There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
And I say unto thee….upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
MATTHEW 16:18
The highest expression of the will of God in this age is the Church which He purchased with His own blood.
According to the Scriptures the Church is the habitation of God through the Spirit, and as such is the most important organism beneath the sun. She is not one more good institution along with the home, the state, and the school; she is the only one that can claim a heavenly origin!
The Church is found wherever the Holy Spirit has drawn together a few persons who trust Christ for their salvation, worship God in spirit and have no dealings with the world and the flesh. The members may by necessity be scattered and separated by distance and circumstances, but in every true member of the Church is the homing instinct and the longing of the sheep for the fold and the shepherd.
Give a few real Christians half a chance and they will get together and organize and plan regular meetings for prayer and worship and Bible study, and try as far as possible to spread the saving gospel to the lost world. Such groups are cells in the Body of Christ, and each one is a true church, a real part of the greater Church. It is in and through these cells that the Spirit does His work on earth. Whoever scorns the local church scorns the Body of Christ.
The Church is still to be reckoned with—“The gates of hell shall not prevail against her.”1
Christ is Everlasting. Of him we may sing with David, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” Rejoice, believer, in Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Jesus always was. The Babe born in Bethlehem was united to the Word, which was in the beginning, by whom all things were made. The title by which Christ revealed himself to John in Patmos was, “Him which is, and which was, and which is to come.” If he were not God from everlasting, we could not so devoutly love him; we could not feel that he had any share in the eternal love which is the fountain of all covenant blessings; but since he was from all eternity with the Father, we trace the stream of divine love to himself equally with his Father and the blessed Spirit. As our Lord always was, so also he is for evermore. Jesus is not dead; “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Resort to him in all your times of need, for he is waiting to bless you still. Moreover, Jesus our Lord ever shall be. If God should spare your life to fulfil your full day of threescore years and ten, you will find that his cleansing fountain is still opened, and his precious blood has not lost its power; you shall find that the Priest who filled the healing fount with his own blood, lives to purge you from all iniquity. When only your last battle remains to be fought, you shall find that the hand of your conquering Captain has not grown feeble—the living Saviour shall cheer the dying saint. When you enter heaven you shall find him there bearing the dew of his youth; and through eternity the Lord Jesus shall still remain the perennial spring of joy, and life, and glory to his people. Living waters may you draw from this sacred well! Jesus always was, he always is, he always shall be. He is eternal in all his attributes, in all his offices, in all his might, and willingness to bless, comfort, guard, and crown his chosen people.1
HIM that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Receive the weak but sincere believer into fellowship, but do not at once commence discussing knotty points with him, or quarrel with him upon matters of no importance.
2, 3 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. (Matters of meat and drink are to be left to Christian liberty, and no one has any right to dictate to another how he shall act. It is, however, a good rule—“in all cases of doubt be sure to take the surer side.”)
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. (Some kept the Jewish festivals and some did not.) Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks: and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. (No true Christian lives to himself, and therefore as he lives to God we have no right to judge his course of action.)
8, 9 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. (The very design of our Lord’s work is to make us live unto him and not as the servants of our fellow men; we are therefore very wrong when we attempt to make our brethren the servants of our opinions and ideas. Let us leave them to serve the Lord as their consciences teach them.)
10–12 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (We must not violate our conscience. We may not do what we believe to be wrong because we see others do it. We must neither judge them nor excuse ourselves.)
15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
You have liberty to do as you please, but do not use that liberty if it would be mischievous to your brother in Christ. If your action, though right in itself, would have a tendency to destroy his soul, deny yourself for love’s sake.
16, 17 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
22 Hast thou faith? (Do you feel quite sure upon such matters?) have it to thyself before God. (Keep it within thine own bosom, but do not worry others with it.) Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned (or rather condemned) if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
If you are not sure that a thing is right, let it alone, for it will be sin to you.1
Ezekiel 40:28 — We’re continuing to measure the Temple today. There’s many fascinating models of the Temple of Ezekiel on the internet, and many strange theories.
Ezekiel 40:38 — Burnt offering? In the eschatological future? Yes, we’ll see more about the sacrifices in Ezekiel 44-46.
Ezekiel 41:26 — Your pastor probably hasn’t preached in depth through this chapter. But imagine if you’re Ezekiel and you were told to document this building, but not much else.
Peter tells us that the prophets were studying what they themselves had prophesied because they didn’t understand the things they saw, heard, or said (1 Peter 1:10-12). Ezekiel’s prophecy wasn’t for him but for generations to come. The Messianic prophecies that were hidden became revealed in Peter’s day!
James 4:1 — More conduct unbecoming a Christian. Internal disputes rooted in lusts, deadly desires, fruitless fighting, and asking amiss. This is a worldly system that says that being on top is closer to God (James 4:4). God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
James 4:8 — You can be as close to God as you want to be.
James 4:15 — Ever hear someone say, “Lord willing we will do this?” This verse is the root of that. It’s an application of Solomon’s message in Ecclesiastes – life is vanity, a vapor. Don’t start with your plans and consider God later; rather, start with the certainty of God and the possibility of your plans.
James 4:17 — And if you thought you had enough sins to remember, James just upped the ante above the entire 613 laws of the Old Testament! In this passage he declares that abstaining to do any good act is sin. The New Testament is not introducing an Age of Grace that ignores the Law; rather, it is the Age of Grace empowering us to finally obey the Law!
The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.Exodus 7:5
The ungodly world is hard to teach. Egypt does not know Jehovah and therefore dares to set up its idols and even ventures to ask, “Who is the Lord?” Yet the Lord means to break proud hearts, whether they will or not. When His judgments thunder over their heads, darken their skies, destroy their harvests, and slay their sons, they begin to discern somewhat of Jehovah’s power. There will yet be such things done in the earth as shall bring skeptics to their knees. Let us not be dismayed because of their blasphemies, for the Lord can take care of His own name, and He will do so in a very effectual manner.
The salvation of His own people was another potent means of making Egypt know that the God of Israel was Jehovah, the living and true God. No Israelite died by any one of the ten plagues. None of the chosen seed were drowned in the Red Sea. Even so, the salvation of the elect and the sure glorification of all true believers will make the most obstinate of God’s enemies acknowledge that Jehovah, He is the God.
Oh, that His convincing power would go forth by His Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel, till all nations shall bow at the name of Jesus and call Him Lord!
Something that consistently stands out among the psalmists is their resolve to trust in the Lord, despite the various circumstances and hardships that they describe. Psalm 56 is no exception.
In Psalm 56, David asks, “What can flesh do to me?” (56:4) and “What can man do to me?” (56:11). Those questions are synonymous. The psalmist is asking what threat people really pose. But from what perspective does David ask the question?
