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
…Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. PHILIPPIANS 3:13
The Christian is saved from his past sins. With these he simply has nothing more to do; they are among the things to be forgotten as the night is forgotten at the dawning of the day. The Christian is also saved from the wrath to come. With this also he has nothing to do. The wrath of God exists, but not for him. Sin and wrath have a cause and effect relationship, and because for the Christian sin is canceled, wrath is canceled also. To be engrossed still in what we have been saved from is to live in a state of negation. We are not called to fellowship with nonexistence. We are called to things that exist in truth, to positive things, and it is as we become occupied with these that health comes to the soul. Spiritual life cannot feed on negatives. The man who is constantly reciting the evils of his unconverted days is looking in the wrong direction. He is like a man trying to run a race while looking back over his shoulder! There is an art of forgetting, and every Christian should become skilled in it. Forgetting the things which are behind is a positive necessity if we are to become more than mere babes in Christ. And here’s the good part: into the empty world vacated by our sins and failures rushes the blessed Spirit of God, bringing with Him everything new. New life, new hope, new enjoyments, new interests, new purposeful toil, and best of all a new and satisfying object toward which to direct our soul’s enraptured gaze!
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2015). Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (p. 52). Moody Publishers.
It certainly was very laudable in Paul, in a moment of danger, to avail himself of the common privileges of his freedom, in the common rights of men. But it would have been a sad things for the apostle, had he not, at the same time, been also “a fellow-citizen with the saints, and of the household of God.” He, like the patriarchs, knew his right in that city “which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” My soul, see to it this evening, that thy name is enrolled among the citizens of those who are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. And if thou canst find evidences of this high calling, thou wilt know also, as well as Paul, that thou art “a citizen of no mean city.” Now, a city that hath foundations, and whose builder and maker is God, differs totally from all the cities founded among men. All these have their rise, their increase, and fall. Where are the vast monarchies of past generations? Alas! time hath passed over them as a flood, and swept them all away. And what the sacred writer hath said of one, may be equally applied to all: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen; in one hour is thy judgment come!” But the citizenship of a believer is firm, eternal, and secure. God the Father is the founder of it: he hath laid the foundation-stone in Zion. God the Son is the Rock on which it is built. And God the Holy Ghost is the eternal source of life and strength, and all the immutable privileges of it. This city is everlastingly and eternally secure, for “salvation hath the Lord appointed for walls and bulwarks.” And the peace and happiness of its inhabitants must ever remain the same; for the citizens are of one body, and one spirit, even as they are called, in one hope of their calling. For the Son of God hath made them free by his blood and righteousness, and they are free indeed. Such, my soul, among numberless other distinguishing characters, are the outlines of the history of that city which hath foundations, and of which we may say with the Psalmist, “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of God!” If thou art a citizen of it, the enrolment of thy name among the freemen may be easily seen, for Jesus, the King of Zion, must have signed it with his blood. And then art thou come, as the apostle describes, not to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; not unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest; but unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God the Judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.—Then, hast thou found also the blessedness of the place, and the immense privileges of its inhabitants? In the freedom of this city is found peace with God, through the blood of the cross; and access at all times, through him, by one Spirit, unto the Father. And as among other citizens there are certain marks and characters by which the privileges of one city are distinguished from another, so, in this, the language, the dress, the manners, and customs, are wholly foreign to all the rest of the world. A citizen of God’s house talks the language of God; he is dressed in the garment of salvation, and the robes of Jesus’s righteousness. His manners and customs are altogether peculiar to a child of God and an heir of heaven; for all is in conformity to the gospel of Christ. My soul! what sayest thou to these characters? Are they thine? If so, thou mayest assume Paul’s account of himself; for, like him, thou art “a citizen of no mean city!”
Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, pp. 54–55). Thomas Wardle.
It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in his precious blood need not make a confession of sin, as culprits or criminals, before God the Judge, for Christ has for ever taken away all their sins in a legal sense, so that they no longer stand where they can be condemned, but are once for all accepted in the Beloved; but having become children, and offending as children, ought they not every day to go before their heavenly Father and confess their sin, and acknowledge their iniquity in that character? Nature teaches that it is the duty of erring children to make a confession to their earthly father, and the grace of God in the heart teaches us that we, as Christians, owe the same duty to our heavenly Father. We daily offend, and ought not to rest without daily pardon. For, supposing that my trespasses against my Father are not at once taken to him to be washed away by the cleansing power of the Lord Jesus, what will be the consequence? If I have not sought forgiveness and been washed from these offences against my Father, I shall feel at a distance from him; I shall doubt his love to me; I shall tremble at him; I shall be afraid to pray to him: I shall grow like the prodigal, who, although still a child, was yet far off from his father. But if, with a child’s sorrow at offending so gracious and loving a Parent, I go to him and tell him all, and rest not till I realize that I am forgiven, then I shall feel a holy love to my Father, and shall go through my Christian career, not only as saved, but as one enjoying present peace in God through Jesus Christ my Lord. There is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit, and confessing sin as a child. The Father’s bosom is the place for penitent confessions. We have been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
AND when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. They were so fickle that they could not be trusted alone; and worse than this, they were basely ungrateful to forget their God, and ascribe their deliverance to Moses; and even to him they were foully thankless, for they called him “this Moses,” as if in contempt, and that to the face of his own brother. They must have been in a state of wild rebellion, thus to insult both their great leader and his brother. The fact was, that they were so utterly unspiritual that without something to see they could not abide in peace: the faith which seeth him who is invisible they had not learned. 2, 3, 4 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Shame upon Aaron to pander to them! What idolatry to think that the infinite Jehovah can be likened unto a bullock which hath horns and hoofs. They went back to old Egyptian idolatry, and set up an ox as the symbol of the God of power. 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. (Or to Jehovah; so that they did not leave off worshipping Jehovah, but transgressed the second commandment by likening him to an ox.) 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 7, 8 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down: for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (Who wonders that the Lord resented the insult offered to him by the people who owed him so much?) 9, 10 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. (Here was a great opportunity for Moses if he had been an ambitious or selfish man; but he loved the people better than himself.) 11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? (See the point of his plea: God had called them Moses’ people, but he will not have it so, he calls them, “thy people,” and beseeches the Lord not to be angry with them.) 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. (Here he urges the name and honour of God. Forcible pleading this!) 13, 14 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. (His third master plea is “the covenant” confirmed by oath: he who can plead this cannot but succeed.) And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. (If Moses succeeded as Mediator, how much more shall the Lord Jesus, who makes intercession for the transgressors.)
From Sinai we have heard thee speak
And from Mount Calv’ry too;
And yet to idols oft we seek
While thou art in our view.
Lord, save us from our golden calves;
Our sin with grief we own;
We would no more be thine by halves,
But live to thee alone.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 98). Baker Book House.
Leviticus 7:29 — We’re making our way through the offerings of Leviticus, and currently we are in the peace offerings. These are optional unlike the others. If you’re a bit overwhelmed by the offerings, Wayne Stiles has a one-page PDF overview that you can download to better understand what they are and why they matter. “The offerings in Leviticus served as God’s gracious provision for how one could regain and sustain fellowship with God.” I like his blog because he makes extensive use of Israeli geography.
