There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
So shall we ever be with the Lord.1 Thessalonians 4:17
While we are here the Lord is with us, and when we are called away we are with Him. There is no dividing the saint from His Savior. They are one, and they always must be one: Jesus cannot be without His own people, for He would be a Head without a body. Whether caught up into the air, or resting in paradise, or sojourning here, we are with Jesus; and who shall separate us from Him?
What a joy is this! Our supreme honor, rest, comfort, delight, is to be with the Lord. We cannot conceive of anything which can surpass or even equal this divine society. By holy fellowship we must be with Him in His humiliation, rejection, and travail, and then we shall be with Him in His glory. Before long we shall be with Him in His rest and in His royalty, in His expectation and in His manifestation. We shall fare as He fares and triumph as He triumphs.
O my Lord, if I am to be forever with Thee, I have a destiny incomparable. I will not envy an archangel. To be forever with the Lord is my idea of heaven at its best. Not the harps of gold, nor the crowns unfading, nor the light unclouded is glory to me; but Jesus, Jesus Himself, and myself forever with Him in nearest and dearest fellowship.
As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem.Isaiah 31:5
With hurrying wing the mother bird hastens up to the protection of her young. She wastes no time upon the road when coming to supply them with food or guard them from danger. Thus as on eagle’s wings will the Lord come for the defense of His chosen; yea, He will ride upon the wings of the wind.
With outspread wing the mother covers her little ones in the nest. She hides them away by interposing her own body. The hen yields her own warmth to her chicks and makes her wings a house, in which they dwell at home. Thus doth Jehovah Himself become the protection of His elect. He Himself is their refuge, their abode, their all.
As birds flying and birds covering (for the word means both), so will the Lord be unto us: and this He will be repeatedly and successfully. We shall be defended and preserved from all evil: the Lord who likens Himself to birds will not be like them in their feebleness, for He is Jehovah of hosts. Let this be our comfort, that almighty love will be swift to succor and sure to cover. The wing of God is more quick and more tender than the wing of a bird, and we will put our trust under its shadow henceforth and forever.
“He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.” Psalm 40:2b (AMP)
The year came in with a vengeance.
On top of seeing snow in unexpected places, we have seen a number of tragedies, deaths, illnesses, hurricanes, among other life-altering challenges. It’s almost as if the bottom fell out and many of you find yourselves trying to find sure footing again. Is there a place of certainty that I can find rest? Is there hope for me, my family, and our future?
Even in this moment of transition I speak peace to the weary souls that are at a place of turmoil. I speak rest to your minds from the anxious toil. Cease striving trying to figure it all out and rest in the unfailing love of the Father; for He gives rest to His beloved.
We must learn to accept His sovereignty and receive His grace. There are situations we will never be able to understand. We are to trust that God has it all under control and He is working it all together for our good. He will also reveal His plan as time unfolds.
2 Corinthians 12:9 encourages us to rely on the grace of God; “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul wanted God to remove the problems he faced because they seemed too much for him to bear, but God knowing all too well the purpose of those trials encouraged Him that His power was all He needed.
I challenge you today as you read this to take a step back and ask God to help you see your situation through His eyes. In times like these we need Him to broaden our perspective. As He does take comfort in the rest that He has already provided; be still my friend and know that He is God. There is nothing too hard for our God to handle. When everything around you is shaking, He is a firm foundation. He is the rock of ages. He knows how to steady you and establish your footing on solid ground.
Father, teach me to rest in your unfailing love. I admit I get lost trying to find my way through life’s ups and downs. I don’t always know where to go or what to think. I don’t always know what to do, but you do. May I take comfort in knowing that Your purposes for me will be fulfilled. There is nothing that I will encounter that can separate me from Your love. Thank you, Father. In Jesus’s name Amen.
“My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world.” 1 John 4:4 (MSG)
Our lives in Christ are meant to be extraordinary, incredible, meaningful and purposeful but never trouble-free. God keeps you in the pressure-cooker of life so others can see how a life connected to Jesus confronts problems in a very different way than a life that is disconnected from Jesus.
