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
We must bless God if there is a saving change wrought in us by his blessed Spirit.
And has God by his grace transferred me out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son? Colossians 1:13(ESV) Has he called me into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 1:9(ESV) and brought me near by his blood, who by nature was far off? Ephesians 2:13(ESV) Not to myself, O LORD, not to myself, but to your name I give glory. Psalm 115:1(ESV)
I give thanks to God always for those to whom the gospel has come not only in word, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 1 Thessalonians 1:5(ESV)
You have loved me with an everlasting love; therefore you have continued your faithfulness to me. Jeremiah 31:3(ESV) You have led me with cords of kindness, with the bands of love. Hosea 11:4(ESV)
When the strong man, fully armed, guarded his palace in my heart, and his goods were safe, it was One stronger than he who attacked him and took away his armor in which he trusted and divided the spoil. Luke 11:21-22(ESV)
Joshua 1:10-18 This week’s lessons describe how Joshua got to be the faithful and courageous leader for God that he was.
Theme
A Faithful Past
There are two main sections to the first chapter of Joshua. The first part, in verses 1 through 9, contains an account of Joshua’s commissioning by God. The second part, verses 10-18, tells us how Joshua assumed command of the people and began to make preparations for the invasion of the Promised Land.
The striking thing about the sequence in this chapter is that Joshua’s assumption of command apparently followed immediately upon his commissioning. And this is striking because, as we read the passage, it would seem that Joshua was afraid of what was coming. I say that it would seem that he was afraid because several times he’s encouraged not to be. When God spoke to him, four times in this brief statement of a commissioning, Joshua is told to be strong and courageous. And apparently, it wasn’t only a case of God knowing this—God who sees the heart—but perhaps the people sensed it as well because at the very end of the chapter, after they had said that they were going to follow him just as they followed Moses, their last words are this encouragement: “Only be strong and courageous.”
So, I say Joshua seems to have had a sense of inadequacy, and he certainly seems to have been afraid. I don’t think he was afraid of the battles, but perhaps he was afraid of the task because he looked in his own heart, and he felt inadequate for it. And yet, because we know how this book develops, he proved to be one of the greatest leaders of Israel, but one who unfortunately is often overlooked in studies of the Old Testament. And that leads to the question, what is it that makes a leader like this? Where did Joshua get his greatness? Where in spite of his fear did he find his courage?
Now, I want to suggest a number of things. Some of them are immediately in the passage, and some we have to go back to the earlier books of the Old Testament to discover. The first ingredient for a great leader is a faithful past. Now this book is named “Joshua” because it’s his story. But this isn’t the only place in the Old Testament that we have his story. This is the culmination of his story. It’s a story of his years of leadership, and what striking years they were!
But this isn’t all we know about Joshua. His story begins back in the book of Exodus, and it continues in the book of Numbers and also in Deuteronomy. And in those books, there are 27 times where the name “Joshua” occurs. And the stories in which his name occurs show us the training of a leader and the faithfulness of this man in the face of many difficulties.
The first time Joshua comes upon the scene is in Exodus 17, in the story of the first military encounter the people of Israel had after they had left Egypt under the command of Moses. On that occasion, God told Moses to appoint Joshua to be the commander of the troops and to lead the Israelites into battle. They had never fought a war before. They had been slaves in Egypt, and now they had this great battle to fight—and Joshua was given command of the armies.
The interesting thing about this story is that when Joshua led the troops into battle, Moses went up into a mountain, a hillside where he could overlook the plain in which the armies were fighting. We’re told in the story that whenever Moses raised his hands in blessing above the people, the troops of Israel prevailed. And whenever he got tired and lowered his arms, the armies of the Amalekites prevailed. Aaron and Hur were with Moses on the mountain, and they realized that if Moses’ hands were raised in blessing, Israel would win; and when Moses’ hands were lowered because of fatigue, the Amalekites would win. So Aaron took one hand and held it up, and Hur took the other hand and held it up. And that’s what they did throughout the long hours of the morning and afternoon. The battle waged all day, but in the end, the inexperienced army of Israel completely routed the Amalekites and won the field.
I’m sure Joshua learned a great lesson at that point. We’re not told in so many words, but I’m sure he learned that as the Lord’s general, it was his job to do everything he possibly could to win the battle. If he had any strength, he was to use that strength. If he had any wisdom, he was to use that wisdom. If he had any leadership ability to marshal, encourage, and inspire others, he was to use that. And I’m also sure he learned that in the final analysis the battle is not to the swift or to the mighty, but that victory is the Lord’s. That’s a lesson that never left him, and all through his life Joshua is a model of a faithful soldier, doing his duty to the end. I’m sure he learned and never forgot that in the final analysis, the blessing is of the Lord. And, therefore, he made it a great goal in his life to seek God’s blessing because apart from that, the whole issue is lost.
The second place at which we see Joshua in the early years that precede the events of the book that bears his name is at Mt. Sinai, when Moses was led up into the mountain to receive the law from God. And we’re also told in that same story that Joshua—who by this time was the first in command after Moses—went with him up the mountain. But then we see that in Exodus 32, eight chapters and 40 days later, there’s a rebellion in the camp and Moses comes back down at the command of God to quell it. And Joshua is still waiting there on the mountain for him to return.
Do you ever find difficulty waiting for something to happen? Try waiting lower on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights while your commander is there in the clouds meeting with God. It’s interesting that as you read that carefully, especially the beginning of Exodus 24, you find that Joshua had just had a great experience. It’s almost downplayed, and yet it’s one of the most stupendous things in the Pentateuch. We’re told that the elders of Israel—along with Aaron and a few other men who are named—went up into the mountain with Moses. And it says, “They saw the face of God. And they ate, and they drank.” What an amazing thing! The reason I say it’s amazing is that God says in the Old Testament, “No one shall see my face and live.” And we know that Moses, on one occasion, prayed to see the face of God; but he wasn’t allowed to see it because he was told he would die. Yet, here in this story, it says, “The elders saw the face of God.”
So here is Joshua, a man who had this great experience and then waited on the mountain while Moses received the law and the rebellion was going on in the camp. I don’t know everything that Joshua would have learned in that experience. But I’m sure that one thing he learned is that sin is an abomination to God, and righteousness is necessary if a people or a person is to be exalted.
Tomorrow we will continue our study of Joshua’s past faithfulness and see how it prepared him for God’s commissioning.
Study Questions
What might have been some reasons why Joshua was afraid to assume command?
What are some leadership qualities Joshua displayed in these events leading up to his taking over as the leader of the Israelites?
