Category: Faith

A California Nightmare: Late-term Abortions with No Limits

California is potentially poised to sink into an unimaginable bad dream.

It is one in which politicians and lawmakers are presently taking delight at the thought of voters signing on to a ballot proposition this November, which would amend the California Constitution so abortions would have absolutely no limitations.

Feelings on the part of a lot of average everyday Californians who are aware of what is being proposed are those of shock and revulsion. But there is also a high degree of fear that too many of their fellow residents aren’t sharing their same feelings.

California’s Proposition 1 seeks to permit the lives of babies in the womb to be terminated right up to the moment of birth.

Abortion procedures would be allowed to be conducted during any stage of pregnancy, regardless of whether or not a mother’s life was in danger. Furthermore, abortions would be able to be carried out on infants who, in other more welcoming circumstances, would be duly capable of surviving outside of the womb.

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced plans for a billboard campaign that is to be conducted in states where abortion is more restrictive.

Well, the billboard campaign appears to be moving ahead.

He reportedly plans to use a portion of his re-election campaign funds to buy billboard space in the states of Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas.

Some life-denying billboards display a pro-abortion invitation of sorts, accompanied by a Bible verse from Mark 12:31, which reads: “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”

The governor also took to Twitter to spread the unholy message, with several Republican governors being tagged, including Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. His tweet read in part, “To any woman seeking an abortion in these anti-freedom states: CA will defend your right to make decisions about your health.”

Christians across the country who have been affected by the billboard messaging are understandably offended.

Thankfully, two prominent religious leaders have courageously entered the public square to help enlighten folks on issues relating to the matter.

John MacArthur, author, televangelist and pastor of a non-denominational Southern California mega-church, expressed concern over the governor’s soul and took him to task for “shamelessly” misquoting the Bible for political purposes.

The pastor pulled no punches in his open letter to the governor.

Utilizing passages from Scripture in his response, Pastor MacArthur noted that the governor had “…compounded the wickedness of that murderous campaign with a reprehensible act of gross blasphemy, quoting the very words of Jesus from Mark 12:31 as if you could somehow twist His meaning and arrogate His name in favor of butchering unborn infants.”

Pastor MacArthur’s letter additionally shed light on what he characterized as the “diabolical effect” of the governor’s policies that have tarnished the once-Golden State and contributed to “California’s epidemics of crime, homelessness, sexual perversions, and other malignant expressions of human misery that stem directly from corrupt public policy.”

The pastor concluded with assurances that prayers were forthcoming from “countless Christians nationwide.”

Another prominent California religious leader has also spoken out in defense of human life and against the life-destroying policies and politics that state leaders are pursuing.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has been a consistent voice for the rights of the unborn. His Excellency recently spoke to the media and also penned a letter to the archdiocese, asking parishioners to vote “No” on Proposition 1.

In an interview, Archbishop Cordileone noted that the proposition, as written, “would seem to allow abortion in all nine months of pregnancy up to birth. But it ignores that once conception has taken place, reproduction has already happened.”

Under existing California law, there are no limitations on abortions performed during the first six months of pregnancy.

However, should Proposition 1 pass, the life-ending practice, currently permitted during the third trimester of pregnancy only if there is a threat to the life or health of the mother, would be expanded, thereby eliminating even the nominal safety provisions that are presently in place for pre-born babies who are in the womb for the full term.

With regard to the governor’s claim that he wants the state to be an “abortion sanctuary,” Archbishop Cordileone pointed out, “The irony is that a sanctuary is designed to protect life, whereas these measures harm it.”

His Excellency indicated that the anti-life policy being pushed by California “furthers the mentality that pregnancy is an inconvenience and that abortion is the only option a woman has.”

The archbishop further noted that the state appears to have an ample supply of taxpayer money to pay for abortions “but no money for crisis pregnancy centers, which can help a woman to have her child.”

Archbishop Cordileone asked those who are pushing abortion the following questions: “Why are you limiting a woman’s rights? If it is okay to have an abortion a day before a baby is born, why not the day after? Why not a month later, or six months or a year? Why can’t a young mother, after having a baby and raising that child for six months say, ‘I can’t do this. It is too hard,’ and be allowed to kill that child?”

