Good morning,
I always wondered what the phrase “gates of hell†meant. And then I stood there.
Here is today's Texas Minute.
– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Today is Flag Day and the birthday of the U.S. Army. A great way to start your day would be listening to the 82nd Airborne Chorus perform the National Anthem.
Error 404 (Not Found)!!1 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is using powers granted to him under Hurricane Harvey relief measures as justification for an executive order extending the life of a state bureaucracy that died during the legislative session. By way of background, a bill extending the life of the State Board of Plumbing Examiners was killed in the Texas House, resulting in the end of licensed plumbing in Texas and one of the biggest accidental victories in conservative’s effort to reform the state’s draconian occupational licensing laws. Brandon Waltens details Abbott’s action.
“Last I checked Texans elect Legislators and a Governor. Not a King. Horrible precedent, and massive expansion of executive power.†– State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford)
El Paso Democrat State Rep. Joe Moody says Republicans are racists because of the passage of a ban on sanctuary cities two years ago. As Ross Kecseg reports, this is the same Democrat who incumbent House Speaker Dennis Bonnen recently endorsed as a worthy successor should Republicans lose the lower chamber in the 2020 elections.
“I think Texas would be very blessed if there was a Democrat majority and Joe Moody wanted to lead the House,†Bonnen said last month.
Funny, I don’t feel like I’d be blessed by it... at all.
​
While legislators passed a ban on red-light cameras earlier this year, Thomas Warren reports the City of Amarillo is considering keeping its traffic enforcement cameras operational through 2022.
Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina has been indicted by a grand jury on 12 felony counts. Erin Anderson reports the indictment identifies a former city official as one of 10 alleged co-conspirators in a 2017 organized voter fraud scheme.
The Austin Independent School District tried last fall to discriminate against a local church, but that effort was thwarted. Jacob Asmussen reports the school district has found a new way to spite the congregation.
When Rick Perry was governor, Texas routinely led the nation in passing pro-life laws such as the sonogram law. Yet this year, under Greg Abbott, the Lone Star State is dead-last; meanwhile nine other states have passed meaningful restrictions on abortions. Texas, writes Jordan Clements, “failed to pass a single life-saving pro-life bill.†​
Friday Reflection
The roots of self-governance, and nearly everything we think of in western civilization, can be traced to the 8,500 square miles of land known as Israel. Whatever one thinks of their modern politics in the context of the geopolitical fights of the day, the history of the western world is tied inextricably with the ancient history of Israel. And so are our allusions and metaphors.
From Shakespeare to the Constitution, biblical stories and phrases fill our language. None has intrigued me more over the years than variations around the phrase the gates of hell. It’s a curious phrase, used to indicate a measure of resolve. “We’ll storm the gates of hell,†you’ve heard countless heroes in movies and books say about the impossible task ahead.
It’s also a very real place, and I am not talking metaphysics. You can go there right now. (Empower Texans will be leading another group there in the spring of 2020!) It’s located in the archaeologically protected area of Caesarea Philippi, and the entire area is actually quite beautiful.
But 2,000 years ago... it was the site of nasty forms of pagan worship. The caverns were believed to be gates to the underworld – to hell – and so acts of grotesque bestiality were performed at the mouth of the cave to call forth the fertility god Pan.
"Gates of Hell"
To Jews living in those ancient times, the entire area was considered unclean as a result. They stayed far away. Yet in Matthew 16 we find Jesus took His disciples there, overlooking the pagan site, and told those Jewish men they would be the basis of His church. That had to be a little uncomfortable.
Rather than ignore places of unspeakable evil, Jesus wanted His disciples to overcome them – and doing so required acknowledging they exist. To stand against evil, we must be willing to fight it.
As an aside, this is the place where Jesus tells Peter – a nickname meaning “the rock†– that he will be the “rock†on which a church is built “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.†Congratulations, eh? They were literally standing at a rocky structure, wholly unclean – the picture of evil – and Jesus is saying, “You will overcome places like this, and we’ll build the church on top of those efforts. Now get to work!†This isn't exactly the comfortable suburban gig we were hoping for, Jesus...
There is nothing comfortable or safe about prevailing against the gates of hell. But we’re not called to lives of comfort and safety; we’re called to be faithful. We must engage culture and politics with the conviction we’re fighting a righteous fight for the very soul of our nation. Ready to go do some storming?
Today in History
The U.S. Army was founded on June 14, 1775, by an act of the Second Continental Congress.
Quote-Unquote
“Men in rags, men who froze,
Still that Army met its foes,
And the Army went rolling along.
Faith in God, then we’re right,
And we’ll fight with all our might,
As the Army keeps rolling along.â€
– The Army Goes Rolling Along
by Edmund L. Gruber