We are empowered by the Holy Spirit and that gives us the ability to respond to hardship like people from the kingdom of heaven — not like people seemingly abandoned by God or in rebellion to God or unaware of God or unrepentant before God.
When we think God is not involved in our circumstances, we respond with problems with defensiveness, blame, shame, anger, hatred, pride, fear and self-centeredness. Anybody can do that. Anybody not connected to Jesus.
Jesus will have none of that and so he pushes us to a choice:
Do you trust that I am involved in your circumstances or not?
When we respond from our human nature, instead of submitting to the divine nature working within us, we expose a deep, inner distrust of Jesus. Our actions show we believe him incapable of understanding the stress and danger of life (a bold belief considering Jesus died hanging on the cross).
On the other hand, when we respond from the truth that we are connected to Jesus, we prove that we believe he that is within us is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
Jesus’ goal is not to condemn us for our distrust; rather, it is to expose our faulty beliefs so we will abandon them and move deeper into our relationship with him.
Russia fires nuclear warhead-capable cruise missile with ‘dummy’ payload Russia fired a nuclear warhead-capable cruise missile into Ukraine, but instead of a nuclear payload, it was installed with a dummy “imitation” warhead, highlighting dwindling precision missile stocks, according to a report by Ukrainian outlet Defense Express on Friday morning. The launch, however, could have been intentional, aiming to “send a message” to Ukraine and its Western allies about a possible nuclear escalation of the war, a threat Russia has repeated many times in the past.
Sweden Finds “Foreign Objects” & Explosive Residue On Nord Stream Pipelines To nobody’s surprise, the investigation has concluded the natural gas leaks which rocked European energy markets and resulted in tit-for-tat accusations between Moscow and the West was the result of “gross sabotage”. While not naming a culprit, the Swedish final report of this initial stage of the inquiry uncovered evidence of “foreign objects” placed on the pipelines. Russian media sources, as well as a handful of Western pundits, have alleged that US naval activity was observed in that regional of the Baltic Sea during the time of the incident.
A Rabbi Tempts Fate on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount The site became a remarkable point of anti-messianic harmony between Israel’s secular and religious establishments, which helps explain why the status quo has held so long. But Rabbi Levi’s defiant “minority” has shifted the site’s daily realities. A group of at least 30 students from nearby Yeshivat Har HaBayit now journeys up the mount at 7 a.m. most days. “At first we prayed by talking to one another,” Rabbi Levi recalled. They would recite the morning service as if the prayers were different halves of what the police would think were casual conversations.
Azerbaijan to become first Shi’ite Muslim country with embassy in Israel Azerbaijan is set to become the first Shi’ite Muslim-majority state to open an embassy in Israel, following parliamentary approval on Friday. The new embassy, which The Jerusalem Post reported was in the works last month, will be in Tel Aviv, where the country already has a Tourism Office and a Trade Representative Office. Israel and Azerbaijan have had relations for 30 years, and there has been an Israeli embassy in Baku since 1993.
Russia ready for high-level talks with US if Washington willing -foreign ministry Russia is not ruling out further high-level meetings with the United States on “strategic stability,” Moscow’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday, as an upcoming meeting between the two powers in Cairo on nuclear proliferation nears. “If the Americans show interest and readiness, we will not refuse,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying. Strategic stability is a term Russia and the United States, the world’s two biggest nuclear powers, use to mean reducing the risk of nuclear war.
Men’s sperm count worldwide decreased by 50% in the last 50 years – study The sperm count of men across the world has decreased by over 50% in the last 50 years, a new study by researchers at Hebrew University found. Furthermore, the peer-reviewed study, found that the rate of the decrease has increased in the 21st century.
Russia: Not reviving nuclear deal will have ‘irreversible consequences’ Russia sees “no reasonable alternative” to the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Vershinin said in an interview given Thursday to state-owned Rossiya Segodnya. “Any other option will only lead to an escalation with grave and possibly irreversible consequences for international security and global markets,” Vershinin added. “The United Nations should be aware of this.”
