For details about this sermon and for related resources, click here:
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/81-180
— Read on www.youtube.com/watch
Christ is Sufficient for All Your Crises – YouTube
Leave a reply
Daily Archives: May 14, 2024
May 16 – Are You a Real Follower of Jesus? | VCY
TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
1 Samuel 18:5-19:24
John 8:31-59
Psalm 112:1-10
Proverbs 15:12-14
1 Samuel 18:10 — Why is God sending an evil spirit? GotQuestions.org suggests it was part of God’s judgment on Saul.
First, the evil spirit was “from” the Lord in that it was allowed by God to harass Saul. Ultimately, all created things are under God’s control. It is likely that this evil spirit was part of God’s judgment upon Saul for his disobedience. Saul had directly disobeyed God on two occasions (1 Samuel 13:1–14 and 1 Samuel 15:1–35). Therefore, God removed His Spirit from Saul and allowed an evil spirit to torment him. Likely, Satan and the demons had always wanted to attack Saul; God was now simply giving them permission to do so.
1 Samuel 18:14 — A great commendation for anyone.
1 Samuel 19:24 — The sad descent of Saul from humility:
- to arrogant appropriation of the job of the priest
- to hubris
- to two attempted assassinations of David (1 Samuel 18:11)
- to an assassination attempt using the Philistines (1 Samuel 18:17) – which sounds a bit like what David did to Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11:15)
- to a general assassination order (1 Samuel 19:1)
- to another specific personal assassination attempt (1 Samuel 19:10)
- to a delegated assassination attempt (1 Samuel 19:11)
- to the four waves of assassins he sent to Ramah (1 Samuel 19:20-24).
John 8:31 — How can we be identified as disciples of Jesus? Paul reiterates the importance in 2 Corinthians 13:5. Not all who appear as real are actually real disciples:
My best friend in high school, we did gospel evangelism together as high school kids. Went away to college and declared himself an atheist. My best friend in college, we were co-captains of the football team, was headed for seminary. He essentially denied the faith and walked way. One of my best friends in seminary, his father was the dean of the seminary. After he graduated, he set up a Buddhist altar in his house. So we all deal with this. We all are asking the question all the time who is real? Who is genuine?
By the way, notice that this antagonistic dialogue is with the Jews which believed on him. MacArthur quotes J.C. Ryle:
This is the most dangerous spiritual condition any person can ever be in where you’re halfway to Christ; inclined to Jesus, inclined to the truth about Jesus, wanting what Jesus provides and what He offers, but not willing to give in to the full demands that He lays on the sinner of repentance and faith in Him, declaration of His lordship, turning from sin toward righteousness
John 8:48-51 — Also from John MacArthur:
Three phases appear in this dialog, and they flow through a kind of a consistent pattern. First comes blasphemy from them. Then Jesus speaks truth, and then He gives a gracious invitation. So the first one: blasphemy, truth, gracious invitation. Second one: blasphemy, truth, gracious invitation.
Psalm 112:1 — Another blessing on those who obey the Lord! May you be one of those blessed!
Proverbs 15:14 — If you have free time, instead of turning on the TV set, grab a book!
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.
Refreshing Sleep | VCY
So he giveth his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:2)
Ours is not a life of anxious care but of happy faith. Our heavenly Father will supply the wants of His own children, and He knoweth what we have need of before we ask Him. We may therefore go to our beds at the proper hour and not wear ourselves out by sitting up late to plot, and plan, and contrive. If we have learned to rely upon our God, we shall not lie awake with fear gnawing at our hearts; but we shall leave our care with the Lord, our meditation of Him shall be sweet, and He will give us refreshing sleep.
To be the Lord’s beloved is the highest possible honor, and he who has it may feel that ambition itself could desire no more, and therefore every selfish wish may go to sleep. What more is there even in heaven than the love of God? Rest, then, O soul, for thou hast all things. Yet we toss to and fro unless the Lord Himself gives us not only the reasons for rest but rest itself. Yea, He doth this. Jesus Himself is our peace, our rest, our all, On His bosom we sleep in perfect security, both in life and in death.
Sprinkled afresh with pardoning blood,
I lay me down to rest
As in the embraces of my God,
Or on my Saviour’s breast.
Refreshing Sleep
Day 15: The Spirit of Truth | The Daily Declaration
Intention
To stand strong in proclaiming the truth of the Christian faith, empowered by the Spirit of truth.
Scripture
“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come.”
– John 16:12–13
Reflection
Postmodernism and its view that truth is simply subjective has taken a vice-like grip on the minds of so many in our society. Christians, on the contrary, believe that objective and verifiable truth is accessible to the human mind.
In John 16, the promised Holy Spirit is described by the Lord as the Spirit of truth. The Lord came as Rabbi, teacher. He came as the definitive revelation of the nature of God. He came to reveal the path for human life.
Truth, then, was an essential element of Jesus’ mission and purpose. When the time of His physical presence was coming to an end, the Lord promised that there would be a way by which truth would be accessed and preserved. The Spirit will lead His disciples into complete truth.
Christians must keep proclaiming these fundamental beliefs. First, truth is accessible to everyone. Second, the fullness of truth is found in the Christian faith. In particular, Christianity not only offers the truth about the nature of God. It also reveals the nature of the human person and the meaning and purpose of every human life.
In the face of the nihilism of our age, we must continually proclaim our belief that there is truth, and the truth, as Jesus said, will set us free (John 8:32). We need to declare clearly and boldly that Christianity offers a path for the real enlightenment of the mind.
We are living in an age of ideology. Ideology closes the mind to truth and reality. We are witnessing the extraordinary denial of evident fact in the promotion of gender fluidity which is doing so much harm, especially to young women.
Our task, among so many, is to wean people away from ideology to a life of faith. To do this we must first call people to a living faith – a conviction under the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The most essential truth that the Christian Church proclaims to the world, is that the God of love has come to the aid of fallen humanity and sent His Son. We have been saved by the death of Christ. We are also called to live a new life in the risen Christ. This is the essential truth about human existence. We can never tire of declaring it to the world. This is the truth that can set each person free.
Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now” (John 16:12). He promised to provide an ongoing means by which we believers would be able to receive enlightenment and be guided to the fullness of truth. We have been promised that the Holy Spirit would accompany the Church as the Spirit of Truth.
Video
Prayer
Lord, You promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to Your Church. This Spirit would be the “Spirit of truth”.
We desire to know the truth, and to be led to the fullness of truth. Lord, grant each of us the gift of the Spirit as the Spirit of truth.
Author Bio
Archbishop Julian Charles Porteous, DD, B. Theol., is the Catholic Archbishop of Hobart. His family has strong links to Tasmania, with his forebears arriving in Tasmania from England in 1853. His great-grandfather and great-grandmother were both born in Hobart, within one kilometre of St Mary’s Cathedral. His grandfather was named Manful Charles Hobart Granger.
Prayer Points and Purpose for GO Month 2024
- To worship Jesus and give extravagant praise to God. 1 Chron 16:23–31.
- To pray for revival, repentance and deliverance for Australia and for millions to find Christ. Acts 2:1–41.
- To pray for five people by name to find Christ and share the gospel with those five in May. Matt 28:18–20.
We invite you to support this prayer campaign to multiply prayer in Australia for revival and see millions come to Christ. Every donation to the Canberra Declaration helps us promote prayer and make a stand for family, faith, freedom, life, and the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ His Son.
Join us for our nightly Zoom prayer call:
DATES: Every night in May
TIME: 8 PM (AEST); 7:30 PM (ACST); 6 PM (AWST)
ZOOM URL LINK: https://zoom.us/j/776881184
Daily devotions are brought to you by the Canberra Declaration.
View GO Month 2024 devotionals on the Daily Declaration website.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
The post Day 15: The Spirit of Truth appeared first on The Daily Declaration.
Deafening Silence! :: By Jan Markell | Terry James
A ministry supporter in Washington State a few years ago, sent me a flyer that was handed out in his church. It is more mocking. The flyer asks if folks have met “End-Times Eddie” in the church. It denigrates “Eddie” and suggests he is so focused on end-times that he has missed all the present opportunities and people in front of him.
“Eddie” is gloom and doom. Why isn’t he looking for Jesus to bring Heaven to earth right now they ask?
Then, the flyer suggests some questions for the church’s small groups. Here are a few samples:
- What are your emotions when you encounter “End-Times Eddie”?
- Is the last days’ message one of hope or fear?
- Jesus told us to pray for “your will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. “What does Heaven on Earth look like today?
- Who in your life needs Heaven to come to earth right now?
Two things stand out to me:
1) Here is just one more church preaching, “Come, Lord Jesus, but not too soon.”
2) They have embraced the false teaching promoted heavily by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) that we can have Heaven on earth now. This is called Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology.
Show me just one square mile of this planet that can demonstrate a Garden of Eden-like Heaven on Earth. You will find only chaos. And the church trying to perfect the world for the next one million years won’t fix it.
Those of us who have promoted the important message that the King is coming are painfully aware that young believers no longer uphold Bible prophecy as a key component of the faith. They would rather focus on social justice, the green agenda, and Christian Palestinianism.
When I was a teenager in my church, we had regular prophecy conferences and I never once heard that Israel was “occupying” her God-given country. I never would have heard the denigrating title of “End-Times Eddie.”
I was never taught that we had to “save the planet” because I learned that it was hopelessly lost until Christ’s return. I was never given the delusional teaching that, in time, my church would be able to “save the planet” by seizing the Genesis mandate of dominion — which is about dominion over animals and not mankind.
Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology tries to humanize God and deify man. Sadly, the world will continue to deteriorate and spiral into chaos, forcing man to consider the hope of Heaven and abandon thoughts of a glorified earth. Only when Jesus Christ returns at the Second Coming will all things be made new!
The church is not in the business of taking anything away from Satan but the souls of men. The world is a sinking Titanic ripe for judgment, not Garden of Eden perfection. Jesus will take dominion of the cleansed earth. For men to speak of doing that before the judgment of this earth is spiritually arrogant.
Yet “End-Times Eddie” is the one with unsound theology according to the Washington church, not those preaching this unsound theology that the church can perfect the world.
One of my conference attendees wrote me recently. He had been tagged an “End-Times Eddie.” He writes, “I no longer feel safe talking about the issues you deal with in your ministry. I am scorned and ridiculed by friends, family, and co-workers if I talk about the Lord’s imminent return or any prominent headline. To suggest that life, as we know it may end soon, is simply the ultimate in lunacy to all of these folks. I feel so alone.”
David Barnhart once wrote in his magazine Vine and Branches, “God’s prophetic clock is counting down to the appointed hour. If you don’t believe it, listen to the latest news reports or read the paper. Scriptures are replete with signs, prophecies, and promises of Christ’s return.”
He continues, “The signs are everywhere, yet the silence of the churches is deafening when it comes to proclaiming this vital truth of Scripture. Slumbering preachers and sleeping saints need to wake up to the reality that the King is coming and His coming may be sooner than any of us realize.”
Bible prophecy is given as a light shining in a dark place (2 Peter 1:19). Talking about it should not instill fear in the Christian; rather, provide confirmation that the “blessed hope” is ever nearer and the time ever shorter to snatch people from the fire.
There are many “End-Time Eddies” around. May their numbers increase. May our pulpits grow bolder and talk about things that really matter. Our message is hardly doom and gloom. It may be about the only good news left. The supposed ‘good news’ that we’re taking the planet back to the Garden of Eden isn’t the truth — it’s an end-time delusion.
I’m honored to be among the “End-Times Eddie” crowd. I’ve got the best news there is. This world isn’t it. God believed the topic of eschatology was so important that He devoted one book exclusively to it: Revelation. Almost 30% of the Bible is prophecy-focused.
This message, when coupled with warnings, encourages evangelism and repentance like no other. So, I’m looking up because the King is coming, perhaps even today.
And today we celebrate #76 for Israel – her re-birth 76 years ago today. She’s not the miracle of the 21st Century. She’s the miracle of all time! If God says He will do it, He does! He’s a covenant keeper.
14 May 2024 News Briefing
A new united Israel
The failed Two-State Solution plan may need to be replaced with a Jewish State plan that brings forth a “New United Israel.” In this United Israel, all terrorist organizations are dismantled and banned. Israel takes sovereignty over all its territories including Gaza, Judea, and Samaria (West Bank). Cities that are primarily Palestinian might have their own leadership as long as they respect Jewish sovereignty and stop supporting terrorism. The past dividing up of the Jewish state dictated by various accords are nullified in this new United Israel. Israel then annexes all the territories in its borders. David Ben Gurion once said, “Our future does not depend on what the Gentiles will say, but on what the Jews will do.” .” It may be time for Israel to make some new history by plotting a bold new course that puts Hashem and the Jewish people first, above outside expectations for peace.