“Laws need to be grounded in sound reasoning, that human life begins at conception and must be protected,” the archbishop explained.

Science has long settled the principle that at the moment of fertilization a new life is created, which has unique genetic attributes. Therefore, as the archbishop stated, “It can never be right to procure an abortion, just as it would never be right to kill a newborn baby.”

On a scriptural note, both Pastor MacArthur and Archbishop Cordileone reminded those who have ears to hear about a pagan entity from the Old Testament. Some of the ancient Israelites fell into the worship of false gods, which included sacrificing children to a pagan deity of a neighboring nation, Molech.

Pastor MacArthur invoked the Old Testament, writing that the governor had “used the name and the words of Christ to promote the credo of Molech (Leviticus 20:1–5).”

“It would be hard to imagine a greater sacrilege,” the pastor commented.

Archbishop Cordileone quoted Psalm 106: “They worshipped those nation’s false gods, till they found themselves entrapped, and sacrificed their own sons and their daughters to demons.”

His Excellency cited a passage from the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:21), “You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.”

Best to heed our religious leaders’ words. If we don’t, California’s bad dream will become America’s nightmare.

Scott Baio and Wife Renee’s Reliance on Faith

Through the decades of the seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond, Scott Baio was riding the wave of fame in the TV and film world.

His Hollywood journey began when he landed the title character role in the children’s movie musical “Bugsy Malone,” which co-starred Jodie Foster.

But his career really caught fire in 1976. The then-16-year-old actor snagged the coveted role of Fonzie’s cousin Chachi Arcola on the blockbuster sitcom hit “Happy Days.”

Scott’s television run would continue on in the “Happy Days” spin-off “Joanie Loves Chachi,” and in yet another successful sitcom “Charles in Charge.”

The 1990s saw him portraying a doctor in the medical mystery drama series “Diagnosis: Murder,” as well as a young prosecutor in a classic made-for-TV “Perry Mason” movie.

In between takes, he guested on numerous other popular television shows including “Full House,” “Touched by an Angel,” and “The Nanny.”

In 2005 his career came full circle when he played lawyer Bob Loblaw in the TV series “Arrested Development,” a role that passed to him when Henry “Fonzie” Winkler bowed out. It also had “Happy Days” lead star Ron Howard at its helm as executive producer and narrator.

From 2012 to 2015, he starred in the Nickelodeon sitcom “See Dad Run.”

His charmed Hollywood path continues to this day. Present times find him touring the country with his one-man show, titled “How Did I Get Here?”

Interestingly, his most challenging role is one that has been playing out in real life – that of being an immensely devoted husband and father trying to cope with suffering that is being endured by those he loves the most.

Recently, Scott took to Twitter to share details of a personal struggle that he and his wife Renee have been forced to deal with.

Renee has to undergo a brain tumor scan every year. This is because after already having dealt with breast cancer a few years back, she then began to suffer from painful migraines.

Her doctors initially blamed the headaches on changes in hormone levels. But further tests sadly revealed that she had three meningioma brain tumors.

Fortunately, the tumors turned out not to be malignant. But despite their benign nature, they are nevertheless categorized as “tumors that grow on the outer casing of the brain.”

Scott explained that such tumors “can cause serious problems depending on the size of the tumor and the location.”

As a result of the medical condition, Renee has to see her neurologist regularly for anti-seizure and pain management medication, and for the monitoring of her health situation via regular MRI scans.

Like so many others who have faced similar circumstances, Scott instinctively knew that he would have to rise to the occasion in order to provide the much-needed strength and support his family required.

It was faith in God that allowed both Scott and Renee to deal with the extremely difficult situation.

On the day they received news of Renee’s diagnosis, Scott posted the following on Facebook:

“Renee has been down some rough roads in her life, yet each time with her strong faith in God, she comes through a better and stronger person. During this time we ask for your prayers and support. My wife is my rock. She refuses to even shed one tear, nor will she question God’s will. Renee, Bailey and I will get through this. . .”

