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
According to my earnest expectation and my hope…so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. PHILIPPIANS 1:20
Expectation and faith, though alike, are not identical. An instructed Christian will not confuse the two. True faith is never found alone; it is always accompanied by expectation. The man who believes the promises of God expects to see them fulfilled. Where there is no expectation there is no faith. It is, however, quite possible for expectation to be present where no faith is. The mind is quite capable of mistaking strong desire for faith. Indeed faith, as commonly understood, is little more than desire compounded with cheerful optimism. Real faith is not the stuff dreams are made of; rather it is tough, practical and altogether realistic. Faith sees the invisible but it does not see the nonexistent. Faith engages God, the one great Reality, who gave and gives existence to all things. God’s promises conform to reality, and whoever trusts them enters a world not of fiction but of fact! Expectation has always been present in the church in the times of her greatest power. When she believed, she expected, and her Lord never disappointed her. His blessings accorded with their expectations, “and blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2015). Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (p. 43). Moody Publishers.
My soul! whether or not the decree be as yet gone forth for an early day for thy removal, as here to Hezekiah, it must shortly arrive; and as thou knowest not how soon, it is good to set both thine house and thine heart in order; for he that is best fitted to live, is best prepared to die. How stands thy great account? This body of thine must go down to the chambers of the grave. And surely if the soul be safe in union with Jesus, such an event as the dissolution of the body is more to be desired than dreaded. If the pearl be safe, no matter though the casket be broken. Pause over the view; for though it be solemn, it is profitable. If a voice from heaven declared the dead to be blessed, who die in the Lord; then will thy death be blessed, if thou art living in union with Christ. See to it this night, this very night, whether this be thy case; all is well, if this be well. Hath not the Holy Ghost, in times long since passed, led thee to all-precious Jesus? And from his sweet teachings, and constraining influences, hast thou not ventured thyself upon him? Convinced that there is salvation in no other, neither any other name under heaven given among men, whereby thou mightest be saved, didst thou not cast thyself upon his blood and righteousness, and at a time when under the deepest sense of thy sin and his all-sufficiency to save? And hast thou not many a time since, when the false reasoning of men, the temptations of hell, and a host of foes, from within and without, would have turned thee aside from thy Lord; hast thou not, by his sweet, constraining, and supporting grace, been kept leaning upon Jesus? Yea, moreover, hath not that dear Redeemer, the Lord God of the Hebrews, who first met thee by the way, brought thee acquainted with himself, and caused thee to believe in him; hath he not since, in a thousand, and ten thousand renewed manifestations of his love, comforted thee, strengthened thee, and made thee sensible of his gracious presence? Surely, then, if he saith to thee, “Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live;” it is but the call of Jesus to the exercise of the last act of faith, and indeed to die to this world only, that thou mayest live with him in glory in a better. And wouldst thou now draw back? Didst thou first venture upon Christ, when thou hadst known but little of his faithfulness? And shall it be said now, that the shadow of a doubt remains, when multitudes of evidences upon evidences have been given thee, that he is, he must, he will ever be Jesus? Precious, precious Redeemer! Oh! for a full tide of thy grace to be poured in upon my soul, when thou shalt be pleased to send forth a messenger with “Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live;” that I may then gather all into one of the many tokens of thy redeeming love to a poor worthless worm, such as I am; and all the many goings forth of my soul after thee, through a life of grace, since thou wast pleased to quicken me to the knowledge and desire after thee: that finally, fully, and completely, I may, once for all, cast my soul into thy blessed arms, with a “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, pp. 45–46). Thomas Wardle.
What we are taught to seek or shun in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action. Very earnestly, therefore, should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path of obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us. We are not to enter the thicket in search of the lion. Dearly might we pay for such presumption. This lion may cross our path or leap upon us from the thicket, but we have nothing to do with hunting him. He that meeteth with him, even though he winneth the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the Christian pray that he may be spared the encounter. Our Saviour, who had experience of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished his disciples—“Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
But let us do as we will, we shall be tempted; hence the prayer “deliver us from evil.” God had one Son without sin; but he has no son without temptation. The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, and the Christian man is born to temptation just as certainly. We must be always on our watch against Satan, because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of his approach. Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan, know that there are certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it. Prevention is better than cure: it is better to be so well armed that the devil will not attack you, than to endure the perils of the fight, even though you come off a conqueror. Pray this evening first that you may not be tempted, and next that if temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil one.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
OUR last reading set forth the Lord’s command as to the passover, we shall now see it obeyed.
EXODUS 12:21–36
21, 22 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. (They must abide under the shelter of the blood or perish.) 23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. (Else had Israel died as well as Egypt. It was not character or position, but the sprinkled blood which made the difference. The sacrifice of Jesus is the true reason of our salvation.) 24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. Whatever else we forget we must hold by the substitutionary atonement as long as time endures. 25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. 26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? 27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. The youngest ought to be instructed in the doctrine of atonement by blood: it is the most vital truth of our most holy faith. 28 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 29 ¶ And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Death reigned where the blood was not sprinkled, and so must it be. Are we all marked with the blood of our Great Substitute? 31, 32 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. (Here was the overthrow of pride. The haughty tyrant surrenders, and becomes himself a suppliant. God’s sword can reach the heart of leviathan himself, though he thinks himself invulnerable and invincible.) 33 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. 34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. (These were not borrowed as we understand the word, but asked for, and freely given, because the people honoured the Israelites, and were afraid to incur their anger.) 36 And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. Their long and unpaid services were thus, in a measure, requited by the gifts of the Egyptians. When souls are spiritually set free from sin, the Lord is pleased to adorn them with many precious things; for he is abundant in loving kindness towards his people.
Paschal Lamb, by God appointed,
All our sins on Thee were laid:
By almighty love anointed,
Thou hast full atonement made:
All Thy people are forgiven
Through the virtue of Thy blood:
Open’d is the gate of heaven;
Peace is made ’twixt man and God.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 80). Baker Book House.
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. (7:6)
The transitional phrase but now introduces the heart of this brief passage, which presents a radical contrast to the description just given (v. 5) of the unregenerate man. We, that is, believers in Jesus Christ (see v. 4), have been released from our old bondage to the Law, having died to that by which we were formerly bound in the flesh. As Paul has just pointed out, “the law has jurisdiction over a person [only] as long as he lives” (v. 1). Therefore, when a person dies, he is discharged of all legal liabilities and penalties. Because we, as believers, died in Jesus Christ when He paid our sin debt on Calvary, we were thereby released from our moral and spiritual liabilities and penalties under God’s Law. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ ” (Gal. 3:13). Paul has already declared as forcefully and unambiguously as possible that freedom from the law’s bondage does not mean freedom to do what the law forbids (6:1, 15; cf. 3:31). Freedom from the law does not bring freedom to sin but just the opposite—freedom for the first time to do what is righteous, a freedom the unregenerate person does not and cannot have. Paul’s point is not simply that the redeemed person is able to do what is right but that he will do what is right. In response to their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, God releases men from their bondage to the law so that they will serve. Many English renderings of douleuō (serve) are somewhat ambiguous and do not carry the full force of the Greek term. This verb does not describe the voluntary service of a hired worker, who is able to refuse an order and look for another employer if he so desires. It refers exclusively to the service of a bond-slave, whose sole purpose for existence is to obey the will of his master. Kenneth Wuest gives this accurate and beautiful rendering of verse 6: “But now, we were discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were constantly held down, insomuch that we are rendering habitually a bond-slave’s obedience” (Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament, vol. 1 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973], p. 117). Service to the Lord in newness of the Spirit rather than in oldness of the letter is the necessary fruit of redemption, not an option. As already noted, a fruitless Christian is not a genuine Christian and has no part in God’s kingdom. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit,” Jesus said, My Father “takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1–2). The person who is justified by faith through the grace of Jesus Christ is secure (Romans 5), holy (chap. 6), free, fruitful, and serving (chap. 7). And the last four of those characteristics of the true believer are no more optional or conditional than the first. Although none of those divine marks of regeneration is ever perfect in its human manifestation, all of them are always present in a believer’s life. The law is still important to the Christian. For the first time, he is able to meet the law’s demands for righteousness (which was God’s desire when He gave it in the first place), because he has a new nature and God’s own Holy Spirit to empower his obedience. And although he is no longer under the law’s bondage or penalty, he is more genuinely eager to live by its godly standards than is the most zealous legalist. With full sincerity and joy, he can say with the psalmist, “O how I love Thy law!” (Ps. 119:97). As believers, we are dead to the law as far as its demands and condemnation are concerned, but because we now live in newness of the Spirit, we love and serve God’s law with a full and joyous heart. And we know that to obey His law is to do His will and that to do His will is to give Him glory.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1991). Romans (Vol. 1, pp. 363–364). Moody Press.
