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
A veteran cultural researcher who has spent decades examining biblical worldview and the trajectory of the American church believes some alarming statistics should spark concerted action on the part of Christians.
Listen to the latest episode of CBN’s Quick Start podcast
“Everybody has a worldview,” Barna told CBN Digital. “It’s basically the intellectual, moral, spiritual filter that each of us uses to make every decision that we make.”
This essential ingredient, he said, renders decision-making possible. Bible believers who operate through the lens of a Christian worldview are thus going “back to basic biblical principles, trying to understand what’s God’s perspective.”
This makes Bible engagement and discipleship essential, as they comprise the baseline through which people build a Christian worldview.
“That’s why it’s important for Christians to know the Scriptures, so that, as we make those decisions, we’re consistent with what God’s calling us to do, and to be, and how to live,” Barna said.
“It’s not just about attending church,” Barna said. “It’s not just about owning and reading a Bible. It’s about wanting to be as Christlike as possible.”
Watch Barna explain:
And with statistics showing just 2% of American parents of preteens have a biblical worldview, Barna is sounding some alarms that must be heeded.
“The reason that we have so few parents with a biblical worldview is that they were never really discipled when they were young,” he said. “When you get several consecutive generations where the number of discipled young people has been dropping precipitously as has happened in America over the last 40 years, that’s when you get the situation that we’ve got today, where more and more adults are convinced it doesn’t matter what faith you believe, as long as you have some faith.”
Many people today have traded Gospel living for a paradigm under which they can simply be a “good person.” He said this is something two-thirds of Americans have come to believe — and the consequences for the culture are profound.
“It’s these kinds of secularized perspectives where we’ve sanded the edges off Christian truth to make it more palatable and more comfortable,” Barna said. “And then we buy into those philosophies, and then those kind of work their way into secular humanism, and postmodernism, and Marxism, Eastern mysticism, all the other beliefs, because we bought into this idea it really doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you really believe it; that’s your truth, and that’s all that matters.”
But Barna said parents have a “God-given responsibility” to raise kids to love and know the Lord “with all their heart, strength, and soul.” He said this quest is each Christian parent’s central role in life.
While some parents might wait until their children are older to help frame their worldview, Barna said the process is solidified much earlier than many might expect.
“You start making decisions at 15 to 18 months of age,” he said. “That’s when your worldview begins to form and, by the age of 13, you’ve typically confronted all the major questions in life — ‘Who am I? Why am I here? What is life about? What does success look like? You know, all of these kinds of issues and more. And so, by age 13, you’ve developed a full worldview.”
Tragically, he said, most young people today are developing worldviews contrary to or devoid of biblical truth. For Christians looking to instill a biblical worldview in their children, Barna said a spiritual worldview plan is essential, yet few professing believers have developed one for their kids.
“I think it’s kind of embarrassing, because, when you look at parents, what we find is that most of them have a plan for their kids,” he said. “They want them to do well in school, they want them to be healthy, they want them to develop good friends — they’ve got all these different ideas about what’s going to help their child to succeed.”
Yet Barna said these ideas often have nothing to do with faith, with his research finding that less than 10% of born-again Christian parents have “any kind of spiritual development plan for their kids.”
Barna hopes “Raising Spiritual Champions” helps parents get on track and realize it’s not hard to inspire a love for the Lord in their children.
“You don’t have to have everything figured out,” Barna said. “You don’t have to be perfect in terms of your worldview, but you got to perfectly be committed to working at it and to then modeling everything that you’re learning for your kids.”
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. (Isaiah 54:17)
There is great clatter in the forges and smithies of the enemy. They are making weapons wherewith to smite the saints. They could not even do as much as this if the Lord of saints did not allow them; for He has created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire. But see how busily they labor! How many swords and spears they fashion! It matters nothing, for on the blade of every weapon you may read this inscription: It shall not Prosper.
But now listen to another noise: it is the strife of tongues. Tongues are more terrible instruments than can be made with hammers and anvils, and the evil which they inflict cuts deeper and spreads wider. What will become of us now? Slander, falsehood, insinuation, ridicule-these are poisoned arrows; how can we meet them? The Lord God promises us that, if we cannot silence them, we shall, at least, escape from being ruined by them. They condemn us for the moment, but we shall condemn them at last and forever. The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped, and their falsehoods shall be turned to the honor of those good men who suffered by them.
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
How do you feel about this day? Are you dreading it or are you looking forward to it like the psalmist is?
God has pleasant surprises tucked into this day for us but so many of us miss them because we run right past them.
Helen Keller, who was blind, deaf and mute, asked a friend who’d just come in from a walk through the park, “What did you see?”
“Nothing much,” she answered.
How can that be? Helen wondered. How can you spend an hour in the park and not see anything?
When she asked some of her friends to describe the faces of five people they were especially close to–what’s the color of their eyes, for instance– they couldn’t do it.
“How glorious it would be if I could see for just three days,” Helen wrote. She would feast her eyes on the beauties of nature; she would stand at a busy street corner and watch the kaleidoscope of color as crowds of people hurried past; she would look long into the faces of people whose kindness had made her life worth living. Helen Keller did not get her wish. But you and I have eyes to see and ears to hear. Are we making full use of them?
Today, I want to seize the moment and glory in all the blessings that God has scattered into this day: the interesting shapes of clouds in the sky, always changing; the varied shapes and colors of leaves; the slanting sun making patterns on my living room wall. Each one speaks of God’s presence and love.
Thank you, Father, that all the days of my life were written in your book before ever they took shape. You have a good plan and I can face this day with confidence (Psalm 139:16)
“Rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.” Joel 2:23
Thought
“The prayers go up and the blessings come down...” The words to this children’s song are only half right, because God sends his blessings many times even when we don’t pray. But just as we love the special smell that comes with a drought breaking rain, God loves the aroma of his children’s joy, especially when he is the source of its delight!
Prayer
Holy God and tender Father, you are my great delight. When all others fail, you are still God. You are my rock and fortress, you are my tender shepherd, and you are my solid mountain that cannot be shaken or moved. Your blessings and grace shower down upon me and fill me with joy. I can’t wait for the day I get to see you face to face and delight in your presence forever. Until then, I will rejoice in anticipation. In Jesus’ glorious name I pray. Amen.
US House Speaker race: What potential impact will there be on Israel and peace with Saudi Arabia? Republicans suggested that former President Donald Trump should take up the gavel. Trump said that he would be open to serve as speaker in the short term, as his main focus is dedicated to paving his way back to the White House. The 45th president is reportedly considering paying a visit to Capitol Hill next week to “unify the party” – a place he hasn’t visited since January 6, 2021.
Saudi-Israel Agreement: Precursor To The Antichrist’s Covenant With Many? Recent events strikingly foreshadow this coming peace compact. August 13th was the third anniversary of the announcement of the Abraham Accords, which were ratified the following month. These arrangements heralded a new beginning of peace in the Middle East as several Arab nations agreed to normalize relations with Israel.
Desert Locust Bulletin 540 (4 October 2023) During the forecast, this year’s summer season is expected to continue longer than usual in a few places of the northern Sahel near northwest Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Sudan due to above-normal rains …
With Feinstein’s death, pro-Israel Senate makeup may be in jeopardy, experts say The late Dianne Feinstein is often described as a fierce supporter of Israel throughout her more than 30 years serving as a California senator. The Democrat was proud of her “strong Jewish heritage” and did all she could “to stop the United States from selling weapons to Israel’s enemies,”
Precious artefacts looted in 1868 war with Britain returned to Ethiopia The British government’s return of Ethiopian artefacts looted in the war of Magdala in 1868, announced in September has drawn attention once again to the looting of artefacts from Africa and elsewhere, in Europe’s many colonial wars. The Holy Tabot will be repatriated by the priests assigned by the Patriarchate within the next couple of months,” Tabots are stone altar tablets, usually inscribed with the Ten Commandments …
US Debt Spiral Is Reaching Terminal Phase – Economic Reset Is The Only Way Out If you are going to go out, you might as well do it with a bang. At the beginning of June, our national debt was sitting at $31,467,639,287,894.39. Today, it has risen to $33,442,148,619,617.43. That means that we have added almost two trillion dollars to the national debt in just three months. It is the largest single debt in the entire history of our planet, and it will never be paid off.