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un threatens nuclear response to US and allies Kim Jong Un pledged to counter US nuclear threats with nuclear weapons as he inspected a test of the country’s new intercontinental ballistic missile, state media KCNA said on Saturday. The isolated country fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward the East Sea on Friday, the South Korean military said, in protest over the United States’ move to reinforce its “extended deterrence” protection of South Korea and Japan.
5 NATO aircraft carriers patrolling together in show of force around Europe NATO is making a show of force this month with five aircraft carriers operating in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, one month after the alliance and Russia held rival nuclear exercises amid the latter’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Two U.S. carriers are involved: the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS Gerald R. Ford, according to a U.S. Navy press release. The other three carriers are the U.K.’s HMS Queen Elizabeth and the flagships of the French and Italian navies: the Charles De Gaulle and Cavour.
Pentagon fails 5th annual audit in a row – what you should know The U.S. Department of Defense has, once again, failed a comprehensive financial audit. The audit is the fifth comprehensive review the department has completed, and the fifth where auditors were unable to find sufficient record keeping for the DoD to pass off on a clean audit. 16 component audits were listed with “disclaimers of opinion,” meaning the auditors were unable to find complete enough financial records to provide an audit opinion. The disclaimers of opinion accounted for 47 percent of the DoD’s total assets and at least 71 percent of the DoD’s total budgetary resources.
CNN Silent on Producer Who Declared Himself Supporter of ‘#TeamHitler’ It’s happened again. Earlier this week, HonestReporting exposed yet another mainstream journalist who glorified Adolf Hitler and Palestinian terrorism. On Twitter, CNN Producer Idris Muktar Ibrahim proudly declared him a supporter of “#TeamHitler,” while describing the US-designated Hamas terrorist organization as “freedpm [sic] fighters… definding [sic] their land.”
Netanyahu and Ben Gvir agree to legalize Jewish towns in the Biblical heartland As part of their coalition negotiations, Likud head Benjamin Netanyahu and Otzma Yehudit head Itamar Ben Gvir agreed on Wednesday to initiate several legal initiatives that would legalize dozens of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria. The towns included in the agreement are those classified as “young settlements” and were established without government authorization.
Strong and shallow M6.8 earthquake hits southwest of Sumatra, Indonesia A strong and shallow earthquake, registered by the BMKG as M6.8, hit southwest of Sumatra, Indonesia at 13:37 UTC on November 18, 2022. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). USGS is reporting M6.9 at a depth of 10 km; EMSC M6.7 at a depth of 10 km.
Israel joins US-Canada plan for net zero carbon emissions in government by 2050 The Finance and Environmental Protection Ministries announced Thursday that Israel was joining a White House initiative to bring net carbon emissions down to zero by 2050 in all government activities, in an effort both to reduce global warming emissions and to set an example for markets to do the same.
Biden To Hand Out Billions To Stop Developing Country From Using Coal President Joe Biden and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday announced a climate deal that will send Indonesia $20 billion over the next three-to-five years to push the country to shut down its coal plants.
Treasonous Globalists Will Use Red China Communist Allies To Carry Out Political Purges While we’d reported back on November 9th in this story titled “As Insanity, Anarchy And Lawlessness Are Codified And America’s ‘Star Chambers’ Prepare Their Coming Purges Of Conservatives, The Banking World Prepares For ‘Battleground America’” that totalitarian regimes through history are never ‘voted out‘ at the ‘ballot box‘ and have long been famous for their ‘purges‘ of ‘political opponents,’ while such a ‘purge‘ here in America would be made that much more difficult due to the wisdom of America’s Founding Fathers, there are signs the globalists are more than prepared to use their ‘red China‘ Communist allies to carry out such acts of terror upon the American people who don’t toe the line of their agenda.
Your Thanksgiving dinner with ALL the trimmings will cost 20% more than last year The cost of a complete Thanksgiving meal for 10 will be 20 percent higher than last year. In 2021, Americans paid an average of $53.31 on the holiday dinner, but now the meal, with all the fixings included, will cost up to $64.05, according to the latest survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
Here Come “Programmable Dollars”: New York Fed And 12 Banking Giants Launch Digital Dollar Test Never let a crisis go to waste. Or a market crash for that matter. With equity and bond markets stuck in brutal bear markets and providing a sufficient distraction to what is happening behind the scenes, the Fed and a group of banks have been quietly preparing for the next stage in the “organized crash” pipeline: the rollout of CBSC.