Leviticus 8:17 — They were commanded to burn the bullock for the sin offering “without the camp” in Exodus 29:14. In the New Testament, Hebrews 13:12 explains how this command was fulfilled. The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) has a good overview of the phrase “without the camp.”
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (Revelation 2:11)
The first death we must endure unless the Lord should suddenly come to His temple. For this let us abide in readiness, awaiting it without fear, since Jesus has transformed death from a dreary cavern into a passage leading to glory.
The thing to be feared is not the first but the second death, not the parting of the soul from the body but the final separation of the entire man from God. This is death indeed. This death kills all peace, joy, happiness, hope. When God is gone, all is gone. Such a death is far worse than ceasing to be: it is existence without the life which makes existence worth the having.
Now, if by God’s grace we fight on to the end and conquer in the glorious war, no second death can lay its chill finger upon us, We shall have no fear of death and hell, for we shall receive a crown of life which fadeth not away. How this nerves us for the fight! Eternal life is worth a life’s battle. To escape the hurt of the second death is a thing worth struggling for throughout a lifetime.
Lord, give us faith so that we may overcome, and then grant us grace to remain unharmed though sin and Satan dog our heels!
The doctrine of Sola Fide—faith alone—served as the material cause of the Reformation. The Reformers contended that justification is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from works of the law. This central doctrine stood at the heart of Martin Luther’s own spiritual awakening.
In the summer of 1505, Martin Luther found himself in a violent thunderstorm while traveling. As a bolt of lightning struck near him, he fell to the ground and cried out, not to God, but to St. Anne, vowing that if she spared his life, he would become a monk. Luther survived and, true to his word, he entered the Augustinian monastery, much to the disappointment of his father, Hans, who had envisioned a prosperous legal career for his son.
Luther’s monastic life was marked by rigorous self-discipline:
He beat himself, inflicting physical punishment upon his body.
He subjected himself to extreme cold, suffering in solitude.
He practiced asceticism, believing such suffering would please God.
Later, he would confess, “If ever a monk could go to heaven by monkery—it was I.”1Luther’s Works, vol. 34, p. 336. Yet, despite all his efforts, Luther found no peace. His conscience tormented him. He spent hours in confession, detailing even the smallest sins, yet never experiencing peace with God. Luther’s breakthrough came through the study of Scripture. In particular, Romans 1:17 arrested his soul:
“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
This realization—that righteousness before God is not earned but received by faith—became the cornerstone of the Reformation. In 1519 Luther came to understand that the righteousness taught in Romans 1:17 was an “alien” righteousness rather than his own righteous deeds of the flesh. For the first time, Luther could see it spiritually. Martin Luther explains:
Meanwhile, I had already during that year returned to interpret the Psalter anew. I had confidence in the fact that I was more skilful, after I had lectured in the university on St. Paul’s epistles to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the one to the Hebrews. I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word in Chapter 1, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed” that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they call it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.
Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience.
Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted. At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me.
Thereupon I ran through the Scripture from memory. I also found in other terms an analogy, as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which he makes us wise, the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God. And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word “righteousness of God.” Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise.
The Reformers fought to recover Sola Fide precisely because any addition to the finished work of Christ does violence to the gospel itself. Our justification does not rest in our religious performance but in Christ’s perfect righteousness.
The Roman Catholic Church, however, had added a system of works—penance, indulgences, sacraments—as necessary for salvation. This was precisely the error of the Judaizers in Galatia, whom Paul rebuked, saying, “Let them be accursed” (Galatians 1:8, ESV). Martin Luther declared:
“If this article stands, the church stands; if this article collapses, the church collapses.”2Luther’s Works, vol. 40, p. 3
The explosion of the Reformation brought light (post tenebras lux) into a dark world. This light exposed the false gospel of the Roman Catholic Church that had overshadowed the church for more than 1,000 years. At the Council of Trent, which served as a counter protest to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church made this bold statement to anyone who embraced salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone:
“If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema,” (Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 9).
Still to this very hour, the Roman Catholic Church stands by this statement from the Council of Trent. Any Protestant Christian who claims to be saved by the grace of God, through faith alone, in Christ alone should be anathema—damned to hell. Needless to say, the doctrine of faith matters.
Misunderstanding Sola Fide
While Paul firmly upheld justification by faith alone, he also emphasized the necessity of good works as the fruit of genuine faith. If you read Romans 1-11, you will see Paul’s defense of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. When you read Romans 12-16, you see practical exhortation to a life of holiness and sanctification which is the practical outworking of a soul that has been redeemed by the grace of God. This is where many misunderstand Sola Fide—as though it negates the call to holiness.
True faith is not a mere intellectual assent but a living, active trust in Christ that results in obedience. The Reformation principle Sola Fide does not mean that works are unnecessary; rather, it means that works are not the basis of justification. However, a soul that’s justified by the grace of God will result in works, affections for God, Spirit led worship, and service to God. This is the evidence of true faith. Unlike the hamster wheel approach of religion as taught by the Roman Catholic Church—Christian service and work flows from a heart of gratitude and appreciation to God for the salvation that was not earned, but freely given by the mercy of a sovereign God. John Calvin rightly distinguished justification from sanctification:
“It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.11.20)
A true Christian, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, will necessarily pursue holiness. A Christian’s aim to become more conformed to the image of Christ rather than the image of this present evil world is not legalistic. Sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of God is a holy life that pleases God. The perseverance of the saints is proof of genuine faith as we see clearly articulated in the pages of Scripture—such as Hebrews 3:14 —“For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
Why the Doctrine of Faith Matters Today
Many today still fall into the error of thinking that their works contribute to their salvation. Whether in Roman Catholicism, certain strains of evangelical legalism, or cultural moralism, people often believe that their good deeds secure their place before God.
A distorted gospel leads people to hell. A contaminated faith condemns.
The Reformers fought to recover Sola Fide precisely because any addition to the finished work of Christ does violence to the gospel itself. Our justification does not rest in our religious performance but in Christ’s perfect righteousness. As Paul wrote:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1, ESV)
A distorted gospel leads people to hell. A contaminated faith condemns. A twisted gospel results in either pride or despair—pride for those who think they are capable of impressing God and despair for those who know they are not able to impress God. The doctrine of Sola Fide leads to true humility and assurance. The battle for Sola Fide is not over. In every generation, the church must contend for this truth. It is not a secondary doctrine but the very foundation of the gospel. As Luther thundered:
“If the article of justification be once lost, then is all true Christian doctrine lost.” (Luther’s Works, vol. 27, p. 386)
May we, like the Reformers, boldly proclaim and defend the doctrine of justification by faith alone—for the glory of God alone. In September of this year Christians from all around the world will be gathering in Atlanta to study the doctrine of faith. It will be a time for learning, spiritual renewal, and Christian fellowship. Imagine singing the battle hymn of the Reformation with 8,500 Christians!