‘I Gave Up Shame Years Ago’: Clinton Denounces Trump For Doing What She Did In 2016
“I gave up shame years ago.” Those words from actor John Lithgow appear to have been taken to heart by Hillary Clinton who has severed any sense of self-awareness or shame in her public comments. Lithgow, who played Bill Clinton in Broadway production of Hillary and Clinton, appears to have inspired the subject of his play. In a recent interview, Hillary Clinton heralded the prosecution of former president Donald Trump in Manhattan as “election interference” by keeping “relevant information” from voters before an election. For those of us who criticized Clinton for the funding of the infamous Steele dossier, it was a perfectly otherworldly moment.
15.6% of US population are foreigners,
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the foreign-born population “hit new record highs” in March, with roughly 51.6 million legal and illegal immigrants in the United States. The independent research organization noted that since March of 2022, the foreign-born population has increased by 5.1 million individuals, representing the “largest two-year increase in American history.”
Biden’s daughter’s diary declared authentic after fact-checker said it was ‘unproven’
In response to a question concerning whether the contents of Ashley Biden’s diary had been verified, the fact-checking website wrote, “On April 29, 2024, Snopes changed the rating of this fact check from ‘Unproven’ to ‘True’ based on testimony provided by Ashley Biden. In an April 8 letter to a New York judge requesting jail time for one of the two people convicted of stealing her diary, Biden wrote ‘I will forever have to deal with the fact that my personal journal can be viewed online.’”
Ben-Gvir: ‘Hamas loves Biden’
The Hamas terror group loves Joe Biden, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir asserted on Thursday. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich noted that during the 1948-49 war, Israel “also had to face an arms embargo implemented by the United States against a state that was just newly formed. Once again, today, we will achieve complete victory in this war despite President Biden’s pushback and arms embargo.”
Netanyahu: Stability in post-war Gaza requires ‘sustained demilitarization’ and ‘civil administration’
“We do not need to be prompted by anyone on adhering to the laws of armed conflict or to seek to minimize civilian casualties. It’s in our national DNA.” On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that for the foreseeable future, the Israeli military will have to keep an overriding security responsibility in Gaza to prevent the resurgence of terrorism.
South Carolina passes ban on transgender surgeries for children, secret ‘transitions’ at school
South Carolina Republicans, backed by Gov. Henry McMaster, voted to ban ‘gender transitioning’ children, taxpayer funding for ‘sex changes,’ and secret ‘gender transitions’ at school.
Biden ends the US-Israel alliance at a fortuitous moment
So far, administration sychophants have not succeeded in turning the American people against either the Jewish state or the Jewish people. Hamas and the U.S. positions are in complete alignment.
Sinwar had secret police force to quash dissent in Gaza
Documents seized from Gaza reveal Hamas General Security Service, which made files on 10,000 Gazans believed to critical of Hamas, including journalists and protesters.
University of Minnesota rewards protesters, holding hearing on Israel divestment
Minnesota appears to be the first US school with a major Jewish population to hold a debate on divestment in response to the demands of students protesting Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza. That debate has raged on quads, in student newspapers and at student government meetings for years.
Palestinian Authority turns down offer to control Rafah Crossing
US pressured Israel to turn control of Rafah Crossing over to Palestinian Authority – but the PA rejected the proposal, report says.
Man who received first pig kidney transplant dies
The first man to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the operation, the hospital which carried out the procedure has said.
HAARP’s aurora switch was turned on last week to create “artificial airglows”
AI search summaries show that on the same day the aurora borealis was seen across the northern hemisphere, HAARP was running experiments to artificially create aurora-like glows or “airglow” in the ionosphere.
Massive dust storm engulfs Mumbai, killing at least 8 and injuring over 60
A catastrophic dust storm swept through Mumbai, India, on Monday, May 13, 2024, beginning at 15:00 local time and persisting for more than two hours. The storm claimed the lives of at least eight individuals and injured over 60 others, wreaking havoc across the city.
A “Restaurant Apocalypse” Is Starting To Sweep Across America, And That Is Really Bad News For The U.S. Economy
You can get a really good idea how the U.S. economy is doing by watching restaurants in your area. When the economy is booming, restaurant parking lots are full, and chains are feverishly establishing new locations. But when the economy is struggling, restaurants get a lot less traffic, and poor-performing locations get shut down.
What Is Causing This? “Demographic Winter Is Coming” As Fertility Rates Plummet All Over The Globe
Fertility rates have fallen way below replacement level throughout the entire industrialized world, and this is starting to cause major problems all over the globe. Aging populations are counting on younger generations to take care of them as they get older, but younger generations are not nearly large enough to accomplish that task. Meanwhile, there aren’t enough qualified young workers in many fields to replace the expertise of older workers that are now retiring. Sadly, this is just the beginning.
Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Castro: Progressives are always mass murderers
Mao, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and Castro were all lefties. Progressives always push back on Hitler in spite of his leading the National Socialist Party, but give this a listen:
In-Depth: How Do We Contend With The Rising Deception Darkening Minds All Around Us?
Demonic deception began in the Garden. Satan first attempted to redefine the words of God, then attempted to denounce God by discrediting His words altogether. The Devil and his hordes have followed the same pattern of deceit ever since.
Biden Blasted After Withholding Key Intel From Israel To Keep Forces Out Of Rafah
The Biden administration is under fire after reportedly withholding intelligence on the locations of senior Hamas officials to pressure Israel into giving up its planned invasion of Rafah.
One Health, Gaia Worship, Wicca and Neo-Paganism
“One Health” policies that seek to merge man and the earth into oneness is an age-old religion associated with paganism, Wicca and Gaiaism. And the United Nations is pushing to implement the One Health religion globally.
Iranian Lawmaker Claims Tehran Now Equipped with Nuclear Bombs
Iranian lawmaker Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani claimed on Friday that Iran possesses nuclear weapons, despite the country’s formal policy under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This statement came shortly after the UN’s atomic watchdog highlighted Iran’s capacity to produce multiple nuclear bombs.
Here Come the Lying AI Robots: Study Alerts That AI Systems Are Getting Adept at Deceiving Humans
…now it surfaces a study claiming that AI systems have grown in sophistication to the point of developing a capacity for deception. The paper states that A range of AI systems have learned techniques to systematically induce ‘false beliefs in others to accomplish some outcome other than the truth.’
Former French Intelligence Officer Warns of ‘Catastrophic’ Islamization of European Societies
Former DGSE (General Directorate for External Security) agent Pierre Martinet recently shared insights on CNEWS, shedding light on the growing threat Islam poses to European societies. Leveraging his extensive intelligence background, Martinet discussed the pervasive reach of Islamic terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the broader trend of Islamization across the continent.
SICK: Climate Scientist Suggests “Culling” the Human Population with a Deadly Pandemic to Solve the “Climate Crisis”
…Bill McGuire, a Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at University College London (UCL), authored a tweet Sunday that lamented the fact carbon emissions were not falling nearly as fast as needed and suggested solving the “climate crisis” with a deadly pandemic to wipe out swaths of the human population.
Headlines – 5/14/2024
Israel marks 76th Independence Day as nation remembers Oct. 7
Israel Marks 76th Independence Day Worried and Deeply Fractured
Violence and protests mar wartime Memorial Day ceremonies
‘You took my children’: Netanyahu heckled as Memorial Day marked at national cemetery
Army Major Resigns Over US Support for Israel
Ex-US military intelligence official says he quit over ‘moral injury’ of Gaza war
More Than 100 Lawmakers Slam Biden for Withholding Weapons from Israel
House to vote Wednesday on bill to compel Biden to sell arms to Israel
White House pans GOP bill forcing it to release weapons being held from Israel over Rafah
Gallant, Blinken discuss ‘shared objective to defeat Hamas’
Senior Biden official doubts Israel can achieve ‘total victory’ in Gaza
U.S. warns Israel won’t eliminate Hamas as militants regroup in northern Gaza
Netanyahu says perceived tensions with US make it harder to get hostages out
Parents of over 900 Israeli soldiers urge IDF to call off ‘death trap’ Rafah attack
5 troops seriously hurt in Gaza; Palestinian man said killed as UN car hit in Rafah
Hamas Accuses Israel of Killing Two UN Workers in Vehicle Strike; IDF Investigating Incident
IDF warns Hamas leaders: We’re coming like a roaring flood
Gaza war: Palestinians flee as Israeli forces go back into Jabalia
Israeli forces advance in Rafah; Health Ministry says Gaza hospital system will collapse in hours
Trapped in Rafah, U.S. medical volunteers say they can’t save lives and can’t evacuate
Recep Tayyip Erdogan: More Than 1,000 Hamas Terrorists Received Treatment in Turkish Hospitals
UN says total number of deaths in Gaza remains unchanged after controversy over revised data
Right-wing activists block, vandalize aid shipment headed to Gaza
As Israel and Egypt Spar, Aid to Gaza Dries Up
Erdogan rebukes Greek PM for calling Hamas ‘terrorists,’ says 1,000+ members being treated in Turkey
Greek PM tells Erdogan: ‘Let’s agree to disagree’ on whether Hamas is a terror group
In First, Israel Police Refuse to Permit Nakba Day Event at Gate of Tel Aviv University
‘Muslim Terrorists Are in Our Midst’: Florida Imam Calls for Annihilation of All Jews
Pro-Israel Conference in Nashville Canceled Due to Threats from Antifa and Pro-Hamas Groups
Hollywood Celebrities Use Mother’s Day to Pressure Jill Biden for ‘Permanent Ceasefire’ in Gaza
Eurovision Rigged? Norwegian Juror Admits Voting Against Jewish Singer over Anti-Israel Bias
Israel protests Yemeni Nobel laureate accusing it of genocide during Vatican event
South Africa boycott may be looming, Israel’s foreign trade insurer warns exporters
Masorti rabbi who called Israel ‘war criminals’ under internal investigation
IDF fighter jet intercepted drone that entered Israeli airspace from the east, army says
4 troops hurt in Hezbollah missile attack; explosive drones strike north
Erdogan confirms ancient Istanbul church converted to mosque
U.S. sounds alarm as thousands in Georgia’s capital protest ‘Kremlin-style’ foreign influence bill
Threats against NGO leaders multiply as Georgia green lights ‘Russian law’ for final vote
Biden blocks Chinese-backed crypto mining firm from land ownership near Wyoming missile base
Argentina will get next installment of bailout as IMF praises Milei’s austerity policies
House Oversight Moves on Contempt Charge for AG Garland
Hunter Biden’s trial on federal gun charges to begin June 3 in Delaware
Michael Cohen directly implicates Trump in testimony at hush-money trial
Star witness Michael Cohen says Trump was intimately involved in all aspects of hush money scheme
Cohen Testifies Trump Told Him to Drag Out Hush-Money Talks: ‘Get Past the Election’
Michael Cohen Admits Paying Former Pornstar Stormy Daniels from His Own Pocket
Disbarred Michael Cohen’s testimony did little to help Bragg’s case, credibility still a problem
Sen. Vance: Michael Cohen Can’t Be Believed
Michael Cohen wants his client sent to jail for following his advice: Watters
Sean Hannity: Trump’s poll numbers go up every day he sits in the kangaroo court
Elon Musk predicts Trump will continue to rise in polls as Biden political persecution continues
George Conway: The NYC Business Record Trial Is Helping Trump
RFK Jr. sues Meta over film, super PAC alleges ‘collusion’ with gov’t to censor third-party hopeful
‘Vast power of censorship’: Robert F Kennedy jnr sues Meta, claiming election interference
Germany Can Monitor AfD as Threat to Democracy, Court Rules
China Uses AI Deepfake Technology to Replicate Deceased Loved Ones
MIT gives AI the power to ‘reason like humans’ by creating hybrid architecture
U.S. aims to stay ahead of China in using AI to fly fighter jets, navigate without GPS and more
China is building a huge network of satellites that could be used against US troops: intel chief
Space mystery solved as Cold War-era satellite lost for 25 years finally rediscovered
Mystery of Planet That Shouldn’t Exist Deepens
5.3 magnitude earthquake hits the central East Pacific Rise
5.2 magnitude earthquake hits near Constitucion, Chile
5.2 magnitude earthquake hits near Kandrian, Papua New Guinea
Ubinas volcano in Peru erupts to 22,000ft
Sabancaya volcano in Peru erupts to 22,000ft
Ruiz volcano in Colombia erupts to 22,000ft
Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupts to 18,000ft
Ibu volcano in Indonesia erupts to 18,000ft
Reventador volcano in Ecuador erupts to 15,000ft
Semeru volcano in Indonesia erupts to 15,000ft
Ebeko volcano in the Kuril Islands erupts to 14,000ft
Destructive lahar on Indonesia’s Marapi volcano kills 43, leaves 15 missing
Severe storms blitz the US South again after one of the most active tornado periods in history
82-mph winds, golf ball-sized hail, tornadoes reported as dangerous storms rake Gulf Coast
Tornado Slams Church During Service but All 100 Survive: ‘We Saw a Complete Miracle’
Children pulled from mud as hundreds die in severe flooding in Afghanistan
Massive dust storm engulfs Mumbai, killing at least 8 and injuring over 60
A town in western Canada prepares for a possible ‘last stand’ as wildfires rage in British Columbia
Canadian wildfires trigger air quality alerts across 4 U.S. states
Nolte: Leftist Washington Post Demands We Take Cold Showers to Save Planet
Video shows panic in church packed with kids after teen armed with rifle tries to storm service
Violence is traumatizing Haitian kids. Now the country’s breaking a taboo on mental health services
Illegal Immigration Overload: Border Town’s Criminal Prosecutions Explode by 5,000% on Biden’s Watch
Mexican Government Provides Buses, Trucks to Aid Migrant Caravan’s Trek to U.S. Border
Catch and Release: Biden’s DHS Freed Illegal Alien Convicted Killer into U.S.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans want abortion access: Pew poll
Arizona’s Civil War-era abortion law won’t be enforceable until September, AG says
Tennessee woman denied abortion after fetus’ ‘brain not attached’ slams state ban
Poll: More Than Half of Republicans Agree ‘An Embryo Is a Person with Rights’
Suddenly There Aren’t Enough Babies. The Whole World Is Alarmed.