Cost of Migration: London Rental Prices Surge to Record High The average weekly price for London residential rentals climbed to a record high in October, with high prices driven by high demand that in no small part is a result of open borders sustained by successive Conservative governments.
Was Crypto King Bankman-Fried A Philanthropist or A Money Launderer When cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX suddenly imploded, immediately erasing the fortune of 30-year-old founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the public soon noticed multiple strings between the company and the Democratic Party that curiously run through Ukraine.
On the heels of what happened with the Biden presidential election where we are supposed to believe that a candidate who had absolutely no enthusiastic Democrat voter base whatsoever during the primaries was the most popular president elect EVER and became the president with the most votes in ALL of US history, you’ll pardon me that I’m highly suspicious of the outcome of these latest midterm state elections from last week, especially with this new thing–those many mail-in ballots–and so much vote-counting happening beyond the deadline. Very weird and suspect.
I’m thinking of candidates like Blake Masters and, in particular, his race in Arizona where the last votes to be counted were in strong districts for Masters but the mail-in ballots from there were predominantly in his opponent’s favor. And all kinds of strange, underhanded shananigans are reported or purported to have occurred in many of the other races, too, involving votes lost, not counted, or not countable. This has not been to the benefit of Republican candidates who were in a tight race or leading. And of course, then there’s those notorious mail-in ballots which were brought in with covid as the excuse and which continued to come in and be counted in some races a week after the election day. Very, VERY fishy.
I accept whoever wins, Republican or Democrat, but it has to be a free and FAIR election. Otherwise, an election process of the people is meaningless and non-existent, and the US has become what I would coin “a first-world banana republic”, in effect. If this is indeed the case, then it should make people very angry and upset.
No wonder “the establishment” and their puppet-masters “the deep state” don’t want to let someone like Blake Masters into the game. They know most of what the government does is a scam on the people and they don’t want him to win. They don’t want him to call them out on it and try to end the spending spree boondgoggle that enriches them.
As Blake made clear in a recent interview on the Ron Paul Liberty Report, he understands that what the Treasury collects in tax revenue is never nearly enough for the insatiable appetites of the special interests, so then there’s also the Federal Reserve to add insult to injury and facilitate the majority of the pork barrel spending by just making up the difference that they want by printing up money out of thin air which dilutes real wealth and makes the bottom 99 percent of people less well off through inflation.
The game is rigged, the special interests with cozy access have all the power and benefit. This is nothing new, this has all been going on for over a hundred years now, but the difference now is that the powers-that-be are taking much more money and power than ever before and are more evil and indifferent, even contemptuous, towards the rest of us than they were in the past.
And now as the people begin to wake up to this and will vote accordingly, this can only make a difference if the voting process is honest and transparent. However, if our votes no longer count and elections are stolen, then what is left to us as an instrument of change but peaceful or violent revolution?
A cashless society would be the nail in the coffin for liberty and freedom, offering centralization, the likes of which Marx could only dream.
The existence of a government backdoor or spyware becomes a real possibility, and given the State’s track record, a real likelihood.
Then, of course, the ability to track, freeze, and even set expiry dates on money, will be marketed as “features” to protect the public.
As for the 5.9 million Americans considered “unbanked,” i.e., those who have no checking or savings accounts, (the poor, weak, and vulnerable) they can expect life to get more difficult. This is the price we pay for free market intervention.
Earlier in the week, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York made the announcement:
Members of the U.S. Banking Community Launch Proof of Concept For A Regulated Digital Asset Settlement Platform
The explanation may only make sense for those well versed in crypto technology:
Members of the U.S. banking community today announced the launch of a proof of concept (PoC) project that will explore the feasibility of an interoperable digital money platform known as the regulated liability network (RLN). Using distributed ledger technology, the proposed platform would create innovation opportunities to improve financial settlements and would include participation from central banks, commercial banks of various sizes and regulated non-banks.
