From the White House to the Lebanese border and beyond, U.S. and Israeli leaders are deciding how to deal with Iran and its proxies in the Middle East. One possible – some would say probable – scenario is the prospect of a wider war on multiple fronts.
Source: Amid Hostage Negotiations, US & Israelis Prepare for Wider Conflict with Iran Proxies
In the real world, there are roughly as many Republicans as Democrats. In America’s newsrooms, however, it’s an ideological black hole.
A study by Syracuse University’s journalism school found that just 3.4% of American journalists identify as Republicans. This isn’t just an imbalance; it’s a comedic farce of epic proportions. But nobody’s laughing.
For conservatives, the only answer is conservative media. Only the market will correct this.
The number is an all-time low for conservative journalists. Ten years ago, a whopping 7% of all journalists identified as Republicans. In the ’70s, about a quarter of journalists identified as Republican. Democrats, on the other hand, were just over 36% of journalists in the most recent study, a ratio of nearly 11 to 1.
It is not a terrible thing that most journalists consider themselves “independents,” although that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unbiased. But the number of Democrats still far outstrips the minuscule number of conservatives in any “mainstream” corporate newsroom.
Finding a conservative in a typical newsroom is starting to feel like a Where’s Waldo puzzle where Waldo has decided to stay home. Why? I can think of a few reasons.
Many of them really do mean well. As college students, they want to make a difference in this world. They want to highlight problems or people they fear have been overlooked. They want to give voice to those they assume are voiceless. Almost by definition, they seek change.
I was talking about this idea with my former boss, John Moody, the founding head of news at Fox News Channel. His litmus test for new journalists was as simple as it was revealing.
“I’d ask him or her, ‘Why do you want to get into news?’ If they replied, ‘I want to help change the world’ or ‘to make the world a better place,’ I pointed out my office window and said, ‘The Red Cross is right down the road there.’”
“If they responded, ‘What do you mean?’ I’d say, ‘The job of a reporter is to tell the world what they have seen with their own eyes or been told by a reliable source or, preferably, two. It’s not to tell them what you wish or what you think.”
“A lot of those people walked out, dejected. They probably ended up at CNN.”
New York City is the center of network news. To be fair, it’s the biggest city and the biggest TV market in the country. But it rankled plenty of Fox News employees in the Los Angeles bureau when they realized the sun rose and set in New York (and that they, therefore, had to operate on an East Coast work schedule!).
New York City is also populated with a lot more liberals. Democrats hold the majority of public offices in the city. And 68% of registered voters in the city are Democrats. So it stands to reason that New York City newsrooms are more Democratic as well.
Even when you look at local news, you can see how geography might attract more left-thinking people. Bigger cities, in general, tend to lean more blue than red. And bigger cities, in general, are the ones that can support local news stations and papers. When you think of the biggest newspapers in the country, they’re all local papers in big cities.
Among smaller markets, you’ll also find plenty of young journalists who may not be from the area but are working their way up to bigger stations.
Odds are many news managers are hiring people who think similarly to them. If you’re not making a concerted effort to hire people who think differently, you’ll naturally gravitate toward people whom you believe to be sensible. And there’s a good chance you believe them to be sensible because they think kind of like you.
And once you’ve established even a small majority in one direction, those who don’t agree are going to have a tough time speaking up. Another former news executive friend made it clear: “Why would a smart, ambitious conservative join a club where they weren’t welcome and likely face career, if not outright legal, discrimination?”
At this point, we’re too far gone to turn this train around.
For conservatives, the only answer is conservative media. Only the market will correct this.
And nearly every time we turn around, we see the legacy outlets shrinking. The Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News, NPR, Vice, Vox, and BuzzFeed, among others, have shed hundreds of journalists over the past year.
By contrast, conservative outlets are still on an upswing, serving the half of the country derided by the others.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is supposed to be an independent agency looking out for the health of the American people.
So why hasn’t it protested the endless stream of illegals pouring across the northern and southern borders, all of whom are allowed to enter without being checked for disease or illness? Are these bureaucrats more interested in protecting their jobs and going along with the political agenda of Joe Biden instead of protecting public health?