In the short-term, we can answer what “flesh” and “man” can do. They can trample and oppress and attack (Ps. 56:1–2). They can stir up strife and lurk with evil and wait for the opportunity to strike (56:5–6). David’s question, then, is not about the short-term.
From a long-term perspective, though, the answer to David’s question is, “Nothing.” An eternal perspective reveals the futility of the wicked. The ungodly mortals who oppose David cannot, in the end, be any threat to him, for the Lord will judge the wicked and will vindicate the righteous (Ps. 56:7, 13).
Perhaps the ultimate reason why David can be confident in his deliverance is found in Psalm 56:9, where he says, “This I know, that God is for me.”
God is for me. David believes this, and it grounds the resolve and confidence he expresses in the psalm. God is faithful to his people. He upholds them and shepherds them, and he will vindicate them from the designs of evildoers.
And if God is for him, then what can flesh ultimately do to him? If God is for him, what man could ultimately prevail against the righteous?
David’s language in Psalm 56 may have influenced Paul’s language in Romans 8. Romans 8:31–39 is one of the most moving and eloquent parts of Paul’s letters. The opening verse asks the question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
In the flow of thought right before Romans 8:31, Paul said that God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). God sets his covenant love upon sinners, predestining and calling and justifying and glorifying them (8:29–30). Paul then ponders what we should say to these things: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (8:31).
God is for us in the sense that nothing will stop the good and eternal plans of the Lord for his people. Nothing his people experience will separate them from his great love (Rom. 8:38–39). If God has formed a people by his mercy, then this ensures the future well-being and glory of the saints.
When David says, “This I know, that God is for me” (Ps. 56:9), it’s not a confidence that David alone can have. It’s true for all who belong to Christ. When David asks, “What can flesh do to me?” (56:4) and “What can man do to me?” (56:11), those questions aren’t for David alone. They’re for all who are in Christ. We can say with Paul, “Who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
David’s resolve and confidence are grounded in what he knows about God. He knows that God is covenantally committed to his people. Nothing will obstruct his eternal purposes, and his people will forever be the recipients of his steadfast love and blessing.
God is for us—today, tomorrow, and all the days to come.
Description:Not belonging to the people of Israel, a desperate mother pleaded for Jesus’ help, knowing that His slightest mercy was beyond what she deserved. Today, R.C. Sproul continues his series in Mark’s gospel to observe this incredible picture of the gospel.
In our culture, grace is often misunderstood or overlooked. We live in a world that prizes self-sufficiency, where people believe they can earn everything—including their salvation. This mentality seeps into modern Christianity, where some claim that grace is simply God’s way of giving us a “boost” to complete our salvation on our own. Yet the Reformation resoundingly rejected this idea. At the heart of the Reformation was the rediscovery of Sola Gratia—Grace Alone—which stands as an explicit declaration that salvation is entirely an unmerited gift from God.
Much like the doctrines of Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and Solus Christus, Sola Gratia affirms a truth that stands in contrast to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and even to many modern misconceptions. If we do not understand grace, we cannot truly understand salvation. As Ephesians 2:8-9 states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
These words are central to our understanding of Sola Gratia—grace is entirely God’s gift, given without merit and without any contribution from us.
Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and Solus Christus
In our exploration of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), and Solus Christus (Christ Alone), we have seen the foundation of the Reformation’s return to the biblical Gospel. Each Sola serves as a corrective to the errors of the medieval Church and a return to the truths of Scripture. Sola Scriptura affirms that Scripture is the final authority. Sola Fide teaches that justification comes through faith alone. Solus Christus emphasizes that Christ alone is the mediator of salvation.
Now, we come to Sola Gratia, which declares that our salvation is entirely by God’s grace. This doctrine opposes any notion that we can contribute to our salvation through our own works, merit, or efforts. God’s gracious initiative to intervene in our helpless state and redeem us is the only thing that saves us.
At its core, Sola Gratia teaches that salvation is entirely an act of God’s unmerited favor. Grace is not something we earn or deserve—it is God’s free gift to sinners. Paul writes in Romans 3:23-24, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
The Reformers saw this truth as critical to the Gospel. Salvation is not 99% grace and 1% human effort. It is 100% God’s grace. Any addition of human merit undermines the Gospel and turns grace into a wage rather than a gift.
As John Calvin put it:
“Grace does not help works, but works follow grace.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.11.13).
The Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, teaches that grace is something that God dispenses through the sacraments and that believers can cooperate with grace to merit salvation. This is why the doctrine of Sola Gratia was so crucial in the Reformation—it rejected the idea that we could add anything to God’s grace in the process of salvation.
As the London Baptist Confession of Faith affirms:
“Their justification is only of free grace; that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.” (LBCF 11.3).
Grace is not just God’s assistance—it is His complete, unmerited favor extended to sinners who are entirely incapable of saving themselves.
Church History and the Development of Grace
In the early centuries of the church, grace was understood as entirely God’s doing. Augustine’s fight against Pelagianism in the 5th century was crucial in solidifying this understanding. Pelagius taught that humans could initiate salvation by their own free will, with God merely assisting their efforts. Augustine, by contrast, rightly affirmed that grace precedes all human effort. He wrote:
“For even when we sin by the will, that will itself is prepared by the Lord.” (On Grace and Free Will, 20).
This understanding of grace as necessary for any movement toward God laid the groundwork for later reformers like Luther and Calvin to emphasize Sola Gratia. The Reformation was not introducing something new but a return to the early church’s understanding of God’s grace. The Reformers saw grace as something sovereignly given by God, not something dispensed through human institutions or sacraments.
By the time of the Reformation, the Catholic Church had turned grace into something that could be dispensed through priests and sacraments rather than recognizing it as God’s free gift, directly applied to the sinner by His sovereign will.
Even today, many Christians live under the weight of performance-based religion. They believe that if they just do more, serve more, or give more, God will finally be pleased with them. But this mindset fundamentally misunderstands grace. The doctrine of Sola Gratia frees us from this burden.
As Paul makes clear in Titus 3:5, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
Sola Gratia reminds us that we can do nothing to earn God’s favor or contribute to our salvation. All that we have in Christ is a gift of God’s grace. This frees us to live in gratitude, not striving to earn something that is already ours. Good works flow from grace, not as a way to earn it.
As the London Baptist Confession of Faith reminds us:
“Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by love.” (LBCF 11.2).
When we understand that salvation is by grace alone, it reshapes how we live our Christian lives. We no longer strive to earn what we could never deserve. Instead, we live in response to the free gift of grace we have received.