Basically, Fedcoin is advancing and is now in the testing stage:
The 12-week PoC will test a version of the RLN design that operates exclusively in U.S. dollars where commercial banks issue simulated digital money or “tokens” – representing the deposits of their own customers – and settle through simulated central bank reserves on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger.
Some of the largest financial institutions are involved in this 12-week program:
BNY Mellon, Citi, HSBC, Mastercard, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.
Plus:
The technology is being provided by SETL with Digital Asset, powered by Amazon Web Services. Swift, the global financial messaging service provider, is also participating in the initiative to support interoperability across the international financial ecosystem.
From Bitcoin to Dogecoin, there seems little long term hope for those who love privacy and autonomy when the largest corporations and fintech firms work with the Federal Reserve to roll out a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Would you like to know who else is was working with the Feds? Courtesy Coindesk:
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was, until last week, a major political donor – he gave $5.2 million to U.S. President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and spent another $40 million supporting mainly Democratic candidates ahead of the November midterm elections – and an influential figure in Washington.
Bankman-Fried regularly met with regulators and lawmakers, weighing in on how the crypto industry should be regulated. He was a vocal supporter of one bill, in particular: the bipartisan Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA), a still-in-progress bill…
We know for certain CBDCs are coming, as well as more regulation. And given the trajectory of both, a cashless society is too. What is less certain is whether or not Sam Bankman-Fried, for his culpability in what may amount to one of the largest thefts of all time, will ever see jail time.
(CHRISTIAN HEADLINES) – A key evangelical ally during Donald Trump’s administration says he will not endorse the former president for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, visited the White House during the Trump administration and often appeared on radio and television shows to defend the former president’s policies. But Jeffress says he will remain neutral for the 2024 GOP race.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., discusses House GOP efforts to investigate President Biden’s connection to Hunter Biden’s business dealings and responds to the special counsel named to run the Trump investigations.
#LionelNation #Election2024 #Liberty Lionel is appearing at the fabled and storied Cutting Room in NYC (January 14 2023) Doors open at 6 PM. Curtain at 7 PM. Special Guest: You. https://bit.ly/3TNMfEc Subscribe to LionelMedia for my exclusive private videos and analysis/commentary that deal with subjects verboten on censored social media. https://bit.ly/3kveTeh We need and appreciate your faith devotion and support.
A handful of Senate Republicans reportedly started talks with illegal aliens enrolled in and eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as House and Senate Democrats, along with corporate special interest allies, hope to pass an amnesty in the lame-duck Congress.
This week, DACA illegal aliens and open borders activists descended on Washington, DC, in their efforts to lobby ten Senate Republicans to join Democrats in passing an amnesty — before the GOP takes control of the House — that would secure them green cards and, eventually, naturalized American citizenship.
According to Politico, Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) held meetings with DACA illegal aliens to discuss potential amnesty plans.
Hundreds of DACA recipients and immigration advocates descended on Washington DC last week pushing for action on Immigration.
They took hundreds of meetings with politicians, lobbyists, businesses, faith leaders, and White House officials.
Around 300 DACA recipients, Dreamers and immigrant advocates are descending on Washington this week to kick off their lame-duck push for action on immigration. They’re flying in from all over the country — New York, Texas, Nevada, California, Florida, you name it.
Immigrant advocacy groups are calling the campaign the “Week of Action,” in which hundreds of meetings will take place with lobbyists, business and faith leaders, White House officials and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. To name a few, groups have scored meetings with key Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Alex Padilla of California and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, but they’re also starting talks with Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Mike Lee of Utah and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer came out in full support of Amnesty on Wednesday.
The Democrats will use the millions of illegal aliens to permanently entrench their party.
“Now more than ever, we’re short of workers, we have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to, the only way we’re gonna have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants! The DREAMers and all of them!” Schumer said.
He added, “Because our ultimate goal is to help the DREAMers get a path to citizenship for “all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here!”
There are at least 30-40 million illegals in total currently living in the US.
They are trying to pass Amnesty before Republicans take back the House.
