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
Christians are called to live out their new identity as God’s redeemed people in Christ. In this message, W. Robert Godfrey explores Romans 6, explaining how knowing that we are dead to sin and alive to God shapes the Christian life.
When trials come our way we have two choices. We can either try to handle them by ourselves or we can give them to the Lord. For we read in (Psalm 55:22): “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” And (1 Peter 5:7) tells us: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
I love the way Pastor Jim Cymbala puts it: “Doesn’t the God who created the universe out of nothing and put all the stars in place, have the power to take care of your situation?”1
God loves us so much that He has placed many special verses in His Word to comfort us in our times of trouble. But perhaps none is more encouraging than (Isaiah 41:10): “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
May I challenge you to memorize (Isaiah 41:10) and Jim Cymbala’s quote above. So often when trials and suffering come our way we choose to look at our situation rather than at our God who has the power to help us not only cope with whatever comes our way, but to triumph over it.
In a world where Satan “…walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8), we can find great comfort knowing that we are protected by the Lion of the tribe of Judah–Jesus Christ!
For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even her living. MARK 12:44
Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done! In God’s sight, my giving is measured not by how much I have given but by how much I had left after I made my gift. Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it. No man gives at all until he has given all! No man gives anything acceptable to God until he has first given himself in love and sacrifice. While Christ was the perfect example of the healthy, normal man, He yet did not live a normal life. He sacrificed many pure enjoyments to give Himself to the holy work of moral rescue. His conduct was determined not by what was legitimate or innocent, but by our human need. He pleased not Himself but lived for the emergency; and as He was, so are we in this world! It is in view of this that all our Christian service must be evaluated. My old friend Tom Haire, the praying plumber, told me one day that he was going back home for a rest. “I am preached out,” he said, “and I must wait on the Lord. There are some spiritual matters that I want to get straightened out. I want to appear before the judgment seat now while I can do something about it!”
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2015). Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (p. 53). Moody Publishers.
My soul! call up, this evening, all thy most earnest and most solemn thoughts, to the meditation of a subject, which the Holy Ghost opens to thy view in these words. And if the Lord the Spirit, that proposeth to thy soul the solemn consideration, will graciously instruct thee through it, perhaps it will lead to such views of Jesus as may not before so fully have struck thine attention. O Lord! guide thy servant in it! Now here it is said, “He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” By which, it may be supposed, is meant, both the curse and the punishment. And certain it is, that unless Christ bore both, the sinner is not freed. From the sinner, or his surety, God’s justice must exact full payment. But if it be found that in the surety that exaction hath been made, and fully paid, then is the sinner free; for from both it would be unjust to exact.—Now behold, my soul, in the person of thy surety, how, in the most minute points, even as the sinner himself, thy Jesus stood for thee. And then see, from beholding thy Redeemer in this most endearing point of view, whether thou art not constrained to cry out, with the prophet, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows!”—A few of the most prominent features in the griefs and sorrows of Jesus will be sufficient in point, by way of illustration. And first, every sinner, by virtue of being a transgressor, is exposed to the curse of God; and that curse is upon every thing belonging to him, as Moses told Israel, “Thou art cursed in thy basket, and in thy store; in lying down and rising up; in going out and coming home.” (Deut. 28:16, &c.) Now Jesus, as the sinner’s surety, is, by way of peculiar emphasis, called “the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He endured, in his person, the very curse denounced upon the sinner. All was poured upon Jesus, through every part of his life: and as the curse, but for Jesus’s interposition, would follow the sinner in death, so Christ was followed by it to the cross. The sinner’s dying chamber would open to him the horrors of divine wrath on sin; such as Jesus, for the sinner, sustained in the garden of Gethsemane. And as no by-standers, no earthly friends, could mitigate the horrors of the sinner’s soul in such a season, so we find Christ, when going through these conflicts for the sinner, could gain no help from any of his disciples—“They all forsook him and fled.” And doth the sinner’s conscience then betray and aggravate the load of wo? And did not Judas, Christ’s bosom friend, come boldly forward to aggravate the Redeemer’s sorrow? And as every sinner, out of Christ, for whom he, as the surety, hath paid no ransom, would in the moment of death be seized bound hand and foot, and carried away by an armed band to utter darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; so Christ was taken as the sinner’s surety, by an armed band, from the high-priest to the judgment-hall, where he lay all night, suffering the punishment of stripes and mocking. And as, in the morning of the resurrection, sinners out of Christ must arise to all the horrors of judgment, and the irreversible sentence be pronounced in the presence of all beholders, which consigns them to everlasting punishment, so Christ, the surety for his sinful people, in the morning was brought from the hall of Pilate to the hill of Calvary, and there received the sentence of death executed upon his sacred person, in the view of all that passed by. Pause, my soul, over the representation of truths so awful! Surely thou mayest say, If Jesus had not sustained the curse and punishment, then must I have borne it for ever. But if, as the prophet hath marked it in this most blessed scripture, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” then is the principal debtor free, when the surety hath paid the debt! Oh! the preciousness, the suitableness, the completeness of Jesus in the whole purpose of his redemption. Blessed, blessed, blessed, for ever, be Jehovah, for Jesus Christ!
Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, pp. 55–56). Thomas Wardle.
This case is an excellent pattern of all cases where spiritual life is vigorous. As soon as a man has found Christ, he begins to find others. I will not believe that thou hast tasted of the honey of the gospel if thou canst eat it all thyself. True grace puts an end to all spiritual monopoly. Andrew first found his own brother Simon, and then others. Relationship has a very strong demand upon our first individual efforts. Andrew, thou didst well to begin with Simon. I doubt whether there are not some Christians giving away tracts at other people’s houses who would do well to give away a tract at their own—whether there are not some engaged in works of usefulness abroad who are neglecting their special sphere of usefulness at home. Thou mayst or thou mayst not be called to evangelize the people in any particular locality, but certainly thou art called to see after thine own servants, thine own kinsfolk and acquaintance. Let thy religion begin at home. Many tradesmen export their best commodities—the Christian should not. He should have all his conversation everywhere of the best savour; but let him have a care to put forth the sweetest fruit of spiritual life and testimony in his own family. When Andrew went to find his brother, he little imagined how eminent Simon would become. Simon Peter was worth ten Andrews so far as we can gather from sacred history, and yet Andrew was instrumental in bringing him to Jesus. You may be very deficient in talent yourself, and yet you may be the means of drawing to Christ one who shall become eminent in grace and service. Ah! dear friend, you little know the possibilities which are in you. You may but speak a word to a child, and in that child there may be slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian church in years to come. Andrew has only two talents, but he finds Peter. Go thou and do likewise.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
AND the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiff-necked people: lest I consume thee in the way. 4 ¶ And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. (There was some right feeling left, and while Moses spoke to them it came to the front; but, alas, it was as fleeting as the early dew.) 5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. (As if the Lord knew not how to shew mercy to impenitent sinners.) 6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb. This is always a preliminary to mercy. Pride must strip, self-righteousness must throw off her mantle, and carnal security pull off its tinkling jewellery. 7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. They were not worthy to have the residence of the Lord in the centre of the encampment. The Lord did not utterly leave them, but he went into the outer circle, and all who would seek the Lord must go without the camp. The lesson is plain, and holds good even now. 12 ¶ And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 13, 14 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. (Thus the Lord gives us his presence now and rest at the end. What a precious promise!) 15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. (Grace received is the guarantee of answers to prayer.) 18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. (Thus we see that the sovereignty of his grace is the very glory of God. Why do men quarrel with it?) 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live. 21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22, 23 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Nowhere else can God be spiritually seen, save in the Rock of ages cleft for us. As yet we see but the skirts of his garments, but even this glimpse delights us. How sweet to know that however little we see of God, yet it is God, our Father.)
I need thy presence every passing hour,—
What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.
I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless:
Ills have no weight and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still if thou abide with me.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 100). Baker Book House.
Leviticus 10:1 — We’ve seen over the last few days that God was clear in how He demanded worship. Here, two sons of Aaron disobeyed Exodus 30:9 and died.
