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
“And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” –Genesis 11:4
O the pride of the human race! What wicked pride we easily discover camped out in our own hearts! Included in the Bible are many examples of God using discipline in a way of grace. Here inGenesis 11, ‘the whole earth’ decided to ‘make a name for’ themselves.Note that well – “they”, humans, were convinced that they could do what it would take to make a name for themselves. Satan’s lie (Genesis 3:5) has come to flower in plans to build a tower. God will respond with discipline.
Does the Lord God allow humans to build to heaven? By no means. Just like He will confuse the efforts and doctrines of every false, works-based religion He confuses man’s language here. God takes away the most basic, required tool of the building project – the ability to communicate. Humanity is divided and cast far and wide across the globe. God’s discipline kept humans from doing the great harm their pride would have earned.
Jump ahead with me toActs 2. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit as He promised (John 16:7), and the work He began in Jerusalem was again gathering together the nations as one. They all heard the same ‘wonders of God’ (Acts 2:11) as if no confusion existed. What grace God worked. Today, humans everywhere can hear the good news proclaimed. Our God is perfectly wise.
Suggestions for prayer
Ask God to make you confident about His wise use of the grace of discipline.
Rev. Harold Miller graduated from Mid-America Reformed Seminary in 2001 and has served churches in Wellsburg, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri before arriving at Oak Lawn, Illinois in 2020. Get this devotional delivered directly to your phone each dayvia our RP App. It is also available in print, for purchase, at NTGDevotional.com.
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; (16:13a)
The agent of Christ’s further revelation to the disciples would be the Spirit of truth. In addition to activating Christ’ promises in the disciples, convicting the world of sin, and comforting Jesus’ followers, the Spirit would also guide the disciples into all the truth. That promise, like the one in 14:26, refers to the Spirit’s supernatural revelation concerning Christ’s person and teaching. It serves as the Lord’s preauthentication of the New Testament writers; the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Old Testament (see the discussion above), would also inspire the New. In 1 Corinthians 2:9–10 Paul wrote of the Spirit’s inspiration of the New Testament writers,
Just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
Only the Holy Spirit, since He is God, knows all that God knows, and thus is qualified to reveal divine truth to man.
Because it is impossible for the Spirit of truth to inspire error, the Bible is inerrant (cf. John 17:17). To argue otherwise is an affront to the holy nature of the God who inspired it. Inspiration includes all of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16), and extends to the very words used by the writers (1 Cor. 2:13; cf. 2 Sam. 23:2). Thus, as R. C. Sproul illustrates, it is absurd to claim to believe in the Bible’s inspiration while denying its inerrancy:
On numerous occasions I have queried several Biblical and theological scholars in the following manner.—“Do you maintain the inerrancy of Scripture?”—“No”—“Do you believe the Bible to be inspired of God?”—“Yes”—“Do you think God inspires error?”—“No”—“Is all of the Bible inspired by God?”—“Yes”—“Is the Bible errant?”—“No!”—“Is it inerrant?”—“No!”—At that point I usually acquire an Excedrin headache. (“The Case for Inerrancy: A Methodological Analysis,” in John Warwick Montgomery, ed. God’s Inerrant Word [Minneapolis: Bethany, 1974], 257)
The Bible’s inspiration also excludes all extrabiblical writings; the sixty-six books of the Bible alone comprise God’s complete and final revelation to man. The Bible concludes with a solemn warning against tampering with or adding to Scripture:
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. (Rev. 22:18–19; cf. Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:5–6)
Because Revelation describes the entire sweep of history from the end of the apostolic age to the eternal state, to add to it would be to add to Scripture:
The predictive portions project from John’s lifetime all the way into the eternal state. Any type of prophetic utterance would intrude into the domain of this coverage and constitute either an addition to or subtraction from Revelation’s content. So the final book of the Bible is also the concluding product of NT prophecy. It also marks the close of the NT canon since the prophetic gift was the divinely chosen means for communicating the inspired books of the canon. (Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8–22: An Exegetical Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1995], 517)
Scripture was given “so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17); hence there is no need for any further revelation to supplant or supplement it.
The Lord’s promise that the Spirit will guide believers into all the truth has primary reference to the writers of the New Testament. But it also extends in a secondary sense to the Holy Spirit’s work of illumination (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10–16). He instructs and teaches believers from the inspired Scriptures, as John notes:
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.… As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (1 John 2:20, 27)
That does not, of course, eliminate the need for the diligent study that is a prerequisite for “accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), especially since there are things “hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort” (2 Peter 3:16). But studying the Bible apart from being filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25) is fruitless.[1]
During His incarnation the Lord Jesus Christ did not act on His own initiative, but always did the Father’s will (cf. John 5:19; 7:16; 8:26–29; 14:10). In the unfathomable unity of the Trinity, the Spirit likewise will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak. Like the Son, the Spirit always acts in complete harmony with the Father (cf. Rom. 8:26–27). Thus, the Holy Spirit’s leading will always be consistent with God’s revealed will in the Bible; He will never lead anyone to violate the principles of God’s Word. When He speaks, He speaks through the Scriptures that He inspired. After all, to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18) begins with letting “the word of Christ richly dwell within you” (Col. 3:16; compare Eph. 5:18–6:9 with Col. 3:16–4:1) since the “sword of the Spirit” is “the word of God” (Eph. 6:17).
Specifically, the Holy Spirit would disclose to the disciples what is to come. Like the Lord’s earlier promise that the Spirit would guide the disciples into all the truth, that phrase refers primarily to the New Testament. The New Testament encompasses the entire sweep of history from Pentecost to the eternal state, as well as containing “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
Having promised that the Spirit would reveal the truth to the disciples, the Lord then gave them the ultimate purpose of the Holy Spirit’s revelation. He will glorify Me, Jesus said, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.[2]
13 Though Jesus was unable to tell them more right then, they would learn what he wanted them to know when the Spirit of truth came. This is the fourth time in the discourse that the emphatic demonstrative pronoun ekeinos (“that one,” “he”) is used (14:26; 15:26; 16:8, 13), and it will occur again in the following verse (16:14). That the masculine pronoun is used in direct juxtaposition to the neuter to pneuma (“the Spirit,” GK 4460) is strong evidence that the evangelist understood the Spirit as a person rather than an abstract force.
The Spirit’s role is to “guide [the disciples] into all truth.” The verb hodēgeō (GK 3842) is frequently used in the LXX of the guidance and instruction of God (e.g., “He guides the humble in what is right,” Ps 25:9). The context indicates that the Spirit will continue the revelatory work of Jesus. He is the one who will now become the disciples’ guide and lead them “into all truth.” Sadly, this phrase has often been taken as a validation for all sorts of contemporary truth claims. But the words of Jesus that immediately follow define “all truth” in a less than universal sense. It is not new truth but “the truth that is in Jesus” (Eph 4:21) that will be the focus of the Spirit’s revelatory work.
The Spirit “will not speak on his own” (RSV, “on his own authority”) but “only what he hears.” On a number of occasions Jesus made this same claim about himself (8:26–28; 12:49; 14:10). As the Son spoke only what he heard from the Father, so will the Spirit limit his teaching ministry to “whatever he is told” (Moffatt). We are not to expect new (in the sense of additional) truth from the Spirit but a fuller understanding and appreciation of truth already known. As Paul put it, we have received the Spirit so that “we may get an insight into the blessings God has graciously given us” (1 Co 2:12 Williams).
