No I am not that old – although I sometimes feel that way. I am referring to a small milestone which took place last week while in Perth. Amidst a busy schedule there, I managed to pen my 1500th article. This article in fact will be my 1512th.
If each article averages around 1300 words, that amounts to some 2 million words. With so much ink spilt, I suppose some justification for all this must be in order. Why do it? Why bother? I certainly do not do it for the fun of it. Nor the money. Money? What money?
I do it for the simple reason that truth matters, and truth needs to get out into the public arena. With the mainstream media in the West overwhelmingly dominated by a secular left outlook, it is hard to get a word in edgewise. It is certainly quite difficult for Christians, especially those who take their faith and their Scriptures seriously, to get a fair hearing.
So that is a major reason why I do this. Truth is vitally important. Truth is what sets the captives free. Truth is what ultimately wins over tyranny, falsehood, oppression and deceit. As Solzhenitsyn once said, “One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world.” Or as Athanasius long ago remarked, “If the world is against truth, then I am against the world.”
And when truth is being denied, or hindered, or perverted, or attacked, then we have a responsibility to get truth out there. We all can do our bit. Having a blogsite is just one way to do this of course. There are many other ways as well that we can publically proclaim truth.
That is why I pursue any possible avenue to get truth into the public arena. As a result, over the past two decades, I have done countless interviews with the MSM, given countless talks, and engaged in countless debates. Actually, they are a bit more specific than that.
I have kept track – at least roughly – of my various media appearances. In almost twenty years of pro-faith, pro-life, and pro-family activism, I have done around 550 radio interviews; 125 TV interviews; had around 250 letters published in newspapers; 650 comments published in newspapers; 800 articles published in various magazines; and some 400 speaking engagements.
I stopped counting the Internet appearances. Indeed, I just now googled my name and came up with around 12,500 hits. Of course those would involve both friend and foe. So I have been keeping busy, and keeping off the streets during the last few years.
But it is so very important that we raise our voices on so many very important issues of the day. My website, which is broken down to around 60 categories, indicates what I regard to be some of the main areas of attack when it comes to faith, life and family.
I have around 75 articles on marriage, 100 articles on abortion, 150 articles on Islam, and 200 articles on homosexuality. These certainly are some of the major flashpoints in the culture wars waging in the West. But of course they are not the only battles we face.
Thus I have 65 articles on economics, 80 articles on the media, 55 articles on philosophy, 30 articles on war and peace, 200 articles on politics, 100 articles on international relations, 30 articles on population issues, 90 articles on terrorism, 230 articles on theology, 200 articles on the church, and so on.
And because this is an interactive blog, there are lots of comments as well. In fact, there are now nearly 20,000 comments. While the majority of these may well be from those who more or less share my worldview and opinions, there would be many thousands of comments written by every sort of critic around.
Thus there are plenty of comments by atheists, secularists, anarchists, leftists, Hindus, Muslims, New Agers, radical libertarians, pornographers, pro-abortionists, pro-homosexualists, and so on. Indeed, there would also be plenty of comments from fellow Christians who often strongly and forcefully disagree with me.
So contrary to my many critics who claim I never allow a contrarian voice here, there are heaps of such folk allowed in. Of course there are also thousands of comments which never see the light of day, since I have had to put them straight into the trash bin.
That is because they are so vile, ugly, nasty, blasphemous, malicious and hate-filled that they deserve no public hearing. And there are regularly many of these comments. Thus the hate mail and occasional death threats I receive can be somewhat overwhelming at times.
And of course I find that the groups who shout the loudest about tolerance, acceptance and love are those who can be the most intolerant, un-accepting, and unloving people around. The glaring double standards and hypocrisy never seem to occur to these folk.
In fact, I have recently started to collect all this hate mail. Instead of just instantly deleting this torrent of filth and hatred, I am now saving it. I may one day write a book, showcasing the ‘tolerance’ and ‘openness’ of the other side. That could become a best seller.
But I put up with all the abuse, filth, bile and mud because as I say, truth is important. Sure, I worry plenty about my own family, and pray that they will be protected from all the abuse and attacks. And I covet your prayers for myself and them as well. This is ultimately a spiritual battle, and we are in daily need of spiritual protection.
Yet we must not allow fear to keep us from the battle. It will never be pleasant, and we can expect to get heaps of scorn, derision, hatred, and rebuke. But so did Jesus. And he promised that those who follow him will also meet the same fate. So we must get involved and we must persevere.
This then is a bit about why I do what I do. Forgive me if it appears a bit self-indulgent. It is not meant to be. My position is this: there is a war going on. There are vitally important things we hold most near and dear which are under very real threat. We all must do whatever we can to fight the fight, and seek to turn things around.
I am using my God-given gifts to do my bit. I encourage every reader of this article to do the same, utilising whatever gifts, talents, skills or callings they have. When we are in the middle of a war, no one has the luxury of sitting on the fence.
Indeed, to attempt to do so is effectively to side with the enemy. These battles are far too important to allow that to happen. So every man on deck, and bless you as you stand up for what is right, what is good, what is important, and what is true.
In the meantime, I will keep plugging away, and at this rate, article number 2000 should appear in about 18 months or so.
[1177 words]