There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
John MacArthur to Ben Shapiro: ‘Biblical Morality’ Resonates With People’s Hearts
L: Ben Shapiro. R: John MacArthur. Screengrabs from @DailyWire+
In a wide-ranging interview with Ben Shapiro on June 9, pastor and Bible teacher John MacArthur talked about hot-button topics such as Christian nationalism, the so-called “war on children,” and the state of churches in the United States. MacArthur, president of Grace to You, also answered questions about how to find a good church, how to minister to skeptics, and how to properly characterize Jesus.
On Sunday’s edition of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” the editor emeritus of the Daily Wire spoke to MacArthur for an hour about “The Religious Decline of the West.” MacArthur, longtime pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, appeared via video. The pastor, who turns 85 next week, addressed biblical morality, wokeness, and the role of church and family in today’s culture.
Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, is a prominent conservative figure. He, like MacArthur, has made numerous controversial statements.
John MacArthur: Bible-Believing Churches Must Bear Moral Authority
During Sunday’s interview, Shapiro brought up the “devastating” effects of decreased church attendance among Americans. MacArthur cited possible factors including weak, worldly churches and the crumbling family structure.
“Many, many churches have lost their sense of transcendence,” said MacArthur. “It’s like going to a rock concert. It’s like going to a TED talk. It’s like going to hear somebody tell you you’re really a wonderful person and you can speak your own world into existence.”
“It’s psychological and sociological games,” he continued, “but it lacks…the sense of connecting with God, with finding reality in an invisible means of support beyond yourself.”
Shapiro asked how people seeking biblical truth amid that atmosphere can “determine what is a Bible-believing church that’s worth their time versus a church that maybe has a Pride progress flag hanging off the door and claims to be speaking in the name of the gospels.”
“A church that is faithful to Scripture, a synagogue that is faithful to Scripture, bears moral authority,” MacArthur responded. “It exists to say, ‘This is what the Lord has said. This is what God requires. This is divine mandate. This is the morality that leads to blessing and disobedience. And disregard for this morality leads to cursing.’”
Church attendance likely has plummeted, the pastor added, because “if you’re living in the culture that we’re living in, where you want absolute freedom to do anything you choose to do, to establish your own set of rules, your own truth, your own standards of morality, the last thing you want is to step into some place that’s going to call into question everything you’re choosing to do in your life and is going to exercise authority over you.”
At Grace Community Church, MacArthur has taken strong stands against issues such as female pastorsand pandemic-related governmental orders.
The Role of Families, Parenting and Culture
While discussing America’s move away from church and faith, MacArthur also pointed to the family unit’s “crushing disintegration.” The pastor, whose latest book is titled “The War on Children,” said many parents no longer guide their kids, essentially letting the secular culture raise them. That leads to the types of rebellion recently evident on college campuses, MacArthur said, referencing protests about the Israel-Gaza war.
“It’s easier for people to take a kid and put him on a drug than it is to turn off the cell phone,” the pastor told Shapiro. “It makes no sense.”
As ChurchLeaders has reported, MacArthur caused controversy earlier this year when he called mental illness a “major noble lie” that is told to make “Big Pharma” richer. Speaking at a conference in April, the pastor said conditions such as ADHD, OCD, and PTSD don’t exist, while medicating children who receive such diagnoses leads to “potential drug addicts.”
John MacArthur: ‘Trying To Uphold Righteousness’ Isn’t Christian Nationalism
Another hot topic MacArthur and Shapiro discussed was Christian nationalism. The pastor took issue with claims that church leaders should avoid preaching about morality. Both the Republican and Democratic parties used to have a “sociological view” and an “economic view,” MacArthur said. “There was never a moral issue.”
But then early in the 21st century, he added, “Politicians began to make their platforms moral—or immoral, from my standpoint.”
“When you start saying it’s pro-LGBTQ, it’s pro-homosexual, it’s pro-abortion, it’s pro-transgender,” said MacArthur, “everything has shifted from the economic definitions of the past into these moral issues.”
MacArthur said because he’s a Christian, he’s still addressing morality. “It just so happens that politicians have stepped into the moral world and created chaos,” said the pastor. Elected leaders “basically co-opted sin and turned it into their platform,” he added.
When Christ-followers choose politicians based on religious and moral beliefs, “that’s not Christian nationalism,” MacArthur told Shapiro. Instead, opponents use the label of Christian nationalism to keep believers “out of the public discourse” and make them “the enemy,” said the pastor. “That’s where secularism takes you.”
MacArthur insisted that Christians and Christian voters aren’t “trying to take over the United States. We’re just trying to uphold righteousness.”
John MacArthur: Jesus Proclaimed Judgment
On the topic of who Jesus is and what he came to do, Shapiro said today’s culture has made Jesus into a “bizarre pacifist” and a “namby-pamby androgynous creation.” MacArthur pointed out that Jesus was killed not for being “so kind and generous and compassionate” but for exposing “the hypocrisy of the religion of the Jews.”
People who refuse God’s offers of forgiveness and salvation will “come under divine judgment,” said the pastor. “That’s the real Jesus.” MacArthur also emphasized that the Bible is factual, that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, and that eyewitnesses testified about his resurrection from the dead.
When Shapiro asked how MacArthur encourages people to believe the gospel message, the pastor replied, “Read the Bible. Just read the Bible. It has the ring of truth. It defends itself.”
The pastor compared Scripture to a lion, saying, “You don’t defend it. You don’t defend the lion. You open the cage and let it out. It’ll be okay. And the Scripture is like that. But it’s like that even morally. There’s something in the heart of people that resonates with biblical morality.”
This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on December 4, 2022 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL and is a part of his sermon series on Romans: The Grace of God in the Gospel.
Many evil forces have infiltrated the world and the church in the last 100 years, forming a demonic agenda. Ken Mikle, Josh Schwartz and their guest, David Fiorazo, discuss how this happened and today’s results. This further sets the end-time stage.
CRN has compiled a list of professing Christians to keep an eye on. The list contains churches, movements, organizations, groups, pseudo-Christian cults, heretics, apostates, false teachers, “frauds, phonies and money-grubbing religious quacks” that you’ll want tomark and avoidas per Romans 16:17-18 which says: I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
Paul warns in Galatians 1:7, “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” People who pervert the gospel will pay dearly. Here’s what false teachers are in for: “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”Galatians 1:9
Jude also deals with false teachers: “They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.”Jude 11
InMatthew 7:15-20the Lord Jesus gave His followers fair warning that we would recognize phonies by their fruits: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
See a list of NAR wolves and their organizationshere
See a list of leaders in the Emergent/Emergence/Emerging Church movement here
Jesus Calling Endorsers
Bud Ahlheim put together a list of several high-profile Christians who’ve endorsed the best-selling book Jesus Calling. The thing that’s most troubling about any Christian who touts Jesus Calling is that doing so indicates a lack of spiritual discernment. The author, Sarah Young, claims that she hears directly from Jesus Christ and “with pen in hand” she wrote down the words of the “Jesus” she channels….and then she shared this nonsense in a book. Tim Challies cautioned: “Jesus Calling makes the boldest, gutsiest, and, to my mind, most arrogant claim of any book ever to be considered Christian.” Here’s Bud’s list – some of these folks may surprise you:
Max Lucado, “Pastor and Bestselling Author” Mark Batterson, Pastor and author of another book of heresy, The Circle Maker Melinda Gates, Wife of a billionaire Roma Downey, Catholic Hollywood Mystic and Filmmaker Rev. James Martin, SJ, Jesuit Priest Shauna Niequist, “Bestselling Author of ‘Bread and Wind’ and ‘Savor’” O.S. Hawkins, “Author of the Bestselling ‘The Joshua Code’ and ‘The Jesus Code’” Dr. Jack Graham, “Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church, Dallas, TX” Sheila Walsh, “Bestselling Author and Speaker” Johnny Hunt, “Pastor, First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA” Dr. & Mrs. Richard Lee, “Speaker for the Award-Winning ‘There’s Hope In America’ Television Series” Kathie Lee Gifford, “Host of the ‘Today Show’, Author, Singer, and Actress” Delilah, “Nationally Syndicated Radio Personality, Author, and Songwriter” Robert J. Morgan, “Pastor of The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, TN” Robert Morris, “Founding Senior Pastor of Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas” Gretchen Carlson, “Television Commentator and Author” Ainsley Earhardt, “Co-host ‘Fox & Friends First’” Sean Lowe, “ABC Television’s ‘The Bachelor’ and Author of ‘For The Right Reasons’” Charlie Daniels, “Award-Winning Country Music Superstar” Jimmy Wayne, “Country Artist and Bestselling Author of ‘A Walk To Beautiful’” Diana Hobbs, “President and CEO, ‘Empowering Everyday Women’ Magazine Katie Farrell, ‘Popular Blogger of ‘Dashing Dish’” Mike Reed, “Senior Vice President, Salem Media Group’ Scott Sauls, “Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville” Janet Hunt, “First Lady, First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA” Diane Strack, “Author of ‘New Start For Single Moms’” Josh Warren, “CEO, Purpose Driven Communications” Rev. Bob Fuguay, “Author, Senior Pastor at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Indianapolis” Anne Wright, “Wife of Johnson Ferry Baptist Senior Pastor, Bryant Wright” Emily Ley, “Founder of Emily Ley Lifestyle Brand” James Robison, “Host of ‘Life Today,’ Founder of Life Outreach International & The Stream Website” Reba McEntire, “Bestselling Author, Artist and Actress” Linda Leathers, “Chief Executive Officer, The Next Door” Dr. Cindy Ryan, “Pastor, Writer, Speaker and Blogger” Mike Gallagher, “Host of Salem Radio Network’s Mike Gallagher Show” Kristin Chenoweth, “Emmy and Tony Award-Winning Actress and Singer” Phil Keaggy, “Guitarist, GMA Dove Award Winner, Grammy Award Nominee” Lyn Mettler, “Writer and Blogger”
The list is sourced from the promotional website JesusCalling.com. (The site removed the endorsements. Here are the endorsements as well as what the endorsers wrote over at Christianbook.com.)
There is a biblical mandate for calling out false teachers, or “naming names”:
You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 2 Tim 1:15
…holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. 1 Tim 1:19-20
For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 2 Tim 4:10
…and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 2 Tim 2:17
Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 2 Peter 2:15
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. 2 John 9-11
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:25-28
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – Theological Liberalism: The Classic Collection with R.C. Sproul — We are living in a day when liberal theology has made deep inroads in the church. Many professing Christians and even ordained ministers no longer believe in the authority of Scripture or the resurrection of Jesus Christ. How can people deny these essential doctrines and still call themselves Christians? In this message, Dr. Sproul explains that liberal Christianity is not Christianity at all. It is nothing more than unbelief.
1 Kings 12:24 — Interestingly, if they had only obeyed God earlier, they wouldn’t have had to assemble for war.
1 Kings 12:26-27 — Poor Jeroboam! Ahijah promised Jeroboam that if he would obey the LORD (1 Kings 11:38), the LORD would guarantee the kingdom. Ahijah promised him the kingdom before he was a king, but the promise of the LORD wasn’t enough. Instead, he “created” a sin that lasted for hundreds of years (1 Kings 12:30). All because of unnecessary fear.
1 Kings 13:2 — God cared so much that He sent a prophet to prophesy His judgment on the apostasy. Interestingly, Josiah would not be born for another 300 years. This is more significant than Isaiah 44:28 – it was just 100 years in advance.
1 Kings 13:6 — Jeroboam just wanted temporary healing, not permanent repentance.
1 Kings 13:18 — We feel the LORD was unjust for punishing the man of God and not the old prophet. But a man of God must be discerning. Gideon was fearful and questioned God’s greetings (Judges 6:13), command (Judges 6:15), promise (Judges 6:17), and asked for multiple signs (Judges 6:36 and 39). If God had changed His directions to the man of God, the man of God could have asked for a sign.