Eight million people, not counting gotaways, have shown up at the southern border during Biden’s first three years, and the CDC doesn’t require a vaccine passport, or as it appears, check them for anything, despite the fact that these people come from the most unhygienic corners of the world; they’re simply released throughout the U.S.
So why haven’t the concerned scientists at the CDC protested?
Here they warn about measles, saying they have tracked seven cases that have been “brought into the country” yet they don’t tell us from where, or how:
CDC issues alert that measles cases are up, urging health providers to watch for disease
Officials have tracked seven cases of measles being brought into the country and two U.S. outbreaks with more than five cases each, the CDC said.
Why didn’t the USA Today author ask where they came from, and why didn’t he say a word about the open borders? The answer is the media doesn’t care.
During COVID, draconian restrictions were imposed upon U.S citizens, but not on the people coming in illegally; why? The answer is obvious. It wasn’t about keeping viruses from spreading, it was about medical tyranny.
Anthony Fauci, the CDC, and other government officials/apparatuses went to great lengths to prevent investigations into whether COVID did in fact come from a lab or not. The media did its part to block an investigation by regurgitating the false talking point that the “lab leak theory” was a disproven conspiracy. How many people died as a result, because investigations were hampered to prop up an agenda and narrative?
Instead of caring about children and science, the CDC catered to big political donors of Democrats to keep the schools closed, which caused massive permanent damage to children—especially children who were already behind. From a congressional investigation:
Investigation Reveals Biden’s CDC Bypassed Scientific Norms to Allow Teachers Union to Re-Write Official Guidance
Today, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Republicans released an interim report revealing Dr. Rochelle Walensky bypassed customary scientific processes at the U.S. Centers and Disease Control (CDC) to allow the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a political union and donor to the Biden campaign, to re-write key portions of the Biden Administration’s school reopening guidance. The AFT’s edits ultimately led to thousands of schools across the country to remain shuttered throughout the 2020-2021 school year.
It is no wonder people don’t trust the CDC. They are as political as the Justice Department, and clearly care more about politics than our health.
Why haven’t people been fired for their absolute malfeasance?
The media is outraged that Trump is claiming immunity. Would the media support the prosecution of Biden for refusing to enforce border laws which have caused so many deaths? What about prosecuting Obama for dictatorially stopping the supposedly independent justice department from prosecuting drug running terrorists to appease Iran? How many deaths from terrorism and drugs did that action cause?
Image: Public domain.
Source:
Mike Huckabee and Victor Davis Hanson discuss how the U.S. should be responding to Iranian aggression on ‘Hannity.’
Investors in the stock market face decades of disappointment, and a recession threatens to strike this year and extend into 2025, a legendary market forecaster warned.
The S&P 500 has gained an average of 12.3% a year including dividends since bottoming in July 1982, but it’s likely to post lower returns going forward, Gary Shilling wrote in his Insight newsletter for February.
Merrill Lynch’s first chief economist, who launched his own consultancy and advisory firm in 1978, is known for correctly calling several major market shifts over the past 50 years.
In his latest outlook, Shilling predicted stocks would be held back by slower real economic growth, reflecting modest labor-force and productivity gains and an ageing population that saves more and spends less. The president of A. Gary Shilling & Company also suggested that slower inflation would weigh on nominal increases in stock prices.
Moreover, Shilling underscored that equities are aggressively valued relative to corporate profits, with the S&P 500’s price-to-earnings ratio for the last 12 months at 24.8 — well above the long-term average of 17.3. He also called out recklessness and silliness in markets, and predicted that would dissipate over time.
“A key reason that stock prices are elevated and likely to be subdued in future years is the demise of widespread speculation,” he said. “Despite the collapse of FTX and accusations of fraud by its founder and head, Sam Bankman-Fried, many continue to rush into securities with little or no substance.”
Shilling accused bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies of distracting investors and sapping productivity. He said the post-pandemic drop in the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s “fear index,” signaled “investor complacency and a switch from fear to greed, as do elevated stock prices.”