**To reserve your seat, visit G3Min.org/FAITH. Watch the short video below to learn more.
Every church has a liturgy. Liturgy is simply the public service (leitourgia) of the church, gathered as a kingdom of priests to offer themselves to God. The most important liturgy is the one Christ himself offers through his atoning death and his ongoing priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary. Christ, then, is the true Liturgist (leitourgos, Heb 8:2). The church’s public worship of God is simply offering its own grace-enabled “amen” to that great heavenly liturgy. Thus, it is not simply the “high” or more formal churches that have a liturgy, a pattern for this sacred worship. Even the lowest of the “low” churches cannot avoid the human tendency to rhythm and routine (in the best sense of the word). Even the most doggedly extemporaneous worship services settle into certain predictable patterns. The question when it comes to liturgy is not whether but whither—not, will we have a liturgy? but, where will our liturgies take us? And will they be grounded in Scripture and informed by the best of the Christian tradition?
The New Testament itself has set the agenda for the gathered worship of the church by laying down certain elements, either by precept or example, that are to be observed in every church: the reading and preaching of God’s word (1 Tim 4:13; Col 4:16); prayer (1 Tim 2:8); the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19); the observation of the two sacraments or ordinances of the church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper (e.g., 1 Cor 11:17-34); the collection of offerings (1 Cor 16:2); the sharing of spiritual gifts for the edification of the body (1 Cor 14:26); and, importantly for our present purposes, the public confession of the faith.
Public confession of the faith is a crucial component in the New Testament understanding of conversion. Jesus himself demands that we confess (homologeo) him before others that he might confess us before his Father in heaven (Matt 10:32). The apostle Paul instructs us that salvation comes to those who “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead” (Rom 10:9). In response to this demand, the early church seems to have crafted short summaries of the faith that take on a kind of hymnic or confessional structure. One such confession is found in 1 Timothy 3:16:
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.
Other confessional summaries can be found in Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15-20, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, and Hebrews 6:1-3, among other places. The confessional/hymnic structure of these summaries suggests that they were meant to be memorized and repeated. The New Testament epistles often speak about a body of doctrine (Rom 16:17; 1 Tim 4:6; Tit 2:10), a good deposit (2 Tim 1:14), or a pattern of sound words (1 Tim 1:13) that must be carefully guarded and passed on to others. Every church is duty-bound “to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints,” (Jude 3). Thus, confession of the faith was an integral part of New Testament discipleship and worship.The church’s public worship of God is simply offering its own grace-enabled “amen” to that great heavenly liturgy. Share on X
In the centuries just after the New Testament, early Christians took seriously this component of public worship. Summaries of the main contours of the gospel developed very early in the tradition. Irenaeus and Tertullian had their own versions of this “rule of faith,” which were organized in a threefold structure, built around the distinctive offices of the three divine persons. Soon, these summaries were formalized into distinct creeds, confessions of the church’s common faith. Catechumens, that is, new disciples, were required to learn and confess these creeds before their baptisms. The Old Roman Creed, which stands behind what we know as the Apostles’ Creed, goes all the way back to the second century. The Apostles’ Creed eventually came to be received as an “ecumenical” (that is, worldwide or universal) creed by the churches in the West. The so-called Athanasian Creed was also similarly embraced as an ecumenical creed by the Western churches. But it was the Nicene Creed, finalized at the Council of Constantinople in 381, that became the most predominant summary of the biblical faith received and confessed by the global and historic church. These three ecumenical creeds taken together continue to represent the faith of historic Christian orthodoxy, regardless of geographic locale or denominational affiliation.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century signaled some crucial reforms to the faith and practice of the late medieval/early modern Western church. Reformation theology is often organized under two central principles: the so-called formal principle of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone is the supreme source and standard of Christian belief) and so-called material principle of Sola Fide (sinners are justified by faith alone apart from works). Under these principles stood a number of other reforms concerning the nature of the church and its ministry. But importantly, the Reformers did not seek an overthrow of the creedal foundations of the church. They continued to affirm the early creeds and councils of the church as important guides to interpreting Scripture. They continued to oppose the various trinitarian and Christological heresies that the creeds were meant to foreclose. The Reformers and their heirs often organized the doctrinal portions of their own catechisms precisely in terms of the ecumenical creeds (see, for example, Luther’s Large and Small Catechisms, the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Baptist Catechism, and the Baptist version of the Heidelberg Catechism, Hercules Collins’ Orthodox Catechism). The seventeenth-century Baptist confession of faith, the Orthodox Creed, echoing the Articles of Religion, summarizes the usefulness of the creeds as follows:
The Three Creeds, (viz.) Nicene Creed, Athanasius’s Creed, and the Apostles Creed, (as they are commonly called) ought throughly [i.e., thoroughly] to be received, and believed. For we believe they may be proved by most undoubted Authority of holy Scripture, and are necessary to be understood of all Christians; and to be instructed in the knowledg of them, by the Ministers of Christ, according to the Analogie of Faith, recorded in sacred Scriptures (upon which these Creeds are grounded), and Catechistically opened, and expounded in all Christian Families, for the edification of Young and Old; which might be a means to prevent Heresie in Doctrine, and Practice, these Creeds containing all things in a brief manner, that are necessary to be known, fundamentally, in order to our Salvation; to which end they may be considered, and better understood of all Men, we have here Printed them under their several Titles . . .
Even today, many Protestant churches continue to confess the ecumenical creeds in the gathered worship of the church. The Creed is a part of the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and, increasingly, even many Baptist liturgies. It is my conviction that all churches would benefit from incorporating the Creed into our Lord’s Day services. Building on the uses mentioned in the Orthodox Creed above, we could list at least three main benefits of reciting the creeds in our liturgies. For the sake of focus, I will focus particularly on the benefits of the Nicene Creed.
First, confessing the Creed teaches the Christian faith. The Nicene Creed does not major on minors. Any well-tuned theological system acknowledges that some doctrines are more central to the Christian faith than others. Every revealed truth is important, but some doctrines are more integral, from which other doctrines are derived. The Creed limits itself to these primary or integral doctrines. The Creed is trinitarian both in its content and its structure, with its three articles focusing on the appropriated works of the three divine persons: one God the Father Almighty, one Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life. Under this general rubric, the Creed details a treasure trove of doctrines: creation, the eternal generation and consubstantiality of the Son, the incarnation, the work of Christ, the procession of the Holy Spirit, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the attributes of the church, baptism, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the final state. If churches could help their members memorize and internalize these doctrines, then the people of God would be equipped with all of the essentials for forming a Christian understanding of reality. Insofar as it faithfully repeats and synthesizes the biblical revelation of the one true God, the Creed teaches the church the language of Zion.
The Creed is the shared faith of the whole body of Christ. Share on XSecond, confessing the Creed prevents heresy from creeping into the church. The Creed was forged in the heat of controversy. The original Nicene Creed (325) was drafted to denounce the error of Arianism, which had taught that the Son was created by the Father. In place of this heresy, the Creed affirms that the Son is begotten, not made, and is consubstantial (of the same essence) with the Father. By the time the final version of the Creed was developed at Constantinople in 381, the controversy had expanded to include the person of the Holy Spirit. Against the Macedonian heresy, which taught that the Holy Spirit was subordinated to the other two divine persons, the Creed affirms that the eternally proceeding Holy Spirit is none other than “the Lord,” who “with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.” The Creed is a bulwark against other heresies besides. Against Gnosticism, the Creed teaches us that God is the maker of all things “visible and invisible.” Against all varieties of Pelagianism, the Creed teaches us that we stand in need of “the forgiveness of sins.” Against denials of the truth of Scripture, the Creed teaches us that it was the Holy Spirit himself who “spake by the prophets.” The Creed affirms the Virgin Birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus (and of all humans at his second coming), the personal return of Christ at the end of the age, and the judgment of the living and the dead. What trinitarian, Christological, Pneumatological, soteriological, ecclesiological, and eschatological errors might our churches avoid, if they had the language of the Creed in their bloodstream?