1 Kings 13:33 — The danger is thinking that ministry is something that is just a wish, not a God-given desire (1 Timothy 3:1). This desire comes from delighting in the LORD (Psalm 37:4).
Acts 9:27 — God is pleased with those who intercede to make peace between His followers.
Acts 9:38 — Oh, to inspire the admiration that Dorcas had! People wanted her alive again! It reminds me of the funeral where the husband, Herman, was being remembered, and as they took out the casket, the pallbearers bumped the door. All of a sudden they heard a groaning. The bump had woken the presumably dead husband out of his paralyzed comatose state. Several years passed, and the husband was taken up for dead once again. After the funeral as the pallbearers took up the casket, the wife urgently yelled out to them, “Watch the door this time!” Be a Dorcas, not a Herman.
Psalm 132:12 — The Davidic Covenant was unconditional (2 Samuel 7:16). But the descendant covenant was conditional as we see here. Jeremiah 22:30 shows how the curse of Jeconiah was warned against in our passage here.
Proverbs 17:6 — Like the grandparent said, “If I had known grandchildren were so much fun, I would have had them first!”
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.
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (Genesis 17:7)
O Lord, Thou hast made a covenant with me, Thy servant, in Christ Jesus my Lord; and now, I beseech Thee, let my children be included in its gracious provisions. Permit me to believe this promise as made to me as well as to Abraham. I know that my children are born in sin and shapen in iniquity, even as those of other men; therefore, I ask nothing on the ground of their birth, for well I know that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh” and nothing more. Lord, make them to be born under Thy covenant of grace by Thy Holy Spirit!
I pray for my descendants throughout all generations. Be Thou their God as Thou art mine. My highest honor is that Thou hast permitted me to serve Thee; may my offspring serve Thee in all years to come. O God of Abraham, be the God of his Isaac! O God of Hannah, accept her Samuel!
If, Lord, Thou hast favored me in my family, I pray Thee remember other households of Thy people which remain unblest. Be the God of all the families of Israel. Let not one of those who fear Thy name be tried with a godless and wicked household, for Thy Son Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
Hamas Leader: We Have Israel ‘Right Where We Want Them’ The Wall Street Journal has obtained dozens of text messages sent by the Hamas military leader in Gaza, and they reveal what the newspaper describes as a “cold disregard for human life” on the part of Yahya Sinwar. He calls civilian deaths “necessary sacrifices” in the context of national-liberation battles.
Doctors Sign Declaration Calling For The ‘Immediate Stop’ Of Gender Procedures For Children There have been numerous reports over the years that have found that “gender affirming care” is not based in scientific fact and is harmful for those who partake in it — especially children. However, two recent factors have served to significantly increase the urgency of those calling for an end to gender transition procedures. In May, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) files were leaked, which “revealed that the clinicians who shape how ‘gender medicine’ is regulated and practiced around the world consistently violate medical ethics and informed consent.”
IDF operation near Jenin: Four terrorists eliminated, weapons confiscated Special IDF forces, with the direction of Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) intelligence, on Tuesday evening conducted a counterterror activity in the area of Kafr Dan, a Palestinian Arab village located northwest of Jenin. During exchanges of fire with the terrorists, the soldiers eliminated four terrorists and injured additional ones.
Kremlin Says Russia and Iran Continuing Work on Cooperation Pact Moscow and Tehran are continuing their work on a comprehensive bilateral cooperation agreement, although the schedule of specific events may shift, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, adding Russia intended to develop ties with Iran.
Israelis on front lines say Biden’s peace plan is forcing them to fight forever war Joe Biden has admonished Israelis to stop waging “indefinite war” and embrace his plan for Middle East peace. But more than half a dozen war-weary Israeli reserve soldiers from across the country told the Washington Free Beacon that Biden’s diplomacy is actually dragging out the Gaza war he is pressing Israel to bring to an end.
Nations that stand with Israel in our day In the last days, a great antisemitism is prophesied to rise to oppose Israel in the nations. Jerusalem is predicted to be at the center of contention among the nations: “When all the nations of the earth gather against her. In that day, I will make Yerushalayim a stone for all the peoples to lift; all who lift it shall injure themselves.” (Zechariah 12:3)
A rundown of EU Parliament election results and how it could affect Israel The elections to the European Union Parliament have ended, and what we see in the preliminary results is a stronger conservative block, more immigration skepticism, a weakened socialism and an epic crash for environmentalism. How will this shape the coming five years, the EU’s relationship with Israel, and the war in Ukraine? Let’s break it down.
IDF strikes strategic Hezbollah compound in north Lebanon amid incessant drone attacks on northern Israel The Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out possibly its deepest strike in Lebanon yet, as Hezbollah continued its incessant attacks on northern Israel throughout Monday and Tuesday morning, while also shooting down an IDF drone over Lebanese territory. The IDF strike on a strategic compound in northern Lebanon was prompted by Hezbollah’s fifth successful downing of an Israeli drone.
Jury Convicts Hunter Biden on All Gun Charges Hunter Biden has been found guilty on all three federal gun charges he faced in Delaware, reports the AP. The jury in his case delivered the verdict Tuesday morning after deliberating about three hours. Jurors found Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days. (At that point, his girlfriend—his late brother’s widow—found it and threw it in a public trash can.) The stakes: President Biden’s son faces up to 25 years in prison
Researchers Say There’s a Vulgar But More Accurate Term for AI Hallucinations In a new paper published in the journal Ethics and Information Technology, a trio of philosophy researchers from the University of Glasgow in Scotland argue that referring to chatbot’s propensity to make crap up shouldn’t be referred to as “hallucinations,” because it’s actually something much less flattering. As we have pointed out, they are not trying to convey information at all. They are B.S.ing.” (lying)
Egypt sets hottest June day in African history; historic heatwave hits Cyprus Aswan in Egypt recorded 50.9 °C (123.6 °F) on June 7, 2024, setting the highest reliable temperature ever recorded in Egypt and the hottest June day in African history. On the same day, Cyprus experienced its hottest June day ever with temperatures hitting 44 °C (111 °F), breaking its record for the second time this month.
Flash floods in Albuquerque arroyos result in one fatality, New Mexico One person was killed and two others were rescued in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Sunday, June 9, 2024, after heavy rain caused flash floods in the city’s arroyo system. Flash Flood Warnings were in place at the time of the incident, with 50 – 100 mm (2 – 4 inches) of rain forecasted by the National Weather Service (NWS).
Marine Le Pen Ends the ‘Painful Globalist Era: We Are Ready to Restore the Country, Ready to Bring France Back to Life’ The winds of change are sweeping across France and Europe, as recent political developments have revealed a powerful surge in conservative sentiment. The French people have boldly voiced their dissatisfaction with the current left-wing administration and shown robust support for conservative ideals. The dissolution of the French National Assembly, announced by President Emmanuel Macron, and the recent European Parliament elections have marked a pivotal moment in the continent’s political landscape.
Dr. Clare Craig: It’s clear the covid vaccines are unsafe Dr. Clare Craig gave her testimony to the UK People’s Vaccine Inquiry. She testified that the covid injections were both unsafe and ineffective. Reviewing data from Pfizer’s trial, the ONS, ambulance callouts and long-term sickness she demonstrated that to use the word “safe” to describe covid vaccines is a lie.
Thousands join ‘Let Us Worship’ rally during Sacramento Pride While much of downtown was decorated in rainbow flags to celebrate Sacramento Pride, close to 2,000 people gathered Saturday evening for a march and concert led by Christian worship leader and former California congressional candidate Sean Feucht.
The Entire System Is Crumbling! Major Red Flags Are Popping Up For Banks, Small Businesses And Retailers If the economy is fine, why are so many signs of trouble erupting all around us? Those that keep insisting that the U.S. economy is heading in the right direction conveniently ignore the very troubling facts and figures that I regularly share with my readers. When you take an honest look at the cold, hard numbers that the economy keeps producing, there is only one logical conclusion. Our entire system is crumbling, and it appears that conditions will soon get significantly worse.
A Russian Submarine Capable Of Launching Nuclear Missiles Just Cruised Along A Russian submarine and a Russian frigate that are both capable of nuking U.S. cities were both spotted traveling approximately 25 miles from the coast of Florida, but most of the U.S. population did not receive the message that the Russians were trying to send. By sending these warships along the coast of Florida, the Russians are warning that they will use nuclear weapons if they are pushed too far, but hardly anyone seems to care.
Another Tsunami Prophecy – When Will The American People Start Listening To The Warnings? ….When I was a child, I was shown giant tsunamis in my dreams over and over again, but at that time I had no idea what I was seeing. It was only many years later that I started to understand. As an adult, I discovered that men and women of God all over the world have been shown enormous tsunamis that will absolutely devastate the coastlines of America.
“This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take.” —Thomas Jefferson (1825)
ON THIS DAY in 1776, following Richard Henry Lee’s proposal a few days earlier, the Continental Congress appointed a committee tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence.
European voters soundly rejected mass immigration and onerous climate controls. Americans should follow suit.
Nate Jackson
They say the biggest reason to watch what happens in Europe is that it will soon happen here in America. Major European Union elections over the weekend were a huge rebuke of open borders, extreme climate controls, and cultural degradation. May it come here next.
Generally speaking, the first thing to know about Europe is that “extreme” or “radical” or “far right-wing” over there may be roughly equivalent to Sometimes-Republican Susan Collins here. Some might say it’s anything to the right of Karl Marx. Meanwhile, the socialists are called “centrists” or maybe “center-left.”
Another thing to know is that Right versus Left in Europe is more about nationalist versus globalist than it is about limited government and individual liberty versus entitlement state control. It’s also about immigration.
With that said, and knowing how American leftists misclassify and see Nazis everywhere, the American Leftmedia has gone into total hysterics about the sweeping “far-right” victories all over Europe. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and elsewhere all saw right-wing parties gain seats and power, resulting even in some resignations among the ruling left-wing elites.
In France, just after welcoming fellow left-winger Joe Biden for the D-Day festivities, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called for snap elections in light of surging support for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party and the collapse of his own. Macron didn’t do so gladly, of course. “The rise of nationalists and demagogues is a danger for our nation and for Europe,” he said. Nevertheless, “After this day, I cannot go on as though nothing has happened.”
In Germany, the right-wing AfD party took second place in Sunday’s election, while left-wing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats finished third. Leftist Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo resigned following his party’s huge defeat.
For all the high-minded talk about “democracy,” whenever leftists lose elections, they cry about the damage and threat to democracy. “Everywhere in Europe,” worried Raphaël Glucksmann, France’s lead Socialist candidate, “we are witnessing a wave that is shaking our democracy.” Americans are hardly different. Sheri Berman, professor at Columbia “We Hate Jews” University, opined, “Growing support for right-wing populists in Western Europe may not be an existential crisis for democracy currently, but it is a warning that must be taken seriously.”
According to these clowns, voters choosing “incorrectly” in relatively high-turnout elections is a threat and an existential crisis.
No wonder European voters chose right-wing parties.
One of the driving issues was climate change — or rather, the rejection of the Left’s “solutions” to it. As it turns out, voters prefer a healthy economy to a forever-distant utopian vision of a supposedly greener planet. Or, as Spanish journalist Itxu Diaz put it, “So much that is intended to save the planet simply makes life more difficult for its inhabitants.”
While subjecting economies to stifling climate regulations, the globalists also want to destroy borders and cultures in their effort to gain power and influence. Voters, on the other hand, are alarmed by the mass migration that is fundamentally changing Europe. Importing endless numbers of anti-democratic and often lawless foreigners is not a recipe for saving democracy.