Call to Action: Rest in God’s Grace Alone
Sola Gratia calls us to rest in God’s grace. This means rejecting any notion that we can add to what God has done. It also means embracing the security that comes from knowing our salvation is rooted entirely in God’s sovereign grace. If salvation were even partly dependent on us, we would have every reason to fear. But because it is entirely of grace, we can trust that God’s work of salvation is both complete and secure.
The Reformers understood this. Martin Luther famously said:
“It is by grace alone that you and I stand before God—not by our merit, but by His mercy.” (Bondage of the Will).
God’s grace is not only the beginning of our salvation—it is the foundation and the end of it as well. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
This confidence in God’s grace frees us from both the anxiety of works-based religion and the fear of losing our salvation. We are saved entirely by grace, kept entirely by grace, and we will be glorified entirely by grace.
Conclusion: Grace Alone is Truly Enough
Sola Gratia stands as a firm declaration that God’s grace is all-sufficient for our salvation. In the same way that Sola Scriptura affirms that Scripture alone is our authority, Sola Fide teaches that justification is by faith alone, and Solus Christus declares that Christ alone is the mediator of salvation, Sola Gratia proclaims that grace alone is the means by which we are saved.
As John Calvin said:
“There is no room for man’s work, for it is by grace alone that we are saved.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.15.3).
In a world that tells us to earn our way, Sola Gratia reminds us that our salvation is a gift—freely given, wholly undeserved, and eternally secure. Let us rest in that grace and live our lives in response to it.
Although believers have received the promise of an eternity with the triune God in the new heaven and the new earth, we’re often tempted to lose an eternal perspective, whether during days of mundane matters or terrible trials. You may be single and dread facing another lonely night, or you may be lonely in marriage. You may feel displaced and unappreciated at work. Your relationships with one or more of your children might be strained and it’s all you think about. Or you doubt God’s promise to protect you and provide for you. Regardless, we need to be reminded that God is with us, and He desires His people to live for a greater blessing and a greater kingdom. One place in the Bible that reminds us of this truth is the book of Haggai.
A Greater Blessing
Through Haggai the Lord reveals something about His people. They thought that the sacrifices they placed upon the altar were making them holy, but their sacrifices couldn’t be holy if their hearts weren’t holy (Hag. 2:10-19). And the presence of the unfinished temple in their midst served as evidence that their hearts were not clean.
Likewise, attending church on Sunday, participating in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, giving an offering, and volunteering in ministry positions don’t save us or sanctify us. The real question is whether or not we have given our hearts to the Lord. Do we engage in the means of grace to try and atone for the sins so prevalent in our lives the rest of the week, or do we engage in them because we love God and want to glorify and enjoy Him?
God commands His people to remember life before they began rebuilding the temple, especially the discipline that God had brought upon Judah so that she’d return to Him. Sadly, Judah had not repented, and therefore, experienced the curse of exile (Hag. 2:15-17). The Lord declares that it was not a lack of their strategy or skill, but their hard hearts that had led to hard times. They had refused to repent, a refusal made clear when they left His house unfinished and built their own houses.
Jesus welcomed little children into His arms and unless we be like children, we cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Tattered and Shattered
Jesus welcomed little children into His arms and unless we be like children, we cannot enter the kingdom of God (Matt 18:3). That’s what Jesus said, but we’ll cover what that means later. Let me tell you first of all, many years ago, when I worked for a foster care agency, being a bi-vocational pastor (still am), I came into the office and saw a young girl lying on the office couch on her overstuffed lion-pillow, clutching an old and very ragged doll with one eye missing and a tattered dress. At her feet was a large hole-covered trash sack that had all of her earthly belongings in them, like her clothing, socks, and jeans. The trash sack had several holes in it and some of her clothing was hanging out.
No Real Home
After speaking with her case manager, she wiped the sleep out of her eyes just in time to be going to another home…another foster home…after leaving her old home behind…again! Her father had abandoned her and her mother before she was ever born, and now the mother confessed that she could not even take care of herself, not to mention her own child. This is just another story that happens just about every day at foster care agencies around the nation. Some of the most heartbreaking experiences I have ever seen in my life have to do with children who have been in and out of foster care. Here are a few examples of what I have seen in my encounters with these little ones that are so precious to our Lord.
The Least of These
A seven year old girl once asked me if I could be her daddy since her father was gone. She also asked me if she could tell me “I love you.” It made me weep. As a father and grandfather, I understand that Jesus loves these little ones and rebuked His disciples once for trying to prevent them from coming to Him. In Matthew 19:14 He told the disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” One thing about children is that they have such tender hearts. They are very trusting and this why they are often taken advantage of. The importance of being able to witness to these children is so important. They have not yet hardened their hearts, they have not had time to become cynical to the ways of the world, they remain open and pliable to the teachings of the Bible, and they are so trusting. They have such strong faith that it makes me ashamed of my own disbelief at times. This may be why Jesus said; “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15).
Suffer the Children
These foster children have often been through more pain and suffering than adults will experience in a lifetime. One child was in five different foster homes in one year. One child had said his father had committed suicide. Another little boy who I took to visit his father found out that he was a no-show. One girl I took to visit her mom found out that she was now in jail. Other children came from physically and sometimes sexually abusive homes, others came from alcoholic homes and homes where drug abuse had occurred (or all of the above). One little child witnessed his mother being beaten time and again. Sadly, these children often blame themselves even though they are not responsible. It is a dangerous thing to abuse or hurt a child in any way. Jesus warned in Luke 17:2 that “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” The sea is a picture or image of eternal death to the Jews and to have a millstone tied around a person’s neck means there’s no reprieve from this judgment.
God’s Gift
We know that children are a gift of God and a blessing from the Lord. We see that from Scripture as the Psalmist writes, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:3-5). At one point, “the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:1-3). Humility, not size or height, is the measure by which God goes by (Matt 18:4).
Broken Hearts
The young girl I wrote about in the beginning of this story is just who Jesus was speaking about. As I picked up her trash bag full of clothing, I noticed that her clothes were soiled and were too big for her size, and many were full of holes. She clung tightly to that little doll she had, sometimes speaking to it, reassuring the doll that “We’re going to a new home today. It’ll be okay.” I’m not sure if she was trying to reassure the doll or herself, but can you see why this gets to me? These precious little ones…so young and innocent. It is so hard to see them suffer. I cannot solve these children’s problems. I can only offer them the hope of a brighter future, “for such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Conclusion
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[Original airdate: 6/28/24] We welcome back Kyle Peart and Flynn Huseby of Once Lost Ministries, apologists and evangelists who work tirelessly to bring truth and clarity to those caught up in false teaching. Today we discuss the Catholic faith and the various aspects that are unscriptural: Tradition, relics, sacraments, purgatory, and veneration of Mary. With all the religious aspects, extra-biblical focus and gospel of good works, how is it that a Catholic can never be assured of salvation? There is a lot of busy-ness, as in all religions, but none of it ever seems to produce the fruit of repentance and a biblical understanding of the new birth. We also discuss the ecumenical bent that has long been part of this huge denomination but we have to ask ourselves, to what end? Dominionism, or something more sneaky – the desire to bring all Protestants “home to Rome”. A thoughtful discussion that will hopefully open eyes to the vanity of religiousity.