Then and Now
Romans 7:5–6
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Our text here is the fifth and sixth verses of Romans 7, and in the very middle of these verses, linking them, as it were, are the marvelous words “But now.” They have already occurred once in the previous chapter (v. 22). They point to the tremendous change that has taken place in the life of the one who has come to Christ as Savior, and they are so important that D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was no doubt right in saying, “If the expression ‘But now’ does not move you, I take leave to query whether you are a Christian.” This is a change Paul has been talking about all along, of course. He has been pointing to the difference in a person’s life when one who formerly was apart from Christ becomes a believer. As far back as Romans 5, Paul contrasted our being in Adam with our being in Christ. The former is what we were before our conversion. The latter is what we have become after it—what we are now. In chapter 6 he contrasted our original slavery to sin with our new and happy slavery to God. In the first verses of chapter 7 he spoke of two marriages and explained how we have died to the former in order to have the latter. Paul is developing the same idea here. It is obvious that he is, because he begins with the word for, thus linking this section with what has gone before. Paul wants us to know—Can we possibly doubt this after what he has said earlier?—that to be a Christian is to be “a new creation” in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). To be saved means that we are no longer what we were and that we must live differently.
In the Flesh or in the Spirit
Since the strength of these verses is in the powerful terms Paul uses, we need to spend some time in understanding them. The first important term is “sinful nature” or, more literally, “flesh.” “Flesh” (sarx) is the word the Greek text uses. This term has already occurred several times in Romans. But this is the first time it has occurred with the special theological meaning Paul so often gives it in his writings. In this fuller, theological sense it will appear many times more in the remainder of this chapter and through verse 13 of chapter 8. It is so important and is used so often in these chapters that we must take special pains to understand it. If we fail to understand it, we will err not only in interpreting these two verses but also in interpreting the rest of Romans 7 and Romans 8. Some have made this error, of course, and the result has been at least one (and probably more than one) wrong doctrine. The problem is that the word flesh is used in different senses, as many English words are. What does the word mind mean in English? It usually means “brain.” But it can also mean “determination,” as in “having a mind to do something.” As a verb it can mean “be careful,” as in “mind what you do.” In philosophy “mind” can mean the controlling spirit of the universe. It is the same with sarx in the Greek language. Basically sarx means the soft or fleshly parts of the body, which is how the resurrected Jesus used the word when he told the disciples that “a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). Sometimes “flesh” means the whole body, as in Galatians 2:20: “… the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (KJV). (The New International Version of that verse translates “in the flesh” as “in the body.”) Sometimes sarx refers to the sensual part of our nature. That is why Paul can say in Galatians 5:17a, “For the sinful nature [‘flesh’] desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.” At still other times “flesh” can refer to the whole of mankind, as in the translation “all flesh” (KJV) in Isaiah 40:6; 1 Peter 1:24; and other passages. What does “flesh” (sarx) mean in Romans 7:5? In this case it obviously does not mean the whole of mankind, because it is being used as a contrast to those who are “in the Spirit.” And it is not referring to the body or even to any parts of the body. In Romans it is a term for the unregenerate, for unbelievers. It is what we were before God saved us. We see this clearly in Romans 8: “Those who live according to the sinful nature [‘flesh’] have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are not controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you” (vv. 5–9). Eduard Schweizer says of this characteristic theological use of the word by Paul, “Where sarx is understood in a full theological sense … it denotes the being of man which is determined, not by his physical substance, but by his relationship to God.”
The “Carnal” Christian?
Paul’s use of the word flesh (“sinful nature”) in Romans 7 and 8 is so clear that it would be unnecessary to elaborate this point were it not for an unfortunate misuse of the term in some areas of contemporary Christianity. This misuse is commonly known as “the doctrine of the carnal Christian”—“carnal” being only another word for “flesh.” It leads to a serious misunderstanding of the next section of Romans, as well as other passages. The idea of the carnal Christian is that human beings fall into three different classes: (1) those that are not saved; (2) Christians who are sinful, immature, or “carnal”; and (3) Christians who are “spiritual.” In a study of Romans it is usually said that the “man” portrayed in Romans 7:14 and following is an example of the carnal Christian. He is saved, but he is not living that way. He is defeated. It is most often said that what he needs to do is get out of Romans 7 into Romans 8. He needs to live “in the Spirit.” Since we are going to deal with this at greater length in subsequent studies, what I have to say here is only preliminary. Still, even in a preliminary way, it is necessary to point out that the doctrine of the “carnal” Christian does not fit this context. It is important to see this, for we will never understand Romans 7 and 8 correctly if we think of them as describing a defeated Christian who somehow becomes a victorious one. Paul is not talking about a carnal Christian versus a spiritual Christian at all, but rather about an unbeliever versus a Christian. The contrast is between what we were before our conversion and what we are now. It is the same contrast seen in being in Adam versus being in Christ, or being in slavery to the law versus being God’s servants, which we have already seen in earlier sections of Romans. That can be made quite clear to most people. Yet many will still ask quite understandably, “But what about 1 Corinthians 3?” In that chapter Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly (“fleshly”)—mere infants in Christ.… For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” (vv. 1, 3). Those verses are often cited as the best support for the carnal-Christian doctrine in Scripture, but a close examination will show that that teaching does not follow from Paul’s statements. They are mistakenly supposed to teach that men and women can become Christians and yet continue in a sinful or carnal state, passing on to a fuller commitment later. But that is precisely what 1 Corinthians 3 does not say. The Christians in Corinth were indeed acting badly, as Christians frequently do. In that area of their lives they were “worldly.” That is, they were acting as if they were not Christians, as “mere men,” unregenerate. But because they were not unregenerate but were actually Christians, they had to stop that bad behavior. Their sin was inconsistent with what they had become in Christ and was therefore intolerable. This is precisely what Paul has been saying all along in these middle chapters of Romans. He has been teaching that the Christian is not what he was before he became a Christian and, for that very reason, he must (and will) live differently.
Sin Aroused by the Law
The next thing Paul says, as he develops the contrast between what we were then and what by the grace of God we have become now, is that our relationship to the law has changed profoundly. That is, not only have we been changed; our relationships, beginning with the law, have changed, too. Here again we have to look at a few terms carefully. The first is “passions,” which occurs in the phrase “sinful passions” (pathēmata tōn hamartiōn). By itself the word passions is neutral and even somewhat passive. It is based on the Greek word from which we get our word pathos, and it corresponds to what we usually mean when we speak of our natural appetites, impulses, or emotions. Impulses can be good or bad. That is, they can flow from good or bad desires, and they can be acted upon by good or bad influences. But here Paul links these normally neutral passions to sin, calling them “sinful passions,” pointing out that when the law is allowed to work upon them it excites them not to good but to bad behavior. What does this mean? Does it mean that the law of God, which is “good,” as Paul is going to say in verse 12, itself turns morally neutral appetites or impulses into bad appetites or impulses? Not at all! The problem is that in the unregenerate man or woman these impulses, though not necessarily good or bad in themselves, are in fact bad, because they have been corrupted by our sinful natures. When the law tells us that we should not do something, our sinful natures rebel and do evil instead. The law is good, but we are not good. Hence, before our conversions the law actually increased rather than reduced immorality. Again, we will be considering this at greater length in future studies, for verses 5 and 6 are a seedbed of important ideas that Paul develops later. Still we need to see even here how profound Paul’s statement is. What Paul is saying is that the cause of sinful acts lies in the sinful nature (or corrupted passions) of unregenerate people and not in the absence of good laws. In fact, there is a sense in which, because the problem is in us, good laws, even the good laws of God, merely aggravate or increase the sinful conduct. Because of our perversity, they actually make things worse. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was very perceptive at this point, arguing (I think rightly) that there is a type of secular teaching of morality that does more harm than good, particularly among the young. This has bearing on our current efforts to teach sex education in the public schools. Morality can be taught by example and by a discussion of worthy values. We can talk helpfully about honesty, generosity, fair play, and such things. But trying to teach morality by introducing young people (or anyone else) to behavior they have not yet heard of or know little about—deviant sexual practices, for instance, or the use of drugs—does not prepare them to resist the sin but only instills in them a desire to commit the sin in question. Here is what Lloyd-Jones says.