Jerusalem of Gold: Impressions from the ICEJ Jerusalem March on Wednesday “What a people!” exclaimed a religious Jerusalem resident with enthusiasm, repeating, “What a people! They make us feel like…” He paused, momentarily at a loss for words, then added, “May the Eternal One be blessed!” while pointing skyward. The Jerusalem March of the Feast of Tabernacles on Wednesday, organized by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), was a truly extraordinary event. The entire event was imbued with a unique and euphoric atmosphere, as though Jerusalem had already become the capital of peace;
Second annual Sukkot Music Festival draws hundreds of Messianic Jews and Christians for celebration at Baptist Village The second annual Fall Music and Arts Festival, held during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), took place at the Baptist Village outside Petah Tikvah on Sunday evening. The festival, which is organized by Yuval Arts and The Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel (MJAI), drew hundreds of attendees from all over Israel this year. A group of volunteers from the United States also helped organize children’s activities at the festival.
Strong and shallow M6.6 earthquake hits Izu Islands, Japan A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the JMA as M6.6 hit Izu Islands, Japan at 01:59 UTC on October 5, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). The USGS is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles); EMSC M6.1 at a depth of 9 km (5.6 miles).
Typhoon “Koinu” hits Taiwan with record-breaking winds Typhoon “Koinu” made landfall in Cape Eluanbi, southern Taiwan, on October 4, 2023, breaking wind speed records, downing trees and damaging homes. The typhoon left more than 300 people injured in its wake and one person dead.
Attack Last Week On Our Supply Chain Barely Noticed …This last week, a company named Estes was the target of a cyber-attack…They are the fifth-largest LTL (less than truckload) carrier in the United States, with approximately $4 billion in annual revenue. As of now, their systems have been down nearly four full days. You can’t call them on their published numbers. You can’t access their website. You can’t track their shipments. You can’t get freight quotes. You can’t email them. In the shipping world, this could have been an absolute catastrophe.
Mass Murderers Win The Nobel Peace Prize For Creating The Vax According to ‘primate study icon’ Jane Goodall while speaking at the World Economic Forum as seen in this 16-second twitter/X clip, “We cannot hide away from human population growth…all of these problems that we talk about wouldn’t be a problem if it was the size of the population that it was 500 years ago.”
US House of Representatives cuts funding to UN, WHO, WEF and climate change …the US House of Representatives passed its annual State Department and Foreign Operations spending bill..aid for Ukraine…Most interestingly, it includes prohibiting funds to several UN agencies, the WHO, the WEF, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, EcoHealth Alliance, any gain-of-function research, and multilateral assistance to World Bank-administered climate change funds. The bill also cuts off funding and so eliminates 33 Special Envoys and Special Representatives, including doomsday climate cultist John Kerry.
HIV/AIDS was the Prequel to the COVID-19 Pseudopandemic The COVID-19 pseudopandemic and the AIDS scam have many similarities and some of the same actors have been involved in both dramas. There have been many deaths falsely attributed to both of these non-existent viruses. There has been widespread silencing of critics of the orthodoxy, regardless of credentials. Families and friendships have been split apart over questioning the official dogma. Many millions of people have lost jobs and livelihoods across a wide spectrum of different professions and careers. According to scientist Simon Lee, who argues:
Expert Doctor swears 100 million Americans may have seriously damaged their Heart due to COVID-19 Vaccination The vaccines are causing heart injury in at least 2.8% of people who receive the COVID-19 injections. According to Dr. Thomas Levy, a minimum of 7 million Americans now have hearts damaged by COVID-19 “vaccines.” And, although there’s no way of being certain at this time, he said, it’s within the realm of possibility that over 100 million people in America have some degree of heart damage from the injections – not myocarditis, but heart damage that will be detectable with a troponin test.
“They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men.” —John Adams (1775)
Fellow Patriots, it took nearly two hundred years but on this day in 1979, Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the White House. In today’s news, Christianity is declining and atheism is surging. —Mark Alexander
Biden now claims he’s constrained by appropriations under Trump. That’s rarely stopped him before.
Nate Jackson
“Do you believe the border wall works?” asked a reporter of Joe Biden yesterday. His one-word reply: “No.”
In Biden’s world, it doesn’t “work” because the border invasion is intentional, and a wall would literally get in the way.
Biden was asked the question because of his administration’s quiet and then exposed waivers to resume construction of Donald Trump’s border wall. Even DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas effectively admitted a wall works, saying there’s “an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers.”
“The money was appropriated for the border wall,” Biden explained of the DHS memo opening the door for wall construction to begin again. “I tried to get them to reappropriate, to redirect that money. They didn’t. They wouldn’t. And in the meantime, there’s nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can’t stop that.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre trotted out the same excuse: “We went to Congress. Congress appropriates the funding. We asked them to not use that funding for that particular purpose. They denied it, and now we’re complying with the law.”
It’s tempting to laugh and point to this as another example of Biden not really being in charge. But it’s far worse.
When has the law or appropriations or even the Constitution ever stopped Joe Biden before? Congress didn’t pass student loan forgiveness? Do it anyway. Supreme Court struck that down? Do it again anyway.
Biden set about on Day One to undo just about everything Trump did. Kill the pipelines, the drilling permits, the census changes, the border policies. “There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration,” Biden promised on the 2020 campaign trail. On his first day in office, he issued a proclamation doing just that. A couple of months ago, his administration was selling the wall-building material it didn’t need.
Yet suddenly, Biden is constrained by appropriations law passed under Trump. Why is that? Because Biden can do a minimal something to stem the terrible crisis caused by his border policies, mollifying Democrats in sanctuary jurisdictions, while blaming Trump for the cruelty of it all and insisting that it won’t work in any case.
Given that the plan is for only 20 miles of wall, it won’t work. In fact, it’s “not a serious policy solution,” which is what Biden early in his presidency called Trump’s wall. Texas Senator Ted Cruz called the whole thing “window dressing to pretend he cares.”
Mayorkas angrily insisted that “a border wall is not the answer” and that his public notice about it “is being taken out of context and it does not signify any change in policy whatsoever.” Translation: The border will remain open.
This blame-shifting reminds us of one other significant action Biden took while claiming his hands were tied by his predecessor: surrendering and retreating from Afghanistan. Blaming Trump was a lie, of course. Trump’s plan was clearly not to surrender to the Taliban in a repeat of Saigon in 1975 the way Biden did, with the deaths of 13 Americans on his hands. But somehow, for the first time, Biden was obliged to follow a plan Trump supposedly set in stone.
That and the border wall comments are sick and pathetic buck passing to cover for disastrous policies, but it’s par for the course for a guy who lies about himself the way Biden does.
He and other Democrats want the border crisis. Any policies to stop it are deemed “cruel” and “racist.” Yet the dereliction of duty from this president and his DHS sidekick is impeachable, and, frankly, it’s more consequential for the nation than the Bidens getting rich off the family name.
It’s Right. It’s Free But it doesn’t cost nothing. Reader funding alone has sustained The Patriot Post for more than 27 years, allowing us to reach a vast reader audience with the message of Liberty without the limitations of a subscription fee. In a few weeks, we’ll be launching our year-end campaign. Beat the rush by supporting our mission today! —Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
In a laughably condescending little chat with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, the failed presidential candidate reminded us of why she’s so reviled.
Douglas Andrews
Just when we thought it was safe to ignore Hillary Clinton, safe to let her waddle off into political irrelevancy, she gives us reason to assail her anew.