Mid-Day Snapshot · May 14, 2024
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.
THE FOUNDATION
“It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States … should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well founded objections.” —George Washington (1788)
| Fellow Patriots, on this day in 1787, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia neared its opening as delegates began gathering. The end product these Patriots created is arguably the greatest governing document in human history. —Mark Alexander |
IN TODAY’S DIGEST
- The Critical Political Effect of Facebook and Instagram
- Executive News Summary
- Conservatives: Still Happier
- Biden’s EV Tariffs Are a Play for Michigan
- Gender-Bender Lackeys Sabotage Integrity Protection Tip Line
- Cartels Loom Over U.S.-Mexico Relations
- DAILY FEATURES: Reader Comments, Videos, Best of Right Opinion, Short Cuts, Memes, and Cartoons.
ON THE WEB
FEATURED ANALYSIS
The Critical Political Effect of Facebook and Instagram
Researchers say the effects aren’t significant, but the censors obviously think differently.
Nate Jackson
Do Facebook and Instagram change people’s views about politics or elections? Not much, according to a study published Monday. But they also do, according to that same study.
Researchers at Stanford University, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), and other institutions conducted the study. “We study the effect of Facebook and Instagram access on political beliefs, attitudes, and behavior by randomizing a subset of 19,857 Facebook users and 15,585 Instagram users to deactivate their accounts for 6 wk before the 2020 U.S. election,” says the abstract. They found that four basic things resulted from deactivation: It “reduced an index of political participation,” it “had no significant effect on an index of knowledge,” it “may have reduced self-reported net votes for Trump,” and its effects “on affective and issue polarization, perceived legitimacy of the election, candidate favorability, and voter turnout were all precisely estimated and close to zero.”
So, if social media doesn’t really sway people, why is Facebook arguably the worst offender when it comes to censoring and suppressing unapproved views?
There are two reasons closely tied together. First, researchers said deactivation was a double-edged sword because it “reduced knowledge of general news while possibly also decreasing belief in misinformation circulating online.” That supposed “misinformation” was, of course, primarily from the Right — at least based on the examples researchers provided, namely (legitimate) “concerns about fraud and vote-by-mail.”
NBC News summarizes the second reason:
Researchers did find a small, unverified impact of Facebook use favoring Donald Trump, in which people who deactivated from Facebook were slightly more likely than others to vote for Joe Biden — the equivalent of 1.3% of Trump voters’ swinging to Biden. That could be because the Trump campaign was using Facebook more effectively or possibly because of other factors, the researchers wrote. Either way, they wrote, the difference “applies to the specific population that selected into our experiment” and “cannot be extrapolated to the broader population without strong assumptions.”
In other words, they might claim the study doesn’t undermine censorship but rather bolsters the case for it because the stuff they’re censoring is bad, and you shouldn’t believe it. Nor should you vote for the candidate associated with it.
Therefore, don’t be surprised if Facebook uses this study to justify more censorship. Meta treated it as predictable and unsurprising, saying in a statement, “These findings are consistent with previous publications in this study in showing little impact on key political attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.”
Translation: We’re not interfering with people’s beliefs; we’re just protecting them from misinformation that might lead them to vote for the Bad Orange Man.
There’s another thread to this story, however, and an example of it comes courtesy of another story from NBC. The headline: “Social media users are collectively blocking celebrities and influencers who have been silent on Gaza.”
It’s the digital version of the obnoxious campus protests and traffic blocking. Worse, one user called it a “digital guillotine.” Pro-Hamas goons insist that celebrities “speak out” about what NBC matter-of-factly calls “the ongoing humanitarian atrocities in Gaza.” (Fact-check: Hamas uses civilians as human shields, and those civilians elected and still overwhelmingly support Hamas. Oh, and Hamas lies about civilian casualties, which the UN sort of acknowledged by halving its estimate.)
But I digress. The overall point isn’t even about Israel and Gaza. It’s that many social media users employ censorship themselves. Too many people have insulated themselves in ideological or partisan echo chambers and refuse to listen to anyone on the other side. Facebook and other platforms encourage that behavior because it boosts engagement and ad revenue.
It seems that the better solution would be for Americans to engage with their fellow Americans in discussion, not rage-filled name-calling and cancellations. That would actually work to change people’s views of politics and elections in a good direction.
P.S. I permanently deleted my personal Facebook page in 2020 when it became clear how severely Facebook was throttling Patriot Post content for our 750,000 followers and others as part of an obvious larger effort to help Joe Biden. It was a personal boycott, if you will, and I haven’t missed it a bit.
But you can follow me on X/Twitter.
Executive News Summary
Cohen testifies, Menendez trial begins, DEI dies at UNC, congregants stop church shooter, and more.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
- Convicted perjurer Cohen testifies: Donald Trump’s former fixer took to the witness stand yesterday in the trial without a crime, the trial about a perfectly legal — albeit perfectly embarrassing, and that’s the point — nondisclosure payment to a money-grubbing porn star named Stormy Daniels. Michael Cohen, a convicted perjurer, a convicted felon, and Trump’s one-time attorney, testified about how Trump wanted to keep the sordid story of his alleged affair out of the headlines — imagine that! — until after the 2016 election. As the AP reports: “Cohen provided jurors with an insider’s account of payments to silence women’s claims of sexual encounters with Trump. In a stunning show of political support, the GOP front-runner is joined in court by an entourage of Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.” Increasingly, and in the wake of yet another round of awful polling, Stormy Daniels seems to be all Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats have. But today, Cohen, who one legal analyst called “the worst witness in the history of witnesses,” once again takes the witness stand, but this time he’s expected to come under a brutal cross-examination by Trump’s legal team. Mr. Cohen, were you lying then, or are you lying now?
- Menendez corruption trial begins: Jury selection for the federal corruption trial of New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez started on Monday. Menendez is charged with getting kickbacks in the form of cash, gold, and a luxury car in exchange for political favors to three New Jersey businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez blamed his wife, Nadine, who is also on trial, and claimed that he has a practice of stockpiling cash as a “coping mechanism” he links to suffering “two significant traumatic events.” This is now the second corruption trial the New Jersey Democrat has faced as a senator. His first trial back in 2017 resulted in a non-decision due to a hung jury. This current trial is expected to last six to seven weeks. It remains to be seen whether or not Menendez will testify.
- Home prices skyrocket: The price of homes has risen 47.1% since 2020. ResiClub notes that through the 1990s, home prices rose 30.1%, and prices rose by 44.7% over the decade of 2010s. However, the current price rise is similar to that of the 2000s, when prices rose 47.3% before the housing market crash in 2007. There are several factors for today’s rising home prices, but the biggest reason is supply and demand. There is a home shortage. The construction of new homes has not been able to keep up, thanks in part to the rising cost of construction materials. This home supply problem has been exacerbated by sustained high inflation, which the Fed has been combatting by raising interest rates. Homeowners who are locked in record-low mortgage rates of 3% or less are reluctant to sell and take on a new mortgage with an interest rate that is double their current rate. Redfin notes that median monthly housing payments have risen to $2,775, which is 11% higher than last year. Economist Ben Ayers observes, “Despite strong fundamentals for demand from demographics and a strong labor market, many first-time buyers are being shut out of the market by elevated financing rates and rising prices.”
- DEI dies at UNC: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s board of trustees on Monday unanimously voted to eliminate the school’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs. The $2.3 million UNC spent annually on DEI will now be budgeted for campus security. “My personal opinion,” explained Board Chairman David Boliek, “is that there’s administrative bloat in the university. Any cuts in administration and diverting of dollars to rubber-meets-the-road efforts like public safety and teaching is important.” The recent anti-Israel protest at UNC that was countered by patriot frat boys who protected the American flag was not the impetus for the trustees’ decision, according to Boliek. Still, it likely helped make the decision easier.
- FL sues Biden for forcing gender-bending surgeries on kids: Last week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit alleging that the Biden administration is forcing healthcare providers in the Sunshine State to provide gender-bending treatment to minors in violation of state law. The lawsuit accuses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of creating a rule that “purports to override the state of Florida’s laws and regulations protecting the health and safety of its residents.” The lawsuit contends that HHS is “threatening the livelihoods” of doctors and healthcare providers who “refuse to provide experimental, sterilizing, ‘gender-change’ interventions” for individuals “suffering from psychological distress,” including minors. Florida accuses the Biden administration of seeking “to redefine the practice of medicine.”
- Good news: Congregants stop church shooter: Churchgoers in a small Louisiana town stopped a teenager armed with a rifle from entering a church full of children on Saturday, where the service was being livestreamed. As NBC News reports: “Police were called to St. Mary Magdalen Church in Abbeville, 20 miles south of Lafayette, at 10:35 a.m. when the 16-year-old suspect tried to get in via the back door. Around 60 children were inside the Catholic church at the time waiting to take their first Holy Communion, the church said. The church said in a statement that parishioners confronted the suspect and took him outside before calling the police.” It makes one uneasy just to consider the possible outcome if alert- and action-oriented congregants had not confronted the young man. “While we realize this was a frightening experience for those in attendance,” said the church in a statement, “we are incredibly grateful to both parishioners and police officers for acting quickly to ensure the safety of all.” Going forward, the church says it plans to have uniformed law enforcement officers outside its Masses from now on.
- Choice means only one choice: Lest anyone think Trump-hating New York Attorney General Letitia is resting our her laurels, having made good on her promise to persecute the former president, she recently showed that she still has plenty of fight in her. Unfortunately, she’s picking all the wrong fights. As The Federalist reports, James, “who has a history of using lawfare to target people who want to protect unborn babies, is furthering her campaign against pro-lifers by suing nearly a dozen pregnancy centers for offering women abortion pill reversals.” Abortion is essentially the only issue Democrats can run on because it’s the only issue on which they’re outpolling Republicans. But still. As the Reverend Jim Harden, CEO of CompassCare, said, “Based on NY AG Letitia James’ irresponsible record of protecting big abortion, it appears that her lawsuit against us is a smokescreen to obscure the rampant malpractice and fraud that is the chemical abortion industry ahead of an anticipated June Supreme Court decision on that very subject.” It also reveals that Democrats view the “choice” as a single option.