Bring ye all of the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10)
Many read and plead this promise without noticing the condition upon which the blessing is promised. We cannot expect heaven to be opened or blessing poured out unless we pay our dues unto the Lord our God and to His cause. There would be no lack of funds for holy purposes if all professing Christians paid their fair share.
Many are poor because they rob God. Many churches, also, miss the visitation of the Spirit because they starve their ministries. If there is no temporal meat for God’s servants, we need not wonder if their ministry has been little food in it for our souls. When missions pine for means and the work of the Lord is hindered by an empty treasury, how can we look for a large amount of soul-prosperity?
Come, come! What have I given of late? Have I been mean to my God? Have I stinted my Savior? This will never do. Let me give my Lord Jesus His tithe by helping the poor and aiding His work, and then I shall prove His power to bless me on a large scale.
In this episode of the Cold-Case Christianity Podcast, J. Warner Wallace continues a two-part program in which he describes ten reasons why we, as Christians, fail to share our faith. Are these reasons legitimate concerns or convenient excuses? J. Warner talks about the first five reasons and provides tips to overcome the obstacles that typically prevent us from sharing what we believe. The Cold-Case Christianity Weekly Podcast is located on iTunes or our RSS Feed:
1. The basic form of this argument is simple.2. If something exists, there must exist what it takes for that thing to exist. 3. The universe—the collection of beings in space and time—exists. 4. Therefore, there must exist what it takes for the universe to exist. What it takes for the universe to exist cannot exist within the universe or be bounded by space and time. 5. Therefore, what it takes for the universe to exist must transcend both space and time.
Suppose you deny the first premise. Then if X exists, there need not exist what it takes for X to exist. But “what it takes for X to exist” means the immediate condition(s) for X’s existence. You mean that X exists only if Y. Without Y, there can be no X. So the denial of premise 1 amounts to this: X exists; X can only exist if Y exists; and Y does not exist. This is absurd. So there must exist what it takes for the universe to exist. But what does it take?
We spoke of the universe as “the collection of beings in space and time.” Consider one such being: yourself. You exist, and you are, in part at least, material. This means that you are a finite, limited and changing being, you know that right now, as you read this book, you are dependent for your existence on beings outside you. Not your parents or grandparents. They may no longer be alive, but you exist now. And right now you depend on many things in order to exist—for example, on the air you breathe. To be dependent in this way is to be contingent. You exist if something else right now exists.
But not everything can be like this. For then everything would need to be given being, but there would be nothing capable of giving it. There would not exist what it takes for anything to exist. So there must be something that does not exist conditionally; something which does not exist only if something else exists; something which exists in itself. What it takes for this thing to exist could only be this thing itself. Unlike changing material reality, there would be no distance, so to speak, between what this thing is and that it is. Obviously the collection of beings changing in space and time cannot be such a thing. Therefore, what it takes for the universe to exist cannot be identical with the universe itself or with a part of the universe.1
Dr. Kreeft does share one possible challenge to the argument.
ChallengeBut why should we call this cause “God”? Maybe there is something unknown that grounds the universe of change we live in.2
Response
True. And this “unknown” is God. What we humans know directly is this sensible changing world. We also know that there must exist whatever it takes for something to exist. Therefore, we know that neither this changing universe as a whole nor any part of it can be itself what it takes for the universe to exist. But we have now such direct knowledge of the cause of changing things. We know that there must exist a cause; we know that this cause cannot be finite or material—that it must transcend such limitations. But what this ultimate cause is in itself remains, so far, a mystery. There is more to be said by reason; and there is very much more God has made known about himself through revelation. But the proofs have given us some real knowledge as well: knowledge that the universe is created; knowledge that right now it is kept in being by a cause unbounded by any material limit, that transcends the kind of being we humans directly know. And that is surely knowledge worth having. We might figure out that someone’s death was murder and no accident, without figuring out exactly who did it and why, and this might leave us frustrated and unsatisfied. But at least we would know what path of questioning to pursue; at least we would know that someone did it.