Not only will the Spirit speak what he hears, but he will also “tell you what is yet to come.” The verb anangellō (GK 334) in earlier Greek meant “to carry back a report.” Brown, 708, notes that in the context the prefix ana suggests repetition and the verb carries the classical meaning of saying over again what has already been said. This would strengthen the case for the Spirit’s work as drawing out the implications of and deepening insight into the truth already proclaimed by Jesus. But what is it that is “yet to come”? Calvin, 2:120, thought the reference was to “the future state of [Jesus’] kingdom, which the apostles saw soon after His resurrection but were then quite unable to comprehend.” Others see a reference to the gift of prophecy that before long would be exercised in the early church (Ac 21:10–12; cf. 1 Co 12:10). More often, it is taken either as the final eschatological events that bring history to a close or as the unique events that would shortly come to pass (the death and resurrection of Jesus). The second option is supported by the subject under consideration in vv. 16–24 and is in keeping with the understanding of anangellō as discussed above.[3]
13 By itself, Jesus’ announcement that “I have still more to say to you” (v. 12) could imply further revelation beyond what he reveals in the Gospel—that is, that the Advocate (vv. 7–11) is “not only his interpreter, but also his ‘successor,’ who will continue his revelation.” Jesus had promised earlier that the Advocate “will teach you all things and remind you of all things that I said to you” (14:26), but now his role seems to have expanded, so that “when that one comes, the Spirit of truth, he will lead you in all the truth” (v. 13a). The phrase, “in all the truth,” surely the most sweeping statement of the Spirit’s ministry to be found anywhere in the New Testament, must obviously be read in context. “All the truth” is not the scientific or philosophical truth about the natural world, not the things humans can learn on their own by rational inquiry or observation. Rather, as Jesus will quickly point out, it is his truth, in the sense of the truth the Father has given him to make known, the “still much more” that is left to say (v. 12). But before defining “the truth” more explicitly as “what is mine” (see vv. 14 and 15), Jesus continues to describe the Advocate’s ministry, a ministry remarkably like his own: “For he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will announce to you the things to come” (v. 13b). The first two of these characteristics match perfectly Jesus’ own self-revelation, for he too does not speak “on his own” (see 5:19; 7:17–18; 12:49; 14:10), and he too says only what he has “heard” (that is, from the Father; see 5:30; 8:26, 40; 15:15). The third is more distinctive. Although Jesus has shown that he can predict the future “before it happens” (13:19; 14:29; also 16:4), he has for the most part left “the things to come” to the Advocate.101 Whether that phrase refers to eschatological events (such as those described in the book of Revelation), or simply to more detailed instruction about what the disciples will face in their mission to the world and how to face it, is uncertain. Possibly no distinction is intended between those two alternatives. In any event, Jesus provides here the reason why he is not saying all that he has to say or could say (v. 12). Rather, the disciples will take their directions from “that one … the Spirit of truth.”[4]
13. What they could not bear then, they would need to understand afterwards. Therefore, Jesus promised, But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. The Spirit is here referred to with the masculine pronoun he (ekeinos), underlining again (cf. 15:26) the personhood of the Spirit—he is not just a force. He has already been twice described as the Spirit of truth (14:17; 15:26). The Spirit would guide Jesus’ disciples into all the truth. This is not to be interpreted absolutely, as if the Advocate would teach them all that could be known, but rather that he would interpret to them afterwards the truth about the death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus. His role was to testify to Jesus: He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. Just as Jesus did not speak independently of the Father, so the Advocate would not speak independently of Jesus. What he heard from the Son he would tell the disciples: the things yet to come—that is, events to occur after the Spirit came (i.e. after Pentecost), perhaps guidance about issues they would face in the future (see Acts 15:28–29), the sufferings they would endure for the sake of Jesus’ name (see e.g. Rev. 2:9–10, 13; 12:17) or Jesus’ return at the end of the age (see 1 Thess. 4:14–18).[5]
Ver. 13. When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come.—
The Spirit of Truth:—What is meant by “all truth?” It is better to take for granted that the Bible always means what it says—all the truth of nature as well as of the gospel, of science as well as of religion. Aholiab was, doubtless, a skilled mechanic before the effusion of the Spirit; but after he became the best carpenter of the nation. So with Bezaleel. I am glad to acknowledge that the great thinkers of the world have not been wholly unguided by the Holy Ghost. Great discoverers are almost invariably devout: Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato—Kepler, Newton, and Faraday. Even nature confides her secrets to none except to men of deep piety. Tyndall and Huxley are very brilliant; but they have not yet established their right to be classed with the great. The truth which makes for our salvation is here mainly intended. Note, the Spirit guides into all truth—
I. In respect of revelation. This means that the Spirit will—1. Speak nothing but the truth, “for He shall not speak from Himself,” &c. This is the Saviour’s infallible proof of the trustworthiness of His own teaching, and urges the same in support of the infallibility of the Spirit’s illumination. If you hear any one speaking from himself, boasting much in his originality, you may rest assured that his discovery will turn out to be shallow and worthless. For truth is not a thing that comes from, but to, man. He never strikes it—it always strikes him. Accordingly, great discoverers never claim much credit. “I am but a child,” said Newton, “gathering pebbles on the shore of the great sea of truth.” He felt that all the credit due to him was that of seeing the pebbles—the credit of making them belonged to another. You cannot originate truth—only discover it; you cannot make it—only see it. If you make it, it is no longer truth, but a lie. Wherefore it is averred of the evil spirit that he “speaketh of his own,” and therefore of necessity “speaketh a lie.” But “whatsoever the Spirit heareth” in the exalted fellowship of the Trinity in Unity, “that speaketh He.” 2. Inspire the truth already extant in the world, and only waiting the breath of inspiration to quicken it. True “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” but “every Scripture is God-inspired.” Not only the writers, but their writings, are all alive with the breath of God. “God breathed into it the breath of life, and the Bible became a living book.” The inspired men are dead, but the inspired truths are living. They are warm now with the breath of the Eternal. One of the rare excellencies of the Bible is its warmth. Its temperature is many degrees higher than that of any other book. Whereas the same truths in other religions and philosophies sink down to freezing-point, in Christianity they invariably rise to blood-heat. Here are two bars of steel. They are precisely of the same make, shape, weight, size. But put them on the ground near a heap of rubbish, and the difference will be manifest. Whilst one lies inert, the other exerts a potent influence on the whole mass, disturbing the needles and nails and iron filings. What is the matter? One has been magnetized. And here are two truths, one in heathen philosophy, the other in the gospel. They are as similar as two truths can be. But the truth as contained in Greek or Chinese philosophy lies barren and inoperative; but the same truth as uttered by Jesus Christ enters as a living quickening force into human life. In Christianity it has been magnetized, inspired. 3. Revealed new truths. “Eye hath not seen,” &c. The truths of nature are only His surface thoughts, and therefore within the range of created intellects. But the truths of the gospel are His “deep things,” too deep for human reason ever to fathom, but which, nevertheless, “God has shown to us by His Spirit.” In the context the “things of God” are called the things of Jesus Christ. As Columbus took possession of the continent of America in the name of Christ, so Christ took possession of the continent of truth in His own name—He has stamped on every truth His own private mark. This is the final test whether any doctrine be of the inspiration of the Spirit. Does it glorify Christ? Many teachers went out in the apostolic age claiming to be Divinely commissioned; but this was the test whereby the spirits were tried. Many novel doctrines are promulgated to-day, labelled with the names of able and scholarly men. “Do they glorify Christ?” If not, beware of them. “What do you think of ‘Ecce Homo?’ ” asked a lady once of Professor Duncan. “What does ‘Ecce Homo’ think of Christ?” asked the old Rabbi back. “I cannot tell; that it is which puzzles me,” answered the lady. “Well,” deliberately answered the sick professor, “if any book, after a careful perusal of it, leaves you in doubt what it thinks and what you ought to think about Christ, there is something radically wrong in it. Every sound book, doctrine, sermon, glorifies Christ.”
II. In respect of exposition. 1. The nature of the Spirit’s influence. (1) “Guide”; not only to show the road, but travel along it. To direct strangers in a strange country is much; to accompany them till they reach their destination is more. Thus the Holy Spirit takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us to a reasonable apprehension of the great doctrines of salvation. This partly indicates the difference between the influence of the Spirit under the Old Testament and under the New. Then He “moved.” The prophets were borne along before the breath of the Spirit, like ships before the wind, a force outside them and behind them driving them irresistibly along. The Spirit sometimes fell suddenly upon them, and sometimes left them quite as suddenly; but in either case they were thrown half dead on the ground. But “guide” denotes steady, constant, uniform influence. (2) And He will guide you, not to, but into. You cannot properly judge truth except from within. Go and examine a coloured window. From without it looks a mixed, unmeaning, vulgar blotch of paint. But enter the cathedral, look upon it between you and the light, and it is gloriously transfigured. Similarly the fundamental truths of the gospel, such as the atonement and justification, are “unto the Jews a stumbling-block,” &c. But study them from within, look at them between you and the light of God and the eternal judgment, and they become “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 2. The subjects of His guidance. “You,” not the apostles only. The Spirit influences the mental movements of the weakest saint. The Spirit mysteriously invigorates the mind. The “unction from the Holy One” oils the wheels marvellously. Look at Saul, the son of Kish, and Peter. This, however, does not mean the total extinction of all differences between believers in their scholastic attainments; but it does mean the abolition of all difference in their spiritual apprehension of the saving truths of the gospel. Long sight has no advantage over short sight in examining the heavens. Both can see the sun, neither can see behind and beyond. The dullest, obtusest believer sees as far as the Sun of Righteousness, and your most learned occupants of professorial chairs cannot see an inch behind and beyond. 3. The scope of the Spirit’s influence. “All,” not into some, but into all. Not at once, for guidance is a gradual process. (1) The history of doctrine is none other than the history of the Divine guidance of the Church into the truth. He guided the Church fathers into the truth concerning the Person of Christ; the Reformers into the truth of justification; the Puritans and Methodists into the doctrine of regeneration. Well, has the Bible been exhausted? Oh no; other truths remain to reward the patient and prayerful study of generations to come. The Spirit guides as fast as the body of the Church can follow, and will not desist till every chapter of the Bible has been emptied of its contents. “God has much light to break out of the Bible yet.” There are more acorns in Bashan than oaks, and there are more seeds of truth in the words of Christ than have yet developed into doctrines. If that be the case, you ask, What shall we do with the creeds, the confessions, and standards of faith? We shall respect the old, and, if need arise, make new ones. Creeds are not intended to shut out new truths, but to shut in old. Creeds do not set limits to faith, only to unbelief. Creeds are not hindrances to progress, but to retrogression, and so lose the ground it has gained through much agony of thought and prayer. They do not tie down the mind and impede its flight upwards; they tie up the mind and stop its flight downward. What minds have soared higher than those who think it no degradation and no bondage to subscribe to the hoary creeds of Christendom? Creeds are the garners where the Church lays by its ripe truths for the support and comfort of its children in years to come. But because we store the ripe fruit, does that make us negligent of the orchard? Let the history of the Church answer. (2) You are welcome to go out on voyages of discovery to find out new islands or continents of truth. Only remember the condition—under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. “No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation”; and a good reason why, “Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.” The Spirit, who inspired the Bible, He only can adequately interpret it. But what about the right of private judgment? I have profound respect for that when it is a holy judgment, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. But I have not confidence in it when it is a depraved judgment, under the dominion of the evil spirit. The other evening I visited the Houses of Parliament, and observed that a soft, pure light was shed down on the floor from above the ceiling. I could see the light, but not the flame. Methought the Scriptures were illuminated in the same manner, from above the ceiling; the source of the light is in God, not in man. Let us, then, seek that illumination. We study human commentaries, but let us not forget the commentary of the Holy Ghost. When the Council of Trent sat, when an embarrassing question arose, the ecclesiastics submitted the points in dispute to the final arbitrament of the pope and cardinals. In due time the answer returned, prefaced with “It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” This happened so frequently that it passed into a proverb that the Holy Ghost was being sent in the pope’s portmanteau. But we need not send to Rome to learn the mind of the Spirit, “for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (3) This is the Protestant counterpart to the Romish doctrine of the infallibility of the pope. He will guide you infallibly; but it is another question if you will follow infallibly. But wait awhile. The Bible is an infallible book; the Spirit is an infallible interpreter; and between them both men will grow infallible by and by.