The Washington Examiner editorial board summarized it this way:
Many news outlets and other political participants refer to the nationalist parties as “extreme” or “far right” but do not justify that obvious effort at denigration. The parties vary from country to country, but they share a deep unhappiness with the admission of millions of immigrants from around the world into their countries. It is not just that the immigrants get public benefits at taxpayer expense, which is expensive, nor is it simply that migrant populations are often allowed to break laws with impunity, which is grating undermines public peace. It is also that they refuse, and indeed are encouraged, to refuse to assimilate into the cultures in which they have moved to live.
In America, the old idea of a melting pot that created something uniquely American has been cast aside in favor of the mosaic — a culture in which countless identity groups vie for attention and keep score of their grievances. So it has become in Europe, which means the wave of rebuke for that way of government holds some hope for us here in the States.
Immigration was the most important issue in Germany and a close second in France. Middle Eastern Muslims have flooded into both countries in recent years, all while globalist elites lecture native Germans and French about racism and bigotry. That sounds familiar.
Ronald Reagan once warned, “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” That’s true in Joe Biden’s America, and it’s true in the globalist nightmare of Europe. Maybe that’s about to change.
Hunter Biden guilty of felony gun charges, faces 25 years in prison (NY Post)
Pelosi’s “responsibility” on J6: Newly released video shows then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi taking responsibility for inadequate security on January 6, 2021. “You’re gonna ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” Pelosi says to her chief of staff, Terri McCullough. “They thought that they had sufficient resources,” he replied. “It’s not a question of how they had … they don’t know!” Pelosi interrupted. “They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more.” Alexandra Pelosi recorded the footage as part of her HBO documentary about that day’s events, though this portion of the video was mysteriously left on the cutting room floor until House Republicans released it on Monday. In response to the release, a Pelosi spokesman huffed, “Three years later, House Republicans are still trying to whitewash January 6th. It’s shameful, unpatriotic and pathetic.”
Jerry Nadler received donation from former domestic terrorist in months following J6 (Washington Examiner)
AOC frets about going to jail: Did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commit a crime? Why else would she worry about Donald Trump sending her to prison? “I mean, it sounds nuts,” she said (naturally — because it’s her saying it), “but I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy threw me in jail. He’s out of his mind. I mean, he did his whole first campaign around ‘lock her up.’ This is his motto. I take him at his word when he says that he’s going to round up people. I take him at his word when he threatens journalists.” That is indeed one overarching problem for leftists — they take Trump literally instead of seriously. No one, by contrast, should take AOC seriously. She claimed to have nearly died in the Capitol riot, for example, when she wasn’t even in the Capitol at the time. She showed up at the border to cry in front of a fence. She’s a hysterical loon. In the meantime, there’s only one political party trying to jail political opponents, and AOC is a card-carrying member.
“Patriotic” deep-staters don’t regret Hunter laptop letter: Hunter Biden’s laptop was real, which many people knew right from the time the New York Post exposed it in October 2020. The Leftmedia and Big Tech, however, worked quickly to suppress that information, likely tilting the election in Joe Biden’s favor. Part of the disinformation push was a letter from 51 former intelligence officials declaring the laptop to be likely “Russian disinformation.” It wasn’t. In fact, it was just entered as evidence last week in Hunter Biden’s trial on three felony gun charges. Nevertheless, at least some of those intel officials are still proud of themselves. Fox News reached out to all 51 to ask them if they regretted the letter. “No,” replied former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Mark S. Zaid, an attorney representing several signatories, went much further: “Every patriotic American should have signed that letter.” Another signatory, Greg Treverton, pulled the Clintonesque “old news” canard, reiterating that “it did look like a Russian operation,” though “We didn’t, and couldn’t of course say it was a Russian operation.” Maybe, but Joe Biden called it that, citing the letter, and that influenced the election outcome.
Around the World
The UN’s Gaza ceasefire resolution: Two days after the dramatic rescue of four hostages by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the UN Security Council backed Joe Biden’s proposed ceasefire. Hamas finally jumped on board as well, which signals that it’s a lousy deal. “Today we voted for peace,” gushed U.S. ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She did add, “The fighting could stop today, if Hamas would do the same.” In other words, this war started because of Hamas, and it continues because of Hamas. The world, unfortunately, continues to look at casualty figures provided by the Gaza Health Ministry as gospel truth. It says nearly 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, with another 83,000 wounded. That makes it seem as if the IDF is the bloodthirsty terrorist organization instead of Hamas, when the opposite is true. Hamas should release the rest of its hostages, including the Americans, and maybe then the sides can talk about a ceasefire.
Rescued Israeli hostages were starved, beaten “almost every day” in Hamas captivity (NY Post)
Canada’s Parliament rocked by allegations of treason; foreign interference probe exposes links to “witting” lawmakers in Ottawa (Politico)
Around the Nation
Sick hate crime, sick person: Some crimes are so heinous and some criminals so far gone that it seems there’s little to do but plug in the electric chair. Such seems to be the case for one 32-year-old black woman, Bionca Ellis, who was arraigned yesterday on charges of brutally murdering a three-year-old white boy named Julian Wood. Totally unprovoked, Ellis allegedly approached Julian and his mother in a grocery store parking lot in Cleveland, Ohio, last week and proceeded to stab him numerous times while he rode in a shopping cart. Ellis then turned her knife on the mother, who is recovering from her wounds. Ellis, by the way, had a job with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. That was bad enough, but seeing Ellis smirk and gloat, looking straight into the camera to do it, yesterday in court should make anyone sick. It’s as if something demonic is at work, and we can only offer our prayers for Julian’s family and hope that justice is done. As his father said, “She took everything from us.”
Bizarre and awful two-tiered justice: Last week in Washington, DC, a female carjacker killed an elderly woman when she stole the latter’s car at a hospital and proceeded to crash it with her as a hostage in the front seat. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, which, by the way, was just outside the U.S. attorney’s office. Three days later, the suspect was charged by U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves. The rub? He dropped murder and kidnapping charges. Instead, the suspect faces only a charge of unarmed carjacking. Is Graves always this soft on crime? No. Not when the “criminal” is blocking an abortion clinic. Two years ago, when he threw the entire weight of the law at a grandmother praying at a clinic, he opined, “Our Constitution and laws protect many rights — to protest, to debate, to advocate for different laws. But no one is entitled to deprive other people of their civil rights. That’s a crime.” The carjacking victim was deprived of her right to life, as were the children inside that abortion clinic.
Chicago homelessness spikes: The Windy City wonderland continues to spiral out of control under Democrat “leadership.” As the city’s black residents routinely kill each other, the other major problem harming the city is the influx of migrants over Joe Biden’s open border. You see, Chicago is a sanctuary city, but that bleeding-heart policy comes with major consequences and costs. According to the left-wing NBC News, “An annual city survey released Friday — a snapshot of estimated homelessness in Chicago on a single night — found that 18,836 people were without permanent housing on Jan. 25, up from 6,139 the year before.” One city official said it “reflects an increased need for housing and homeless services.” No, it reflects an increased need for the Rule of Law, both at the border itself to stop illegal crossers and in Chicago, which does next to nothing to help locate much less deport people who aren’t here legally. Democrats have done everything possible to turn the border into a lawless crisis, and it affects even far-away places like Chicago, which is roughly 1,400 miles from the southern border.
Nearly two-thirds of registered voters support deporting all illegal immigrants (Daily Wire)
American Spirit
NASA astronaut lauds “God, family, and country”: In case you missed it, last Wednesday, astronaut and decorated Naval aviator Barry “Butch” Wilmore and former Navy officer Suni Williams became the first crew to launch on Boeing’s Starliner for the International Space Station. Moments before launch, Butch offered a few All-American words for a wide audience: “Suni and I, as we were traveling to the pad, we saw many American flags and many of you were waving flags at us. As we reached the pad, we looked up, and, of course, there’s that American flag on the side of the white room, also one on the side of the rocket itself, and we know that that represents unity and resilience and unified efforts for the common good. Each of you displaying what this nation’s forefathers envisioned: a people committed to God, family, and country. A people who use their gifts and talents for the common good and are passionate and tough.”
Misc.
Jill Biden costs taxpayers $345K to fly to Hunter’s trial (PJ Media)
Alito and Roberts secretly recorded in latest attempt to undermine Supreme Court (Washington Examiner)
Republicans prepare to fast-track tax cuts in reconciliation (The Hill)
Delray Beach held a ceremony to unveil their freshly repainted LGBT mural on the road. It had fresh tire marks the next day. (Not the Bee)
This daring and brave rescue should have been an inspiring story for our news media to celebrate. Not so for the hacks controlling the leftist rags.
Emmy Griffin
On Saturday, four Israeli hostages were rescued from two apartment buildings in Gaza. Nuseirat, where these apartment buildings were located, is ostensibly a refugee camp full of civilians. However, the apartment buildings were controlled by Hamas and full of terrorist operatives.
The rescue was a tricky operation. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raid happened in broad daylight to heighten the element of surprise. They faced enemy gunfire so intense that even the liberated hostages feared they might not survive the rescue attempt. One of the Israeli commanders, Yamam Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora, suffered several gunshot wounds and died in a hospital hours later. He was the only Israeli casualty. Hamas losses were much higher.
Hamas, of course, claims that the death toll is 274 and mostly civilians. The IDF claims that the death toll is 100, possibly less, and those it killed were attacking Israeli troops. Hamas terrorists embed themselves in a civilian population. Moreover, many “civilians” are actually Hamas sympathizers and aren’t above trying to kill any Israeli they can.
Three of the four hostages were held in the home of a journalist who had written for Al Jazeera, though the media outlet says he was a freelancer, not an employee. The journalist, Abdallah Aljamal, wrote for the Palestine Chronicle and was a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labor, a Hamas-controlled entity.
The four rescued hostages were Almog Meir Jan (21), Noa Argamani (26), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40). All four were kidnapped on October 7 from the Supernova music festival. Kozlov and Ziv were working security at the venue while Jan and Agramani were festival attenders. They had been in captivity for eight months, and their families were overjoyed at their return.
Heartbreakingly, however, Jan’s father didn’t get to see his son returned to freedom. He passed away hours before news of Jan’s liberation reached the family. Jan’s father had been suffering greatly, and each subsequent hostage negotiation failure took a heavy toll on his health. He died of grief and his heart giving out.
This daring and brave rescue should have been an inspiring story for our news media to celebrate. Not so for the hacks controlling the leftist rags.
As The Wall Street Journal explains, “The non-surprise is that professional anti-Israel voices, United Nations officials and the European Union foreign-policy chief rushed to attack Israel.”
CNN had a chyron running that claimed the four hostages were “released.” This is particularly disgusting because Hamas had nothing to do with freeing anyone; the terrorists were holding these poor people prisoners.
A BBC reporter asked a former IDF spokesperson why the IDF hadn’t given Hamas any sort of warning so that the civilians could get out. To which the former spokesman replied that Hamas would have killed the hostages and defeated the purpose of the mission.
The Washington Post ran a story whose headline lamented the supposed deaths of the 200+ Palestinians as opposed to celebrating the liberation of the four hostages. The Post used Hamas’s Ministry of Health numbers, which are likely an inflated lie. It also failed to consider the larger issue at hand: These hostages were held among the civilian population. They were imprisoned in houses in communities that probably knew the hostages were there. It raises the question again as to what really is the difference between Hamas and the “civilians” living in Gaza.
The New York Times ran a headline also lamenting the Palestinian death toll and criticizing the Israeli government instead of supporting our allies and being grateful for a victory. To put it in Democrat terms, it would be akin to lamenting the death of 200 Russians and downplaying the rescue of four Ukrainian civilians.