So it is with the proofs. They let us know that at every moment the being of the universe is the creative act of a Giver—A Giver transcending all material and spiritual limitations. Beyond that, they do not tell us much about what or who this Giver is—but they point in a very definite direction. We know that this Ultimate Reality—the Giver of being—cannot be material. And we know the gift which is given includes personal being: intelligence, will and spirit. The infinite transcendent cause of these things cannot be less than they are, but must be infinitely more. How and in what way we do not know. To some extent this Giver must always remain unknown to human reason. We should never expect otherwise. But reason can at least let us know that “someone did it.” And that is of great value.3
For those who may be new to the argument from contingency, I would encourage you to check out this animated video by Dr. William Lane Craig.
So what do you think of the argument? Share in the comments below!
Donald Trump is related to most Icelanders and Danish and Norwegian Royalty President Donald J. Trump is the direct descendant of Hakon V King of Norway according to Icelandic genealogist Oddur F. Helgason. Mr. Trump is also related to Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Icelandic President Guðni Th. Johannesson of Iceland, and in fact almost all Icelanders. Helgason, a former fisherman, is one of Iceland’s most prominent genealogist and president of ORG-genealogist service in Reykjavik. King Hakon V of Norway, a Viking-age king who reigned from 1299 to 1319. Mr. President Trump is a descendant of Hakon’s only legitimate daughter, Duchess Ingibjörg Hákonardóttir
Russia wants to demand new elections in Ukraine A framework for continued Ukraine negotiations has been presented in Saudi Arabia, according to sources to American Fox News. It is to include, among other things, demands that Ukraine hold new elections in order for a peace agreement to be concluded.
Six living Israeli hostages will be released from Gaza on Saturday, Israel and Hamas confirm Hamas will release six living Israeli hostages this Saturday, according to statements by Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and Israeli officials on Tuesday. In a short speech, al-Hayya accused Israel of delaying the talks over a second stage of the deal while affirming his group’s willingness to enter Phase 2, which includes an end of the war.
Iran accuses Britons of espionage A British couple recently arrested in Iran is accused of espionage and connections to western intelligence services, announces Iranian authorities. The United Kingdom expresses deep concern.
Frederiksen: “We will arm massively” The Prime Minister announces that Denmark’s defense chief will be given more authority to make armament decisions in the coming years. She describes the security situation as more dangerous than it has ever been during her lifetime and says that the situation is worse than during the Cold War.
Israel forms new directorate to help Gazans emigrate Defense Minister Israel Katz decided on Monday to establish a new directorate within his ministry to aid Palestinians who would like to leave Gaza, in line with U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal last week to resettle them elsewhere so that the Strip could be rebuilt without Hamas involvement.
USA and Russia Resume the War “in Due Time” USA and Russia have held a first meeting on the way to some form of agreement on the Russian invasion war in Ukraine – without Ukraine. They say they have taken “important steps” towards continued talks and re-established diplomatic ties that were severed. The meeting is heavily criticized by Ukraine’s president. The new US government says it has now taken important steps towards continued cooperation with Russia. The ambassadors in the respective countries will return to full activity.
All options on the table’ for stopping Iran’s nuke program, says top Trump adviser Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, says the president is ‘dead serious’ about preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; ‘all options are on the table’ to block Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. … hinting that the U.S. is considering military intervention to prevent Iran’s nuclear program from reaching break-out capacity.
Foreign funding of judicial-reform protests spurs Knesset legislation As billionaire Elon Musk and his youthful team of tech wizards tear through America’s administrative state, exposing waste and misuse of funds, reports emerged that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded judicial-reform protests in Israel. While this would constitute a blatant case of U.S. interference in Israel’s internal affairs, the way in which funds bounce from one group to another before reaching their final target makes it difficult to produce hard evidence. Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill on Sunday to impose an 80% tax on donations from foreign entities to Israeli non-profits.
Sen. Graham: If negotiations fail, destroy Hamas, as we destroyed the Germans and Japanese Senator Lindsey Graham spoke about the possible failure of negotiations with I24NEWS and said, ‘There is no future for the Palestinians until Hamas is gone. Israel must destroy Hamas, as we destroyed the Germans and Japanese.’ Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, led a delegation of six bipartisan senators who met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and other senior Israeli officials.