He also flagged the declining ratio of bearish put options to bullish call options, analysts’ lofty earnings forecasts, and the intense concentration of investor cash in the “Magnificent Seven” stocks as evidence of excessive optimism and trouble ahead.
On the economic front, Shilling made the case that labor hoarding has delayed pay cuts and layoffs, as employers are loath to let go of workers after struggling to hire in recent years: “As a result, the overall economic softness — or, more likely, a recession — may well stretch into next year.”
It’s worth noting that Shilling warned several times in recent months that the S&P 500 could crash by 30% or more, and a recession was nigh if not already underway. However, the benchmark stock index has surged to record highs, and the US economy grew by a solid 3.3% in the fourth quarter.
Are you worried that we are moving closer to World War III?
If you’re not, should you be?
President Joe Biden said yesterday that he has decided how to respond to Sunday’s attack on a military base in Jordan that killed three US troops and injured dozens of others, though he did not offer details. When asked if he holds Iran responsible, he said he does “in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it.”
In reply, Iran threatened this morning to “decisively respond” to any US attack.
Here’s one reason, overlooked by many, why Iran’s role in this escalating conflict should concern us: they are now part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an alliance led by Russia and China. This partnership will enable Iran to engage in commerce and trade arms more freely with both nations.
And, as the Center for Iranian Studies notes, Iran’s military strategy now “aligns with the strategic inclinations of the Beijing-Moscow alliance.”
Iran is already at war with Israel, our closest ally in the region, through its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, the West Bank, and Yemen. CIA Director William J. Burns noted in Foreign Affairs yesterday: “The Iranian regime has been emboldened by the crisis and seems ready to fight to its last regional proxy, all while expanding its nuclear program and enabling Russian aggression.”
If we find ourselves in direct military conflict with Iran, how will its allies in Moscow and Beijing respond?
Vladimir Putin is massively boosting military spending this year and ramping up production of hardware from drones to aircraft. If resources for Ukraine are diverted to the Middle East, will this embolden him further?
In response to Russia’s aggression, NATO is presently conducting its largest military exercise in decades. The chairman of its Military Committee recently told reporters, “We are preparing for a conflict with Russia.”
If such a conflict comes, the US is bound by our NATO alignment to join the war.
Meanwhile, Iran’s other strategic partner, China, is intensifying military pressure on Taiwan. This as a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies concluded that the threshold for US military intervention in Taiwan likely isn’t an invasion from China but a lesser action such as Beijing restricting the island’s trade.
Iran, Russia, and China share one other commonality: they are all declining economically and demographically. British journalist Sherelle Jacobs notes: “What previous world wars teach us is that it is not confident and successful countries that start wars, but corroded and schizophrenic ones that both suffer from grandiose delusions and mortal dread of the future.”
After applying her thesis to all three countries, she warns: “World War III is approaching fast.”
My purpose today is not to predict the future. Nor is it to frighten you. Rather, it is to reinforce Charles Spurgeon’s simple observation: “Without Christ there is no hope.”
Humans have been entirely at peace for just 8 percent of our history. As many as a billion people have been killed in war.
But here’s the good news: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). As St. Irenaeus (c. 120–c. 203) explained in Against the Heresies:
The Word of God became man, the Son of God became the Son of Man, in order to unite man with himself and make him, by adoption, a son of God. Only by being united to one who is himself immune could we be preserved from corruption and death, and how else could this union have been achieved if he had not first become what we are? How else could what is corruptible and mortal in us have been swallowed up in his incorruptibility and immortality, to enable us to receive adoptive sonship?
In other words, God became one of us so we could become one with him.
John MacArthur is right:
“The only hope for this or any other society is to hear the word of the Lord and obey.”
Such hope is very real: every person who obeys the word of God is transformed by the Spirit of God (2 Corinthians 5:17) and manifests “peace” as the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22). Such people “pursue what makes for peace” (Romans 14:19) and “strive for peace with everyone” (Hebrews 12:14). As a result, “a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18).
How can we know and share such peace?
The British missionary J. R. Peacey wrote:
Let in the light; all sin expose
To Christ, whose life no darkness knows.