The two are fully united in their faith. Renee beautifully demonstrated how to “walk the walk” and provided words of advice on where to turn when help is needed the most.

“I will tell you my faith in God is greater than the fear of the unknown,” she said.

In speaking so openly, the couple hopes to spread knowledge about the medical condition and also provide assistance to those seeking help from a higher power.

“God does not challenge weak people – he has laid this upon me, and I’m not going to question it. If I can save one person along the way, I’m okay,” Renee said.

Scott shared that the hardest part of his wife’s diagnosis was trying to figure out how to break the news to their daughter.

“It was all about our kid,” Scott said, “…because she’s everything to us…”

Memories of their child’s medical history were front and center in Scott and Renee’s minds.

In 2007 Bailey came into the world five weeks premature. During a newborn screening test, she came up positive for a potentially deadly metabolic disorder called glutaric acidemia type 1 (GA-1).

The two thought they were going to lose their new little baby girl.

“Every time [Scott] would see a child, see a baby, he would just break down,” Renee said. “He’s a first-time father. He didn’t grow up with younger siblings. And it would just break him down…break us down. It was so tough to go through the holidays, our wedding…all the while knowing, our kid may die.”

Blessed news would be on the horizon. Further testing on baby Bailey revealed that the initial result had been a false positive.

The couple later started the Bailey Baio Angel Foundation to raise funds and awareness for children with metabolic disorders.

You can hear a lot more Scott stories and life lessons when you catch his one-man show “How Did I Get Here?” at a venue near you.

Should make for some Happy Days for attendees.

The ‘Gospel’ According to Joe Scarborough

Joe Scarborough is the current co-host of the MSNBC show “Morning Joe,” where wife Mika Brzezinski sits alongside him.

He used to be a Republican.

No, really, I’m serious. But let’s start with some background.

Joe’s early days garnered him a Catholic high school degree, a B.A. in

History and a Juris Doctor. This was seemingly preparation for what was to come.

From 1995 to 2001, he served under the GOP label as a U.S. congressman from the great state of Florida.

While in the House of Representatives, he was awarded a 95 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. He also signed on to then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s famed “Contract with America.”

Apparently, something major happened to Joe in the years that would follow, politically, personally and otherwise. And it has a lot of folks who once admired him trying to figure out what the heck went wrong.

I’m one of them. Joe and I go back to the days of “Conservative Chic.” Truly historic times.

Among other professional and personal interactions, I was a guest on his former prime time MSNBC show “Scarborough Country.”

Ideologically, a very different media figure is sitting in the host chair today, and now it looks like spiritually as well.

He seems to be able to act, speak and breathe very comfortably in a realm of irrationality.

There are many puzzling things about Joe 2.0. But rivaling for most disturbing is a recent one in which he appears to move from presenting questionable news to preaching questionable theology.

His current claim is that long ago Jesus Christ placed a sort of stamp of approval on abortion.

Using his platform on the “Morning Joe” show, he veered into what can aptly be described as a spiritual danger zone, twisting the Word of God to bolster a pro-abortion position.

Joe told his audience that since there is no biblical passage to point to in which Jesus explicitly mentions abortion, then ending a life in the womb must therefore be acceptable to the Lord.

He didn’t stop there, though. He went on to directly attack Christians, stating that those who believe their faith instructs their consciences to view abortion as a moral wrong are heretics.

As a former Southern Baptist, Joe evidently feels comfortable enough with his biblical expertise to take to the MSNBC pulpit regarding the content and meaning of the Gospels.

“Jesus never once talked about abortion,” he said. “Never once, and it was happening back in ancient times. It was happening during His time.”

Joe went on to charge Christian pro-lifers with “perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ down to one issue” as well as accusing them of being guilty of “heresy.”

He wasn’t done yet. He asserted that pro-life individuals have “conveniently overlooked the parts of the New Testament where Jesus talks about taking care of the needy, taking care of those who are helpless, who live a hopeless life.”

Well here are a few Sunday school lessons that many of us, including Joe, might want to use to refresh our memories and maybe even update our consciences.