From the world’s perspective, patience and humility are not generally thought of as leadership qualities. But why does God see them as vital for his people?
Application
Application: Look for opportunities to encourage those church leaders God has put into your life for your spiritual growth.
For Further Study: Download for free and read James Boice’s booklet, “How to Know the Will of God.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
Not every one that saith unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. MATTHEW 7:21
Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late—and how little revival has resulted? I believe our problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work! A church, for instance, follows its traditions without much thought about whether they are scriptural or not. Or it surrenders to pressure from public opinion and falls in with popular trends which carry it far from the New Testament pattern. Then the leaders notice a lack of spiritual power among the people and become concerned about it. What to do? How can they bring down refreshing showers to quicken their fainting souls? The answer is all ready for them. The books tell them how—pray! The passing evangelist confirms what the books have said—pray! So the pastor calls his people to pray. The tide of feeling runs high and it looks for a while as if the revival might be on the way. But it fails to arrive and the zeal for prayer begins to flag. Soon the church is back where it was before and a numb discouragement settles over everyone. What has gone wrong? Simply this: Neither the leaders nor the people have made any effort to obey the Word of God. They felt that their only weakness was failure to pray, when actually in a score of ways they were falling short in the vital matter of obedience!
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2015). Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (p. 44). Moody Publishers.
My soul! here is a subject of a heart-searching nature opened to thee this evening, in those expostulating words of the man after God’s own heart. Summon up all thy faculties to the meditation; and yet, infinitely more than this, seek the teachings of the Holy Ghost, that thou mayest profit by them. The apostle was commissioned by the Holy Ghost to tell the Church, that for man’s sin the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together, until now. The slaughter of every beast, the sacrifice of every lamb, proclaimeth, with a louder voice than words can declare, the baleful malignity of human transgression. And if David, when he saw the destroying angel brandishing his dreadful sword over Jerusalem, felt remorse in the recollection of his own sin, and the punishment falling on the harmless sheep, what views ought the contemplation of the unequalled sorrows and sufferings of the Lamb of God to occasion, when it be recollected that “he died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God?” To see sin as exceeding sinful, we may get some idea from beholding apostate spirits cast out of heaven; or from the curse of Jehovah upon the earth, and all the children of Adam involved in it; the destruction of the whole world by water; or the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire; and the everlasting torments of the damned in hell: these form awful views of the dreadful nature of sin, as it appears in the sight of God. But all these are nothing, in comparison to one remaining to be mentioned. Wouldst thou see sin in all its tremendous consequences, thou must go to Golgotha. There behold the Lamb of God, taking away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Here take up the words of David, and ask thine own heart, while confessing that thou hast sinned, and done wickedly, what had this Lamb of God done? But do not stop here. Go on in the contemplation. If He who knew no sin became sin—if he who in his sacred person was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, yet became both sin and a curse for his redeemed, that they might be made the righteousness of God in him; wilt thou not think it the first, the last, the highest, the best, the most momentous of all points, to know whether thou, even thou thyself, art made the righteousness of God in him? O thou holy, blessed, and eternal Spirit! give me to see in the Lord Jesus, my almighty Surety, that in all he did, in all he sustained, and all he suffered, he bore my sins in his own body on the tree, and that not a single sin of omission or commission was left out. Oh! for grace to believe, and to plead, now and for ever, before the throne, that then all my iniquities and all my transgressions, in all my sins, the Lord Jehovah laid (as Aaron typified on the great day of atonement, Lev. 16:21) upon the person of his dear Son! Help me, Lord, with increasing confidence of faith, and holy hope, and ardent joy, thus to view Jesus as my Surety, and thus to answer the account given of it in that blessed scripture: “Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to Him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.”
Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, pp. 46–47). Thomas Wardle.
Attentively observe THE INSTRUCTIVE SIMILITUDE: our sins are like a cloud. As clouds are of many shapes and shades, so are our transgressions. As clouds obscure the light of the sun, and darken the landscape beneath, so do our sins hide from us the light of Jehovah’s face, and cause us to sit in the shadow of death. They are earth-born things, and rise from the miry places of our nature; and when so collected that their measure is full, they threaten us with storm and tempest. Alas! that, unlike clouds, our sins yield us no genial showers, but rather threaten to deluge us with a fiery flood of destruction. O ye black clouds of sin, how can it be fair weather with our souls while ye remain?
Let our joyful eye dwell upon THE NOTABLE ACT of divine mercy—“blotting out.” God himself appears upon the scene, and in divine benignity, instead of manifesting his anger, reveals his grace: he at once and for ever effectually removes the mischief, not by blowing away the cloud, but by blotting it out from existence once for all. Against the justified man no sin remains, the great transaction of the cross has eternally removed his transgressions from him. On Calvary’s summit the great deed, by which the sin of all the chosen was for ever put away, was completely and effectually performed.
Practically let us obey THE GRACIOUS COMMAND, “return unto me.” Why should pardoned sinners live at a distance from their God? If we have been forgiven all our sins, let no legal fear withhold us from the boldest access to our Lord. Let backslidings be bemoaned, but let us not persevere in them. To the greatest possible nearness of communion with the Lord, let us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, strive mightily to return. O Lord, this night restore us!
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
AND the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: We read not that Moses had spoken a word; but his heart cried unto the Lord. The Lord bade him no longer hesitate, but cry, “FORWARD,” and advance through the sea. 16, 17, 18 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 19 ¶ And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: The glory of the Lord was their rereward. 20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. (Both God’s word and providence have a twofold aspect, they frown on sinners while they smile on saints. Thus God still sets a difference between Israel and Egypt.) 21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. (Calmly the historian records it, but what a wonder is here! Water erect like solid ice, and a damp sea bed made dry and fit to be a highway for a marching army.) 23 ¶ And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. What infatuation! Were they beguiled by the darkness around them or that within them? 24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. One look from Jehovah was enough, one flash from his eye of fire, struck the host with panic. 26 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. Even thus “our tyrannous sins are buried and drowned, and though they be sought for they shall not be found.” 29, 30 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. (So completely was Egypt shattered, that though the Israelites were for forty years close to the Egyptian borders, they were never molested by their former oppressors.) 31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses. (And well they might, but, alas, this good state of mind did not last long.)
Awake, awake, thou mighty Arm,
Which has such wonders wrought!
Which captive Israel freed from harm,
And out of Egypt brought.
Art thou not it which Rahab slew?
And crush’d the dragon’s head?
Constrain’d by thee the waves withdrew
From their accustom’d bed.
Again thy wonted prowess show,
Be thou made bare again:
And let thine adversaries know
That they resist in vain.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 82). Baker Book House.