To teach morality may be a positive danger, for it tends to inflame the passions; it encourages them.… A minister of religion once told me that the book that had done him the greatest amount of harm in his own personal life was a book entitled The Mastery of Sex. Avoid such books, for they will do more harm than good. The reason is that ‘the motions of sins’ are actually inflamed even by the Law of God. The very law that prohibits them encourages us to do them, because we are impure. So morality teaching can even be a positive danger. By teaching children about sex, and by warning them against the consequences of certain actions, what you are really doing is to introduce them to the whole subject. Naturally they will greatly enjoy it, their curiosity will be aroused, and they will desire to read further.
But I hear someone ask, “What shall we do, then? Are you telling us that we should never mention matters of morality to our children?” No, that is not it. There is a place for the right kind of moral teaching. But even with right moral teaching, you should know, if you are a Christian, that the important thing is not whether your children know what is right or wrong, though that is important, but whether they are Christians, too. For they are no different from ourselves. And what Paul is saying here is that before our conversion the law served only to arouse our sinful passions. It pushed us to sin. It was only after we had come to Christ that this changed and we found ourselves being drawn in the way of righteousness by God’s Spirit. Let us stop fooling ourselves about our children. The reason many of them are acting so badly is that they are not Christians. And let us also stop fooling ourselves about many of the grown-up churchgoers we know. The reason they do the sinful things they do is that they are not Christians either. Christians can sin, and they do. But they do not continue in it. What they do is what Paul says they do in verse 6: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”
Serving Him
That brings us to the final contrast in these verses. We have looked at the contrast between what we were and what we are now. We have looked at the contrast between our former and present relationships to the law. The final contrast is between what we did as unbelievers, the “fruit” we bore, and our present fruitfulness as Christians. “What was the sum total of our work as unbelievers?” asks Paul. “We bore fruit for death” is his answer (v. 5). This is a different way of putting what he said in verse 4, though it amounts to the same thing. In verses 2–4, where he was using the marriage illustration, he was saying that we were fruitless while married to the law, because the law was impotent. He meant that we were unable to do good works. Now, in apparent contradiction, he says that we actually did bear fruit. However, his point is the same, for the fruit we bore then was fruit for death. Hence, we could do nothing to please God, and all we did do displeased him. Even when we thought we were doing fine! Paul knew this by experience. He says in Philippians that before he met Christ he was so outstanding in his conduct that he could claim to have been “faultless” in respect to legal righteousness (Phil. 3:6). To use the terminology of Romans 7:6, he was indeed serving faultlessly “in the old way of the written code.” But it was not “in the Spirit.” So not only was it not acceptable to God, it was actually evil. It was an exercise in self-righteousness, and it led even to the persecution of Christians. It was “fruit” of a sort. But it was fruit unto “death” quite literally. What a difference when a person comes to Christ! In coming to Christ he or she is freed from a former unfruitful marriage to the law. The word Paul uses here (katērgēthēmen) is the word used in verse 2, where he spoke of a woman being freed from the law of marriage to her former husband by his death. Paul’s point is the same. We died to the law in order to be brought into a new and fruitful relationship. But let me now apply this in a slightly different way than I have done before. Up to this point I have been stressing what Paul himself has been stressing: that if we have been saved by God through the work of Jesus Christ, we must (and will) live differently. I have said that if we are not living differently, if we are simply continuing in sin as before, we are not Christians, regardless of our outward profession. I have often said to fellow Christians that the fruit of conversion must be seen in our lives. Now I want to say something more. If those about us who are Christians really are Christians, not only is it the case that they must bear fruit to God—serving “in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code”—they actually are doing so, regardless of whether or not they are doing it in precisely the way you and I are doing it. They may be very different from us and may be serving in very different ways. But if they are truly Christians, they are serving God, and we should acknowledge it. I want to tell you an incident from the life of Donald Grey Barnhouse that illustrates this truth. He was at a luncheon of ministers, and one of them remarked on the frigidity of a certain denomination. He was bothered by how little its ministers seemed to accomplish. Barnhouse replied by probing the thoughts of the others a bit further. He told of a scholar in that denomination who went through theological seminary and was ordained. But he seldom preached. In fact, he never went to a prayer meeting and even absented himself from church for many weeks at a time. He was really a bookworm and spent his days in the library. Even worse, he was intemperate in certain of his personal habits. The man lived this way for more than twenty years. “What is your opinion of such a minister?” Barnhouse asked. The others agreed that a man like that was no credit to the ministry. The conversation took another turn, and Barnhouse asked what study helps these ministers used in sermon preparation, especially what they considered to be the most helpful concordance. They were unanimous in preferring Strong’s concordance. (“Strong’s for the strong. Young’s for the young. Cruden’s for the crude,” we used to say in seminary.) They seemed to prefer Strong’s for its Hebrew and Greek helps and for its comparative word lists. It saved them hours of work each week and was, they agreed, their most valuable tool. Barnhouse then said, “The man whom you said was no credit to the ministry was James Strong, the author of the concordance you all find so valuable.” The ministers quickly saw the point. God does not give his children identical jobs to do. The ways they are called to serve vary. But all are serving in some way, if they are truly Christians. Barnhouse wrote, “The most forlorn Christian in the most humble surroundings, living in penury on the lowest cultural scale, is serving a purpose in the divine plan. The convert from a savage tribe, the professor in his study, the flighty young girl—all are serving the Lord. We must not be satisfied with the way we are serving him, but we must be satisfied with the place where God has put us. He wants you exactly where you are today.” Let’s accept that—for others and for ourselves—and then make sure that we are actually serving him faithfully.
Boice, J. M. (1991–). Romans: The Reign of Grace (Vol. 2, pp. 731–738). Baker Book House.
6 The strong language of our freedom from the law in v. 6 should be stressed: “by dying to what once bound us, we have been released [katērgēthēmen, GK 2934] from the law.” In the same way that the death of a husband releases the wife for a new relationship, so the law has no remaining power over us: “The power of sin is the law” (1 Co 15:56). We are now free for something other, something new. Release from the law has as its objective a bond service to God “in the new way of the Spirit” in contrast to the “old way of the written code.” This contrast is not between a literal mode of interpreting Scripture and one that is free and unfettered. “The written code,” which has special reference to the law rather than to Scripture in general, has no power to give life and to produce a service acceptable to God. Only a human can beget human life, and only a divine person can impart spiritual life, which is then fostered and nurtured by the Spirit. The word kainotēs (GK 2786; NASB, “newness”; NIV, “new way”) refers not so much to the idea of newness in time as freshness and superiority. This is the only mention of the Spirit in ch. 7. It anticipates ch. 8, with its unfolding of the wealth of blessing to be experienced through the Spirit.
Harrison, E. F., & Hagner, D. A. (2008). Romans. In T. Longman III &. Garland, David E. (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans–Galatians (Revised Edition) (Vol. 11, p. 116). Zondervan.
6 Because Paul’s focus is on the law, he “postpones” what would be the expected contrast between being “in the flesh” and being “in the Spirit” until chap. 8 in order to emphasize once again the Christian’s deliverance from the law (v. 6) and to explore the implications of his teaching for the law itself (vv. 7–25): “But now we have been released from the law, dying to that in which we were held captive.”61 “That in which” the non-Christian is “held captive” is, as the parallel with v. 4 makes clear, the law. Believers, however, have been set free from this “regime” of the law.63 While, however, still preoccupied with the law, Paul knows where he wants to go eventually in his argument, and so he announces it in the last part of this verse: “so that we might serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of letter.”65 This is the second time in Romans that Paul has used the letter/Spirit contrast (cf. 2:27–29). As in this earlier text, the antithesis is not between the misunderstanding or misuse of the law and the Spirit, nor even, at least basically, between the outer demand and the inner disposition to obey,67 but between the Old Covenant and the New, the old age and the new. The essence of the old, or Mosaic, covenant, is the law as an “external,” written demand of God. “Serving” in the old state created by the “letter” meant not, as the Jews thought, a curbing of sin, but a stimulating of the power of sin—and “death” is the end-product of sin (v. 5). Now, though, the believer, released from bondage to the law, can serve in the new condition created by God’s Spirit, a condition that brings life (2 Cor. 3:6) and fruit pleasing to God (cf. 6:22–23). Before Paul goes on to develop the nature of “serving in the Spirit” (Rom. 8), he pauses to explain further the condition of “serving in oldness of letter,” and of being “in the flesh” where the law arouses sinful passions (7:7–25).