III. In respect of application. This suggests that the Spirit—1. Whets the truth, puts edge on the ministry of the Word. “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words,” &c. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts,” &c. Not tickled, amused, entertained, but pierced through. The sermons men like are refined, polished, full of flowers. But read Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost; it bristles like a hawthorn bush. The great need of the modern pulpit is sermons with fewer flowers and sharper pricks. 2. Imparts warmth to the ministry. “He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Warmth is an essential element in the Scriptures; it is an essential element in the ministry. The chief difference between genius and talent seems to me to consist, not in the amount of light, but in the amount of heat; not in the knowledge, but in the fire. The erudition of Ben Jonson was profounder than that of Shakespeare; the knowledge of Whewell was more extensive than that of Carlyle; the information of many a Scott was more capacious than that of Robert Burns. Where, then, was the genius? Not in the knowledge, but in the fire. (J. C. Jones, D.D.)
The Spirit of Truth:—The Holy Spirit, who was given for the reproof and conviction of the world, was given also for the enlightenment and edification of the Church.
I. The designation of the Holy Ghost. The Father is the absolute Truth, the one eternal source of all truth. The Divine Son reveals, embodies, and bears witness to the truth. But the Spirit, coming into contact with souls, brings the truth home to them with power.
II. His coming. Whilst believing in the eternal existence and activity of the Third Person in the Trinity, Christians apprehend what has been called “the temporal mission of the Comforter.” As there was a time for the advent of the Son, so was there a time for the full gift of the Spirit, viz., when the full truth had been revealed in Christ. The Spirit “came” conspicuously on the Day of Pentecost to remain for ever.
III. His office. 1. Generally—to lead Christians, not into every kind of truth, but the truth as in Jesus. As a master leads a pupil through a picture gallery, as a tutor leads a scholar through a science or a language, so does the Spirit lead us through the realm of spiritual truth. 2. Specially—to reveal what is Christ’s to His people: “He shall take of Mine.” Not only did He inspire apostles to record the facts of Christ’s ministry, and to expound the doctrines growing out of those facts, but He enables every Christian to realize and appropriate the blessings Christ brings to man. 3. Prophetically—to unfold things to come. Thus to Peter was unfolded the mystery of the inclusion of the Gentiles in the fold; to Paul the doctrine of the resurrection; to John the glories of the eternal future.
IV. His end and aim. The glory of Christ, as secured by the achievement of the purposes of our Saviour’s ministry, and as manifested by the praise and fame accruing to Him both on earth and in heaven. (Family Churchman.)
Divine guidance:—
I. Our circumstances as needing a guide. 1. Our entire ignorance of our journey. There is not a man in the world that knows anything of the way to happiness or heaven without this Spirit. 2. Our frowardness. We are rash and heady and obstinate. We rush on heedless of consequences. We hit on some one path or other, and it is sure to be a wrong one; but onward we go. Many tell us that it leads to death, and many times we are told so, but on we go. We therefore need a guide. 3. Our pride. We are by nature full of self-consequence. We think we know the way. If any tell us of it, we soon reply, “We know these things as well as you. We have not lived so long in the world for nothing. We do not want your teaching,” &c. Such never ask for wisdom, lest they should by that request confess their ignorance. We therefore need a guide.
II. The excellencies of the Guide here promised us. 1. He has perfect knowledge of the way. A blind guide will be no guide. We should discard such, should they offer to conduct. This Guide knows the way, every step of the way; knows all truth, and where truth leads. 2. He is faithful. This is essential in a guide. If we trust to a guide we give up ourselves to his care. 3. He is condescending and familiar. This in a guide will make him a pleasant companion. A guide that will describe the surrounding scenery, and lead us into a knowledge of objects as we pass, will endear him and make our journeying easy. This Spirit is a Guide that stoops to converse with us by the way. Sometimes He tells us some sweet truths, as the Father’s everlasting love, the Saviour’s finished work. Sometimes He shows some instructive objects. “Look yonder, do you see that pillar? That is Lot’s wife: she left Sodom, and left all her furniture behind, and, against the command of God, she turned her head to look as if she hankered after that she left behind, and the Lord turned her into a pillar of salt. Look, there is Demas, who, having loved this present evil world, has left Paul and the gospel that he might embrace it. See, yonder is the place of skulls; that is Golgotha, where Christ fought with principalities and powers, and overcame, having destroyed Death.”
III. The execution of His work. “He shall guide you into all truth”; wherein we have three particulars to open. 1. The way in which the Spirit leads. That way is the way of truth. Respecting this way of truth there are these particulars which commend it. Gospel truth is a pleasant way to walk in (Prov. 3:17). There is nothing in this way to grieve or distress: its prospects are all good; it holds up to view a God reconciled in Christ. There is no pleasure equal to that which is found in walking in this way. True it is that Christians are not always happy, but that is not from any gloominess in the path of gospel grace. They step aside or walk carelessly, and so lose their comfort. Gospel truth is also a peaceful way to walk in: “her paths are peace.” Gospel truth, again, is a straight and even way to walk in. Gospel truth is a free way to walk in. Whosoever will may walk there. Gospel truth, in which the Spirit leads, is also a near way to walk in. We often choose the nearest way. It is but a step from misery to mercy, from nature to grace, from a fallen, ruined condition to a state of acceptance with God. Gospel truth, in fine, is a permanent way to walk in. There will never be another. 2. But where does the way of truth lead? We often ask where this or that pathway leads; in what direction or to what place. This leads to three places. To the Christ of God, “the truth as it is in Jesus”; truth centres in Him. This way leads to His person, fulness, work, love, and salvation. To the throne of grace. Truth tends that way. He that follows the word will call upon God. To the heavenly glory. Truth reveals heaven with all its glory, and shows itself the way. 3. How this Spirit, as a guide, leads in the way of truth. By putting us into the way. By nature we are all out of the way. By keeping us in the way when in. We are prone to wander. Did this Guide leave us we should soon leave the way. By upholding in the way. We are in danger of falling. By bringing us to our journey’s end. “He shall abide with you for ever.” And for what but for this very purpose, “to perfect that which concerneth us?” Give up the soul to this Guide. (The Evangelist.)
The Spirit of Truth:—This appellation teaches that He is the soul of truth, the life inside the truth, the sap within the gospel doctrines, keeping them fresh and green. But for the Spirit as a circulating, vitalizing sap within them, they would all shrivel up; the tree of life would wither and die, and its leaves would all drop to the ground. Examine the truths contained in other religions—how withered and dry they look. Examine the same truths in the religion of Christ—they throb with life and are clothed with verdure. (J. C. Jones, D.D.)
The Holy Spirit our Guide:—People making the journey from earth to heaven need a guide. This they have in the Holy Spirit.
I. This promise was made to the apostles to qualify them for their office. It included—1. The coming of the Spirit at a set time. 2. To guide them into all truth. 3. To show them things to come.
II. This promise was fulfilled—1. In the Pentecostal baptism. 2. In their preaching the risen Saviour. 3. In their founding the Christian Church. 4. In their writing the New Testament.
III. This promise extends to us. 1. In our reading the Bible. 2. In our understanding its truths. 3. In our living a life in conformity therewith.
IV. Inferences. 1. We have the power to accept or to reject the Holy Spirit as our Guide. 2. If we reject Him He will reprove us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. 3. If we accept Him He will dwell in us that we may know the things that are freely given us of God (1 Cor. 2:9–16). (L. O. Thompson.)
The Spirit guiding into all truth:—Truth may be compared to some cave or grotto, with wondrous stalactites hanging from the roof, and others starting from the floor; a cavern glittering with spar and abounding in marvels. Before entering the cavern you inquire for a guide, who comes with his lighted flambeau. He conducts you down to a considerable depth, and you find yourself in the midst of the cave. He leads you through different chambers. Here he points you to a little stream rushing from amid the rocks, and indicates its rise and progress; there he points to some peculiar rock and tells you its name, then takes you into a large natural hall, tells you how many persons once feasted in it, and so on. Truth is a grand series of caverns, it is our glory to have so great and wise a Conductor as the Holy Spirit. Imagine that we are coming to the darkness of it. He is a light shining in the midst of us to guide us. And by the light He shows us wondrous things. He teaches us by suggestion, direction, and illumination. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The progressive revelation of truth by the Spirit:—In theology, as in every other department of human knowledge, there is a law of progress. Truths which in one age are almost latent, or recognized simply and insulatedly by faith, on the authority of a positive declaration, are brought out more distinctly by subsequent ages, and ranged in their mutual connection—in their position as parts of the system of truth. Not, however, that this progress is always an advance along the line of truth in theology any more than in other sciences. Man’s path bends aside, winds, twists, seems almost to return up on itself. His orbit has its aphelia as well as its perihelia. When he has made a lodgment in a new field of knowledge, he will set about building a tower, the top of which, he fancies, shall reach to heaven; and generations, it may be, will spend their lives in working at such a tower (e.g., the schoolmen), until the Spirit of division and confusion comes down among the workmen. Thus, one system after another has passed away, each, however, leaving behind some contribution greater or less, to the general stock of theological truth. Meanwhile, God’s word stands fast, even as the heavens and the earth. To the words of Scripture we cannot add; nor may we take away from them. But truth is set before us livingly, by examples, by principles, in the germ, not by the enunciation of a formal dogmatic system, according to which the thoughts of men were to be classed and rubricated for ever after; nor can any human scheme or system make out a title to the possession of such an absolute conclusive ultimatum. The right theory of development by no means implies that each later age must necessarily have a fuller and deeper knowledge of Divine things than its predecessors, the very reverse having notoriously been often the case. For the world is ever wrestling to draw man away from the truth, and will often prevail, as Jacob did over the angel; and when faith is at a low ebb, when the visible and material predominate in men’s hearts and minds over the invisible, the ideal, the spiritual theology, must needs dwindle and decay. But when there is a revival of faith, if this revival coincides with, or is succeeded by a period of energetic thought, a deeper or clearer insight will be gained into certain portions of truth, especially appropriate to the circumstances and exigencies of the age, and which have not yet been set forth in their fulness—the true doctrine of the Trinity, e.g., in the fourth century, and that of justification in the sixteenth. (Archdeacon Hare.)