I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.[4]
One question that often arises is HOW should we take the TxC analytics to the unconverted world. How can we engage the world with the Truth – and the consequences – when that Truth has been exchanged for the Lie? Some say TxC is too “Biblicist” – it roots things overtly in the Scriptures in general and Romans 1:25 in particular. Guilty as charged! However, . . .
Some today contend that the natural law tradition, rooted in medieval thinking and the early magisterial Reformers, is better suited for engaging with today’s fallen world. This, folks contend, should be retrieved. Citing the Bible, and its cosmology, they claim, is simply is a tone deaf non-starter to this post-modern hostile “negative” world.[5] The Reformed world divides on this question, mostly in a good-natured way – (see what I did there?) Let’s get to the gist.
The Use and Utility of Natural Law
What is Natural Law?
First, what is the natural law? Natural law (“NL”) stems from the claim – which Thomas, Luther, and Calvin all affirmed – that when God created, He imbued the world with a moral order that man may apprehend by reason. It’s “natural” because it is inherent to the created order; it’s “law” because it reflects general moral categories.[6] However, natural law is not like a compendium of rules nor a legal code. NL generally is deemed to reflect the Decalogue’s broad ethical notions: taking innocent life is wrong, stealing is wrong, lying is wrong etc. Moreover, these ideas are not “Christian” ideas in the sense that they reflect creation and thus apply universally.[7] NL ideas have been noted by pagans such as Cicero,[8] Aristotle,[9] Sophocles (particularly in his play Antigone[10]) and certain Eastern traditions.[11]
The Christian tradition also has utilized natural law when advancing various moral claims. This is the method C.S. Lewis uses in his Abolition of Man with his concept of the Tao. So, does the existence of NL present a binary choice for Christians when engaging unbelievers? In other words, should Christians just use the Bible exclusively or just use NL principles exclusively when evangelizing and pressing Christ’s ethical claims? Well, this is a false dichotomy.
Considering How to Use Natural Law
Consider this analogy: Two of our sons are Commissioned as USMC Infantry Officers. When they are deployed “down river” and chaos ensues, if their weapon jams or lacks ammo and they see a dead enemy’s functional weapon, they don’t say: “well, that’s an AK-47, not what we use, so forget it” . . . No, they pick it up and use it to ventilate the enemy even with its inherent limitations and defects. In the same way, while my training[12]and conviction view NL skeptically, that in itself does not mean NL lacks value, nor that it cannot “advance the ball” in the fallen world. However, we need to understand the obstacles and limits to applying NL, which I will outline later.
But at the outset, we need to keep in mind some crucial distinctions. A difference exists between the fact of NL and theories regarding that fact. The fact is that “the work of the law is written on the hearts” of men.[13] The theories explicating that fact are many and differ at several points and sometimes contradict: Thomistic NL; the Classical Synthesis, the so-called “New” Natural Law, and various pagan notions.
Next, we need to understand the function of NL: it’s not the “theory of everything” – rather, it’s a tool and a means, not an end. In other words, we may grab a hammer to build a fence, but the goal is having a fence, not persuading people to believe in hammers. In other words, we “make knowledge acceptable”[14] in order that God’s Spirit, if He is so pleased, will convert them to Christ – not so that they profess some preferred or arcane theory of NL. NL can assist us in this task of making moral knowledge acceptable.
This means that in the arena of public ethics and law using NL principles can be a valid means to advocate and achieve just results – ends – by acceptable, if not optimal, means. Here’s an example: today, parental rights are increasingly under attack and are being eroded, especially in the pagan-infused area of gender ideology and so-called “gender transition.” Children are being socially and medically “transitioned” without informing, let alone receiving permission from, their own parents. School districts direct teachers to deflect, deceive, or deny this reality to the parents.[15]
Legal problem: nothing in the constitution explicitly protects “parental rights.” Yet, using a doctrine akin to “natural law” known as “substantive due process” the Supreme Court has, for over a century, recognized and enforced the rights of parents to determine the path of their children’s upbringing, education, and virtues. This godly result is being supported by a less-than-optimal legal rationale. Using NL can achieve similar success – however, one must understand its limitations.
Limitations of NL
First, NL sets forth no organized or codified set of particulars. It does not tell us the best form comprising a political system, or how to perform heart surgery. It does not set forth the tastiest recipes for Thanksgiving dressing or goose foie gras. In short, NL is not a legal code nor an indexed ethical cookbook.
Second, if one is not careful, using NL – not NL itself – can conflict with special revelation. Let’s understand that the bible reveals and mankind knows, not just some general theism, but the true God, and they know him as Creator.[16] This Creator creates by His Word and then governs His creation similarly – Adam and Eve are to obey and live according to that word.[17] The NL narrative, however, claims that mankind via reason and observation can live and function apart from special revelation. This creates tension between special and general revelation, where in reality, none exists. Both “books” of revelation (general and special) must be consulted; distinguished but not separated.[18]
In addition, the reliance – or even a preference – for general revelation as the basis for the NL system presents another difficulty: man today only exists in a post-Fall world. Sin distorts our ability and accuracy of our thinking and processing natural revelation. This is called the noetic [from Gk. nous] effect of sin.[19] Or as Scripture puts it, natural men become “futile in their thinking”.[20] Indeed, just viewing the natural without the correcting lens of special revelation would affirm vile practices like polygamy, child sacrifice, adultery, war, Kinism, segregation, etc. This sort of reasoning is simplistic and simply mistaken: “Such things and practices exist and therefore they are ‘natural and therefore permissible”.
Third, NL lacks epistemological granularity and specificity. This lack means that NL alone cannot solve the myriad of problems presented by a fallen world. For example, granting that NL condemns the taking of innocent life and granting that this is known by all at some level, how does one distinguish between murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, justified killing in self-defense, excused killing via mental defect, “just war” killing? If solving for these details means invoking and relying on fallen man’s prudence to the exclusion of special revelation, how can a society be sure that its decisions are just? One man’s prudence may be another’s tyranny.