Before the cross expectant kneel;
That Christ may judge, and judging heal.Awake, and rise up from the dead,
And Christ his light on you will shed.
Its power will wrong desires destroy,
And your whole nature fill with joy.
Have you knelt before the cross yet today?
“Our world today so desperately hungers for hope, yet uncounted people have almost given up. There is despair and hopelessness on every hand. Let us be faithful in proclaiming the hope that is in Jesus.” —Billy Graham
The post “World War III is approaching fast”: The only path to transforming peace appeared first on Denison Forum.
CBN’s Chuck Holton is reporting live from Eagle Pass, Texas as the migrant crisis continues to surge. A trucker convoy has been organized and is heading to Texas – Chuck has the latest on that situation and more. CBN News. Because Truth Matters™
The COVID-19 pandemic eroded Americans’ trust in experts and elected leaders, The New York Times reported.
Source: Rasmussen Poll: COVID Erodes Trust in Experts, Leaders
The Transportation Security Administration is moving forward with plans to implement facial recognition technology at U.S. airports and is working with the Department of Homeland Security’s research and development component to analyze data to ensure that the new units are working correctly, agency officials told Nextgov/FCW.
A TSA official said the agency “is currently in the beginning stages of integrating automated facial recognition capability as an enhancement to the Credential Authentication Technology devices that had been deployed several years ago.”
The latest CAT scanners — known as CAT-2 units — incorporate facial recognition technology by taking real-time pictures of travelers and then comparing those images against their photo IDs. TSA first demonstrated the CAT-2 units in 2020 and began deploying the new screeners at airports in 2022. A Jan. 12 press release from the agency said it added “457 CAT-2 upgrade kits utilizing the facial recognition technology” in 2023.
“The CAT-2 units are currently deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide, and will expand to more than 400 federalized airports over the coming years,” the TSA official said, noting that it is currently optional for travelers to participate in facial recognition screenings. Those that decline to do so can notify a TSA agent and go through the standard ID verification process instead.
The official added that the agency has “visible signs at all airports that have CAT devices with automated facial recognition technology” and has “updated all CAT device screens with clear language that notifies travelers they may decline having their photo taken.”
“Limited testing” to ensure accuracy
The agency’s CAT-2 units employ so-called one-to-one verification, where photos are generally compared against a government-issued identification, such as a driver’s license or passport, and then deleted from the scanner. This is often considered less privacy-invasive than so-called one-to-many matching, where a photo is compared against a larger database compiled of known individuals’ images to determine if there is a match.
Today’s NEWSMAX 20-min top headline news brief includes:
[3:00] -Iran threatens to “decisively respond” to any U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic. Former deputy national security advisor KT McFarland: The world is now on fire and President Biden is M.I.A. [Newsline]
[9:18] -Republican led House committee advances articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. [Newsmax Breaking]
[11:55] -SC Congresswoman Nancy Mace: Biden reversed all of Trump’s border policy. [Carl Higbie Frontline]
[14:34] -Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert: We will not stop until Biden is held accountable. [Eric Bolling The Balance]
Source: The NEWSMAX Daily (01/31/24) | Battle for the Border on Capitol Hill
E. Jean Carroll’s second defamation lawsuit closed on Friday as a New York jury determined that former President Donald Trump owes her $83.3 million for defaming her in 2019. However, what has continually fallen under the radar is the fact that there are serious concerns with the woman’s entire story. Yet, she was awarded tens of millions of dollars.
Carroll originally came out with her story in 2019, detailing the alleged incident, claiming that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s: “Carroll said Trump followed her to a fitting room at the store, shoved her against a wall, pulled down her tights and, ‘forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.'”
Trump has vehemently denied the allegation over the years, prompting these defamation suits by Carroll.
“It’s just as bad for people to believe it, particularly when there is zero evidence,” Trump said in 2019 when the allegations first arose. “Worse still for a dying publication to try to prop itself up by peddling fake news — it’s an epidemic.”
February is often a ‘digestion month’ for stocks after January gains, history shows. The effect is even more pronounced in presidential election years.
Source: The Dow Jones tends to fall in February. In election years, it’s even worse.