God prohibiting Moses from making graven images (Exodus 20:4)
Moses telling this to Aaron and the people (Exodus 24:3)
The people pledging to obey (Exodus 24:3)
Moses writing it down (Exodus 24:4)
Moses reading it aloud (Exodus 24:7)
The people publicly claiming again to obey (Exodus 24:7)
The people making a blood covenant (Exodus 24:8)
Aaron given the special privilege of being invited (Exodus 24:1)
Moses and the others going up to the LORD (Exodus 24:9)
Moses and the others seeing the LORD in His glory (Exodus 24:10)
Moses and the others eating with the LORD (Exodus 24:11)
Aaron and Hur being delegated responsibility over the elders of Israel (Exodus 24:14)
Not only were the people and Aaron aware of the Law, and not only was Aaron incredibly privileged by the LORD, but the LORD used Aaron’s name and preserved it in the Bible 40 times in the next 5 chapters (Exodus 27:21-31:10).
In spite of this close relationship between Aaron and the LORD, Aaron leads the people in breaking the Law (specifically the Second Commandment that was still fresh in their hearing) and personally making (32:4) a molten calf, declaring it to be the god of Israel.
Exodus 32:22-24 — In the 1956 film “The Ten Commandments”, Aaron is portrayed squeamishly saying “The people made me do it.” The movie inspired the Fraternal Order of Eagles to present a monument of the Ten Commandments to the City of Milwaukee. It was placed at the Zeidler Municipal Building in 1957 and dedicated by Yul Brynner, who played Ramses in the movie. The movie has several biblical inaccuracies, including the fact that the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) identifies the Pharaoh of the Exodus as Amenhotep II, not Ramses. That’s why we should go to our Bibles and not to Hollywood for the truth!
Exodus 32:28 — A casual reader would wonder why God would be so angry to kill 3,000 people. But having looked at the context we saw earlier, the people had entered a blood covenant with the LORD to obey His command against idolatry.
Exodus 32:32 — Just like Paul in Romans 9:3, Moses loved his people; both were willing to go to hell for their people.
Matthew 27:1 — We have a formal trial of Jesus (in contrast to the illegal night examination of Jesus) when it was morning. They found Him guilty and delivered Him to Pilate for sentencing (Matthew 27:2). However, under the Mishna this was illegal – capital cases cannot be done at night nor finish on the same day of conviction.
Psalm 33 — Notice the use of the synonymous parallelism of Hebrew poetry: in verse 1 the first phrase starts with “Rejoice,” while the second phrase uses the similar word “Praise.” The first phrase ends with “righteous,” the second phrase ends with the synonym “upright.” Throughout this psalm we see the thought of the first phrase repeated with different words in the second phrase.
Proverbs 8:35-36 — Unlike the synonymous parallelism of Psalm 33, we see the use of contrasts. Find wisdom, find life. Hate wisdom, hate life.
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The desires of the righteous shall be granted. (Proverbs 10:24)
Because it is a righteous desire it is safe for God to grant it. It would be neither good for the man himself, nor for society at large, that such a promise should be made to the unrighteous. Let us keep the Lord’s commands, and He will rightfully have respect to our desires.
When righteous men are left to desire unrighteous desires, they will not be granted to them. But then these are not their real desires; they are their wanderings or blunders, and it is well that they should be refused. Their gracious desires shall come before the Lord, and He will not say them nay.
Does the Lord deny us our requests for a time? Let the promise for today encourage us to ask again. Has He denied us altogether? We will thank Him still, for it always was our desire that He should deny us if He judged a denial to be best.
As to some things, we ask very boldly. Our chief desires are for holiness, usefulness, likeness to Christ, preparedness for heaven. These are the desires of grace rather than of nature—the desires of the righteous man rather than of the mere man. God will not stint us in these things but will do for us exceeding abundantly. “Delight thy self also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” This day, my soul, ask largely!
Description:The pursuit of wealth and success is a tempting distraction from the kingdom of God, and we would be wise to ensure that our focus is in the right place. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul continues his series in Mark to help us put wealth in proper perspective.
To the Christian Apologist, 1 Peter 3:15-16 is a ‘mandate’ passage, used to demonstrate the reason we all study and become proficient with apologetics.
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)
The REAL Reason for doing Apologetics
We tend to focus, however, on verses 15 and 16 and forget to consider the “lead in” context. The real reason we SHOULD do apologetics is actually shown in the second half of verse 14 and the first part of verse 15. If we take time to look there, we might notice a quote that comes straight out of Isaiah 8:12.
“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. “ 1 Peter 3:14-15a
Isaiah and Peter were both facing significant persecution. Isaiah wrote, “Fear not what they fear, and don’t be afraid. Set apart the Lord of hosts Himself and let Him be your fear” (Isaiah 8:12). But Peter, seeing the persecutions looming ahead for himself and the Christian church he’s writing to, copies Isaiah’s template. But Peter adds a twist, “fear not their fear, neither be troubled; but set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts” (1 Peter 3:14-15a). Theologian Alexander MacLaren describes the significance here.
“Now, if we think for a moment of the Jew’s reverence for the letter of Scripture, and then think again of the Jew’s intense monotheism and dread of putting any creature into the place of God, we shall understand how saturated with the belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, and how convinced that it was the vital center of all Christian teaching, this Apostle must have been when, without a word of explanation, he took his pen, and, as it were, drew it through ‘Lord God’ in Isaiah’s words, and wrote in capitals over it, ‘Christ as Lord.’[1]
Hallowed be They Name
What does “set apart Christ as Lord” mean in Peter’s letter? Looking at the term “set apart,” (or “sanctify” in King James language) we see it elsewhere in the New Testament. The first sentence of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9, says, “Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed, be thy Name.” The exact same Greek word, used as “set apart,’ and as ‘hallowed,’ is hagiazo.
We set apart sanctify or hallow one who is holy already, when we recognize the holiness, and then honor it. Thus, the plain meaning of Peter’s text is, ‘elevate Christ to the pedestal; the place He deserves in your life, and then; bow down before Him with all reverence and submission. He is due your highest awe and reverence.
“Set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts” is the command. In Scripture the heart is that center node within a person that both affixes and produces your thoughts, words and actions. Remember the verse, “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he,” or when Jesus says “…out of the heart comes the things that defile a man.” The heart then is the very core of our being. With that in mind, and looking at Peter’s command in the negative sense, he asserts that if we don’t set apart Christ as Lord, you cannot help being afraid of threats and terror, and hence will be inevitably troubled. But, if you do set Christ apart in your heart, then there is no fear that can plague you or render you impotent and ineffective.
