In the great new "Reagan" movie, the former president is shown speaking to the National Association of Evangelicals describing the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.” There is another evil empire. It is being marketed as “joy” by the Kamala Harris campaign.

During a trip to New York City last week, I encountered a Harris/Walz campaign event selling buttons for $3 that proclaimed, “Make America Joyful Again,” in contrast to Trump’s MAGA. This is occurring during the one-year anniversary of what was supposed to be a joyful occasion in Israel, a music festival, which turned into a massacre of Jews by Hamas terrorists.

There is not much to be joyful about this year.

The no-win war in Ukraine continues and natural disasters are occurring such as the hurricane—labeled of “Biblical proportions”—that devastated North Carolina, met by a bureaucratic federal response bordering on malfeasance.

But there is hope. Private relief agencies, many grounded in Christian churches, are responding. One such group, United in Crisis, provides training, practical tools, and time-tested strategies “that unite and equip the Body of Christ to become the Good Samaritan in their community.”

At the same time, there is a Christian revival in America, as evident by the planned "A Million Women" gathering of “righteous women” on Washington, D.C. on October 12, designed to shed light on the nature of the evil and enable Christians to mobilize for a period of prayer and fasting.

The scheduled event is designed to stand daily in prayer “against the spirit of Ishtar,” known in modern terms as the goddess of sexual immorality, pornography, homosexuality, and transgenderism. Declaring the victory of Jesus’ blood over Satan, the group declares, “Let us pray for the destruction of this wicked principality and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this generation.”

Organizers call the coming event “A Last Stand for America.”

Meanwhile, Catholic groups have announced support for the 32nd Annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting, October 12-20, in the Washington, D.C area. Under the call "Become the Change that Will Change the World," a series of talks and events will take place to help people “overcome the warfare experienced in our families and in our communities.”

One of the speakers is Jim Wahlberg, executive producer of the film “Mother Teresa: No Greater Love” and executive director of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation.

Many will remember that, at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C, on February 5, 1994, Mother Teresa stood before President and Mrs. Bill Clinton, and Vice President and Mrs. Al Gore, along with thousands in attendance, and called abortion “murder.” She declared, “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion…because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”

In 1985, President Reagan presented Mother Teresa the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

According to Lou Engle, the evangelical sponsor of the “Million Women” march, the “Spirit of Ishtar” was present at the Paris Olympic opening ceremony, mocking Jesus with drag queens. He explained that the goddess Ishtar had “made her global appearance at the Olympics.”

Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jew who lectures about Bible prophecy, comments, “What happened in Paris was not innocent, it’s actually a manifestation of what is actually happening in our culture.” He says the Olympic ceremony was an example of “blasphemy” against God and reflects demonic influence in the world.

In the “competition,” an Algerian boxer named Imane Khelif—a male—won the gold medal in the women’s boxing welterweight division at the Paris Olympics.

Citing the Book of Esther as a model, American women are being urged to become part of “an Esther Call,” this time for America, as the march organizers explain how the Biblical character Esther was “appointed by the unseen dancing hand of Providence into the position of Queen of Persia” and eventually was used to save the Jews worldwide from genocide.

In opposition to this call for revival and repentance stands a group of Republicans who have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court affirming “transgender rights.” The signers of the brief include several former Republican members of Congress and former aides to Bush-Cheney, Chris Christie, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.

Many of these signers have been described as “fake Republicans” who want anybody but Trump for president.

Indeed, a group calling itself “Republican Voters Against Trump” (RVAT) announced in a press release that they launched a $500K campaign to support Kamala Harris.

In New York, at that Harris/Walz campaign event, there was a great emphasis on passing statewide Proposition 1, a constitutional amendment to “Protect Abortion and Our Freedoms.”

The New York Republican Party says the measure does not identify “abortion rights” but instead refers to “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive autonomy.” It also affirms “gender identity” and “gender expression” and removes parental consent from health decisions impacting children. The GOP says the measure would force schools to include biological males on female sports teams.

In addition, by creating “national origin” as a new protected class, taxpayer benefits would be mandated for illegal aliens.

The New York State Conservative Party warns that Proposition 1 “will give biological males a Constitutional right to compete on Girls and Women’s Sports teams in New York; it would prevent parents from learning if a child is gender transitioning in school; it would silence free speech within religious communities, and it would lay the groundwork for non-citizens voting in New York elections.”

Such an agenda aligns with the “Make America Joyful Again” agenda of Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party, rather than conservative values.

• Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org