“Believe Us! We Know!” Last September President Biden declared the COVID pandemic was over. The WHO said that COVID deaths were down 90% since February. HHS has extended the emergency to mid-January. Because we know we can trust our government, our scientists, our media, our overlords.
Another One Bites the Dust It is, unfortunately, the history of the church and its associates. Take, for instance, universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Oxford. All started as religious institutions; all lacking any connection to their roots anymore. Now Calvin University in Michigan has voted to allow faculty that dissents with biblical (and denominational) rules on sexual immorality to remain in good standing. The CRC codified its opposition to homosexual sex, so the university has opted to eliminate that requirement “while remaining committed to upholding the confessional standards of the CRC,” an obvious impossibility. (1 John 2:18-19).
Locked and Loaded The big political news, of course, is that the Republicans won a majority in the House. That means that Pelosi won’t be the Speaker, and America could use less of her speaking. It doesn’t mean government will be better. Since both the House and the Senate are almost numerically identical, it means likely deadlock in Congress for a while. But is a deadlocked Congress really a bad thing, given the alternative of a really bad Congress?
Wave Goodbye So, the question remains. Why was there no “Red Wave“? History and current events (inflation, gas prices, etc.) suggested a sure shift, but what we got was a small shift. The experts suggest it’s because of Trump’s shadow (“threat to democracy”) and, especially, abortion. Apparently Americans are so keen on being allowed to have post-sex contraception and sin without consequences that they will vote stupidly to get it. Oddly enough, with the resulting deadlock, they didn’t.
Values Clarification The House already passed the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act” back in July and now that a change of Senate influence is at hand, they advanced the bill to begin debate in a 62-37 vote. There is considerable pushback from some because the bill would “write marriage equality into federal law and protect it from Supreme Court action.” And, by “marriage equality” they mean some very broad things. Ostensibly, the point is to make it illegal for you to believe that marriage is solely between a man and a woman. It does not mean that nonprofit religious organizations will have to provide for them. It does not mean that the government will recognize polygamy … because that still falls outside of the current “definition” of “marriage” that we’re supposed to “respect.” What it will do is repeal the “Defense of Marriage Act” … which is how we show respect for marriage. And the fact that so many Republicans (including Mitt Romney) voted for it is disturbing. What else will we be required to “respect” … by radical redefinition?
Fake News Trump popularized the term, “fake news.” The Bee took it on as a tagline, so they are “Fake news you can trust.” Here’s the problem. “Fake news” is not a fake concept, and our modern news media has become so corrupt (on both sides) that it’s really, really hard to tell what is or isn’t “fake news.” The Bee’s satirical headline (October 7, 2016) read, “Captain America Rebooted as Feminist, Atheist, Transgender Hydra Agent” and in March, 2021, Marvel rebooted Captain America as a female LGBT activist. In May of 2017 the headline read, “‘2 + 2 = 4,’ Insists Closed-Minded Bigot” and in December of 2021 USA Today published an article about math being racist. A headline in May, 2019, read, “Man’s Baptism Overturned After Instant Replay Reveals He Was Not Fully Submerged” and last February the news reported that a pastor baptized people for decades using one wrong word. Now those are all considered invalid. So what is fake news and what is not? Really?
Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, members of the Senate advanced a bill that would codify so-called same-sex marriage into federal law. The global population exceeded eight billion people for the first time in history. Meanwhile, exit polls showed that unmarried women are among the most reliable voters for the Democratic Party.
Senate Advances So-Called Same-Sex Marriage Bill
“Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28).
A measure codifying same-sex marriage into federal law passed a procedural vote in the Senate with the support of every Democrat and twelve Republicans.
According to a press release from Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, the Respect for Marriage Act would establish the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges into law such that Americans are “free to marry the person they love, regardless of sexual orientation or race, without fear of discrimination or fear that their marriages will be invalidated.”
The new legislation, which is expected to pass the House of Representatives and garner the endorsement of President Joe Biden, will overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, said in a statement that he voted against the motion to advance the bill because “religious liberty protections” offered by the legislation “were severely anemic and largely illusory.” The lawmaker added that religious individuals and organizations could be exposed to litigation and the loss of nonprofit status.
Among the Republicans who voted to advance the legislation were Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.