Wheaton College is often called the “Harvard of Christian Schools” due to its academic rigor being relatively comparable to the Ivy League titan. Its graduates of note range from Billy Graham to Dan Coates, former Director of National Intelligence and U.S. senator.
But recently, the school in the leafy suburb west of Chicago has begun to mimic Harvard’s wokeness. Banning biblical words, teaching critical race theory, and psychologizing gender identity issues may not seem extreme in modern academia. But for a school which houses the works of Rev. Graham, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, it is adrift from its orthodox, Christian moorings. But this isn’t a recent drift.
In the 2000s, the education department commended the teachings of Marxists. In 2016, 78 faculty members voiced support for a fellow professor who stated Christians and Muslims worship the same God. And five years later, the school held its first ceremony recognizing graduating minority students sans White students. And currently, Wheaton permits its professors to teach critical race theory.
Marxism, religious syncretism and segregation are incompatible with Christian teaching.
THESE 3 WOMEN LEADERS ARE SHOWING US HOW TO TAKE ON WOKE UNIVERSITIES
But its most blatant offense against Christianity is banning certain biblical words that are key to the faith’s foundation. In this year’s curriculum for freshman, students are informed about opportunities to meet the needs of those less fortunate. This is commonly known as the act of service.
Wheaton, however, instructs the students not to use the word, “service.” Instead, they are to use “sacrificial co-laboring.” The reason given is service “may invoke power dynamics across socio-economic, racial, and cultural lines.”
Why would Wheaton sideline a word (or its derivatives) used throughout the Bible and by Jesus himself? For those in the Christian faith and outside of it, the existence of an unbalanced power dynamic is the very reason for service. Furthermore, the crux of Jesus’ ministry on earth was serving. And his service erased the superficial lines dividing people and united them around himself.
THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE INSANITY ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES IS OLDER THAN YOU MAY THINK
Another word found in numerous Bible translations is also out: mankind. Seeing this word is prohibited, it’s not surprising the very definition of man and woman is on shaky ground.
According to biblical anthropology, a person’s sex is known by what is seen, not by what one feels. An endowed chair in Wheaton’s psychology program believes this is the ideal way for humans to exist: men identifying as men and women as women.
But, he says, in an imperfect world riddled with weakness, this may not always be the case. Hence, going against one’s God-given sex “is not a moral choice.” It is a result of weakness. Therefore, he tries to “help [people] manage [their] gender dysphoria (dissatisfaction).”
The historic Christian faith has always upheld the goodness of the created order and any action against it is a violation against God. The purpose of God’s teachings is to sustain and promote the flourishing of all life. And acting against them brings harmful disruption into one’s life. When these actions are permitted or celebrated, everyone suffers.
I’M A COLLEGE PROFESSOR CHEERING ON THIS GREAT AMERICAN PUSHBACK AGAINST WOKE EDUCATION
From the horror in public schools to the disenfranchisement in women’s sports to irreparable damage to people’s bodies, it is evident there is nothing to laud as beautiful or exemplary regarding transgenderism’s impact. Categorizing this reality as a non-moral choice or a situation to manage is less than wise, not to mention unbiblical.
Also, if one considers transgenderism’s roots, the harms of the movement become clearer. The transgender movement is powered by queer theory, which descends from postmodernism. In short, postmodernism is about making historical pillars of society (truth, beauty and goodness) subjective.
Consequently, truth is now personal, “my truth.” Beauty is defined by the beholder, not by standards. And goodness is whatever is socially acceptable.
Queer theory is the application of postmodernism to sex, gender and sexuality. And its main goal is to liberate these three from their historic, religious foundations.
Regarding gender specifically, there is no truth about what is a man or a woman. A person mutilating his or her own healthy body is labeled beautiful. And it is considered good that gender no longer dictates who can participate in men’s and women’s sports.
This is where the transgender movement comes from. Might this be where Wheaton College or its psychology professor is headed, teaching aspects of queer theory? It is uncertain, but not implausible. It is certain the college is permitting the professor to advance his views about identity that have roots in an anti-God philosophy. And it is also supporting an on-campus gender identity institute led by the professor, which students have access to.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
In light of these shifts away from the Bible, would Billy Graham, the most influential 20th-century evangelical, endorse his alma mater?
