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
Description:The book of Romans says that we are altogether unrighteous, therefore the grave awaits us. So what can we do? Is there a way to righteousness? How can someone be declared righteous by God? In this message, Dr. Sproul teaches us the most glorious and Christ honoring way, as he affirms that salvation is by “Faith Alone.”
4:13 All things refers to the economic fluctuations of life (v. 12). Through him who strengthens me teaches that Christ empowers believers to live in God’s will. Paradoxically, Paul was strong when he was weak; independent only when dependent. Such is the life of a disciple.[1]
4:13 I can do all things. Relying on Christ’s power and following His example (2:5; 3:10), Paul is able to face all circumstances with contentment. He wants to impress the same lesson on his readers (vv. 6, 7, 19).[2]
4:13do all things Paul testifies to the sufficiency of Christ’s strength. He is prepared to endure any circumstance in life because Christ empowers him to do so.[3]
4:13 I can do all things. Paul uses a Gr. verb that means “to be strong” or “to have strength” (cf. Ac 19:16, 20; Jas 5:16). He had strength to withstand “all things” (vv. 11, 12), including both difficulty and prosperity in the material world. through Him who strengthens me. The Gr. word for strengthen means “to put power in.” Because believers are in Christ (Gal 2:20), He infuses them with His strength to sustain them until they receive some provision (Eph 3:16–20; 2Co 12:10).[4]
4:13 — I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
While without Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5), with Him nothing is impossible. The demands and stresses of life can easily overwhelm any of us, but they are no match for the risen Son of God.[5]
4:13 Then the apostle adds the words which have been a puzzle to many: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Could he possibly mean this literally? Did the apostle really believe that there was nothing he could not do? The answer is this: When the Apostle Paul said that he could do all things, he meant all things which were God’s will for him to do. He had learned that the Lord’s commands are the Lord’s enablements. He knew that God would never call on him to accomplish some task without giving the necessary grace. All things probably applies not so much to great feats of daring as to great privations and hungerings.[6]
4:13 The term “Christ” found in the King James Version does not occur in this verse in the oldest Greek manuscripts (א*, A, B, or D*). However, the PRONOUN “Him” certainly refers to Jesus. This is the flipside of the truth found in John 15:5. Biblical truth is often presented in tension-filled pairs. Usually one side emphasizes God’s involvement and the other, mankind’s. This eastern method of presenting truth is very difficult for western people to grasp. Many of the tensions between denominations are a misunderstanding of this type of dialectical presentations of truth. To focus on one aspect or the other is to miss the point! These isolated proof texts have developed into systems of theology which are in fact only “half truths”!
13. Paul, then, is saying that in every particular circumstance as well as in all circumstances generally he has learned the secret of contentment. The cause that accounts for this soul-sufficiency, that is, the Person who taught and is constantly teaching him this secret, is indicated in the words, I can do all things in him who infuses strength into me. Surely, a wonderful testimony! Whatever needs to be done Paul can do, for he is in Christ (Phil. 3:9), being by the indwelling presence of Christ’s Spirit and by Spirit-wrought faith in vital union and intimate fellowship with his Lord and Savior. Christ’s grace is sufficient for him and his power rests on him (2 Cor. 12:9). This wonderful Helper is standing by him (2 Tim. 4:17) as the great Enabler (1 Tim. 1:12). The Lord is for Paul the Fountain of Wisdom, encouragement, and energy, actually infusing strength into him for every need. It is for that reason that the apostle is even able to say. “Wherefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions and frustrations, for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).[8]
Ver. 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.—Here we find:—
I. Weakness and strength. The believer is weak in himself. Looking to the “all things” to be done he laments this with shame and tears. But he is not alone. Allied to Christ he is strong to overcome evil and to do good. He has courage and hope. Nothing in the way of duty is impossible (2 Cor. 12:8–10).
II. Dependence and freedom. Dependence is the law of our being. Of the natural life it is said, “In God we live and move and have our being;” how much more is this true of the spiritual life, and yet we are free. Of our own choice we trust in Christ; of our own will, every moment we abide in Him. “I can” implies the personal life, reason, conscience, will, and endeavour.
III. Humility and aspiration. Paul was remarkable for humility; it grew with him. But he was not discouraged. Fired with the noblest ambition, his inspiration was from above. So with all Christians. In spite of conscious weakness, opposition, and failure, “through Christ they take heart to persevere. “My soul cleaveth to the dust: quicken thou me according to Thy Word.”
IV. Suffering and contentment. Paul’s life was marked by vicissitudes and trouble; he was now in prison. But what then? His soul was free; there was peace within, Christ was with him. As a scholar under the great Master he had learned many things, and among others the Divine secret of content (ver. 11). So with Christians. Their satisfaction is not from without but from within; not from the lower and perishable things of the world, but from the immortal affection of their Saviour and God. Learn—1. The greatness of Christ as suggested by the place given Him by such a man as Paul. Consider his zeal, labours, achievements, and yet he ascribes the praise of all to Christ. But Paul was only one of many. 2. The grandeur of the Christian life. There is no limit to its possibilities. What has been done is only an earnest of what will be done. Take courage. “Through Christ,” His blood, Word, Spirit, resurrection, &c., all things are possible. What inspiration here for prayer and holy endeavour (Eph. 3:20–21). 3. The certain triumph of Christianity. Strengthened by Him, His people shall never cease to pray and strive, till all the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. (W. Forsyth.)
All-sufficiency magnified:—The former part of the sentence would be a piece of impudent daring without the latter. There have been men who, puffed up with vanity, have said, “I can do all things.” Their destruction has been sure—Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, Napoleon. And what shall we say to our apostle, weak in presence and contemptible in speech, the leader of a hated and persecuted sect. Has Gamaliel taught him an eloquence that can baffle all opposers? Have his sufferings given him so stern a courage that he is not to be turned away? Is it on himself he relies? No; he turns his face towards his Saviour and with devout reverence but dauntless courage. “Through Christ,” &c.
I. The measure of the text. It is exceeding broad. Paul meant that he was able—1. To endure all trials. 2. To perform all duties. 3. To conquer all corruptions. He once said, “O wretched man that I am,” &c. But he did not stay there, “Thanks be unto God that giveth us the victory.” Have you a violent temper? Through Christ you can curb it. Are you timid? Christ can give you a lion’s boldness. Are you slothful? Christ can make you energetic. Are you incapable for strong effort? Christ can increase your capacity. Are you inconstant? Christ can settle you. There is not a Hittite or Jebusite in the whole land that cannot be cast out. 4. To serve God in any state (ver. 12). Some Christians are called to undergo extreme changes from wealth to poverty, and from poverty to wealth, and, alas, there is often a corresponding spiritual change; the one desponds, the other is elated or becomes avaricious. This need not be. When you gave yourself to Christ you gave yourself wholly to serve Him in everything and anywhere. 5. You can do all things through Christ in respect to all worlds. In this world you can enlighten and uplift it. You may pass through the dark gate of death with Christ without fear into the world of spirits, and there you are more than conqueror.
II. The manner of it. None of us can explain this; but we may see how the acts of the Spirit for Christ tend to strengthen the soul for all things. 1. By strengthening our faith. It is remarkable how timid and doubting Christians have in time of trial behaved most bravely. God gives faith equal to the emergency. Weak faith can sprout and grow till it becomes great under the pressure of a great trial. Nothing braces a man’s nerves like the cold winter’s blast. Together with faith often comes a singular firmness of mind. When John Ardley was brought before Bonner the latter said, “The fire will convert you; faggots are sharp preachers.” Said Ardley, “I am not afraid to try it; and I tell thee, Bishop, if I had as many lives as I have hairs on my head, I would give them all up sooner than I would give up Christ.” And then Christians are often enabled to anticipate the joys of heaven when their pangs are greatest. Look at old Ignatius with his arm in the lion’s mouth, exclaiming, “Now I begin to be a Christian.” 2. By quickening the mental faculties. It is astonishing how poor illiterate persons have been able to refute their clever opponents. Cranmer and Ridley were no match for Jane Bouchier the Baptist martyr. “I am as true a servant of God as any of you; and if you put your poor sister to death, take care lest God should let loose the wolf of Rome on you, and you have to suffer for God, too.” 3. By enabling the believer to overcome himself. He can lose all things, because he is already prepared to do it; he can suffer all things, because he does not value his body as the worldling does; he can brave all things, because he has learned to fear God, and therefore has no reason to fear man; he can perform wonders, because his body and spirit are disciplined. 4. Note the present tense. Not Christ has strengthened, did strengthen at conversion, “As thy days so shall thy strength be.”
III. The message of it. 1. One of encouragement to those who are doing something for Christ, but feel painfully their own inability. Cease not from God’s work, because you are unable to perform it of yourself. Cease from yourself, from man. Before Zerubbabel the mountain shall become a plain. If we believed great things we should do great things. Do not go through the world saying, “I was born little.” You were not meant to be little. Act as David did in spite of his brothers’ sneers. 2. Take heed that you do it in Christ’s strength. You can do nothing without that. Go not forth till thou hast first prayed. The battle that begins with holy reliance on God means victory. 3. Paul speaks in the name of all Christians. How is it that some of you then are doing nothing? What a work there is to do! And what may not one resolute Christian accomplish. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The power of the Christian:—
I. There are two main errors by which men are deceived. The first is the fancy that they can do all things that they wish and try to do of themselves. The second is that they cannot and need not do anything. These have been the sources of two of the most mischievous heresies, the one undermining all spiritual, the other all practical religion; the first is Pelagianism, the other Antinomianism.