Before going on to this text, however, we might pause to comment further on this matter of “bondage to the law” in the OT era. Fairbairn argues for a subjective interpretation of “being bound to the law,” as applying only to those in the OT who did not find justification by faith. But this illegitimately eliminates the necessarily objective contrast between Old Covenant and New, old age and new.70 I have dealt with this problem before, noting that Paul’s salvation-historical contrasts must not be applied with temporal precision. In particular, it is clear that Paul is often thinking only of the situation now that Christ has come: a situation in which there can no longer be a true “saint” who has not exercised explicit faith in Christ and become a partaker of the New Covenant. From this perspective, Paul’s contrasts are absolute—either one is bound to the law, and hence in the old, outdated covenant that produces only condemnation; or one has “died to that law” and been transferred into the new age of the Spirit and life. It is only when we ask the question about the status of OT saints—a question that was probably not in Paul’s mind at the time—that a problem arises. Nevertheless, it is clear that OT saints, while not suffering all the penalties incurred through the law, were bound to that law in a way that NT saints are not. Their status is somewhat anomalous, as they participate in the same salvation that we experience—through faith in conjunction with the promise—yet experience also that “oldness” and sense of bondage which was inescapable for even the OT saints. To be sure, these saints could, and did, delight in God’s law (e.g., Ps. 119). But even so strong a defender of the continuity of the covenants as Calvin recognized the inevitability of some degree of “bondage” under the Old Covenant that could be taken away only by the coming of Christ:
[W]e shall deny that they [the patriarchs] were so endowed with the spirit of freedom and assurance as not in some degree to experience the fear and bondage arising from the law. For, however much they enjoyed the privilege that they had received through the grace of the gospel, they were still subject to the same bonds and burdens of ceremonial observances as the common people.… Hence, they are rightly said, in contrast to us, to have been under the testament of bondage and fear, when we consider that common dispensation by which the Lord at that time dealt with the Israelites.
Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 420–423). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
6 “But now”—in contrast with “when we were in the flesh”—“we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held”. The last clause defines the way in which we have been discharged from the law; it is by our having died to the law. This death to the law had been accomplished in the death of Christ and our union with him in his death, as stated explicitly in verse 4. The version renders the latter part of verse 6, “so that we serve”, etc. This form of words in English leaves some ambiguity. They might be interpreted to denote purpose or aim But the Greek clearly implies result. The thought, therefore, is that we have died to that wherein we were held with the result that we serve in newness of the Spirit. “Newness of the Spirit” as contrasted with “oldness of the letter” is not the contrast which we often draw between the “letter” and the “spirit”, as when we distinguish between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Neither is it a contrast between the “literal” sense and the “spiritual” sense. “Newness of the Spirit” is a reference to the Holy Spirit and the newness is that which the Holy Spirit effects. Grammatically, it may be the newness which consists in the Holy Spirit. “The oldness of the letter” refers to the law, and the law is called the letter because it was written. The writing may refer to the two tables of stone on which the ten commandments were written or to the fact of the law as contained in Scripture. It is law simply as written that is characterized as oldness and the oldness consists in the law. This is apparent not only from the context where the apostle has been dealing with the powerlessness of the law to deliver from sin and the confirmation it adds to our servitude but also from the parallel passage in 2 Cor. 3:6. The contrast there between the letter and the Spirit is the contrast between the law and the gospel, and when Paul says “the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive”, the letter is shown by the context to refer to that which was engraven on stones, the law delivered by Moses, and the Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord (vs. 17). The thought is, therefore, that, having died to the law and having been thus discharged from it, believers no longer serve in the servitude which law ministers but in the newness of the liberty of which the Holy Spirit is the author (cf. Gal. 3:3).
Murray, J. (1968). The Epistle to the Romans (Vol. 1, pp. 245–247). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
5, 6. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions stimulated by the law were active in our members, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, having died to that by which we were held fast, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in newness of (the) Spirit, not in oldness of (the) letter. The expression “when we were in the flesh” means “when basically we were governed by our sinful human nature.” By “the sinful passions (cf. 6:6; Col. 2:11) … active in our members,” are probably meant such emotions as lust, anger, hatred, ill will, jealousy, envy, unreasonable fear, etc. Although these and similar passions pertain to a person’s heart and mind, they express themselves physically: the jealous eye, the clenched fist, the hateful gesture, etc. Cf. 6:12, 13. The unbridled gratification of passions, so that those who nourish them produce the fruit indicated in Gal. 5:19–21 results in death. Cf. 6:21. Contrast “fruit for God” (verse 4) with “fruit for death” (verse 5). For the answer to the question, “How is it to be understood that these sinful passions are stimulated by the law?” see on verses 7–13. But now, says Paul, a great change has occurred. By means of our death—a death with Christ; hence a death to sin, which held us in its grip—we were released or discharged from the law. What he means is that basically our lives are no longer governed by our sinful nature. And since Christ, by means of his vicarious death, paid the debt we owed to the law, we are now no longer under the law’s domination and curse. This does not remove the fact that sin still exercises considerable influence over us, as 7:14–25 will indicate, but basically there has been a tremendous change. The result of all this is that we now serve (God) in newness of the Spirit, no longer in oldness of the letter, that is, the legal code. There used to be a time when we thought that by strict obedience to the external code—the Mosaic written law, as interpreted by tradition—we could be saved. But now, having been set at liberty, we serve (see 6:15–23) in newness of the Spirit. According to Gal. 3:3; 4:6; 5:18; 2 Cor. 3:17 that Spirit is the Author of our liberty. Paul’s thought seems to be that this Spirit guides believers in their effort to live lives of gratitude for salvation received as the product of God’s sovereign grace. The Spirit guides and enables them to live such lives. What the apostle is saying, then, is that the glorious prophecy of Jer. 31:31–34 is being realized in the lives of himself and those addressed. When Paul closes this section by writing, “so that we serve in newness of (the) Spirit, not in oldness of (the) letter,” he places the new over against the old (as he does also in 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22–24; (Col. 3:9, 10); and the Spirit over against the letter (as in Rom. 2:29; 2 Cor. 3:6). Hence, he is contrasting true liberty—the blessing bestowed on all those who have become “free from the law,” in the sense explained—with the bondage of those still enslaved by the law. As always, so also at this point, his teaching is in line with that of the Master. See Matt. 9:14–17 (Mark 2:18–22; Luke 5:33–39); and compare 2 Cor. 3:17 with John 8:36.
3b. The sinner’s relation to God’s Law, in the light of Paul’s own experience and that of others like him. “In the absence of law sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died”
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Vols. 12–13, pp. 217–219). Baker Book House.
Exodus 30:12 — Remember David and the census? 1 Chronicles 21:12 will point back to the warning of a plague if there is a census without ransom. What’s the story behind the census tax? Pastor Rodney’s Blog says taking a census is a “violation of ownership” – a king cannot take inventory of God’s property. Nathan Albright’s blog estimates the cost of the tax at two days’ wages – “equal payment … for God is not a respecter of persons.” Robert Fugate claims this was the only civil tax endorsed by God, while others say this was clearly not a civil tax but a religious tax to atone for a civil sin. How much was the tax (that presumably became the temple tax of Nehemiah 10:32 and Matthew 17:24-27)? Roughly $5 of today’s money.
Exodus 31:2 — Bezaleel – the man with the funny name – is one of the few people to be filled with the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon people and could leave at any time (Judges 16:20 – Samson, 1 Samuel 16:14 – Saul).
Exodus 31:18 — Wouldn’t it be great to hold in your hands the two stone tables? Or even just a copy of them? Would you treasure them and study them often? We have the full revelation of the LORD in our hands! Congratulations on being committed to studying God’s Word! Take some time to appreciate that! Just like God preserved His Words for Moses, He preserved His Words for you (Mark 13:31)!
Psalm 32:8 — Sally Atari has recorded a song “Be Glad” of which the first stanza is based on this verse, and the chorus is based on vs. 11. The second verse is based on Psalm 78:1-2, and the third verse is based on Psalm 37:3-4.
Proverbs 8:27 — We have an abrupt start! Who is the “I?” Wisdom. In a way similar to love – God is love, but love is not God; here God is wisdom, but wisdom is not God (vs. 30).