In the 19th century, Harvard was slowly, and permanently, transformed from a Christian university into a secular one. Belief in a trinitarian God was eventually toppled by in vogue philosophies. At Wheaton, the biblical belief in only two sexes is being tainted. With this and the other shifts mentioned, it may seem like a slow drift. But a gentle tide can carry a boat far from its dock.
Everyone lives under the influence and control of something or someone. The two biggest influencers of human beings are man’s sinful nature and God. You were born into this world with a sinful nature, (see Psalm 51:5) and it clearly began to manifest itself early in your life.
Do you have any idea how often your sinful nature has controlled various aspects of your life? For that matter, how would you even realize if you were living under the control of your sinful nature?
Here are seven signs that your sinful nature controls you.
1. You spend much of your time thinking about how to gratify your sinful desires
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires” (Romans 8:5).
2. You find yourself unable to obey the Lord and submit to His commands, and you even harbor some hidden anger at God
“The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s Law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).
3. You constantly choose to pursue sin rather than to follow Christ as Lord and Savior
“If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).
“The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8).
4. You claim to love God, but rather than loving people, you have a simmering hatred for others
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20).
5. Rather than relying upon Christ’s death on the cross for salvation, you are trying to earn your way into Heaven by your deeds
“All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse” (Galatians 3:10).
“A man is not justified by observing the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16).
6. The Bible assigns sinful labels to your life due to your persistent and deliberate sins against God, and your lack of repentance
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
The Bible never uses such labels to describe believers, even when those believers still struggle with one or more of these sins. Scripture only uses sinful labels for those who continually pursue sin and do not repent of their wicked behavior.
7. You live for self rather than for Christ
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
The world teaches man how to build up self. Christ teaches His followers how to “die to self” and live for Christ (see Romans 6:11-14; Galatians 5:24; Ephesians 4:22-24). Christian discipleship involves a unique approach to life, and one that you only experience after being converted by God’s grace through faith in Christ. Believers in Jesus are saved, redeemed, born again, justified and forgiven (see John 3:1-8; Romans 5:1,9; Galatians 2:16; 3:10-11).
God’s Word instructs Christians: “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under Law, but under grace” (Romans 6:11-14).
As you examine your life today, are you controlled by your sinful nature, or by the Holy Spirit? God’s Word declares that you “are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:9-10).
If you are born again, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And Christ lives in you through your faith in the Savior. In addition, “You have been set free from sin and have become a slave to righteousness” (Romans 6:18).
Are you trusting in your own efforts for salvation, or in Christ alone and His sacrifice on the cross? “Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourself. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Are you sure that Heaven is your home? Are you relying upon the Gospel for salvation rather than the Law? If you are currently controlled by your sinful nature, God calls you to “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15).
You will always be controlled by either your sinful nature, or by the Holy Spirit. The choice is yours.
Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.
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TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Exodus 13:17-15:18
Matthew 21:23-46
Psalm 26:1-12
Proverbs 6:16-19
Exodus 13:19 — Joseph’s 400-year-old bones. Remember reading a few days ago about the promise that Joseph forced his family to make (Genesis 50:25-26)?
Exodus 14:12 — Many people would rather live serving the devil than risk death to serve the Lord.
Exodus 14:21 — Where did the Red Sea crossing occur? There are 5 major routes for the Exodus in one study Bible (and that isn’t even an exhaustive map) and many interesting arguments for many different sites and routes.
Many secularists attack the very idea of a Red Sea Crossing, and others attack the timing of the Exodus (but thankfully conservatives defend a biblical date for the Exodus occurring in 1446 BC). Why is there so much confusion about the Exodus? The best explanation is that we’ve done very little research. Despite all of the Bible colleges in the world, there is not even one “Professor of Exodus Studies.” However, there is some great promising work. Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) is a great source; take time to read their articles on Amenhotep II and the Historicity of the Exodus Pharaoh, Recent Research on the Date and Setting of the Exodus, etc.