The Holy Ghost the Great Teacher:—Here is—
I. An attainment mentioned—knowledge of all truth. 1. Nature itself gives us a strong desire to know all truth. What we call curiosity is something given us of God impelling us to search into the knowledge of natural things; that curiosity, sanctified by the Spirit, is also brought to bear in matters of heavenly science. A true Christian is always searching the Scripture that he may be able to certify himself as to its main and cardinal truths. 2. A knowledge of all truth is very essential for our comfort. Many persons have been distressed half their lives from the fact that they had not clear views of truth. Many souls—e.g., under conviction—abide in sorrow because they have no one to instruct them about justification. Give me the congregation whose faces are bright with joy at the sound of the gospel, then will I believe that it is God’s own words they are receiving. 3. This knowledge will keep us out of danger. No doctrine is so calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God. Those who call it a licentious doctrine know nothing about it. A man cannot have an erroneous belief without by and by having an erroneous life. Keep the head right, and especially keep the heart right with regard to truth, and your feet will not go far astray. 4. This knowledge will make us useful. There will be no character, however perplexing may be its peculiar phase, but we shall be able to speak to it and comfort it. Almost every man whom God has blessed to the building up of the Church in prosperity, has been a man who has held firmly free grace through the finished salvation of Christ. The sturdy truth of God touches every chord in every man’s heart.
II. A difficulty suggested. We require a guide. Truth is not so easy to discover. Why this? Because of—1. The intricacy of truth itself. Those who fancy they know everything of course see no difficulties; but the most earnest student of Scripture will find things which puzzle him. Truth is a path so narrow that two can scarce walk together in it; we usually tread the narrow way in single file. If you step an inch aside you are in a dangerous error. On the one hand there is a huge precipice, and on the other a deep morass; and unless you keep to the true line, to the breadth of a hair, you will go astray. Truth is like the veins of metal in a mine, it is often of excessive thinness, and runs not in one continued layer. Lose it once, and you may dig for miles and not discover it again; the eye must watch perpetually the direction of the lode. Grains of truth are like the grains of gold in the rivers of Australia, they must be shaken by the hands of patience, and washed in the stream of honesty, or the fine gold will be mingled with sand. 2. The insidiousness of error. It easily steals upon us, and we are often like men in a fog. We think, surely this is the right path; and the voice of the evil one whispers, “That is the way, walk ye in it.” You do so, and you find that you have been walking in the paths of unrighteousness and error. The way of life is a labyrinth; the grassiest paths and the most bewitching are the farthest away from right. There is not a counterfeit coin in the world so much like a genuine one, as some errors are like the truth. 3. We are so prone to go astray. If grace did not guide a man, he would go astray, though there were hand-posts all the way to heaven.
III. A person provided. 1. Infallible. If I pin my sleeve to another man’s coat, he may lead me part of the way rightly, but by and by he will go wrong himself, and I shall be led astray with him. But if I give myself to the Holy Ghost and ask His guidance, there is no fear of my wandering. 2. Ever present. When we have no commentator or minister, we have still the Holy Spirit. Whenever you cannot understand a text, pray over it, and if it does not open itself, try again. If prayer does not explain it, it is one of the things God did not intend you to know, and you may be content to be ignorant of it. There is no college for holy education like that of the blessed Spirit, for He is an ever-present tutor. 3. Guides “into” the truth. Now, man can guide us to a truth, but it is only the Holy Spirit who can “guide us into a truth.” There are many of my hearers who are brought to the truth of their depravity; but they are not brought into it, and made to feel it. Some of you are brought to know the truth that God keeps us from day to day; but you rarely get into it, so as to live in continual dependence upon God the Holy Ghost, and draw fresh supplies from Him. The thing is, to get inside it. A Christian should do with truth as a snail does with his shell, live inside it, as well as carry it on his back.
IV. A method suggested. He guides us into all truth—1. By suggesting it. There are thoughts that dwell in our minds that were not born there, but which were exotics brought from heaven and put there by the Spirit. Have you not at times had unaccountably—in the middle of your business—a thought concerning God and heavenly things, and could not tell whence it came? 2. By direction, not so much putting a boat on the stream as steering it when it is there. Time after time have you commenced a meditation on a certain doctrine and, unaccountably, you were gradually led away into another, and you saw how one doctrine leaned on another, as the stones in the arch all hanging on the keystone of Jesus Christ crucified. 3. By illumination. There is nothing like reading an illuminated Bible. You may read to all eternity, and never learn anything by it, unless it is illuminated by the Spirit; and then the words shine forth like stars.
V. An evidence. You may know the Spirit’s influence by—1. Its unity. The Spirit never says one thing at one time and another thing at another. It has been always held as a first principle that truth is one thing. But some persons say, “I find one thing in one part of the Bible, and another thing in another, and though it contradicts itself I must believe it.” All quite right, if it did contradict itself; but the fault is not in the wood but in the carpenter. Many carpenters do not understand dove-tailing; so there are many preachers who do not understand dove-tailing. 2. Its universality. The true child of God will not be led into some truth but into all truth. When first he starts he will not know half the truth, he will believe it but not understand it. Certain doctrines take years to develop themselves. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Heavenly Teacher:—
I. The name He bears. “The Spirit of truth” descriptive of—1. His nature—Spirit. In this different from Christ who was God in human form. 2. His character—true. Implied in His designation—Spirit of truth. 3. His intelligence—involved in the fact that He is the possessor of truth. 4. His Divinity—if the possessor of truth He must be Divine.
II. The scholars He instructs. The disciples of Christ. 1. The apostles. 2. Pastors (2 Cor. 3:6; 2 Tim. 1:6, 14). 3. The universal company of believers—the Spirit dwelling in them (1 Cor. 3:16), helping their infirmities (Rom. 8:26), and leading them into all the truth.
III. The lessons He imparts. All the truth, not ordinary, scientific or philosophic truth, but truth—1. Heard from the Father, therefore Divine. 2. Relating to Christ, hence specifically Christian.
IV. The aim He pursues. The glory of Christ. For this end He exhibits Christ—1. As the possessor of the truth (ver. 14). 2. As the substance of the truth (chap. 14:6). 3. As the end of the truth—persuading men and enabling them to rest on Christ. (T. Whitelaw, D.D.)
The necessity of the Spirit’s teaching to the right understanding of the Scriptures:—
I. There are two kinds of knowledge—of faith, of repentance. Simon Magus believed and remained in the gall of bitterness. Paul believed and became a Christian. In both cases there was a persuasion of the truth. Simon believed when he saw miracles; Paul when Christ was revealed in him. Judas repented when he saw the evil consequences of his treachery; Peter when he saw his conduct in its true character. So there is a simple intellectual knowledge of the truth, and there is a spiritual knowledge and discernment.
II. How are these related? How do they agree and differ? The things known and the act of knowing are the same. But the spiritual excellence of the object is not apprehended in the one case, while it is in the other. This may be illustrated by the case of the discernment of beauty. Now, with regard to the knowledge of the Scriptures, there is no reason why the unrenewed man, without any special aid of the Spirit, should not acquire that knowledge, as well as the knowledge of any similar volume under the same conditions. 1. Assiduous study. 2. In the right method and in the use of the right means. 3. Impartiality and honesty. Now, although this is possible, it is in reference to the Scriptures difficult and rare, because of the opposition of the heart to Bible doctrines, and because the judgments of men are so largely determined by their feelings. Therefore, for the attainment of this intellectual knowledge there is great need of the Spirit’s guidance to produce docility, and to prevent opposition to the truth blinding the mind.
III. For spiritual knowledge the case is plain. The Scriptures teach—1. The absolute necessity of Divine teaching. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,” &c. The Bible abounds in prayers for Divine teaching, and Paul declares all external teaching vain without it. 2. The cause of this ignorance, blindness, and inability to know the things of God arises from two sources. (1) Our depravity. We are natural, carnal—the opposite of the Spiritual—which we cannot, therefore, discern. (2) The god of this world blinds the eyes. He persuades men to reject the truth, raises objections, and excites the enmity of the heart. 3. It is a solemn fact, therefore, that those only who are led by the Spirit come to a knowledge of the truth. This is His great office, must be recognized and accepted. Correct speculative knowledge and spiritual knowledge experience teaches do not admit of protracted separation. Orthodoxy will not last long without piety. An unconverted ministry forsakes the truth. (C. Hodge, D.D.)[6]
13. But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all the truth.
Jesus does not indicate the exact time when the Spirit is going to come. He says, “When” or “whenever.” Though the word for Spirit is neuter in the original, the pronoun which refers to this Spirit is masculine. Hence, it is clear that the Spirit is thought of as a person. See also on 14:16. For the meaning of the expression “Spirit of truth,” see on 14:17.
The function of the Holy Spirit in the Church is described as that of guiding, literally: “leading the way.” The Spirit does not use external weapons. He does not drive; he leads. He exerts his influence upon the regenerated consciousness of the child of God (and here, in particular, of the office-bearers), and enlarges upon the themes which were introduced by Jesus during his earthly sojourn. Thus, he guides into all the truth, that is, into the whole (with emphasis on this adjective) body of redemptive revelation. The Holy Spirit never rides a hobby. He never stresses one point of doctrine at the expense of all the others. He leads into all the truth. Moreover, in the carrying out of this task he stands in intimate relationship to the other persons of the Trinity. We read: For he will not speak of himself, but whatever he hears he will speak. Father and Spirit are one in essence. What the Spirit hears from the Father he, in and through the Word, whispers into the hearts of believers. He is ever searching the depths of God. He comprehends them and reveals them to God’s children (1 Cor. 2:10, 11). In saying what he hears the Spirit is just like the Son, for the latter also speaks what he has heard from (and seen while with) the Father (3:11; 7:16; 8:24; 12:49; 14:10, 24). And he will announce to you the things that are to come. The Spirit will come (16:8); he will lead into all the truth (16:13a); and he will announce the things that areto come (16:13b). For the first, see the book of Acts (particularly chapter 2); for the second, see the epistles; for the third see the book of Revelation. Not as if these three could be so sharply divided. Epistles and Revelation constantly assume the presence of the Spirit; the epistles contain much revelation with respect to the things that are to come (for example, 1 Cor. 15; 2 Thess. 2). But by and large the distinction which was made is a good one. Of course, when the Spirit declares the things that are to come, he does not begin to enumerate a long list of specific, day-by-day occurrences, but he predicts the underlying principles.[7]
[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 206–208). Moody Publishers.