Hamas is acting as if Israel is no longer what it used to be Hamas wants the ceasefire to continue into phase two, which is supposed to be discussed as the first phase comes to an end in the coming weeks. Hamas has gotten used to the ceasefire. Its men are enjoying the sunlight in Gaza and parading in uniforms, rather than hiding in hospitals as they are used to. Hamas now feels secure again. It feels like it weathered the storm of war. Hamas’s policy is clear because it is saying in its own words that it wants to move to phase two. It wants the ceasefire to continue and so do its backers abroad in Doha, Tehran, and Ankara.
Why Do Arab States and Europe Refuse to Actually Help the Palestinian People? When it comes to Palestinians, however, any suggestion that they should be allowed to leave Gaza — a conflict zone which has been absolutely devastated by 16 months of war (started by the Palestinian leaders of Gaza) — is met with outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing. This makes sense, since the Arab community has refused to take in or help the Palestinians since 1948 (including when Jordan had control over areas like the West Bank). The contrast appears staggering: Syrians and Ukrainians are embraced, while Palestinians are denied the same considerations.
Israel will act against Hezbollah violations ‘at full strength,’ Katz vows after Lebanon withdrawal “We will not allow a return to the reality of Oct. 7,” Katz declared, referring to the 2023 Hamas-led massacre in Israel’s south and the 16-month-long Hezbollah terrorist campaign that followed the attacks. Katz reiterated in his statement that, “starting today, the IDF will remain in the buffer zone in Lebanon at five control posts along the border line, to ensure the protection of the northern communities.”
Israel’s ambassadors must advocate for our God-given right to the Land of Israel There is an essential component to our global messaging that is often overlooked: the moral and biblical legitimacy of the Jewish people’s right to the Land of Israel. The Bible, a text respected and followed by billions of people across the world, serves as the cornerstone of the Jewish claim to the land.
Israeli Government Unveils Plan to Help Northern Residents Return Home After War As tens of thousands of northern Israeli residents prepare to return home on March 1 after over a year of displacement, the government has introduced a structured plan to support their reintegration. The initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Social Affairs, provides social workers and therapists with guidelines to help evacuees navigate the psychological challenges of returning to homes they were forced to flee.
The Coming World Leader: Make No Mistake, The Antichrist Is Not A Fictional Character A worried blue-collar worker named Arthur Garcia said, “I keep waiting for a miracle, some guy who isn’t born yet, and when he comes, we’ll follow him like he’s John the Baptist.” One day, Arthur Garcia’s lament will become the cry of the world. The Antichrist will come on the world scene much like the angels at Christmas, saying, “Peace on earth” and offering a plan for world tranquility. But this will not last long.
Watchdog pushes for probe of ex-Gen. Milley’s Jan. 6 planning A legal watchdog that has led the campaign to peel away the secrecy cloaking Democratic planning for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots has turned its attention to calls hosted by retired Gen. Mark Milley with top Pentagon, Justice, Interior and Homeland Security officials. Judicial Watch today said that after being stonewalled by the Pentagon for details about conference calls hosted by Milley and two other Pentagon officials, it has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to get access to reports and transcripts.
Over 550 earthquakes recorded at Campi Flegrei caldera, prompting school closures in Pozzuoli, Italy An intense earthquake swarm is in progress in the Campi Flegrei volcanic caldera, southern Italy, since 15:53 UTC on February 15, 2025. More than 556 earthquakes with magnitudes up to M3.9 were registered by 13:00 UTC on February 18. As a precautionary measure, schools in the town of Pozzuoli, which is close to the epicenter of the earthquakes, are closed today.
Twin M5.1 earthquakes hit Santorini area, Ios becomes fourth island under state of emergency, Greece Ios became the fourth island in the Aegean to be placed under a state of emergency on February 15, following the trend set by Santorini on February 6, Amorgos on February 12, and Anafi on February 13, due to the ongoing seismic activity in the region since late January 2025. On January 18, two M5.1 quakes were registered between Santorini and Amorgos, shaking the area with enough intensity to be felt across multiple islands.