Global Population Surpasses Eight Billion People
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).
There are more than eight billion people on the planet as of this week, according to a projection from the United Nations.
Even as birth rates diminish in the wake of the lockdown-induced recession, portions of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America will constitute the bulk of population growth in the coming years. The nations of Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will account for the majority of population growth over the next three decades.
“This is an occasion to celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres remarked.
Some have claimed that a larger global population reflects added burden to the planet rather than resources to innovate and render economic activity more efficient. United Nations Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin commented that “rapid population growth makes eradicating poverty, combatting hunger and malnutrition, and increasing the coverage of health and education systems more difficult.”
Such outcomes, however, have drastically improved following the spread of global capitalism and concurrent population growth after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Unmarried Women Break Heavily for the Democrats
“Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing” (1 Timothy 2:14).
Unmarried women were among the most reliable voters for Democratic nominees in the recent midterm elections, according to exit poll data from CNN.
As many as 68% of unmarried women voted for progressive candidates, contributing to overperformance from the Democrats in comparison to pundits’ expectations. Meanwhile, 56% of married women voted for Republican candidates, while 59% of married men and 52% of unmarried men likewise cast ballots for Republicans.
Beyond concerns about the economy and soaring inflation, voters cited abortion as one of the most pressing issues on their minds. Democrats relied upon a pendulum effect as voters reacted against the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
Welcome to the 20th installment of our weekly series on President Joe Biden’s senior moments. It’s an especially notable milestone because Biden is on the verge of making history. On Sunday, he will become America’s first octogenarian president. We don’t think he looks a day older than 79.
This week our bumbling commander in chief mistook Cambodia for Colombia during a meeting with Asian leaders, temporarily forgot how to read, and went lusting after a Russian man’s large biceps. (Collusion? Maybe.) “His biceps are as big as my calf,” Biden swooned. “There’s a man … He’s got some real biceps. We call them guns.”
A MUST-SEE lecture based on Dr. Stephen C. Meyer’s book “Signature in the Cell“. One of my favorite 6 arguments for a Creator and Designer is the origin of the simplest replicating living system. When you look into the cell, what you’ll find is carefully sequenced components that for complex structures, like proteins. In this lecture, you’ll learn all about this “biological information”.
I highly recommend watching the lecture, and looking at the slides. The quality of the video and the content is first class. There is some Q&A (9 minutes) at the end of the lecture.
Topics:
intelligent design is concerned with measuring the information-creating capabilities of natural forces like mutation and selection
Darwinists think that random mutations and natural selection can explain the origin and diversification of living systems
Darwinian mechanisms are capable of explaining small-scale adaptive changes within types of organisms
The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is one of the most destructive and dishonest government officials in US history.
Under his watch, the US logged over 5 million illegal aliens crossing into the country through the open southern US Border.
Alejandro’s response to the crisis of record human and drug trafficking has been to consistently lie to the American public about the seriousness of the situation.
Mayorkas lied again just this week about the open border with Mexico.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have begun rolling out their investigative plans for next year in the wake of securing the House majority, and their plans include questioning nearly a dozen individuals within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Republicans, led by ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), sent a notice Friday to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting “prompt testimony” from Mayorkas and ten others with key roles in immigration and cybersecurity.
The Republicans stated in the notice, first obtained by Breitbart News, that they “anticipate requiring testimony” early next year from the individuals, who work in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA):
Alejandro Mayorkas Ur Jaddou, USCIS Tae Johnson, ICE Kerry E. Doyle, ICE Blas Nunez-Neto, CBP Chief Raul L. Ortiz, CBP Jennifer Daskal, Office of the General Counsel Adam Hunter, Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plan Jen Easterly, CISA Geoff Hale, CISA Julia Treanor, CISA
The testimonies will occur in committee hearings or in transcribed interviews, which Republicans will have the authority to arrange once they take control of the committee in January. Jordan is expected to serve as committee chairman.
While God has revealed Himself to us in nature, the knowledge necessary for salvation is revealed to us only in Scripture. Today, R.C. Sproul explores the direct revelation that God has given us in the Bible.
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