Sadly, it wasn’t just the Leftmedia disgracing themselves with their morally corrupt conduct. The vice president and president also made questionable moves in response to the Israeli hostage liberation.
Kamala Harris was speaking to the Michigan Democrat Party, whose state has the largest Muslim/Arab population in the U.S. Harris said in her opening remarks, “Thankfully, four of those hostages were reunited with their families tonight. And we mourn all of the innocent lives that have been lost in Gaza, including those tragically killed today.” This is clearly pandering but also disgusting and tone-deaf.
Then, on Monday, NBC broke the news that the Biden administration is contemplating negotiating with Hamas for the remaining five American hostages remaining captive in Gaza. If successful, this action would put tremendous pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire that is not in the best interest of the West or of putting a quick end to this war. There is also the question of what the Biden admin is willing to give in exchange for the hostages. What happened to the old American credo of not negotiating with terrorists?
The best responses to the Left’s moral blindness were from Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi. Cotton said, “If Gazans don’t want their people killed in hostage rescue missions, they shouldn’t take hostages in the first place.” Similarly, Harsanyi quipped, “I find that one of the best ways to avoid being blown up is to refrain from keeping hostages in your house.”
This war was started by Hamas when they killed 1,200 innocents and kidnapped another 250. It could be over tomorrow if Hamas released the hostages and surrendered. However, Hamas’s goal is to eradicate Israel. Israel’s goal is to rescue the hostages and end Hamas as a security threat. Our slanderous Leftmedia and pandering White House are playing politics against our allies against our own interests. It’s a disgusting display of moral cowardice.
Joe Biden makes it look like he’s easing off of onerous regulations in the face of slumping sales.
Michael Swartz
A saying popularized by minister and self-help author Norman Vincent Peale went like this: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars.”
This saying seems to have been taken to heart by the Biden administration, which regularly floats draconian trial balloons to make the actual result more palatable. The latest case in point is the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (better known as CAFE) standards that Biden promised to increase by 2031 to an eye-popping 55.7 miles per gallon (MPG) for light-duty cars and 52 MPG for light-duty trucks. Team Biden reduced the numbers slightly in the finalized rules, but as Jazz Shaw at Hot Air argues, “New American cars currently average roughly 39 miles per gallon, so that would represent an increase of twelve mpg (nearly one-third) in just seven years. That is simply insane. Most auto producers either won’t be able to hit those numbers or they will have to increase the cost of the vehicles to ludicrous levels to make it happen.”
Instead, as Brianne Deppisch in the Washington Examiner states, the Biden administration is “easing off its initial proposals to better reflect the state of U.S. auto sales and the slower-than-expected pace of electric vehicle adoption.”
It’s a slower-than-expected pace alright — perhaps not as glacial as the “pathetic” buildout of the federal government’s promise to increase the number of publicly available EV charging stations to 500,000 (total number built is seven), but still slow. Despite all that, we will get EVs whether we like them or not: they’re being boosted by other EPA rules on tailpipe emissions our Thomas Gallatin wrote about a couple of months ago.
Perhaps the biggest problem EV sellers have, though, is competition: Tesla produced 10.7% more models than it sold in the first quarter, part of a 9% year-over-year drop in overall sales. And Ford, while crowing about a 65% increase in sales between hybrid and EV models in May, still only saw those vehicles contribute 14% to its overall numbers. Remember, Ford was losing $132,000 for each EV sold in the first quarter, so despite the increased sales, it’s a long way from EV profitability. Aside from Tesla and a couple other manufacturers who specialize in EVs, major automakers haven’t seen their EV sales catch fire — in fact, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda predicted recently that EVs will never make up more than 30% of the world market.
On the other hand, China’s BYD nameplate is rivaling Tesla for global sales leadership, and that’s without the U.S. market to boost it. As Elon Musk told financial analysts back in January, “If there are no trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world. They’re extremely good.” Even Warren Buffett believes it, as he’s an investor in BYD.
In essence, what the Biden administration has done is the old bait-and-switch: bring up highly punitive goals to make things look better when the “compromise” — which is still much more stringent than the current rules — is put into force. Jazz Shaw had the real reason, though, calling out The New York Times: “When reporting on this story, the New York Times said the quiet part out loud in their headline and let the cat out of the green energy bag. The title currently reads, ‘U.S. Tightens Car Mileage Rules, Part of Strategy to Fight Climate Change.’ But that’s not what the original title said. The more honest version … read, ‘Biden Administration Tightens Mileage Standards to Buoy E.V.s.’ That’s a pretty massive change to a title, isn’t it? That was the honest reason, of course, but apparently someone at the Times saw it and freaked out because you can’t just go around telling the truth like that.”
The EV market has fully penetrated its most willing segment: upper-crust elites who feel the need to virtue signal. They live in areas where EVs can be readily charged for their commute to work. But most Americans don’t really feel like paying more for an EV, worrying about how they would have to upgrade their electrical service to install a home charging station, or fretting about finding available public charging stations in adverse conditions on a long trip. (Seven charging stations is a long, long way from a half-million.) Aside from ever-increasing prices at the pump, drivers are happy filling up their F-150 or Tacoma at the local gas station and going where they want to go.
Wanna bet a second Biden term will have another “cash for clunkers” program to try and take those pesky internal combustion engines off the road? I know — don’t give them any bright ideas.
Add elections to the long list of institutions the left has ruined.
Dennis Prager
Last week, 27 European nations voted for their representatives in the European Parliament.
If you were aware of this, did you happen to notice that there were no allegations of cheating in any European country? If you are on the left, you might respond that there were no such allegations because the right did better than the left, and it’s the right that makes these allegations.
But that response has little merit. For one thing, there were no such allegations, let alone demonstrations, during all the years left-wing parties won European Parliamentary elections or national elections. For another, in America, it is not only the right that has charged election fraud: Hillary Clinton, for example, still claims the 2016 election was stolen from her.
The fact is that, among democracies, America is essentially alone in having nearly half its population mistrust election results. So, either America is cursed with a paranoid population, or there are valid reasons for Americans to mistrust their elections’ results.
There is no question it is the latter. America is unique among democracies in having half its people mistrust election results because America is unique among democracies in the way it conducts its elections.
America is almost alone among democracies in not demanding that voters provide any identification when they vote. For some reason, the American left vehemently opposes voter ID. It claims voter ID is racist and that those who favor it are engaged in “voter suppression.” This is prima facie absurd: Are airports racist for demanding passenger identification? Does passenger ID result in “passenger suppression”? The most plausible reason the left opposes voter ID is to enable some degree of voter fraud. If that is not the reason, isn’t it enormously irresponsible to cultivate doubts about election integrity among half its country’s citizens — for no valid reason? Moreover, in no other country does its left oppose voter ID.
America is almost alone among democratic countries in not requiring paper ballots. As of 2023, only Brazil counts all its ballots in national elections through electronic voting. According to Pew Research Center, votes are cast by manually marking paper ballots in 209 of the 227 countries. In France, as reported by the Associated Press, voters “use the same system that’s been used for generations: paper ballots that are cast in person and counted by hand.” In 2009, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled that voting machines could no longer be used. In 2017, the Dutch government announced that all ballots in the 2017 general election would be counted by hand.
Moreover, among those countries that use electronic voting, only in America are the source codes of the voting machines kept secret. Three companies — Dominion, Election Systems & Software, and Hart InterCivic — control about 90% of the U.S. voting technology market. Each is privately held, and each is committed to keeping its source code from becoming fully public. Wherever else in the world electronic voting is allowed, the source codes are available to all political parties.
America is almost alone among democratic countries in not confining voting to one day. All through American history, Americans voted on Election Day (unless they had previously requested an absentee ballot). The left has obliterated Election Day; we now have Election Month.
Various American states are alone among democratic countries in mailing ballots to all their citizens — that is, even to those who never requested a ballot be sent to them.
America is almost alone among democratic countries in the length of time it takes to learn election results. In other countries, people continue to learn the results within hours. Throughout American history, Americans knew the outcome of virtually every election the night of Election Day. No longer.
All too often, tragically, there are valid reasons for Americans to mistrust election results. Add elections to the long list of institutions the left has ruined.
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.
Ms. Rachel Is Losing Subscribers — She teaches the best songs for babies and toddlers. However, Ms. Rachel also teaches that kids can pick their gender and asks them to celebrate Pride Month with her every June.
“We have built safe mobility offices in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica to reach people where they are so they don’t have to take the perilous journey.” —DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
The BIG Lies
“Under our administration … violent crime is now near a 50-year low.” —Kamala Harris
“Nobody is paying for [student] debt relief.” —Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC)
Hot Air
“The only existential threat to humanity, including nuclear weapons, is if we do nothing on climate change.” —Joe Biden
Non Compos Mentis
“The idea we had to wait all those months just to get the money for Iraq [read: Ukraine] that we, because we’re waiting — I mean, it’s just, it’s just, it’s not who we are.” —Joe Biden
Sleepy Joe
“My advance team says I gotta be the first one to leave.” —Joe Biden letting French President Emmanuel Macron know that he must avoid the press after the D-Day ceremony
Dumb & Dumber
“This is going to be a very hard-fought race, but when the chips are down, the American people are going to show up just like those [D-Day] kids did 80 years ago.” —Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu
“We’re seeing the gravest threat to American democracy on our own land that we have seen in the history of the country, and Donald Trump is that threat.” —Mitch Landrieu
“It sounds nuts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy [Trump] threw me in jail.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Lack of Self-Awareness Awards
“During these challenging times on the foreign policy front … can you imagine having Donald Trump back in the White House trying to manage all of this? I mean, President Biden’s a seasoned foreign policy pro.” —Biden campaign spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod
“We have … seen what happens when dangerous misinformation drives a wedge between communicators and the American people.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
“Stop undermining the rule of law. Stop undermining the institutions.” —Joe Biden
Useful Idiots
“More than 200 Palestinians killed in Israeli hostage raid in Gaza.” —The Washington Post
“Israel’s Euphoria Over Hostage Rescue May Be Fleeting.” —The New York Times
“It’s so good to see the hostages returned. A ceasefire would have gotten many more hostages back and no civilians and children killed. This siege is cruel and senseless. Grinding innocent human beings and their culture into blood soaked rubble and dust, to be buried and forgotten. 4 for 274 including kids. It’s a sinful equation that keeps repeating.” —actor Mark Ruffalo
For the Record
“Have you ever had one of those days? You’re just sitting at home minding your own business, guarding the Israeli hostages your Hamas buddies kidnapped after their bloody rampage on October 7. Then, all of a sudden, for no reason whatsoever, a bunch of Zionists bust in and kill you. A lot of you. Hundreds of you, if your terrorist comrades are to be believed. And for what? Why did so many people need to die just for four Jews? Aren’t your lives important too? That’s what Hamas supporters are feeling today, because they’re evil idiots. And by ‘Hamas supporters,’ I mean CNN.” —Jim Treacher
“If Gazans don’t want their people killed in hostage rescue missions, they shouldn’t take hostages in the first place.” —Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR)
“I find that one of the best ways to avoid being blown up is to refrain from keeping hostages in your house.” —David Harsanyi
Upright
“We should all be grateful that [Merrick Garland] did not secure a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court as the supposed ‘moderate’ Barack Obama proclaimed him to be. He’s been a leading goon for the injustice perpetrated by the Biden administration, and he ought to be impeached.” —Nate Jackson
“The threat from China is growing every day. Citizens must awake to this reality and insist that our nation’s leaders act now to prepare America for the inevitable conflict with China.” —Brent Ramsey
Today’s 20-min top headline news brief includes:
[2:19] -Special Prosecutor David Weiss makes comments after Hunter conviction.