II. The end of these errors is to keep men in sin. Pride says it will pay off the debt it owes to God when it has grown bigger. “Why should I do that to-day,” it cries, “which I can do any day whenever I please?” Meanwhile sloth alleges that it is a bankrupt and demands as such to be let off all manner of payment, forgetting that a negligent and fraudulent bankrupt has no claim to favour. Pride says it can obey God and does not. Sloth says it cannot and need not.
III. These errors, irreconcilable though they may seem, are often found side by side. They are Satan’s right and left hand in which he tosses our souls from one to the other. The proud man, although he makes himself believe that he can obey God by himself, must be often warned by his conscience that he has not done so. At such times he will try to stifle his qualms by saying that he has done his best, and that Christ’s merits will be sufficient to make up. The slothful man, too, who has drugged his conscience with the notion that as his best works cannot earn heaven, so it matters not what his works are, must be startled now and then by scriptural exhortations to holiness; but when so startled he whispers to himself that let the worst come to the worst he will reform by and by.
IV. Both these errors are answered by the text, which picks out the truth involved in each and separates it from the false. When an error is long-lived it is by means of some truth mixed up with it. 1. As the pride of man says, “I can do all things,” so does Paul; only pride stops short here, whereas Paul adds, “through Christ,” &c. Pride forgets the Fall, and also that what it calls its own strength is really God’s gift. 2. The sluggard is also bereft of his only excuse. God never demands of us what we cannot do; and Paul tells us that there is no limit to our power; he poor, weak, frail as he was, could do all things when strengthened by Christ.
V. What does Paul mean by this. 1. Certainly not in the same sense that God can do all things—make a world, arrest the sun, &c.; but—2. In accordance with the previous verse. These things, however, seem to some hardly sufficient to bear the lofty declaration of the text, and would rather have expected to hear of some great victory gained or miracle wrought. Yet it is in these things that our hardest trials lie, for they are the things that the natural man cannot do of himself. He may brave dangers and accomplish many wonderful works, but he does not know how to be abased and how to abound. A cup knows how to be full and how to be empty, and stands equally straight in either case. But man’s hand cannot lift the full cup and will not lift the empty one. It is only through Christ that whether the Lord giveth or taketh away we can say, “Blessed be His name.” 3. The true children of God can do all things that they can ever desire to do, viz., the will of God. (Archdeacon Hare.)
Strength by Christ:—The more literal rendering is “I am strong for all things”; or, “I am equal to all things, Christ invigorating me,” either doing or suffering. Let us look at—
I. Christ strengthening Paul. 1. Every man needs strength. Weakness is so much less of life. Lack of strength is more serious than any lack of outward possession. A weak rich man is in a worse position than a strong poor man. Weakness lessens work, reduces enjoyment, and aggravates suffering. It is also the cause of wickedness, exposing the individual to fierce temptation. As a preservative against sin we need to ask for daily strength. 2. Every man requires strengthening. Even the strong by constitution and education. The child learning to walk alone is strengthened by the hand of the mother, and the aged mother is in return strengthened by the arm of her son. The boy is strengthened to learn by his tutor or employer, and the man to pursue the objects of life by various invigorating influences; while all are strengthened by God. 3. The Christian is no exception. His conversion is not translation to ease. There are times when he lies down in green pastures; but he lies down tired, and that he may rise stronger. We rest not for resting’s sake but for work’s sake. The Christian life is a race to be run and a battle to be fought. To cease either is to cease to be a Christian. 4. A Christian’s strength can come only by his being strengthened. There is not within the man as a man or a Christian any stock of strength given at the commencement. Our resources are supplied as we need them. This arrangement keeps us close to the source of all energy and wisdom, communion with whom alone, apart from imparted blessings, invigorates. 5. An apostle is no exception to this rule. On the battle-field the eye of the soldier is upon the officers of the opposing army. So ministers are more tried than others, partly because of their vocation, and partly that they may have wisdom and grace to succour the tempted. 6. And Christ did strengthen Paul. By His example, grace, promises, doctrines, precepts.
II. Paul hereby assured that all things were possible to him. He felt equal to labour, suffering, and dying. Yet this was not undue self-confidence, but humility. 1. If we Christians are not equal to all the demands which God makes upon us our inability involves guilt. Weakness is not a misfortune but a crime, needing not pity but blame. Christ does not require anything impossible or injuriously difficult, nothing for which He does not guarantee strength. 2. The Divine help is manifold and constant. Look at the assistance obtained from—(1) The Scriptures, which thoroughly furnish us unto all good works. (2) Providence, under which all things work together for our good. (3) Christian principle—faith, love, hope, joy, obedience. 3. If we turn from this various help to Christ personally and then remember that He is with us, immutable in His love, unfailing in His resources, unwearied in His oversight, we can understand what Paul meant. (1) I cannot do many things which my fellow Christians say is my duty; (2) Nor what in my ignorance I conclude to be my duty; (3) Nor what is actually my duty, if I go about it in a wrong spirit or way; (4) But Christ will strengthen us for all His will. What can hinder? Not our ignorance, for He is our teacher; not our feebleness, for He never breaks the bruised reed; not our sinfulness, for He is our Saviour. 4. This assurance covers all the necessities of our Christian life—perseverance, cross-bearing and self-crucifixion, Christian work, the prospect and experience of death. (S. Martin.)
The fountain of strength:—We all need strength. Whether conscious or unconscious of it, we are all weak. Our very strength is weakness. We may trust it and be deceived by it. This is a defect we cannot supply. The exertion of weakness cannot produce strength. We must look out of ourselves; and to save us from a vain search God sets Christ before us as our strength and strengthener.
I. How Christ strengthens us. 1. Not by miracle or magic; not by acting upon us without our knowledge or against our will, but through our own intelligent and active powers. 2. By instructing us in the knowledge of our weakness and His own strength. 3. By His example, showing us how to do all that He requires in His own life. 4. By supplying us with the great motive power—His constraining love. 5. By working faith in us, which brings us into vital union with Him who is the source of strength.
II. For what He strengthens us. 1. To fulfil the law as a rule of duty. 2. To resist temptation. 3. To suffer and endure. (J. A. Alexander, D.D.)
Dependence on Christ:—(Text in conjunction with John 15:5.) Two speakers, Divine-human and human. From how different a platform do they speak; one from conscious power to help, the other from conscious need of help. One a great Giver, the other a great receiver. A fine harmony in the two statements. Though Paul’s is not quite so universal as Christ’s, it forms a pleasing testimony to the correctness of Christ’s statement, and the usefulness of the promised aid.
I. The Divine assertion. God in Christ speaks. 1. It applies to man’s spiritual life. 2. To His every-day purpose and action. “Good” is understood. There are some things we can do without Christ—and yet considering Him as God we cannot even do evil without the strength He supplies. Similarly, in a high spiritual sense, we can do nothing good without Him. We may feel our dignity affronted, and our first impulse will be denial of, or objection to the universality of the statement. But our life will prove that Christ is right. In every part of our life we have Christ’s influence. The Christian becomes “a law unto himself,” but behind the Christian and the law is the great Inspirer—Christ. Christ is the only one who can make this sweeping assertion without fear of ultimate contradiction.
II. The human confirmation. Paul gives particular instances, then generalizes. How does Christ strengthen us? 1. By His having done all things Himself. In all life’s experiences, conflicts, emergencies, Christ has preceded us. We have to walk in His steps. 2. By the effects of His wondrous life. We linger around the four great landmarks, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gethsemane, Calvary, and they are a ceaseless inspiration to us. His miracles have made many a life-path brighter, and they yield constant consolation. He healed the sick; sickness can be better borne. He hushed the waves; He stills the storm to-day. 3. By the effect of His unique teaching. Every word of His is the bread of life. 4. By His Cross and death. He is the Saviour from the curse of life—sin. Thus we hear Paul, “I can do all things,” not by his immediate environment, men, or things; not by his inherent energy; but by Christ which “strengtheneth him with strength in his soul” (Psa. 138:3). Our strength is not superseded. It is linked with God’s and made the grander for the union. It is “all things,” even the otherwise impossible. It applies to the whole life. “Without me—nothing.” Our power “through Christ which strengthens us” is limitless. So should our gratitude be. (J. E. Swallow.)
Strength through Christ:—When I was at Princeton, Professor Henry had so constructed a huge bar of iron, bent into the form of a horseshoe, that it used to hang suspended from another iron bar above it. Not only did it hang there but it upheld four thousand pounds weight attached to it! The horseshoe magnet was not welded or glued to the metal above it, but through the iron wire coiled round it there ran a subtle current of electricity from a galvanic battery. Stop the flow of the current for one instant and the huge horseshoe dropped. So does all the lifting power of the Christian come from the currents of spiritual influence which flow into his heart from the living Jesus. The strength of the Almighty One enters into the believer. If his connection with Christ is cut off, in an instant he becomes as any other man. (T. L. Cuyler, D.D.)