Third, the Creed visibly connects the local church to the broader body of Christ. The ultimate root of catholicity—the universal church’s common identity across space and time—is the confession of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as he is revealed in Holy Scripture. But in the providence of God, the Creed has provided a glorious distillation of this biblical message. A creed, properly so called, is not the exclusive preserve of one particular communion. A creed is different from a confession of faith in that regard. The Creed is the shared faith of the whole body of Christ. So, when a church recites the Creed together, they add their voices to the glorious company of saints and martyrs down through the ages. Confessing the Creed, thus, gestures toward that day when the whole church will be in experience what they presently are in Christ: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. In a church that is so often splintered by division, confessing the Creed stands as a visible protest and witness.
If a pastor or a church is considering adding the Nicene Creed or one of the other ecumenical creeds to the church’s liturgy, how might they introduce such a change? As many others have recommended, the change should come slowly and deliberately. Perhaps one way to introduce the addition of the Creed would be to teach a series of lessons or preach a series of sermons on the Creed. Perhaps incorporating elements of the traditional liturgical calendar could aid in this as well. Many evangelical churches have begun adding Advent and Lent to their normal Christmas and Easter celebrations. Considering other aspects of the church year is beneficial as well. Trinity Sunday would be a most fitting time to begin reciting the Creed. Proceeding with caution and wisdom, pastors can help their churches see the many and great benefits of reciting the Creed in their liturgies. If every church has a liturgy, we could do far worse than framing our liturgies in the explicitly trinitarian way that the Creed affords.
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Contentment doesn’t seem to be trending in our culture. Every television show, commercial, and advertisement is encouraging us to get more, telling us we deserve better, and prodding us that we can’t make do with the old version. And if we follow their advice and get the next best thing, our lives will be incredibly transformed for the better. Unfortunately, because of sin all human beings are plagued with a restlessness that should open our eyes to the fact that we are missing something in our lives. So, we fall prey to the encouragement to desire more, hoping to fill a void that exists in our lives.
Humans were made for a glorious purpose—to dwell with God, serve God, and be friends of God.
In God’s grace, however, this void is not fillable with the material trinkets of this world. In John Bunyan’s allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Vanity Fair refers to the preoccupation with material goods of this world, which in Bunyan’s story is a fair that is held year-round to entice pilgrims (believers) on their way to the Celestial City (i.e., heaven).
The temptations found in Vanity Fair cannot give what man truly needs. Humans were made for a glorious purpose—to dwell with God, serve God, and be friends of God. Only when a person has become a friend of God through faith in Jesus Christ can he or she begin to find contentment in this life as they keep their eyes on their heavenly home. Paul writes,
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (1 Tim. 6:6-8)
Paul reminds the Christian that what ought to be sought after—the “great gain”—is a life centered around loving God and contentment with what God has ordained in our life.
God’s children should be focused on “taking hold of the eternal life.”
We are to be Christ-centered and thankful for the basics in life, and not consumed, worried, or inordinately striving to gain more. In fact, later in 1 Timothy Paul writes,
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Tim. 6:11-12)
Rather than being consumed by wanting more things in this life, a Christian should be focused on “taking hold of the eternal life.” We are to be living out the faith that we confess. Rather than lingering in Vanity Fair, constantly being drawn into worldly cares and desires, we are to be like Faithful and Christian in The Pilgrim’s Progress, diligently looking toward the Celestial City.
God has graciously given us many wonderful gifts in this world to enjoy.
Yet, does living out our faith mean that we can have no desires? Not at all! God has graciously given us many wonderful gifts in this world to enjoy—bounties of foods, activities, and other enjoyments. These things, however, are not to rule us or control us. They are not to be the center of who we are. We are to give thanks to God for his bountiful gifts, yet know that they are God’s gifts, and so we must hold on to them lightly and desire them only as they serve to deepen our delight in him and accord with his will.
True contentment is always connected to trusting God.
Thankfulness, patience, and trust are all important aspects of godly contentment. You cannot be content without being thankful; otherwise, you will always want more, and more, and more. Nothing will ever be enough. You cannot desire rightly without patience amid what God has appointed for you. And you can never be content without trusting God for the circumstances he has placed in your life.
As we pray and desire good things, blessings from God, we must do so in patience and trust, knowing we make our requests to a loving Father and being thankful for his sustenance through our dark valleys. With God as our friend we can be content in this world while we travel toward the Celestial City.
This article was originally published in Beautiful Christian Life’s June 2024 monthly newsletter, “Contentment.”
What are spiritual gifts and how does a Christian determine their spiritual gift? In this sermon on spiritual gifts, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones takes the listener through this topic as he preaches on Scripture’s teachings regarding spiritual gifts. These are extraordinary powers that separate Christians from one another and enable them to serve effectively in different ways across the church. Spiritual gifts are not a blessing that some Christians receive— they are promised to all believers. One myth is that the ability of one’s gift is related to its possessor’s spiritual maturity. Dr. Lloyd-Jones takes great pains to dispel this myth and to show that not only do the gifts differ widely from each other, but that they are not determined by the level of one’s spirituality. Theologians for centuries have argued over which gifts were only for the early church, which gifts exist in the church across its existence, and even if any spiritual gifts are still in existence today. Dr. Lloyd-Jones provides a helpful commentary and discussion on these questions, showing the difference between natural gifts and supernatural gifts. What about the unforgivable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Listen carefully as he unwraps this and more in this sermon on the Holy Spirit and His spiritual gifts to the church.
Concerns Over Russian Invasion In Europe; Trump Seeks Ceasefire By Easter European leaders gathered for an emergency summit in Paris on Monday after Kyiv warned of an imminent Russian invasion of NATO military alliance member states, although U.S. President Donald J. Trump reportedly seeks a ceasefire in war-torn Ukraine by Easter. “Without American support, NATO is finished,” Zelenskyy added.
Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Sanctuary in Jerusalem with Mysterious Carved Symbols A team of archaeologists have recently uncovered a sanctuary carved directly into the rock in an area south of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Known as Silwan to Palestinians and the City of David to Israelis, this site has long been a treasure trove of discoveries, but this recent find stands out. The structure, excavated by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, is massive, spanning 220 square meters. It dates back to the 7th century BC
Cult-like group connected to murder of Minnesota-born border patrol agent The killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland, who was a Minnesota native, is being connected to a cult-like group that’s been linked to several deaths across the country, the Associated Press reports. The group’s goal is not yet clear, but it all started in 2016 with an online blog under the persona Ziz, by a transgender woman named Jack LaSota. The blog covered topics ranging from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence. This group includes a lot of young, highly intelligent computer scientists who’ve become increasingly more violent. There are now six death investigations in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California tied to this group.