Exodus 15:1 — Have you praised the Lord when He has delivered you?
Matthew 21:31 — Sadly today, publicans and harlots will go into the kingdom of God before many pastors and deacons. Being religious is not enough. Following Jesus is enough.
Psalm 26:1 — The Psalmist is asking God to defend him because he walked in integrity. If your prayers aren’t being answered, check this Psalm to see if you meet the conditions of integrity. Additionally, Grace To You has collected 15 reasons for unanswered prayer.
Proverbs 6:16-19 — The Seven Deadly Sins – add these to your list of things that God hates. Check through them from time to time to see if you are living a life that God will bless, or one that He will chastise.
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
Scripture speaks clearly on the issue of homosexuality: It is sin, in both desire and act.
That should be enough for all Christians. But the Bible also illustrates the devastating effects of homosexuality.
The most stunning image of homosexuality’s destructive capacity is found in Genesis 19. Two angels came to visit Abraham’s nephew Lot in the city of Sodom, which was overrun by sin and sexual perversion.
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house. (vv. 1–3)
Lot undoubtedly knew what kind of gross corruption dominated his city, and the evil intentions its citizens would have for his magnificent, angelic visitors. Clearly, he was eager to protect his guests—the likes of which his neighbors had never seen. However, they had already drawn the attention of the men of Sodom.
Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” (vv. 4–5)
There’s no bashfulness in their illicit demand—they have no shame about their objective, and they make no attempt to disguise their evil intentions. Sexual perversion so dominated the city that a mob of would-be rapists had openly gathered at Lot’s front door, demanding access to Lot’s visitors.
Foolishly, Lot tried to reason with the lustful mob.
But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.” (vv. 6–8)
Lot’s offer of his two daughters illustrates the corrosive influence of such pervasive corruption. He knew the moment these two visitors arrived that they would be targeted throughout the city. He was actually willing to sacrifice his own daughters to the mob to protect these angels from being molested. Sexual sin was so commonplace in that city that he considered his own daughters’ virginity as a potential bargaining chip.
But his offer did not interest the mob. Their lust was fixated on the two angels. “But they said, ‘Stand aside.’ Furthermore, they said, ‘This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.’ So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door” (v. 9). They readily resorted to force—and potentially murder—just to satisfy their illicit craving.
Crushing against the door, the mob’s appetite would not be quelled. Lot’s attempt to spare the angels had failed—now it was up to them to save him from the inhabitants of Sodom. “But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway” (vv. 10–11).
These men were so consumed with lust that even being miraculously struck blind did not dissuade them from their wicked pursuit. Some liberal theologians have tried to argue that the great sin of Sodom wasn’t sexual at all—that it was instead a lack of hospitality. Jude 7 dismisses such nonsense: “Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
Sodom isn’t just an example of God’s decisive judgment against rebellious sinners. It’s a vivid illustration of the destructive danger of deviant sexual desires. The lust of those men was completely out of control. It drove them to nearly kill Lot and break down his door. It drove them to fumble around despite sudden blindness, still chasing sinful satisfaction. Such is the consuming corruption of unchecked lust.
“Gay” is a preposterous term for describing those who have given themselves over to homosexual sin. They’re anything but gay. It’s a lifestyle of hopelessness and loneliness, expended in a perpetual, fruitless effort to bury their massive guilt under a campaign of self-justification. It’s one endless attempt to silence the cries of conscience in pursuit of evil pleasures that cannot satisfy.
Gay is a complete misnomer. Homosexual is the clinical descriptor. But the biblical term is sodomite, and it identifies the sin for what it truly is: ruinous passion and lust that is utterly out of control.
Romans 1 tells us exactly what this looks like. When people reject God and suppress the truth of His existence, He gives them up to homosexuality (Romans 1:24–27), then He gives them up to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). A reprobate mind means you don’t even function. People go from a sexual revolution, to homosexuality, and finally to insanity.
How much more insane can you be than completely ignoring the difference between male and female? That’s exactly what the transgender movement does. But even homosexuality perverts God’s design of male and female and proves that homosexuals have denied reality itself. This is why Romans 1:26 describes homosexuals as people who have “degrading passions” and “exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.” Homosexuality is degrading and literally against nature itself.