Fourth, even if NL could be discerned with “retail level” specificity, who decides which moral precept controls? With respect to political and legal outcomes, is it the jurist, the legislature, the executive, all of them, some combination of them, none of them, etc. Who determines what and how NL applies to a particular situation? NL does not tell us.
NL’s Incomplete Anthropology
When it comes to ordering society, including promoting laws and policies that encourage human flourishing, it must never be forgotten that those laws and policies apply to and affect people.[21] NL, because it lacks theological grounding in special revelation, can at best only depict a partial anthropology. In particular, the crucial distinctive of humanity, being created Imago Dei, is nowhere to be found in NL thinking, unless it’s smuggled into the conversation. Yet, to fully grasp what it means for humans to flourish requires knowing people as created Imago Dei: That they are to have dominion of the created order, subduing it to God’s glory.[22] This implies valorizing the following creational priorities, which are difficult, if not impossible, to deduce from general revelation alone:
Creator/Creature Distinction →
Neither Man nor the State can be Creator, nor Savior – that is, the Ultimate Standard or of Ultimate Import
Implies Jurisdiction and Jurisdictional Boundaries within society
Life is better than non-life
Death is unnatural (an enemy to be defeated), even though death in a post-fall world is ubiquitous and occurs “naturally”
Man cannot be autonomous, whether in ontology or ethics
b. Imago Dei
Human Exceptionalism → Creational hierarchy
Ontic Valorization of humanity, contra Kinism, tribalism, ethno-nationalism, antisemitism, misogyny, yet some today conclude the opposite purportedly using NL as their guide[23]
Equality as to Dignity and Value of each human person
c. Male and Female as Immutable Ontic Categories
Mankind is comprised of immutable sexual dimorphs
Pronoun usage must conform to reality as created and designed[24]
There are parents, but there is no “parenting” in the ultimate sense; rather, we must recognize and preserve the essential necessity of both fatheringand mothering – comprised of duties, responsibilities, and rights → disfavoring and deincentivizing, if not precluding:
Single parent fostering by design
Single parent adoption by design
Single parenting by design
The State as parent
d. Marriage as consisting of one man and one woman
Contextualizes the Proper channeling and expression of sexuality
Affirms the Legitimacy of FamilyGovernance → generating incipient principles of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity
Requires Recognition of “the family” as a Separate Status: recognized and protected
e. Work/Labor → See David Bahnsen’s treatment of this[25]
f. Cultural Mandate implying
Liberty to collaborate
Communication protected and preserved
Unencumbered trade
Freedom to contract and negotiate and consequent legal protections, including enforcement and apt remedies
Protection and promotion of wealth development contra to environmentalism
Protection of reputation
g. Work/Rest/Worship Rhythms → Contra to notions “work/life balance”
h. “Law above Law” – Cosmology and Situating Authority
Special Revelation’s Role, even in Pre-lapsation Garden
The Law’s Role to order and organize a liberated people
Examples:
The Exodus → Ordering a newly liberated people → Law necessary to regulate a Newly Freed society
Cf., Paradise in the Garden
Source of Law: God → “from Above” – God and the Mt. Sinai cf., John 19
Purpose and Content of the Law:
Provide Structure for Society
Substantive Precepts
Coordination Problems
Justice interpersonally
Tort Law
Property Law
Boundaries
Animals
Crops
iv. Justice Societally
Murder
Manslaughter
Theft
Sexual assault
e. Procedural Precepts
Appellant Courts
Evidence and Witness Requirements – 9thCommandment
Proportionality – Lex Talionis
Just War Theory
Remedies:
Restitution
Damages
Interest for loss of use
John 19: Jesus and Pilate
3. James and Wisdom “from above”
4. Romans 13 – the State as “God’s servant”
How any of these foregoing essentials can be appropriated by reason alone, that is, relying exclusively on NL, cannot be done. Yet, conditions for a full-orbed human flourishing require these predicates.
How to Navigate the Tension between IS and OUGHT
Under “pure” NL schemes, one constantly seeks to derive an “ought” from an “is.” This is known as the “naturalistic informal logical fallacy.”[26] Yet, as Christians we do affirm that creation is not “blank”. Indeed, the creation speaks:
Jesus too affirmed that knowledge can come from observing the created world and its cycles:[29]
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.[30]
And, the human person is designed and enjoys a telos or purpose. Moral imperatives seem to be derivable from that reality. For example, one can stare at the sun, but the eye is not designed to do so – injury will follow. Similarly, lungs exist to oxygenate blood, yet it is possible to inhale water, but that frustrates the lung’s design and purpose. So at least illustratively, when engaging unbelievers, these sorts of moves based on the creation’s design could prove generally valuable. However, granularity is required for structuring society and articulating practical rules of law and policy. Consider crafting a workable justice system.
What about Penology and Process?
Any justice system must account for procedure and consequences. Possessing the “right answers,” in other words, must include HOW we get to them and WHAT “just desserts” means. For example, capital punishment for parking violations would certainly deter wrongdoers, but would it be just? How does one determine such things from NL? Similarly, say someone stole a pack of gum 60 years ago; should that theft be prosecutable today? How does one establish repose or statutes of limitations on NL principles? How do we, on NL precepts, account for and establish matters like rules of evidence,[31]burdens of proof, proportionality in executing justice,[32]remedies such as restitution,[33] et al? NL lacks the granularity necessary for doing so.
What Can NL Do?
Natural Law nevertheless does provide some key benefits for our discussions with the world and lost people. First, using NL necessarily invokes moral categories and vocabulary. This predicate shifts the discussion overtly to where it belongs: moral claims and moral absolutes, objective right and wrong, rather than mere opinion and preference.
Second, using NL moral language also shreds the myth of neutrality – so often invoked by secularists and pluralists. The reality is the that every “ought” claim as to the what the law should be or how society should be ordered presents a moral claim – there can be no neutrality.[34] No one is actually – or can be – ethically neutral. Discussions on this level expose the reality of needing the true and living God. Otherwise people are left with an “I say, you say” Mexican standoff.[35]
Third, these moves in turn expose the moral relativism being relied upon by the inquirer: “Hitler was different and misunderstood, not evil and wrong”. That sort of conclusion should be unsettling to the serious inquirer and using NL precepts can press that tension toward the necessity of having a true and knowable standard of justice.
Fourth, these foregoing NL characteristics work to shift the Overton Window regarding law and policy. This means that moral considerations do not get ruled out in advance and sidelined. This becomes crucial when discussing foundational matters rooted in humanity that require a correct anthropology to rebut or correct. Consider such current cultural issues like abortion, IVF, “gender transition”, free speech, et al. How can NL reasoning “advance the ball” on such matters?