Yesterday, the World’s Worst Presidential Candidate sat down with CNN’s equally grizzled and equally unhinged Christiane Amanpour to tell the network’s dozens of viewers what a bad guy Donald Trump is, and what a gullible bunch of deplorables he has for supporters.
She didn’t disappoint. The two began by discussing the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, when Hillary compared what she called the “sane” part of Republican Party with the “cult” wing devoted to Trump.
Here we should note that this “wing” Hillary speaks of isn’t a wing at all. It’s a body. It’s a strong majority. Much as she’d like to deny it, a recent poll from The Washington Post and ABC News has Trump polling 10 points ahead of her party’s standard-bearer in a head-to-head matchup.
Nonetheless, Hillary harkened back to the days of yore, to those halcyon days when Republican presidential candidates from George H.W. Bush to Bob Dole to John McCain to Mitt Romney simply accepted their fate as roadkill for the mainstream media and the Clinton-Obama machine. “That’s the way it used to be,” she told Amanpour yesterday. “I mean, we had very strong partisans in both parties in the past, and we had very bitter battles over all kinds of things … but there wasn’t this little tail of extremism, waving, you know, wagging the dog of the Republican Party as it is today. And sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA extremists take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure. He’s only in it for himself. He’s now defending himself in civil actions and criminal actions. And when do they break with him?”
And then the Clintonian kicker: “You know, because, at some point, you know, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members, but something needs to happen.”
Ah, Hillary. She does politics like Yoko Ono sings. We wonder, though: Are there any other examples of cultishness out there, of political figures whose supporters repeat his slogans and wear his merchandise and hang on his every Hopey Changey word?
Her Lowness is the gift that keeps on giving. As Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt put it, “Hillary Clinton who called half the country a ‘basket of deplorables’ advocates for re-education camps … err ‘deprograming.’ Democrats should get her on TV and on the campaign trail more often.”
We’ll say this about Donald Trump: He has great taste in enemies.
Perhaps we’re being a bit unfair toward Hillary. After all, she’s been through a lot. And we’ve never walked in her shoes, never stood by a spouse who’d made a laughingstock of us, never presented a geopolitical foe with a stupid “reset” button, never blew a presidential race that The New York Times gave us a 99% chance of winning.
It’s one thing for a politician to denounce the opposing candidate, but it’s another thing to denounce the voters — unless, of course, one is simply stating a matter of fact, such as the historical truth that Democrat voters tend to be less-informed, more low-information, than Republican voters. (Pew Research used to conduct such a survey every year, but they discontinued it long ago when the repeated results — which consistently showed Republicans to have a better grasp of the issues than Democrats — became too demoralizing for them and their fellow elitists.)
As for Hillary’s comments, though, they weren’t made in a vacuum. Her friends and fellow travelers at the FBI were no doubt listening, just as they were when she seeded the whole Russia collusion hoax with that bought-and-paid-for dossier. And with marching orders like these, is it any wonder that the once-proud but now woefully corrupt bureau is targeting Trump supporters in the run-up to the 2024 election? It’s stunning, yes, but true: “The federal government believes that the threat of violence and major civil disturbances around the 2024 U.S. presidential election is so great,” Newsweek writes, “that it has quietly created a new category of extremists that it seeks to track and counter: Donald Trump’s army of MAGA followers.”
Never fear, though. In a statement to Newsweek, the FBI said it wasn’t targeting Republicans over Democrats. “These violent extremists have targeted both Republican and Democratic members of Congress,” the bureau said.
Uh-huh.
Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Unless you’re a MAGA Republican. In which case, you’d better watch what you say and do.
September jobs numbers jump: Roughly 336,000 jobs were added in September, besting the 170,000 estimate and beating August by more than 100,000. Meanwhile, the headline unemployment rate came in at 3.8%, slightly higher than the anticipated 3.7%. Negatively, wage increases came in lower than the expected 0.3%, with earnings up 0.2% for September and 4.2% from last year. That’s clearly not keeping up with actual inflation for most workers. Workforce participation is 62.8%, still coming in below pre-pandemic levels. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates yet again before the year’s end.
Trump endorses Jim Jordan for speaker: After Representative Matt Gaetz successfully led a coup, with the help of the entire Democrat side of the House, to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, Republicans have been scrambling to find a new speaker. Donald Trump was even floated for the role, which he seemingly teased about considering. However, on Thursday, Trump ended any rumors of him seriously considering the position as he gave his “complete & total endorsement” to Representative Jim Jordan (OH). In a posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District. Respected by all, he is now Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.” It will be interesting to see if Trump’s endorsement boosts Jordan over the other contenders, which include Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA). Thankfully, this ends the silly conversation of Trump as speaker.
Trans swimmer fail This week in Berlin, Germany, the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup began, and for the first time it was going to feature a new open category in the 50 meter and 100 meter races. This open category was designed to welcome all “transgender” identifying swimmers. Well, all these open category races have now been canceled because no swimmers signed up. Last year, World Aquatics instituted a new policy limiting male swimmers to participate in men’s races unless they provided proof of gender “transition” prior to the age of 12 or puberty. “Classifying athletes on the basis of sex is necessary to meet World Aquatics’ goals for female Aquatics athletes and the women’s competition category,” the swimming federation explained after adopting the new rule. It is telling that given the option to compete fairly in an open category no gender-bending individuals took the opportunity.
“Fat lesbians” and free speech: Swiss writer and political pundit Alain Bonnet, who also goes by Alain Soral, has been fined and handed a 60-day jail sentence for what amounts to stating observable facts. On Monday, a Swiss court found Soral guilty of defamation, discrimination, and incitement to hatred. What did Soral say? Well, he dared to refer to Catherine Macherel, who is a leftist Swiss journalist and an LGBTQ activist, as a “fat lesbian.” In Switzerland, where there is no First Amendment protecting an individual’s right to freedom of speech, word and thought crimes are increasingly being punished if the words people use run contrary to the Left’s preferred narrative — especially so on sexuality. This type of speech policing is what the Left would love to impose in America.
Kendi’s racket: Within weeks of race huckster Ibram X. Kendi taking a gig at Boston University, heading the newly created Center for Antiracism Research in the summer of 2020, his brother-in-law, Macharia Edmonds, received a $600,000 mortgage loan from the school. That loan served as a down payment for a $4.56 million luxury apartment in Boston. Former senior counsel to the Senate Finance Committee Dean Zerbe observed: “There are institutions that actually do provide loans. They’re called banks. People like to get loans at banks, not at universities. It raises a fundamental question of why did you not get a loan from a bank?” Zerbe notes that the reason is that these are “sweetheart deals,” which hold low or even no interest rates. So, while Kendi has complained that “black students are disproportionately bearing the weight of student debt,” his brother-in-law is getting sweetheart loan deals from the school. And Kendi himself has amassed considerable wealth from his Center that raised over $43 million since June 2020, but recently laid off a bunch of its staff and has produced almost nothing in the form of research.
Falling life expectancy: Life expectancy in the U.S. has been steadily falling since it peaked at 78.9 years in 2014. The decline was exacerbated by COVID, but it began prior to the virus and even with the pandemic passed the decline has continued. What’s killing Americans has remained rather consistent over the decade, and the leading factors for the increasing mortality rate are health related. Heart disease is the leading killer followed by cancer. The Washington Post reports, “Chronic illnesses, which often sicken people in middle age after the protective vitality of youth has ebbed, erase more than twice as many years of life among people younger than 65 as all the overdoses, homicides, suicides and car accidents combined.” The rates of deaths due to kidney disease, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and liver disease have all been on the rise since 2000.
