held accountable for. But Sarwar does seem to be the voice closest to reason at this point in time.
Thankfully the salvation of Scotland is not dependent on any of these three.
“One issue is elitism – in Europe you can go to an opera or classical concert cheaply. Czech school children go to the opera once a year on a school excursion. Here it is relatively expensive and seen as an elitist activity by many. Of course, we have had many great talents, from Nellue Melba to Peter Sculthorpe.”
In the past week I’ve seen marvellous free art in Melbourne and Albury, a $16 exhibition in Geelong and Shakespeare in a tiny rural town in Gippsland. I think all were government funded. I never got that in Oxford, Sheffield or Bristol. Classical music is blissfully cheap in Melbourne, as is cutting edge jazz and modern music. Bell Shakespeare is one of the best in the world. Like I said, this is a wonderful country.
Hello Geraint and Pastor David
I am glad to hear of your positive experiences in my country! I have never been to England or Scotland so my point of reference is the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany where I’ve been blessed to doend quite a bit of time. A lot of it is in the mindset – as I said, it is normal fir Czech kids to go to tge opera on a school rxcursion every year. High culture is normal culyuee for them – it is not something restricted to certain docial vkasses. Hoing to an opera is like going to the cinema.
I am genuine grieved to hear the arts are so expensive or inaccessible in the land of Shakespeare and Milton, Byron and Shelley, Dickens and Gaskell, Elgar and Purcell, Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dainkworth and Constable and Turner – to say nothing of the country of Robbie Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 🙁
I sincerely hope things improve in your native lands.
Sorry for all my typos – somewhat ironic in a post mentioning such great writers! 🙁
Hi David I think most bible believing Christians share your concerns regarding immoral legislation that the SNP have proposed or passed. Your post urges people not to vote SNP and provides reasons for doing so which is perfectly legitimate. However the problem with your post and some of the responses to it is that they don’t address the elephants in the room; that many of the issues you raise are not unique to Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP and Scotland (i.e. the current Scottish government is not uniquely sinful in) , and that the other 3 main political parties have either historically backed or passed immoral legislation which they have not indicated a desire to repeal, or currently support unbiblical agendas. I don’t claim to know how Christian brothers and sisters should vote (if at all) as I struggle with these issues myself, but there is no point pretending that a change of government in May would solve all Scotland’s problems. The truth is that we are commandee to pray for all those in authority whether weblikevthem personally and/or politically or not.
Hello John. Interesting post. Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world and I believe that any attempt to align too closely with or against a political party or philosophy will cause problems for the church. Twice I have heard from a pulpit an admonition to vote Conservative and Unionist, even though I think trying to align their values with biblical values is a stretch.
The issues in Scotland are far deeper than the SNP alone, let us not forget that every disagreeable law that comes from Holyrood or Westminister first requires royal assent and that the main political parties broadly agree on many social issues. Our citizenship is in heaven and we await our Saviour from there (Philippians 3:20). Peace be with you all.
Voted SNP since my 18th birthday even went to SNP Christmas parties as a child in South Lanarkshire. Stopped voting for them in last two elections National and Scottish. Believe they are highly dangerous and out of control the Greens led by one of the most dangerous men in Scotland prop up a disastrously collapsing organisation. My ancestors stood for freedom at Bannock burn the Clelands (wee bit in Scotland called after them) were part of the Douglas family or followers of the family my ancestor William Cleland faught at the Battle of Rullion Green Bothwell Brig and died at the Battle of Dunkeld as a Cameronian (He was a covenanter and his regiment was raised out of the covenanters who followed Richard Cameron) (His grave is at Dunkeld Abbey) I am absolutely smitten with my people and my nation but I will be praying that God will not leave us to our deserved fate under the SNP. Like William Wallace I refuse to be blinded by the so called powerful. My God and Saviour Jesus Christ has been and pray God will be the maker and shaper of this fair land. MAY he open the eyes of the blind before its too late. As for you good servant carry on
The quest for independence ( much of it rooted in pride, bitterness and anti-English bigotry) is what is holding our nation in thrall. It has become like Narnia in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe here in Scotland . It is perpetual winter – the nation is being frozen in time over this issue of independence. We can’t go back and we can’t go forward – it is as if a spell has been cast over the nation. Meanwhile all manner of evil is being allowed to enter our nation under that spell (all the things quoted in the blog and more besides). It is a spiritual problem with a spiritual solution. Christians hold the key. Will Christians use their God given authority to break the spell or continue to allow our nation to be destroyed under the guise of independence?