Pope Francis’ condition in hospital worsens Pope Francis’ medical condition has worsened, the Holy See announced Monday lunch-time, with his respiratory tract infection needing increased treatment and a lengthened stay in hospital. Around 1pm Rome time on Monday, the Vatican announced a deterioration in Pope Francis’ condition.
Denmark arms its defense with billions The announcement comes as concerns have been raised since the US made statements that Europe cannot take American military presence on the continent for granted.
Europe after the meeting: Must build up The need for European armament is the most important message from the Paris meeting, according to Denmark’s Prime Minister. Russia is now a threat to all of Europe, says Mette Frederiksen after the meeting. We must build up to ensure that Russia does not move the war further into Europe, said Frederiksen, who also represented the Nordic and Baltic countries in Paris.
Hamas could release 6 living hostages & several bodies from Gaza captivity by end of the week In a surprising development, Israeli media reported Monday evening that up to six living hostages and six bodies of murdered hostages could be released from Gaza by the end of the week. Kan News reported that the cabinet ministers were updated on Monday evening that Israel and Hamas are discussing an arrangement to free all six hostages who are assumed to be still alive by this coming Saturday.
Hamas reportedly agrees to give control of Gaza to Palestinian Authority Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas sent a letter to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), declaring its willingness to hand over the Gaza Strip to the PA and a governing committee for the future administration of Gaza. The sources told the media outlet that “Hamas only conditioned the [handover] on the reintegration of Gaza’s employees into the new administration or their retirement, with the guarantee of paying their salaries.”
The Problem with Jordan The initial problem with Jordan is in its name. Just over a century ago, the territory that makes up Jordan today was split off from all of British Mandatory Palestine, representing 70 percent of the “Palestine” that people claim is “occupied” by Israel today. It’s convenient that chants “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” ignore this fact.
Blinken’s staff offered to meet with State Department ‘diversity’ fellows who launched internal ‘resistance’ against Israel As the Biden administration grappled with internal unrest over its November 2023 decision to continue arming Israel, a group of State Department “diversity” fellows took the unusual step of authoring their own private “dissent memo” to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, informing him of how they were “actively engaging in resistance” to the policy. The fellowship programs in question are the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program and the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Program.
Poll: 68% support Trump’s plan for Gaza 68 percent of the Israeli public supports US President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip, according to a poll published on Channel 12 News on Monday evening. Additionally, according to the poll, 68 percent prefer the return of the hostages even at the cost of Hamas remaining in power.
US Sen. Jon Ossoff Faces Waning Support Among Georgia Jews, Reelection Chances in Danger: Report US Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is hemorrhaging support among Jewish constituents over his increasingly adversarial posture against Israel, … Jewish community leaders and donors initially became disillusioned with Ossoff after the lawmaker voted to implement a partial arms embargo against Israel and lambasted the Jewish state’s conduct in its war against Hamas,
Iran Says Israel, US ‘Cannot Do a Damn Thing’ Against Tehran Iran said on Monday that US and Israeli threats against it were a blatant violation of international law and that they could not “do a damn thing” to hurt Tehran. The comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem on Sunday and said their countries were determined to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its influence in the Middle East.
Trump aide says Americans deserve ‘payback’ for Ukraine support The U.S. has offered Ukraine a one-sided deal to secure access to Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals after the war, according to two people familiar with the discussions, but has not guaranteed that Ukraine would be permitted to participate in peace talks between the U.S. and Russia about ending the war. Waltz, called the deal “protection in and of itself. I can’t think of any better security guarantee than being co-invested with President Trump.”
IDF kills senior Hamas official in Lebanon In Lebanon, an IDF strike killed Hamas official Muhammad Shaheen, a senior operative who was planning attacks against Israelis, This comes as Israeli forces are scheduled to leave Lebanon on Tuesday, even though Israel has insisted on remaining in five strategic points in the country.
Yemeni gov’t intercepts Iranian weapons sent to Houthis US CENTCOM praised the Yemen Coast Guard on Sunday for intercepting “Iranian advanced weapon components, drones, and communications gear that was destined for the Iranian backed Houthi terrorists.” The seizure was conducted on February 12 as a Dhow boat attempted to smuggle the weapons in the southern Red Sea.
Israel’s US ambassador on Egyptian military buildup: ‘Not tolerable’ “There are bases being built, and they can only be used for offensive operations and offensive weapons.” Security expert: “Tens of thousands of soldiers and dozens of tanks have been deployed”. Israel has so far refrained from responding to the violation of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. Egypt is in a very serious violation of our peace agreement in the Sinai. This is an issue which is going to come to the fore, because this is not a tolerable situation.”
FM Sa’ar to US senators: Turkey cooperating with Iran to smuggle money to Hezbollah Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on monday accused Turkey of cooperating with Iranian attempts to smuggle money to Hezbollah in a meeting with a bipartisan group of US senators. “There is an intensified Iranian effort to smuggle money into Lebanon for Hezbollah to restore its power and status,” Sa’ar said, according to his office. “This effort is being carried out, among other channels, via Turkey and with its cooperation.”
Social Security data shows millions more eligible recipients than living Americans, Musk reveals Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk on Monday posted Social Security data revealing the existence of tens of millions of eligible recipients beyond the total population of the United Sates. “Yes, there are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA,” he responded to someone highlighting the disparity. “This might be the biggest fraud in history.” The total population, notably includes illegal people who may not be eligible recipients and therefore the gap between that figure and current records may be even larger.
Cold peace? Rare weather forecast for Israeli snow A significant winter weather system is approaching Israel, with meteorologists closely monitoring conditions that could bring snow to the country’s northern mountains and possibly even Jerusalem by the weekend.
Permian Basin pipeline ruptures after M5.0 earthquake hits Texas A natural gas pipeline in the Permian Basin, Texas, ruptured following an M5.0 earthquake near Toyah in Reeves County at 05:23 UTC on February 15, 2025 (22:53 LT, February 14), resulting in a fire.
Extreme cold warnings issued ahead of Arctic blast for much of central U.S. Extreme cold warnings are in effect from Minnesota to Texas, including South Dakota and Kansas, as Arctic air pushes deep into the U.S., bringing record-breaking temperatures from Tuesday to Friday, February 18–21, 2025. Some areas could see up to 20 cm (8 inches) of snow.
Has Blindness Happened to The Church? Most Palestinian Christians hold to a replacement position. In light of the geopolitical tension that exists between Israel and the Arab world, that fact should not be surprising. The Christian community is not immune to events on the ground.
IAF kills Hezbollah drone force commander An Israeli Air Force strike in Southern Lebanon on Saturday night killed Hezbollah operative Abbas Ahmad Hamoud, who was responsible for overseeing the Iranian-backed terror group’s aerial force.
Fake meat is all about controlling the food supply “…Fake food – including lab-grown meat, animal-free dairy and plant-based meat – is the globalists’ latest attempt to control the food supply. The globalists are trying to replace animal husbandry with lab-grown meat, which will allow private companies to effectively control the human population. The idea that animals must be removed from agriculture to save the planet is flawed; animals are an integral, and necessary, part of the restorative process. Fake meat is an ultra-processed mixture of chemicals, genetically engineered ingredients, pesticides and toxic linoleic acid that will promote chronic disease.”