The Good Book is filled with passages that tell us just how precious each one of us is in God’s eyes.

— He tells us that He created each of us “in his own image.” (Genesis)

— He tells us that each “fruit of the womb” is a “gift” from above. And that He “knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalms)

— He says that “before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” (Jeremiah)

— He speaks the words of love to us, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

(Jesus quoted in the Gospel of John)

— He describes the feelings of joy present in pre-born life, “…the infant in my womb leapt for joy.” (from the Gospel of Luke: What Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, says upon hearing the greeting of Mary, who is pregnant with Jesus.)

— He tells us that each one of us is His “temple” and that His “spirit dwells” in us. (1 Corinthians)

Guess it’s appropriate we end with a round of Jesus Loves Me.

Because He really does. From the moment of conception.

Shia LaBeouf’s Faith Enhancing Film Role

Shia LaBeouf is a changed man. And it looks as though the spiritual prep for his latest movie role deserves a lot of the credit.

Playing the lead in the upcoming biopic “Padre Pio” appears to have guided the actor toward a new commitment to Christianity.

The film relays the real life story of one of the most beloved Catholic priests and humanitarian figures, an individual who within Catholicism has been given the designation of “Saint.”

Padre Pio was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002 and has been venerated in the Roman Catholic Church ever since.

He was known around the globe for manifestations that many believe could only have emanated from above.

Over the course of his lifetime in shepherding his flock, he exhibited numerous supernatural phenomena and miraculous occurrences, including the marks of stigmata (wounds on the body that correspond to those suffered by the crucified Christ), visions, healings, and the ability to bi-locate and prophesy.

The Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina is located in the Province of Foggia, Italy, the southern Italian region (Puglia), where much of the filming of the “Padre Pio” movie took place.

Shia accepted the starring role of the film in the summer of 2021 and immediately arranged to spend time with a group of Capuchin Franciscan friars who resided in Northern California.

Traveling later to Rome, he went to stay at a monastery in southern Italy, the same locale in which the movie had initially been filmed. He even chose to sleep in the same bed where Padre Pio had rested his head.

In a recent conversation with Bishop Robert Barron, Shia revealed how he was led to become a Catholic Christian.

Referring to the time spent at the California monastery, he said, “When I walked into this, my life was on fire.”

The “fire” of which he spoke related to the personal tribulation he was going through, not only dealing with feelings of shame and depression, but even thoughts of ending it all. This was because back in 2020 his former girlfriend had sued him, accusing him of sexual assault.

In the aftermath of the debilitating experience, Shia parted with his agency and made the decision to take time off from his career.

He described a moment where serious suicidal thoughts were flooding his mind.

“I had a gun on the table. I was outta here,” he said. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore when all this happened.”

He also described the depth of emotion that had overtaken him.

“Shame like I had never experienced before — the kind of shame that you forget how to breathe. You don’t know where to go…,” he said.

He came to a point where his past actions made him feel as though he wasn’t worthy of being loved by God or of being received into a faith community.

He would soon be in for a blessed surprise. Living with the friars, he got to experience the love and support his heart and soul were aching for.

As Shia interacted with the friars and immersed himself in the Bible, he felt an “invite” to “let go” of obstacles.

Learning about the gifts of repentance, redemption and forgiveness convinced him of that all-important truth – in God’s eyes he is, as we all are, precious, worthy, and yes, loved beyond measure.

“It was seeing other people who have sinned beyond anything I could ever conceptualize also being found in Christ that made me feel like, ‘Oh, that gives me hope,’” he explained. “I started hearing experiences of other depraved people who had found their way in this, and it made me feel like I had permission.”

A transformational event in Shia’s personal journey was experiencing the Catholic Mass in its traditional Latin form.

“While we were practicing Latin Mass, I was having genuine emotional experiences,” he said.

Shia thought he had taken on the “Padre Pio” movie part for career reasons. However, he eventually came to realize that the Ultimate Director was working on a most beautiful subplot.

