Speaking to the rise of socialist candidates within the Democratic Party, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) warned that “the barbarians are inside the gate.” He went on to explain, “We are fighting right now in Congress over whether we’re going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic ... or go down this dark road of death to communism.”
Other Christian leaders are asking the same question.
Will America as we have known it end by walking down the "dark road?"
Be informed, not misled.
Tony Perkins said yesterday, "The Speaker isn’t crying wolf; the threat is real. But the battle to preserve the Republic will not ultimately be won in Congress. There will be legislative fights. There will be elections where your vote could determine the balance of power and whether socialist policies further undermine our freedoms. But if the barbarians are already inside the gate, we need to ask: How did they get in? And how do we get them out?"
Well, the barbarians are indeed inside the gate.
Last week we reported here that CBN is saying, "A political earthquake threatens to reshape America. Muslim candidates are winning U.S. primary elections and political offices in record numbers. These victories have led to a concern among some Americans that growing Muslim political influence could lead to greater antisemitism and possibly shariah law in Islamic communities."
"Last November, a record 42 Muslim Americans swept into public office—an unprecedented shift. Leading the pack: Zohran Mamdani, becoming New York City's mayor. His win sent shockwaves through the political establishment," CBN said.
With mid-term elections just months away, analysts foresee a 'Mamdani effect'—and its influence is only growing.
American News Network reports, "A critic of radical Islam says a Muslim running for the Senate in Michigan is leading in the polls because migrants have taken over the state."
The state's Aug. 4 primary is just around the corner, and the Democratic race between Abdul El-Sayed and Congresswoman Haley Stevens is tight; according to an average of polls compiled by Real Clear Polling, El-Sayed leads Stevens by 1.6 points (45.3% to 43.7%).
He has received endorsements from progressive figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and support from Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America. El-Sayed's close ties to anti-Israel advocacy, including his repeated referral to Israel's military campaign in Gaza as a "genocide," concern conservatives.
Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, says that El-Sayed's polling shows just how much the Islamic invasion has affected Michigan. "Some migrants have taken it over," he tells AFN. "This was entirely predictable because Islam is political, and so when you bring in large numbers of Muslims, they're going to be seeking political power, and they're going to exercise political power beyond their numbers."
But Spencer says those who sounded the alarm were ignored or denigrated.
"So now we're in the situation where there is a whole state — Minnesota is another one — where the Muslim community is essentially in the political driver's seat," he summarizes. "Even if they don't have an absolute majority, there's still enough of an organized, energized vanguard that they exercise effective political power over the whole state."
Though Michigan remains a true swing state, the current political landscape suggests presumptive Republican nominee Mike Rogers would enter a general election as a slight favorite, and Republicans hope he can beat whichever Democrat comes out on top.
Still, Spencer says the Islamic influence will have massive consequences and reverberations throughout the culture and the political realm.
Concerning? It should be.
Robert Knight tells AFN, "There’s been a lot of pushback lately on a number of levels, which is encouraging in a society that often seems to have gone off the rails."
He notes that "Seven landlords are suing New York City over Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze on a million units. They are worried that, as costs rise, they won’t be able to keep up their properties. That’s a major concern since the Islamist/communist mayor has pledged to seize ownership of buildings that fall into disrepair."
It’s a malicious scheme. Starve the property owners of revenue they need to keep their units livable, and when they can’t, the government comes in to assume ownership so it can create more slums full of people grateful for “free” housing.
This is diabolical socialism (a redundancy, I know), and it’s familiar to those forced to live under it in places like Cuba or North Korea. I hope the landlords, who want a 3 percent annual increase in rent, win this one.
Knight says common sense is beginning to break out as these people continue to undermine the institutions of our country.
He says, "If common sense like this breaks out all over the country, and people connect the dots, Democrats won’t be celebrating after the midterm election in November.
Is America too far gone to turn around?
Tony Perkins says, "Congress reflects culture more than it creates it. Laws can restrain evil, but they cannot create virtue. A constitutional republic depends on citizens with the moral character to govern themselves and families that instill virtue in the next generation. Culture is ultimately shaped by what people believe about God, truth, and morality. When those foundations erode, political institutions follow."
To understand how this ideological and spiritual challenge gained traction in America, we have to look beyond politics to the forces that shape a nation’s character.
In his 1983 book The Gravedigger File, author and social critic Os Guinness warned that secularization was hollowing out the institution that had long guided Western civilization: the church. As biblical faith weakened, society’s moral foundations weakened, creating a vacuum secular ideologies would inevitably fill.
Perkins continues:
A little more than a decade later, Judge Robert Bork approached the same crisis from a different direction. In “Slouching Toward Gomorrah,” he argued that America’s moral and cultural foundations were being eroded by radical individualism and radical egalitarianism, weakening the institutions upon which constitutional government depends. Nominated to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan in 1987, Bork was rejected because of his originalist view of the Constitution. Though writing as a constitutional scholar rather than a theologian, he arrived at a remarkably similar conclusion.
After coming to Washington, I hoped to meet Robert Bork. I invited him to lunch, and he graciously accepted. During our conversation, I asked for his prognosis of America’s future.
He replied, “The culture is too far gone for the country to turn around.”
Perkins says, "For a moment, I thought there was no hope."
Then Bork added this:
There is one thing that could save the country, a genuine renewal of religion in America. But unfortunately, the church has been, and continues to be, in decline.”
Takeaway
So how did the barbarians get inside the gate? Through the Church’s loss of its preserving influence as the salt of the earth. And how do we secure the gate once again?
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Salt preserves what would otherwise decay. History has confirmed what Christ taught. The decisive battle for America’s future will not ultimately be won in Congress, but in the church as it once again shapes the nation’s moral character. Change the nation’s character, and its politics will follow.
“In God We Trust” cannot remain merely a motto etched in stone. It must once again become the conviction written upon our hearts and reflected in how we live.
Tony Perkins is president of Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Faithful. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.