Bird Flu Is A Rerun Of The COVID Playbook Bird flu can be very confusing. This is true because, as is so often the case with our government, those who claim to be trying to solve the problem – our so-called “public health” and “pandemic preparedness” “experts” – are actually the ones who created the problem. What is worse, they are actively seeking to perpetuate it.
School district bans pastors from Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings A school district in the leftist enclave of Minnesota, now run by Gov. Tim Walz, the failed Democrat nominee for president in 2024 whose agenda has been to promote abortion and transgenderism, has decided to ban pastors from meetings of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
We Are Closer To All-Out War In Europe, In Asia, And In The Middle East Than Most People Realize We really are at one of the most pivotal moments in human history. Decisions that are being made now will have very serious implications for every man, woman and child on the entire planet. We have entered a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and we have seen so much death and destruction over the past couple of years. But now a new administration is in control in Washington and we have reached a fork in the road. Will global leaders take advantage of this small window of opportunity to establish peace, or will they choose all-out war?
If You Think That The Left Is Angry Now, Just Wait Until Fraudulent Social Security Payments Stop Going Out What is our society going to look like if “the biggest fraud in history” is brought to a screeching halt? Elon Musk and his DOGE team have been taking a meat axe to federal agency after federal agency, but Social Security is the big Kahuna. According to the Social Security Administration, in 2025 approximately 69 million Americans will be receiving Social Security payments each month, and those payments will come to a grand total of approximately 1.6 trillion dollars for the entire year. As you will see below, it appears that the Social Security program is being victimized by fraud on a massive scale. If those fraudulent payments stop going out, those that have been living the high life at our expense are going to be extremely, extremely angry.
Trudeau’s Power Grab: Federal Court Case Exposes His Desperate Attempt to Silence Parliament John Carpay and the JCCF are leading a high-stakes legal battle to stop Trudeau’s unprecedented 11-week Parliament shutdown—a blatant power grab to dodge accountability, silence opposition, and shield his government from scrutiny—while also fighting government overreach, digital ID surveillance, and the erosion of Canadian democracy.
The Coming World Leader: Make No Mistake, The Antichrist Is Not A Fictional Character …Revelation 13 introduces us to one of the main characters on the stage during the Great Tribulation. We usually call him the Antichrist. Now, when some people hear of the Antichrist, they tend to snicker and grin in a condescending way, as if to say, “Oh, how hopelessly naïve!” They put him on par with Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. But make no mistake: This sinister, dark, evil person will come on the scene, and people will say of him, “Our savior!” He will deceive and destroy the world.
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” —George Washington (1789)
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Big win for DOGE: Democrat efforts to stop Elon Musk and DOGE from continuing their audit of federal government agencies were dealt a major blow on Tuesday — and by an Obama-appointed judge, no less. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is no fan of Donald Trump, ruled against the lawsuit brought by 14 Democrat-run state attorneys general who alleged that Musk and DOGE were causing harm by having access to Americans’ sensitive information. While expressing sympathy for the states, Chutkan correctly observed that the president, as head of the executive branch, has the legal authority to manage the executive branch. Despite Chutkan’s disdain for Trump, it would appear that the judge is more averse to having her decisions overturned by a higher court.
DOGE already reports having found $55 billion in savings: It must be the greatest return on investment in the history of the world. Yesterday, in the space of less than a month, Elon Musk’s small band of T-shirt-clad 20-somethings issued the Department of Government Efficiency’s first progress report, which claims to have uncovered some $55 billion in savings. Really. The Musk-led department has plunged into the records of federal government agencies to find them rife with fraud, waste, abuse, error, and redundancy. You can see it for yourself, exhaustively itemized, right there on the DOGE website, complete with a Top 10 list of both total contract savings and contract savings as a percentage of budget. (Spoiler alert: USAID tops both lists.) How’s that for transparency?