[2:40] -NEWSMAX host Greg Kelly: Hunter Biden’s conviction is “just for appearances.” [Greg Kelly Reports]
[6:05] -Florida Rep. Byron Donald’s says Biden deserves to be defeated on Nov. 5th. [American Agenda]
[9:28] -Trump campaign’s Christina Bobb: “Let’s take a real look at Hunter Biden’s laptop now.” [Newsline]
[11:02] -Former acting AG Matthew Whitaker: “There’s no way” Hunter serves jail time. [Wake Up America]
[18:56] -House republicans are moving forward with their investigation of the Justice Department and NY DA Alvin Bragg.
Hamas saying no to ceasefire deal without changes, as a key Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, embraces Palestinian civilian deaths as “necessary sacrifices” which work to his advantage – which is why Hamas fighters embed themselves among civilians; amid the fighting in Gaza, Hezbollah launches a massive rocket attack after Israel takes out the most senior commander so far in the war; Chris Mitchell talks about Hezbollah’s attacks, and how this could be another step toward an all-out war with Israel; how Sinwar believes civilian casualties can help Hamas in the media, why he reportedly believes he has the upper hand in negotiations with Israel, Israel’s military victories in Gaza, and more; Hunter Biden’s conviction on three felony counts raises questions about more serious potential crimes, including Biden family business dealings and influence peddling, which conservatives say need to still be investigated; and former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, author of the new book “Plans for Your Good,” talks to CBN News about how his Christian faith helped him office, why he stands by Israel, and more.
For the first time in American history, the son of a sitting President has been convicted of felony charges and faces up to 25 years in prison. So, what will happen now to that rascally crack addict? Here are the nine next steps Hunter will go through in the legal system:
Finally get his gun and crack back now that the trial is over: Phew!
Post $1 million bail with one piece of original artwork: They’re worth a fortune in Ukraine.
Await sentencing at beach house while playing video games with his best friend Crackhead Steve: Aw, Steve.
Strip-search upon entering prison will be livestreamed on his GoPro: Not again!
Meet his new cellmate, Donald J. Trump: Welp, this is awkward.
Start a cooking show called Simmer In The Slammer: Such a creative talent.
Decide if he would like conjugal visits from Russian hookers or his brother’s widow: Decisions, decisions.
Remain stuck in prison after his dad accidentally pardons Beau instead: Come on, Joe!
Will finally walk free when Trump assumes the presidency and all the sad things come untrue: It can’t come soon enough.
As you can see, his experience will be just a tad different than former President Trump’s. Good luck, Hunter!
We asked Trump to narrate 7 more famous historic battles, and the result was tremendous and magnificent. Everyone says so.
This speech was given by Megan Basham at the 2024 SBC Event: SBC at a Crossroads, hosted by Founders Ministries and the Center for Baptist Leadership.
So I’d like you all to imagine for a moment. You’ve just started a new job and on your first day your supervisor tells you that at 2 pm every afternoon the entire company pauses to “carve out time for their spirits. To “connect with their divine source.” And to “honor the sacred world.”
As a Christian, this New Age jargon sets off alarm bells in your mind. But you decide to keep your reservations to yourself. (You don’t want to look like a fundamentalist!) Then your boss leads you to an all-white room he calls a “communal space” where he rings a “sacred meditation bell” three times.
A “spiritual engagement coordinator” steps forward, lights incense and invites you, along with the rest of the staff, to sit in the lotus position and close your eyes. He then tells you that he is going to lead you through a 20-minute “sacred pause” designed to deepen your relationship with yourself. He tells you this “sacred” meditation with yourself (he really likes the word sacred) is being done to the benefit of all beings everywhere.
This little eastern mysticism scenario is not imaginary. This is the daily practice of The Fetzer Institute, a leftwing foundation who says its mission is to “build the spiritual foundation” of our world.
If it weren’t clear enough that Fetzer’s method for building that spiritual foundation is nothing like the Bible’s, another way it does so is by giving money to groups like the National LGBTQ Task Force.
Who else does it give money to? The ERLC.
In 2018, Fetzer gave the ERLC more than $346,000 to “collaborate” on research that would identify the “rhetorical framing” evangelicals use when it comes to democracy. That is, how we talk about politics. And it was then to share the insights from that political research with the ERLC’s national conference and with “churches under the Southern Baptist Convention.”
The following year, in 2019, Fetzer gave the ERLC another $200,000 to, among other things, conduct seminars on “how American evangelicals might contribute to healing political divides.”
In other words, Fetzer bought access to Southern Baptist conferences and churches through the ERLC in the form of an explicitly political project. And the ERLC earned its pay.
The research Fetzer bankrolled has been disseminated and promoted in ERLC material and at ERLC events. In one such document, the ERLC recommends we learn how to engage in civil political discourse from a fellow recipient of Fetzer funds–Cherie Harder, President of Trinity Forum and a prominent Never Trump voice.
At a February 2024 conference for a Never Trump Political Action Committee, she called the former President a “frankly evil and nihilistic leader.” She has never used such rhetoric to describe Biden, the most pro-abortion, pro-perversion, and anti-family president this nation has ever known.
Yet this is who the ERLC (and Fetzer) hold out as our model for civil, Christian discourse.
When we look at Fetzer’s political stances like its “unequivocal support of the LGBTQ community,” it’s clear that when they say they want evangelicals to “heal our political divides” what they mean is that they want Christians to soften their public positions on issues like marriage and sexuality.
According to Fetzer, Christians who are confident in our convictions harm democracy. Nor is Fetzer the only leftwing foundation that has managed to tie some purse-strings tothe ERLC.
The Democracy Fund was founded by Buddhist billionaire Pierre Omidyar. You might recognize him as the man who gave the world Ebay. His foundation gives grants to groups like Red Canary Song, which describes itself as a “grassroots collective of Asian & migrant sex workers.”
When Roe v Wade was overturned, the Democracy Fund put out a statement. It said the Dobbs decision proved “how vulnerable our political system is to perversion by leaders who are not committed to protecting and strengthening our democracy.”
Let me say that again—according to the Democracy Fund, protecting and strengthening our democracy means protecting and strengthening abortion.
In 2018, when the Democracy Fund was looking for evangelical leaders to help foster more “constructive politics” in the U.S., it, too, turned to the ERLC.The purpose of the $100,000 grant it gave them was to pursue “long-term action” against America’s alleged white supremacy problem.
The ERLC took it for granted that the Southern Baptists it is supposed to represent would agree that one of America’s most pressing problems is white supremacy.
It’s worth noting that independent journalist Glenn Greenwald, a liberal, was once a beneficiary of Omidyar himself. Omidyar bankrolled his left-leaning news outlet, The
Intercept. But Greenwald was forced to quit the company he co-founded when it wouldn’t let him publish stories critical of Joe Biden. Greenwald said this of Omidyar: “Liberal billionaires will only fund groups that advance liberal causes.”
So what cause did Omidyar want to advance through the ERLC?
Another liberal billionaire who has taken an interest in the ERLC–Mark Zuckerberg. In 2020, the Facebook founder spent over $400 million dollars turning out the vote in heavily Democratic areas in swing states. According to reporting in the New York Post, he did this by “funding a targeted, private takeover of government election operations through…nonprofit organizations.”
That same year, his foundation also gave the ERLC a $90,000 grant for an unspecified criminal justice reform project. How was the money used? We don’t know. The SBC lacks financial transparency and the ERLC has not disclosed this information. And the ERLC staffer who procured the grant left a short time later to join the Biden Campaign.
I didn’t set out to write a book about the SBC. And despite the rumors, I did not write a book about the SBC. But the SBC does loom large in my new book. And that’s because the SBC looms large in the minds of the people I did set out to write about—the powerful progressive influences in the church. And I’m not just talking about the ministry leaders bringing in racial hiring quotas, female pastors, and pronoun hospitality.
I’m talking about leftwing billionaires and organizations who, in their long march through the institutions, have now set their sights on the Church. And too many leaders within the church are proving only too happy to help them.
When we see the secular foundations the ERLC is partnering with—those who work to see abortion, legal prostitution, every sort of LGBT perversion protected and promoted in our law, Southern Baptists should echo 2 Corinthians 6:14 and ask—what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? What fellowship has light with darkness?”
The ERLC was created to represent the interests of Southern Baptists to the secular political world. Instead, it is now taking money to represent the interests of the secular political world to Southern Baptists. Which must prompt us to wonder, just who does it see as its mission field?
Know this, it is not a coincidence that these leftwing influencers decided to work with the ERLC. They have been specifically strategizing about how to co-opt Southern Baptists for years.
Yes, they are talking about the SBC and its entities by name. And not just the ERLC.
In 2015, the George Soros- and Bill Gates-funded think tank, New America, released a report on efforts to pass climate change legislation.
The report noted that the strategy of the environmentalists was to recruit “elite evangelicals” who would then use their influence to give spiritual legitimacy to specific climate change policies. Their hope was that this advocacy for fossil fuel legislation would “trickle down” to ordinary Christians in the pews.
That is, the climate change activists wanted to use evangelical leaders in trusted organizations who know the lingo to persuasively sell a message to what would otherwise be an unreceptive audience. New America explained that the object is to “collect strange bedfellows” and “sort of sneakily break down” the faith coalition from the inside and “give cover to Republican members of Congress to support climate action.”
“Because” they wrote, “even just neutralizing the Southern Baptist Convention” could “disrupt the solid Republican opposition to measures like cap and trade.”
In the nine years since that report, the climate change activists have had significant success in convincing SBC institutions to take up their cause.
Southeastern Seminary, for example, has been particularly active in promoting climate change alarmism to its students.
Just one example of many, in 2022, it welcomed Jonathan Moo, Environmental Studiesprofessor, to give a guest lecture titled, “How to love our neighbor in the midst of the climate crisis.”
In it, Moo claimed that environmental activism is a necessary part of being “faithful to the Gospel.” He said the United States bears the lion’s share of guilt because of how “rich and prosperous” our use of fossil fuels has made us. And he told the students Americans are especially obligated to “sacrifice” by adopting emission-restricting policies.
The kinds of policies that are making everything from gas to groceries more expensive, not just for us, but also for those neighbors we’re supposed to be loving.
If Moo adding new environmental requirements to the Gospel weren’t shocking enough, he also suggested the students purchase indulgences for climate sins like traveling by airplane. In particular, he suggested they buy carbon credits from the environmentalist group A Rocha. On whose board Moo just so happens to sit.
Now A Rocha probably isn’t a familiar name to most of you. So I’ll tell you a little bit about it. Though it brands itself as a Christian ministry, it gets much of its funding from secular groups like the Annenberg Foundation, which also funds the National Abortion Rights Action League, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
As with many other major secular foundations, Annenberg’s interest in environmentalism is married to a desire to reduce the population through abortion.
And A Rocha’s leadership isn’t especially bothered by that goal. Its executive director, Ben Lowe, ran for Congress as a Democrat, assuring voters that despite claiming to be personally pro-life he would not support overturning Roe v. Wade. In other words, he took the same position Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi have.
Then there are A Rocha’s strange hymns and prayers that sound more like Marxist Gaia worship (or something you’d hear at the Fetzer institute) than anything recognizably biblical.
Among the sins A Rocha calls humanity to repent from in its recommended prayers are “ecological violence” and humanity “act[ing] like parasites.” It suggests praying for the “courage to speak out against increased nuclear capability” and lamenting America’s “exploitive economic system.”
Listen to part of this prayer it published for distribution to churches and ask yourself whether you could imagine your congregation praying this together on a Sunday morning. It’s titled “Woe to the Unholy Trinity.”
…We have acted as cheerleaders and chaplains to the unholy trinity…
And so we name the unholy beast.
We renounce it.
We repent of it.
Unrestrained Capitalism,
Consumerism,
Individualism . . .
This unholy trinity
That oppresses the poor,
Ransacks the Earth.