Consider antebellum America in which chattel slavery institutionally existed in the Southern States. Using natural law precepts, courageous lawyers like Francis Scott Key and John Quincy Adams resorted to first principles when attacking this vile institution. Over and over again, legal claims were predicated on pre-political natural law principles:[36] What is the nature of property? What is the nature of humanity? How can the spoils of war include humans as booty? What happens when the positive law gets it wrong and violates transcendent universal norms? Don’t humans possess a right to revolt against tyranny? Adams put it this way to the Supreme Court as he raised these sorts of questions in representing slaves:
“I will not recur to the Declaration of Independence – your honors have it implanted in your hearts.”[37]
This is a classic invocation of NL principles as the foundation for his more specific legal contentions. Surprisingly, even the Left of center secularist American Bar Association opens the ethical door for lawyers to counsel clients using moral precepts in addition to legal ones:
In representing a client, a lawyer shall exercise independent professional judgment and render candid advice. In rendering advice, a lawyer may refer not only to law but to other considerations such as moral, economic, social and political factors, that may be relevant to the client’s situation.[38]
As Christians we know that moral factors are always relevant to every situation. And, we also know from Scripture that an incremental approach works.[39] This means that less than optimal means, like using NL with its inherent limitations, can nevertheless “move the needle” culturally and evangelistically. In short, as to using NL precept as a tool, we should be skeptical supporters. Why? Because the bottom line is that God’s Word sanctifies us[40] since “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”[41]
[5] It’s currently faddish to consider the current era as “negative” based on the arbitrary taxonomy crafted and promoted by Aaron Renn. See, Aaron Renn, Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian World (2024)
[6] Natural law is thus not mechanical nor a species of physics detailing “natural” causation.
[7] However, by reflecting Creation, NL rightly done does assume and rely upon theological premises, whether admitted or not.
[12] My teachers and mentors stem from the presuppositional tradition, largely that conceived of by Corneilus Van Til. Yet, at the same time, I commissioned and edited J. Budziszewski’s Natural Law for Lawyers (2006)
[21] For a rousing and comprehensive exploration of the meaning of mankind, see, Vern K. Poythress, Making Sense of Man – Using Biblical Perspectives to Develop a Theology of Humanity (2024)
[23] This is the Kinist “blood and soil” cul-de-sac set forth by Christian Nationalist Stephen Wolfe and his minions. Wolfe’s stated method rejects special revelation and is otherwise a theological dumpster fire. See, Brian Mattson, A Children’s Crusade – Stephen Wolfe and The Great Restoration.” https://brianmattson.substack.com/p/a-childrens-crusade
[32] Lex talionis, aka “an eye for any eye” (Ex. 21:24 and Lev. 24:20)
[33] Luke 19:8 – Zacchaeus returned four-fold for his theft; Scripture records restitution of four-fold and five-fold payments (Ex. 22:1 and 2 Sam. 12:6) – Presumably, this reflects “just desserts” since God commanded it – how does one “deduce” this from NL?
[36] For a narrative, yet somewhat technical, rehearsal of this, see, Justin Buckley Dyer, Natural Law and the Antislavery Constitutional Tradition (2012)
In their marvelous book, Fearfully and Wonderfully, Philip Yancey and Dr. Paul Brand make one of the most insightful observations on personal fulfillment I have ever read. Take a few moments to read and meditate on the following quote before I comment: “I have learned that service also opens up levels of personal fulfillment far exceeding any others. We are called to self-denial, not for its own sake but for a compensation we can obtain in no other way.”1
The idea of self-denial in our society sounds nice but is rarely thought of as the pathway to true personal fulfillment. Instead, in America today, fulfillment is often associated with the accumulation of material possessions and career advancement. But I have learned in my walk with the Lord that self-denial, and serving God and others first, is the only way to obtain true joy and peace – the key ingredients to personal fulfillment.
And, I believe, the greatest way to achieve maximum personal fulfillment in life is when we practice our good works and service for the sake of the gospel. Just listen to the words of Jesus: “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’” (Luke 9:23-24). Not only will we save our life in an eternal sense, but we will find true contentment in this life.
When we serve Jesus, we often must deny ourselves of creature comforts and time we could spend doing other things. But knowing that we are doing things that advance the kingdom of God and please Jesus brings so much satisfaction as a Christian that the joy we receive is simply out of this world.
And when we serve others through praying for them, helping them financially, or just loving on them, we receive their gratitude and Jesus’ approval.
So, we see that spending time alone with Jesus in worship and serving our fellowman through our time, talents, and treasury, may seem like a sacrifice, but in reality the joy, peace, and meaning we get in return make these investments in self-denial all worth it. In addition, knowing that our self-denial and sacrifices, for the kingdom of God, are helping us store up treasures in heaven is something that no one can put a price tag on. My friends, self-denial is the true pathway to peace, joy, and meaning; and is the best way I know of to achieve real personal fulfillment in life!
1Brand, Dr. Paul; Yancey, Philip. Fearfully and Wonderfully (p. 64). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Deep State panic intensifies as rumors swirl about President-elect Donald Trump’s potential choice for FBI Director
Tensions are mounting in Washington as rumors circulate that President-elect Donald Trump is considering appointing Kash Patel, a loyalist and former aide during his previous administration, as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Patel is rumored to be in consideration for the head of the FBI. GOP Sources have also independently confirmed this to The Gateway Pundit.
Kash Patel’s impressive qualifications include several high-ranking positions in the intelligence and defense communities under President Trump.
While running counter-terrorism for President Trump, the president oriented counter-terrorism efforts to wipe out ISIS senior leadership and other key operatives. He further oversaw the resuing of American hostages AND detainees being rescued and returned to the United States.
As a terrorism prosecutor, Kash Patel prosecuted ISIS, Al-Qa’ida, and other terrorist networks, and he was the lead prosecutor for the World Cup bombings in Uganda that killed an American and 76 people.
While Kash Patel was the Defense Department Chief of Staff, the DoD ended wars forever.
Last June, Patel told The Gateway Pundit they were trying to “bury” his book and prevent its release ”because the book exposes, by name and agency, every corrupt actor I encountered, puts them on blast, and tells the world how we remove them from power and restore our agencies to work for the American people.”
Now… Former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner sounded the alarm during a Sunday appearance on CNN, cautioning that Patel’s appointment would cause “massive damage” to the agency.
Brunner: It’s really important to understand that the person who’s leading the FBI, who is the director and then the deputy director, those are two very important positions.
You’re in charge of tens of thousands of employees, both special agents, analysts, everyone that is enforcing the federal law that is on the books and supporting the Constitution of the United States
. Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous because, as you just alluded to, his resume isn’t traditional. There is nothing on his resume other than three years as a line U.S. attorney at the DOJ.