Eighth Circuit dumps Biden’s student giveaway: Joe Biden’s original gambit to see some $500 billion in student loan debt canceled was finally ruled unconstitutional by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court initially blocked the SAVE plan after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey raised a lawsuit against it, and on Tuesday, it ruled that Biden’s secretary of education had “gone well beyond this authority by designing a plan where loans are largely forgiven rather than repaid.” Bailey welcomed the court’s decision, stating, “Though Joe Biden is out of office, this precedent is imperative to ensuring a President cannot force working Americans to foot the bill for someone else’s Ivy League debt.”
U.S. and Russia continue to talk without Ukraine: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced yesterday that the world’s foremost nuclear superpowers have agreed to reestablish “the functionality of our respective missions in Washington and Moscow,” adding that the U.S. would also build a senior-level team focused on Donald Trump’s promise of ending the awful war in Ukraine. Notably absent from these discussions is any diplomatic representation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which has understandably fueled fears that Russia will hold the upper hand in any peace deal. Rubio added that negotiators have agreed to explore the resumption of geopolitical and economic cooperation once peace is restored to Ukraine. Rubio’s comments came in the wake of yesterday’s four-and-a-half-hour meeting between his team and that of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Rand Paul opposes Trump’s labor pick: One of Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet nominations is Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a pro-union ex-congresswoman, to head the Labor Department. She is scheduled for a Senate hearing today, though Senator Rand Paul made clear that he will oppose her confirmation. What is most troubling for Paul is Chavez-DeRemer’s support for the PRO Act, “which would not only oppose national right to work, but it would preempt state law on right to work.” The PRO Act is indeed a dangerous threat to work freedom, severely limiting Americans’ ability to self-employ. Should Chavez-DeRemer fail to gain the majority votes needed to advance from the committee, she would need a 60-vote threshold in the full Senate in order to move to a confirmation vote. It will be interesting to see if any Democrats back her.
LOL: Dems vow to recapture the working class: From the “Good Luck With That” files comes word that newly ensconced DNC Chairman Ken Martin has promised to wrest the loyalties of the working class away from Donald Trump and the Republican Party and restore them to their rightful place among the woke, race-baiting, illegal-immigration-enabling, sex-change-operation-supporting Democrats. “I believe the canary in the coal mine for what happened on November 5,” Martin says, “was the recent showing that, for the first time in modern history, Americans now see the Republicans as the party of the working class and Democrats as the party of the elites. It’s time to remind working Americans — and also show them every day — that the Democratic Party always has been and always will be the party of the worker.” Just how stupid do these chardonnay-sipping elitists think working-class Americans are?
Hamas animals to return baby boys’ bodies: Hamas announced yesterday that it would return on Thursday the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a young mother, Shiri Bibas, and her two little boys, Kfir and Ariel, who were just nine months and four years old, respectively, when they were kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Hamas claims that the three were killed in an airstrike. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn’s Boro Park last night, a pro-Palestinian pro-baby-murdering group staged an anti-Israel protest right smack in the middle of one of the world’s largest Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. Fights broke out amid chants of “Zionists, go to hell!” and “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!”
Cartels raise prices for smuggling illegals: Thanks to Donald Trump’s renewed focus on border enforcement, the number of migrants illegally entering the U.S. has dropped “approximately 95%,” according to the White House’s Stephen Miller. But smuggling migrants is big business for Mexican cartels, and thanks to the crackdown, smuggling costs are rising. “The cartels, in fact, are enormously frustrated because they’ve never seen a clampdown like this in American history,” Miller observed. The cartels are now charging roughly $16,000 to $17,000 to smuggle individual migrants into the U.S. and $30,000 or more to get a migrant deeper into the U.S. interior. A Chinese couple recently found by Customs and Border Protection officers hidden in a vehicle crossing from Mexico into the U.S. reportedly paid smugglers $45,000 apiece. This rising cost will also help to dissuade migrants from seeking to enter the U.S. illegally.