Headlines
Biden administration defends building of border wall, indicates it was forced (Daily Signal)
Biden administration to restart deportations to Venezuela amid record border crossings (Daily Wire)
The U.S. added $275 billion to debt in ONE DAY this week (Not the Bee)
Amtrak hides hefty salaries of thousands of employees while it hemorrhages millions (Daily Caller)
Record number of voters prefer GOP on economy (Power Line)
Protesters hit Ramaswamy campaign vehicle outside Iowa event (Fox News)
Biden judicial nominee dreams of a day Supreme Court justices disclose personal pronouns (Washington Free Beacon)
Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting women’s oppression (Associated Press)
Humor: Republicans considering making Alex Jones speaker of the House after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster (Genesius Times)
A new Gallup poll paints a grim picture of religion in America, but the alternative is even more troubling.
Brian Mark Weber
The numbers tell a grim story: Americans are turning away from God.
“Evidence is growing that Americans are becoming significantly less religious,” writes New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. “They are drifting away from churches, they are praying less and they are less likely to say religion is very important in their lives. For the first time in Gallup polling, only a minority of adults in the United States belong to a church, synagogue or mosque.”
Indeed, Pew Research discovered that from 2007 to 2021, adults who identified with no religion nearly doubled, from 16% to 29%. At the same time, those who believe in Christianity fell from 78% to 63%.
Self-avowed atheist Kate Cohen recently penned an op-ed in The Washington Post, calling for more atheists in America. The problem is, even Cohen admits some truths about how atheists are still out of the mainstream of society. “Studies have shown that many, many Americans don’t trust atheists,” she writes. “They don’t want to vote for atheists, and they don’t want their children to marry atheists. Researchers have found that even atheists presume serial killers are more likely to be atheist than not. Given all this, it’s not hard to see why atheists often prefer to keep quiet about it. Why I kept quiet. I wanted to be liked!”
It’s hardly a ringing endorsement for the ideology Cohen tries to sell to her audience. And even with the decline of faith, Cohen’s point about Americans not wanting to vote for atheists has been abundantly clear, at least if we’re to believe respondents to a 2020 Gallup poll: “More than nine in 10 Americans say they would vote for a presidential candidate nominated by their party who happened to be black, Catholic, Hispanic, Jewish or a woman,” reports Gallup. But then: “Such willingness drops to eight in 10 for candidates who are evangelical Christians or are gays or lesbians. Between six and seven in 10 would vote for someone who is under 40 years of age, over 70, a Muslim or an atheist.”
Maybe it’s the long, bloody, and well-documented history of communism and Marxism, the political ideologies most closely aligned with atheism, that turns people off even to this day. Maybe those purges, those forced famines, those cultural revolutions, and those great leaps forward have taken folks aback.
“Communist regimes put Marx’s principles into practice,” writes Marion Smith in The Wall Street Journal, “starting with the first Marxist state. Between 1917 and 1921, the Soviet Union destroyed nearly 600 Russian Orthodox monasteries and convents. The leaders of the first communist country oversaw the killing of at least 300 Orthodox clergy. This bloodbath eventually became Soviet policy. The scholar Todd M. Johnson estimates that Soviet authorities sent 15 million Christians to their deaths in prison camps between 1921 and 1950. A further five million Christians perished in the following 30 years.” Smith ought to know. He’s the executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington.
Far from singling out Christians, though, atheist regimes went after anyone daring to worship a supreme being. “The Soviet Union also targeted Muslim communities for mass deportation, killing, for example, as many as 46% of Crimean Tatars,” Smith adds. “Thousands of Buddhist monks also died at Soviet gunpoint. Where religion survived in the U.S.S.R., it did so secretly — or under the watchful eye and controlling hand of the state.”
Even today, the People’s Republic of China is an atheist state, and the government continues to persecute Christians and other religious groups. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, “The communist Chinese government has created a high-tech surveillance state, utilizing facial recognition and artificial intelligence to monitor and harass Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falon Gong and other religions. Independent experts estimate that between 900,000 and 1.8 million Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Muslims have been detained in more than 1,300 concentration camps in Xinjiang.”
It all makes sense. Socialists and communists can’t afford competition, so they destroy it. People of faith, on the other hand, worship a higher being, not the government. They look for hope, strength, and inspiration not only beyond political systems but to another world beyond the one here on Earth. In his 1952 autobiography, Witness, former communist Whittaker Chambers asked the essential question in three words: “God or Man?”
In the end, Cohen boasts that atheism places political power in the hands of the godless to make change instead of relying on guidance from God, who she protests doesn’t exist anyway. Sadly, however, history is replete with atheists who used their newfound power to destroy those who dared to believe in an entity other the State.
“Easy” has become far more of a worthy pursuit than the work of investing time and intention into other humans.
Samantha Koch
Several weeks ago, Matt Walsh brought attention to a well-known TikTok influencer who openly advocates for the childfree lifestyle. He posted one of her videos in which she spent 90 seconds detailing the activities she had planned for her Saturday as a single 29-year-old woman. She told her audience that she was grateful for the opportunity to sleep in until after 10 a.m., that she was excited to learn to make shakshuka, and that she had a long list of reality TV shows to catch up on, adding up to what she described as a “stacked day.”
Her video was met with a large amount of criticism. Why? Viewers didn’t take issue with a young adult woman deciding to make a video about how she intended to spend her weekend. They objected to the fact that after every activity she had already done or had planned for later, she felt the need to emphasize how much easier these things were because she didn’t have children. They didn’t wake her up early, she didn’t have to call a babysitter to leave the house, and she could watch her favorite shows uninterrupted by little ones demanding her time and attention.
Viewers felt that it was entirely unnecessary to take jabs at parents, and the sacrifices that come with raising children, in order to elevate her personal experiences as someone who isn’t in a committed relationship and has no one to be responsible for other than herself. After all, we would be hard pressed to find married parents with kids who go out of their way to create content about the joys of the things they do as a family while pointing out that their joy is enhanced because they are no longer alone.
The bigger issue, however, is that this young woman represents a generation of people who have normalized the idea of perpetual singlehood. They truly believe — or are trying to convince themselves — that serving their own desires and goals is really all they need in life. In this worldview, there is no value in pursuing a family life and engaging in this institution because “easy” has become far more of a worthy pursuit than the work of investing time and intention into other humans.
This mindset embraces the overall belief system that anything challenging isn’t worth the effort, and that where we’re most comfortable is where we should stay.
It’s also easy to blame those who align more with the left side of the political aisle for this shift in values from outward to inward. Leftists have led the charge in rejecting traditional roles and painted anything associated with a Christian belief system as oppressive and antiquated. The result has been an increase in young people who choose not to date to marry, or choose not to marry to have children, or choose not to have children to build a stable and committed home.
However, the idea of staying single forever has slowly bled across party lines, and now appears to be an issue on which both sides are increasingly united.
Of all things.
Recently, a debate has broken out between members of The Daily Wire like Walsh and those who align with the “red pill” movement, namely Pearl Davis as the ringleader.
Pearl is the host of a YouTube channel called “Just Pearly Things,” where she primarily focuses on men’s rights and speaking against laws that discriminate against them. For example, no-fault divorce laws, child custody laws that overwhelmingly favor women, and harassment situations where it seems that there is no way for men to have their side of the story heard, much less believed. And she makes many valid points regarding these issues, of which more discussion and solutions are needed.
Yet on the issue of marriage, Pearl mainly points to the harm that comes to men if the marriage ends in divorce, and uses those points to insist that there’s no benefit to marriage at all.
In this back-and-forth conversation, Ben Shapiro has, correctly, said that Pearl’s main focus is the laws that tend to favor women and leave men on the hook for things like child support and alimony, should they go separate ways. But by using the consequences of divorce as the central discussion point of the conversation around marriage as a whole, there is reason to be concerned that men will leave her videos with the idea that it’s not worth the risk, even with a good and decent partner.