The secret of fortitude:—In the days of bloody Mary a poor Protestant was condemned to be burned alive. When he came in sight of the stake he exclaimed, “Oh! I cannot burn! I cannot burn!” Those who heard him supposed he intended to recant, but they misunderstood him. He felt he needed more strength to bear the dread ordeal in a worthy manner, so being left a few moments to himself, he cried in an agony of prayer that God would more sensibly reveal Himself to him. As the result of this, instead of recanting, he cried out triumphantly, “Now I can burn! Now I can burn!” (J. F. B. Tinling, B.A.)
Strength in Christ:—“I was requested,” said the late Dr. Macleod, “by a brother minister, who was unwell, to go and visit a dying boy. He told me before some remarkable things of this boy. He was eleven years of age, and during three years’ sickness had manifested the most patient submission to the will of God, with a singular enlightenment of the Spirit. I went to visit him. He had suffered the most excruciating pain. For years he had not known one day’s rest. I gazed with wonder at the boy. After drawing near to him, and speaking some words of sympathy, he looked at me with his blue eyes—he could not move, it was the night before he died—and breathed into my ear these few words: ‘I am strong in Him.’ The words were few, and uttered feebly; they were the words of a feeble child, in a poor home, where the only ornament was that of a meek, and quiet, and affectionate mother; but these words seemed to lift the burden from the very heart; they seemed to make the world more beautiful than ever it was before; they brought home to my heart a great and a blessed truth. May all of us be strong in Him.”
Courageous Christians needed:—No man is likely to accomplish much who moodily indulges a desponding view of his own capacities. By God’s help the weakest of us may be strong, and it is the way to become so, to resolve never to give up a good work till we have tried our best to achieve it. To think nothing impossible is the privilege of faith. We deprecate the indolent cowardice of the man who always felt assured that every new enterprise would be too much for him, and therefore declined it; but we admire the pluck of the ploughman who was asked on his cross-examination if he could read Greek, and replied he did not know, because he had never tried. Those Suffolk horses which will pull at a post till they drop are worth a thousand times as much as jibbing animals that run back as soon as ever the collar begins to press them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The hidden source of power:—A minister says: “The other day I was up in Lancashire, and my host took me to see one of those monster factories which are the wonders of civilization, covering acres of ground—nobody knows how many stories high, and how many hundreds of windows they have to let in the light upon the industrious work-people inside. As I walked in and through those rooms, and went from one story to another, and saw the rolling of the pinions and heard the rattling of the wheels, and felt the vibration of the floor beneath my feet, while the raw material was being, as by magic, brought out at the other end to be a robe for a peasant or a prince, I said, ‘Why, where in the world is the motive-power that sets all this to work?’ He took me out of the building altogether, to a little circumscribed place beneath, where there was only one door and a window to the whole room; but through the open door I saw the great piston moving in silent and majestic power as it was doing this wondrous work. ‘There,’ said he, ‘is the mighty force that sets the work in motion.’ ”
Power through the Spirit of Christ:—A young Italian boy knocked one day at the door of an artist’s studio in Rome, and when it was opened, exclaimed, “Please, madam, will you give me the master’s brush?” The painter was dead, and the boy, feeling inflamed with longing to be an artist, wished for the great master’s brush, with the idea that it would inspire him with his genius. The lady placed the brush belonging to her departed husband in the hand of the boy, saying, “This is his brush; try it, my boy.” With a flush of earnestness on his face, he tried, but found he could paint no better with the master’s brush than with his own. The lady then said to him, “You cannot paint like the great master unless you have his spirit.” (W. Birch.)
Power through the love of Christ:—One day, one of the gigantic eagles of Scotland carried away an infant, which was sleeping by the fireside in its mother’s cottage. The whole village ran after it; but the eagle soon perched itself upon the loftiest eyrie, and every one despaired of the child being recovered. A sailor tried to climb the ascent, but his strong limbs trembled, and he was at last obliged to give up the attempt. A robust Highlander, accustomed to climb the hills, tried next, and even his limbs gave way, and he was in fact precipitated to the bottom. But, at last, a poor peasant woman came forward. She put her feet on one shelf of the rock, then on a second, and then on a third; and in this manner, amid the trembling hearts of all who were looking on, she rose to the very top of the cliff, and at last whilst the breasts of those below were heaving, came down step by step, until, amid the shouts of the villagers, she stood at the bottom of the rock with the child on her bosom. Why did that woman succeed, when the strong sailor and the practised Highlander had failed? Why, because between her and the babe there was a tie; that woman was the mother of the babe. Let there be love to Christ and to souls in your hearts, and greater wonders will be accomplished. (Manual of Anecdotes.)[9]
13. But there is more to be said about the achievement he has gained. His ‘self-sufficiency’ and equanimity in meeting all life’s demands has not come through a mechanical self-discipline or fixed resolution such as the stoic practised (cf. the modern counterpart in Henley’s poem ‘Invictus’). It was his in union with a personal Lord, whose name is not recorded according to the best mss (niv translates therefore: through him who gives me strength), but whose influence is unmistakable. The preposition through, in fact, is more important than the choice of noun or pronoun.
The spiritual value of this heroic confession is not to be limited to the context, as its place in the life of Oliver Cromwell illustrates. This verse once saved Cromwell’s life. It was ‘one beam in a dark place’ of utter despondency and misery which followed the death of his son. Exegetical considerations, however, require that everything must be related to the foregoing verses 11–12. The apostle is insisting that in every conceivable circumstance, ‘in any and every situation’, he finds the strength which vital union with Christ supplies to be adequate for maintaining his apostolic work and for the fulfilment of his desire to accelerate the progress of the gospel. This statement, then, does not make Paul a wonder-worker, a spiritual ‘super-man’, who towers so far above the rest of us that his life is no encouragement to lesser mortals. ‘Although he was an apostle, he was also a man’ is Chrysostom’s timely reminder; yet here was a man who had boundless confidence in the ability of Christ to match every situation, and whose ‘power’ dynamis (cf. endynamounti, the participle used here) is made perfect in his weakness (2 Cor. 12:9–10). And this means that the triumphant assertion I can do everything through him who gives me strength can be true of every Christian today.[10]
13. I can do all things through Christ. As he had boasted of things that were very great, in order that this might not be attributed to pride or furnish others with occasion of foolish boasting, he adds, that it is by Christ that he is endowed with this fortitude. “I can do all things,” says he, “but it is in Christ, not by my own power, for it is Christ that supplies me with strength.” Hence we infer, that Christ will not be less strong and invincible in us also, if, conscious of our own weakness, we place reliance upon his power alone. When he says all things, he means merely those things which belong to his calling.[11]
4:13 Paul at last reveals the secret he has learned to enable him to experience both abundance and need without them determining his spiritual condition: I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Paul insists that he has the ability and power necessary to do all things, a sweeping statement that encompasses all that God would call him to experience. Thus his words are similar to those in 2 Peter 1:3 that say God’s ‘divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.’ While it is certainly true that in the immediate context the emphasis of all things is responding to various financial situations, the phrase is intentionally broad so as to apply beyond them. Of course, ‘all things’ must be understood within the larger framework of what God Himself commands and calls His people to experience; this is not a blank check for positive thinking. But where does that power of which Paul speaks come from?
The last phrase provides the answer: through him who strengthens me. Paul uses this same verb (endynamoō) to describe how Abraham grew strong in faith as he awaited the fulfillment of God’s promise (Rom. 4:20). Indeed, Paul exhorts all believers to be strong in the Lord (Eph. 6:10; cf. 2 Tim. 2:1). But the closest parallel to Paul’s language here is 1 Timothy 1:12, where Paul writes: ‘I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service’ (cf. 2 Tim. 4:17). Although using different language, Paul’s thought here is similar to that of Galatians 2:20: ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ Paul has already expressed his desire to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection in his daily life (3:10), as well as the power of Christ to subject all things to Himself (3:21). Paul’s statement here would indicate that this is already a reality, though one can always experience it in increasing measures and in new circumstances. In a sense, he is merely echoing what David writes in Psalm 28:7: ‘The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.’
The point then is that Christ is the one who strengthens Paul to experience contentment no matter his circumstances. That is one of the many things that God is willing and working in his life as well as in all believers (2:13). We must not simply wait for God to ‘zap’ us, but rather move forward in faith asking God for strength to obey Him. The resurrection power of Christ is at work in each believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable him or her to do all things that God commands or calls, even when they seem beyond one’s reach. In fact, it is generally in those moments where we sense our inadequacy that we most tangibly experience the empowerment of Christ, since God’s power is perfected in our weakness (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9). In contrast to worldly power that seeks to control and dominate, God’s power enables self-sacrificial service to others, pre-eminently expressed by Jesus Christ Himself (Phil. 2:5–11). So once again we have come full circle to the Christ-hymn. The same Christ who made Himself nothing lives inside us to empower us to live a life of self-sacrificial love towards others, even including those whom we do not naturally love.[12]
13 With the well-known words of this verse, Paul brings closure to this brief digression (vv. 11–13), in which he explains that his joy in receiving their gift was not predicated on their meeting his need. How has he learned to live in either want or plenty? His response: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” With that he transforms the very Stoic-sounding sentences that have preceded from appearing to promote any sense of sufficiency within himself to a sufficiency quite beyond himself, to Christ,49 the basis and source of everything for Paul. Thus he turns “self-sufficiency” into “contentment” because of his “Christ-sufficiency.” In effect this sentence spells out at the practical level the slogan of his life, expressed in 1:21: “for me to live is Christ.”