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He shall choose our inheritance for us. (Psalm 47:4)
Our enemies would allot us a very dreary portion, but we are not left in their hands. The Lord will cause us to stand in our lot, and our place is appointed by His infinite wisdom. A wiser mind than our own arranges our destiny, The ordaining of all things is with God, and we are glad to have it so; we choose that God should choose for us. If we might have our own way we would wish to let all things go in God’s way.
Being conscious of our own folly, we would not desire to rule our own destinies. We feel safer and more at ease when the Lord steers our vessel than we could possibly be if we could direct it according to our own judgment. Joyfully we leave the painful present and the unknown future with our Father, our Savior, our Comforter.
O my soul, this day lay down thy wishes at Jesus’ feet! If thou hast of late been somewhat wayward and willful, eager to be and to do after thine own mind, now dismiss thy foolish self, and place the reins in the Lord’s hands. Say, “He shall choose.” If others dispute the sovereignty of the Lord and glory in the free will of man, do thou answer them, “He shall choose for me.” It is my freest choice to let Him choose. As a free agent, I elect that He should have absolute sway.
How can sinful people be made right in the sight of a holy God? Romans 1 teaches us that it is not by our own righteous actions but by trusting in the perfect righteousness of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul underlines our need to know the gospel and to remind ourselves regularly of its truth.
AI Lets You “Talk” with Dead Loved Ones The New York Times review … “Increasingly, we turn to A.I. to answer the sorts of questions and fulfill the kinds of longings that religion once solved.” And many people today “treat [AI] with veneration and a little fear, as if it is a god and not a creation.” King Saul disguises himself and seeks out a medium to call up the prophet Samuel from the dead so Saul can consult with him. Really, this is another version of that practice, just less occultic. But a similar heart is behind the desire to communicate with the dead, whether via the occult or through modern technology:
‘Joe, you’re fired’: President Trump revokes Biden’s security clearance President Donald Trump is revoking predecessor Joe Biden’s security clearance and halting his daily intelligence briefings. “There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information,” announced Trump on his Truth Social account on Friday evening. “We are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings,” wrote Trump. The President explained that Biden himself set the precedent when he revoked Trump’s security clearance after succeeding him in the Oval Office.
US professor presented Trump team with Gaza relocation and reconstruction plan U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to reconstruct Gaza and relocate its residents took much of the international community by surprise. However, George Washington University economics professor, Joseph Pelzman, was not among them, having personally shared a detailed and unconventional Gaza plan with the Trump team as early as July 2024.
Details of horrific conditions in captivity revealed by hostages The hostages had no access to media and were unaware of the details of the October 7th massacre. The testimonies of the three hostages released on Saturday night—Ohad Ben-Ami, Eli Sharabi, and Or Levy—reveal that they suffered physical and mental abuse, were starved, and were confined to tunnels without exposure to daylight. “They have endured significant malnutrition, a testament to the horrors they faced. These images are deeply distressing—not only for the families welcoming their loved ones home but also for those still waiting for their hostages to return,” Dr. Mizrahi added.
Israeli government slams CNN for equating Israeli hostages to released terrorist prisoners Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO) criticized CNN on Saturday night for a headline that equated the condition of freed Israeli hostages with that of released Palestinian prisoners. The CNN headline read: “Three freed Israeli hostages appear in poor health. Many Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel have also seemed emaciated upon release.”
Pres. Herzog on hostages’ state: ‘This is what a crime against humanity looks like’ “This is what a crime against humanity looks like!” Herzog said. “The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli — returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained — being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers.
Israel to mediators: ‘We will not ignore this’ Gal Hirsch, Israeli Coordinator for the Hostages and Missing, promises that Israel will not ignore the conditions of released hostages Ohad Ben-Ami, Eli Sharabi, and Or Levy, who were filmed gaunt and pale at their ‘release ceremony.’
Israel Air Force demolishes Syrian Hamas weapons facility near Damascus The Israel Air Force struck a weapons storage facility belonging to Hamas in the area of Deir Ali in southern Syria on Saturday afternoon, the IDF subsequently announced. Later, on Saturday evening, explosions from further airstrikes were heard in the vicinity of Syria’s capital city, Damascus, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese news channel Al Mayadeen reported.
Trump’s outlandish Gaza plan may spare Middle East from past mistakes President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip captivated attention this week as a seemingly outlandish proposal for Israelis desperate for a post-war vision. After 16 months of intense fighting, the president presented an unexpected blueprint of what could follow the end of the war and, more importantly, how Israel’s security will be preserved in its aftermath. Yet despite the glaring uncertainties surrounding the plan itself, the most vital aspect is the message it sends to the international community: The status quo in Gaza is no longer tenable.
‘Saved My Son’: Trump’s Executive Orders Are Already Rescuing Children From The Clutches Of ‘Gender Facilities’ Elections have consequences. No one understands that better than Jeff Younger, whose wife began claiming their son identified as a girl, won custody, and started administering puberty blockers. Thanks to a new executive order defunding and threatening to prosecute anyone who carries out transgender procedures on a minor, hospitals nationwide have shut down their pediatric gender facilities
Ayatollah Shuts Door On Negotiations With US After Trump Restores ‘Maximum Pressure’ Iran’s top cleric who oversees the state, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appears to have shut the door on opening new negotiations with Washington in the wake of fresh Trump-ordered sanctions intended to disrupt Iran’s oil network and to take exports “down to zero.”
Disgusting: Lord’s Prayer Twisted to Bend to Transgender Agenda The Lord’s Prayer is one of the most powerful and comforting ways to connect with God. But it seems it does bend adequately enough to the woke trans agenda, according to some unhappy activists…The new heretical version pushes the nonscientific theory that men can become women and women can become men and makes sure to include all of the favorite woke buzz words.
Johnson to Meta CEO Zuckerberg: Turn Over Facebook’s Records on Censorship of COVID-19 Vaccine Injured On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms, Inc., the company that owns Facebook, regarding the social media platform’s alleged censorship of COVID-19 vaccine injured individuals.
It’s been over five years since The Guardian officially introduced its climate change PsyOp; how’s it going? More than five and a half years ago, The Guardian updated its house style guide to introduce terms that more accurately describe the environmental crises facing the world. Ten years after the Climategate scandal broke, Damian Carrington, The Guardian’s environment editor, announced on 17 May 2019 that instead of using “climate change,” the preferred terms for The Guardian are “climate emergency, crisis, or breakdown” and “global heating” is favored over “global warming,” although the original terms were not banned.
Big Tech is Technocracy: Big Tech is investing $300 billion in AI in 2025 The US is becoming a technocracy, a form of governance where decision-makers are selected based on technical expertise rather than elected by popular vote. Big Tech, led by technocrats, are investing heavily in AI, with the Magnificent Seven planning to spend over $300 billion on AI in 2025, despite concerns about the risks and negative impact on society.
The question of Kamala Harris’s political future is a topic that continues to stir debate. As the former Vice President finds herself without an official political role, her influence within the Democratic Party seems to be waning. Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, recently discussed this on “Jesse Watters Primetime.” The conversation shed light on Harris’s position, the Democratic Party’s current challenges, and what the future holds for both.
Video summary generated with the assistance of AI.
Kamala Harris: A Waning Political Star?
Kamala Harris no longer holds the title of Vice President, senator, or any other formal political office. As Hanson pointed out, her decision to align with the more progressive, diversity-driven, open-borders wing of the Democratic Party may now be working against her. While she once represented a rising star, the shifting political landscape has left her increasingly sidelined.
Hanson criticized her communication style, describing it as a repetitive “wash, spin, rinse cycle” with limited substance. This, he suggested, makes it difficult for her to connect with a broader audience or stake a claim for leadership within a divided Democratic Party.
The State of the Democratic Party
The broader context of Harris’s situation lies in the current state of the Democratic Party. Hanson painted a grim picture, noting that the party finds itself out of power in key areas. They don’t hold the presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the Supreme Court. Without subpoena power or the ability to confirm major appointments, their influence in the legislative process has significantly diminished.
Adding to their challenges, many of the policies they champion are polling below 50% approval, leaving the party disconnected from a large portion of the electorate. Rather than recalibrating their messaging or priorities, Hanson suggested that party leaders have doubled down on aggressive tactics, creating an echo chamber that amplifies their struggles instead of addressing them.
A Return to “Normalcy”?
