Z. Scott Colter 🇺🇸

Clinging to my guns and religion at the Greensboro Cheesecake Factory tonight.

I got in the car at the airport and the seat was laid flat so that I was not visible. The driver changed into the uniform of a police officer hoping we’d be waved through military checkpoints. Then we hit the open roads to drive some 6- hours north — on African roads. The open country is where the real danger lurks. Fulani herdsmen or Boko Haram, both Muslim terrorist groups, are known to throw obstacles out into your path — burning tires, spike strips, anything. When you brake hard and hit reverse, another group, armed with AK47s, comes out of hiding and throws obstacles behind you. If you don’t stop, they will simply riddle the car with bullets. Unless you are very lucky, you are trapped. The goal is hostages, especially Christians and Westerners. They kidnap you and send your body parts bit by bloody bit to your family demanding payment for your release. The government and the UN are both corrupt and look the other way. We stop for gas. I’m noticed by children. Word spreads rapidly that a white man, seldom seen in the north, is in that car. Soon the car is mobbed by people pressing theirs noses to the windows to peer in. Some are shouting and knocking on the glass. Most of it is just curiosity and not malevolence. I get out and walk around. They press against me, and I push them off. Hard. You get used to it, but you must make them respect your space. (Muslims will do the same in Hyde Park. You’ll never see a knife coming if you allow that.) In those parts of the world that are dangerous for Americans, you must be wary of the children. Watch them. In South America, for instance, many are in the employ of the cartels. It’s no different in Africa or the Middle East. They are given cell phones, some money or candy or some other incentive, and told to report anything unusual. If you see one looking at you and reach for a cell phone, it should trigger alarms in your head. It’s time to move. Fast. We drive on past burning villages, through desert country, and finally to a compound where I am locked in from the outside. The windows are heavily barred. If there’s a fire, I cannot escape. Welcome to West Africa. The Christians who house me often do so at considerable risk. As an American, I’m deemed to be valuable if kidnapped. They would likely be killed. They are courageous, extraordinary people. They tell me stories of family members murdered: boys and men shot or killed with machetes; women raped and mutilated, and girls taken into sex slavery. This is daily life for them and has been since ~2000, and intensifying in 2012 and after. Yet many are joyful, warm, good humored, and hopeful. They want to know how many are with me and if America is going to send them help. It pains me to say that I am alone and probably not. They look downcast, but quickly cheer up and move to other topics. I speak in their churches on apologetics, but the apologetics they need is of the physical type. I preach in the cathedral on hope. Muslims gather round the church and stare through the windows to intimidate. The cathedral had once been bombed. We press on and sing in defiance. When I am finished many are emotional, thankful, as if I had preached the most wonderful sermon. I had not. It was hot, stuff, the sound was poor, and the distractions many. But that was beside the point for them. My simply being there, risking something on their behalf, that’s what mattered more than any words. Pray for these people who suffer under the sword of Islam.

🇺🇸Early voting has begun in Texas as of today!🇺🇸 Some people think it’s only important to vote in presidential elections… NOT TRUE! The midterms are very important, and this election cycle, it is really important that we maintain control of the Senate. If we don’t, that would mean … 1) No more confirmations of President Trump’s appointments (cabinet positions, federal judges, Supreme Court vacancies). 2) Committee control would go to Democrats who could and would launch extensive investigations into executive branch policies and administration officials, including giving Democrats subpoena power. For example, Democrats have already said that if they regain power, they want to begin investigating the Trump family and halting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. Expanding the Supreme Court and working toward statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. are also priorities. Tax increases and the possibility of a third impeachment of President Trump are also likely. On top of that, you can be sure that anywhere Democrats get the opportunity, they will roll back progress made on keeping boys out of girls’ sports, preventing transgender surgeries on minors, and protecting life in the womb. In Texas, it is critically important that conservatives get out to vote. The state is leaning far more purple than is comfortable, and if Republicans stay home and don’t vote (even if they don’t like Paxton personally), they are helping Democrats regain a foothold not only here in Texas but on the national level as well. James Talarico calls himself a Christian, but his policies demonstrate the opposite, which leads me to understand him as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. God is not “non-binary” as Talarico says, and abortion is murder, despite Talarico saying it is not and saying the Bible doesn’t speak to the issue of abortion. Talarico has said he thinks of himself as “a Christian who hates Christianity” and said “white men are the greatest terrorist threat in our country.” He says Jesus was a socialist and opposes Second Amendment rights in America. Talarico is SO opposite of everything Christians stand for and what Texans have stood for for a very long time. On the other hand, Ken Paxton has a record of standing up to leftists and the swamp, believes in keeping boys out of girls’ sports, defending the sanctity of life, securing the border, and cutting taxes. I know plenty of people take issue with Paxton’s dramatic personal life. Here is what I know: I’m not voting for a babysitter for my kids or a pastor for my church. I’m voting for a political leader to do a job, and so far, Paxton’s record is pro-America, pro-Christian, pro-life, and pro-common sense. I am swayed zero percent by Talarico’s soft words and smile. His self-stated policies and the direction he wants to lead are 100 percent opposed to my own Christian values and convictions. The second thing I know is this: to “sit it out” and not vote IS A VOTE. There are only two realistic options for a new Texas senator – Paxton or Talarico, so vote for the one that most closely lines up with your own values, and for Christians, that should be your biblical values. This is not the time for hunting for better candidates and vetting them and raising them up; this is the time for voting for the best of the options presented. After this election, consider running or helping to elect the next slate of great leaders, but don’t let that keep you from casting a vote in the right direction now. So, don’t forget to vote! Millions are expected to forget to vote; don’t let that be you! Go vote and take your friends to vote. Every vote matters!