MacLaren finishes his narrative with,
“The Apostle comes and says: ‘Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts; and then, and only then, will you be bold.’ The boldness which fronts the certain dangers and calamities and the possible dangers and calamities of this life, without Christ, is not boldness, but foolhardiness.”[2]
The Heartbeat of Christian Apologetics
The first part of my thesis then is: every Christian, not just the Apologist, should not fear . . . and won’t be fearful, if Christ is rightly placed in that singular, hallowed place at the core of your very being – your identity – and is given the reverence due Him. That is the foundation for studying Apologetics. He is the foundation for studying apologetics. Without that solid footing, your efforts to accumulate and dispense Christian apologetic knowledge will yield little for the Kingdom, and will yield nothing of eternal benefit in your own life.
From there, the rest of our referent passage says, “be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is in you, but do so with grace and truth.” I finish off with this – the second part of my thesis; offering your apologetic truth to another, infused with genuine grace is only possible when the heart has Christ set apart, hallowed and elevated appropriately in the central place, the core, of your heart. His love will then be manifest in your interpersonal connections in the form of grace, truth and love. If not, only ‘a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal’ will be heard.
Scripture says that Jesus came in the “fullness of time”. What does that mean? Why did Jesus come when he did? Is there anything divine about the timing of his arrival?
To see more training videos with J. Warner and Jimmy Wallace, visit the YouTube playlist.
For more information about the impact Jesus and His followers had on science, read Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible. This unique and innovative book makes a case for the historicity and Deity of Jesus from history alone, without relying on the New Testament manuscripts. It contains over 400 illustrations and is accompanied by a ten-session Person of Interest DVD Set (and Investigator’s Guide) to help individuals or small groups examine the evidence and make the case.
We are faced with many challenges, seasons, and stages. There are many things you can worry about along the journey; however, it’s also an opportunity to match those anxious thoughts with the promises of the Bible.
Parenting comes with many blessings and challenges. When a baby is first born, you are overwhelmed with love yet also concerned about how to take care of him or her properly. Then they get older, and you contemplate their education and friends. Eventually, they gain more independence, start driving, get jobs, go to college or trade school, and eventually move out of the house.
Along the way, we are faced with many challenges, seasons, and stages. Each developmental stage brings about change and new risk. There are many things you can worry about along the journey; however, it’s also an opportunity to match those anxious thoughts with the promises of the Bible.
Let’s discuss some promises that will help you lean into your faith instead of your fears while raising children.
RABBI: Trump’s Gaza plan the catalyst to bring Messiah Trump, always the businessman, shocked the world after meeting with Netanyahu when he described a vision of Gaza as a Mediterranean resort administered by the US.Left-wing pundits immediately rejected Trump’s new Gaza proposal to allow Gazans to relocate, incorrectly labeling it “ethnic cleansing.” In point of fact, Gaza was ethnically cleansed in 2005 when all of the Jews were forcibly relocated. Ironically, many Gazans want to emigrate.
Could Turkey, Qatar face legal action for hosting Hamas? Global coalition of 850 organizations combating antisemitism launch campaign pushing for legal action against leaders of Qatar, Turkey, and other states that harbor Hamas leaders or sponsor the group.
Trump: I am committed to buying and owning Gaza US President tells reporters aboard Air Force One that he remains committed to buying and owning Gaza, but could give sections of the Strip to other Middle East countries: I will take care of the Palestinians and ensure they are not killed.
Iran’s threatens to close Strait of Hormuz following Trump’s threats Tangsiri said that Iran has the military ability to block the Strait of Hormuz, but that it has not yet done so, because it is still using it. He claimed that the decision to block the Strait of Hormuz is up to Iran’s top leadership, and the naval force will follow the orders given to it.
Netanyahu: only ‘elected government’ will decide when the war ends Only “the elected government of Israel” will decide when the ongoing conflict between Israel and the terror groups in our region will end, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a meeting on Sunday evening. Netanyahu stated that the “historic campaign” must be ended by the government rather than any other official, “no matter who they are.”
Exposing the Identities of Russia’s “Digital Army” Russia’s cyber army again attacked Ukrainian websites belonging to businesses involved in military repairs and production. Hacker groups pushing Russia’s propaganda narrative have relentlessly attacked Ukraine and its NATO Allies’ and now some of their members, have been identified.
Trump Seeks Rare Metals Deal With Ukraine in Exchange for Security Guarantees US President Donald Trump has stated that he seeks to finalize a $500 million agreement with Ukraine to secure access to rare earth metals and natural gas in exchange for security guarantees in any potential peace settlement. Trump also revealed that he had a phone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. According to him, Putin expressed a desire to see an end to casualties on the battlefield.
Netanyahu: Gaza return to be conditioned on deradicalization Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night that returning Gazans must “disavow terrorism” as part of U.S. President Trump’s temporary resettlement plan for the war-torn coastal enclave. “All President Trump is saying is that I’m going to open the gate and give them an option to relocate temporarily while we rebuild the place physically and while we also rebuild it in terms of deradicalization,”
USAID Funded Massive ‘News’ Platform, Extending ‘Censorship Industrial Complex’ To Billions Worldwide USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, “Internews Network” (IN), which has “worked with” 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and “training” over 9000 journalists (2023 figures). IN has also supported social media censorship initiatives.
Secession From Illinois? It’s A Long Shot, But 6 Six Counties Voted Yes Long shot is a huge understatement, but the sentiment alone says what you need to know. In November, to little national notice, seven Illinois counties voted to consider seceding, and now Indiana is rolling out the welcome mat. Voters in Iroquois, Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey, Madison and Perry counties approved a nonbinding ballot question on cutting ties with Illinois. The votes weren’t close. Six of the seven counties approved the advisory question by more than 70%. Iroquois County’s vote was some 72%, and Calhoun County’s near 76%.
Trump Doubles CBS Lawsuit Damages To $20 Billion Over Harris’s 60 Minutes Interview President Donald Trump has expanded his lawsuit against CBS, doubling the damages sought to $20 billion and adding CBS parent company Paramount Global as a defendant. “It is beyond dispute that Defendants wanted Harris to win the Election, and indeed political gain for Harris was certainly Defendants’ intent behind their tampering with the Interview,” the amended complaint reads. “But Defendants’ primary motivation was commercial and pecuniary gain.”
San Diego Supervisor Says Border Now Ghost Town Under Trump’s New Policies The official then described the current border situation under Trump and his new policies: “With a new administration in place, I went back to the San Diego border to see what’s happening now. The numbers have dropped dramatically—less than 100 people are crossing a day in San Diego. It’s a stark contrast to the chaos we saw just months ago.”
