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Good morning,

There are some Christians who want the church to apathetically wave a white flag of surrender while an enemy struts unopposed through our streets. More on that thought will close out the week.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, Dec. 12, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

2026 GOP Candidate for Texas House Attacked Cruz and Trump While Praising the Obamas Kyle Morris is challenging State Rep. David Lowe in the March Republican primary. Brandon Waltens reviewed [[link removed]] the candidate's social media messages, which revealed sharp criticism of President Donald Trump and other Republican officials, while being supportive of Barack and Michelle Obama.

Morris derided Trump as "delusional," while cheering the Democrat impeachment process in 2019. He also attacked the president for withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.

During the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Morris condemned Sen. Ted Cruz’s comments in her support as "campaigning." He blasted other Republicans for criticizing Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

He also took aim at the American two-party system in which he is now a candidate. As direct as he was on social media, Morris did not respond to requests for comment ... but he did, yesterday afternoon, lock down the account from public review.

Apparently, Mr. Morris decided those hot takes weren’t so hot anymore…

Left-Wing Groups Suing Over Beach Closures During SpaceX Launches A coalition of left-wing environmental groups is set to appear before the Supreme Court of Texas, arguing that state laws permitting the closure of beaches for space flight activities violate the Texas Constitution’s Open Beaches Amendment. Travis Morgan explains the case [[link removed]].

That amendment holds that the public and individuals have "an unrestricted right" to all beaches. However, portions of the enabling act were amended in 2013 to allow public beaches to be closed “for space flight activities.” Since that addition, Boca Chica Beach in Cameron County has been closed at various times to allow SpaceX to conduct launch activities.

The plaintiffs in the case claim their members have been harmed by the closures, including one woman who couldn't go to the beach on her birthday.

A lower court dismissed the plaintiffs' case, ruling they did not have standing to sue. An appellate court overturned that action. It will now be up to the Supreme Court to decide if a citizens’ group can challenge a statute authorizing the closure of public beaches as unconstitutional. Former Mesquite Teacher Charged With Grooming Child at Church Erin Anderson reports [[link removed]] that a former Mesquite teacher and coach is accused of sexually grooming a child he had access to at church.

Matthan Timothy Lough has been arrested and charged with child grooming, a third-degree felony. The alleged crime involved a child at the Christian Center of Mesquite. Lough taught at Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy in Mesquite from 2022 through 2024. PTAA Texas is a K-12 charter school district with six campuses in North Texas.

Lough holds a music teaching certificate, which is currently under review by the Texas Education Agency. State Agency Suspends Galveston County Sheriff’s License A yearlong fight between Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen and the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement came to an official close this week. As Michael Wilson reports [[link removed]], TCOLE commissioners have voted to suspend Fullen's peace officer license for six months, finding that he omitted key information from his licensing applications.

The penalty, however, was probated and backdated to 2024. This means Fullen will not be removed from office, nor will his day-to-day authority be impacted.

The case began when a retired sheriff’s sergeant filed a complaint accusing Fullen of skipping required training and of failing to disclose past arrests, disciplinary problems, and lawsuits on his license applications. While the issues had surfaced repeatedly during Fullen’s 2024 campaign, he won handily.

In 2023, the Legislature passed a requirement mandating that every sheriff in Texas hold an active peace officer license. Lawmakers said the change was intended to make sure anyone seeking the office had real law enforcement experience and training, but the statute does not spell out what should happen if a sheriff’s license is later suspended or revoked. Citizens Seek Independent Audit of Austin Finances Adam Cahn reports [[link removed]] that taxpayers in Austin have launched a petition drive calling for a special election that could mandate an independent audit of city government. If their petition drive is successful, the election would be held in May 2026.

The petition calls for an amendment to the city charter requiring independent audits of municipal finances at least every five years. In addition, if the city council wants to pursue a future tax rate election, the proposed charter amendment would require the municipal government to complete such an audit before the election could be called.