[2] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 208–209). Moody Publishers.
[3] Mounce, R. H. (2007). John. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Luke–Acts (Revised Edition) (Vol. 10, pp. 588–589). Zondervan.
[4] Michaels, J. R. (2010). The Gospel of John (pp. 836–837). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Exodus 20 — We saw the preamble to the Covenant with the Israelites yesterday; today we see the Ten Commandments! AlMohler.com reports “According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments. ‘No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don’t know what they are,’ said George Barna.”
I’ve taught Sunday School at various churches, and sometimes I will ask the class to show with their fingers which commandment is “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” Sadly, very few in our Bible-preaching churches are fluent in the Old Testament Law. While many dismiss the Old Testament as irrelevant, we saw that Jesus directed the rich young man who wanted salvation right back to the Law! Ray Comfort regularly takes people back to the Law to show that they are sinners in need of a Savior.
So how can you learn the Ten Commandments? You can learn all 10 with your fingers!
Exodus 21 — Welcome to the “statute law” of the Bible. After we finished reading through the 10 Commandments, we are starting into the detailed laws, known as the 613 Commandments. Some liberals say this is a cheap knockoff of Hammurabi’s Code. Many of the 613 Commandments deal with the uncomfortable topic of slavery but not as we are familiar with it being practiced:
Exodus 21:2 — Slavery is time limited, not perpetual.
Matthew 23 — Hypocrisy is used 8 times in this chapter. If you have friends who don’t go to church because of the hypocrites, ask them if they ever heard what Jesus said about hypocrites!
Psalm 28:2 — Is your first call to the stockbroker? The therapist? Your friends on Snapchat? Or is your first call in time of trouble to the Lord?
Proverbs 7:4-5 — Which woman do you spend time with? Wisdom or the Strange Woman?
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.
Grace is what we need just now, and it is to be had freely. What can be freer than a gift? Today we shall receive sustaining, strengthening, sanctifying, satisfying grace. He has given daily grace until now, and as for the future, that grace is still sufficient. If we have but little grace the fault must lie in ourselves; for the Lord is not straitened, neither is He slow to bestow it in abundance. We may ask for as much as we will and never fear a refusal. He giveth liberally and upbraideth not.
The Lord may not give gold, but He will give grace: He may not give gain, but He will give grace. He will certainly send us trial, but He will give grace in proportion thereto. We may be called to labor and to suffer, but with the call there will come all the grace required;
What an “end” is that in the text—”and glory!” We do not need glory yet, and we are not yet fit for it; but we shall have it in due order. After we have eaten the bread of grace, we shall drink the wine of glory. We must go through the holy, which is grace, to the holiest of all, which is glory. These words and glory are enough to make a man dance for joy. A little while—a little while, and then glory forever!
“Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.“ Psalm 25:4-5
Thought
Life can be so confusing. There are so many choices for us as we decide the values that will govern our lives. So how are we going to find the best way, God’s way, to live? We will ask God to show us! Our hope is in him. Our salvation is in him. So why not ask him to guide us and teach us his truth? Why not expect that he will make his will known for us? If our hearts are open to his truth and we are seeking his path, he will make his will known.
Prayer
O mighty God, the only true guide to life, please help me to know your will more completely. I want to live for you and to please you. I want others to know of my allegiance to you — not just because of the words I speak, but also through the character of my conduct. In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you”. John 14:16-17
Have you ever believed in a fact for years only to discover that it’s not true? Not all facts are true. Some facts can turn out to be lies. Sometimes lies are subtle. Some facts are acceptable to some people… but should they be for you?
Is your opinion based on the truth? How do you know? So who has the right answer? It’s the Spirit of Truth. He’s dwelt in you since the day you said yes to Jesus. That’s when we know him. The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth are the same. He is with you to help you, knowing God’s thoughts and yours. As the Spirit of God, he can help you discern truth from lies.
When you believe in God, the Spirit of Truth smiles. His pleasure is to glorify God and to assist you in discerning the right decisions. Let him save you from worrying and guide you on the true path that can give you freedom. He will quiet your heart with his truth, comfort you, and give you hope and wisdom as you learn to trust him.
Ask the Spirit of God to unveil any lies. If you long for the truth, he’ll reveal it to you. Pay attention to him. Acknowledge him. Listen to him. You can even ask him to confirm what he said. The most common way God speaks and shows the truth is in his Word. Read it, digest it, and use it.
Father God, thank you for the spirit of truth. Help me yield to him every day so I can receive all the help I need from him, in Jesus’ Name. Amen
Ukraine claims it sank another Russian warship in Crimea Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) said on February 1 that sea drones attacked and sank a Russian corvette in the Black Sea near Crimea overnight. The GUR said on Telegram that Russia’s Ivanovets was patrolling near Lake Donuzlav in the western part of Crimea when several drones hit the ship.
Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In Recent History On the surface, it was an blockbuster jobs report, certainly one which nobody expected. Starting at the top, the BLS reported that in January the US unexpectedly added 353K “jobs”
STUNNER! Scientists want ‘global moratorium’ on deadly mRNA shots “Suddenly died,” for example, now is a routine phrase linked to reports on the deaths of many young people. Heart ailments and worse have been linked to the treatments, which actually weren’t vaccines at all but more or less DNA treatments. Amid evidence of problems, there began a move to take down the demands that children take the shots, and in some locations authorities have backed away even further. Now there’s a new precedent being sought: a global moratorium on those injections.
You Might Want To Keep An Eye On The Very Alarming Natural Disasters That Are Happening In Hawaii And California I believe that major natural disasters will be one of the dominant themes of 2024. Right now, a gigantic “Pineapple Express” storm is absolutely pummeling the state of California, and an even stronger “Pineapple Express” storm will hit the state right behind it. But authorities in California will really get bent out of shape if we say that these storms could potentially be part of a catastrophic multi-week pattern that many have suggested may or may not be developing. Meanwhile, the state of Hawaii is being rocked by hundreds and hundreds of earthquakes. In fact, we are being told that there were more than 220 earthquakes in just one 24 hour period earlier this week
Wall Street Journal reveals the real reason there’s no ceasefire yet Hamas head Yahya Sinwar, as well as other leaders in the terrorist organization, are allegedly ready and willing to sign off on a proposal to stop fighting in Gaza for six weeks in exchange for the freeing of Israeli hostages. “The organization’s exiled political leaders, though, are demanding more concessions
Report: Saudis willing to make concessions on Palestinian state Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, in a bid to get a defense pact with Washington approved before the US presidential election, three sources told Reuters on Friday.
US launches military strikes in Syria in response to deaths of its soldiers Earlier, Syrian media reported that warplanes struck targets of the pro-Iranian militias in the Deir ez-Zor district in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-affiliated organization which is based in London, reported that the planes in question were American.
How were terrorists able to time their drone attack, which killed 3 US soldiers? There should be no place in the Pentagon for agents of an enemy government actively killing Americans. Tabatabai had served under Robert Malley, Biden’s Iran Envoy, who had been suspended from the Obama campaign for his back-channel contacts with Hamas, and has been under investigation for mishandling classified documents. But the emails appeared to show that she had personally worked for Iran and its influence operations aimed at the U.S. government.
Sifting Project Discovers Byzantine Weights Suggesting Christian Activity on Temple Mount Before Islam The Temple Mount Sifting Project announced this week their discovery of two unique Byzantine coin weights, both of rare four keration denomination (about 0.6 grams). The discovery reinforces the theory that there was significant t Christian activity on the Temple Mount before the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. The first weight is made of purple glass and bears the impression of a known Imperial stamp.
MOMENTUM: Two-thirds of Hamas forces – 20,000+ terrorists – have been neutralized, Israeli defense minister says Gallant described the IDF as having significant momentum, having killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters and seriously wounding another 10,000 terrorists. In addition, the IDF has captured hundreds of Hamas operatives. All told, the defense minister argues that Israel has effectively neutralized 20,000 – approximately two-thirds – of Hamas’ entire fighting force, …
Despite precautions: Iranian ‘advisor,’ 2 more killed in another alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus Three militants affiliated with the Iranian regime were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike near Damascus, Syria, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Friday morning. Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, seen as close to the regime, confirmed that an Iranian advisor named Said Alidadi was among the victims.
Musk’s Neuralink implants first brain-computer interface in human, hopes to achieve ‘AI symbiosis’ Musk announced the news on 𝕏, saying that “the first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.” According to Musk, Neuralink’s first product will be called “Telepathy,” as it “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking. Musk said the device would eventually enable … telepathy not just between humans and computers, but between humans and humans, consisting of communication of thoughts that transcend mere verbal communication.
Messianic pastors bracing for massive war in northern Israel ‘On a scale of 1 to 10 – with 10 meaning a big war is certain – I’d say it’s a 15,’ a Messianic pastor with extensive IDF experience tells me. …we’ve been seeing Merkava battle tanks on one flatbed truck after another being driven to the Lebanon border, just a few kilometers away. We’re also seeing lots of army Jeeps, Humvees, and other military vehicles … they are urging those in their congregations to brace for a massive war with Hezbollah in Lebanon this year.
Arsonists target American Experiment offices “The fires obviously were set by someone,” said John Hinderaker, President of Center of the American Experiment. “They targeted conservative organizations, they didn’t firebomb the chiropractors or psychologists or the Manufacturers Alliance. We are cooperating with the FBI to try to identify the perpetrators.”
Farmer protests: EU postpones tougher regulations to appease anger The European Commission is making an initial concession to the farmers protesting across Belgium and Europe: the rule requiring farmers to leave 4% of their arable land fallow will not be introduced for now. With the measure – which the Member States still have to approve – the Commission is responding to the farmers’ protests that have been taking place in various EU countries over the past week.