Of course, there are the divorce statistics that often serve as the cherry on top to these discussions. In cautioning their audiences across the political spectrum, they say that around 50% of marriages don’t survive — a point that both red-pilled Pearl and Ms. Feminist Tik-Tok influencer repeatedly mention in their content.
Both Walsh and Shapiro’s responses to Pearl’s commentary on this issue have been to remind everyone that, though there may be a 50% divorce rate across the board, that does not mean that there is automatically a 50% chance of divorce within every single relationship.
If there were a statistic that said 50% of drivers end up in car accident, would that mean that we’re each equally at a 50% risk of crashing, simply because we made the choice to drive? Or does it make more sense to factor your personal choices as a driver? If you’re someone who goes the speed limit, avoids distractions, and stays in your lane — your chances of getting into an accident are significantly lower than the person who speeds past you, swerving in and out of traffic, and completely disregarding the wellbeing of others on the road.
It’s almost unheard of for people to use the potential of having to pay thousands of dollars in medical expenses and car repairs as a reason never to travel.
Thankfully, unlike driving, the decisions made between other married couples has virtually no impact on the relationship we enter into via our own vows.
We need to shift the conversation back to what is gained as human beings when we choose to be selfless. We should acknowledge that any narrative that shifts us away from a lifelong union with a loving partner is going to rob us of one of the greatest opportunities for us to grow, to learn, and to become a version of ourselves that is beyond what we can imagine, if we were to stay in a space that we occupy by ourselves.
As with most things in life that will bring us the greatest levels of joy, fulfillment, and growth, there will be challenges. There will be many paths laid out as alternatives, with road signs that lead toward something that is “good enough,” tempting us to exchange the frustration that can come from driving over bumps and rocky terrain in order to reach a higher destination, for the smooth course that takes us in the kind of circles that come from consistently choosing to serve no one.
Building a Border Wall Against His Will — Joe Biden claims his administration is legally bound to build a section of a wall along the southern border, thereby breaking his campaign promise.
EV Makers Losing Money on Every Sale — Rivian and the Big Three auto makes are losing billions on their electric vehicles. How long can they sustain this?
‘Did You Write That?’ — At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, John Kennedy pressed Biden judicial nominee Mustafa Taher Kasubhai about his past writings.
Bodega Worker Sues NY DA — New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg is sued for racism by a bodega worker who Bragg had initially charged with murder for defending himself against a robbery.
“Growing up in a single-parent household mired in poverty, I wondered if the American Dream would work for a kid like me. I’ve got good news. Whether you’re a kid in inner-city Chicago or a kid in rural Iowa, the American Dream is alive. We must defend it. God Bless the United States of America.” —Senator Tim Scott (R-SC)
Re: the Rainbow Mafia
“There is a budding awareness among progressives that their rebellion against a cultural embrace of the Christian sexual ethic has taken them down a path of self-contradiction and moral anarchy. They know the ship is sinking, and that they are likely to go down with it. Yet I feel equally confident that they will still prefer to plunge to the depths of moral insanity than admit the right was right.” —Peter Heck
Blame Shifting
“We’re grateful and relieved that the congressman [Henry Cuellar] is unharmed. We understand what communities are going through across the country, not just in DC. That’s why the president took action very early on in his administration to get the American Rescue Plan done, without the help of Republicans. That’s why every time he puts forward his budget, he makes sure there are billions of dollars to deal with crime. That’s just a fact.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
Perspective
“The Republic will survive the temporary chaos caused by a sudden change of leadership in the House of Representatives. We won’t survive the collapse of norms and values that have defined this country and Western Civilization for centuries.” —Gary Bauer
About the Wall
“So interesting to watch Crooked Joe Biden break every environmental law in the book to prove that I was right when I built 560 miles (they incorrectly state 450 in story!) of brand new, beautiful border wall. As I have stated often, over thousands of years, there are only two things that have consistently worked, wheels, and walls! Will Joe Biden apologize to me and America for taking so long to get moving, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegals immigrants, from places unknown. I will await his apology!” —Donald Trump on Biden’s new border wall
“From day one, this Administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer. That remains our position and our position has never wavered. The language in the Federal Register notice is being taken out of context and it does not signify any change in policy whatsoever.” —DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Hyper Hypocrisy
“Trump’s comments were offensive. They were baseless. They were void of any facts and/or any evidence. What they were were comments that unfortunately fomented violence; comments that I would describe as race-baiting; comments, unfortunately, that appeal to the bottom of our humanity. And lastly, I will not be bullied. The Donald Trump show is over. This was nothing more than a political stunt, a fundraising stop.” —New York Attorney General Letitia James blasting Trump for showing up at his own trial that she brought
Food for Thought
“Trump defenders and apologists like to say the reason they support him is that he’s a ‘fighter.’ But even fighters are constrained by rules, like not hitting below the belt. Trump seems to spend all his time below the belt, and not just rhetorically, if you include his behavior with women and what he has said famous men (like himself) ought to be able to do to them.” —Cal Thomas
Checking the Boxes
“[Laphonza Butler is] the first openly lesbian senator from California, and she’s the first openly LGBTQ senator of color to serve in this body. Today the Senate takes another step towards fully reflecting our vibrant democracy.” —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
The BIG Lie
“That’s what the president’s gonna do. He’s gonna continue to figure out how we’re gonna lower costs for the American people. That’s Bidenomics.” —Karine Jean-Pierre
And Last
“Inflation in America today is man-made, and that man’s name is President Joe Biden.” —Senator John Kennedy
“Socialists and communists can’t afford competition, so they destroy it. People of faith, on the other hand, worship a higher being, not the government. They look for hope, strength, and inspiration not only beyond political systems but to another world beyond the one here on Earth.”
(Brian Mark Weber – The Patriot Post) The numbers tell a grim story: Americans are turning away from God. “Evidence is growing that Americans are becoming significantly less religious,” writes New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. “They are drifting away from churches, they are praying less and they are less likely to say religion is very important in their lives. For the first time in Gallup polling, only a minority of adults in the United States belong to a church, synagogue or mosque.”
Indeed, Pew Research discovered that from 2007 to 2021, adults who identified with no religion nearly doubled, from 16% to 29%. At the same time, those who believe in Christianity fell from 78% to 63%. View article →
Good news is bad news these days for investors.Reuters / Andrew Burton
The US economy is running hot and markets are in a panic about it.
The September jobs report blew past economists’ expectations, with 336,000 jobs added last month.
Stocks slumped and bond yields surged as investors brace for higher for longer interest rates.
The US economy is still burning hot – and it’s the worst possible thing for markets to take in right now.
The labor market grew faster than expected in September, with the economy adding an eye-popping 336,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. That’s nearly double the 170,000 jobs economists were expecting.
But in the weird world of sticky inflation, that strength is bad news for investors, who are now in a panic about the prospect of interest rates staying high for a lot longer than they were expecting earlier in the year.
The red-hot labor market could influence the Fed to push on with aggressive interest rate hikes, after having already raised rates aggressively in the last year to lower inflation and cool down the economy.
Investors are repricing their interest rate expectations through the rest of the year. Markets are now pricing in a 45% chance that interest rates will end the year higher than their current level, according to the CME FedWatch tool, up from just a 33% chance yesterday.
Stocks immediately dropped off as investors took in the September jobs data. Major indexes slid lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding about 200 points. Treasury yields also jumped, with the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rising 14 basis points to 4.849%, reclaiming the highest level in 16 years after edging slightly lower earlier in the week.
“Friday’s job report suggests that the labor report remains very strong and cements the case for an additional Fed rate hike this year, and it also likely delays the pace of eventual rate cuts. Investors will need to get used to the higher for longer narrative on interest rates given the strength of the economy,” Blanke Schein Wealth Management CIO Robert Schein said in a note on Friday.
Higher rates, and in turn higher bond yields, present a triple whammy, hitting stocks, bonds, and the wider economy. The 10-year yield is among the most closely watched market signals and it’s flashing red right now for investors.