One has to wonder what average Southern Baptists would have thought had they known their “unholy” capitalist tithes, which help support Southeastern Seminary, were going to pay the lecture fees of a representative from A Rocha. Who then used that invite to do a bit of capitalist carbon trading himself.
While researching the multiple guest lectures and conferences Southeastern has dedicated to the subject of climate change, I never found a single speaker who challenged the progressive position that it is an existential crisis. Yet there is legitimate evidence for skepticism about this claim. And reputable evangelical organizations whose members include NASA climate scientists would be only too happy to explain to an audience of seminary students just what that evidence is.
Yet for some reason, Southeastern Seminary students have never heard from those NASA climate scientists.
Is the degree to which humans are impacting the climate an issue on which Christians of good faith can disagree? Of course. The problem is demanding consensus on the subject by abusing and manipulating scripture. The problem is an SBC seminary, whose ostensible mission is educating students on the full breadth of Christian thought, promoting only one view. And it just so happens to be the view that aligns with nearly every major corporation, A-list Hollywood, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the most powerful progressive foundations on the planet.
Then it seems less like debating debatable issues and more like turning our temples over to the environmentalist moneychangers.
But alarming as it is that these powerful secular left institutions have managed to harness the SBC for their purposes, it is even more disturbing that some of our leaders are covering their tracks for them.
Perhaps some of you will remember in 2020 when Baptist Press published an explainer claiming that “not a penny” of Soros money has ever gone to the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), which is a side project of the secular progressive group, the National Immigration Forum. The EIT is not, as you might suppose from the name, a group that preaches the gospel to or provides for the material needs of immigrants. No, it is a political coalition that includes the ERLC, JD Greear, Kevin Ezell, and Danny Akin, to name just a few of the SBC leaders involved. Through lobbying legislators and distributing material to churches and ministries it promotes amnesty policies for illegal immigrants.
In 2016, the internal board books for Soros’ foundation, Open Society, leaked. They revealed that it had given $200,000 to a program the EIT was a part of, known as Bibles, Badges, and Business. The report also noted future plans to divide an additional million between that program and another initiative because, Open Society said, “evangelical support [has been] highly influential in engaging conservative lawmakers.”
The 2016 Soros board book also said this:
“In the course of our work, we were able to generate engagement by some conservative voices such as evangelical Christians and Southern Baptists through grantee National Immigration Forum.”
Which, again, is the umbrella organization over the Evangelical Immigration Table.
As ERLC trustee Jon Whitehead, a Harvard trained attorney by the way, told me after he reviewed these documents, “Southern Baptists were shamelessly hung out for sale by these leaders. In exchange for subsidized meetings with their EIT friends, they looked the other way as their churches and pews were exploited. They even used Baptist Press to mislead people, claiming ‘not a penny’ of Soros money went toward EIT. It looks more like tens of millions of pennies!”
If we give Baptist Press the benefit of the doubt, they were negligently mistaken. The only other alternative is that they were lying.
And Soros’ Open Society is only one of the hard left NGOs that has supported the EIT. The Ford, Rockefeller, and Tides foundations–all groups that also support abortion, the LGBT agenda, and a host of other anti-biblical goals—have contributed over a million dollars to the EIT’s project to mobilize evangelical support for open borders policies.
The secular left powerbrokers see American Christians as a captive audience. Maybe the last captive audience they have not conquered. Their desire is to have SBC churches and ministries for their political projects, and we have leaders who are more than willing to give them that access.
As the largest Protestant association in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention is uniquely positioned to influence the U.S. toward godliness. In an era in which almost the whole of our mainstream culture has been engulfed by confusion and darkness, we should stand out all the more for our willingness to cut against the cultural grain.
Instead, so many of our SBC leaders warn that to look different from our neighbors—by, say, rejecting feminist demands to open the pastorate to women—will damage our witness. (As if God didn’t know what would be “damaging” to His Church when He laid down his proscription against women pastors.)
According to the latest religion statistics, just over 5 percent of U.S. adults are Southern Baptists. That’s nearly 13 million Americans. Coincidentally, that’s almost the exact same number of American adults who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
Through their tremendous commitment to their cause, they have transformed America from the steps of the White House to the smallest local library. No corner of this country has not been touched by their influence.
Why can’t we say the same?
Can you imagine the transformation we might see in this nation if the whole of the SBC had the same courage of its convictions that the LGBT movement has?
If Southern Baptists uniformly demanded that their pastors, professors, seminary administrators, and national leaders stayed passionately focused on the cause of Christ and His Word, rather than taking up the preoccupations of billionaires, businesses, and lawmakers, it would be enough to see a new Reformation in the American Church.
We have a choice, we will either fulfill our commission to be salt and light, which starts with choosing biblical distinctiveness and holding our leaders accountable for what they do in our name. Or we will continue diluting our mission with the world’s priorities until we disappear into the crowd entirely.
Just over 14 years ago, Usama Dakdok made his first appearance on Crosstalk. At that time he warned listeners about the goal of Islam and the caliphate whereby the lands and the people would be under the domain of Islam. He warned that this would take place in Europe. The result? In our day we are literally watching the transformation of Great Britain, France, Germany and the European Union.
Sadly, it’s also taking place here in America, not just on university campuses but in cities across the nation. We can see from their protests that this movement is against not only Jews, but Christians and everything America stands for.
Usama Dakdok is founder of the Straight Way of Grace Ministry. He’s the speaker on the daily radio broadcast, Revealing the Truth About Islam. Usama speaks fluent Arabic and has translated the Quran into English. He is the author of Exposing the Truth about the Qur’an and Exposing the Truth About Jihad and the booklets, The Violent Truth about Islam and The Straight Way to Eternal Life.
Beginning with Europe, Jim noted how in Germany’s recent election, the Muslim Party received just over 41% of the vote. In fact, things are so bad, writer Robert Spencer noted that Britain, “…is in its last days as a free society and will soon become an Islamic state.”
To further show the depth of the problem in Europe, Spencer wrote about Lawrence Fox, the English actor turned political activist. Fox communicated that the mayors of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Blackburn, Sheffield, Oxford, Luton, Oldham and Rochdale are all Muslim. All that was achieved by only 4 million Muslims out of 66 million people in England. The article went on to reveal that there’s over 3,000 mosques in England, over 130 Sharia courts, more than 50 Sharia councils, 78% of Muslim women do not work yet receive state support, 63% of Muslims don’t work yet receive state support and free housing and every UK school is required to teach lessons about Islam.
Another troubling turn is the increase in honor crimes/killings. Jim reported that there’s been a 62% increase in the last two years. Usama indicated this is due to more Muslims migrating to Europe and the U.S. This is helped along by a media that’s reluctant to report on it.
Usama noted that the situation in England was achieved by the Muslim Brotherhood and that overall, this simply isn’t Muslim refugees looking for a better life under democracy. In other words, this is not immigration, it’s invasion and it’s happening because Muslims are using the laws of the West to take over and he believes this is coming to America very soon.
Every night, huge groups of young people are literally taking over streets in large cities all over America. In many cases, major intersections are completely blocked off for stunts and dangerous competitions involving vehicles. These events are called “street takeovers”, and they are often accompanied by theft, violence and other acts of crime. You have probably heard of “street takeovers” happening in big metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Chicago, but at this point they are even happening in many rural areas. In fact, I just came across an article about how street takeovers have become a major problem in the state of Maine. As you will see below, the scale of these events is often so large that police will just sit back and do nothing to stop them. When they are outnumbered a hundred to one or a thousand to one, the police are often extremely hesitant to try to break things up.
Some of the biggest “street takeovers” in the nation occur in northern California, and this past weekend was certainly no exception…
Acrid smoke is greeting San Franciscans on their way into work this morning after another terrifying night of sideshows took Oakland and the waterfront.
Police refused to intervene and not a single arrest was made among the thousands who risked their lives as cars tore round their city centers in what has become a routine occurrence.
The police know that these events are going to happen.
But they do nothing to prevent them.
And as they are taking place, the police just watch and make no arrests.
I suppose that is one way to get the crime rate to go down.
Of course lots of crimes are being committed at these events, and in many cases people are being seriously hurt…
Onlookers were sent flying as cars plowed into them at one event in Oakland, and a torched Chevy provided a grisly centerpiece to the Embarcadero spectacle as tire smoke reduced visibility to near zero.
‘We are on our own here,’ tweeted one resident. ‘Why do we pay taxes again?’
I think that is a very good question.
Why should residents pay taxes if the police are not going to protect them?
It is being reported that a Chevy Camaro was actually set on fire, and at one of the street takeovers a motorist “was beaten and hauled out of his car”…
A Chevy Camaro which broke down in front of the of Pier 1 building was set on fire as cheering spectators leapt on top.
Vehicles and spectators melted away as police eventually arrived with reinforcements but by 3am the action had moved to the intersection of Valencia and Cesar Chavez streets in the Mission District where passengers clung to the vehicles as their drivers struggled maintain control.
A motorist was beaten and hauled out of his car which was then stolen when he accidentally drove into an area taken over for a sideshow in Menlo Park in April.
Video showed him apologizing to a fellow spectator, who proceeds to pull a mask over his face and force him out of the car before driving off and pulling ‘donuts’.
Meanwhile, chaos was also erupting on the streets of Los Angeles.
During one street takeover, a mob of approximately 50 young people decided to loot a nearby AutoZone store…
The latest chaotic example of California’s criminal and social justice reforms backfiring erupted in South Los Angeles early Monday morning, where a street takeover resulted in a mob of looters ransacking an AutoZone store.
Local media outlet KTLA reported that the Los Angeles Police Department received multiple calls of a street takeover at the intersection of Century Boulevard and Hoover Street around 0400 local time. Then, minutes later, a mob of 50 people looted a nearby AutoZone. Officials believe other stores in the area were hit as well.
“At least three businesses were hit within a four-mile radius and authorities were working to determine if the crimes were connected,” Fox 11 said.
Sadly, this sort of thing has become a regular feature of these street takeovers.
Of course the criminals in Los Angeles are going to steal stuff whether that is a street takeover going on or not.
At this point, theft has become so rampant in Los Angeles that even fire hydrants are being stolen on a daily basis…
A California state water company has responded to an ever-growing rash of fire hydrant thefts in Los Angeles by installing locked shields to cover the bolts on hydrants to stop thieves.
Golden State Water Company owns and operates the fire hydrants and says thefts happen daily. South Los Angeles is one of the communities where thefts are high, with two of the most recent believed to have happened last Thursday, without neighbors even realizing it.
“It’s mind-boggling that someone would just come into a neighborhood and just steal a fire hydrant,” neighbor Krystail Cousins said. “You’re now putting a whole neighborhood in danger.”
Similar things are happening on the east coast as well.
On Friday, the New York State Senate passed legislation that would make most big retail chains, including Walmart, to put panic buttons in their New York stores where employees can easily access them or provide staff with wearable, or mobile-phone-activated, panic buttons that summon emergency services.
The law, which is a reaction to rising threats to store clerks from thefts and violence, was already passed by the state’s Assembly and now goes to Governor Kathy Hochul for signature.
Our politicians can’t reverse what is happening to our society.
Needless to say, our national migration crisis is helping to fuel a lot of the crime that we are now experiencing.
Earlier this week, CNN published an article about an extremely violent gang from South America that is causing massive problems all over the country…
An alleged multistate human trafficking ring forcing immigrant women into prostitution. The mysterious killing of a former police officer in South Florida. Attacks against police officers in New York. The arrest of a drug dealer in Chicago.
Local and federal officials say these apparently unrelated crimes have a common denominator: Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang that originated in a Venezuela prison and has slowly made its way south and north in recent years. They say it’s now operating in the United States. The scale of its operations is unknown, but crimes attributed to alleged members of the gang have worried elected officials and some Republican members of Congress have asked the Biden administration “to formally designate the vicious Tren de Aragua as a Transnational Criminal Organization.”