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
DOGE finds $4.7 trillion in virtually untraceable Treasury payments: A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon the Department of Government Efficiency will be saving us real money. But what happens when we can’t even figure out where our taxpayer money is going? Such is apparently the case with the Treasury Department’s books, in which an identification code called the Treasury Access Symbol is supposed to link a specific Treasury payment to a budget line item. But as the DOGE bloodhounds now point out, “In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible.” That’s the bad news. The good news is that transparency is making a comeback. As DOGE reports, the TAS ID code is now a required field. Perhaps this slush-fund accounting system is why Big Government Democrats are so dead-set against DOGE.
Social Security acting head quits: Elon Musk has noted a troubling discovery out of the Social Security Administration. The SSA database includes millions of individuals between the ages of 100 and 159 marked as still living. Musk pointed out that the SSA has over 20 million centenarians set as active “with the death field set to FALSE!” Meanwhile, over the weekend, SSA Acting Commissioner Michelle King resigned in protest to DOGE’s gaining access to SSA government records. If the SSA, which now pays out some $1.5 trillion annually, has been giving payments to millions of deceased individuals, then, as Musk stated, “This might be the biggest fraud in history.” Among 331 million Americans counted in the 2020 census, just over 80,000 were 100 years or older.
Federal lobbying hits a record: If our elected representatives are concerned about the perception that they’re for sale, they aren’t tipping their hands. According to OpenSecrets, the nonpartisan watchdog of governmental palm-greasing, federal lobbying expenditures hit a record $4.4 billion last year, $150 million more than in 2023. Lobbying is, of course, constitutionally protected by the First Amendment. As unsavory as it seems, these folks have a right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The top spenders are the National Association of Realtors ($86 million) and the U.S Chamber of Commerce ($76 million). OpenSecrets’ David Meyers suggests one thing to watch this year will be federal appropriations lobbying. “That was the biggest issue for lobbyists last year,” he says, “and with Donald Trump, Elon Musk and congressional Republicans working to slash spending, we can expect interest groups to fight hard for their issue.”
Hochul versus Adams: While the Department of Justice has dropped its corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is not convinced he’s innocent. Even though Adams is a fellow Democrat, Hochul is mulling exercising her power as governor “to remove a duly elected mayor.” It would be the first such case in state history. “Overturning the will of the voters is a serious step that should not be taken lightly,” Hochul explained. “That said, the alleged conduct at City Hall that has been reported over the past two weeks is troubling and cannot be ignored.” On Monday, four NYC senior deputies resigned after the DOJ dropped its charges against Adams. One of the deputies, Danielle Sassoon, alleged that Adams’s attorney sought a quid pro quo for immigration policy.
Swalwell blames Trump for plane crashes, gets fact-checked: “No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump.” So claimed Trump-hating California Democrat Eric Swalwell yesterday in the wake of a small plane crash in Georgia over the weekend that left two dead. The unhinged congressman then doubled down, adding, “Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trump’s fault.” Unfortunately for Swalwell, the facts get in the way of his narrative — at least if you believe the National Transportation Safety Board’s CAROL database, which lists five fatal air incidents since Trump took office, but 10 such incidents during the same initial period for Joe Biden. Trump communications director Steven Cheung hit back hard, calling Swalwell “a complete disgrace not only as an elected official, but as a human being who has continued to beclown himself.”
WaPo nixes running leftist anti-Musk ad: As improbable as it seems, Donald Trump is no longer the most hated man in Washington. That honor now goes to Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has turned the Beltway on its head. Normally, we’d expect The Washington Post to lead the opposition against Musk, but these aren’t normal times. A case in point is the Post’s decision to back out of running an ad calling for Musk to be fired. “Who’s running the country,” the ad shrieks, “Donald Trump or Elon Musk?” The ad then complains that Musk has “created chaos and confusion,” but that’s precisely the point, isn’t it? Trump is a disruptor. The two leftist groups that paid for the ad, Common Cause and the Southern Poverty Law Center, say they won’t stop “holding power accountable.”
Amazon workers vote against unionization Another loudly touted union effort in the South failed in a big way over the weekend after Amazon workers in Garner, North Carolina, voted down unionizing. The vote wasn’t even close — unionization lost by a three-to-one margin. While the local ABC outlet in Raleigh reported that the Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment rally was showing “a lot of energy” and “this is really a big deal,” it was belied by the fact that the size of the rally crowd was little more than 40 people. The Amazon facility employs 5,000. This is yet another blatant example of Leftmedia favorably reporting a narrative it supports over and against reality.
NAACP’s race-based boycott: The NAACP is the now-amusing acronym for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The term “colored people” is now offensive, of course, and the preferred term is “people of color,” which is completely different for … reasons; ergo, it should change its name to the NAAPC. In any case, the group is calling for a boycott of any company that cuts back on diversity, equity, and inclusion. There are many of them, too — Target, Walmart, and McDonald’s are some of the big names. Cutting DEI “threaten[s] economic opportunities, workplace diversity, and community investments, directly impacting Black communities nationwide,” says the NAACP, and it’s “part of a broader effort to reverse gains made in civil rights and social justice.” Nonsense. Meritocracy is colorblind, which used to be the goal. Alas, there’s money to be made in perpetuating the problem.
Mexico looking to sue Google over Gulf of America: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is evidently highly offended by Donald Trump’s name change of the Gulf of America. Sheinbaum has threatened to file a lawsuit against Google if the tech giant fails to fully restore the prior name to the body of water on its Google Maps service. Google and Apple, in response to Trump’s executive order, label the body of water “Gulf of America” for U.S. users. At the same time, the name appears as “Gulf of Mexico” for users in Mexico, and for the rest of the world, it appears as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).” Google noted that international treaties don’t dictate how private companies represent geographic mapping. However, the company does seek to be accurate and up-to-date.
Headlines
DOGE granted access to student loans by Obama-appointed judge (Newsweek)
Education Department ends $600 million in grants for DEI, CRT trainings (National Review)
Hegseth has tapped investigators for botched Afghanistan withdrawal (Breitbart)
U.S., Russian officials propose Ukraine peace plan (Fox News)
Hamas will release six Gaza hostages on Saturday (Jerusalem Post)
Humor: RFK Jr.‘s new and improved food pyramid (Babylon Bee)
Fourteen years ago, Pat Buchanan published a book titled Suicide of a Superpower, whose subtitle posed a simple question: “Will America Survive Until 2025?”
Well, here we are, alive and kicking.
But Buchanan’s premise — that America is disintegrating, that the “one Nation, under God, indivisible” of our Pledge of Allegiance has been rendered meaningless, and that our country would be largely unrecognizable to our ancestors — was certainly prescient. At the time of the 1960 Census — which was the last one taken before the Democrats rammed through, against the will of the American people, the ruinous Hart-Celler Immigration Act of 1965 — 21 of the 50 states were more than 95% white. Sixty years later, one need only look around to see a vastly different landscape, one indelibly changed by what Buchanan calls “the diminution and displacement of the European majority.”