- Marshall debates Pelosi on populism: On April 25, a debate took place at the world’s most storied debating place, the Oxford Union. There in England, at the oldest English-speaking university in the world, former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi locked horns with Winston Marshall, a former Mumford and Sons band member who was canceled some three years ago for having had the audacity to tweet his support for independent journalist Andy Ngo, author of the book Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. Marshall now hosts a podcast, and he spoke in opposition to the debate topic, “This House Believes Populism is a Threat to Democracy.” While Pelosi trotted out the usual tropes about populism being little more than cleverly packaged racism and ethnonationalism, Marshall said: “Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. And why else have universal suffrage if not to keep elites in check?” In closing, he said: “The threat to democracy comes from those who write off ordinary people as deplorable. … All that needs to be done is for elites to start listening to, respecting, and, God forbid, working for ordinary people.”
Headlines
- Secretary Blinken throws a tantrum over Israel (Townhall)
- Jen Psaki retracts lie that Biden didn’t check watch during transfer of servicemen’s bodies killed in Afghanistan (PM)
- Investigative report exposes NGOs that have made billions on the border crisis since Biden took office (Not the Bee)
- A new U.S. government scaremongering study claims that up to a quarter of urban air pollution is from cooking food (Not the Bee)
- U.S. autoworkers union seeks tough victory at Mercedes plant in Alabama (NBC News)
- House GOP looks to cement law-and-order platform during National Police Week (Washington Examiner)
- Mississippi governor signs bill banning men from women’s bathrooms in public buildings (National Review)
- Humor: College students announce indefinite hunger strike for Palestine between 10 AM and noon and also between 1 PM and 5 PM every day except for some light snacking (Babylon Bee)
For the Executive Summary archive, click here.
Conservatives: Still Happier
Recent research shows that the happiness deficit on the Left shows no signs of abating.
Douglas Andrews
In one of the more trenchant entries in his timeless Devil’s Dictionary, satirist Ambrose Bierce defined happiness as “an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.”
That sounds a lot like the definition of schadenfreude, doesn’t it? And yet, I suspect Bierce was onto something — that he was plumbing the depths of human nature to make a connection that we tend not to want to acknowledge. The reality, as our Teutonic friends have told us, is that sometimes we can’t help but rub our palms together with glee at the misfortune of others.
Not all others, of course. Just some others. And 118 years later, in last week’s New York Times, columnist Thomas Edsall confirmed that hunch. His headline reads, “The Happiness Gap Between Left and Right Isn’t Closing.”
Edsall says this with lament, and he asks, “Why is it that a substantial body of social science research finds that conservatives are happier than liberals?”
His partial answer: “Those on the right are less likely to be angered or upset by social and economic inequities, believing that the system rewards those who work hard, that hierarchies are part of the natural order of things and that market outcomes are fundamentally fair. Those on the left stand in opposition to each of these assessments of the social order, prompting frustration and discontent with the world around them.”
Where am I going with all this? I’m glad you asked. In his 2008 book Gross National Happiness, conservative author and current Harvard professor Arthur Brooks writes about the centrality of happiness to the American experiment; about how that word in enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, along with “life” and “liberty,” as one of the fundamental rights of man. In the book’s first chapter, titled “The Politics of Happiness,” Brooks writes: “Happiness is a political subject. It is a political subject because Americans tend to vote for politicians who have made their lives happier in the past, or who they think will make their lives happier in the future.” Think about it as objectively as you can: Were you happier during Donald Trump’s presidency than you are under Joe Biden’s presidency? Or than you were during Barack Obama’s eight years in office?
In a recent essay on this very topic, our Mark Alexander writes:
The youngsters on our team came of age during the eight long years of Barack Obama’s regime. That was followed by a fortuitous one-term reprieve after Donald Trump defeated Obama’s deplorable heir-apparent, Hillary Clinton.
But now, our nation is under the perilous rule of the puppeteers controlling the inept and vacuous Joe Biden, who not only excels as the most prolific presidential prevaricator in history but has mastered the art of fomenting disunity.
Back to Edsall, who glumly notes that conservatives have been on something of a happiness roll of late: “The happiness gap has been with us for at least 50 years, and most research seeking to explain it has focused on conservatives. More recently, however, psychologists and other social scientists have begun to dig deeper into the underpinnings of liberal discontent — not only unhappiness but also depression and other measures of dissatisfaction.”
Edsall noted that those on the Left tend to be upset with the current social order, but he also argued that this disenchantment is only part of it. The other part is that they feel helpless to control it. That’s a pretty powerful one-two punch.
A third punch to leftist well-being is their abandonment of the timeless Western institutions of faith and marriage and patriotism. For example, Brooks writes, “Married people from all political groups are nearly twice as likely as singles to say they are very happy.” Leftists, by distancing themselves from — and, indeed, actively working to destroy — our institutions, have left themselves with less and less to hold onto.
All this flies in the face of Barack Obama’s “bitter clingers,” doesn’t it?
This leads us to another fascinating finding from Brooks — one that perhaps helps to describe our hyper-charged and hyper-partisan political environment: The extremists are the happiest among us. It seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Everything in moderation, right?
But no: “People at the extremes are happier than political moderates. Correcting for income, education, age, race, family situation and religion, the happiest Americans are those who say they are either ‘extremely conservative’ (48 percent very happy) or ‘extremely liberal’ (35 percent). Everyone else is less happy, with the nadir at dead-center ‘moderate’ (26 percent).”
For those who’d hoped that a rapprochement between Right and Left is within our grasp, I’m sorry to disappoint you. And for the Angry Left, the floggings will continue until morale improves.
Biden’s EV Tariffs Are a Play for Michigan
In an effort to fend off cheaper Chinese-made EVs from flooding the U.S. market, Biden plans to levy a 100% tariff on them.
Thomas Gallatin
Joe Biden wants all Americans to drive electric vehicles by 2050. This is part of his party’s extremist climate agenda, which is also apparently the motive behind Biden’s anti-fossil fuel agenda.
The trouble is that while EV technology has come a long way, thanks in large part to Elon Musk and Tesla, EVs aren’t cheap. Furthermore, their limited range, their relatively long recharging time, and the lack of a widespread charging network make them impractical for most Americans.
While EV sales have been rising over the last few years, they still only made up 9% of all vehicles sold in the U.S. last year. Even with Uncle Sam putting his thumb on the scales in the form of $7,500 in tax credits, the average price of a new EV in the U.S. is well over $50,000. Compare that to the median after-tax household income of $64,240, and you get a good idea why EVs remain little other than a luxury accessory for those with more disposable income.
Biden’s problem is that there are indeed more affordable EVs on the market, but they happen to be made in China. China has been looking to flood the U.S. market with lower-cost EVs that would undercut U.S. auto manufacturers — or at least undercut Biden’s agenda for developing all-American-made EVs. For Biden’s green agenda to work, he has heavily invested American tax dollars into developing green tech in the U.S.
In January, Tesla’s Musk warned, “If there are not trade barriers established, [China] will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world.”
The most expensive component of EVs is the battery, and China dominates the industry. But with the promise of more government funding, companies in six states are investing in the EV battery industry with the hope of eventually competing with China. Incidentally, one of those states is Michigan, a swing state that Biden can ill afford to lose if he is to win reelection. The United Auto Workers, which has a heavy presence in Michigan, endorsed Biden earlier this year, and he has to deliver the goods.
In that light, the Biden administration announced it was looking to embrace one of Donald Trump’s more criticized policies — tariffs. Trump raised tariffs against China over our nations’ glaring trade imbalance. Now, with Biden desperately seeking to keep Chinese-made EVs out of the U.S., his administration is planning to soon slap a 100% tariff on Chinese-made cars. That’s up from the current 25% tariff.
While protecting American auto manufacturers from China is not a bad thing, the reason that car prices keep rising in the U.S. is in large part due to Biden’s effective EV mandate via emissions regulations. Instead of supporting the free market and allowing Americans to make the best decisions for their needs, Biden is trying to force them into buying something they don’t want — something that will cost them more of their hard-earned dollars, all in the furtherance of a radical climate agenda.
Whenever politicians manipulate the market by trying to pick winners and losers, it negatively affects the American consumer, often hurting the poorest Americans the most. Biden’s economic policies have only made everything more expensive. And far from making EVs more affordable for consumers, Biden’s proposed tariffs will have the opposite effect. Consumers will pay the price. Indeed, if Biden had not pushed his green dream agenda, cars would be cheaper today.
Gender-Bender Lackeys Sabotage Integrity Protection Tip Line
The victims of an oppressive ideology are always the most vulnerable in society.
Emmy Griffin
When men are permitted to prey on the weak in the name of “inclusion,” you know our country’s priorities have hit a new low. Preying on women is exactly what transgender activists do daily, and in the name of making gender-confused men feel more comfortable, they are putting women and children at risk.
Utah, like several other states, has laws regarding the use of bathrooms. The Beehive State dictates that people must use bathrooms and changing rooms that correspond to their biological sex in government-owned buildings. That includes public schools. If the law is violated, government entities can be fined up to $10,000 daily for each violation.
In other words, it’s not the gender-confused person who gets in trouble but the public school or other government-owned facility that allows it to happen.
To help enforce the law, Utah set up a reporting form so that women and girls who encounter a man in their bathroom can inform the state and crack down on offenders. School employees who allow others to intentionally use the incorrect bathroom can also be reported on this tip form.
Trans activists didn’t like that very much, so they decided to flood the tip line with false reports. Utah Auditor John Dougall, who is tasked with investigating each of these claims, was overwhelmed with over 10,000 tipoffs. His comment was what one would expect of a government bureaucrat: “No auditor goes into auditing so they can be the bathroom monitors. I think there were much better ways for the Legislature to go about addressing their concerns, rather than this ham-handed approach.”
More importantly, trans activists such as Erin Reed explained their strategy: “If there are 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 form responses that are entered in, it’s going to be much harder for the auditor’s office to sift through every one of them and find the one legitimate trans person who was caught using a bathroom.”
Trans activists are concerned that because of this law, every person’s biological sex will be questioned. They claim to fear that individuals who enter the women’s bathroom might have their sex questioned if they happen to look masculine. They also don’t want “trans women” to be harassed. This is beside the point because the law isn’t about penalizing the “trans women” but about the government’s enforcement of the law.
If the motivations of these activists were to protect everyone involved, then insisting that even gender-confused men use the correct bathroom is in the interest of everyone in the community. A tiny fraction of men actually have gender identity disorder; the rest of the still-minuscule number lean toward transgenderism because of sexual perversion generally brought on by porn sickness (also known as autogynephilia.
But it’s not just gender-confused men who pose a threat. It turns out that predators are also happy to take advantage to harm women and girls in vulnerable spaces. Enforcing sex-specific bathrooms and dressing rooms protects gender-confused men from false accusations and women and girls from threats, attacks, and peeping Toms.
But no. These men’s sexual perversions supersede women’s safety. Ergo, what has been happening in the prison systems has now been mainstreamed in the public schools (which, in some cases, could be argued are not so different from the prisons).
Utah has the right idea by going after the institutions and not the individual. These trans activists are either stupid or evil for not seeing how this solution protects everyone involved. As always, it’s society’s most vulnerable — women and children — who are the victims of these leftist activists.
Cartels Loom Over U.S.-Mexico Relations
As long as Joe Biden is president, the narco-state to our south will continue to help the Communist Chinese kill Americans with fentanyl.
Michael Swartz
In the time it takes you to read this article, it’s most likely that some American somewhere will have died from an overdose of fentanyl.
The math is grim, with 70,000 Americans a year dying from overdosing on the drug. And the blame for its availability is generally placed squarely on two sources: China, which manufactures the base elements, and Mexico, where the elements are combined and from where they are often smuggled into the United States.
In the last six years, fentanyl pill seizures have surged from 50,000 pills in 2017 to more than 115 million pills in 2023, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Online shopping for opioid-style drugs is being blamed for part of the surge, as drugs laced with fentanyl are shipped across the border from unscrupulous operators. Why do we allow this? Someone should ask Joe Biden.
Yet there could be relief on the way. So far this year, there is a convergence of events that only occurs every 12 years: Both Mexico and the U.S. are having a presidential election, as well as balloting for other legislative offices in both countries.
But while border security and illegal immigration are a hot-button issue on this side of the Rio Grande, there’s much more of an omerta on the subject in Mexico, and for good reason: A recent piece in The Washington Post talked about the pressure opposition candidates labor under. “They don’t like it when you talk about the organized crime violence, the extortion, the people forced out of their communities,” said Willy Ochoa, running as a candidate to represent Chiapas state in the Senate. In certain areas, “We receive threats and warnings to not come.”