For several years, the criminal group has terrorized South American countries, including Venezuela, its country of origin, as well as Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and Peru. Retired general Óscar Naranjo, a former vice president of Colombia and chief of the Colombian National Police, told CNN Tren de Aragua is “the most disruptive criminal organization operating nowadays in Latin America, a true challenge for the region.”
But even though most Americans desperately want our wide open borders to be closed, the politicians in Washington won’t do it.
No matter how bad things get, our politicians just continue to pursue extremely self-destructive policies that are literally destroying our communities.
All over America, our communities are being plagued by looting, violent crime, hordes of addicts, criminal gangs and wild throngs of restless youths.
Every night is a new nightmare in major cities across the nation, and if we stay on the path that we are on soon there will be very few areas in this country that are truly safe.
[Original airdate 9/14/23] Jason Jimenez of Stand Strong Ministries talks to Mary Danielsen about how Progressivism views itself as a kinder, gentler, dogma free Christianity Lite but trouble lies ahead for these deniers of truth because of God’s already-revealed nature. God is the author of justice and equity and yet Progressivism leaves no stone unturned in its quest to redefine every historical and theological tenet of Christianity. Who is behind it, past and present? What motivates them? Are Christians equipping their minds to blow apart the lazy, earth-bound theology of Progressivism? Sharpen thy sword, Pilgrims!
The Luciferian Conspiracy is a long-standing plan which goes back to Lucifer’s fall from Heaven and his attempt to take over this world and make it his own.
New Booklet: The Chosen and the Bible: Serious Considerations That Can’t Be Ignored
Lighthouse Trails is pleased to announce the release of a new booklet, The Chosen and the Bible: Serious Considerations That Can’t Be Ignored. This is a Spiritual Research Network publication and has been a collaborative effort by SRN, LT, and other concerned ministries and individuals. The booklet is 18 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are available. These booklets are designed to give away to others or for your own personal use. Below is the content of this new booklet. If you would like to order this booklet, click here.
The Chosen and the Bible: Serious Considerations That Can’t Be Ignored
Introduction
Come now, and let us reason together, sayeth the Lord. (Isaiah 1:18)
The Chosen is the hugely popular TV series that purports to present “plausible” backstories about what creator, director, and co-writer Dallas Jenkins calls the “authentic Jesus.”1 The Chosen was born in 2017 when three Mormon businessmen approached Jenkins with the idea for the series and a crowdfunding deal.2 Jenkins said that the project was reaffirmed and endorsed by God in 2018 when he was visiting Israel. He felt God was telling him that The Chosen would become known “around the world” as “the definitive portrayal” of God’s people. Jenkins recounts in an interview:
I felt like God was saying like [The Chosen] is going to be the definitive portrayal of my people, and this is what people are going to think of around the world when they think of my people, and I’m [God] not going to let you screw it up.3
In another interview, Jenkins describes his “growing brother and sisterhood with people of the LDS [Mormon] community” and how “we love the same Jesus”4—in spite of the fact that Mormonism is, by the Bible’s definition, a pseudo-Christian cult. In regard to The Chosen, Jenkins admits that “95% of the content isn’t from the Bible.”5 And in a 2024 YouTube posting, he actually states, “I believe it is important to watch The Chosen as though the Bible didn’t exist.”6
The Shack’s Important Lesson: “But The Shack Is Just a Novel!”
Author William Paul Young’s 2007 novel The Shack was a number one New York Times best-seller, selling over twenty million copies worldwide. The book has been read and loved by both Christians and the world as well. It eventually became a Hollywood movie and a twenty-week series on Christian television.7 For years, any criticism of The Shack was usually countered by Shack fans with—“Hey, it’s just a novel!” Yet in 2017, ten years after its original publication, and in the midst of his TV series, author William Paul Young openly declared what many had long-suspected—that he was a universalist.8 He had also gone on record stating that The Shack was more than “just a novel.” He said, “The Shack is theology. But it is theology wrapped in story.”9
“But The Chosen Is Just a TV Show!”
Today, The Chosen TV series has been viewed by millions of people around the world. Its devoted fans have also donated millions of dollars to the series’ record-breaking crowdfunding campaign. Any biblical criticism of The Chosen is usually countered by Dallas Jenkins and Chosen fans with—“Hey, it’s just a TV show!” However, Jenkins seems to already be following William Paul Young’s Shack universalism path as he uses his highly visible Chosen platform to introduce mystical New Age Catholic universalists like Richard Rohr10 and Brother Lawrence11 to his ever-growing fan base. Obviously, the lesson Christians should have learned from The Shack has been lost amidst all The Chosen fanfare. And the lesson is that fictional false Christs can be used by our Spiritual Adversary to cleverly condition and deceive people. In short, what seems to be “just a novel” or “just a TV show” can turn out to be something else entirely.
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
20 Questions to Ask Yourself
1) Not What It Seems? What if The Chosen is not what it seems?
Countless Christians have been subtly drawn in by The Shack’s cleverly presented errant theology. But for those paying close biblical attention, The Shack was seen for what it was, not for what it seemed to be. The novel was a clever device to introduce unsuspecting readers to a different Jesus and a different theology. And for those taking a deeper look, what becomes very apparent is that The Chosen—like The Shack—is not what it seems.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12)
2) Prayed About The Chosen? Have you ever stopped to pray about The Chosen?
You may like The Chosen, but have you actually prayed about the series? By not consulting God, Joshua and the Israelites learned a hard lesson. Trusting themselves—rather than the Lord—they were completely fooled by the Gibeonite people. With their clever words and convincing props, the Gibeonite actors and their carefully staged performance completely deceived the trusting Israelites. Joshua records that they were deceived by the polished production because they “asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord” (Joshua 9:14). Had the Israelites stopped to consult the Lord, they would have been alerted to the deception that was being so skillfully enacted in front of them.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. (James 1:5-6)
3) Slips, Snares, Tares, and Leaven? Have you noticed that what the Bible describes as strange slips, snares, tares, and leaven have been subtly, and not so subtly, inserted into The Chosen’s multi-season episodes?
For example:
In the Bible, Jesus says of John the Baptist that no one born of women is greater than him, yet at times The Chosen refers to him as “creepy John?”12
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. (Matthew 11:11)
In the Bible, Jesus never seeks the counsel of men because He speaks only what He is given by “the Father.” Yet The Chosen’s “Jesus” seeks Matthew’s counsel on how to begin His Sermon on the Mount?13
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? (Romans 11:34)
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. (John 12:49)
The Bible is clear that Jesus was only arrested once and that was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was not arrested prior to Gethsemane because his time had “not yet come.” Yet The Chosen’s “Jesus” is prematurely arrested before Gethsemane.14
Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. (John 7:30)
The Chosen’s fictional “backstories” are filled with many other strange slips, snares, tares, and leaven. Taken in their totality, they serve to undermine and cast doubt on the very Bible that warns about them.
Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips. (Isaiah 17:10)
They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? (Psalm 64:5)
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. (Matthew 13:25)
Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Galatians 5:7-9)
4) No Love of the Truth? Why would The Chosen directly contradict what the Bible so clearly shows to be true?
One seemingly small but very symbolic example of The Chosen’s disregard for the Bible and its truth is seen in the first season. In the Bible when Jesus calls Matthew to be His disciple, Matthew is clearly and definitely sitting at his tax stand. It is only after his being called that Matthew rose to his feet.
And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. (Matthew 9:9)
However, The Chosen’s “Jesus” calls Matthew as he is standing at his tax stand.15 And while this may seem like a small matter to some, it definitely is not. It shows the distinct disregard The Chosen writers have for the truth of God’s Word. For thousands of years, faithful scribes meticulously transcribed God’s Word because they knew and trembled at the fact that it was God’s Word. But not so with The Chosen’s “creative” writers who choose to use their words and their ideas to entertain rather than edify.
For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. (Psalm 33:4)
And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:3)
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
5) Get Used to Different? Are we really supposed to “get used to different?”
“Get used to different” is the sharp statement spoken by The Chosen’s “Jesus” to Peter just after he called Matthew to be his disciple.16 This line has become a purposeful Chosen motto/meme that is now printed on Chosen T-shirts, hoodies, tumblers, books, and even baby clothes. More significantly, it has become imprinted in the minds of Chosen viewers around the world. But why the big emphasis on this statement about making things “different”?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “different” as a direct expression of the word “change.” It states that the act of change is to make different, alter, transform, give a different position, course, or direction to. In short, “get used to different” means “get used to change.” But the Bible warns of ungodly change and how it can be brought forth to introduce another different Jesus, another different spirit, and another different gospel—and how people may go along with this different Jesus and actually “bear with him” and “get used to” these differences.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:4)
My son, fear thou the Lord and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change. (Proverbs 24:21)
6) What Does Your Heart Tell You? Why does the “Jesus” of The Chosen teach viewers to listen to their heart when the Bible tells us just the opposite?
In the seventh episode of the first season, Nicodemus asks “Jesus” a question. Sounding more like the false Christ of the New Age who says to follow your heart, and sounding more like the Mormon false teaching to follow a feeling—a “burning in the bosom,”17 The Chosen’s “Jesus” answers the Jewish leader by asking him—“What does your heart tell you?”18 Yet the Bible warns:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. (Proverbs 28:26)
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. (Matthew 15:19)
7) “Authentic Jesus?” Is The Chosen’s “Jesus” really the “authentic Jesus” that Dallas Jenkins says he is?
Dallas Jenkins continually states that The Chosen’s “Jesus” is the “authentic Jesus.” But would the authentic Jesus Christ of the Bible ask his disciples for guidance, direct Nicodemus to follow his heart, or get arrested before Gethsemane?
The authentic Jesus—in actuality—is the true, genuine, historical figure in the Bible who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is not the fictitious, shape-shifting, unbiblical, “get used to different” figure presented in The Chosen. For Dallas Jenkins and his Chosen spokespeople to attach the word authentic to their “Jesus” and then repeatedly put this label into people’s minds as fact is about as disingenuous and inauthentic as anyone can get—and especially given the fact that The Chosen is almost entirely devoid of scriptural content.
Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. (Isaiah 48:1)
8) Changing God’s Word? Does God give permission to anyone for any reason—much less for the purpose of entertainment—to add, subtract, change, contradict, and corrupt His Word?
Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. (Proverbs 30:6)
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:19)
For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17)
Do you love God’s Word or Dallas Jenkins’ word? Almost everything you see, hear, and experience in The Chosen comes from the human imagination of Dallas Jenkins and his co-writers—not the Bible.
9) No Bible? Did you know that Dallas Jenkins says to watch The Chosen as though the Bible didn’t exist?
Elevating his word and his “artistic” film making above God’s Word, Jenkins states:
I believe it is important to watch The Chosen as though the Bible didn’t exist. Again, I know that sounds bizarre and even scary, but I’m just referring to strictly the artistic analysis and the viewing experience like any other TV show.19
God, on the other hand, thinks so highly of His Word that He magnifies it even above His own name. Thus, it is crucial that we read, study, and adhere to God’s Word to show ourselves approved, rightly dividing His Word of truth, especially when it is being changed and misrepresented in things like The Chosen.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (Psalm 138:2)
10) Creative License or Evil Imagination? Does creative license ever take precedence over God’s Word?
No. In fact, the Bible warns about evil imaginations which are created by people who put their own thoughts and purposes above the Bible and the knowledge of God:
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 11:8)
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
11) Famine for Hearing the Word of God? Is The Chosen’s lack of Bible content reflective of the Bible’s warning of the time when there will be a “famine” for hearing the Word of God and that people will not endure sound doctrine as they follow false teachers?