Catalonia’s worst drought in a century prompts declaration of drought emergency, new water restrictions, Spain Barcelona and the wider region of Catalonia have declared a drought emergency following three consecutive years of insufficient rainfall, leading to reservoir levels falling critically low. Pere Aragones, the head of the regional government, announced immediate water-saving restrictions affecting six million people. With reservoirs at less than 16% capacity, the emergency is described as the worst drought Catalonia has experienced in a century, necessitating drastic reductions in water usage for residents, municipalities, farmers, and businesses alike.
Medicane “Nikolai” (Avgi) makes landfall in Israel Medicane “Nikolai” — internationally known as Storm Avgi — formed during the afternoon hours (UTC) of February 1, 2024, near the coast of Egypt as the first medicane of the year. Before making landfall in Israel on February 2, the storm brought heavy rain and snow to parts of Greece and Cyprus.
Severe weather looms in Texas ahead of rainy Mardi Gras parades A storm system drenched the Pacific Northwest and California on Thursday and is now expected to move toward the Southeast. The system is bringing with it a severe weather threat in Texas on Friday and will spread steady rains to the east over the weekend.
Los Angeles faces life-threatening flooding as dangerous atmospheric river looms California is in a brief respite from extreme weather after being impacted with the latest round of record rain and heavy snow Thursday from a Pineapple Express atmospheric river event. However, another potent, even stronger storm is already approaching from across the Pacific Ocean, with the potential for much heavier rainfall totals.
You Might Want To Keep An Eye On The Very Alarming Natural Disasters That Are Happening In Hawaii And California I believe that major natural disasters will be one of the dominant themes of 2024. Right now, a gigantic “Pineapple Express” storm is absolutely pummeling the state of California, and an even stronger “Pineapple Express” storm will hit the state right behind it. But authorities in California will really get bent out of shape if we say that these storms could potentially be part of a catastrophic multi-week pattern that many have suggested may or may not be developing. Meanwhile, the state of Hawaii is being rocked by hundreds and hundreds of earthquakes. In fact, we are being told that there were more than 220 earthquakes in just one 24 hour period earlier this week…
Food Prices To Skyrocket In 2024 A multi-day fire in Texas where multiple buildings at Feather Crest Farms was finally extinguished, making this just the latest in more than 100 accidents, plane crashes, explosions and fires, at food processing/manufacturing facilities since 2021.
Elderly Protester: “I’m Starving to Death” – “Milei – You’re a Son of a Bitch.” There has been much confusion as to where the President of Argentina’s loyalties lie, is it with the globalists or with the Argentinian people? This answer has been obvious for some time, as Milei is a WEF man, a graduate of the school of Klaus and his Young Global Leaders. Ever the performer, Milei however has played the part of the saviour of the previously Peronist nation and a darling of the people who vowed to free Argentina from “decadence and decline.” So good was his performance, even after being invited to the globalist meet up at Davos, he still managed to convince the wide awake that he was anti everything the WEF are about.
US begins Middle East airstrikes in response to deaths of three soldiers The U.S. has begun airstrikes on Middle East targets from multiple platforms, a U.S Defense official has told Fox News. The strikes are in response to the deaths of three U.S. service members last Sunday on a U.S. base in Jordan.
Media Blackout: Deaths Linked to Islamic Violence in Africa Reach Alarming Levels Mainstream US media outlets have embraced ‘virtue signaling’ about racism following the death of George Floyd. Yet, no left-wing leaders have vocally advocated ‘Black Lives Matter’ in Africa to raise awareness about the massacre of non-Muslims, especially Christians, on the continent
MEP Christine Anderson: It’s governments who are the extremists, not the farmers …“Tears of joy were shed here in this House when you declared a ‘climate emergency’ and thus created a further basis for making citizens pay, pay and pay again,” she said. Adding, “Well, you can see the result in Germany. Our economy is in tatters, a wave of bankruptcies is sweeping the country. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of farmers, hauliers, entrepreneurs are being fleeced like Christmas geese.” “The citizens are fed up and are finally taking to the streets. Rightly so!”
Dr. Mike Yeadon: “Pandemics are Not a Thing.” It is surely obvious to any dispassionate observer that this coalition of the powerful intends to spring some health crisis upon the people of the world. When have the rich and powerful given care about the health of poor people? That’ll be never. Pandemics are not a thing. Think back through your life. How many pandemics have there been? Covid wasn’t one. The Spanish flu nonsense wasn’t one. None of the flu-like illnesses reported in the 1960s were one. I don’t believe there has ever been even one.
Farmers protest in Brussels: Why are leaders pushing to restrict and eliminate farms and farmers? Massive, ongoing protests in the streets of Germany, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, and other European countries descended upon the EU Parliament building in Brussels on Thursday. The protests coincide with Thursday’s summit of European Union leaders, with the farmers calling on them to scrap agricultural and environmental regulations implemented by leadership in Brussels. Why are leaders pushing to restrict and eliminate farms and farmers?
Targeting Children With “Its Okay To Pass Away Today” Videos On Multiple Platforms This piece was going to begin with states kidnapping children from parents in order to allow them to “transition,” into the opposite sex, but then Stefan sent me something so outrageous, and wrong, and sick, and horrible, that I absolutely had to toss my previous topic matter, but it can be seen at Daily Mail. A cartoon character, singing to sick children “it’s ok to pass away.” A two-and-a-half minute video, geared towards children with a Muppet-type character singing “It’s okay to pass a way.” Telling kids they will be put into an urn and more.
What Do You Call It When The Number Of Layoffs In The U.S. Goes Up By 136 Percent In Just One Month? Wow, our economic problems really are starting to accelerate at a shocking pace. I know that I have been writing about layoffs a lot lately, but what is happening to the employment market right now is definitely big news. Day after day, more large companies are announcing mass layoffs. Why would all of these large companies be doing this if the outlook for the U.S. economy is promising?
QUOTES The Right Hand Doesn’t Know What the Left Hand Is Doing “I would argue that we have not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973.” —Secretary of State Antony Blinken “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” —National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan four months ago A Trip Down Memory Lane “As the walls close in on this man [Trump], I’m worried that he is going to get us into a war with Iran.” —Joe Biden, 2020 Spin Doctor “Two months ago, I instructed my team to begin negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators to seriously, and finally, address the border crisis. … If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill and I will sign it.” —Joe Biden The BIG Lies “If that bill were the law today, I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.” —Joe Biden “I’ve done all I can do.” —Joe Biden “For years [Republicans] have refused to heed the president’s request for action on much-needed funding for border security.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “The president is very clear — he wants to make sure that we deal with … border security.” —Karine Jean-Pierre “[Biden] needs additional authorities to secure the border.” —Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton “Well, it’s just not true. It’s a political talking point.” —Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) when asked, “What do you make of … the notion that President Biden already has [border] tools and he doesn’t need more yet?” “This idea that there’s no vetting and there’s no proper immigration enforcement going on at the border just does not comport with reality.” —National Security Council spokesman John Kirby “[Greg Abbott] is making it harder for Border Patrol to do their jobs.” —Karine Jean-Pierre “The Donald Trump and MAGA plan is alligator moats, bombing northern Mexico, shooting migrants in the legs, and electrifying the fence and putting spikes on them.” —Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA) Non Compos Mentis “The U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else. They must follow our orders and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia. We Somalians must have the confidence in ourselves that we call the shots in the U.S.” —Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) “Our deepest condolences, obviously our deepest condolences go out, and our heartfelt condolences go out to the families who lost, uh, three, three brave- uh- three brave- uh three brave-va-va- THREE folks who are military folks who are brave who are always fighting and are fighting on behalf of, uh, this administration, the American people obviously moreso, more importantly.” —Karine Jean-Pierre “Let’s not impugn the good work of a whole agency [UNRWA] because of the potential bad actions here by a small number.” —John Kirby “One of the highest rates of childhood homelessness and one of the highest contributors and factors is if they’re LGBT. Because if they go home to a place that will kick them out of their house because they are gay or trans or queer, how can we imagine them doing well in school?” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) “The existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health outcomes.” —Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Political Theater “[Biden] wants to make sure that he’s there for this community [East Palestine].” —Karine Jean-Pierre World’s Smallest Violin “In recent months, right-wing organizations have launched baseless complaints against me, peddling notions that I have misused campaign funds to pay for personal security services.” —Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) “I live in frustration. And as you heard, every loss truly traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart. But I have to get up the next morning and keep on fighting.” —Justice Sonia Sotomayor on every conservative Supreme Court win The BIG Lies, Continued “We’ve taken action over the last three years to hold Iran accountable for a range of destabilizing activities.” —John Kirby “Donald Trump’s campaign chairman was secretly meeting with Russian intelligence and giving them their internal polling data while Russian intelligence was helping their campaign. Everybody other than Donald Trump recognizes, ‘OK, that’s certainly collusion.'” —Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) “Inflation has now fallen back to pre-pandemic levels. … Wages and household wealth are higher than before the pandemic. In 2023 we also saw prices fall for key household purchases.” —Karine Jean-Pierre “Inflation is coming down. … But for all we’ve done to bring prices down, there are still too many corporations in America ripping people off: price gouging, junk fees, greedflation, shrinkflation.” —Joe Biden “Our economy has grown more in the last six months than it ever did in any point in Trump’s entire four years in office.” —Joe Biden “Trump’s $2 trillion tax cut when he was president benefitted the super wealthy but was never paid for, and it completely blew up the federal deficit. We’ve brought that deficit down. And all the progress we’ve made comes down to a simple proposition: Promises made and promises kept.” —Joe Biden “President Biden now has this track record of success where significant progress has been made. Wages are up. Gas prices are down. The stock market is up. Inflationary pressure is down. … More than 14 million good-paying jobs have been brought about during the Biden economy.” —House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) Leftmedia Lob “For any Republicans who want to continue to try to keep battering the economy, yes, life is expensive. … This is a strong economy. That’s one of the reasons you see them pivoting so hard to immigration. They just can’t keep beating on the economy.” —MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud “I think most Americans know that prices are not likely to fall.” —Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Delusions of Grandeur “It’s not even a complicated campaign. We have the receipts. We have the best three-year record of any modern American presidency. Period, full stop. And you look at the issue, issue by issue, they poll overwhelmingly. The American people support what Biden has done. … And of course the economic strategy … were all things Republicans dreamt of, but never delivered. He’s delivered.” —California Governor Gavin Newsom “Who in their right mind would want to run when you have someone of such esteem as our incumbent president?” —Gavin Newsom “We still have work to do to bring down prices, but the work we have done has been historic in terms of strengthening the economy.” —Kamala Harris “You have in Joe Biden and what we have accomplished as an administration competence, compassion, skill, and performance.” —Kamala Harris “I, maybe with a bit of bravado, will repeat what I think we all say — so goes California, goes the nation.” —Kamala Harris Race Bait “Walgreens is planning to close yet another pharmacy in … Massachusetts. … This closure is a part of a larger trend of abandoning low-income communities. … These closures are not arbitrary and they are not innocent. They are life-threatening acts of racial and economic discrimination.” —Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) Hot Air “The science is clear. Climate change is the existential threat of our time.” —Karine Jean-Pierre “[Biden] listens to the science. He follows the facts. … He deals with these near-term challenges without taking our eye off the ball on the existential threat we all face.” —White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi “We want to make sure that people can turn the lights on, obviously, and we want to make sure that we are transitioning to clean energy so that we solve the climate crisis. And balancing that is something the Biden administration has been doing this entire time.” —Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm “We are accelerating all of these clean technologies so that ultimately we do get to 100% clean electricity in the United States by 2035 and net zero by 2050.” —Jennifer Granholm Lack of Self-Awareness “At this point now I believe we’re looking at 25,000 Palestinians that have been killed during this war and the killing has to stop. So yes, we need a cease-fire.” —Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “As we’re checking out [at Target], the woman says: ‘Oh, he’s just walking out. He didn’t pay for that.’ I said, ‘Why didn’t you stop him?’ She goes, ‘Oh, the governor. … The governor lowered the threshold. There’s no accountability.’ I said, ‘That’s just not true.’ … I was like, ‘Why I am spending $380 and everyone can walk the hell right out?'” —Gavin Newsom Belly Laughs of the Week “That’s the character and decency of the Democratic Party — that we support people even if they didn’t support us in the election.” —Gavin Newsom “I think Bobby Kennedy said it best: What the world needs are the qualities of youth — not a time of life, a state of mind. A quality of imagination. That’s Joe Biden.” —Gavin Newsom “We signal resolve pretty well.” —John Kirby
(Mark Tapscott – PJ Media) Mark Twain famously said that a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth even starts putting on its shoes. Here is Exhibit A in contemporary proof of the most famous American writer’s maxim.