While U.S. candidates have a measure of security protecting them, it pales in comparison to that of Mexican candidates who can afford it. Ochoa went on a recent campaign trip in a bulletproof SUV accompanied by three truckloads of national guard troops, two state police cars with their lights activated, and security personnel that included one man riding in the back of a pickup truck and tasked with preventing a drone from attacking them. Unfortunately, the cartels still get their way: More than two dozen local candidates have been assassinated during the 2024 campaign, while hundreds of others have been intimidated into dropping out.
We have spoken on previous occasions about the perception that current Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (a.k.a. AMLO) was on the take from the cartels, and how he blamed Americans for the fentanyl problem. More recently, AMLO delivered yet another parting shot, as the AP reports: “We are not going to act as policemen for any foreign government. Mexico First. Our home comes first.”
That’s all fine and good unless you’re harming your neighbor. “If you are accused of being in the pocket of a drug cartel and not really being committed to stopping cross-border drug trafficking,” opined National Review’s Jim Geraghty back in February, “I don’t think you bolster your reputation by threatening to curtail bilateral cooperation on stopping cross-border drug trafficking.”
But the sad truth is that Mexico’s economy is in the grip of the cartels. As security analyst David Saucedo points out, “The drug cartels provide jobs in regions where the Mexican government can’t provide economic development, they encourage social mobility, and generate revenue through drug sales to balance trade and investment deficits.”
Unfortunately, Claudia Sheinbaum, who represents AMLO’s leftist party in the election, is the prohibitive favorite to win her own six-year term on June 2, so it’s likely we will have more of the same. The Post reported she’s had her own encounter with the cartels, being stopped at a cartel checkpoint by “masked men” and only allowed through after hearing the message, “Remember the poor people.”
If Mexico doesn’t cooperate with this effort, it may be up to us to get tough with it not just by enhancing border security but also by reducing our demand for fentanyl. Just because the Mexican economy depends on smuggling drugs and human trafficking doesn’t mean we have to cooperate.
READER COMMENTS
Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.
VIDEOS
- Chaos Breaks Out During Howard University’s Graduation — The Howard University Nursing School graduation ceremony came to a screeching halt after chaos ensued outside the venue’s doors.
- Why Auto Insurance Prices Are Skyrocketing — Patrick Bet-David explains why auto insurance prices are skyrocketing above everything else.
- Populism Is Not a Threat to Democracy — Winston Marshall says: “Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy.”
- Rumors Surrounding Child Actors Are True — Podcaster Brett Cooper and Dr. Peterson discuss her Hollywood upbringing and the unfortunate truth of abuse and scandal regarding children.
- Harry Truman: Dropping the Bomb — When Harry Truman suddenly became president, World War II was reaching its climax. He was soon confronted with one of the biggest decisions any president would ever have to make.
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
- STEPHEN MOOREBiden 2.0 — Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
- VICTOR JOECKSBiden Ad Makes the Case for Trump
- CAL THOMASTrump Outdoes Himself With Crude Language
- SALENA ZITOSteel Plant Falls in West Virginia, But No One Hears a Sound
- THE WASHINGTON STANDTarget Retreats From LGBT Merch After Year-Long Profit Bloodbath
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.
SHORT CUTS
Jordan Candler
Non Compos Mentis
“We’ll never forget [Trump’s] love letters for the South Korean president, Kim Jong Un.” —Joe Biden
A Trip Down Memory Lane
“The security of Israel and the United States is inextricably tied and we will never, ever, ever abandon Israel out of our own self-interest.” —Joe Biden in 2014
Belly Laugh of the Day
“No president has stood stronger with Israel than Joe Biden.” —National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
Food for Thought
“Joe Biden removed sanctions on the Houthi terrorists. He removed sanctions on Qatar, which supports Hamas, and Lebanon, which supports Hezbollah. He removed sanctions on the terrorist Iranian regime. He removed sanctions against the Marxist Venezuelan regime. But he is now imposing sanctions on our democratic ally, Israel. Ponder that for a moment.” —Gary Bauer
President Weather Vane
“You can count on Joe Biden when the chips are up, but certainly not when they are down. You want to be in a foxhole with Biden only if you are certain that the members of ‘the squad,’ the left-wing faction in the House, approve of his being there. Joe Biden has your back — from a comfortable distance, just in case political circumstances change. The president is a weather vane for the left. That doesn’t mean that Biden himself is a committed progressive or in the ideological vanguard. He’s not. A weather vane doesn’t affect how fast the wind is blowing or in what direction; it just shifts in reaction to larger forces.” —Rich Lowry
Baghdad Bob
“I’m very confident that we’re going to have a convention that celebrates the unity, the diversity, the strength of the Democratic Party. … It’s Joe Biden who has coalesced the Democratic base.” —Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler
The BIG Lies
“The work that this president has done to build an economy from day one that grows from the middle out and the bottom up — 15 million jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs … and doing all of that while doing the work of lowering costs for Americans.” —Michael Tyler
“It is President Biden’s top priority to do all he can to bring down the cost of living.” —Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
Non Sequitur
“I’m in favor of the Second Amendment. And I believe we need an assault weapons ban. We need universal background checks. We need red-flag laws.” —Kamala Harris
A Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day
“Today, [illegals] are coming in, aided by cartels to whom they pay huge amounts of money. And they’re not running away from law enforcement. They’re running towards law enforcement because they have figured out that all they have to do is say the magic words, ‘I have a credible fear of persecution,’ and bingo, you’re in the country legally. You get two court hearings. They could take seven years. Meanwhile, you slip into the shadows of the economy. So the whole system is broken. And Biden needs to confront that.” —CNN’s Fareed Zakaria
“I doubt the New York indictment would have been brought against a defendant whose name was not Donald Trump.” —Fareed Zakaria
Follow Jordan Candler on X/Twitter.
TODAY’S MEME
For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union.
TODAY’S CARTOON
For more of today’s cartoons, visit the Cartoons archive.
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.
Joe Biden Imports Millions of Non-Working Migrant Consumers
President Joe Biden has welcomed millions low-wage migrants to produce more goods and services — and an even bigger wave of children, mothers, and older people who consume goods and services needed by American families.
The post Joe Biden Imports Millions of Non-Working Migrant Consumers appeared first on Breitbart.
— Read on www.breitbart.com/economy/2024/05/14/joe-biden-imports-millions-non-working-migrant-consumers/
WAYNE ROOT: If You’re Paying Attention, Biden Just Told Us How Democrats Plan to Rig & Steal 2024 Election. | The Gateway Pundit
By Wayne Allyn Root
Biden did it again.
A feeble, decrepit, brain-dead, old man with dementia and diapers is running the country. Have you heard?
And people with dementia often “spill the beans.” They have no filter. So, they act like little kids- they say whatever is on their mind. Secrets come spilling out.
Pay attention to Joe Biden. He has dementia and belongs in a nursing home, not the White House. So, sometimes secrets come spilling out of his decrepit mouth.
The secret to how Democrats planned to beat Trump in the 2020 presidential election came spilling out of Biden’s decrepit mouth during the 2020 campaign.
If only we had listened and acted.
Biden said (and I quote word), “We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.”
Oops.
That was on October 24, 2020. Don’t believe me? Watch here:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-voter-fraud-organization-video-gaffe
Biden spilled the beans. He told us how Democrats were going to win. They were going to rig and steal the election with voter fraud.
And they did.
They used mail-in ballots with no Voter ID; ballot drop boxes with no oversight; ballot harvesting- a scam that is illegal in every other country in the world; no signature match; and millions of illegal aliens voted too. Without Voter ID and no one asking about citizenship at the polls, it’s easy.
That’s exactly how the 2020 election was stolen. Old decrepit dementia puppet Biden told us what they planned to do, and they did it.
Biden said, “VOTER FRAUD.” Why didn’t anyone listen?
Well, old decrepit Joe has done it again. So, this time we’d better listen and take action. Because out of the mouths of little children, and decrepit old men with dementia, comes truth.
During an interview with a Spanish radio station last week, Biden referred to millions of illegal alien foreign invaders as “Hispanic voters.”
There it is. That’s the Democrat plan to steal the 2024 presidential election.
Biden also said two other telling things. He said that speaking Spanish is “America’s Future.” And he said the millions of illegal aliens who have crossed his open border into America are “the only reason our economy’s so good.”
Oh my God.
Out of “the mouth of babes” comes truth. This is the Democrat’s new updated plan to intentionally destroy America. Biden just told you.
Trump is leading by a landslide. Blacks, legal Latinos, young voters- everyone hates Biden. Everyone hates “Bidenomics” and this crappy economy. Everyone hates Biden’s massive inflation. Everyone hates the direction of America.
Polls show Biden is the most unpopular president in 70 years- worse than even Carter or Nixon. His approval on the economy and inflation is the lowest in modern history.
And that’s why Trump is leading by double digits in the most recent reliable polls. And winning all the battleground states- including my home state of Nevada by 12 points and Georgia by 10. The latest AARP poll also shows Trump pulling away in Pennsylvania.
James Carville, one of the most brilliant political strategists and soothsayers in history, had a meltdown days ago. He is losing his mind because nothing the Democrats are saying or doing can stop Trump. Not calling him “Hitler.” Not using abortion as the only issue 24/7. Not indictments, rigged trials, or even convictions. “Nothing is working,” Carville ranted like a madman.
Actually Carville is wrong. It is all working- for Trump.
But trust me, Democrats have a plan. Biden just told you. It’s called, “The Great Replacement.”
Biden (and his boss Obama- the real President) have let in millions of illegals, or as Biden just called them, “voters.” Why would anyone want to let in millions of foreign invaders, criminals, terrorists and the world’s poverty-stricken who require welfare from cradle to grave? You’d have to be insane. You’d have to be a suicide bomnber.
Because to Democrats these are all simply new Democrat voters.
Give them all $10,000 visa cards, $2,000 cash, free flights anywhere they want (without any ID necessary to board planes), free food, free healthcare, free phones and free legal services. Add in welfare, food stamps and Medicaid. Add in free public school for each illegal alien child- worth $20,000 to $40,000 per child, annually.
And then ask only one thing in return- fill out the voter registration form and vote for Biden and straight Democrat down the ballot.
And of course, no one needs to read or speak English. Conveniently, they can all vote in Spanish. That’s why Biden calls the Spanish language “America’s future.”
The open border isn’t about letting illegal aliens into America. It’s about letting Democrat voters into America.
These sheeple will vote Democrat to thank Biden for letting them in. They will vote Democrat to keep from being deported. They will vote Democrat to keep the welfare checks and food stamps coming.
Democrats know Trump is winning by a landslide with legal American citizens- including this time around with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and young voters. So, the only way to overcome perhaps 10 to 20 million new Trump voters is to import 25 million illegal alien foreign invaders to outvote and replace the citizens.
Hence the name “The Great Replacement.”
Don’t you get it? The polls show a Trump landslide. And they’re accurate, IF we’re only counting legal American citizens. But polls don’t count illegal aliens. These poll numbers don’t include millions- perhaps 25 million- of illegal alien voters.
Add them in and Trump’s landslide lead evaporates into thin air.
This is how Democrats plan to turn a landslide Trump victory into a loss. “It’s all about the illegals, stupid.”
Biden just told us.
HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Watch Wayne’s brand new TV Show, “The ROOT Reaction” weeknights at 10 PM ET/7 PM Pacific on Real America’s Voice TV, and Wayne’s weekend “America’s Top Ten Countdown” on Saturdays at Noon ET/9 AM PT on Real America’s Voice TV. Watch at RealAmericasVoice.com, or at Rumble, Roku, Pluto, Apple, Dish TV Ch 219, or go to RootforAmerica.com to watch.
The post WAYNE ROOT: If You’re Paying Attention, Biden Just Told Us How Democrats Plan to Rig & Steal 2024 Election. appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Since Biden Inherited The Trump Boom, The Whole Economy’s Gone Bust
Now that the easy-growth environment of the post-Covid era is well behind us, Biden — and the country — face a terrible economic reckoning.
Biden’s Incompetence Is Outstripping Voters’ Fear Of Trump
Democrats were hoping 2024 would be all about Donald Trump. Instead the No. 1 issue in a world on fire is Joe Biden’s incompetence.
Has America Finally Had It With Joe Biden? | Victor Davis Hanson
Has America Finally Had It With Joe Biden?
Joe Biden’s personal approval rating is at historic lows; almost all his policies do not poll fifty percent. He is behind Trump in almost all the swing states. And now he lies serially even to sympathetic interviewers. In short, finally Biden has been exposed for what he always was and represented.
Senator and Vice President Joe Biden was always sort of a buffoon. He is by nature a grandstander who handsomely profited from his office while posing as good ole Joe from Scranton.