“Everything” in this case, of course, refers first of all to his living in “want or plenty.” Paul finds Christ sufficient in times of bounty as well as in times of need. Although he appears to have had less of the former than the latter, here is his way of handling the warning to Israel given in Deuteronomy 8 that they not forget the Lord once they have experienced plenty. Thus, this passage is not an expression of Stoicism, not even a christianized version of the Stoic ideal; rather, it is but another of scores of such passages that indicate the absolute Christ-centeredness of Paul’s whole life. He is a “man in Christ.” As such he takes what Christ brings. If it means “plenty,” he is a man in Christ, and that alone; if it means “want,” he is still a man in Christ, and he accepts deprivation as part of his understanding of discipleship.
Therefore, although this passage belongs in part to the conventions of “friendship,” as with all such cultural conventions, in Paul’s hand they are transformed into gospel. Moreover, given the context, one should recognize this brief autobiographical moment also to serve in a paradigmatic way. He has just urged them to “practice” what he both taught and modeled (v. 9). In the midst of their own present difficulties, here is what they too should learn of life in Christ, that being “in him who enables” means to be “content” whatever their circumstances.
And all of this (vv. 11–13), one must remember, has been said in order to inform the Philippians that his joy is not simply over their gift—although he will finally express his deep gratitude for that as well. Thus, with the issue of “need” spoken to, he returns in v. 14 to the acknowledgment of their gift and their friendship.
This marvelous passage has also had its own unfortunate history of interpretation, in the hands both of its friends and of Paul’s detractors. His detractors look on the text as unbearable ingratitude, that he should begin the thanksgiving for their gift by brushing it aside in an apparently peremptory fashion. Better not to give such people gifts who treat the gift so unfeelingly, so “stoically” as it were! But such detractors understand neither the nature of first-century friendship nor the apostle’s own aim, which is to focus on their friendship and partnership in the gospel, which their gift represents and which is greater by far than the “mere gift” itself. Only in a culture like ours, where “things” tend to be more significant than people, would one remonstrate at what the apostle has done here.
On the other hand, Paul’s friends have sometimes mangled the text by quoting it apart from its present context. The worst expression of this abuse occurs with v. 13, which is sometimes made to say that “I can do all things (especially extraordinary things) through Christ who strengthens me.” Very often the application takes a form exactly the opposite of Paul’s—with a bit of v. 19 thrown into the mix, “when in want I shall receive plenty” because of my relationship with Christ. Paul’s point is that he has learned to live in either want or plenty through the enabling of Christ. Being in Christ, not being self-sufficient, has rendered both want and weal of little or no significance. Experience in the church should teach one what the Stoics themselves recognized, that either “want” or “wealth” can have deleterious affect on one’s life, those in “want” because their “want” consumes them, those in “wealth” because their “wealth” does the same. The net result is a tragically small person. On the other hand, the Pauline perspective—life as cruciform, being “conformed to his death so as to attain the resurrection”—raises God’s people above the dictates of either. Those in “want” learn patience and trust in suffering; those in “wealth” learn humility and dependence in prospering, not to mention the joy of giving without strings attached![13]
13 Paul says that he is “able” (“strong,” ischyō, GK 2710; NIV, “can do”) to do all things through the one who continually empowers (tō endynamounti [GK 1904], present tense; NIV, “gives strength”) him. The name “Christ,” which is familiar to most from the KJV, is absent from the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, but Christ is clearly in mind (1 Ti 1:12). This statement may sound like a wild-eyed pipe dream and can be easily misinterpreted. Paul does not mean to imply that Christ is like some magical genie in a lamp who renders us able to do anything we want. Translating the preposition en as “through” may cause one to miss Paul’s point that it is by being in Christ that one is empowered (cf. 1:1; 2:1; 3:9, 14; 4:7, 19, 21). In this case, “everything” refers to his ministry as an apostle, not to anything he might set out to do.[14]
A Contented Person Is Strengthened by Divine Power
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (4:13)
No matter how difficult his struggles may have been, Paul had a spiritual undergirding, an invisible means of support. His adequacy and sufficiency came from his union with the adequate and sufficient Christ: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).
When Paul wrote I can do all things he had in mind physical, not spiritual things.Ischuō (I can do) means “to be strong,” “to have power,” or “to have resources.” It is variously translated “overpowered” (Acts 19:16), “prevailing” (Acts 19:20), and “effective” (James 5:16). The Greek text emphasizes the word translated all things (a reference to physical needs; cf. vv. 11–12) by placing it first in the sentence. Paul was strong enough to endure anything through Him who strengthen[ed] him (cf. 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:17). The apostle does not, of course, mean that he could physically survive indefinitely without food, water, sleep, or shelter. What he is saying is that when he reached the limit of his resources and strength, even to the point of death, he was infused with the strength of Christ. He could overcome the most dire physical difficulties because of the inner, spiritual strength God had given him. In the words of Isaiah,
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. (Isa. 40:29–31)
Perhaps the clearest illustration of this truth in Paul’s life comes from 2 Corinthians 12:7–10:
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul was tormented by a “thorn in the flesh,” most likely a demon who was behind the false teachers tearing up his beloved church in Corinth. This was the worst of all trials for him, because of his “concern for all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28). He repeatedly begged the Lord to deliver him from the torment of that demonic attack on the church. But instead of delivering him, the Lord pointed Paul to the sufficiency of His grace. Contentment comes to believers who rely on the sustaining grace of Christ infused into believers when they have no strength of their own. In that sense, contentment is a by-product of distress.
Lest any doubt the sufficiency of Christ’s strengthening power, it is the same power Paul described in his prayer in Ephesians 3:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.… Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. (Eph. 3:14–16, 20)
God’s power that indwells believers is far more than sufficient to strengthen and sustain them in any trial. Contentment belongs to those who confidently trust in that power rather than in their own resources. Jeremiah Burroughs observes,
A Christian finds satisfaction in every circumstance by getting strength from another, by going out of himself to Jesus Christ, by his faith acting upon Christ, and bringing the strength of Jesus Christ into his own soul, he is thereby enabled to bear whatever God lays on him, by the strength that he finds from Jesus Christ.… There is strength in Christ not only to sanctify and save us, but strength to support us under all our burdens and afflictions, and Christ expects that when we are under any burden, we should act our faith upon him to draw virtue and strength from him. (The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, 63)
It is important to note that only those who live lives of obedience to God’s will can count on His power to sustain them. Those whose continued sin has led them into the pit of despair cannot expect God to bring them contentment from their circumstances. In fact, He may even add to their difficulties to chasten them and bring them to repentance.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones compares the flow of God’s power into the believer’s life to the issue of physical health:
Now I suggest that that is analogous to this whole subject of power in one’s life as a Christian. Health is something that results from right living. Health cannot be obtained directly or immediately or in and of itself. There is a sense in which I am prepared to say that a man should not think of his health as such at all. Health is the result of right living, and I say exactly the same thing about this question of power in our Christian lives.
Or let me use another illustration. Take this question of preaching. No subject is discussed more often than power in preaching. “Oh, that I might have power in preaching,” says the preacher and he goes on his knees and prays for power. I think that that may be quite wrong. It certainly is if it is the only thing that the preacher does. The way to have power is to prepare your message carefully. Study the Word of God, think it out, analyse it, put it in order, do your utmost. That is that message God is most likely to bless—the indirect approach rather than the direct. It is exactly the same in this matter of power and ability to live the Christian life. In addition to our prayer for power and ability we must obey certain primary rules and laws.
I can therefore summarise the teaching like this. The secret of power is to discover and to learn from the New Testament what is possible for us in Christ. What I have to do is to go to Christ. I must spend my time with Him. I must meditate upon Him, I must get to know Him. That was Paul’s ambition—“that I might know Him.” I must maintain my contact and communion with Christ and I must concentrate on knowing Him.
What else? I must do exactly what He tells me. I must avoid things that would hamper. If in the midst of persecution we want to feel as Paul felt, we must live as Paul lived. I must do what He tells me, both to do and not to do. I must read the Bible, I must exercise, I must practise the Christian life, I must live the Christian life in all its fullness. (Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965], 298–99)
God’s power will bring contentment to those who have no strength of their own, but only if they have been living righteously. There is no quick fix, no shortcut to contentment. It comes only to those strengthened by divine power, and that divine power does not come from counselors, therapy, or self-help formulas, but only from consistent godly living.[15]
[1] Melick, R. R., Jr. (2017). Philippians. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1889). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Php 4:13). Lexham Press.
[14] Garland, D. E. (2006). Philippians. In T. Longman III (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians–Philemon (Revised Edition) (Vol. 12, p. 258). Zondervan.
[15] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (pp. 302–305). Moody Press.
Albert Benjamin (A. B.) Simpson (1843 – 1919) was a Canadian pastor, theologian, author, and founder of The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), an evangelical protestant denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism. Simpson pastored several churches in Canada, Kentucky, and New York, was very active in home and world missions, and wrote over 70 books on Christian living. His driving passion was to help fulfill the Great Commission by working to send out missionaries to all the world. And by 1895, the C&MA had sent out nearly 300 missionaries.
Below are many of his quotes showing his great desire to live holy, rejoice in the Lord, and to see God glorified in all we do.1
“God is not looking for extraordinary characters as His instruments, but He is looking for humble instruments through whom He can be honored throughout the ages.”
“Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small. Our expectations are too limited.”
“Before we can speak God’s message, we must learn to listen. The opened ear comes before the opened mouth.”
“The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!”
“When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances or conditions, rejoice in the Lord.”
“All that God requires of us is an opportunity to show what He can do.”
“Begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care-all are poisonous! Joy is balm and healing, and if you will but rejoice, God will give power.”
“Have you ever learned the beautiful art of letting God take care of you and giving all your thought and strength to pray for others and for the kingdom of God? It will relieve you of a thousand cares.”
“The Christian that is bound by his own horizon, the church that lives simply for itself, is bound to die a spiritual death and sink into stagnancy and corruption. We never can thank God enough for giving us not only a whole Gospel to believe, but a whole world to give it to.”
“The greatest need of our age and of every age, the greatest need of every human heart, is to know the resources and sufficiency of God.”
“One of the first signs of a Spirit-filled life is enthusiasm!”
“There is not a command God gives to His children for which He does not provide the enablement for obedience.”
“A divided heart loses both worlds.”
“God is preparing his heroes; and when the opportunity comes, he can fit them into their places in a moment, and the world will wonder where they came from.”
“May God so fill us today with the heart of Christ that we may glow with the divine fire of holy desire.”
“There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is simply to try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace.”
“I cannot understand how any man or woman can believe in the Lord’s coming and not be a missionary, or at least committed to the work of missions with every power of his being.”
“When I cannot understand my Father’s leading, And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate, Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading, God is working, God is faithful – Only wait.”
“Difficulties and obstacles are God’s challenges to faith. When hindrances confront us in the path of duty, we are to recognize them as vessels for faith to fill with the fullness and all-sufficiency of Jesus.”
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)
We live by virtue of our union with the Son of God. As God-man Mediator, the Lord Jesus lives by the self-existent Father who has sent Him, and in the same manner we live by the Savior who has quickened us. He who is the source of our life is also the sustenance of it. Living is sustained by feeding. We must support the spiritual life by spiritual food, and that spiritual food is the Lord Jesus. Not His life, or death, or offices, or work, or word alone, but Himself, as including all these. On Jesus Himself we feed.
This is set forth to us in the Lord’s Supper, but it is actually enjoyed by us when we meditate upon our Lord, believe in Him with appropriating faith, take Him into ourselves by love, and assimilate Him by the power of the inner life. We know what it is to feed on Jesus, but we cannot speak it or write it. Our wisest course is to practice it and to do so more and more. We are entreated to eat abundantly, and it will be to our infinite profit to do so when Jesus is our meat and our drink.
Lord, I thank Thee that this, which is a necessity of my new life, is also its greatest delight. So, I do at this hour feed on Thee.
“On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” 1 Corinthians 12:22
Do you sometimes feel like you are not needed? You are. Paul explains that the body of Christ includes many parts — all needed and necessary. Each Christ follower is given gifts and has a role to play in the overall health and make-up of the Body. Paul declares, “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”
God has combined the members of the body and, as Paul goes on to say in verse 25, “has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.”
Our society values tolerance, equality, and belonging. Yet, we applaud strength, accomplishment, production, excellence, intelligence, and outstanding performance. There are many people who feel “less than,” like they don’t measure up and never will — no matter how hard they try.
God’s Kingdom is contrary. God’s call to reach the “least of these” reflects the Father’s heart. The Lord has equipped the Body — longing for unity, love, honor and respect — to reflect a beautiful picture of His heart. He calls us to reach society’s marginalized — those who may constantly feel like they are insignificant, undervalued, and have no contribution to make for the greater good.
How we treat the powerless and infirm reflects our heart. By comforting those in crisis, we learn about the depth of the love of God. Serving those who cannot repay us teaches us about humility and gentleness. Indeed, “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”
Lord, give me a heart like yours. Give me eyes and ears to see others around me as an indispensable part of your body. Help me love with humility and gentleness and treat others with dignity and respect. Help me to honor others and reflect your heart! Amen.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7
Jesus has no physical presence on earth except for us, His people made from the clay of the earth.
This is both an unspeakable privilege and an awesome responsibility.
While we may welcome the privilege of being the hands, feet, and voices of Jesus in this world, we may fear the responsibility, thinking we are not adequate for the task.
But we do not need to fear, because God has promised us that His Holy Spirit will work through us to make Jesus Christ known to others. Our task is to pray, prepare our hearts and thoughts, show up, and empty ourselves to make room for the Spirit to flow through us. The more we yield our hearts to Him, the freer access He has to speak to our audience, because greater is He who is in us than we who speak His word!
At one of our training seminars for equipping nursing home missionaries, a speaker gave a message that challenged us. What would it be like, she said, if you got up Sunday morning, dressed and prepared, then drove to church, sat in your usual spot, waited for the minister to start the service and waited, and waited, and waited and the minister never showed up? How might you feel?
She reminded us of Winston Churchill’s famous speech, only 10 words long: “Never give up. Never give up. Never. Never. Never. Never.”
She said that she, too, had a message that was only 10 words long. “Always show up! Always show up! Always! Always! Always! Always!”
So, show up, be yourself, love your audience (whether 1 or 100), and trust the all-surpassing power of the Spirit of God within you. As you abide in Jesus and in His Word, He will enable you to bear Heaven’s fruit. And you will experience the joy of being used by God to bring life to many! May God bless your steps of faith!
U.S.-China ‘de-risking’ will face stress test in election season Washington and Beijing are not on good terms. The U.S. is on high alert, hoping to counter the Chinese government’s coercive efforts to project its economic statecraft by introducing new export controls on semiconductors and related high-end technologies, enacting the CHIPS and Sciences Act aimed at boosting domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors …
Pope hails power of interfaith dialogue for peace in Mongolia Pope Francis hailed religion’s power to resolve conflict and promote peace, … Christian leaders, as well as representatives of Buddhism and Shamanism, Islam and Judaism, Hinduism, the Russian Orthodox Church, Mormonism, Baha’i and others, attended. “Religious traditions, for all their distinctiveness and diversity, have impressive potential for the benefit of society as a whole,” the 86-year-old pontiff told them.
Turley: Biden’s Use Of Fake Names In Email Could Cost Him Obama is now being asked to bail Biden out from another debacle of his own making, going back to his time in Obama’s administration. Various committees and private groups are seeking more than 5,000 emails from Biden in which he used an array of aliases during the Obama administration. For many Americans, it is understandably unnerving to learn that their president has more aliases than Anthony Weiner.
Russian drone attack hits Danube port infrastructure, Ukraine says Russian drones hit Danube River port infrastructure that is critical to Ukraine’s grain exports, injuring at least two people in the attack on southern parts of the Odesa region on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said.
White House visitor logs suggest Biden admin behind the prosecution of Trump Jay Bratt, currently the “top aide” to special counsel Jack Smith who is responsible for overseeing criminal investigations into Trump, “was summoned to the White House twice in the fall of 2021 to meet with Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff, Carolyn Saba, and an adviser to the chief of staff, Katherine Riley,” while serving as a Department of Justice (DOJ) official. These visits occurred while Trump was “negotiating with the National Archives” over documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago residence. According to Watters, Bratt “lobbied the Biden White House to raid Mar-a-Lago,”
Israeli government to consider deporting violent Eritrean rioters, says Netanyahu According to the Prime Minister’s Office, one of the options being considered is the deportation of anyone who can be identified as having participating in the violent riots, a measure that Energy and Infrastructure Minister Yisrael Katz is calling for.
Hezbollah chief strengths anti-Israel terror alliance with Hamas and PIJ Hassan Nasrallah, … reportedly met with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Sec.-Gen. Ziyad al-Nakhalah and the deputy head of the Political Bureau of Hamas in Lebanon, Ismail Haniyeh. The purpose of the high-level trilateral meeting was reportedly to strengthen the Iranian-coordinated terror alliance against Israel.
IDF faces unprecedented level of IED attacks believed to be part of Iranian strategy Following the improvised explosive device attack that injured several Israel Defense Forces soldiers near Joseph’s Tomb on Wednesday, IDF commandos have warned that the IDF is not ready for a growing wave of IED attacks targeting its forces operating in Judea and Samaria.
Is the global heatwave God removing the sun from its ‘sheath’ for final judgement? Israel, like many other regions of the world, is currently experiencing a heat wave. While global warming is the focus of political debate, Jewish sources relate that a drastic increase in solar heat is expected as the Final Redemption approaches and that it will play multiple roles in the end of days.
Taiwan suspends work, transport and classes as Typhoon Haikui slams into the island Much of southern Taiwan came to a standstill Sunday as Typhoon Haikui churned over towns and farmland. Residents were urged to stay home and flights, rail transport, ferry services, classes and outdoor events were suspended, but there were no reports of injuries or serious damage.
Direct Government Censorship Of The Internet Is Here …On August 25th, a new law known as the “Digital Services Act” went into effect in the European Union. Under this new law, European bureaucrats will be able to order big tech companies to censor any content that is considered to be “illegal”, “disinformation” or “hate speech”.
‘Mudpocalypse’ Hits Burning Man, 73,000 Trapped In ‘Toxic’ Lake Bed In Nevada Desert As of Sunday evening, 73,000 attendees are still trapped in the toxic desert full of alkaline mud after a rainstorm transformed the dried-out lake bed into a swamp. Event organizers said, “The Gate remains closed. Please stay off of Gate Road — rain and mud make it impassable at the moment. We will update you when conditions improve. Stay safe!”