DOGE’s Targets… President Donald Trump defended DOGE’s access to federal data systems on Friday, adding that the Pentagon and the Department of Education are next. “We’re going to be looking at tremendous amounts of money … being spent on things that bear no relationship to anything and have no value,” Trump said.
Designating Cartels As Terrorists Will Have Huge Consequences, Say Analysts The designations would give the U.S. government power to go after the cartels’ finances, target those who supply them with weapons, and even carry out military strikes against cartel-owned facilities. With groups such as the Sinaloa cartel, MS-13 from El Salvador, and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua posing a serious threat to the United States, analysts say these new terrorist designations could have far-reaching consequences.
Democrat Threat: Ready to Shut Down Government Over Trump Draining the Swamp! Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Democrats are considering not helping the Trump administration fund the government. Kim said, “In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward, and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution, and they should not count on that this time.”
USAID Spent Taxpayer Dollars on Transgender Clinic in India Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) laid out some of the most egregious discoveries of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), noting that the American people know exactly what Elon Musk is doing in weeding out the waste. “Musk is doing what the American people have wanted for years,” Kennedy said in a Capitol Hill speech, laying out some of the shocking realities. “But in Washington, common sense is illegal.”
China Just Tried to Overthrow a Major Western Nation’s Government A Chinese-backed spamouflage operation posing as Spanish nationals sought to use the catastrophic flooding that hit Valencia, Spain, in October to instigate the overthrow of the country’s government. Disguising themselves as Safeguard Defenders and allegedly based in Spain‘s capital of Madrid, the Chinese agents were active from November through January on the Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), BlueSky, and TikTok social media platforms.
Ex-hostage Eli Sharabi learned of wife, daughters’ October 7 murders upon release …A reality in which those dearest to him are no longer alive. On October 7, Eli lost his daughters, Noya and Yahel, and his wife, Leanne, who were murdered in their house in Be’eri in the terrible massacre. His brother, the late Yossi Sharabi, was murdered in captivity, and his body is still being held in Gaza. We will embrace him and give him the best possible support.
Data from Sweden proves covid lockdowns are not the cause of the rise in cancer cases Recent media reports of sudden cancer tragedies have been blamed on lockdowns which delayed appointments for checkups and tests at hospitals. It’s obvious that while lockdowns can complicate treatment and outcomes, lockdowns cannot cause cancer. For those who find this concept difficult to fathom, is there data to prove it? Yes. Recent data from Sweden shows a 10.9% increase in cancer incidence in 2022 and a further increase in 2023, resulting in approximately 20,000 additional cases over two years, which cannot be attributed to lockdowns as Sweden did not have any. The timing of the rapid increase in cancer incidence suggests that covid injections may be the cause, with 87% of Sweden’s population over 12 receiving at least one dose in 2021.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Introducing the Gulf of America: The initial reactions among the Trump-deranged went from eye-rolling on the Right to sneering and garment-rending on the Left, but the big body of water that laps upon the shores of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida has officially been rebranded. “Today,” proclaimed President Donald Trump, “I am very honored to recognize February 9, 2025, as the first ever Gulf of America Day.” It’s the fruit of Executive Order 14172, “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” which Trump signed on his first day in office. “Attention on board,” said the captain of Air Force One yesterday, as he flew the president to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. “Ladies and gentlemen … Air Force One is currently in international waters, for the first time in history flying over the recently renamed Gulf of America.”
Trump announces steel and aluminum tariffs: In a continuation of his use of tariffs to both protect American industry and improve others’ behavior, Donald Trump announced massive 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum today. “Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff — aluminum too,” said Trump. Asked what countries will be affected by these tariffs, Trump responded, “Everyone.” He’ll also announce “reciprocal tariffs” in the coming days. What’s a reciprocal tariff? It’s a tariff based on treating others as they treat us. For example, the European Union puts a 10% tariff on all American automobiles going into the EU, whereas we put a paltry 2.5% tariff on all German cars coming to our shores. If we want to sell our wares abroad, this imbalance seems sort of self-defeating on our part, doesn’t it? Reciprocal tariffs might thus be better understood as “Golden Rule” tariffs.
Trump yanks security clearances from Blinken and other Dems: Donald Trump has revoked the security clearances of a handful of leftist weaponizers. Atop this list is former Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who masterminded the infamous Gang of 51 “Russian disinformation” letter and generally promoted a weak-kneed Others First foreign policy. “Bad guy,” said Trump. “Take away his passes.” And it was done. Other recipients of the revocation were New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, former Biden Deputy AG Lisa Monaco, Mueller Commission puppeteer Andrew Weissmann, and Trump impeachment tools Mark Zaid and Norm Eisen. This motley crew thus joins Joe Biden, whose clearance Trump pulled on Friday, perhaps in a tit-for-tat move that he rightly notes his predecessor pioneered four years ago.
Republicans to introduce bills to reform regulatory process: In order for the reforms that Donald Trump is forging in Washington to remain long term, it will require action from Congress. Of import is the problem of the existing regulatory state, thanks largely to an army of unelected bureaucrats that has produced a litany of regulations limiting Americans’ freedoms and costing them more money. In light of this, Senator Joni Ernst and Representative Brad Finstad will soon introduce bills to reform the regulatory process. Dubbed the Prove It Act of 2025, the legislation will require any newly proposed regulations to demonstrate conformity to existing law as well as report impact, both direct and indirect, on small business. “We are curbing the bloated bureaucracy and empowering job creators to innovate and lead us forward,” Ernst explained. “If Washington thinks more regulations are needed, it will have to prove it.”
Judges stymie Trump’s agenda actions: As the oppositional Democrats’ political ice floe continues to melt, they’re falling back on sympathetic judges. Whether banning birthright citizenship, or sending illegal immigrant thugs to Gitmo, or buying out the services of willing federal employees, or digging through the Treasury Department’s labyrinthine payment system, or putting the entire USAID workforce on leave, the Trump administration’s efforts are being thwarted by one-off judges whose rulings apply across the country. “It has become ever more apparent that to our president the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals,” said U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in a representative comment. “The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain.” Perhaps a Supreme Court ruling would determine once and for all whether what Thomas Jefferson called “The Despotic Branch” should have that kind of power over the other two coequal branches.