He is a blowhard meddler, one who proverbially has been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades (Robert Gates),” from dissenting on the Bin Laden raid to his trisection of Iraq scheme.
He is a fabulist who believes that the more animated he misleads and slurs (“semi-fascists” “fat”, “lying dog-faced pony soldier”, “chumps”, “dregs of society”, etc), the more likely he is to get away with it. He is a confessed plagiarist. And he has also invented much of his biography, from would be star, college-scholarship athlete and brilliant law student to semi-truck driver and jailed civil rights activist. His uncle, we are instructed, was eaten by cannibals. Joe assures us that he was the first in his family to go to college.
And he is a racist with a repertory of racial taunts and smears unrivaled among modern politicians (“junkie”, “boy”, “you ain’t black”, “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy”, “put y’all back in chains”, the Corn Pop and golden-leg hairs sagas, the “racial jungle” memes, the strange brag about Delaware as a “slave state” (e.g., “You don’t know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state.”), and his encomia for the old Democratic racists of the Senate from former Klansman Robert Byrd (Biden’s self-described “mentor” and “guide”) to segregationist James Eastland (“never called me boy”).
Biden has always had a mean streak that explains why for years he lied about the tragic, fatal auto accident of his first wife and child, using it to libel the truck driver, who was neither drunk nor culpable but smeared publicly for years by Biden as intoxicated and guilty. For years he ignored the pleas of the trucker’s family to please stop libeling an innocent driver.
Biden just told his greatest whopper that inflation was at 9 percent (actually 1.4 percent) when he took office and yet soon spiked to 9 percent due to his reckless deficit spending and money printing spree.
But recently Biden has reached a nadir and even the Left is resigned to him as a mere construct. After bragging after October 7 that his support for Israel was rock-solid he is now cutting off military aid as it attempts finally to end the Hamas murderous threat—a reversion to old Joe Biden who in his long past has previously threatened to cut off Israel while boasting later that anyone who did so was reprehensible. (Leveraging congressional mandated aid for political advantage is precisely the (false) allegation of politicking that the Democrats demagogued to impeach Trump—to the then cheers of Biden himself).
But his sell out of Israel is but a small tessera in his election pandering mosaic. He will again begin drawing down the strategic petroleum reserve to lower gas prices during the campaign. He has badgered Ukraine not to hit Russian oil facilities. He has illegally forgiven billions in student loan aid to regain the elite youth vote. And as the campaign season begins, so too Biden suddenly poses as a border enforcer—after letting in nearly 10-million illegal aliens.
Biden has always put the agendas of his own and his family above the national interest. We witnessed that when he bragged that he fired the Ukrainian prosecutor looking into his son’s Burisma skullduggery. The Biden consortium is corrupt and was enriched with over $25 million through foreign interests’ assurance that Senator and Vice President Joe Biden would deliver on their quid pro quo investments in him.
Any other major politician who habitually invaded the private space of women and preteens to blow on their hair, gobble their necks, squeeze and hug far too long, and be accused of sexual assault would have long since been cancelled by the left.
Add the old disturbing narrative of a naked Vice President Joe Biden exiting his pool in front of female secret service agents, the showering with his pre-teen daughter, the Frank Biden and Hunter naked selfies, and there seems something eerie among the Biden family.
Despite fierce denials, the entire lawfare scheme directed at Trump originated with the White House. Biden was always said to have been exasperated with Merrick Garland for not hastily enough going after Trump.
The misadventurous Georgia prosecutor Nathan Wade met with and was tutored by the White House counsel’s office. One of the top Biden DOJ prosecutors was dispatched to rescue the bungling Alvin Bragg farce.
Jack Smith, appointed by the Biden DOJ to go after Biden’s 2024 presidential rival, timed his indictments to coincide with the campaign season, even as Smith’s office mishandled classified files taken at Mar-a-Lago to bolster its prosecution—and then lied about it.
Hard-won American deterrence was destroyed by the humiliation in Afghanistan and the lies surrounding the disaster, the Chinese balloon flight and the misinformation about it, the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and on the Red Sea, and the accompanying disinformation from the White House.
Such recklessness abroad is the bookend to the home front where massive borrowing, the destruction of the border, crippling inflation, spiraling crime, and the epidemic of “progressive” anti-Semitism on campuses have made American almost unrecognizable.
Again, at the heart of this Biden catastrophe is the Faustian bargain of 2020 when unelectable leftist candidates dropped out in unison to use a fumbling Biden as their more presentable veneer. So he was foisted upon the nation to serve as “moderate” cover to advance a radical, veritable Obama third-term. In that sense, his duties were ceremonial—as the hard-left channeled through him the most radical agenda in U.S. history, and found his debility and dementia advantageous—the country be damned.
If Biden makes it to and through the convention, he and his record remain indefensible. And so expect his campaign largely to be waged through lawfare against Trump, and massive infusions of leftist cash to ensure record mail-in and early voting. In the campaign Biden will become an afterthought, a ghost, vapor, as his party seeks to construct the entire election one of leftwing, blue-city prosecutors, judges, and juries versus serial defendant Trump.
But will Nemesis first catch up to Biden’s long record of hubris and dishonesty?
Top 8 Scapegoats the Left Blames as Cover for All the Mayhem They’re Causing – 🔔 The Liberty Daily
(Natural News)—The blame and hate game is in full effect in America, as the Biden Regime sinks the Republic faster than a glacier sinking the Titanic. Every problem created and perpetuated by the Obama and Biden autocracies has a scapegoat, or two, or three, just in case the brainwashed sheeple aren’t quite sure how to follow the fake news bouncing ball on any given day.
Before Obama took over the country, there wasn’t much racism left. Nobody hated anybody for the color of their skin, their religion or their preferred gender “associations.” Comedy made fun of everybody, everything and everybody laughed, even at themselves. Late show actors impersonated U.S. Presidents perfectly, and the satire provided comic relief to social issues, political problems and even racism.
Then came the beginning of the installation of socialism and communism in America. This meant all Americans had to decide who to hate (besides the government), and become convinced that the whole country was “up in arms,” bashing gays, pitting blacks against whites, confusing normal legal immigration with illegal immigration, all while trafficking humans, including prostituting children, through endless wars around the world.
Trump is not a white supremacist, the earth is not about to boil and taking everyone’s guns won’t stop the mass shooters who are all on SSRIs
Yes, the Leftist politicians in Washington DC want to exterminate the middle class of America. This accomplishes most of their goals to have complete police-state-control of everyone almost immediately. This is being accomplished right now by choking out and destroying the supply chain of food, agriculture, technology products, vehicle parts and medicine. Inflation is skyrocketing, crime is running rampant in the big cities and people are dying suddenly from vascular clots induced by mRNA technology.
The news is run by the Left. Every TV show, movie, newspaper and social media platform is 99% controlled and censored by the Left. Make no mistake about it. The message (narrative) is quite clear. Hate your fellow man. Blame Trump. Pay outrageous taxes or die from climate change tomorrow, support perverting children’s minds and bodies in the name of gender “fluidity,” and blame all deaths on the fully-unvaccinated people.
The hypocrisy is deafening. First, the Left claimed the 2016 election was completely RIGGED because the Russians supposedly helped Trump rise in popularity while destroying Hitlery Clinton’s popularity. Sure. Now, anyone who claims the 2020 election was rigged goes straight to jail (DC gulag), does not pass go and does not get a trial by jury, ever. To peacefully protest any more elections the Democrats steal is to be a domestic terrorist who must spend life in prison.
Then, there must be no guns, walls or red hats allowed in America anymore. The poor, starving, climate-tortured “immigrants” must be given our homes, land, food, jobs, identities, voting rights, medical coverage and transportation anywhere in the country. Anyone who denies this is an extremist and xenophobe, including all minorities.
Also, if you don’t believe 100% that all vaccines are 100% safe and 100% effective 100% of the time, then you are a leper who wants to murder people by spreading infectious diseases on purpose.
This is how the Left blames everyone but themselves for all the major problems this country is suffering right now. They created it all. They are knee deep in their own decay, and still can’t see the forest for the trees. So without further adieu, here are the top 8 scapegoats the LEFT blames as cover for all the mayhem THEY themselves are causing.
- Scapegoat #1. Trump and his supporters – anything that’s wrong with anything, including the economy, war, immigration – just blame those “Trumpers” and repeat over and over “Orange Man Bad!”
- Scapegoat #2. Climate Change (the excuse for mass-illegal-immigration and human trafficking into the USA).
- Scapegoat #3. Racism and “White Supremacists” – unless you’re black, you’re a racist (and if you’re black and side with any whites about anything, you’re an “Uncle Tom”).
- Scapegoat #4. Gay-Bashers – nobody straight is fair or caring, and nobody religious deserves a happy life with their kids.
- Scapegoat #5. Guns – every shooting is the gun’s fault.
- Scapegoat #6. Anti-Vaxxers – anyone who doesn’t want to die from vascular clots and mercury poisoning is an “anti-science, anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist.”
- Scapegoat #7. “Conspiracy Theorists” – any person who challenges the false-narratives or who believes in actual science.
- Scapegoat #8. The Russians – Those pesky foreigners who love Trump and are constantly trying to take over the world, one U.S. bio-weapons lab at a time.
Tune your apocalypse dial to Preparedness.news for updates on real news about recognizing the scapegoats for what they really represent – Leftist destruction plans.
Sources for this article include:
— Read on thelibertydaily.com/top-8-scapegoats-left-blames-as-cover-all/
Here’s How The Media Are Lying Right Now: Imaginary ‘Chaos’ Vs. Real Chaos
There’s media ‘chaos,’ and then there’s real chaos. Washington and the press resent that Americans care more about the real chaos.
Greg Kelly: ‘Something Really Wrong’ with Michael Cohen | The NEWSMAX Daily (05/14/24)
Today’s top headline news brief from NEWSMAX includes:
(Guest-hosted this week by Kay Smythe)
[1:34] – Carl Higbie calls out Nancy Pelosi’s elitism. [Carl Higbie Frontline]
[7:00] – ‘Coolness’ survey reveals most Americans are ‘out of touch’ [Chris Plante The Right Squad]
[12:07] – Greg Kelly: ‘There’s something really wrong’ with Michael Cohen. [Greg Kelly Reports]
[18:49] – Donald Trump Jr. exposes ’15 minutes of anti-Trump’ Michael Cohen after trial testimony. [Eric Bolling The Balance]
Source: Greg Kelly: ‘Something Really Wrong’ with Michael Cohen | The NEWSMAX Daily (05/14/24)
Israel Ready for Full-Scale Rafah Invasion | CBN NewsWatch – May 14, 2024
The Biden Administration believes Israel has enough troops ready to go to launch a full-scale ground invasion against Hamas in Rafah, although there’s evidence some Hamas fighters have fled the area, and they could launch an insurgency against Israel; the country of Qatar has been a key player in hostage talks, but many are concerned that the ruling family is not a reliable ally; Peter Schweizer, author of the book “Blood Money,” talks to CBN News about how China is undermining America from within; as the US faces the hidden health epidemic of loneliness, some advice on how to overcome it- and how Israel avoids it as well; and Carlos Campo, formerly of Regent University, talks about his goals and vision for the Museum of the Bible, as he will take over as CEO in June.
CBN News. Because Truth Matters™
Source: Israel Ready for Full-Scale Rafah Invasion | CBN NewsWatch – May 14, 2024
Being an Apprentice to Jesus is Lifelong Transformation | Christianity 201
NIV.Matt.4.19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
NIV.Matt.10.38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Today our quest to discover new writers took us to a small town in the UK and author Chris Jefferies, who is a retired research biologist and web developer, married with two daughters. This is both a post from his blog, Journeys of Heart and Mind, and a book excerpt from Jesus, Disciple, Ministry, Church, which you can download free at the link in the article. The title which follows is also a link, taking you to where this article first appeared.
Want to learn to follow Jesus?
The English word ‘disciple’ is rather old-fashioned these days, but it has more or less the same meaning as ‘apprentice’.
If you want to learn, here’s one way get started. Or if you are already a follower, it might be a way to go deeper – or even an aid for helping other people to do the same. Don’t worry, I’m not selling anything, and I’m not trying to get you to do anything Jesus didn’t do or anything he wouldn’t want you to do.
I’m going to show you part of a short book I wrote some years ago, with a link to the book itself as a free download. The extract follows below, and the entire thing can be read online, printed out, or downloaded as a PDF.