Hanson likened the country’s current political climate to waking up from a bad dream. He argued that many Americans feel as though the last few years were an unsettling departure from normalcy. Now, as people regain a sense of stability, they’re pushing back against what they see as adolescent protests and political stunts from some Democratic leaders.
The imagery of college campus protests—complete with signs, emotional outbursts, and late-night activism—was used to describe how some Democrats approach politics today. Hanson questioned whether this energy, which may resonate with some younger voters, alienates the broader electorate looking for competent, mature leadership.
Can Kamala Harris Reinvent Herself?
The possibility of Harris reinventing herself in the political arena remains uncertain. Hanson speculated that she might stay out of the spotlight for now, allowing the public to forget recent controversies. This strategy could give her an opportunity to resurface in a new capacity, possibly in California, where she once held office as attorney general and senator. However, the process of reinvention is not guaranteed to succeed, especially if her political base continues to dwindle.
While her current political currency seems to diminish by the day, Harris still has time to reconsider her approach. She might follow a path similar to politicians like John Fetterman, who have managed to rebrand themselves in unique ways despite public scrutiny.
Conclusion
Kamala Harris’s political future remains uncertain as she navigates life outside of office. Her alignment with progressive policies and her current lack of an official role have left her on the sidelines during a turbulent time for the Democratic Party. Whether she can reclaim relevance depends on her ability to adapt and respond to the needs of an electorate that appears to be seeking stability and leadership. For now, Harris seems to be in a holding pattern, and only time will tell if she reemerges as a political force or fades further into the background.
Every week, The Daily Wire will summarize the latest from President Donald Trump and his team.
President Donald Trump continued his administration’s breakneck pace through his second and third weeks in office, tackling issues from trade to terrorism and gender ideology.
The president issued multiple executive orders nearly daily, fulfilling one campaign promise after another, while turning his attention to tariffs, meetings with foreign leaders, and disaster responses.
Here’s what Trump’s been up to.
Aircraft Crash
Trump’s second week was rocked by a deadly aircraft disaster that launched the administration into action.
On Tuesday last week, an American Airlines flight was hit by a Black Hawk military helicopter minutes before landing, causing both craft to fall into the icy Potomac River and killing all 67 crew and passengers.
Trump held a press conference the next day with Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who had been confirmed hours before the crash.
The president suggested that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies could be to blame for the crash.
“Because I have common sense,” he told a reporter who questioned his theory.
On Thursday last week, Trump ordered a review of all aviation hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols over the past four years.
“This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence,” the memorandum read.
Education
Trump took several actions on education, including signing an executive order last week prohibiting federal funding for schools teaching “radical, anti-American ideologies” including Critical Race Theory and gender ideology.
Another executive order on school choice directs the Education Secretary to determine how states can use federal funds to support school choice. Trump also proclaimed last week National School Choice Week.
Yet another order is aimed at combating anti-Semitism, including pushing colleges to investigate and remove alien students who engage in anti-Semitism if appropriate.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education has taken several actions on its own.
At the end of the administration’s first week, the department tossed out a slew of complaints about “book bans,” or school districts removing sexually explicit materials.
It also scrappedPresident Joe Biden’s reinterpretation of Title IX to include trans-identifying men as women, calling it an “unlawful abuse of regulatory power and an egregious slight to women and girls.”
The department also said it will investigate the University of Pennsylvania and San Jose State University for allowing trans-identifying males in women’s sports.
Gender Ideology
Trump signed an executive order committing that the United States will not fund or support the “so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
This prompted a slew of hospitals to pump the brakes on transgender medicalization for children, including hospitals in New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Colorado, and Virginia.
Trump also signed an order banning trans-identifying males in girls’ sports by threatening to rescind funds from schools that allow this, saying it “results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”
In response, the NCAA changed its policy to read that a “student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team.”
Trump also issued an order banning trans-identifying members from the military.
“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” the order read.
Federal employees were also instructed to remove pronouns from their email signatures.
In a surprise move, Trump also fired several Kennedy Center board members, accusing the center of “Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth.”
Foreign Policy
Over the last two weeks, Trump secured the release of six more Israeli hostages and an American-Israeli citizen held by Hamas.
The president said he would like to see Egypt and Jordan accept more Palestinian refugees. He spoke recently with both Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s President El-Sisi about the Hamas hostage situation. Abdullah is set to visit the White House later this month.
Trump made waves internationally when he proposed the United States take over Gaza after resettling the Palestinian population, and turn the seaside area into a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
He announced the plan at a joint press conference on Tuesday after meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at White House.
Trump also issued an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court, which faced backlash from the United States in November when it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, accusing him of war crimes.
The president also ordered his first major military operation — air strikes on ISIS operatives in Somalian caves who had “threatened” the U.S., saying “Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done.”
Trump also revived his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, announcing sanctions aimed at driving its oil exports to zero to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He accused Biden of failing to keep pressure on Tehran.
The United States had a victory related to China when Panama announced it would leave China’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure and influence program. Panama’s decision came after Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned the country to immediately reduce Chinese influence over the canal area or the United States could retaliate.
Trump also ended funding to several United Nation organizations including the Human Rights Council and another group focused on Palestinian refugees.
He ordered the development of a missile defense system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome, calling aerial “the most catastrophic threat facing the United States.”
On Ukraine, the president proposed a deal where the country trades rare earth for financial defense aid.
Trump also signed an order on Friday freezing assistance to South Africa, in part to address the wrongs of South Africa’s racist apartheid era.
Trump had a friendly meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in Washington as well. He also spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the two countries’ economic relationship and India’s prime minister about India buying more American-made security equipment.
Immigration
The president signed the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that federal immigration authorities detain illegal migrants who are accused of theft and other violent crimes. The law is named after the Georgia college student who was killed by an illegal migrant on her morning run last year.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Chicago and Illinois over “sanctuary” policies for migrants.
Trump directed that Guantanamo Bay’s migrant operations be expanded to take in “high-priority” criminal illegal aliens. The first flight there included 10 members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
The Trump administration also evoked Biden’s deportation protections for Venezuelan migrants. Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions also secured the release of six Americans detained in Venezuelan prisons, and the country agreed to accept the return of illegal migrant Tren de Aragua gang members.
Economy And Trade
The United States had a brief but heated showdown with Colombia after the country refused to accept American military planes trying to return Colombian illegal migrants.
Trump immediately threatened a 25% emergency tariff on Colombia that would increase to 50% after a week, as well as visa sanctions, banking sanctions, and enhanced inspections by border authorities.
Colombia quickly caved to all of Trump’s demands, even offering the Colombian presidential plane for migrant flights.
Trump imposed tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China — 25% for the first two, 10% for China.
The president said the tariffs were to hold the countries accountable for stopping illegal immigration and fentanyl at the U.S. border, accusing the Biden administration of “letting problems fester.”
“Access to the American market is a privilege,” the White House said of the tariffs.
Trump subsequently paused the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a month after both countries agreed to help stop illegal immigration and drugs. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum offered 10,000 Mexican soldiers at the southern border, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will deploy a joint strike force with the United States and put $200 million towards combating organized crime and fentanyl.
China responded with retaliatory tariffs including 10% on U.S. crude oil and 15% on coal and natural gas.
Trump directed his administration to make a plan for a Sovereign Wealth Fund, which he said could held finance the purchase of TikTok.
Meanwhile, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has thrown federal employees and Democrats into a panic.
Democrat lawmakers claimed that Elon Musk’s DOGE team, which has been tasked with finding federal waste to cut, had unfettered access to the government’s massive payment system for things like Social Security and Medicare. In fact, DOGE has “read-only” access to the payment system.
DOGE targeted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for elimination, with Musk calling the agency not just an “apple with a worm it in” but rather a “bowl of worms” and Trump saying it is run by “radical left lunatics.”
Now, the Trump administration is planning to slash the number of USAID workers from more than 10,000 to just 290 positions.
The Trump administration has also seen more than 60,000 federal employees accept a buyout offer to resign.
Trump also directed that administrations may not finalize new deals with federal worker unions 30 days before a new administration takes over, as the Biden administration did three days before the inauguration.
Religious Freedom
On Thursday, Trump signed an order aimed at eradicating the “anti-Christian weaponization of government.”
The order noted that the Biden administration targeted pro-life Americans, including federal agents arresting a father of 11 at his home after he prayed outside an abortion clinic, and two elderly women who were also prosecuted. It also cites Biden ignoring attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life centers, the FBI’s 2023 memo targeting traditional Catholics, and the Biden Department of Health and Human Service’s attempts to shut out Christians from the foster care system if they did not affirm gender ideology for children.