While the city of Austin currently conducts various internal audits, the proposed charter amendment would supplement that with regular external reviews. UT-Austin To Build New Arena for Volleyball Team A new arena has been announced by the University of Texas at Austin [[link removed]] for its volleyball team as part of a development that will include athlete housing. The proposed arena will seat approximately 6,000 spectators.

The facility will be built across the street from the Moody Center, which houses the university’s men’s and women’s basketball programs and opened in 2022. The area in question is currently a parking lot.

UT-Austin's volleyball team won back-to-back national championships in 2022 and 2023 and is in the final four this season. REAL TEXANS Candidates for Texas Agriculture Commissioner

In just 81 days, Republicans in Texas will pick their nominee to be the next Commissioner of Agriculture. Here are interviews conducted in recent months with the two candidates: incumbent Sid Miller [[link removed]] and challenger Nate Sheets [[link removed]].

Check out all of the REAL TEXANS [[link removed]] interviews.

Friday Reflection

Lukewarm Christians [[link removed]]

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

There is a class of professional pastors who have decided that to attract an audience, they must embrace political weakness and cultural impotence. They treat silence on the pressing issues of the day as a virtue. Political "neutrality" might feel winsome on the surface, but it is merely cowardice given a religious spin.

I am sickened by the pious ramblings of soft men about the perceived dangers of being intertwined with imperfect candidates and messengers. A recurring theme of Scripture is that God has throughout history used imperfect men and women to impact culture for His glory. Indeed, the disciples and St. Paul were as flawed as any in history!

In the denomination that I called home for nearly 30 years, the Presbyterian Church in America, this moral cowardice is sometimes called the "third way" but goes by other names, as well. Other denominations have their own subgroups that subtly seek to subvert the Great Commission and mute the church's witness in the real world.

Whatever it's called, the idea is to falsely reframe a cowardly retreat from culture as winsome engagement. It is, in fact, an abdication of the church’s obligation to provide moral clarity in a fallen world. Sadly, this path is too often taken in order to meet crass desires for cash, attendance, worldly applause, or all three.

In this effort, strawmen are created as pastors malign political conservatives as either "seeking a king" or being "uncharitable" in political discourse. Note the direction: the strawman is always a conservative. Always. It is rare to hear from a “conservative” church’s pulpit any critique of leftwing activists, politicians, or even policies.

I fear that this is because too many shepherds are grooming their right-leaning congregants for cultural and political apathy. Scripture is contorted into an egalitarian mess by weak men lacking the courage of their own (or anyone’s) convictions.

Their maliciously false premise is to argue against "extremism" on "both sides." Thus, the eponymous “third way.” In practice, that way is an invitation to sin and cultural rot.

So murdering babies in the womb is wrong, but a politician pushing to fund abortion won’t be criticized. Gay marriage may be a concern, but homosexuality itself won’t be condemned. American capitalism is, obviously, problematic … but the building fund needs more cash!

By laying down arms in the fight for the heart of our republic, for the soul of our culture, proponents of the third way would have the church apathetically wave the white flag of surrender as the enemy struts unopposed through our streets. If Christians won’t push forcefully against evil, who will?

Jesus was not interested in offering a "third way" for mankind. He was exclusionary in the extreme, describing Himself as the " way, the truth, and the life [[link removed]]." He offered no alternatives. In scandalously direct language, Jesus mocked the ruling elite of the day with the most culturally vile invectives one could use.

Jesus also had something to say about those who claim His name but stand in the mushy middle of the moral fights of the day. In Revelation 3:16 [[link removed]], Jesus condemns the church in Laodicea: "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

The Laodiceans were materially wealthy, but a studied apathy had left their church spiritually impotent.

This is where the "third way" leads. The coffers might bulge for a while, but their impact will be as unremarkable as a feather landing on a mountain. Whoever is left in the pews will hear soothing words wrapped in biblical pablum, but their hearts will shrivel from a lack of moral exercise.

For too long, Christians have allowed weak men to fashion the faith into their own emasculated images. Now, more than ever, the church must speak with strength and clarity. It is the only way to minister to and in the culture ... and to save our republic.

Quote-Unquote

"Truth carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation, but confrontation nevertheless."

– Francis Schaeffer

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