“I know now that God was using my ego to draw me to Him. Drawing me away from worldly desires. It was all happening simultaneously,” he said. “The reach-out had happened. I was already there, I had nowhere to go. This was the last stop on the train. There was nowhere else to go—in every sense.”

No doubt Shia’s spiritual path has been a unique one. His mother is Jewish and his father is a Christian. Both a bar mitzvah and a baptism graced his childhood.

As his first religious denomination, he chose his mother’s Jewish faith. Then in 2004 he shared that he had a “personal relationship with God that happens to work within the confines of Judaism.”

He later discovered his father’s Christian conviction while filming a movie. He said in an interview in 2014, “I found God doing [the film] Fury. I became a Christian man. Brad [Pitt] was really instrumental in guiding my head through this.”

In June of 2022, while at a park in Pasadena, California, he was seen reuniting with his estranged father, where the two read from Bibles as they sat next to one another.

Shia sees his religious pilgrimage as analogous to his method acting approach.

“I like to be immersive,” he said. “I like all immersive experiences, not just acting. That’s probably why I like Catholicism as well. I like adventure, and that requires full immersion.”

It seems to me that we could all use an immersive experience in faith these days.

“Padre Pio” is scheduled to premiere at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, which runs from August 31 to September 10.

Woke Hollywood Passes on Pro-life Film despite Top Name Involvement

Kendrick brothers Alex, Stephen, and Shannon have been the creative forces behind many a faith-based box-office hit, including the successful “Facing the Giants,” “Fireproof,” “Courageous,” “Overcomer,” and “War Room.”

“War Room” was actually the No. 1 movie in the country on the second weekend of its release. It was also one of highest-grossing Christian films ever made.

The Kendrick brothers recently teamed up with actor Kirk Cameron to produce “Lifemark,” a movie that deals with some of the most central and poignant themes of our times – relationships, forgiveness, and the film’s primary focus, adoption.

Inspired by a true story, a movie such as this would typically have had Hollywood studio executives competing for the project.

It goes a long way to prove that these are anything but normal times.

Alex is one of the executive producers, as are Stephen and Shannon. But Alex has also co-written the film, and he has an acting part in it as well.

The adoption storyline is particularly meaningful for the Kendricks and Cameron.

Stephen Kendrick and his wife welcomed a daughter from China via adoption.

Cameron’s wife Chelsea was adopted by her parents, and four of Kirk and Chelsea’s six children were also adopted.

For those who haven’t yet noticed, contemporary Hollywood has given itself an extreme makeover in both form and substance.

All of this seems to have happened fairly quickly and also quite craftily. It went from “The Entertainment Capital of the World” to “The Woke Capital of the World,” with the end result being that the largest and most powerful entertainment companies are now haplessly out of touch with the beliefs, attitudes, and values of a large portion of their customer base.

Consequently, despite the viable track records of “Lifemark”’s filmmakers, both its star and its executive producer revealed that Hollywood studios, even those that had worked with the Kendrick brothers in the past, rejected the distribution of the film and did so because of the movie’s pro-life message.

Lead actor Cameron called the rebuff by Hollywood studios “good old-fashion cowardice.”

“Even the so-called faith divisions of studios would rather pass from tens of millions of dollars and support horror, violence, and drag queen movies than risk doing anything that celebrates life,”

Cameron said.

According to Alex, the studios stated that they were not releasing the film because they were “scared of the response,’”

Alex additionally revealed the following: “Several of the studios that have courted us in the past, and wanted us to go with them as distributors, they all turned down this film.”

The studios apparently wanted something else, anything else but this film.

Alex added, “We said, ‘Well, we cannot be ashamed or afraid to share the truth regarding this subject, to share a true story.’ It’s hard to argue with a true story.”

Still, the lack of independent thought displayed by a sizable number of Hollywood executives makes it seem as though they are impervious to the truth.

Fortunately, Fathom Events, a distribution company, was able to make a rational business decision and is going to arrange to have the film displayed in more than 1,400 theaters.

Alex acknowledges that the subject matter of “Lifemark” is a sensitive one.

“It’s become a political battleground in our country,” he remarked, adding, “We are acknowledging both sides, we’re acknowledging the difficult decision to choose to place your baby for adoption, but it is the better decision.”