While Hart-Celler pushed legal immigration from non-European countries, much of the displacement is due to illegal immigration, most of it streaming unchecked across our southern border. Compounding this has been the belief among illegals, supported by Democrats and pro-immigration leftists, that if they can just get across the border and bear children, those children would automatically gain birthright citizenship — and chain migration and “family reunification” would take it from there.
On his first day in office, Donald Trump’s executive order on “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” sought to end the constitutionally dubious notion that birthright citizenship was meant to apply to the children of those who enter our country illegally.
The following day, 22 blue states ignored their constituencies and sued to block Trump’s order, claiming that birthright citizenship “is settled law and that while presidents have broad authority, they are not kings.” (As an aside, we seem to have missed the dissent from the Democrats when King Barack Obama was unconstitutionally giving amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegals with the stroke of a pen, and when King Joe Biden was unconstitutionally trying to buy millions of votes by forgiving student loan debt.)
The language at issue is from Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified on July 9, 1868, and which sought to ensure citizenship and equal protection to newly emancipated slaves. The amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
But what does “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” mean? Not what the open-borders Left wants you to believe it means.
In a New York Times op-ed, two constitutional law professors — Georgetown’s Randy Barnett (who literally wrote the book on the original meaning of the 14th Amendment) and Minnesota’s Ilan Wurman — argue as follows:
The Supreme Court has held, in the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, that children born here to permanent residents are citizens. But it has never squarely held that children born to those illegally present are citizens. When the court addresses that question — which it almost certainly must — it should consider the 14th Amendment’s original purpose and the common-law principle of “jus soli,” or birthright citizenship, which informed the original public meaning of the text. Both relate to the idea of social compact and contradict today’s general assumption that the common-law principle depends solely upon place of birth.
Again, the Supreme Court has never ruled that children born to those illegally present are citizens. So a court case is undoubtedly coming, and it’ll make clear just how many of the Court’s six Republican-appointed justices are of an originalist bent. Original intent matters here, and the authors of this amendment would no doubt be stunned today to see how their words and intent have been perverted.
As Barnett and Wurman point out, “It is widely agreed that ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ excluded the children of diplomats, Native Americans subject and with allegiance to tribal authority … and members of invading armies. The common-law principle of jus soli also excluded these groups.”
Given these exclusions to “the jurisdiction thereof,” why would anyone think that the children of people who entered our country illegally should somehow be included and thereby rewarded for breaking our immigration laws? We here in our humble shop have maintained this positionall along.
Barnett and Wurman conclude: “The Supreme Court has, in a footnote, presumed that the 14th Amendment’s jurisdictional phrase applied equally to people who are here illegally, but the issue was neither briefed nor argued in that case; nor was it material to its outcome. When they finally consider this question, the justices will find that the case for Mr. Trump’s order is stronger than his critics realize.”
It sounds like the Supreme Court has some unfinished business to attend to.
Jack Devine: Who’s Afraid of Elon Musk? — Democrats need a new public enemy right now. How about Musk? He’s available!
Mike Rhinehart: Good Days and Bad Days — There really are only days, and those days are what we choose to make of them.
Reader Comments
Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.
Reparations Demands Are Back — Congresswoman Ayanna Presley says reparations are owed because slaves built our country. Is that actually true?
The Left’s Addiction to Drama — Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord once remarked, “They have forgotten nothing and they’ve learned nothing.” Meaning, the same thing is going to happen again and again.
How ‘MAHA’ Will Affect the CDC, NIH, and HHS — Dr. Scott Atlas discusses whether the “MAHA” movement will bring real change to Americans’ lives and why factual data about the COVID response is still being censored by Big Tech.
“Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trump’s fault.” —Congressman Eric Swalwell
“As a White Man, Can I Date Women of Color to Advance My Antiracism”? —New York Times Magazine headline
Shot/Chaser
“I communicated with somebody from the German CSU a little while ago. I asked her what she thought about what had happened with Vance. And the degree to which they were shocked and appalled and offended that Vance came there daring to lecture Germany, one of the most free countries on earth when it comes to expression, where America is now rated 55th in the world on freedom of expression — it was appalling and it was insulting.” —Rick Wilson
“Yes.” —German State Prosecutor Dr. Matthäus Fink answering the “60 Minutes” question, “Is it a crime to insult somebody in public?”
Censorship
“If somebody posts something that’s not true, and then somebody else reposts it or likes it, are they committing a crime?” —”60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi
“Yeah, in the case of reposting it is a crime as well, because the reader can’t distinguish whether you just invented this or just reposted it.” —German Prosecutor Svenja Meininghaus
Upright
“Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships. This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the US must reject this lunacy.” —JD Vance responding to Germany’s anti-free speech laws
For the Record
“You’re going to see a paper trail come back to Washington, DC. And that’s why I think a lot of people are nervous and you’ll see a lot of retirements, because they are stealing from the American taxpayer and now they’ve got their hand caught in the cookie jar and all they can do is attack Elon Musk.” —Congressman Tim Burchett
“Walmart is the largest corporate employer in the country with 2.1 million employees. The federal government has 2.4 million civilian employees. And you’re paying for all of those bureaucrats.” —Gary Bauer
“Elon Musk is NOT a Threat to ‘Democracy.’ He’s a Threat to Bureaucracy.” —Glenn Beck
“Nor was anyone outraged when the entire Democratic Party worked to undermine the legitimacy of the Supreme Court after its ruling in Dobbs. Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris endorsed ‘court reform’ that amounted to a call to pack the Supreme Court and to bring an effective end to its existence as an independent institution.” —Rich Lowry
And Last
“The days of irresponsibly shoveling boatloads of cash to far-left activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity are over.” —EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
US Senator Lindsey Graham, in Israel with other Senators, says he prefers a military strike on Iran’s nuclear program over diplomatic or economic measures, and Israel’s Foreign Minister warns Iran “must be stopped;” Israel says it will not allow the Palestinian Authority to run Gaza, as many believe it shares the goals against Israel as Hamas; Chris Mitchell talks about Israel’s thinking on striking Iran’s nuclear program, when such an attack might take place, how Israel can protect itself from terrorism from Gaza, Egypt’s possible alternative to President Trump’s Gaza plan, and as Israel withdraws from Lebanon, the question of whether or not Hezbollah has been fully neutralized; US and Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia to talk about ending the war in Ukraine- but Ukraine isn’t involved in those discussions yet; and a look at the animated film “The 21,” about the faith, hope and sacrifice of 21 Christian men who were executed by ISIS ten years ago.
[2:01] Carl Higbie: So now, Democrats are saying DOGE is a problem. [FRONTLINE]
[11:00] Chris Salcedo: Transparency has anti-American press up in arms. [Chris Salcedo Show]
[15:29] “Putting Resources Back Where They Belong, With Our Veterans” – VA Secretary Doug Collins. [Wake Up America]
[19:20] Mike Huckabee says “Everyone in this administration is on the same page.” [Wake Up America]
[23:21] Tom Homan responds to the “dumbest” democrat, AOC. [Finnerty]
[27:55] Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announces new multi-million dollar ad campaign warning illegals to leave the country or get deported with the inability to return. [Newsmax Breaking]
Who is Jesus to Joe Rogan? In his viral 3+ hour discussion with Christian apologist Wes Huff, Joe wrestled with this crucial question—and for good reason! In this clip, Frank Turek reacts to Joe’s questions and presents some of the strongest evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.