Judge rules against unions’ objections to DOGE: Objecting to DOGE’s audit of the federal government’s numerous agencies, a number of the nation’s more powerful unions sued to block DOGE from accessing the Department of Labor’s data. Six major unions, headed by the AFL-CIO, accuse DOGE of “violating multiple laws, from constitutional limits on executive power, to laws protecting civil servants from arbitrary threats and adverse action, to crucial protections for government data collected and stored on hundreds of millions of Americans.” However, on Friday, U.S. District Judge John Bates rejected the unions’ lawsuit because they failed to establish standing. As a result, DOGE is moving forward in its audit of these government departments. Its revelations of financial connections between these government agencies and labor unions will likely not be pretty.
Wheaton caves: Following the Senate’s confirmation of Russell Vought to head Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, Vought’s alma mater, Wheaton College, posted a social media message of congratulations and prayer on his behalf. However, following some negative responses by Facebook users, Wheaton pulled its congratulations, replacing it with the following: “The recognition and prayer is something we would typically do for any graduate who reached that level of government. However, the political situation surrounding [Vought’s] appointment led to a significant concern expressed online. It was not our intention to embroil the College in a political discussion or dispute.” Wheaton added a disingenuous excuse that “as a non-profit institution, [it] does not make political endorsements.” Yet the school apparently had no qualms over hosting The After Party event this past fall, a specifically partisan organization created by anti-Trumpers David French, Russell Moore, and Curtis Chang.
DOGE cancels Fauci museum exhibit: Dr. Anthony Fauci was the highest-paid bureaucrat in Washington before his retirement in August 2022. In 2019, his salary was a whopping $417,608. Fauci, whom Donald Trump tapped to help advise and direct the national response to the COVID pandemic, infamously demonstrated the adage of how power corrupts. Rather than seek to inform the public, he often misinformed Americans in favor of narratives that served the aims of the Washington establishment rather than the country. Therefore, when DOGE uncovered a $168,000 contract from the Department of Health and Human Services to create an exhibit dedicated to Fauci in the NIH Museum, Trump’s administration nixed it, noting that this expenditure was irrelevant to meeting actual healthcare.
Headlines
Federal judge blocks DOGE from Treasury system (WSJ)
CFPB gutted in latest move to cut government waste (Daily Wire)
Trump signs order freezing aid to South Africa over land law (BBC)
For decades, Republican politicians have campaigned on tackling Washington’s wasteful spending. Yet, term after term, nothing seemed to change. Government spending only grew, and the federal deficit ballooned with it.
That’s not to say there weren’t promising moments, such as Newt Gingrich’s 1994 “Contract with America,” which saw the Republicans gain a House majority for the first time in 40 years. This resulted in the passage of important welfare reforms, tax cuts, and, ultimately, a balanced budget. But it did little to tackle the bigger problem: Washington’s growing bureaucratic state.
During the Obama era, conservative outcry over the passage of ObamaCare saw the grassroots Tea Party movement surge, handing Republicans majority control of the House in 2010. Once again, the primary concern was the ever-expanding size and scope of federal government spending. Yet, Republicans failed to repeal ObamaCare, and frustration and disenchantment with GOP lawmakers saw the movement fizzle.
The sentiment was that Washington’s permanent bureaucratic state was simply too big and too entrenched to actually shrink. Indeed, it seemed the best thing that conservatives could hope for from Republican lawmakers was slowing down Washington’s growth. The constant expansion of the federal government was viewed as inevitable.
That history is why what’s currently happening in Washington is shocking. Indeed, it’s almost unbelievable.
In just the first few weeks since Donald Trump took office, things are changing in Washington in a way no one believed possible. He is actually draining The Swamp.
But how is Trump accomplishing what he couldn’t do during his first term? How has he shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), sent thousands of deep state bureaucrats packing, and panicked the entire bureaucratic state?
The short answer is the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — a creation that Trump touted while on the campaign trail, promising that it would cut government waste. Trump tapped the top minds of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead DOGE, and despite Ramaswamy having moved on, the outfit’s impact has not been blunted.
DOGE hit the ground running like nothing Washington has ever seen or experienced before. This was not some typical political promise that the permanent bureaucratic state has easily and deftly batted away to the dusty halls of ignominy. It’s a mechanism for orchestrating significant reform.
DOGE was prepared, organized, and struck on multiple fronts so fast that Washington didn’t know what hit it. Indeed, its objective is bigger than Washington even imagined. DOGE was constructed to fundamentally transform the way Washington runs. What Trump has unleashed is a governance revolution.
This has been made possible thanks to the brilliant minds Musk brought to DOGE. With a small army of tech wizards, DOGE has taken the old rule for uncovering corruption — following the money — and applied new algorithmic mapping systems that are rapidly revealing what Washington’s bureaucracy has long managed to hide.
The revelations of how USAID has been spending taxpayer money are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) observed, “What we found was that the State Department and USAID completely lost sight of their mission.”
When Americans are made privy to exactly how our tax dollars are being spent, this can lead to real change, in part because support grows for a president who will cut it. On the flip side, it also explains Democrat lawmakers’ ridiculous behavior.
They claim that Musk is an “unelected billionaire” directing a “shadow government,” and yet the exact opposite is the case. DOGE is exposing the real shadow government — Washington’s permanent bureaucratic class, or deep state.
Furthermore, DOGE actually predates the Trump presidency. It was created during the Obama administration and was initially called the United States Digital Service. It originally was under the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer, eventually moving and coming under the Office of Management and Budget in 2016. Trump renamed it and refocused its mission on finding and cutting wasteful government spending.
Trump has been so successful this time in draining The Swamp because his administration put together a plan and a team that knew exactly where they were going and what they were doing. As JD Vance explains, “When you look at the people surrounding the president. We’re trying to make it sort of easy for him to do what he wants to do in government. When you have the entire team firing on all cylinders, you can get a lot done.”
While Democrats and the bureaucratic state are still struggling to come to grips with what hit them, Americans are saying, Finally, things are changing in Washington.
Riley Gaines Was Right All Along — Who can find fault with acknowledging the biological and physical advantages that come with being born a man?
Al Sharpton’s DEI ‘Buy-In’ Backfires — In an attempt to support Costco’s DEI policies, Sharpton organized a “Buy-Cott.” But consumers refused to shop, even with free gift cards!
The Uncensored Truth About Grooming Gangs — Reporter Charlie Peters has long been investigating the grooming-gangs scandal while providing on-the-ground coverage from towns and cities across the UK.