He has no experience leading an organization, no less a Cub Scout pack, to put him in front of the lead law enforcement agency in the United States, and some consider the world, to have him in charge of so many employees.
He has clearly stated that he wants to exact revenge upon those that have investigated President Trump and those who investigated those that are around him.
He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI, looking after employees who have put their names on certain documents because they were just working the case.
There will be hundreds of employees who will be unjustly fired or have their security clearances removed only because he feels that it is something he needs to do. So I think he would be very, very dangerous.
[…]
I still have a lot of good friends of mine that are serving in the FBI on the front lines, special agents. Necessarily, not all of them are supervisors. So I talk to a lot of them on the streets, and they’re concerned. They’re concerned, obviously, about the appointment of Matt Gaetz as a possible attorney general, and they’re, of course, concerned about Mr. Patel.
Look closely at Trump’s cabinet picks and you’ll be shocked… at the deception of the media.
The legacy media in Australia wants you to believe that Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are problematic. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a science denier. Tulsi Gabbard is cozy with Russia. Matt Gaetz was investigated for sex crimes.
It’s an interesting pitch, given that our national media barely blinked when President Joe Biden appointed his cabinet — many of whom, it turns out, warranted far deeper scrutiny.
(As just one example, Biden’s Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg currently overseas all the nation’s airports and railways and a budget of tens of billions of dollars. Yet his only prior experience was as a small town mayor, and his main selling point for the role, according to ABC News, was that he is gay).
The first reason you should be skeptical about media messaging on Trump’s cabinet is that it mirrors perfectly the partisan talking points of U.S. Democrats.
Learn that this is generally how Australian reporting on the United States works:
Democratic Party operatives announce their views
American cable news, which leans overwhelmingly left, presents these views as unquestioned fact
ABC News launders the same slant to Australians as “news” (at the expense of taxpayers)
The same narrative trickles down to Australia’s newspapers and nightly news broadcasts
Once you see how the American-Aussie news game works, it’s hard to unsee it. Australians are being told what to think, not how to think — and certainly not how to think critically.
Here’s a second reason you should be skeptical about critiques of Trump’s cabinet: they come from the same people who gave us Covid lockdowns and mandatory injections, who keep starting foreign wars, who are desperate to censor us, and who assure us that men can be women.
And if you needed a third reason, consider that it isn’t the American people who feel threatened by Trump staffing his cabinet with outsiders. Americans voted for exactly that — and in historic numbers. Those who feel most threatened are the Washington elites, the self-interested cronies, and those who earned their positions not by merit but by their membership in some favoured identity group.
While the views of some Trump appointees are worth probing, their priorities and policy positions fall well within the mainstream.
In any case, as independent journalist Michael Shellenberger has observed, “throughout history, most real reformers and innovators have held fringe views and have had aspects of their personalities that are problematic.”
Shellenberger hastens to add that, “In most cases, those flaws or idiosyncrasies proved to be a small price to pay for their willingness to overcome the many obstacles required to achieve serious reforms of deeply entrenched institutions.”
With this important context in view, let’s take a look at some of Trump’s high-profile appointees.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump’s choice for Health Secretary is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy.
While RFK Jr. has championed free speech and environmental protection, his campaign platform centred on health. RFK has pointed out that Americans have some of the worst health outcomes in the developed world despite their abundant access to food and medication.
RFK believes many of America’s health problems stem from regulatory corruption, and he wants the US to catch up to Europe in limiting the presence of chemicals, pollutants, additives, pesticides and seed oils in foods, so that Americans have access to healthier diets.
Highlighting the alarming rise in chronic diseases like diabetes and autism, RFK also wants to see far more rigorous testing for pharmaceuticals. He is particularly critical of the 72-shot vaccination schedule imposed on American children.
While the legacy media has labeled him an anti-vaxxer, RFK has no intention to ban vaccines. Rather, he wants to end vaccine mandates, returning the choice to families. He also demands gold standard science and transparency where vaccines are concerned, warning that none of the routine vaccines have been safety tested in pre-licensing placebo-controlled trials.
Critics have questioned whether RFK can lead the Department of Health and Human Services without formal medical or health training. However, they conveniently ignore that Biden’s current Health Secretary Xavier Becerra also has no background in health — though he was greeted with fanfare for being the first Latino in the role.
Biden’s Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine was likewise apparently chosen with identity politics in view. Levine is a biological male who identifies as a woman, and has used his office to campaign for the chemical sterilisation and surgical castration of children.
Prominent evangelicals like Mike Pence have come out in opposition to RFK’s appointment as Health Secretary due to the latter’s stance on abortion. However, since the overturning of Roe v Wade, abortion is now a states issue and not under the purview of the federal health department. It’s out of RFK’s reach. Moreover, Pence and many of his peers refused to support Trump over Kamala despite her extreme views on abortion. In other words, evangelical criticisms of RFK seem grounded in prejudice rather than principle.
In the end, Democrats must take the blame for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s eventual appointment by Trump. RFK initially tried to campaign as a Democrat but was blocked by the Democratic National Committee from challenging Biden in the primaries. When RFK sought to run as an independent, the Biden administration denied him Secret Service protection, despite the history of assassinations in his family. Finally, when RFK endorsed Trump for president and withdrew from the race, Democratic operatives in several states fought to keep his name on the ballot in an attempt to siphon votes from Trump.
The American people overcame every trick of of Democrat powerbrokers to put RFK in office. If democracy means anything, then RFK deserves the opportunity to bring much-needed reform to American health.
Matt Gaetz
Another Trump nominee to furrow the brow of the Australian media is Attorney General pick Matt Gaetz, whom they have labelled “far-right” and eagerly claimed was “investigated for sex crimes”.
What they also won’t tell you is that the primary witness against Gaetz was Joel Greenberg, a corrupt politician currently serving jail time for the very things he accused Gaetz of doing. Greenberg made the false accusations when Gaetz refused to help him seek a pardon. A second witness had financial ties to Greenberg that made her testimony unreliable. The DOJ eventually dropped its investigation into Gaetz, acknowledging the claims were unsubstantiated and the witnesses lacked credibility.
While Gaetz has a clean criminal record, he does pose a threat to Washington powerbrokers. Gaetz has used his time in Congress to expose career politicians for insider trading, confront the FBI about its abuses against J6 prisoners, call out the Biden family for its international money laundering scheme, and hold Dr Anthony Fauci’s feet to the fire for his funding of gain-of-function research that likely led to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Australians should be asking themselves, not what’s wrong with Matt Gaetz, but who has poisoned their minds against an otherwise unknown Congressman from Florida — and why?