“Long dated yields continued their march higher as this reading reiterated the message of yields potentially needing to remain higher for longer,” Global X ETFs strategist Michelle Cluver said in a note. “While encouraging for the resilience of the US economy, this exceptionally strong reading is a challenge for markets.”
The latest slump in markets reflects the running trend of good news for the economy is bad news for investors, with stocks likely facing resistance unless inflation falls closer to the Fed’s 2% target and other areas of the economy show more signs of weakness.
The New York Fed says there’s 56% chance the US will slip into a recession by September of next year. Meanwhile, some key bond yields that have been inverted for much of the past year have started to flatted. The the 2-10 Treasury yield curve, a notorious recession indicator, often de-inverts when a downturn is likely in the near term, experts say.
Anyone watching the TV coverage of President Biden can sense the chumminess between the president and the pro-Biden press. But you don’t always see the friendships behind the scenes. On October 5, Politico’s daily Playbook newsletter touted a dinner to “celebrate White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.” In addition to a bevy of powerful black women in politics attending, Politico “spotted” ABC News President Kim Godwin, MSNBC President Rashida Jones, CBS Mornings Executive Producer Shawna Thomas, Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, CNN host Kasie Hunt, and MSNBC hosts Joy Reid and Andrea Mitchell.
Everything is “off the record” as the “objective” and “mainstream” media “celebrate” the Democrat press secretary.
This is not to say that Republicans never hold off-the-record dinners with reporters. But the word “celebrate” would not be used. In August, that same Politico “Playbook” team reported the Trump campaign consorted with what he calls “enemies of the people” […]
Updates to Retail Dive’s bankruptcy tracker have been numerous in 2023 so far, with the all-important holiday quarter left to go.
A wide array of U.S. businesses have struggled this year. In the first nine months of 2023, commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcies have soared 61% year over year to 4,553, according to Epiq Bankruptcy, which provides U.S. bankruptcy filing data.
Small business filings in that time rose 41% to 1,419, according to the research, released by Epiq and the American Bankruptcy Institute. In all, considering every type of bankruptcy, filings in the commercial sector rose 17% to 18,680.
High-profile retail filings in the first nine months of the year have included David’s Bridal, Bed Bath & Beyond and Party City, and 11 more retailers may be on the brink.
While the numbers of both commercial and individual filings remain below pre-pandemic levels, the increase so far this year is a sign that challenges, including expanding debt, are building, according to American Bankruptcy Institute Executive Director Amy Quackenboss.
“Struggling individuals and companies have an established lifeline through bankruptcy to help steady themselves amid rising interest rates, inflation and increased borrowing costs,” Quackenboss said in a statement.
Consumer distress is also visible, in rising credit card debt and increasing delinquencies on store credit cards, reported by several retailers in recent months. In the second quarter, U.S. consumers’ collective balance rose to a record $1.03 trillion dollars, according to the New York Federal Reverse Bank’s quarterly report on household debt. That, coupled with the added burden of student loan payments that will resume for many this month, are leading many analysts to temper expectations for holiday sales.
Today, we’re talking about worldviews. Naturalistic evolution has led many to determinism – the idea that because we’re the products of blind forces in nature, we are the way we are because of pre-existing causes. Therefore, we have no responsibility for the wrong things we do. Honestly, think of the times you’ve heard someone say, “_______ made me do it!”
But determinism does not jive with reality. After all, if no one were ever responsible for his or her own crimes, how could anyone ever be punished for anything!? In contrast, the biblical worldview holds that people were created by God and are responsible for their own choices. We have free will to choose right or wrong. In the end, as Romans 14:12 says, “[E]ach of us will give an account of himself to God.” The wonderful news is that Christ transforms lives, helping people make right moral choices.
Similar to determinism is fatalism, but we’ll discuss that another time. For more information, go to http://www.hopetools.net. Stay bold!
Carl Kerby is the founder of Reasons for Hope and co-creator of the DeBunked apologetic video series. His radio feature, Fast Facts, is heard weekly on VCY America, Saturdays at 9:25 AM Central.
As we get closer to the election season with primaries and a general election, we should once again consider how to prevent election fraud. The goal should always be to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.
Yet whenever the discussion turns toward preventing election fraud, it is often met with the response that this is a solution in search of a problem. We are told there is very little voter fraud, and when it exists it doesn’t affect the final vote in any significant way.
My response has been to ask a question: “Since you do admit there is voter fraud, how much voter fraud do you think is acceptable?” We wouldn’t accept that argument from a bank president if there were problems with the daily reconciling of bank accounts.
Recently Rachel Alexander made the same argument by asking, “What If We Excused Other Crimes the Way We Do Election Fraud?” Many polling places don’t provide a paper trail of the vote. Imagine telling an IRS agent during an audit that “you have no receipts or records for the last few years, so agents need to believe you.” I think you know the answer to that question.
She reminds us that in the banking industry “employees are fired and can be prosecuted if the numbers merely seem off. As with cashiers at stores, a typical amount of money is expected to come in daily. If that number starts being low, security measures like cameras and keystroking devices are put in place to try and discover the theft.”
She then points to various anomalies in several states from the last two elections that always seem to benefit one party. She also documents the fight in courts to prevent video surveillance of ballots being dropped off.
I think we should expect the same professionalism from our elections that we expect from other areas of our society.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.
We often get caught up with how we appear to others—our image is important to us. The desire for approval can creep into even the simplest tasks that we do, or preoccupy our thoughts. Whether it is the reason behind why we dress or act a certain way, the filters we use on our Instagram or Facebook posts, or the people we choose to hang out with in public, creating a persona or protecting the one we already have can be a sinister motivator. As Christians, how do we break with this self-centered behavior and the idolatrous search for approval by others?
Christians may find themselves to be outcasts because of their faith.
The apostle Peter has some very helpful words in the beginning of his second letter as he writes to Christians who would have been on the outside of society, those who would have been the outcasts. Because of their faith in Christ, they no longer would have fit in with their neighbors or former friends. The urge to slide back into society and feel the old sense of belonging would likely have been a temptation for them as no one likes to be the odd one out. Peter writes in his introduction,
Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His 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. (2 Pet. 1:1-3)
All Christians are in the same “inside circle” as children of God.
Peter tells his Christian brothers and sisters that they have received the same faith that the apostles have. The apostles don’t have a special Christianity because they are apostles. All Christians have the same beautiful and wonderful faith. All Christians by God’s power have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, helping them to face life challenges and grow in godliness. The Christianity that the apostles held is the same as the Christianity of the other followers of Christ (2 Pet. 1:1).
Have you ever felt left out? You look on while the popular girls or guys do their thing. You wish you were on the inside circle. You wish you had something special about you to make people notice. So, maybe you try to make yourself look different by your dress, make-up, lifestyle, activities. You try to play the part so somebody, anybody, will take notice and include you, make you feel special and sought after. With Jesus you don’t need to do any of that.
The most wonderful gift, Jesus himself, has been given to you along with all Christians over the centuries. Along with famous Christians, renowned missionaries, pastors, and evangelists who have done great works for Christ’s church, and even the apostles, you have the same faith. You are not second class. The Holy Spirit dwells in you like he dwelt in the apostles. Jesus is your Savior just like he was the apostle Peter’s. And you didn’t do anything to deserve this “faith of equal standing.”
Jesus was hated and despised by all those who were popular in his day.
This faith that you have received was given to you not because you where the popular one, the good one, the pretty one, the athletic one, the creative one, or even the nice one. You didn’t do anything to earn this faith. This faith that you have was earned by Jesus Christ, by his righteous living, by his work, by his obedience, by him being perfectly good and holy all his life for every single minute, and by his horrible and abusive death for all your sins. And this holy living didn’t make him the popular one; rather, it made him hated and despised by all those who were popular in his day.