“This whole path is not always easy. It is often difficult, but it is beautiful. And so this true story was a perfect example of showing how it could go…,” he said.

The movie project began with a telephone call.

While still in the process of wrapping up a previous film, the Kendricks received an unexpected call from Cameron, who had just watched what he described as “one of the most powerful and moving documentaries I’ve ever seen.”

The documentary was titled “I Lived on Parker Avenue,” and it dealt with the story upon which the “Lifemark” film is based.

The plotline centers around a teenage boy who is contacted by his birth mother, a woman who eighteen years prior had chosen adoption over abortion for her then-tiny son.

Alex believes that the movie can play a role in informing and educating people.

“We’re hopeful that churches, crisis pregnancy centers, ministries, all jump on this as a real-life tool to reach people… who are trying to determine ‘is this baby worth saving?’” Alex explained.

His objective in making and promoting this movie project is “to change the heart of the nation.”

To this end, the desire on the part of the filmmakers is for life itself to be ultimately viewed as “precious, beautiful, and worth protecting.”

“Lifemark” is set to make its mark in theaters nationwide on Sept. 9.

How Godlessness Leads to Tyranny

So many people are feeling it in the core of their beings.

The country has been unmoored from its anchor, an intangible one that for generations provided the stability needed to form communities in which people were able to reside together and care for one another.

We’ve known for a while that we had been drifting toward a destination that was strange and unfamiliar.

Now that we have seemingly arrived, we find ourselves at a place that is deeply disturbing and at times even intolerable.

An analysis may be helpful in understanding how the fix we find ourselves in came to be. It is also useful in a self-comforting kind of way, societally speaking. And it may prove especially helpful in figuring out ways in which we can get ourselves back on course.

Every society has an underlying ideology upon which beliefs, attitudes, norms, customs, institutions, etc., are structured.

Years ago a destructive type of worldview took root. As things would have it, this harmful ideology burgeoned over time and ended up displacing important foundational building blocks of our society, including those of civility, integrity, respect, and the like.

A new Gallup poll provides a key to understanding what happened.

Gallup’s recent Values and Beliefs Poll found that Americans’ belief in God has dropped to the lowest level since the polling organization first began to gather research data on the topic about 88 years ago.

From the 1940s to the 1960s, a consistent 98 percent of Americans indicated that they maintained a belief in God. The rate of believers has since taken a steady downturn, hitting an all-time low of 81 percent in 2022.

Gallup’s data indicate that in recent years belief in God has declined most significantly among young adults and those who are of a politically liberal persuasion.

Removing God from public life has been a goal of secularists, who for a long time now have been hard at work restricting religious expression in all major American institutions.

Prayers, holiday celebrations, music, etc., which since the nation’s founding were culturally unifying aspects of American life, have been supplanted or, in some cases, completely removed.

In his Farewell Address, the country’s first president emphasized the importance of religious values as he assessed the future of a then-budding nation.

“Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports,” President George Washington said.

His words were very precise. If an indispensable support is absent, an entire structure is destined for collapse.

Most people are aware that, despite the capacity for goodness contained within each and every individual, there is a dark component of human nature that lurks below the surface.

The Judeo-Christian explanation of this concept, and for the existence of evil itself, is the notion that humankind initially had a virtuous nature but early on took a precipitous fall from grace.

Judeo-Christian values in large part serve to restrain the human tendency to indulge in the most negative inclinations, which are manifested societally from street gangs to government corruption.

Without constraints on evil, society will become spiritually ill. Such sickness results in a culture that literally hits bottom, with the attendant failure to protect the most vulnerable and an apathetic attitude toward injuries suffered.

If God does not exist, then what is determined to be good or evil becomes merely a subjective human construct.

If no guidelines are in existence when decisions are being made regarding which ethical options would be preferable, then in conflicting situations the self-interests of decision makers will inevitably rule the day.

If good and evil are only human concepts, then morally upright actions will take a back seat to expeditious ones.

To cut to the chase, if God doesn’t exist, then neither do objective moral values.