📚 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗦
How Can Jesus Be the Only Way? Mp4👉📱https://bit.ly/3AbN2X1, Mp3👉📱https://bit.ly/3c9lvgV, and DVD👉📱https://bit.ly/3wfyLHx by Frank Turek
Podcast: ‘Can I Trust the Bible?’ with Dr. Andy Steiger 👉📱https://crossexamined.org/can-i-trust-the-bible-with-dr-andy-steiger/
History in the making: Rubio, Lavrov, and teams on the US-Russia negotiations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
And so it happened that on the 18th of February in the year of Our Lord of 2025, the United States and the Russian top negotiators met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for a 4-and-a-half-hour meeting that has restarted the bilateral diplomatic relations after the dark years of the Joe Biden regime.
As we get (limited) access to the content of the discussions, we are amazed at how childish the Ukrainian and European leaders were. Because, as children, they imagine the whole world revolves around them, as they seem incapable of grasping a larger reality.
The Rubio-Lavrov (and teams) talks were not about ending the war in Ukraine. That war is an important topic, for sure, but a detail in the macroscopic US-Russia bilateral relations that both Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin are interested in restoring and expanding.
AI-GHenerated image by Grok/ Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman between Trump and Putin.
Some of the issues upon which Lavrov and Rubio agreed:
• Create a consultation mechanism to overcome “irritants” in US-Russia relations. • Appoint high-level teams to begin work on a Ukrainian settlement. • Cooperate on issues of common geopolitical interests. • Cooperate on economic opportunities that may arise after the end of the Ukrainian conflict. • Take steps necessary to normalize the work of diplomatic missions.
US State Department: “A call and meeting between Russia and the US are not enough for a ‘lasting peace’, but an important step forward was taken in Riyadh.”
For the Russians, there were the presence of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. The US team consisted of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The rebirth of US-Russia relations is right in front of our eyes.
I’ve written about how the MSM – shall we call them the USAID media? – has pivoted from their previous ‘it will never happen’ stance on the US-Russia talks.
Now, their narrative is ‘it’s taking too long’.
So, in this sense, Bloomberg is reporting that Presidents Trump and Putin are going to meet next week in Riyadh – but this has already been denied by the Kremlin, and everyone seems to agree it’s too soon to get all the issues ironed out before the top guys meet.
On Tuesday’s “National Report,” the CIA is increasing its surveillance role in the fight against Mexican drug cartels on the border in order to get the Mexican government to “do what needs to be done.” NEWSMAX’s Jaeson Jones reports.
The 1986 foundational statutes of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Red Crescent Movement proclaim that:
“International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies together constitute a worldwide humanitarian movement, whose mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found, to protect life and health and ensure respect for the human being, in particular in times of armed conflict and other emergencies.”
On issues of impartiality and neutrality, the statutes similarly proclaim:
“Impartiality – It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.
“Neutrality – In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.”
Specifically, the statutes require the ICRC “To endeavor at all times—as a neutral institution whose humanitarian work is carried out particularly in time of international and other armed conflicts or internal strife—to ensure the protection of and assistance to military and civilian victims of such events and of their direct results.”
For an organization whose sole acknowledged purpose and mission is to help victims of wars and human rights violations, it is patently obvious that the ICRC has totally failed in its mission, as reflected in its mishandling of Israel’s hostage crisis.
The ICRC’s abject failure in its most basic responsibilities to the more than 250 people from some 20 nations kidnapped and taken hostage by the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist group on Oct. 7, 2023 is tragic in and of itself. There are even worse ramifications: The ICRC’s reasoning for its malfeasance, and more far-reaching, the evident lack of capability, willingness, seriousness, or even perhaps willful and deliberate apathy, neglect and laxity of ICRC staff.
This historic dereliction is not limited to the ICRC and its staff. Moral and legal responsibility lies chiefly with the Swiss government, under whose auspices the ICRC functions, together with the state parties to the Geneva Conventions, who finance its very existence and are in the position to monitor, direct and influence the ICRC’s functioning.
One may indeed ask where the Swiss government has been, with its unique international stature, in the context of the Israeli hostage situation?
Why have they not leveraged their historically renowned international reputation and stature to impress upon those elements influencing the Hamas terror organization, chiefly Qatar, Egypt, the United Nations and other Arab elements, that Israeli victims of terror and kidnapping are entitled to humane treatment?
This is particularly evident in light of the remarks by Swiss Federation President Karin Keller-Sutter in her Feb. 10, 2025 Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony address. There, Keller-Sutter emphasized the crucial remembrance and lessons of the Holocaust and its commensurate total civilizational breakdown, especially now that antisemitism is reemerging in Switzerland, in some cases openly. She noted:
“There can be no tolerance of Jews being intimidated, discriminated against or threatened. Our democratic values of tolerance, mutual respect and coexistence are not compatible with signs of hatred based on race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.”
How is it conceivable that the Swiss government and the ICRC have sat idly for more than 16 months while being openly manipulated and abused by the Hamas terror organization? Rather, they have passively accepted Hamas’s refusal to allow the transfer of medications, and medical and humanitarian visits, to the sick and wounded and all illegally held hostages, and to allow humane and respectful treatment of the dead—all this without taking requisite and vital international action in light of their unique international status.
Given the celebrated constitutional impartiality and neutrality of the ICRC, it challenges all semblance of logic and moral clarity that the ICRC can countenance images of armed, masked terrorists sitting and standing on ICRC vehicles displaying the Red Cross emblem and flag while such vehicles transport tortured, suffering and ill Israeli hostages.
By the same token, how can the ICRC permit its representatives, its status, dignity and presence to be manipulated into participating in staged “release ceremonies,” sitting with masked, armed terrorist leaders, signing bogus “release certificates” and exchanging handshakes?
Where is the dignity of the ICRC, the Red Cross Movement, the Cross Emblem and the Red Cross Flag?
The enormity of this intolerable and inexcusable lacuna, of this utter failure by Switzerland and the ICRC, really cannot be explained in terms of inability or incapability. It begs the obvious question: How could this happen?
This huge lack of any genuine, serious and sincere action by Switzerland and the ICRC is not just glaring in its enormity but defies all logic.
Furthermore, and no less pointedly, it cannot but lead to the implication and assumption that such inaction has been and continues to be beyond mere negligence or unintended error. It raises the question as to whether it emanates from a sinister and ulterior motive, something that tragically in historical context appears to be all too familiar.
The Swiss and ICRC’s failures in ensuring the provision of humanitarian succor to the Israeli hostages are not just unforgettable. They are unforgivable.
The credibility of the ICRC as a humanitarian organization is in tatters. It cannot recover from this.
The reputation of Switzerland as the worldwide bastion of moral rectitude and dignity is ruined.
Switzerland can no longer claim any element of international moral high ground. It has lost the little stature that it might have had.
Originally published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
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