Becoming disciples
Becoming disciples is important because it’s the main way believers grow to be more like Jesus. It’s not a process with a beginning and an end; it’s ongoing throughout our lives. And we’re not automatically disciples simply because we have believed. Not all of the crowds who listened to Jesus or were healed by him were disciples. Only those who followed him and were greatly changed could claim to be disciples. (Matthew 4:19, Matthew 10:38)
The English word ‘disciple’ is rather old-fashioned these days, but it has more or less the same meaning as ‘apprentice’. In particular it’s all about learning to do the things that the expert is already doing, and Jesus is the expert here. Apprentices don’t just learn from books; this is a hands-on experience. At first, things will often go wrong, but apprentices get better and better by repeatedly doing something under supervision. Expect that to happen to you as Jesus’ apprentice.
Because this change is hard and takes time, Jesus put most of his effort into three years of living closely with a small band of men and women who were prepared to do much more than simply be amazed. They were utterly transformed in those three years. The fact that Jesus worked this way reveals how important making disciples was and is. He put everything he had into those few, and when he returned to the Father they were the ones he continued to work with to reach the nations and build his church. (John 17:6-23 see below) Jesus needs men and women who will become conformed to his image. They are his disciples.
The challenges for us include rejecting false gods such as consumerism, becoming more and more like Jesus, and understanding that we most effectively change by doing, not merely by thinking. Imagine an apprentice plumber who had studied all the books on plumbing but had never bent a pipe or soldered a joint.
To think about
‘We most effectively change by doing, not merely by thinking.’ Is this true in your experience? List some examples. Think about the skills involved in sport, work, music, art. Are there any areas of life in which regular practice doesn’t help?
John 17: 6-23 NIV
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Christian Reconnaissance | Lighthouse Trails Research Project
On protecting our minds and souls during a time of growing spiritual warfare
By Maria Kneas
Spiritual warfare is increasing. The spiritual atmosphere keeps getting darker. And in the world around us, we are seeing more and more evil—shameless, in-your-face evil that we never could have imagined a few years ago—rampant delusion and insanity—and widespread lawlessness that keeps increasing.
As Christians, we need to do two kinds of reconnaissance in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones and to be able to be effective in doing practical things to resist this evil.
The first kind of reconnaissance needed is the obvious one of studying the enemy—its strengths and weaknesses, its strategies, and its practical tactics. Plus identifying its enablers.
The second kind is something we can easily overlook because we have become distracted by looking at the enemy and the damage it is doing—and because we have become war weary. Daniel 7:25 talks about how the enemy of our souls—Satan—”shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High.”)
We need to study ourselves in order to see if there are any ways the enemy can readily get at us. Do we have vulnerabilities? Do we have a soft underbelly or an Achilles heel? Because if we do, then the enemy can harm us. And that will cause problems not only for us, but also for people we love.
Blind Spots
The Bible warns us about some things for which we need to watch out. I’m only mentioning a few here, but there are others as well. We need to be on guard for all of them. In addition, we can ask God to cleanse our hearts. Psalm 19:12 says, “Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.”
Because of that Scripture passage, every day I ask God to deal with my blind spots—with the problems I have of which I’m not aware (or maybe only partially aware of). I ask the Lord to give me “ears to hear” what He is saying to me, to make me willing and able to see what He wants me to see, and to make me willing and able to do whatever He wants me to do.
With the way the world keeps getting more and more evil and insane, all of us have to deal with fear, anger, and discouragement. All those are natural responses to being faced with evil, especially when it sometimes seems to be overwhelming.
For me, personally, the primary problem is fear. (But sometimes I get quite angry.) For strong men, the primary problem is likely to be anger. (But they also have to deal with fear and discouragement.) For some people, the primary problem is discouragement.
When discouragement hits, it’s good to remind ourselves that God is willing and able to keep us going until our tour of duty, so to speak, is over. We are weak but Almighty God can enable us to be faithful soldiers. God can give us the strength, courage, and faithfulness we need to be able to do that.
Of course, we all have other ways the enemy of our souls can get to us. Weaknesses. And blind spots. And areas of vulnerability. And we all get war weary. Therefore, it’s good to keep asking God to deliver us from these areas of weakness and vulnerability—to make us aware of them and show us how to overcome them, to make us be strong enough to keep on fighting, and to enable us to fight effectively.
What Satan Means for Evil . . .
When it comes to dealing with fear and discouragement, it helps to keep remembering eternity. Our time down here on Earth is so brief compared to eternity.
While we are here on Earth, time seems to go by slowly. But remember what the apostle Paul said:
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17)
Remember who talked about a “light affliction” that was only “for a moment.” This is the apostle Paul who was beaten, stoned and left for dead, thrown into a Roman prison, betrayed, shipwrecked, had times of extreme hunger, and was attacked by mobs.
Now let’s put that in terms of us, personally, here in modern North America. If some horribly evil people do something terrible to us, the worst they can do is to cause temporary suffering and death. But if we are in Christ (born again, saved), then we will be in Heaven with Jesus, rejoicing for all eternity. And the same applies to the people we love who have put their trust in the Lord.
There are no exceptions to Romans 8:28. God promised to make all things work out for the good of those who love Him. Therefore, no matter what anybody does to us, if we love God, then eventually we will look back at what happened to us and be grateful that we went through it because of the good God brought out of it.
A good example of this is what happened to Joseph in Egypt. When his brothers sold him as a slave, they meant it for evil; but God used it for good. And God brought great good out of all of the suffering that Joseph went through. Not only for Joseph but for his entire family—and for multitudes of people in Egypt.
When dealing with anger, it helps to remember what the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:12:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Remember that many of these seriously evil people are literally demon possessed, or else they are being controlled by (or heavily influenced by) evil men and women who are possessed. Either way, they are being used by puppet masters. Our real enemy is the devil. Not the puppets.
It also helps to remember Romans 12:19. The apostle Paul said:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Now that does not mean letting evil people get away with doing evil. We can fight them and their agenda tooth and nail. But at the same time, we can do that without hating them or trying to get revenge.
In Matthew 5:44, Jesus told us:
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
How in the world can we do that with people who are as wicked as George Soros, for example? Here are some things that help me do it:
1. We don’t know how they got that way. They may have been tormented and deceived and deluded since childhood. They may be possessed by demons.
2. Obviously, they don’t deserve love and prayer, but neither do I. Because of my sins, I deserve to go to Hell. But in spite of that, Jesus loves me, and He forgave me. Therefore, I should show my love and gratitude to Jesus by obeying Him.
3. The one thing I can do for horribly wicked people is to pray for their salvation. In so doing, I’m being faithful to Jesus’ commandment to “love,” “bless,” “do good,” and “pray” for my enemies.
4. Jesus paid a terrible price in order to enable those people to experience salvation. And Jesus should get what He paid for. Therefore, I can pray for their salvation for the sake of Jesus—because I love Jesus, and I want Jesus to get what He paid for.
5. Forgiving is a way of showing loyalty to Jesus. It’s a way of showing Jesus that my love for Him is more important than my anger at those horrible people—that my relationship with Jesus is more important than my feelings about those people.
Righteous Anger?
The Bible gives us an important warning about anger. There can be righteous anger—we see that when Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers in the Temple. However, because of our sin nature, even our most righteous anger isn’t one hundred percent righteous. And over time, it can gradually morph into becoming unrighteous. Therefore, long-term anger can give the devil ways of getting at us. Only God is holy enough for His anger to be one hundred percent righteous—and have it remain totally righteous.
Here is what the apostle Paul told us in Ephesians 4:26-27:
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
Some translations use the term “place,” but others say “opportunity.” The Greek word is topos and can mean place, situation, or opportunity. In military terms, that would be a beachhead—a place from which to launch an attack.
Here is something the apostle Peter said, which applies to fear, anger, and discouragement and any other kind of emotion. In 1 Peter 5:8, he said:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
Webster’s “1828 Dictionary” gives five definitions of the word “sober.” One of them is, “Regular; calm; not under the influence of passion; as sober judgment; a man in his sober senses.”
If we become overwhelmed by any kind of emotion, that can impair our judgment. It can make us less vigilant because we have become preoccupied by our feelings. And that can give the devil (and his minions) an opportunity to get at us.
Forgiving
Jesus told us to forgive. In Matthew 6:14-15, He said:
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Jesus said that immediately after giving the disciples the Lord’s Prayer.
Obviously, forgiving is very important to Jesus. That’s a problem, because sometimes it can be very difficult to do. I know a woman who had to forgive the drunk driver who killed her son. And Corrie ten Boom had to forgive the Nazi guards who tormented her and her sister Betsy in a German concentration camp, where Betsy died.
There have been times in my life when I was hurt so deeply that it was very difficult to even want to try to forgive those people. I had to start out by asking God to make me be willing and able to forgive. Here are some things that have helped me forgive when it was difficult:
1. Jesus told me that because He forgave me, I should forgive other people. That includes people who have done harmful things to me and to people I love. I should forgive them. However, that does not mean allowing them to keep on doing harmful things. I can forgive the person and at the same time protect myself and my loved ones.
2. If I don’t forgive, then I am disobeying Jesus. I am rebelling against Him. How can I say that Jesus is my Lord and Savior if I refuse to try to obey Him?
3. If I don’t forgive, then I have given my anger toward that person priority over my love for Jesus. That is a form of idolatry. It is putting my feelings about somebody above the Lord.
4. Doing what Jesus tells me to do is a way of showing love and loyalty to Him. Therefore, I try to forgive out of loyalty to Jesus – and love for Jesus – and the desire to obey Jesus, who is my Lord and my Master. I want to be his “good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
5. When it’s really difficult, then I ask Jesus to make me be willing to forgive. With Corrie ten Boom, for her it was so difficult that her starting point was to ask Jesus to make her be willing to be willing to forgive. The point is to move in the right direction, as much as we are able to.
Working All Things Out
We are living in challenging times. But God knew when we should be born. And He has work for us to do here and now.
God is faithful, and He loves us. And His power is beyond our comprehension. Almighty God created the universe, and He holds it together with the Word of His power.
God’s love, power, wisdom, and faithfulness have no limits. Therefore, no matter what happens to us, because we love God, He will make it work out for our long-term good. And when we get to Heaven, then we will look back and be grateful for everything we went through because of the good that God brought out of it.
Photo from istockphoto.com; used with permission.
5 Things Science Cannot Explain (but Theism Can)
The universe is precisely fine-tuned so that life could appear. More than a hundred independent, hard facts about the universe have been discovered in the form of basic constants of nature or arbitrary physical magnitudes which are, scientifically speaking, brute facts and for which there is no further scientific explanation (e.g., the force of gravity in the universe, the charge of an electron, the rest mass of a proton, the rate of expansion resulting from the Big Bang). What blows the minds of so many is that, if any single one of these—much less all one hundred!—had been slightly larger or smaller on the order of a billionth of a percentage point or more, then no life could have appeared in the universe. The universe is a razor’s edge of precisely balanced life-permitting conditions.
The Limits of Science and Danger of Scientism
The heart of scientism is the conviction that science can explain virtually everything. If there is not a valid scientific explanation for an event or state, then that is not properly an object of our knowledge. In reality, though, there are many things that science cannot explain. And the problem is not that we lack sufficient data—the problem is that these are the sorts of things that science cannot explain, even in principle. Moreover, these things are items that we know to be true. What makes all of this especially interesting is that theism can explain them.
Let’s look at five things that theism can explain but science cannot.
1. Science Cannot Explain the Origin of the Universe
For at least three reasons, science cannot—even in principle—explain the origin of the universe.
First, science explains one aspect of the universe by appealing to another aspect of the universe, often by connecting the two by subsuming them under a law of nature. For example, we explain the formation of water by appealing to the chemical properties of hydrogen and oxygen, along with some energy-releasing event that caused the two to come together according to these chemical properties. We explain the death of the dinosaurs by appealing to different catastrophic events. In all cases of scientific explanation, one already has to have a universe in existence before scientific explanation, initial conditions, laws of nature, and so forth have something to which they can apply. Scientific explanations presuppose the universe in order for those explanations to be employed in the first place. Thus, a scientific explanation cannot be used to explain the very thing (the universe) that must exist before scientific explanation can get off the ground.
Second, scientific explanations apply to ongoing temporal states or changes of states (both are events) of various things according to relevant laws. The moving of the continents, the formation of the solar system, the development of life, the decay of uranium into lead are all events or changes of state that are explained by other events and laws that connect the events. The ongoing event of a gas retaining its pressure at constant volume is explained by the gas’s retaining its temperature according to the ideal gas law.