In another order, he established the White House Faith Office to help faith-based organizations serve communities.
Other Moves
The administration has removed thousands of government web pages, including vaccine guidelines for “pregnant people, a “Reproductive Rights” page, and an FAQ about the Monkeypox vaccine.
Trump met with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and discussed border security. He also met with California Governor Gavin Newsom and discussed wildfire disaster aid.
The president also revoked Biden’s security clearance and stopped his daily intelligence briefings, citing the former president’s “poor memory” and the fact that Biden stopped them for Trump. He also pulled the security details of retired General Mark Milley and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and revoked Milley’s security clearance.
This week, government agencies were found to be spending millions of dollars on subscriptions to the Politico Pro news service, and the administration canceled them along with other media subscriptions.
Trump also issued an order aimed at slashing regulation, which requires for every new regulation, 10 others must be repealed.
Trump issued an order aimed at protecting the Second Amendment that orders the Attorney General to review and address any ongoing infringements.
Trump also restored an executive order from his first term protecting American monuments, including prosecuting those who vandalize them and withholding certain federal funds from jurisdictions that fail to protect them.
Trump also proclaimed January 27 as the National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. He also proclaimed February as National Black History Month, American Heart Month, and Career and Technical Education Month.
He formed a White House task force to plan a “grand celebration” for the 250th anniversary of American Independence on July 4, 2026.
Meanwhile, more of Trump’s Cabinet nominations have been confirmed, including Pam Bondi as attorney general on Tuesday. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel all had heated confirmation hearings.
On Sunday, Trump set to attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller railed against USAID and celebrated Trump’s effort to shut it down during an interview on FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “USAID was a slush fund, first of all, for left-wing projects around the globe, like gender surgeries around the world, diversity, equity and inclusion policies, crazy Green New Deal climate scams, and every other lunatic left-wing project that is bankrupting this country,” Miller said. What we have learned is this mammoth, left-wing power structure, plus left-wing media, wasn’t organic. It wasn’t created naturally. It was funded by taxpayer dollars,” he said. “And that is why they are screaming and screeching so loud now, is because President Trump is cutting off the slush fund to the organizations that hate and hurt America.”
STEPHEN MILLER: As you are aware, a radical-left judge said that the secretary of the Treasury cannot access the Treasury computer system.
This isn’t just unconstitutional. That ruling is an assault on the very idea of democracy itself. What we continue to see here is the idea that rogue bureaucrats who are elected by no one, who answer to no one, who have lifetime tenure jobs, who we would be told can never be fired, which, of course, is not true, that the power has been cemented and accumulated for years, whether it be with the Treasury bureaucrats or the FBI bureaucrats or the CIA bureaucrats or the USAID bureaucrats, with this unelected shadow force that is running our government and running our country.
Donald Trump is engaging in the most important restoration of democracy in over a century by saying that we are going to restore power to the people through their elected president and his appointed officers. That is the only way we can have true democracy in this country.
You elect a president, he appoints a staff, the staff transparently carries out his orders on behalf of the whole nation. But this nonsense where we have rogue, unelected, unaccountable and previously unfireable bureaucrats who do whatever the hell they want, with no one telling them and no one controlling them, we’re not going to let that happen anymore.
We’re going to have a democracy and we’re going to have an executive branch that serves the American people, that answers to the American people and that answers the will of the American voter.
BARTIROMO: Did anybody really understand where this money from USAID was going? Stephen, was this being just a slush fund for the Democrats’ favorite causes, like sex change operations in Guatemala?
MILLER: Yes, the USAID was a slush fund, first of all, for left-wing projects around the globe, like gender surgeries around the world, diversity, equity and inclusion policies, crazy Green New Deal climate scams, and every other lunatic left-wing project that is bankrupting this country.
But, even beyond that, it was funding an army of left-wing activists, these NGOs, nongovernmental organizations, NGOs. They get billions and billions of dollars, and they use that money to then infiltrate corporate America, to then infiltrate the public sector, to then resettle, for example, at taxpayer expense, millions of illegal aliens into this country, to drive racist equity policies, to drive radical left gender policies.
And so what we have learned is this mammoth, left-wing power structure, plus left-wing media, wasn’t organic. It wasn’t created naturally. It was funded by taxpayer dollars. And that is why they are screaming and screeching so loud now, is because President Trump is cutting off the slush fund to the organizations that hate and hurt America.
BARTIROMO: And he’s also cutting out the people who are getting these intelligence briefings who may not be able, should not be able to get these intelligence briefings, the president revealing more people that he’s revoking national security clearances and intelligence briefings, including Joe Biden, including the 51 spies who lied, including perhaps Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, of course, Jake Sullivan, one of the mouthpieces of the Russia collusion hoax so many years ago. Your reaction.
MILLER: Yes, this is part and parcel of the same issue. People leave government. They are now private citizens, but they continue to have access to sensitive secrets, and then they use that access in conjunction and partnership with the bureaucracy to weaponize intelligence against American people and against political enemies.
And President Trump is saying, no, that stops. Draining the swamp isn’t just a talking point. It is a mandate. For four years, this issue between 2020 and 2024 was endlessly litigated before the American people about weaponized justice, about weaponized intelligence, about weaponized bureaucracy.
And the American people elected Donald Trump, and they said, shut it all down. Shut down the weaponization. Shut down the abuse of our intelligence system. Shut down this entire system that crushes our rights and freedoms at the expense of a privileged few. And that is what he is doing. He is following through on the mandate that the American people gave him… to say that our intelligence system and our law enforcement system are not going to be partisan weapons and partisan tools anymore.
They’re going to be used to keep America safe, to keep terrorists and illegal aliens from hurting our citizens, and they’re going to be used to protect the American republic.
President Donald J. Trump holds a Bible after walking from the White House Monday evening, June 1, 2020, to St. John’s Episcopal Church, known as the church of Presidents, that was damaged by fire during demonstrations in nearby LaFayette Square. (Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead)
PALM BEACH, Florida – Mike Huckabee, the incoming U.S. ambassador to Israel, is optimistic about the future of the Mideast, believing “something of biblical proportion” will happen in the region under the leadership of President Donald Trump.
“I’m personally optimistic that we’re going to see something bold,” Huckabee said on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.
“I will use this term, Maria. I think we will see something of biblical proportion happen with his leadership in the Middle East.”
His remarks come in the wake of last week’s announcement by Trump that the U.S. will take over the troubled Gaza Strip to help transform it from a “demolition site” to a Riviera-style region.
“President Trump did something bold,” Huckabee said.” He looked into the future and said kind of a what if. We don’t know exactly what might happen in Gaza, but here’s what could have happened in Gaza.
“Gaza could have been Singapore. Instead, Hamas turned it into Haiti and, in fact, maybe worse, far worse than that.
“So let’s hope that people will listen to President Trump. The only time we’ve had real, significant peace in that a region was the four years that Donald Trump was president, and I’m very optimistic that with his leadership, his bold and innovative thinking, he doesn’t think like the other politicians and diplomats have thought. And thank God he doesn’t, because we get results.
Mike Huckabee: ‘I think we will see something of biblical proportion’ happen with Trump’s leadership in the Middle East
“I heard somebody say he’s thinking outside the box. That’s ridiculous. He’s not thinking outside the box, he throws the box away and says let’s start with a blank slate and see where this could go. That’s leadership. And that’s what we have with President Trump.”
When asked if he believed the U.S. could have an ownership piece of Gaza, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, indicated he did not know.
“The one thing we know is that Hamas not going to be able to exist. That’s just a done deal. It’s sort of like saying Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon, and Hamas cannot continue to exist. They can never have anything to do with the governance of Gaza.
“A lot of people forget Gaza was once inhabited by both Jews and Palestinians until 2005 when Ariel Sharon decided to give it all away. He did. They militarily marched 10,000 Jewish people out of Gaza, turned it into a complete Palestinian state, and the result, we saw October the 7th. So there’s something that has to be rethought.”
Asked when he expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to his ambassadorship, Huckabee responded, “I wish I knew. It’s all up in the hands of the Senate, and as you know, there’s a little bit of tension going on right now in Washington, and I have nothing if to do with that.