In his book, “The God Delusion,” atheist-author Richard Dawkins wrote the following: “It is pretty hard to defend absolutist morals on grounds other than religious ones.”

Any system of government that lacks moral underpinnings is a system where freedom cannot flourish or even be mildly sustained.

As promised, God stands in the way of would-be tyranny, if those who keep the faith take to their knees.

Dog the Bounty Hunter’s Supernatural Assist

Most folks know Duane Chapman by his stage name, Dog the Bounty Hunter. He worked as a professional bounty hunter in the past, and he’s still at it.

Duane was ultimately able to parlay his work experience into TV stardom through a realty show based on his unique creds.

He became an international news item in 2003, when he apprehended Max Factor heir Andrew Luster. The keen interest and revved up publicity in the Luster story paved the way for his first reality series “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” which ran for eight years on the A&E network.

After the show completed its run, Duane jumped into another reality show, along with his wife Alice Elizabeth, best known as “Beth.” The show, “Dog and Beth: On the Hunt,” was part of the CMT lineup. Another series, “Dog’s Most Wanted,” aired on WGN America.

In a sad turn of events, Beth lost her battle with throat cancer in 2019. Her health struggles were chronicled in an A&E series titled “Dog and Beth: Fight of Their Lives.”

Most recently, Duane appeared, via a vocal performance, on the hit television show “The Masked Singer.” Dressed in gold armadillo attire, he presented The Clash’s “I Fought The Law.”

Although voted off the show, he didn’t skip a beat. He immediately moved on to his next task, which involved a manhunt over a reported double murder in Moab, Utah.

Duane knows exactly what it’s like to be on the opposite side of the law. At age 15, he ran away from home and joined a biker gang. It was back in the 1970s, when he was manning a getaway car, that his friend shot and killed a man during a struggle that involved an illegal marijuana buy.

Convicted of first degree murder, Duane was sentenced to five years in a Texas prison and wound up serving 18 months at the State Penitentiary. Through it all, the future bounty hunter was guided to a deeper relationship with God.

In a recent appearance on “The Prodigal Stories Podcast,” he revealed some of the details of his faith journey. Duane’s mother was an Assemblies of God minister who believed in the power of prayer.

“She was a pastor. My mother … all day long, her whole life, all she did was pray for us,” he said.

Going to church was a routine part of his early life.

“We had to go to church,” he shared.

If he didn’t, his mom would take away the keys to his wheels.

Like many who are raised in a faith-filled home, at one point he fell away from his faith. It happened during his youthful tumultuous years.

Rationalizing, he thought, “[God is] not going to care really what I do as long as I say the blessing and keep God kind of first.”

Soon he discovered that trying to fool yourself about your relationship with your Maker can lead you down a very dark path. In Duane’s case, it was a crime-ridden one.

“After going to prison in the ‘70s in Texas for 18 months, I realized right then that, at the end of this rainbow of crime and all that, is not a bucket of gold, it’s a cell,” he said.

Despite his criminal conviction and prison sentence, Duane’s mother never gave up on improving her son’s spiritual standing. After serving his time and being released from jail, his mom found a way to minister to him during his sleeping hours.

“As I slept, my mom put on a recording of the Bible, and every morning, when I woke up, I’m like, ‘Mom, why did you?’ She’s like, ‘I don’t know who turned that on,’” Duane said.

As time passed, his mother’s efforts and prayers began to produce miraculous results.

“I started acting nice,” he said, understanding that it would be difficult to sustain.

“I’m an Indian outlaw, so I started acting like I wasn’t [nice]. Then I started thinking, ‘What would Jesus do right now?’”

Duane found out that virtue can actually become a habit.

“I started pretending to be good and, all the sudden, I started being good.”

During his long and successful career as a bounty hunter, he has captured thousands of fugitives. The hardships that he suffered enable him to help others in a way that very few can – a vessel of saving grace delivered to a fellow wayward traveler.

“I would capture guys and tell them, ‘Listen, man, I’ve been there, done that … we need supernatural help,’” he said.

The Prodigal Son who shows others how to get back home.