And so scientific explanation presupposes time (events are temporal episodes, and no sense can be given to the idea of a timeless event) and the reality of events. Two things follow from this. For one thing, science will never be able to explain the first event (the beginning of the universe) because to do so, it would have to appeal to a prior event and a law connecting them. But in this case, the origin of the universe would no longer be the first event; the prior explanatory event would be. But then, to explain this first event, one would need to postulate another prior event, and a vicious regress ensues.
For another thing, since scientific explanations tie one event to another via a law, such explanations presuppose time for those laws to be applicable. Thus, again, science cannot explain the origin of the very thing (time) that must exist before scientific explanations can be proffered in the first place.
Third, coming-into-existence is not a process but an instantaneous occurrence. Consider the process of walking into a room. One starts completely outside the room, then one is 20% into the room, then 30%, and so on, as one passes through the entrance. Finally, one is 100% in the room. But coming into existence from nothing is not a process. It is not as though the entity in question starts off being 100% nonexistent, then is 90% nonexistent and so on until it is 100% existent. Remember, by “90% nonexistent” I don’t mean that 10% of the entity fully exists and 90% is completely nonexistent. Rather, I mean that the entire entity is 10% real. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that notions like 90% nonexistent are incoherent.
Something either does or does not exist. Period. It follows that, apart from the creative activity of God, there can be in principle no reason, no explanation for why one thing—say, the universe—popped into existence as opposed to another thing— a Honda Civic, a bass’s backbone, one half of Mount Everest, or a pair of chicken wings. Science can only be applied to transitions of one thing into another, but coming into existence is not a transition; it is, as it were, a point action or instantaneous event. So science cannot in principle explain the coming-into-existence of the universe from nothing.
2. Science Cannot Explain the Origin of the Fundamental Laws of Nature
Not all laws of nature are equally fundamental. Some can be derived from others. For example, Newton’s first law of motion (an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force) builds on Galileo’s concept of inertia (the tendency of matter to resist change in velocity; objects do not spontaneously change their velocities, which will remain constant unless acted upon by friction).
However, such derivations cannot continue indefinitely. There must be—and it is widely agreed that there are—fundamental or foundational laws of nature. But the existence and precise nature of these laws cannot be explained by science, since all scientific explanation presupposes them. As far as scientific explanation is concerned, these foundational laws are simply brute givens to be used to explain other things scientifically but which themselves cannot be explained scientifically.
So, how do we explain the existence and nature of these laws? Where did they come from? There are two major options here: (1) take them as unexplainable, brute entities, or (2) provide a theistic explanation. For many thinkers, myself included, the “unexplainable-brute-entity” option is not a good one. Since the actual brute entity might not have existed, we naturally seek an explanation as to why the contingent entity exists instead of not existing. And the fundamental laws of nature are contingent realities—after all, it is easy to conceive of worlds that have different fundamental laws of nature. So why does our world contain certain fundamental laws instead of others?
This seems like a perfectly permissible question, but some atheists reject the question on the grounds that it assumes The Principle of Sufficient Reason, which either begs the question (the only reason to believe it is if one already believes in God) or is just a brute principle that atheists are free to reject. The principle has different formulations, but one is this: For every contingent existent, there is a sufficient explanation for why it exists as opposed to not existing.
Theists have responded that the Principle of Sufficient Reason does not, in fact, presuppose the existence of God, and they insist that it is a rational principle that stands behind and justifies the human quest for explanations of why certain things exist and are what they are.
The atheist seems to be committing the informal taxicab fallacy. This fallacy occurs when someone hops into a principle or system of reason and uses that principle until he no longer likes the implication of the principle (or system), whereupon he hops out of the principle (or system) and stops using it. Applied to our discussion, we use the principle of sufficient reason all the time (e.g., when your car breaks down, your mechanic assumes there is a reason for why the engine exists in a bad way as opposed to existing in the way it should, so he tries to find that reason), and it has proven itself over and over again. But when we apply the principle of sufficient reason to the existence of the fundamental laws of nature (or, indeed, to the contingency of the universe we live in), the atheist rather arbitrarily stops using the principle because it most naturally yields a theistic explanation. He or she then jumps out of the taxicab.
3. Science Cannot Explain the Fine-Tuning of the Universe
What do we mean by fine-tuning?1 Our universe contains various constants (like the gravitational constant G in Newton’s law of gravity: F=G(m1m2/r2) and certain arbitrary physical quantities (such as the specific low entropy R2 level in the universe—the amount of disorder or useful energy to do work in the universe) that are not determined by the laws of nature but, as far as science is concerned, are brute facts that are just there.2
“Give Me Neither Poverty Nor Riches” — 7 Things the Book of Proverbs Teaches Us About Money | Blog – Beautiful Christian Life
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.
When my grandmother sold her 1976 Toyota Corona in 1996, the sun visors and doors were still covered with the protective plastic from the factory. The car’s original green paint was brilliant and immaculate, and it had been serviced within an inch of its life. In fact, when it rained Grandma had to go out with raincoat and umbrella because Grandad didn’t want to risk rusting their beautiful car.
It wasn’t just the car. Grandma only ever owned one electric toaster, a 1948 wedding present. It had flip down doors on either side, and you had to manually turn the bread. She only ever used one carving knife the one her blacksmith grandfather had repurposed, using forge and hammer from a worn-out steel file in the early 1900s.
In her last years, in the blazing Perth summers, she still cooled herself using a damp towel and electric fan, reluctant to waste electricity on her perfectly good split-system air conditioner.
Grandma was born in 1926, and so she lived her girlhood through the Great Depression. Her family had no car or cart, and they traveled by foot or bus. Her father, a school master, supplemented the family table by hunting rabbits. Her mother had to sell her beloved piano to buy food: “We ate the piano,” Grandma would sometimes say. Butter was scarce, and drippings on bread with salt and pepper made a frequent meal. (Dripping was the fat from a cooked roast, collected into used tins.) Grandma, like just about every other Australian in the 1930s, had to live frugally, and she never lost those childhood habits. She treasured and looked after every possession.
How different my life has been. I have had many cars, and I haven’t looked after any of them especially well. Cheap electric appliances come and go. My worn-out clothes are discarded instead of repaired. Every now and then we have to clear uneaten leftovers out of the fridge. If it’s cold, we put on the heater without much thought.
By any standard of history and place, the Australian middle class enjoys spectacular wealth. And with wealth comes wastage, greed, forgetfulness of the poor, pride, a sense of entitlement, and spiritual apathy.
These are not small dangers. And so we turn urgently to God’s word for help and guidance. Here are seven things the book of Proverbs teaches us about poverty and wealth, riches and want.
1. Wealth comes from the Lord.
“The blessing of the LORD brings wealth” (Prov. 10:22). If God is sovereign, if he governs all creation, then both riches and poverty come ultimately from him. Poor and barren Hannah recognized this: “The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts” (1 Sam. 2:7; Scripture quotes from NIV version unless otherwise noted). And Moses warned rich Israelites never to forget this:
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deut. 8:17)
Godliness and riches are linked: “Humility is the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life” (Prov. 22:4). Psalm 112 concurs:
Praise the Lord.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
who find great delight in his commands.
Their children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever. (Ps. 112:1-3)
In a fallen world, however, the correlation is far from robust. The godly can be destitute (like Hannah, Job in his trials, Elijah, and Mary), and the godless can be rich (like Pharaoh, Nabal, Darius, and the glutton who pretended Lazarus didn’t exist). The rich should not presume that God smiles on them, nor should the poor assume that he frowns on them.
2. The Lord normally bestows wealth by hard work, frugality, and saving.
“Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow” (Prov. 13:11). “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Prov. 14:23). “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” (Prov. 21:5).
And so indolent epicureans tend to impoverish themselves: “He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich” (Prov. 21:17). “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty” (Prov. 28:19).
Some will inherit the benefits of the hard work, frugality, and saving of others. “Houses and wealth are inherited from parents” (Prov. 19:14a). The godly will want this for their children: “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous” (Prov. 13:22). A patrimony does not however come without its dangers: “An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end” (Prov. 20:21).
3. Greed is evil.
Gordon Gecko, the fictional Wall Street swindler, urged that “greed is good.” Scripture urges instead that greed is godless. The greedy fall easy prey to “get rich by corruption, stinginess, and bribery” schemes: “A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live” (Prov. 15:27). “He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty” (Prov. 22:16). “A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. To show partiality is not good—yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread. A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him” (Prov. 28:20-22).
Ill-gotten gain must ultimately harm: “The wages of the righteous bring them life, but the income of the wicked brings them punishment” (Prov. 10:16). “A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper” (Prov. 28:25). The New Testament concurs, not because it says that “money is the root of all evil,” because it doesn’t. It does, however, say that “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1Tim. 6:10), and “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have” (Heb. 13:5).
When it comes to money, this is the wisest and godliest prayer:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Prov. 30:8-10)
And so we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).
4. It is important to save during rich times for lean times.
The wise know, like Joseph in Egypt, that there are seasons of plenty and leanness, and to save during plenty. “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has” (Prov. 21:20). Saved wealth can thus defend us through hard times: “The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor” (Prov. 10:15-16). The wise are hard-working ants, who store food in summer for the barren winter. The sluggard’s short-sighted penchant for sleep leaves him exposed (Prov. 6:6-11).
Our government makes retirement funding compulsory, so that we will have something to live off when we can no longer work. It says much about human nature that we must be forced to do this.
5. Money does not buy happiness.
The fact that all history proves this doesn’t mean that we don’t stop trying. But Proverbs concurs, the fattest bank balance cannot smother the pain of strife. “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred” (Prov. 15:17). “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife” (Prov. 17:1).
Thus, clamoring for wealth is a fool’s pastime: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Prov. 23:4-5).
6. Riches can bring arrogance.
If money can’t buy happiness, it can buy hubris. That’s because, as a rule, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7). And so “A poor man pleads for mercy, but a rich man answers harshly” (Prov. 18:23). However, “A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him” (Prov. 28:11). And we must always remember that “rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all” (Prov. 22:2).
7. Many things are much more important than wealth.
First, wisdom and knowledge. “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her” (Prov. 3:13-15). And so Lady Wisdom urges, “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her … My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver” (Prov. 8:10-11, 19). “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!” (Prov. 16:16).
Second, good words. “Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel” (Prov. 20:15). Third, a good reputation. “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (Prov. 22:1). Fourth, good friends. “Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man’s friend deserts him” (Prov. 19:4). Fifth, a gracious wife. “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies” (Prov. 31:10). Sixth, and above all, righteousness. “Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse” (Prov. 28:6).
If money cannot buy happiness, far less can it buy salvation and life. It is God’s righteousness, not wealth, that turns the key of heaven’s gates. “Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death … Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf” (Prov. 11:4, 28).
Jesus had much to say about money.
Unlike our forebears, people today flounder in a sea of greed, materialism, and waste. Christians included. A bad attitude to money is a constant temptation. We must listen carefully to the words of Jesus in Proverbs on money, and we must also listen to the words of the incarnate Jesus on money: for he knew its power and danger, and had very much to say about it:
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16:13 KJV)
Mammon was a Canaanite word that referred to “food, maintenance, and provisions,” and Jesus uses it to personify wealth as a rival god. Why did the Pharisees sneer when they heard this? Because they “loved money” (Luke 16:14).
In the Parable of the Sower, it is life’s “riches and pleasures” that strangle the seed (Luke 8:14). It was the greed of the younger son that caused him to despise his father’s house, and God himself (Luke 15:11-13). The rich young ruler, like the monkey grasping the banana in the gourd, couldn’t let go of his money to take hold of Jesus and salvation (Matt. 19:21-22). Riches are so powerful a temptation that Jesus went so far as to say:
Jesus looked at him and said,
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:24-25)
How will the godly use money? Jesus said,
“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:9)
Money must be our slave, not our lord. Instead of being strangled by it in luxury, we master it and use it for acts of mercy and kingdom growth. Then instead of barring us from heaven, our mammon will win us a warm welcome from those who have been helped by its godly use. So, finally,
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:33-34)
Related Articles:
- Want Abundant Life? It Only Grows on the Solid Rock (the Third Day of Creation)
- 8 Ways Money Might Be Your Idol
- 12 Reasons Why Work Is Good
- 10 Essential Lessons about Money from the Book of Proverbs
Recommended:
Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World by Michael Horton
This article was originally published at Beautiful Christian Life under the title, “‘Give Me neither Poverty nor Plenty’ — 7 Things the Book of Proverbs Teaches Us About Money.”
Truth2Freedom's Blog 