Put simply, homosexuality is a self-destructive sin.
As Romans 1 continues, Paul explains that reality in even greater detail as it pertains to both individuals and broader society. That’s what we’ll look at next time.
Eric Chabot of Ratio Christi Ohio State University has a great post up about the post-mortem appearances of Jesus.
The post contains:
Although there is a lot of research that went into the post, it’s not very long to read. The majority of scholars accept the appearances, because they appear in so many different sources and because some of those sources are very early, especially Paul’s statement of the early Christian creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, which is from about 1-3 years after Jesus was executed by the Romans. Eric’s post lists out some of the skeptical scholars who the appearances, and you can see how they allude to the historical criteria that they are using. (If you want to sort of double-check the details, I blogged about how historians investigate ancient sources before)
Let’s take a look at some of the names you might recognize:
E.P. Sanders:
That Jesus’ followers (and later Paul) had resurrection experiences is, in my judgment, a fact. What the reality was that gave rise to the experiences I do not know. “I do not regard deliberate fraud as a worthwhile explanation. Many of the people in these lists were to spend the rest of their lives proclaiming that they had seen the risen Lord, and several of them would die for their cause. Moreover, a calculated deception should have produced great unanimity. Instead, there seem to have been competitors: ‘I saw him first!’ ‘No! I did.’ Paul’s tradition that 500 people saw Jesus at the same time has led some people to suggest that Jesus’ followers suffered mass hysteria. But mass hysteria does not explain the other traditions.” “Finally we know that after his death his followers experienced what they described as the ‘resurrection’: the appearance of a living but transformed person who had actually died. They believed this, they lived it, and they died for it.”[1]
Bart Ehrman:
It is a historical fact that some of Jesus’ followers came to believe that he had been raised from the dead soon after his execution. We know some of these believers by name; one of them, the apostle Paul, claims quite plainly to have seen Jesus alive after his death. Thus, for the historian, Christianity begins after the death of Jesus, not with the resurrection itself, but with the belief in the resurrection.[2]
Ehrman also says:
We can say with complete certainty that some of his disciples at some later time insisted that . . . he soon appeared to them, convincing them that he had been raised from the dead.[3]
Ehrman also goes onto say:
Historians, of course, have no difficulty whatsoever speaking about the belief in Jesus’ resurrection, since this is a matter of public record.[4]
Why, then, did some of the disciples claim to see Jesus alive after his crucifixion? I don’t doubt at all that some disciples claimed this. We don’t have any of their written testimony, but Paul, writing about twenty-five years later, indicates that this is what they claimed, and I don’t think he is making it up. And he knew are least a couple of them, whom he met just three years after the event (Galatians 1:18-19).[5]
Marcus Borg
The historical ground of Easter is very simple: the followers of Jesus, both then and now, continued to experience Jesus as a living reality after his death. In the early Christian community, these experiences included visions or apparitions of Jesus. [8]
The references to Paul are because of the early creed he records in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, and his conversations with the other eyewitnesses in Galatians. Eric has another post where he goes over that early creed, and it is something that every Christian should know about. It’s really kind of surprising that you never hear a sermon on that early creed in church, where they generally sort of assume that you believe everything in the Bible on faith. But skeptical historians don’t believe in the post-mortem appearances by faith – they believe it (in part) because of 1 Corinthians 15:3-7.
If you want to see a Christian scholar make the case for the resurrection appearances in a debate, then here is a post I wrote with the video, audio and summary of the William Lane Craig vs James Crossley debate on the resurrection.
This message is from Dr. Lawson’s 24-part teaching series Foundations of Grace: New Testament. Learn more: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/foundations-grace-nt
Source: Acts and the Apostle Peter: Foundations of Grace – New Testament with Steven Lawson
No prophetic event is more controversial among Christians than the Rapture of the church. Will the Rapture really happen? If so, when? Dr. Robert Jeffress clearly outlines what the Bible says about the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ: two distinct end times events with two very different purposes.
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