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. (Amos 8:11)
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. (2 Timothy 4:3)
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.(Romans 10:17)
12) Cunningly Devised Fables? Are you aware the Bible warns us not to follow cunningly devised fables, (e.g., fictional backstories), that raise questions rather than produce godly edifying?
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. (1 Timothy1:4)
13) Edification or Entertainment? When it comes to anything related to the Bible, are you more interested in being entertained or edified?
The Chosen’s fictional fables (which by Dallas Jenkins’ own admission are 95% devoid of Bible content20) are created to captivate, amuse, and entertain. The Bible’s stories are true stories because they are God’s own Holy Word. They are not presented for our entertainment but to show us the way to true biblical faith and to instruct, warn, uplift, and edify.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)
Let all things be done unto edifying. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
14) Plausible or Evil Surmisings? Are you aware that many of the events and conversations The Chosen presents as being “plausible” (a term Dallas Jenkins frequently uses when describing the made-up stories in The Chosen.) are not only implausible but what the Bible describes as “evil surmisings?”
For example, one backstory has Mary Magdalene temporarily backsliding after being saved by The Chosen’s “Jesus.” Dallas Jenkins defends this scene as plausible and argues that it is an “affront” to claim that Christians cannot fall back into sin after they have been saved.21 But Jenkins evades the real issue and completely misses the point. The real affront is his defamation of Mary Magdalene’s name and reputation for the purpose of “Christian” entertainment. To portray her as a backslider is not a reasonable conjecture—it is what the Bible calls an “evil surmising.” Ironically, the first definition of the word “plausible” in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary denotes a possible element of deception and rightly anticipates the Bible’s warning about evil surmisings.
Plausible: superficially fair, reasonable, or valuable but often deceptively so.
Surmise: supposing something is true without having the evidence to confirm it.
“Evil surmisings” then, are statements that may appear to be superficially plausible but in the end are deceptive and contribute to evil purposes. That is why truth—not plausibility, speculation, conjecture, or surmising—is what the Bible and the true Jesus Christ are all about.
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, (1 Timothy 6:3-4)
15) Pleasing God or Pleasing Men? Do you realize that successful crowdfunding is totally dependent on successful crowd pleasing—pleasing men rather than God?
Dallas Jenkins is quick to point out that The Chosen is the most successful crowdfunding media project ever as it propels its way to its much-publicized goal of getting one billion views. But is pleasing men something you really want to brag about? While Dallas Jenkins and his Jonathan Roumie “Jesus” are delivered unto red carpets, standing ovations, worldly awards, and are loved by all nations, the real Jesus warned that in the last days His followers would be afflicted and killed and hated by all nations (Matthew 24:9). For those who follow the true Jesus of the Bible and not the false “Jesus” of The Chosen, there will be few standing ovations and worldly awards—just the satisfaction of pleasing God rather than men.
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)
No man 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. (Matthew 6:24)
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. (Luke 6:26)
16) Fear of God? Do you think that putting one’s own thoughts and words in the mouth of Jesus and the disciples reflects anything resembling the fear of God?
As stated, Dallas Jenkins is always reminding everyone how successful The Chosen is as they march toward their one billion views and how it is being translated into 600 languages. And while he continually boasts of the show’s popularity, he insists that he is “humble” and “not arrogant”—even as he dares to put his own imagined words in the mouth of Jesus and the disciples.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:18)
For such (are) false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:13-14)
For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. (2 Corinthians 10:12)
A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. (Proverbs 29:23)
17) Ever Viewing But Never Learning? Are you ever viewing The Chosen but never coming to a knowledge of the truth?
Given that Dallas Jenkins admits that 95% of The Chosen’s content is not from the Bible, and you are told to watch the series as if the Bible didn’t exist—how much truth will you ever learn from this multi-season series? As one watches episode after episode, season after season, you are learning more about fictional backstories than anything that is actually true. You will be ever viewing, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. The Bible warns about things that have “a form of godliness” but lack the true power of God and His Word. It says, “from such, turn away.”
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7)
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:5)
18) Narrow or Broad Way? Does The Chosen’s worldwide popularity and acclaim, its ever-increasing record-breaking views, and its almost complete absence of Scripture, sound like it’s heading along the narrow way of truth or down the broad way of deception and destruction?
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
19) Heard From “Who”? Should everyone just take Dallas Jenkins’ word that God spoke to him about The Chosen and told him how successful the series would be?
Everything needs to be measured by the Word of God—not by what someone tells us they allegedly heard from God. The Bible says to pray and test the spirits because “many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
Dallas Jenkins says he was presented with the idea for The Chosen series by several Mormon businessmen in 2017. This was soon after his most recent movie was, in his own words, “a complete bomb.”22 He said:
I was coming off a huge career failure. The beginning of 2017 was the lower point of my career and one of the lowest moments of my life.23
Just months later in 2018, in Magdala, Israel, Jenkins said he was told by “God” what any struggling filmmaker longs to hear—that his series was destined for worldwide fame and glory and that “God” would be with him all the way.24 Interestingly, when Jenkins heard all this, he was not that far from where Jesus was tempted by the Devil.
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. (Matthew 4:8)
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (1 Timothy 4:1)
20) Godly Global Phenomenon or Ungodly Global Deception? Is The Chosen series a godly global phenomenon, or could it be part of the end time global deception prophesied in the Bible?
The Chosen is being described as a great global phenomenon because the series is allegedly uniting different faith groups with its fictional “get used to different” false Christ “Jesus” who is not depicted properly and is not the Bible’s true Jesus Christ at all. In fact, the Bible warns that in the last days, there will be many false Christs that will deceive many people. Could it be that The Chosen is well on its way to playing its part in paving the way for Antichrist and the ultimate global deception prophesied in the Bible?
. . . Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24:3-5)
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 1:3)
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. (Revelation 18:23)
Conclusion
Many films take unwarranted creative license in presenting what seems to be a generally true story. However, the viewer may later find out that the seemingly true story was actually untrue in a number of subtle and not so subtle ways. A good example of this was the 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ. It caused a great uproar in the church as Christians around the country publicly opposed the gross liberties the film took in portraying a much different “Jesus” than the Jesus Christ found in the Bible. Countless committed believers openly protested outside theaters that were featuring the film. Yet today the children and grandchildren of those protesters are now inside those same theaters—and even their own homes and churches—watching The Chosen and applauding the unbiblical liberties their elders had once so vigorously opposed.
The Chosen Is Wonderful?
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:22-23)
What do people say about The Chosen?—”It’s wonderful!” But God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, warned how something seemingly “wonderful” can actually be “horrible” and yet His people will still “love to have it so.” And God, speaking through the prophet Daniel, warned that the whole world would be deceived one day by a false Christ—Antichrist—who will “destroy wonderfully.”
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jeremiah 5:30-31)
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. (Daniel 8:23-24)
Few Are Chosen
Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me. (Isaiah 54:15)
As Dallas Jenkins talks of attaining a billion views and boasts about The Chosen being a global phenomenon, we would do well to remember Jesus’ warning in Matthew 22:14:
For many are called but few are chosen.
Endnotes
A Candid Conversation with Dallas Jenkins, Director of The Chosen, (Melissa Dougherty, 4/27/21, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__-Yyq1FPQI), mm: 67:45-67:55, i.e., 1:06:45-1:07:00).
Read “Derral Eves, Expert Marketer, CEO of The Chosen” by Chemain Evans, 6/30/21 (https://blog.lemonadestand.org/derral-eves-expert-marketer-ceo-of-the-chosen). In this article see the “Derral Eves Podcast Transcription” and the section titled, “Derral Eves Talks About The Chosen”; see also Derral Eves | The man behind The Chosen, Mr. Beast, The Piano Guys, and More, 9/13/21 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Wl4_fukXw). In this video Charan Prabhakar interviews Derral Eves from mm: 1:27-52:45. Begin at minute mark 30:50 for the section titled, “Derral Eves Talks About The Chosen.”
A Candid Conversation, op. cit., mm: 13:45-14:05 (approx.).
Dallas Jenkins official “Highlighted reply” post in “comments” for YouTube: “Now Let’s Be Honest,” 2/02/24, The Chosen, Season 4: Episodes 1-3 Discussion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr9q4PqBBU0). Below video description in the comments/replies dialogue section, “@DallasJenkinsOfficial” (Dallas Jenkins) posted a “Highlighted reply” (“3 months ago”) to “@NowLetsBeHonest” (David Tate). The first paragraph of Jenkins’ reply reads: “agreed! And just to clarify even further . . . I believe it is important to watch The Chosen as though the Bible didn’t exist. Again, I know that sounds bizarre and even scary, but I’m just referring to strictly the artistic analysis and the viewing experience like any other TV show.” Citation accessed 5/31/24 (screenshot on file).
Restoring the Shack television series, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), 20 episodes that were originally broadcast in 2017. (Restoring the Shack online at: https://www.tbn.org/programs/restoring-shack).
William Paul Young, Lies We Believe About God (New York, NY: Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, 2017), p. 118.
C. Baxter Kruger, The Shack Revisited: There is More Going on Here Than You Ever Dared to Dream (New York, NY: Faith Works, Hatchette Book Group, 2012), p. xi.
Richard Rohr, What Do We Do With the Bible? (Great Britain, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2019 Edition), pp. 69-70; Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope for, and Believe (New York: NY; Convergent Books, 2019), p. 18; The Chosen Series: 10 Critical Concerns(Roseburg, OR: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2022), pp. 11-12.
Brother Lawrence dangerous contemplative mysticism warnings / The Chosen / Joni Eareckson Tada (Doreen Virtue, 3/29/24, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8NqHfH5kWI); Have you checked this out? This new book from @joniandfriends is changing me and will change you. Here’s how. (Dallas Jenkins, Facebook post 11/27/23, https://www.facebook.com/DallasJenkinsOfficial/videos/892944959082152), mm: 0:01-3:09; Warren B. Smith, Another Jesus Calling: How Sarah Young’s False Christ Is Deceiving the Church, expanded 2nd edition (Mountain Stream Press, 2013), pp. 86-88.
The Chosen: Season 1, Episode 4, mm: 20:41, Season 2, Episode 1, mm: 1:58.
Ibid., Season 2, Episode 8, mm: 20:21.
Ibid., Season 2, Episode 7, mm: 17:48.
Ibid., Season 1, Episode 7, mm: 33:1.
Ibid.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual (2002), Section 9, “Your Bosom Shall Burn within You,” pp. 20-21.
The Chosen, Season 1, Episode 7, mm: 30:14.
Dallas Jenkins official “Highlighted reply” post in “comments” for YouTube: “Now Let’s Be Honest,” op. cit.
Spiritual Research Network (SRN) is pleased to publish this booklet that challenges Chosen viewers to ask some very serious questions about the nature of The Chosen series and where it is going.
The Chosen and the Bible is a unique collaborative effort undertaken and put together by a group of concerned individuals and ministries. We all have deep concerns about Dallas Jenkins, The Chosen, and how they misrepresent the Bible and the biblical representation of the person of Jesus Christ and His disciples.
In this podcast, J. Warner converses with Frank Sontag and Janet Mefferd about the nature of heaven and the soul. Have popular movies and books distorted the truth about Heaven? What really happens to the soul when we die? Why should we believe in the soul in the first place?
Subscribe to the Cold-Case Christianity Weekly Podcast on iTunes, or add the podcast from our RSS Feed. Subscribe to the Cold-Case Christianity Radio Interview Podcast on iTunes, or add the podcast from our RSS Feed.
CRN has compiled a list of professing Christians to keep an eye on. The list contains churches, movements, organizations, groups, pseudo-Christian cults, heretics, apostates, false teachers, “frauds, phonies and money-grubbing religious quacks” that you’ll want to
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