Facial recognition-equipped robot dog to prowl US sporting venue Mercedes Benz Stadium, located in Atlanta, Ga., has introduced Benzie the DroneDog, designed by Boston Dynamics and developed byAsylon Robotics. Benzie will autonomously patrol 11 acres and send back real-time video during 30-minute shifts. The video feed has 1080p color and night vision capabilities, business news publisher Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.
Four technocrats are pursuing projects that are an existential threat to the world Four powerful billionaires – Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreessen – are creating a world where “nothing is true and all is spectacle.” Together they have four projects to pursue their visions: Web3, cryptocurrency, interplanetary colonisation and transhumanism. These four projects together with artificial intelligence are an existential threat to the world.
The federal government is investing $22 million in developing washable smart clothing — like socks, underwear, shirts, and pants — according to The Intercept.Kinga Krzeminska/Getty Images
The federal government has a $22 million surveillance clothing program, according to The Intercept.
The initiative will develop shirts, pants, socks, and underwear that can record audio and video.
If viable, the washable garments will be used by US
intelligence employees or those in high-stress environments.
The federal government is reportedly funneling $22 million into developing ready-to-wear clothing that can record audio, video, and geolocation data through something its calling The Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems program, or SMART ePANTS, for short, according to The Intercept. Garments slated for the production include shirts, pants, socks, and underwear, all of which are intended to be washable, The Intercept reported.
The program “represents the largest single investment to develop Active Smart Textiles (AST) that feel, move, and function like any garment,” according to an August 22 press release from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
SMART ePANTS is being developed under the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, an agency that describes itself on its website as investing in “high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the agencies and disciplines in the Intelligence Community (IC).” In other words, funding moonshots like underwear that’s as stretchable and washable as normal underwear, but can also record your every move.
If successful, though, the garments could significantly improve the capabilities of those working government agencies like the Department of Defense, first responders at the Department of Homeland Security, those in the Intelligence Community, or others working in high-stress environments like crime scenes and arms control, Dr. Dawson Cagle, the program manager for SMART ePANTS, explained in a press release from the IARPA.
Cagle, who was previously a weapons instructor with the United Nation according to his LinkedIn page, said in the IARPA’s release, “as a former weapons inspector myself, I know how much hand-carried electronics can interfere with my situational awareness at inspection sites.”
He added, “in unknown environments, I’d rather have my hands free to grab ladders and handrails more firmly and keep from hitting my head than holding some device.”
Some are worried, though, that the SMART ePANTS program could lay the groundwork for more invasive forms of surveillance.
Annie Jacobsen, an investigative journalist and author of The Pentagon’s Brain, told The Intercept, “they’re now in a position of serious authority over you. In TSA, they can swab your hands for explosives.”
She added, “now suppose SMART ePANTS detects a chemical on your skin — imagine where that can lead.”
While the IARPA did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for a comment, a spokesperson for the agency told The Intercept, “IARPA programs are designed and executed in accordance with, and adhere to, strict civil liberties and privacy protection protocols. Further, IARPA performs civil liberties and privacy protection compliance reviews throughout our research efforts.”
Laws to ban disinformation and misinformation are being introduced across the West, with the partial exception being the US, which has the First Amendment so the techniques to censor have had to be more clandestine.
In Europe, the UK, and Australia, where free speech is not as overtly protected, governments have legislated directly. The EU Commission is now applying the ‘Digital Services Act’ (DSA), a thinly disguised censorship law.
In Australia the government is seeking to provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with “new powers to hold digital platforms to account and improve efforts to combat harmful misinformation and disinformation.”
One effective response to these oppressive laws may come from a surprising source: literary criticism. The words being used, which are prefixes added to the word “information,” are a sly misdirection. Information, whether in a book, article or post is a passive artefact. It cannot do anything, so it cannot break a law. The Nazis burned books, but they didn’t arrest them and put them in jail. So when legislators seek to ban “disinformation,” they cannot mean the information itself. Rather, they are targeting the creation of meaning.
The authorities use variants of the word “information” to create the impression that what is at issue is objective truth but that is not the focus. Do these laws, for example, apply to the forecasts of economists or financial analysts, who routinely make predictions that are wrong? Of course not. Yet economic or financial forecasts, if believed, could be quite harmful to people.
The laws are instead designed to attack the intent of the writers to create meanings that are not congruent with the governments’ official position. ‘Disinformation’ is defined in dictionaries as information that is intended to mislead and to cause harm. ‘Misinformation’ has no such intent and is just an error, but even then that means determining what is in the author’s mind. ‘Mal-information’ is considered to be something that is true, but that there is an intention to cause harm.
Determining a writer’s intent is extremely problematic because we cannot get into another person’s mind; we can only speculate on the basis of their behaviour. That is largely why in literary criticism there is a notion called the Intentional Fallacy, which says that the meaning of a text cannot be limited to the intention of the author, nor is it possible to know definitively what that intention is from the work. The meanings derived from Shakespeare’s works, for example, are so multifarious that many of them cannot possibly have been in the Bard’s mind when he wrote the plays 400 years ago.
How do we know, for example, that there is no irony, double meaning, pretence or other artifice in a social media post or article? My former supervisor, a world expert on irony, used to walk around the university campus wearing a T-shirt saying: “How do you know I am being ironic?” The point was that you can never know what is actually in a person’s mind, which is why intent is so difficult to prove in a court of law.
That is the first problem. The second one is that, if the creation of meaning is the target of the proposed law – to proscribe meanings considered unacceptable by the authorities – how do we know what meaning the recipients will get? A literary theory, broadly under the umbrella term ‘deconstructionism,’ claims that there are as many meanings from a text as there are readers and that “the author is dead.”
While this is an exaggeration, it is indisputable that different readers get different meanings from the same texts. Some people reading this article, for example, might be persuaded while others might consider it evidence of a sinister agenda. As a career journalist I have always been shocked at the variability of reader’s responses to even the most simple of articles. Glance at the comments on social media posts and you will see an extreme array of views, ranging from positive to intense hostility.
To state the obvious, we all think for ourselves and inevitably form different views, and see different meanings. Anti-disinformation legislation, which is justified as protecting people from bad influences for the common good, is not merely patronising and infantilising, it treats citizens as mere machines ingesting data – robots, not humans. That is simply wrong.
Governments often make incorrect claims, and made many during Covid.
In Australia the authorities said lockdowns would only last a few weeks to “flatten the curve.” In the event they were imposed for over a year and there never was a “curve.” According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020 and 2021 had the lowest levels of deaths from respiratory illness since records have been kept.
Governments will not apply the same standards to themselves, though, because governments always intend well (that comment may or may not be intended to be ironic; I leave it up to the reader to decide).
There is reason to think these laws will fail to achieve the desired result. The censorship regimes have a quantitative bias. They operate on the assumption that if a sufficient proportion of social media and other types of “information” is skewed towards pushing state propaganda, then the audience will inevitably be persuaded to believe the authorities.
But what is at issue is meaning, not the amount of messaging. Repetitious expressions of the government’s preferred narrative, especially ad hominem attacks like accusing anyone asking questions of being a conspiracy theorist, eventually become meaningless.
By contrast just one well-researched and well-argued post or article can permanently persuade readers to an anti-government view because it is more meaningful. I can recall reading pieces about Covid, including on Brownstone, that led inexorably to the conclusion that the authorities were lying and that something was very wrong. As a consequence the voluminous, mass media coverage supporting the government line just appeared to be meaningless noise. It was only of interest in exposing how the authorities were trying to manipulate the “narrative” – a debased word was once mainly used in a literary context – to cover their malfeasance.
In their push to cancel unapproved content, out-of-control governments are seeking to penalise what George Orwell called “thought crimes.” But they will never be able to truly stop people thinking for themselves, nor will they ever definitively know either the writer’s intent or what meaning people will ultimately derive. It is bad law, and it will eventually fail because it is, in itself, predicated on disinformation.
The U.S. Intelligence Community is not a monolith. It is more like a feudal society. The big three Feudal lords for intelligence analysis are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). All three produce “raw intelligence” — the CIA’s case officers produce reports from foreigners who have agreed to work in secret for the United States, the NSA scoops up all forms of electronic intelligence (e.g., phone calls, emails) and the DIA produces reports from U.S. Defense Attaches assigned to U.S. embassies around the world. Each jealously guards its own product and the employees of these three agencies can be considered the vassals. (Gots to have a vassal if you’re a feudal lord.)
Then there is the Director of National Intelligence (aka DNI). This position/office was created in the aftermath of 9-11 and is supposed to “manage” and “coordinate” all members of the Intelligence Community. The standard solution in Washington, DC is to create another layer of bureaucracy to solve a failure of already behemoth bureaucracies who rarely cooperate. The reality is something else — the Big 3 do not always kow tow to the DNI. I am hearing that the CIA and the DIA are doing a pretty good job of reporting honestly what is taking place on the ground in Ukraine — i.e., Ukraine is suffering terrible casualties and the counter offensive is failing. Unfortunately, as Sy Hersh has reported previously, Biden and his National Security team are ignoring those intelligence reports and are embracing “analysis” coming out of the Office of the DNI.