“It would be one thing if we had some disinterested, impartial, objective business person, highly successful, looking at ways to make our government more efficient and save money. That’s not what’s happening here. Elon Musk is doing a power grab and an information heist — the biggest in American history and probably the most detrimentally financially to Americans taxpayers.” —Senator Richard Blumenthal
“I just think there’s a tipping point at which you can’t get your democracy back. And I see all of these very purposeful lines of effort that the Trump administration, Elon Musk, are taking, and I think we just have to be, right now at this moment, on red-alert mode.” —Senator Chris Murphy
“Fight!” “Shut down the city! We are at war!” “Blow this place up!” “We will bring the fire!” “We gonna be on your a**!” “Resist!” —various “anti-insurrection” congressional Democrats
Shot/Chaser
“Teaching critical race theory isn’t happening in classrooms, teachers say in survey.” —NBC News, 2021
“Trump’s order on critical race theory thrusts White House into the classroom.” —The Boston Globe, 2025
Braying Jennies
“Without that wokeness, you might not have that job.” —”The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg claiming White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t have a job if not for “woke”
“I think that it would’ve been important for the children to not have Donald Trump be president of the United States.” —Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, weirdly invoking “the children” when asked about her rift with Jill Biden (Clearly, Pelosi must not have seen all “the children” surrounding Trump when he signed that “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order.)
Non Compos Mentis
“Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump’s America. I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate. If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I’m going to repeat myself: A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilization because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future.” —Michigan State Representative Laurie Pohutsky
The BIG Lie
“Let’s be clear: POLITICO has no financial dependence on the government and no hidden agenda.” —Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris (“This from Politico is a lie. Every entity dependent on subscription fees for survival is dependent on that revenue. When the federal government gives you millions, you depend on those millions.” —Erick Erickson)
World’s Smallest Violin
“Traumatized USAID worker who survived DOGE bloodbath describes horror of watching everyone get fired.” —Daily Mail headline
Friendly Fire
“I just don’t even know what to say anymore when I see this kind of stuff. Is it Saturday Night Live or real life? Does anyone really think this is the future of the country? This is the only alternative to Trump’s America? It’s just so depressing.” —Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan responding to the childish antics of his fellow Democrats
For the Record
“The striking thing about the revolution that is happening in America is that 20 years ago, everyone agreed that men can’t become women, countries need borders and America must put Americans first. The shocking thing is not what is being done, it’s that it has to be done at all.” —Konstantin Kisin
“The oldest Trump cabinet pick is Linda McMahon, born in 1948. Her mission? Put herself out of a job by closing the Department of Education.” —Matthew Continetti
“Consider the various Trump ‘tariffs’ leveled by an exasperated, and now $36 trillion-indebted, America. Almost none of them meet the traditional definitions of an industry-protecting tariff. Instead, they are the last-gasp tools of American leverage used only when decades of bipartisan diplomacy, summits, entreaties, and empty threats have all failed.” —Victor Davis Hanson
“Looking for outside-the-box solutions sometimes works. It had been gospel among Middle East specialists that Israel couldn’t achieve diplomatic relations with Arab nations without sanctioning the establishment of a Palestinian state first. But the Abraham Accords that Trump negotiated between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and with Bahrain in 2020 did exactly that.” —Michael Barone
“It turns out that when you allocate a huge pot of money to do-gooders, some of them become con artists, hucksters, and thieves who use that money as a slush fund for their pet causes.” —Nate Jackson
“Until the LEFTIST DEMOCRATS ADMIT that THIS STUFF that THEY WERE SECRETLY SPENDING OUR TAX DOLLARS ON was TRULY INSANE and CORRUPT… The American People will continue to SEE DEMOCRATS as LYING GRIFTERS and VOTE accordingly!” —Rob Schneider
And Last…
“USAID is driving the radical left crazy, and there is nothing they can do about it because the way in which the money has been spent, so much of it fraudulently, is totally unexplainable. The corruption is at levels rarely seen before. Close it down!” —Donald Trump
Trump border czar Tom Homan on the dramatic dropoff in border crossings, sending a warning message to Tren de Aragua gang members and finding missing child trafficking victims. #FoxNews
3 more hostages coming out of Gaza this past weekend, but their Hamas captors had starved them and turned them into living skeletons. President Trump says he only getting started in his assault on government waste. Next on the chopping block: the penny. China continues to aggressively expand its Global influence, specifically through control of key shipping ports. Superbowl 59 is over and the Philadelphia Eagles took home the Lombardi trophy. Before the game many artists performed at the pre-show event including Christian artist Lauren Diagle who sung a jazzy rendition of “America the Beautiful”.
“The left will forum shop to find leftist judges eager to throw sand in the gears”
Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday responded to Democrats’ efforts to block President Donald Trump’s agenda by relying on leftist activist judges to gum up the works by asserting that such efforts would ultimately fail.
On Saturday, after 19 Democratic attorneys general asked him to act, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered that efforts by DOGE to examine the Department of the Treasury’s payment systems be blocked.
LAWFARE: In an egregious and unconstitutional assault on executive authority, Judge Paul Engelmayer has unilaterally forbidden all of Trump’s political appointees—including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—from accessing Treasury Department data. This ruling, concocted without… pic.twitter.com/gauqMKURvY
“I disagree with it 100 percent; I think it’s crazy. We have to solve the efficiency problem; we have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse,” Trump told Fox News.
“A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW!” Elon Musk, head of DOGE, wrote on X.
The leftist media attacked Trump: “Not only has the Trump administration seized for itself extraconstitutional powers, but yesterday, it raised the specter that, should the courts apply the text of the Constitution and negate its plans, it will simply ignore them,” The Atlantic carped.
The New York Times railed that Trump had broken the law, saying, “Mr. Trump has openly violated numerous statutes, like limits on summarily firing officials and effectively dismantling U.S.A.I.D. and folding it into the State Department. … the escalating pace of courtroom clashes has raised the question of what would happen if Mr. Trump simply started ignoring decisions he did not like, rather than appealing them. The result would be a constitutional crisis.”
“Latest left/media spasm is about ignoring rogue district court rulings — never heard the same carping when Biden big leagued the Supreme Court to pursue his illegal student loan program…” DeSantis noted on X Monday morning.
Latest left/media spasm is about ignoring rogue district court rulings — never heard the same carping when Biden big leagued the Supreme Court to pursue his illegal student loan program… pic.twitter.com/bKhcBqtjBp
“The left will forum shop to find leftist judges eager to throw sand in the gears of all Trump administration policies, including @DOGE,” he explained. “ … and will utilize constitutionally-dubious, so-called ‘nationwide injunctions’ in which one district judge will impose liberal policy on the entire country. The bad news is that Biden appointed a lot of very radical liberal judges so the left will have an easy time finding a favorable forum. The good news is the Supreme Court may very well put a stop to nationwide injunctions and very likely has a majority to overturn leftist ‘resistance’ court rulings.”