The Pharisees were the elite, the upper crust, the popular ones that people didn’t want to offend—these religious leaders were part of an exclusive club. In their minds the Pharisees were the ones God favored above the rest because they were following God’s law (really they were following their own rules that they had added to God’s law). Yet, Jesus lived a life pleasing to his heavenly Father, obeying God’s laws from his heart, and it made him the outcast of those who were the inner circle of Jewish society.
Christ suffered hatred, abuse, and shame so that you might have the gift of being included in God’s family, so that you could be encircled by God’s love and care. You could know the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the faithfulness of your heavenly Father, the love of your elder brother, Jesus. In Christ, you have God as your shepherd, provider, and friend. You have the ear and heart of the King of the universe. God came down from his exalted place in Heaven to be the outcast for you—the Savior that you needed—so that you might be included in his heart.
Belonging to Jesus means being a servant, a bond slave, of Christ.
Perhaps the most shocking thing that Peter says is at the very beginning of his letter. He calls himself (and, in extension, all others who have the same faith) a slave. Our English Bibles often gloss over this word because it is uncomfortable to modern ears and sensibilities. Slavery, however, was a common institution that everyone in Peter’s day understood. And while Scripture does not approve of or encourage slavery, Peter does see how some aspects of slavery relate to belonging to Christ.
Slaves were bought for a price—their actions were under the direction and oversight of their master, their whole life was dependent on their master, and the master’s wish was their command. A slave was under the protection and care of his master, and the master’s instructions were the primary guide for the slave. A slave didn’t care what another master might tell him or her to do or what another master may or may not like. The wish of their own master was their only concern.[1]
Because he is good and holy, Jesus wants those who belong to him to be good and holy.
In a similar way Peter is teaching us that we only need to listen to and be concerned about the commands and wishes of our master Jesus Christ. We were bought with the blood of Christ. We are under Jesus’ care and direction. We are dependent upon him for everything, and he supplies everything we need to find joy and peace amid any trial.
Jesus loves us, to the point that he even died for us. He is not a cruel master but rather a loving one, whose commands are for our good. Because he is good and holy, Jesus wants those who belong to him to be good and holy. His instructions are to steer us into growth and life. Jesus, our master longs for communion and love with those who follow him (2 Pet. 1:4). In fact, Jesus refers to all who belong to him as his friends, brothers, family, wedding guests, chosen saints, and those who will reflect his own character (2 Peter 1:4). Being Jesus’ slave means gaining heavenly riches and earthly peace and grace (2 Peter 1:2-4).
Focus on Jesus first.
Because you belong to Jesus, loving him is your only concern—your motivating factor. Placing your Savior first allows you to then look and see how he would desire you to love and serve others. With Christ first, you are able to go about your daily life, not stressing about your image, because you know you are being remade in the image of your Savior.
You don’t need to worry about being in the inner circle because you know you are loved eternally by God—you are in his heart. You don’t need to worry about pleasing or making yourself better according to worldly standards—you seek to show your thankfulness to God for your salvation by pleasing him. With this mindset, you will be able to set aside the self-centered, approval-seeking motivations and instead experience God’s peace and growth in grace as you focus on your master and Savior Jesus Christ.
[1] For some insightful comments on the use of slavery in 2 Peter and its implications, see William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Revised Edition) (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), 293.
Richard Dawkins once famously said, “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is the belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” He’s also quoted saying, “Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where’s the harm? September 11th changed all that.” Dawkins isn’t the only atheist who believes Christianity can’t be supported by evidence. Sam Harris said, “When considering the truth of a proposition, one is either engaged in an honest appraisal of the evidence and logical arguments, or one isn’t. Religion is one area of our lives where people imagine that some other standard of intellectual integrity applies.” Statements such as these, while they are rhetorically powerful, expose a lack of understanding about the nature of evidence. Dawkins and Harris aren’t professional case makers, and they aren’t familiar with the broad categories of evidence we use in criminal and civil trials every day. Detectives and prosecutors understand anything can be assessed evidentially. There are only two categories of evidence, and Christian Case Makers use both types of evidence when making a case for Christianity:
Category One: Direct Evidence Eyewitness testimony.
Judges help jurors understand the difference between these two forms of evidence. In California, judges provide the following instruction to jurors: “Facts may be proved by direct or circumstantial evidence or by a combination of both. Direct evidence can prove a fact by itself. For example, if a witness testifies he saw it raining outside before he came into the courthouse, that testimony is direct evidence that it was raining. Circumstantial evidence also may be called indirect evidence. Circumstantial evidence does not directly prove the fact to be decided, but is evidence of another fact or group of facts from which you may logically and reasonably conclude the truth of the fact in question. For example, if a witness testifies that he saw someone come inside wearing a raincoat covered with drops of water, that testimony is circumstantial evidence because it may support a conclusion that it was raining outside” (CalCrim Section 223). Starting to understand the difference? The vast majority of cases tired in America are primarily circumstantial. In fact, none of my cold cases have ever benefitted from direct evidence. When you don’t have an eyewitness who can identify your suspect, you have to build the case cumulatively from all the indirect pieces of evidence you do have.
If you’re like other people in America, you probably think of circumstantial evidence in a disparaging way. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “Oh, that’s just a circumstantial case.” Indirect evidence gets a bad rap in the press these days. Maybe that’s why people are confused about its value in criminal trials. Judges instruct juries to be careful not to think of circumstantial evidence negatively. In fact, jurors are told to give circumstantial evidence the exact same weight in their considerations:
“Both direct and circumstantial evidence are acceptable types of evidence to prove or disprove the elements of a charge, including intent and mental state and acts necessary to a conviction, and neither is necessarily more reliable than the other. Neither is entitled to any greater weight than the other. You must decide whether a fact in issue has been proved based on all the evidence.” (CalCrim Section 223)
I personally like circumstantial cases better than direct cases. You know why? Because witnesses sometimes lie. There are times when a witness is improperly motivated. Maybe they want to lie so they can provide some important detail and be on Dateline, or maybe they want to lie to help out a friend who’s been accused. While I can misinterpret indirect evidence, it never intentionally lies to me. For that reason, I often prefer to assemble circumstantial cases than direct cases relying solely on eyewitnesses.
As it turns out, the case for Christianity is built on both direct and indirect evidence. The gospels are eyewitness accounts. They are direct evidence, although we would be wise to offer a caveat. Skeptics sometimes claim we shouldn’t think of the Gospel accounts as direct evidence since we can’t cross-examine the witnesses (writers) like we can witnesses in criminal trials. After all, hearsay rules prevent us from presenting eyewitness claims that can’t be tested through cross-examination. But I’ve already written about why this important rule simply cannot be applied to historical accounts like the Gospels (so I won’t belabor this point here). The more important issue is simply this: are the Gospel accounts reliable? We can actually address this more critical issue by applying the same critical template we apply to other eyewitness accounts. I’ve tried to demonstrate this process in Cold-Case Christianity.
Once last important point needs to be made about the nature of the evidence we use to make criminal cases. Television shows like CSI have falsely given the general public the idea we must have scientific, forensic evidence (like DNA, serological, fingerprint or scientific, material evidence) in order to make a compelling case. Nothing could be further from the truth. In my cold-cases, I have seldom had this kind of evidence (remember there’s a reason why my cases originally went unsolved). More than anything else, my cases are made with the evidence of statements and behaviors. Sometimes the simplest statement or action can be the key to convicting a suspect. Scientific evidence is great when you have it, but I seldom do. I’ve learned to examine everything and overlook nothing.
When Dawkins and Harris say we, as Christians, believe in something for which there is no supporting evidence, they simply betray their ignorance about the nature of evidence and the way in which detectives and prosecutors build cases. Everything has the potential to be used as evidence. Indirect evidence is every bit as powerful as direct evidence, and scientific, forensic evidence is often an unnecessary luxury. There are only two categories of evidence, and Christian Case Makers use both types of evidence when making a case for Christianity.