It only took four years, the courage of a handful of independent medical experts who risked their careers by contradicting the federal government, the mainstream media, and the medical establishment, and the fact that something resembling the free press remains viable in this country, thanks largely to the internet.
Now, finally, the truth about theCOVID
-19 vaccine is beginning to be made known to the public. It confirms the many previous warnings such as these: here, here, and here.View article →
I don’t share enough good news, so here’s a fun one. This is a diaper company taking the sort of stand that any self-interested diaper company should logically take – give us more customers! But with all the doom and gloom about population these days, it’s probably brave for even a diaper company to come out in favor of babies.
While they hang their baby endorsement on a statement from agnostic Elon Musk, there’s also an uncredited voice-over recognizable as American’s favorite pastor, Billy Graham (or, possibly, his son Franklin). So while they could get bolder – let’s explicitly proclaim God’s truth asGod‘s truth – these folk are certainly taking some baby steps in the right direction!
Way more teens are smoking way more marijuana than 10 years ago. And what they’re smoking is way more potent than what was around a generation ago. And it’s costing many teens their mental stability…
There’s been some good news on the state-sanctioned suicide front this week. On March 17 the “eligibility” of death-as-medicine was going to be expanded to include the mentally ill too. Rising costs have made it impossible to find a home? If that left you depressed, the government might have helped, not with more affordable housing, but a prescription of lethal drugs. But on January 29, the federal health minister announced they would suspend, at least for now, this expansion. You can read more, and what to do about it at theEuthanasia Prevention Coalition, andARPA Canada.
To find out how we ever got here, read the longer article, from REAL Women of Canada, linked above.
“”Canadians deserve to know the truth,’ Federal Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters earlier this week, regarding 2021 claims made — but never investigated — of unmarked graves at the Kamloops, British Columbia Indian residential school.”
And there’s a new book out highlighting how the media, and some of our elected leaders, steered us wrong.
How did transgenderism shift so quickly from a fringe movement to something taught in our public schools and affirmed by almost all our political leaders? This documentary gets to some of it.
While narrator Christopher Rufo doesn’t frame it in specifically Christian terms, what he highlights is how transgenderism is seen by its proponents as more than simply surgery, more than a personal decision, more than a struggle some small minority have to deal with: leading proponents view it as an all-encompassing worldview from which we are to interpret all else. Susan Striker, one trans proponent, spoke of his transgender manifesto as a “secular sermon.” That gives us all the clue we should need as to how best to counter this movement. Not with Rufo’s equally secular response, in which he’s left confused enough to refer to Striker with female pronouns. No, what’s needed is our own sermon of sorts, but a spiritual one. We need to lead with the facts as God as defined them, that He defines our gender.
News broke in January that Joe Biden will prioritize legal status for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.
This comes after Joe Biden opened the borders and allowed over 10 million illegals from over a hundred countries to invade the United States. Republicans are still too afraid to impeach Biden for this criminal act.
President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to immediately ask Congress to offer legal status to an estimated 11 million people in the country has surprised advocates given how the issue has long divided Democrats and Republicans, even within their own parties.
Biden will announce legislation his first day in office to provide a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States illegally, according to four people briefed on his plans.
X owner Elon Musk responded to this report on Friday night.
Elon Musk tweeted:Biden’s strategy is very simple:
1. Get as many illegals in the country as possible.
2. Legalize them to create a permanent majority – a one-party state.
That is why they are encouraging so much illegal immigration. Simple, yet effective.
No one is fooled by the lawless acts of the Democrat leaders.
Biden’s strategy is very simple:
1. Get as many illegals in the country as possible.
2. Legalize them to create a permanent majority – a one-party state.
That is why they are encouraging so much illegal immigration. Simple, yet effective. pic.twitter.com/B9M5ypUOQB
CNN’s Walsh: U.S. Air Strikes on Iraq and Syria Less than Soleimani Strike in Iran, ‘Telegraphed’ Enough to Let Targets Avoid Them
Back when Barack Obama was enjoying his second term, he was forced to deal with terror group ISIS, and it was quite clear he didn’t have any appetite at all for doing anything that would actually get rid of them. In 2014, Obama ordered air strikes against ISIS in Syria, and yet somehow, those attacks didn’t seem to deter ISIS in any way or even slow them down. One reason for that was because most of the targets were empty buildings. In 2024, during his third term, it seems that Obama has once again ordered meaningless strikes on mostly empty targets through his ‘front man’ Joe Biden.
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Proverbs 29:2 (KJB)
When I got up this morning, I was hoping to read, in any publication anywhere, encouraging reports of all the damage that Biden’s air strikes had done last night, but sadly, there were none. In fact, on the ‘Situation Room’ over at fake news CNN, they were talking about how Biden’s air strikes were ‘telegraphed’ to Iran to provide the least amount of damage possible. You know it’s bad when even CNN cannot cover it up. These staged air strikes have done nothing to avenge the deaths of the 3 US soldiers killed in the Iranian sponsored drone attack earlier this week. Iran can rest easy knowing that their buddy Barack Obama is still calling the shots over at the White House, what a dark time for America.
The U.S. strikes in response to the fatal drone attack on U.S. soldiers ‘seem to be essentially telegraphed’ to avoid damage
FROM BREITBART NEWS: On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh stated that the U.S. strikes in response to the fatal drone attack on U.S. soldiers “seem to be essentially telegraphed enough to give those on the receiving end enough time to relocate or lessen the damage that potentially could have been done” and the strikes are smaller than the strike that killed Qassem Soleimani under the Trump administration.
Walsh cautioned that there may be further strikes, but “it does seem to be essentially telegraphed enough to give those on the receiving end enough time to relocate or lessen the damage that potentially could have been done. It seems carefully packaged, with the use of B-1 bombers — abnormal –, and the declaration that 85 targets were hit…to make it feel as though this is significantly more substantial. It may indeed prove to have been the case, but so far, we are looking at, geographically, areas that have been hit before over previous years, and we are, as I say, looking at a telegraphing of a response that will likely have reduced its effectiveness. We’ve heard from the Pentagon saying the weather was potentially behind some of the timing here, too.” READ MORE
Despite economists and market analysts promising that 2024 would be the beginning of a labor market slowdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shocked the world again by delivering gangbuster headline figures in its most recent jobs report. The surface numbers were impressive, but the deeper data painted a different picture of what is occurring across the country.
The January Jobs Report
Last month, the US economy added an eye-popping 353,000 new jobs, up from the revised 333,000 of November. This also topped the consensus estimate of 180,000. The unemployment rate was flat at 3.7%, below economists’ expectations of 3.8%. Average hourly earnings rose a better-than-expected 0.6% month-over-month and jumped to 4.5% year-over-year. Yes, real (inflation-adjusted) earnings are still down, but the sudden increase in nominal wages was driven by the month-over-month drop in average weekly hours (34.3 to 34.1). Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.5%. The U-6 unemployment rate, which includes the unemployed, discouraged, and marginally attached workers, swelled to 7.2%.
Indeed, these are numbers that any president running for re-election should be proud of and celebrate daily. However, when economists dig deeper into the non-farm payrolls report, conditions are different.
What Else Is There?
To kick off 2024, the most significant drivers of the employment gains were professional and business services (74,000), health care (70,000), retail (45,000), government (36,000), and social assistance (30,000). Manufacturing also contributed 23,000 positions. These numbers are compelling for two reasons. First, the government accounted for 39% of the job creation. Second, this comes as Challenger data highlighted that US-based employers terminated roughly 83,000 workers last month, and ADP showed the private sector created a little more than 100,000 employees.
As Liberty Nation has reported, there is typically a divergence between the establishment and household surveys in the monthly jobs report. The former includes every job someone has, and the latter removes the duplication of individuals. So, while the establishment component confirmed 353,000 new jobs, the household portion showed 175,000 lost positions.