The left will forum shop to find leftist judges eager to throw sand in the gears of all Trump administration policies, including @DOGE… and will utilize constitutionally-dubious, so-called “nationwide injunctions” in which one district judge will impose liberal policy on the… https://t.co/QvDpxgU6kn
For years, the He Gets Us campaign has targeted sports entertainment with their advertising campaign in which they often depict a lukewarm, liberal version of Jesus wherein he becomes a refugee. For the past three years, they have spent tens of millions on Superbowl ads and we were early to provide a deep dive of who they were at the time as well as expose the theological influences behind the campaign. In 2024, the He Gets Us campaign was under the new management of the Come Near Foundation with much of the thought and infrastructure remaining the same. They proceeded to air AI-generated images wherein they depicted Christians as the “bad guys” in a campaign that was generally lampooned.
After a contentious election year in which many liberal ideas were routed at the ballot box, the question is asked, does He Gets Us actually get us? Furthermore, what developments have occurred with the organization?
2025 Superbowl Ad
He Gets Us was a late confirmation to return to the Superbowl, in which they spent $16 million on a 60 second ad in which it poses the question, “What is greatness?” The ad plays the song Personal Jesus, which is a song about “being Jesus to someone” that while it might seem well-intended, is a very man-centric view of Christ that disregards His divinity and mediatorial work. The meaning of the song’s lyrics ultimately depends on the singer, not the words themselves. For example, Johnny Cash famously liked the song and made a cover for it. However, the meaning completely changes when a degenerate Satanist like Marilyn Manson covers it, in which a man can become Jesus.
The images throughout the ad portray various acts of everyday kindness as greatness, like firefighters, two friends having coffee, or helping an incompetent driver in the snow in New York City. But then it has an image of the words “Get Out” being power-washed off a home of a presumably immigrant family with a child watching from the window. Already, this ad is signifying that calls for mass deportation or anti-immigrant sentiments are unlike Jesus—ignoring that the borders, magistrates, and nations are instituted by God. The American people voted for mass deportations at the ballot box, not amnesty.
After that, there is a presumed Christian street preacher receiving a hug from a homosexual at what is clearly a gay pride parade. What is definitely not portrayed is that the Christian is converting the homosexual away from his gayness who then walks away from the gay pride parade. Instead, it shows the Christian, with a John 3:16 hat, hugging the man in the middle of the parade, which looks far more like affirmation than repentance. Greatness is going to a pride festival and embracing homosexuals in their sin.
The ad’s message is that greatness comes from everyday acts of kindness and being a “personal Jesus” to other people, but as with all other He Gets Us ads, it portrays Jesus as merely a Man. Furthermore, it undermines the concept of greatness where if everything is greatness, then nothing is—not even Jesus. The greatness of Christ is that the Son took on human flesh to redeem the Church, but He Gets Us does not get Jesus.
Compassion International Connections
Who runs the He Gets Us campaign? Compassion International is a major Christian Charity, similar to Samaritans Purse, only that they are most notorious for their “adoption” based missions wherein one can “adopt” and help a specific child in a third world country. They have a broad outreach strategy which often involves working with churches of all stripes—good and bad. For example, they were involved in a “Strategic Ministry Alliance” with the financially scandalous Hillsong. Nevertheless, they are generally perceived as reputable within American Christianity. What is interesting is that several of their former employees now oversee and operate the Come Near Foundation and by extension the He Gets Us campaign.
Yaro Hetman is the VP of Marketing and Innovation. Hetman made his career at Ford, where he specialized in marketing their commercial vehicles and even their BEV truck, the F150 Lightening. Given his background, Hetman is a major advocate for US involvement in the Ukraine War. In 2022, under Hetman, Compassion International sold NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) which raised $220,000 in an appeal to get youths to donate to charity. As an aside, the use of NFTs, which are the equivalent of digital trading cards, is a strange, and perhaps unethical, way to raise money as they are selling a fictional asset in exchange for money. Hetman also appealed to Twitch and other gaming platforms during his time at CI.
Beto Menegocci is the Chief Operations Officer at Come Near. He also worked at Compassion International in finance. Even their Head of Communications, Emily Birschbach, also worked at Compassion International for six years. For an organization that has a small, mostly remote workplace, their talent pool has much crossover with Compassion International.
The categorization is extremely generic, and if one plays around on the homepage, it becomes quite apparent how they gathered their data. They are using large numbers to bolster their campaign and make it relevant to anyone, yet the data is rather generic and trite, ultimately making it useless for everyone.
Basically, they asked a couple of thousand people what they were “most sick of” and they pooled the responses into the categories, irrespective of whether the answers were conflicting. For example, if one said they were sick of the Ukraine War, that would be part of the 84% who are sick of violence. If they were sick of immigration, that would be “social issues & divisiveness.” The same category would when entering “gays.” Surprisingly, “Incels” was also bucketed under “social issues & divisiveness”, and it did recognize “SSRIs” as “societal health.” The “incel” categorization becomes more ironic when “women” is bucketed under “Personal Struggles.” It used an algorithmic sorting hat that buckets opposing views under the same category. Ironically, while Trump was bucketed under Politics, there was no response for Musk.
In January, they released video content based on this data, with Trey Hill going around the nation to interview people about why they are discontent in a YouTube series. The series features four short videos that contain some interviews in line with the generic theme of He Gets Us, believing that understanding the discontentment will make Jesus more appealing. YouTuber Carlos Whittaker is featured to emphasize the need for greater “empathy,” which is a longstanding liberal buzzword. Whittaker is a Christian “influencer” who specializes in “self-help” Christianity.
The videos attempt to portray Jesus as one who “listened to people” when Scripture depicts Christ teaching more than it ever does Him listening. He already knew the struggles of the people, which dictated the interactions with various believers and unbelievers in the Gospel Accounts. This is a continuation of their version of Jesus who hangs out with the lowly which disregards that He, being a physician, healed them of their sinful lifestyles rather than coddled them.
For the He Gets Us campaign, they hired a seemingly impressive pool of talent to deliver on their massive ad campaign, with many veterans from major corporations, most notably Ford. Their connections to Compassion International, while not problematic for the charity itself, should have yielded a more effective ad campaign, yet the tendencies of He Gets Us to rely on nonbelievers to market Jesus to the masses inevitably produces a Jesus who appeals to nonbelievers while disregarding Christ’s mediatorial role in the Triune godhead. Their “What is Greatness” ad undermines the greatness of our God. Their discontentment campaign does nothing to deliver the Gospel but rather coddles sinners on their way to hell under the guise of empathy.
He Gets Us neither understands Jesus nor the current environment in America today, where the largest revival happening is on the white males who innately detest the He Gets Us campaign.
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