How can Christians speak the truth of God into a hostile, unbelieving society? Today, Peter Jones turns to Romans 1 to help us address the destructive worldviews around us with the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.
As you share the gospel with your friends, family members, classmates, and business colleagues, you may find that they tolerate much of your worldview until you press the point that Jesus is the one true Savior and the only one who can deliver them from eternal judgment and bring them into right relationship with God. In other words, your spiritual conversations may coast rather smoothly until you land on the exclusivity of Christ.
To speak of the exclusivity of Christ is just a way of saying, along with the apostles, that “There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). It is simply an affirmation of Jesus’ own words when he spoke to his disciples in the upper room just before his execution: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Here are two things you need to know about the exclusivity of Christ.
1. The exclusivity of Christ is narrow, but not in the way you may think it is.
People usually don’t take well to these claims because they believe they are far too narrow. And we would be dishonest if we didn’t agree that these claims are, in fact, narrow. Yet, the exclusivity of Christ is not narrow in the sense that it is offered only to those who meet certain conditions, like an elite members club.
In her article for CNN travel, “10 of the world’s most exclusive members clubs” Michelle Koh Morollo quotes Vincent Lai, a managing director of an elite concierge service: “Those who are invited fulfill certain requirements, they usually have economic capital but most importantly they carry a lot of social clout.” These certainly are exclusive clubs, and they are narrow in the sense that only a few select people in the world qualify for entrance. Invitations, therefore, are only directed to those who meet the initial qualifications.
But this is not what we mean when we say the exclusivity of Christ is narrow. It is not restrictive in its invitation like these private clubs. Indeed, the gospel is antithetical to such a spirit: Jesus’ disciples are to “go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame” (Luke 14:21).
Rather, we would say that the exclusivity of Christ is narrow in location but broad in invitation. There are no restrictions based on a person’s economic status, religious background, relative morality, geographical location, or family circumstances, for all are called to come to Christ (Matt. 11:27-30; John 3:16; Rom. 3:22). There is only one place to find salvation (narrow in location) but all people are invited to come to Christ for salvation (broad in invitation).
2. To speak of the narrowness of salvation in Christ alone is true kindness.
Still, some might object and say that pressing the exclusivity of Christ upon non-Christians is unkind. How can you tell others that their religion or worldview is wrong? That’s just plain mean. Live and let live!
Yet, the exact opposite is true. The exclusivity of Christ is a compassionate and humble doctrine, for it guards people from seeking salvation in a place where it cannot be found. Think of it this way.
Let’s say we find ourselves in the midst of post-nuclear war fallout, and there is one and only one source in the entire world where people can acquire clean, drinkable water. All other sources, though similar to the genuine source in their appearance, are actually poisoned and non-potable. We certainly wouldn’t fault the claim that drinkable water can only be found at this one source; nor would we say that such a claim is unkind or arrogant. Actually, we would be thankful for this knowledge because it would keep us from making a fatal choice of drinking clean-looking but deadly water at a counterfeit location.
To hold up Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation among all other religions and religious leaders is not unkind; it is the most loving thing you can do. The “humble” person who doesn’t have a strong conviction on where to find clean water (even though they may have seen the source several times) is neither loving nor humble. Such a person is hateful and selfish, no matter how soft-spoken and deferential they appear.
So, my brothers and sisters, continue to boldly proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Teach and preach and share with a soft heart and tender love toward others, and remember that love does not preclude clarity on the exclusivity of Christ. Love demands it.
The notion of a Trojan horse originates from a physical battle over three thousand years ago, but it applies to the never-ending spiritual war as well. In fact, Jude makes this point in his letter: “Certain persons have crept in unnoticed . . . ungodly persons who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). Scripture is clear, ungodly people with ungodly teaching smuggle themselves into the church. What is worse, they sometimes creep in because of her undiscerning leaders. That has certainly been the case regarding the influx of Charismatic theology to the church today.
How do we make sense of influential and otherwise respectable theologians who promote the continuation of the gift of prophecy—including some who pursue the use of the gift themselves? Is this merely a theological fine point on which we can agree to disagree? Or is there something more sinister going on—are these continuationist brothers unwittingly assisting the enemy?
In his Strange Fire sermon “An Appeal to Charismatic Friends,” John MacArthur shows the danger that continuationist theologians pose to the larger evangelical church. He explains that when “continuationist scholars give credence to charismatic interpretations, or fail to directly condemn unbiblical charismatic practices, they provide theological cover for a movement that is deadly dangerous.” These men want to accept the locomotive of prophecy, without considering the train of increasingly worse theology and practice that naturally follows it. In that regard, they’ve effectively become satanic Trojan horses, helping to smuggle dangerous doctrines and false teachers into the church.
These leaders need a wake-up call, and that is precisely what John MacArthur seeks to do in his sermon “An Appeal to Charismatic Friends.” In this highly personal and practical address, he provides eight reasons why even a moderate affirmation of Charismatic tenets is dangerous for the people of Christ.
John’s message will help you understand the perils of providing cover for wolves within the Charismatic movement, and help you consider whether your own positions and associations present a danger to your believing brothers and sisters. Could you, too, be an unwitting Trojan horse for heresy? John also reminds you why every sound teacher must protect the flock from these covert attacks.
Watch John MacArthur’s message “An Appeal to Charismatic Friends.”
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.
Our concept of rest is varied and broad. Is it sleep or a long midday nap? Is it stopping work or exercise, taking a break from our normal exertions of life? Or is it ultimate, a resting from all the strivings, turmoil, and cycles of this life?
Rest gives us a chance to think and take to heart things that too often spin around in our minds.
Surely we can all agree that rest is desirable and necessary. Rest is necessary for any living being in this creation because we were not made to do constant work. Our bodies simply cannot go on forever. Rest is also desirable since it gives us a chance to recharge and to enjoy the fruits of our work. Rest gives us a chance to think and take to heart things that too often spin around in our minds like small, unsettling storms. Rest is peaceful. It is, as the prophet Isaiah wrote, “peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” (Isa. 32:18).
The question is, from where does this peacefulness come and is it possible to even get there when there is so much trouble all around us? In the Netflix series Maid, Sharon Van Etten’s “Every Time the Sun Comes Up I’m in Trouble” hauntingly plays in the background as the main character Alex faces yet again another setback, another obstacle, another challenge, another tragedy. Every day brings trouble and there seems to be no rest. No doubt we can all identify with Alex, not necessarily to the same extent, but it is a rare person who has not had days of turmoil—days when we cry out for respite and a break from our troubles.
Only God can give us true rest that is everlasting, safe, and secure.
Isaiah gives us hope. The pouring out of God’s spirit will bring the restful peace we all long for (Isa. 32:15) as a result of righteousness (Isa. 32:17). And its effect? Calm and confidence, peaceful homes and places of rest (Isa. 32:17-18). The righteousness will come by means of the only perfectly righteous person to walk the earth, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Messiah who suffered and died on behalf of God’s people, completing his work on earth.
Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven leads to the pouring out of his Spirit to all who are united to Christ Jesus by faith. This pouring out brings rest—rest from our own weak and failing works as we try to save ourselves. It brings rest from the enmity and division between God and humanity and between one another, reconciling us to God and to each other with the love of God given so that we may love others. This is true rest. It is an everlasting rest that is safe and secure and untroubled as we look forward to our peaceful heavenly home, securely dwelling in righteousness with God forever.
This article is adapted from “The Source of True Rest” in BCL’s March 2022 monthly newsletter “Rest.”
“Socialists and communists can’t afford competition, so they destroy it. People of faith, on the other hand, worship a higher being, not the government. They look for hope, strength, and inspiration not only beyond political systems but to another world beyond the one here on Earth.”
Truth2Freedom's Blog 