The DNI reportedly is proffering the meme that Ukraine is grinding down the Russian military and that the United States and NATO only need to be patient and wait for Russia’s inevitable collapse. Some of the U.S. military leaders — who are flat out ignorant of Russia’s recent history in dealing with a domestic radical Islamic insurgency — firmly believe that Russia cannot win a military victory over Ukraine, that the war is a stalemate and the Russia will be bogged down for years battling Bandera insurgents.
The leaders of the USIC and the military still believe in their initial conclusion that Russia is weak because it did not steamroll through Ukraine and rout Zelensky off 12 months ago. They attribute Russia’s “failure” to inept and corrupt bureaucrats keen on reining in the Russian military. Putin also gets a heavy share of the blame by these leaders for allegedly not listening to the Russian military leaders and Wagner chiefs to do what is necessary to achieve victory. Putin and his team are seen in the West as weak, control freaks who block the military from taking off the white gloves and making the magic happen.
Because the US intelligence and military leaders are looking at the war in Ukraine through this prism, the analysts and their managers, for the most part, face enormous pressure to conclude that Russia is a feckless and incompetent near-peer adversary and cannot last.
I continue to believe that the assumptions about Russia’s alleged failure is ignoring the contravening narrative:
The Russian economy is robust and healthy despite Western sanctions.
Russia’s political influence in the world is growing, not shrinking. BRICS is a case in point.
Russia is inflicting enormous casualties on Ukraine’s military and decimating infrastructure critical to the Ukrainian military campaign.
Russia’s defense industry has ramped up to levels of production that the West cannot match.
Russia’s seemingly unlimited access to natural resources, energy and rare earth minerals strengthens Russia’s military position in the world.
Russia enjoys a massive technological advantage over NATO in terms of electronic warfare, air defense systems, mine laying vehicles and hypersonic missiles.
Russian leaders and their people genuinely believe they face an existential threat from the West.
Ukraine is totally dependent on the West to provide money and weapons to continue to fight.
The refusal of Western leaders, especially the Biden crew, to entertain this alternative narrative is creating more risk with each passing day. False or mistaken assumptions about why Russia is doing what it is doing carries an enormous risk of miscalculation on the part of the United States and its NATO allies.
Ukraine’s ability to sustain the on-going counter offensive diminishes with each passing day. Reports that the West is going to pressure Ukraine to go on a complete, mobilized war footing and train a new army of 300,000 men is delusional. Unlike Russia, which outnumbers Ukraine by a factor of at least 8, Ukraine does not have a healthy, young pool of potential recruits. Even if Zelensky and his Generals could mobilize 300k or more, where are they going to train and how much training will they really receive. New recruits assigned to operate battle tanks are looking at a training cycle of at least 12 months just to acquire minimal competence to maneuver and fire. If they start in October those new bodies would not be ready until September 2024 at the earliest.
All of this talk of Ukrainian mobilization and new training ignores the fact that Russia will have a say in the matter. Moscow will not be sitting still. Russia’s plethora of long range fires, for example, means that there is no secure training base in Ukraine. Training will have to be done at multiple locations in Europe and there are growing signs that Europe’s leaders are tired of hosting Ukrainian recruits. And there is the prospect looming over NATO and Ukraine that Russia will launch its own offensive to further weaken Ukraine’s ability to resist and capture new territory.
One other major questionable assumption — the rest of the world stays quiet and their are no other foreign policy crises that distract America and/or Europe. Given the coups in Africa and tensions with China, that does not seem to be a safe bet.
Labor Day should be recognized as the holiday that celebrates not only labor, but also the ideas, job creators, and institutions central to the flourishing of the United States and its people.
Non-profit organization ICAN (Informed Consent Action Network) has obtained new documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). These documents shed light on the disregard by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) towards a U.S. military investigation that reportedly indicated vaccine failures as early as January 2021.
The FOIA documents, made public by ICAN, suggest that the CDC and FDA may have overlooked crucial information regarding the efficacy of vaccines. According to ICAN’s findings, a U.S. military investigation conducted in January 2021 apparently revealed signs of vaccine failures. However, the CDC and FDA allegedly failed to acknowledge or address these concerns adequately.
Humetrix Cloud Services has been awarded a contract by the U.S. military to conduct a comprehensive analysis of vaccine data. The company, known for its expertise in healthcare technology solutions, played a crucial role in helping the military gain valuable insights into the effectiveness and distribution of vaccines.
A concerning trend has emerged regarding the proportion of COVID-19 cases among the senior population. The study revealed that a growing number of vaccinated individuals account for a significant portion of total cases within this age group.
According to recently released data, the emergence of breakthrough cases can be traced back to January 2021.
In fact, the data shows that for the final week of July, fully vaccinated individuals made up an estimated 73% of COVID-19 cases and 63% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the 65+ age group. The presentation goes on to show evidence of rapidly waning immunity, as infection rates 5-6 months post vaccination were twice as high as infection rates 3-4 months post vaccination.
Source: HumetrixSource: Humetrix
Despite having this data on hand—certainly by the date of the September 13, 2021 presentation, (but likely earlier, as a September 15,2021 email states that the data had been “brought to the CDC three weeks ago”) — public health officials, like Fauci, continued to double-down on the message that vaccines were the key to getting “control of the virus.”
Meanwhile, on September 16, 2021, Collins noted about the data: “Interesting and pretty compelling evidence that VE [vaccine efficacy] is falling 5-6 months post vaccination for both infection and hospitalization for those over 65. Even for those 3-4 months out there is a trend toward worsening VE.”
But the CDC didn’t let the evidence get in the way of its messaging. As late as December 2021, the CDC kept up the outrageous façade that the vaccines offered “similar protection in real-world conditions as they have in clinical trial settings, reducing the risk of COVID-19, including severe illness by 90 percent or more among people who are fully vaccinated.”
CDC apparently went as far as keeping the data from FDA, evidenced by the Director of CBER, Peter Marks’, comment to Janet Woodcock, Acting Commissioner of FDA, that, it “might have been nice for CDC to share the data.”
Rest assured that ICAN’s legal team won’t rest in its efforts to expose exactly what the government knew about these vaccines and when it knew it.
The CDC and FDA have chosen not to disclose crucial data while deliberating the authorization and endorsement of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
The cohort analysis was completed on 20 million Medicare beneficiaries, including 5.6 million seniors who received a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Our observational study VE findings show a very significant decrease in VE against infection and hospitalization in the Delta phase of the pandemic for individuals vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for those 5–6 months post vaccination vs. those 3–4 months post vaccination,” Dr. Bettina Experton, Humetrix’s president and CEO, said in a Sept. 15, 2021, email to top U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials.
Humetrix also found that among the beneficiaries, there had been 133,000 cases, 27,000 hospitalizations, and 8,300 intensive care admissions among the fully vaccinated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Experton disclosed that Humetrix shared the data with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in August 2021.
“It would have been nice to know [the military] was conducting this prior to now. Also might have been nice for CDC to share the data,” Dr. Peter Marks, one of the FDA officials, told colleagues in response.
“This is more worrisome than the other data we have in my opinion,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, the FDA’s acting commissioner at the time, said in reply.
In a statement to Epoch Times, ICAN founder Del Bigtree said, “It is hard to see this as anything other than a failure of our health authorities to assess, share, make public, and act upon valuable, real-world data in the midst of a so-called pandemic. And without FOIA, the public likely would never be made aware of these failures which, of course, allows them to be perpetrated again and again.”
Dr. Peter A. McCullough shared his thought on this revelation.
“Failure was very rapid with large numbers of fully vaccinated Americans suffering hospitalization and death. By May 1, 2021 the CDC announced it was giving up on tracking vaccine breakthrough cases. No RCT ever showed a reduction in hospitalization/death,” he said.
Failure was very rapid with large numbers of fully vaccinated Americans suffering hospitalization and death. By May 1, 2021 the CDC announced it was giving up on tracking vaccine breakthrough cases. No RCT ever showed a reduction in hospitalization/death. https://t.co/xWZ3HtKpm6pic.twitter.com/ezGCMJ0juY
Today is Labor Day. Although this day was set aside to honor trade and labor organizations, I believe it is a day when Christians can also consider how they view work and labor. The Bible has quite a bit to say about how we are to view work, and so I devote part of a chapter in my book, Making the Most of Your Money, to a biblical view of work.
First, we are to work unto the Lord in our labors. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.” We may have an earthly master (or boss) but ultimately, we are working for our heavenly Master.
Second, work is valuable. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 to “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.” He also warns in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 that “if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.”
The Proverbs talk about the importance and benefits of work. Proverbs 12:11 says, “He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who pursues worthless things lacks sense.” Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.” And Proverbs 14:23 says, “In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”
The Greeks and Romans looked upon manual work as a menial task that was only for slaves (or else for people of lower classes). The biblical view of work changed that ancient view because work and labor were combined with the idea of vocation and calling.
These ideas were reinforced in the Middle Ages through the gild movement and even expanded during the Reformation. Martin Luther, for example, taught that all work can be done for the glory of God. John Calvin taught that all should work because they were to serve as God’s instruments on earth. This led to what today is called the Protestant work ethic.
Let’s use this Labor Day to teach and reinforce biblical ideas of work.
Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov displays his letter of resignation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Sunday he is firing Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov (Gateway reported) in the face of massive losses and halting Ukrainian “counter-offensive”. Reznikov said the West has provided Ukraine with $100 billion in arms, including $50 billion from the USA. Ukraine claimed it had pierced the first line of Russian defenses in the south of Ukraine, as the BBC acknowledged “a dramatic rise in Ukraine’s number of dead”.
On Sunday Volodymr Zelensky Zelensky said the Defense Ministry “needs new approaches and new formats of interaction both with the military and society as a whole.” He said he would propose Rustem Umerov, current head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, to the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) this week.
Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov wrote that he had submitted his letter of resignation to the Chairman of the Parliament of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk. In an interview with state media platform Ukrinform, Reznikov estimated that Ukraine’s Western backers have given Kiev at least $100 billion worth of weapons, including more than $50 billion from the US alone.
I have submitted my letter of resignation to Ruslan Stefanchuk @r_stefanchuk, Chairman of the Parliament of Ukraine @verkhovna_rada It was an honor to serve the Ukrainian people and work for the #UAarmy for the last 22 months, the toughest period of Ukraine’s modern history. 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/x4rXXcrr7i
Over the weekend, intense fighting continued in the Robotyne area, with Ukraine claiming the village had been taken and Russia claiming all attacks had been repelled. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed Ukraine lost 570 men on Sept. 1 and 655 men on Sept. 2. Russia claimed Ukraine had lost 43,000 men in the first two months of the counter-offensive. Daily casualty reports by the Russian Ministry of Defense put the Ukrainian losses in August at over 16,000, meaning total Ukrainian losses in the the counter-offensive of approx. 60,000.
As Ukrainian losses mount, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar threatened anyone who releases casualty numbers with criminal prosecution.
“Severe AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) manpower losses in the course of so-called ‘counteroffensive’ are caused by the Russian Forces effective strikes at Ukrainian armored hardware at distant approaches”, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed. “AFU formation command purposefully throws manpower in assaults as cannon fodder to cross Russian Forces minefields on foot with no fire support.”
The Ukraine Ministry of Defense claims that Russian figures of Ukrainan losses are wildly exaggerated.
The Law of Leopard Conservation. The number of destroyed Leopards in the russian ministry of defense’s daily reports does is not correlated in any way to the number of Leopard 2A4 tanks in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville reported “a dramatic rise in Ukraine’s number of dead,” according to new estimates by unnamed US officials. Sommerville is one of the few journalists reporting from the front lines, “where the grim task of counting the dead has become a daily reality”, he writes.
“The unknown soldiers lie piled high in a small brick mortuary, not very far from the front line in Donetsk, where 26-year-old Margo has the thankless job of counting the dead.”
“Soldiers lie piled high in a small brick mortuary”
“Ukraine gives no official toll of its war dead – the Ukrainian armed forces have reiterated that their war casualty numbers are a state secret – but Margo knows the losses are huge,” Sommerville reports.
Estimates put the number of Ukrainian casualties between 70,000 and 400,000. The Ukraine Ministry of Defense claims 264,660 Russian casualties since beginning of the war, but other estimates put the number at 50-60,000. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed an 8 to 1 casualty ratio in favor of Russia. “They are throwing (their soldiers) on our minefields, under our artillery fire, acting as if they are not their own citizens at all. It is astonishing,” Putin said.
“The hardest is when you see a dead young guy who hasn’t even reached 20, 22 years old. And realizing they didn’t die their own death,” Margo told the BBC’s Sommerville. “They were killed. They were killed for their own land. That’s the most painful. You cannot get used to this. It’s now getting to the point where it’s just about (helping) the boys reach home.”
The most difficult day of her life, Margo told the BBC, was when her 23-year old husband Andrii was brought into the mortuary on 29 December 2022. “He died while defending his motherland,” Margo says. “But then, for the umpteenth time, I’ve convinced myself that I should be here, I should be helping the fallen.”
Sommerville spoke to a deputy battalion commander of the 68th Jaeger Brigade near Kupyansk in the north. The man goes by the call-sign “Lermontov” and was in a “grim mood,” as he expected the war to last “another 10 years.”
On August 1, the brigade’s sergeant major and two other sergeants were killed in a single Russian mortar strike, Sommerville reports. “He was a legend,” Lermontov told him.
“As we spoke, Lermontov’s phone buzzed. It was the mother of a soldier killed the week before. She wanted to know why young men with guns were being sent to attack Russian trenches if Ukraine had been gifted so much modern Western weaponry. But on this 600-mile front line many brigades lack the latest armored vehicles or long-range guns. The reality is that in many of the trenches, Ukrainian soldiers have to make do. “I don’t have an answer for her, she doesn’t understand… we don’t have everything,” Lermontov told Sommerville.
Sommerville asked Colonel named Oleksii of the 68th Jaeger Brigade what he tells the families of the fallen. “I just ask for forgiveness that I have not provided enough safety. Maybe I was a bad leader, bad planning. And I thank them for what they gave for this fight.”
Foreign Mercenaries Head for the Hills
Foreign fighters in Ukraine report “a mismanaged and chaotic Ukrainian military using ill conceived tactics”. ZeroHedge writes. “Some say that the units they were assigned to have lost 80% or more of their men in recent months. Ukraine military leadership has also been misusing their fleet of tanks and armored vehicles from NATO, sending them ‘straight into mine fields’ in some cases. As volunteers note, the Ukrainians were given training on how to operate the vehicles, but no training on how to use them effectively in a fight. “
ZeroHedge also quotes “a flurry of reports” suggesting that “friendly fire has been doing significant damage, so much so that “mercenaries” have taken to covering themselves in reflective blue or yellow tape so that they aren’t mistaken for Russian troops.”
One potential explanation is the decrease in foreign fighters, ZeroHedge writes. Approx. 20,000 mercenaries (many combat veterans) were thought to be fighting with Ukraine in 2022.
The question remains how many foreign fighters are actually Western combat troops send by the Biden Regime and its allies to conduct covert warfare without congressioonal approval. “At least one General out of the UK let slip that Royal Marine units were in fact deployed on high risk operations in Ukraine. Sources also indicate that US special operations teams have been stationed out of the US embassy in Kyiv since the beginning of the war”,” ZeroHedge writes. “The presence of highly trained western covert ops troops in Ukraine would help explain the far more effective offensive in 2022.”
Official PMC numbers fell from 20,000 in 2022 to as low as 1500 this year, ZeroHedge reports. “Heavy casualties, high odds of friendly fire and lack of protection under the Geneva Convention are likely causes for the abrupt decline in foreign mercenaries in Ukraine in 2023. “
“Is Ukraine relying almost entirely on veteran fighters from Europe and the US to do their dirty work? Recent losses and disorganization in tandem with the decline in overseas volunteers indicate that this may be the case.“
Poland has now started extraditing Ukrainian draft dodgers, Rzeczpospolita reports. Rzeczpospolita estimates about 80,000 unregistered Ukrainians are hiding in Poland. “If we detain such a foreigner, for example, during a simple check on the road, our National Police Information System will show that he is wanted by the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, because Interpol data feature there. We detain such a person, inform the prosecutor’s office, and the court decides on the extradition,” Polish police spokesperson Mariusz Czarka explained.
Former acting chairwoman of the Democrat National Committee (DNC) Donna Brazile joined ABC’s “This Week” to discuss Trump and the 2024 election.
“I’ve never seen anything like this with Donald Trump… I mean, being indicted, that’s making him stronger, raising $10 million using a… mug shot… We have to respect the fact it’s a movement,” Donna Brazile said to the panel.
Nobody has ever said this about Joe Biden. No one has ever marveled over Joe Biden’s popularity yet we are expected to believe he garnered 81 million votes in 2020.
WATCH:
“I’ve never seen anything like this with Donald Trump… I mean, being indicted, that’s making him stronger, raising $10 million using a… mug shot… We have to respect the fact it’s a movement.”
BLACK ROCK CITY, NV — People who chose to attend the infamous Burning Man Festival have been punished by being at the Burning Man Festival.
“If you’re the sort of person who goes to Burning Man, you deserve to be at Burning Man,” said local man Bob Stallings. “The horror.”
Long known as a haven for the very depths of human depravity, the Burning Man Festival grounds have become cut off by floodwaters, trapping attendees. “Due to deteriorating road conditions, the people at Burning Man will have to be at Burning Man,” said Police Chief Reggie Thompson. “They will face terrors few of us can imagine. There will be violent criminals strung out on meth, sex offenders lurking around every corner, all among the stench of human waste – also known as the Burning Man Festival.”
As relief efforts stalled, the muddy roads trapping attendees have shown no signs of drying out. “It’s looking dire,” said local reporter Alicia Mills. “They’re running out of shrooms, and fast. The LSD is already gone. We estimate that by this point, every attendee now has seventeen STDs. If they don’t get out quick and get treated, well – it’s going to burn for a long time.”
At publishing time, theologians were speculating whether the Lord had sent rainwaters as a simple way of granting mankind the evil desires of his heart.
In Disney’s upcoming reboot of 1937’s Snow White, will the Prince kiss the sleeping princess? Or will he obtain her consent first?
As the US has spearheaded NATO’s drive to prop up the Kiev regime with an endless supply of weaponry in its proxy war against Russia, Moscow has repeatedly warned that the West is turning a blind eye to Ukrainian corruption. Last year, Washington admitted that Ukrainian government institutions were being eaten away at by “corrosive” corruption.
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