The BLS showcased another widening gap between full-time and part-time work. Last month, full-time jobs declined by 63,000, and part-time employment opportunities rose by 96,000. Additionally, the number of individuals working two or more jobs eased from an all-time high in December, sliding to a three-month low of 8.272 million.
The one positive was the upward revisions, breaking the six-month streak of downward changes. The December numbers were adjusted higher by an amazing 117,000 to 333,000. Unfortunately, the celebration stops there because it is likely these numbers will be revised downward in the coming months or years. The BLS recently altered the 2023 second-quarter jobs data that revealed the economy only added 332,000 positions, well under the initially reported 603,000. Even when the private sector is factored into the calculations, the government had a little more than 500,000 new jobs in the April-June span. Of course, nobody cares anymore by the time the numbers are fudged.
Election Year Data
Skeptics have questioned the reliability of the BLS’ latest jobs data. Remember, many companies have been laying off scores of their workforce in the past month, such as UPS, Hasbro, and Twitch. So, why would anyone doubt the veracity of government numbers? Well, it is an election year, after all. Zero Hedge said it best: “It’s safe to assume that all Establishment Survey numbers are now completely made up.” Suffice it to say that none of the figures made much sense. As a result, data users, as the BLS calls anyone who combs through the numbers, should anticipate plenty of revisions in the future. The federal agency certainly puts the BS in BLS.
On the surface, it was an blockbuster jobs report, certainly one which nobody expected. Starting at the top, the BLS reported that in January the US unexpectedly added 353K “jobs” – the most since January 2023 (when the print was 482K compared to 131K) , double the consensus forecast of 185K and more than the highest Wall Street estimate (300K from Natixis). In fact, this was a 4-sigma beat to estimate, unheard of in the past year.
The headline data was stellar across the board, starting with the unemployment rate which once again failed to rise – denying expectations from “Sahm’s Rule” that a recession may have already started – all the way to average hourly earnings, which unexpectedly spiked from 4.1% (pre-revision) to 4.5%, the highest since last September, and a slap in the face to the Fed’s disinflation narrative…
The state of our nation today reminds me of “The Twilight Zone” reruns that I watched as a young boy. They were always very eerie and unsettling.
This is fact not fiction
For those unfamiliar with “The Twilight Zone,” it was a science fiction horror series that ended in 1964. Each episode began with an introduction from host Rod Serling telling the viewer they were entering “the Twilight Zone,” and featured a story where the actors experience very disturbing or unusual events, sometimes scary, sometimes comical.
But for us today, this is no TV series— manydisturbing events we hear of in the news and in our communities are real. For example:
The support for pro-terror groups who butcher women and children: University of Maryland Palestinianrallyunder investigation after apparent calls for ‘Holocaust 2.0’
The battle over ridiculous pronouns and the support for mental health issues surrounding illicit sexual behavior while silencing those who dare to challenge them. Instead of offering hope and direction, they are given accolades and applause: “The wicked freely parade and prance about while evil is praised throughout the land” (Psalm 12:8).
The alarming increase in school shootings and the manifestos that reveal who should also be held responsible for their destructive influences.
The enemy has penetrated our walls (borders). Like the Trojan Horse, it’s no longer a matter of “if” but “when” the hammer falls.
The debilitating effects of the opioid and fentanyl crisis, especially in major cities.
The drag queen story hours where godless and perverted men get permission to groom children.
The thunderous applause from California, Ohio, and New York because they can kill their babies up to birth.
The incredible stupidity that suggests men can have babies. Not even “The Twilight Zone” dared to go there!
The weak and woke pastors who lack the courage and the backbone to boldly stand for the truth.
And finally, the brokenness of families that few seemed concerned about. Michael Reagan, the son of Ronald Reagan, wrote of his parent’s divorce, “Divorce is where two adults take everything that matters to a child — the child’s home, family, security, and sense of being loved and protected — and they smash it [to pieces], leave it in ruins on the floor, then walk out and leave the child to clean up the mess.”
Running from the remedy
What alarms, shocks, and hurts the most is that most Americans are provoking God by running from the remedy and cursing the cure!
You may say, “Shane, this is hard to hear!” Yes, it is, but at this stage in the game, it’s very healthy to mourn and weep at the mess we’ve created.
We must procure the aid of God via the blessing of brokenness and the gift of humility: “The call to repentance is not cruel, but caring. The call to holiness is not enslaving but liberating” (Rob Fultz).
We all fear something
We all fear something and fear controls our actions. The Left fears the Right, and the majority of the Right fears the Left. We need to start fearing God again: As we’ve learned throughout history, men are either controlled by the Bible or by the bayonet.
Let’s be crystal clear here: A national awakening sparked by the fear of God is our only hope (cf. Ex. 20:20). Christian galas, events, festivals, and conferences are great, but they will never usher inGod’s presence. Business as usual is not going to cut it anymore.
The early church spent days waiting in an upper room before the fire fell. They understood that the secret to revival was thesecret place. Spiritual awakenings aren’t birthed in arrogance; they are born in the womb of brokenness.
The real question
If you think salvation is coming in 2024, you’ll be gravely mistaken. God only knows the chaos that may ensue. The real question is, are you ready?
In the depths of a despairing world, we cannot forget about God’s grace and love. You may feel that you’ve done too much damage, but don’t lose heart. You will be amazed at what God can do with humility, brokenness, and repentance. Humble yourself today and begin to fear God again.
Someone must light the flame
At a critical time in Israel’s history, Elijah approached the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him!” The same call goes out today: How long will you waver?
Is His word in your heart like a “burning fire?” (Jer. 20:9). We must begin here. God still looks for men and women to light the fire and fan the flames: “It is only when the whole heart is gripped with the passion of prayer that the life-giving fire descends, for none but the earnest man gets access to the ear of God” (E.M. Bounds).
“Look at the world around you. It may seem immovable. It is not. With the slightest push — in just the right place — it can be tipped” (Malcolm Gladwell).
When God commands you to do something, never rely on someone else to see it through. This is our hour … our moment. Breakthroughs always cost someone something. We must be willing to pay the price. Are you? There is always repentance before restoration.
This week President Joe Biden was stuck in 2020. He referred to Donald Trump as a “sitting president” and touted his foreign policy achievements during “the previous administration.” In other words, it was a pretty good week for the 81-year-old, who typically describes himself as a member of the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1973 to 2009.
Alas, Biden did not have a good week when it comes to pronouncing words. He struggled with “asylum” and “inspection,” among others. We’re actually starting to worry that Biden’s cognitive decline is rubbing off on members of the White House staff, that his brain disease might be contagious.
On a positive and somewhat related note, more than 60 percent of registered voters said Biden doesn’t deserve a second term, according to a recent Gallup poll.
The speaker introduction goes for 6 minutes, then Dr. Craig speaks for 35 minutes, then it’s a period of questions and answers with the audience. The total length is 93 minutes, so quite a long period of Q&A. The questions in the Q&A period are quite good.
Introduction:
Many people who are willing to accept God’s existence are not willing to accept the God of Christianity
Christians need to be ready to show that Jesus rose from the dead as a historical event
Private faith is fine for individuals, but when dealing with the public you have to have evidence
When making the case, you cannot assume that your audience accepts the Bible as inerrant
You must use the New Testament like any other ancient historical document
Most historians, Christian and not, accept the basic minimal facts supporting the resurrection of Jesus
Fact #1: the burial of Jesus following his crucifixion
Fact #1 is supported by the early creed found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15)
Fact #1 is supported by the early Passion narrative which was a source for Mark’s gospel
Fact #1 passes the criterion of enemy attestation, since it praises one of the Sanhedrin
Fact #1 is not opposed by any competing burial narratives
Fact #2: on the Sunday following his crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty by some women
Fact #2 is supported by the early Passion narrative which was a source for Mark’s gospel
Fact #2 is implied by the early creed found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15)
Fact #2 is simple and lacks legendary embellishment, which argues for an early dating
Fact #2 passes the criterion of embarrassment, because it has female, not male, witnesses
Fact #2 passes the criterion of enemy attestation, since it is reported by the Jewish leaders
Fact #3: Jesus appeared to various people in various circumstances after his death
Fact #3 is supported by the early creed found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15)
Fact #3 is supported by multiple, independent reports of the events from all four gospels
Fact #3 explains other historical facts, like the conversion of Jesus’ skeptical brother James
Fact #4: the earliest Christians proclaimed their belief in the resurrection of Jesus
Fact #4 explains why the earliest Christians continued to identify Jesus as the Messiah
Fact #4 explains why the earliest Christians were suddenly so unconcerned about being killed
Dr. Craig then asks which hypothesis explains all four of these facts. He surveys a number of naturalistic hypotheses, such as the hallucination theory or various conspiracy theories. All of these theories deny one or more of the minimal facts that have been established and accepted by the broad spectrum of historians. In order to reject the resurrection hypothesis, a skeptic would have to deny one of the four facts or propose an explanation that explains those facts better than the resurrection hypothesis.
I listened to the Q&A period while doing housekeeping and I heard lots of good questions. Dr. Craig gives very long answers to the questions. One person asked why we should trust the claim that the Jewish leaders really did say that the disciples stole the body. Another one asked why we should take the resurrection as proof that Jesus was divine. Another asks about the earthquake in Matthew, which Mike Licona and I doubt is intended to be historical, but is more likely to be apocalyptic imagery. Dr. Craig is also asked about the Jewish scholar Geza Vermes, and how many of the minimal facts he accepts. Another questioner asked about the ascension.
You can see this evidence used in an actual debate, against a historian who disagrees with Dr. Craig. That post contains a point by point summary of the debate that I wrote while listening to it.
(Mark Tapscott – PJ Media) Mark Twain famously said that a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth even starts putting on its shoes. Here is Exhibit A in contemporary proof of the most famous American writer’s maxim.
Indeed, these are numbers that any president running for re-election should be proud of and celebrate daily. However, when economists dig deeper into the non-farm payrolls report, conditions are different.
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