“I’m patiently waiting through the process. I do have to be confirmed, that’s the process we all must go through, and I respect that. So I hope it’s soon because I think that our country needs our ambassador in place in this very, very delicate and difficult region. And so I would hope that even Democrats would say the sooner the better.”
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According to the results, 59% of voters approve of his deportation opreation and 64% support his decision to send U.S. troops to the U.S. Mexico border.
Have you noticed how leftists are losing their minds over Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to expose rampant waste and corruption? As Musk uncovers shocking levels of mismanagement and even actions aiding America’s enemies, critics have launched coordinated attacks on him, implying that he’s the one who is actually running the White House.
“No one voted for Elon Musk!” they say.
Time Magazine’s latest issue has joined the fray, featuring Musk seated confidently at the Resolute Desk—a symbolic jab suggesting he’s really the one in charge. The outrage is ironic, considering the same voices now wailing about Musk’s alleged control were silent while Joe Biden spent four years clearly not running the White House.
Why does this matter? Well, we now have fresh allegations from Lindy Li, a former Democratic National Committee (DNC) insider, about who was running the White House for Joe Biden.
And it’s quite terrifying.
Once a proud fundraiser for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Li has turned into an insider spilling the Democratic Party’s most closely held secrets—and, boy, does she have stories.
Her revelations pull back the curtain on what has been described as a chaotic and delusional 2024 campaign for the Democrats, which spectacularly collapsed under the weight of its own hubris. Li has revealed intriguing insider details about how Joe Biden was ultimately ousted, and what Pelosi and Obama really think of Kamala. Back in December, she revealed new dirt on Joe Biden’s mental decline. “The president has not been cognitively fit to assume the duties of the Oval Office for a number of years now,” she told Fox News. “And it breaks my heart because I know President Biden and I love the man, but he is in no shape or form able to carry out the duties that the Commander in Chief requires, and it’s just devastating.”
But it’s her revelations about what happened in the White House in the aftermath of Biden’s devastating performance in his June debate on CNN with Trump that are truly jaw-dropping.
According to Li, Joe Biden, already staggering from public scrutiny, effectively lost control of the White House after that fateful debate. The event reportedly prompted an audacious power shuffle at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—one spearheaded by none other than Hunter Biden.
Li alleges that, following Biden’s disastrous debate drubbing, Hunter essentially took over White House operations. Speaking with podcaster Shawn Ryan, she painted a picture of dysfunction at the highest levels of government: “After the [CNN] debate, Hunter basically commandeered the White House. He sat in on all of the White House top-level meetings. We had a former cocaine addict sitting in on the most sensitive meetings of the most consequential and most important government in world history. Does that sit right with you?”
Ryan’s immediate reaction—“No”—reflected what many are surely thinking.
“Without security clearance mind you,” Li added.
The idea that Hunter Biden, with no security clearance, was allegedly dictating the flow of information to his father is a much bigger deal than Elon Musk going after government waste, don’t you think?
“That’s who was basically running the show. So Hunter basically battened down the hatches after the debate to make sure his father would only receive intel he pre-approved.”
The media’s and the Democrats’ hypocrisy is glaring. They attack Elon Musk for exposing waste, accusing him of having too much power without having been elected, while their lack of scrutiny during the Biden presidency allowed for an unelected crack addict to run the country.
How much do you think the liberal media will report on this? Nothing at all is a safe bet. But we’re willing to talk about the stories that they won’t, and believe it or not, that still puts us at risk of being censored, suppressed, and demonetized. That’s why we need your help. If you support our work we can continue to bring you the truth. Join PJ Media VIP and use the promo code SAVEAMERICA to get 50% off your VIP membership!
18 U.S. Code § 2339C prohibits the financing of terrorism. Any one involved in plundering the U.S. Treasury in support of Islamic terror must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Including Jihad Joe Biden.
“It is really, really a sad day in America,” Rep. Ilhan Omar declared at a rally by Democrats outside USAID headquarters protesting President Trump’s reconstruction of the aid agency.
It wasn’t a sad day for America, but it was so for Somalia.
Over the last two years, USAID had funneled $2.3 billion in “humanitarian assistance” to Omar’s native Somalia. Last year it reported a request for $1.6 billion in aid and even with the Biden administration on the way out the door, it sent an additional $29 million in December 2024.
USAID support for Somalia had doubled under the Biden administration and with $3.3 billion from USAID allocated in the last 5 years, the end of the USAID gravy train for the Islamic terrorist state of Somalia must have been a painful blow for Omar, who is very close to the Somali regime. Former Somali Prime Minister Hassan Khaire had reportedly celebrated that “the interest of Ilhan are not Ilhan’s, it’s not the interest of Minnesota, nor is it the interest of the American people, the interest of Ilhan is that of the Somalian people and Somalia.”
It’s unknown if any of Omar’s Majerteen clan members benefited from the billions in American money, but considering the prominence of the clan in Somali politics, it’s likely to be the case.
Somalia, along with other Islamic terrorist entities, including the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza, were among the top beneficiaries of USAID cash.
USAID boasted of having sent $2.1 billion to Gaza and the West Bank since the Hamas attacks of Oct 7. In 2024 alone, $917 million was programmed for the terrorist areas occupying Israel.
USAID provided over $3.7 billion to Afghanistan since the Taliban took over with $832 million in the previous fiscal year alone. The money was so unaccountable that USAID refused to cooperate with the U.S. Government’s Afghan War watchdog tracking money going to terrorists.
Even while the United States of America was at war with the Houthis, the Iran-backed Islamic terrorist group firing on US Navy vessels, USAID continued to direct billions of dollars to Yemen.
In 2024, USAID announced a $2.7 billion aid request for Yemen and allocated $753 million. In the last 5 years, USAID provided an estimated $3.4 billion in aid to an enemy terror state.
Other Islamic terrorist states that have heavily drawn on USAID include Pakistan which harbored Osama bin Laden, but benefited from $600 million in the last 5 years. While some American towns and cities lacked clean drinking water, USAID labored to build plants for Pakistan’s majority Muslim population even while it engaged in the persecution of Christians.
USAID spent over $700 million on Iraq during the last 5 years even though the country has long since been governed by Iranian puppets whose militias have been firing on American soldiers.
$3.4 billion was directed to Syria over the past 5 years by USAID even as it was caught in a civil war between Shiite Islamists aligned with Iran and Sunni Islamists aligned with Al Qaeda.
USAID allocated $1.1 billion to spend on Lebanon even as the country was run by Hezbollah.
While USAID is unable to function in Iran, between Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, over $8 billion was sent to Iranian puppet regimes even without counting the money spent on Gaza.
In total, USAID had spent some $18.5 billion on Islamic terror states over those 5 years.
This is not a full list of USAID spending in Muslim countries, but only those countries whose governments are closely interlinked with terrorists, sponsor terrorist groups or serve as puppets of terror groups and states. Some of these countries are actively in a conflict with the U.S. They include countries responsible for the murder of American soldiers and terror attacks in the U.S.
USAID has sent $9.3 billion to Islamic terror states collectively responsible for killing over 3,000 American soldiers. Not only did Islamic terrorist states and groups kill us, but in the ultimate obscenity, we have rewarded them with millions of dollars for each of our murdered soldiers.
The reconstruction of USAID under the full umbrella of the State Department rather than as a ‘super-NGO’ advancing anti-American interests across the globe has been met with outrage by Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Jim McGovern, Sen. Chris Murphy and other longtime shills for Islamic interests in America who worry that the money for Islamic terrorists won’t be there anymore.
But we ought to ask if sending $18 billion to Islamic terror states is helping our national security.
USAID has provided massive amounts of funding for the UN and NGO ‘non-profits’ which operate inside terrorist areas with little to no oversight. Special exemptions have been handed out to allow distributors of ‘humanitarian aid’ to partner with and do business with terrorists.
Including some of the Islamic terrorist groups that America is still at war with.
USAID’s partnerships with foreign governments, and with large unaccountable organizations including the UN and the World Bank, have raised concerns of money laundering. The revolving door between USAID personnel and some of the non-profit and for-profit groups who all profit from it has also raised questions about the legitimacy of those arrangements. And USAID’s active efforts to deny information about its activities to SIGAR, the U.S. government’s Afghan war watchdog, as well as to the incoming Trump administration, makes it a rogue agency.
It may never be fully known how much of our foreign aid went into the pockets of Islamic terrorists, but the USAID freeze and consolidation under the State Department can help make sure that the aid pipeline stops being a way to fund the Islamic terrorists killing Americans
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