For Secretary of Defence, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth, who is being dismissed by media apparatchiks as a “Fox News host” while his real credentials are swept under the rug.
Pete Hegseth served in the military for nearly two decades, completing tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, and earning two Bronze Star medals. Hegseth studied political science at Princeton and earned a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard.
In addition to his television career, Hegseth has been heavily involved in advocacy for veterans, and served as the executive director of Vets for Freedom.
The question is not why Trump picked Pete Hegseth, but what threat Hegseth poses to Washington insiders.
Hegseth has authored several bestselling books warning about the corrupting influence of woke politics in the American military, which is undermining traditional values and military readiness. He has been very vocal about the need for radical reform from the top down. Many in the brass who have overseen this decline clearly have a lot to lose, as their positions of power and influence could be threatened by a critical outsider challenging the status quo.
Under Biden, the current Secretary of Defense is Lloyd Austin, whose appointment was highly suspicious due to his previous role on Raytheon’s board, where he earned significant pay from one of the world’s largest defense contractors. Austin’s ties to the defense industry created clear conflicts of interest, especially with the U.S. sending billions of dollars in military aid to countries like Ukraine.
In other news, the Pentagon, where Austin is headquartered, failed its seventh consecutive financial audit after being unable to fully account for how it spent its $824 billion budget.
But the Australian legacy media wants us to believe that Pete Hegseth is the problem?
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for National Director of Intelligence (DNI), has also faced scrutiny from Australian journalists.
Like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard is a former Democrat. She previously represented her home state of Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as serving in the military for 16 years, which included a deployment to Iraq.
Gabbard has been criticised for stating that Syria’s Russian-backed dictator Bashar al-Assad is not America’s enemy. However, it is clear from Gabbard’s general stance on foreign military entanglements that she was not defending Russia, but arguing the U.S should not be pursuing another regime change war in Syria.
While Gabbard lacks specific qualifications for intelligence, the double standards of Democrats are obvious enough, since former intelligence leaders such as Obama’s CIA Director Leon Panetta and his National Security Advisor Susan Rice also lacked such formal training and nary an eyebrow was raised.
Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard does tick the requisite identity boxes, being a woman of colour and the first female combat veteran to serve in the U.S. Congress — yet these qualities are apparently irrelevant since she is no longer a Democrat.
To whom does Tulsi Gabbard pose a threat?
She is a staunch critic of regime change wars — a stance that threatens to turn off the funding tap to every beneficiary of the military industrial complex.
Moreover, in the role of DNI, Gabbard will gain access to the communications that will reveal why the Biden-Harris administration placed her on a terror watch list immediately after she criticised Kamala Harris’ fitness for the presidency.
Australia’s corporate press, laundering the lies of the U.S. legacy media — which in turn peddles Democrat talking points as truth — wants you to think that Trump’s cabinet picks are out of control.
They are out of control — out of the control of the United States’ permanent bureaucracy that has sunk a once-great country into never-ending wars, open borders chaos, cultural despair and financial bankruptcy.
Americans — who fought a war of independence to create a government of, for and by the people — were asked earlier this month who they want to lead them. They turned out in record-breaking numbers to democratically elect a team led by Donald Trump. They are sick of the failures and gaslighting of the elite class. They voted for change.
It’s time Australia’s media stopped trying to interfere in foreign elections and started asking the same questions about our country that Americans are rightly asking about their own.
And it’s time Australians stopped falling for their lies. We’re much smarter than that.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced Monday that they have already goose-stepped to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Orange Hitler’s ring. The post appeared first on Breitbart .
President-elect Donald Trump made huge inroads with young voters this past election cycle. Fifty-six percent of young men aged 18-29 voted for Trump this year, a major flip from 2020 when 56% of them voted for Joe Biden. Trump also made inroads with young women, who shifted 11 points toward him compared to four years ago.
While Vice President Kamala Harris ultimately won the majority of voters under 30, she won them by just six points, a quarter of the 24 percentage points Biden had from them four years prior. What can explain this massive shift in support among the youth vote from Democrats to Republicans?
Prices are 20% higher now than when Joe Biden first took office, and young people are struggling to build wealth due to the burden of everyday expenses. As inflation continues to outpace wage growth and housing costs skyrocket, it’s no surprise that the economy was the number one issue for young voters this election cycle. Forty percent of voters under 30 polled by the Associated Press chose the economy as their reason for voting. And they weren’t convinced Harris — or the Democrats — could fix it.
“The affordability crisis is particularly biting to younger Americans trying to get their foothold in the economy,” Matt Carpenter, director of FRC Action told The Washington Stand. “As they entered the workforce, they were met with rising home and grocery prices. This certainly paid a huge factor in their rightward shift.”
Authenticity
Besides the economy, younger voters also saw the Republican ticket as the authentic ticket. This perception is in large part due to the Trump campaign’s strategy to reach younger voters online. Whether it was Trump creating a TikTok account or appearing on some of the top podcasts in the country like Joe Rogan or Theo Von, the campaign effectively won over low propensity, young male voters by talking to them at their level.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, several young people talked about why they opted for Trump over Harris.
“Trump enthusiastically said yes to a three-hour, open, honest conversation with Joe Rogan, who was a former Bernie bro,” a 22-year-old voter named Jack told the paper. “I think it’s very telling about which candidate is authentic and which candidate is not.”
Young voters could see through Harris’s contrived media appearances and rehearsed stump speeches. Even when she tried to mirror Trump by appearing on the left-leaning Call Her Daddy podcast, she appeared fake and out-of-touch with the issues voters cared about, whereas Trump increased his likeability by having genuine conversations with middle-of-the-road podcasters and influencers.
Young voters also liked how normal and genuine Vice President-elect and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance appeared in media interviews and podcasts. “I was so impressed by J.D. Vance, the way he carried himself and how normal he appeared,” a 25-year-old woman named McLane told the Times.
While the Harris campaign was hoping to capitalise on “vibes” this election cycle, whether it was through the “brat” meme over the summer or the legacy media-backed “joy” campaign, ironically, Trump was the one who won the vibe check.
Whether it was posing as a McDonald’s employee or driving a garbage truck, Trump signalled that he cared about the average American voter and brought dignity to their jobs and concerns about the economy. This gave his campaign an authenticity that young voters recognised.
“She was just running a vibes campaign,” Brilyn Hollyhand, chair of the Republican National Committee’s youth advisory council told The Hill.
“With our posts, we would back that up with explaining detailed policies, because that’s something that her side wasn’t doing. Clearly, youth voters paid attention to policies and decided to not go with vibes but with the guy that actually has policies.”
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Republished with thanks to The Washington Stand. Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore/Flickr.
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