Headlines
FBI pick Kash Patel advances in full Senate procedural vote (NY Post)
Senate confirms Howard Lutnick to be commerce secretary (National Review)
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The German government strictly polices citizens’ speech, conducting raids of people’s homes, confiscating their things, fining them, and sometimes jailing them. The “wrong” sorts of people are not permitted to say certain things, upon penalty of law. Enforcing the law often depends on a tip line for citizens reporting their neighbors for infractions against the state. Authorities argue they are making the world a better place by rooting out undesirable ideas and people.
If you said, Hey, that sounds like the Nazis’ Third Reich, move to the head of the class.
If you think totalitarian tyranny is a good idea, you might work for CBS.
Thanks to “60 Minutes,” we learned that CBS host Margaret Brennan isn’t the only one at the eyeball network who’s very confused about Germany, Nazis, and free speech. Over the weekend, Brennan infamously told Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide” — the Holocaust.
Contrary to this horribly revisionist history, Rubio correctly replied, “There was no free speech in Nazi Germany.” Unfortunately, today’s German government is cracking down on free speech in a manner uncomfortably reminiscent of the Nazis. Haunted by their past, the Germans seem doomed to repeat some of it.
“60 Minutes” reporter Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed several hate speech prosecutors, and a network crew joined the German jackboots conducting anti-free speech raids and reported it like it was reasonable. One raid subject was accused of “posting a racist cartoon online.”
Quick, where are my smelling salts?
“If you’ve ever dared to read the comments on a social media post, you might start to wonder if civilized discourse is just a myth,” Alfonsi began the segment. “Aggressive threats, lies, and harassment have unfortunately become the norm online, where anonymity has emboldened some users to push the limits of civility.”
She’s not wrong about that, but she almost laments that such behavior, “even if it’s hate-filled or toxic, is protected by the First Amendment as free speech.” She adds with a sense of relief that at least “Germany is trying to bring some civility to the world wide web by policing it in a way most Americans could never imagine.”
She interviewed three intrepid prosecutors who are deeply convinced of their own righteousness. They even shared a chuckle at how “shocked” suspects are when police seize their phones. Hilarious.
To be fair, Alfonsi wasn’t completely oblivious. She asked Josephine Ballon, “CEO of HateAid, a Berlin-based human rights organization that supports victims of online violence,” to respond to accusations that “this feels like the surveillance that Germany conducted 80 years ago.” Ballon shot back, “There is no surveillance.”
Apparently, Ballon is oblivious. She proceeded to argue that the work is necessary because “already half of the internet users in Germany are afraid to express their political opinion, and they rarely participate in public debates online anymore.”
Well, yeah, because they might be prosecuted for saying — or even sharing — something!
At one point in the feature, Alfonsi specifically focused on an episode where German citizens started calling a politician a “pimmel,” which she disapprovingly notes is “a German word for the male anatomy.”
What is it with legacy media women and this sort of thing? Harry Bōlz (a.k.a. Elon Musk) must be proud.
Near the end, Alfonsi concludes, “Prosecutors argue they are protecting democracy and discourse by introducing a touch of German order to the unruly world wide web.” That sounds far too much like 1930s Germany and the modern American Leftmedia “fact-checking” genre.
Yes, hateful things are being said all over the place, and, as one of the prosecutors argues, the Internet is more permanent and far-reaching than a face-to-face conversation. People say ugly, mean, and false things all the time. (Breaking news from Genesis 3.) It’s not good, and I wish that human discourse weren’t so coarse.
Yet like almost anything else on this planet that is either good, bad, or neutral depending on human use, the Internet should be a free place for speech that is not literally harmful or exploitative. Counter bad speech with better speech.
German authorities are not going to save the country from Nazis by behaving like Nazis themselves. Totalitarians punish speech. Free, anti-Nazi societies do not.
It’s no wonder JD Vance felt it necessary to make an impassioned defense of free speech in a speech in Munich. It’s also unsurprising that he weighed in on the CBS report, saying, “Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech will strain European-U.S. relations. This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the U.S. must reject this lunacy.”
German elections are next week, and the nation’s center-right Christian Democratic Union is poised to win. We’ll see what changes that brings to Germany’s crisis of illegal immigration, economic recession, and free speech suppression.
Emmy Griffin: Weaponization of Government — President Donald Trump is in danger of misusing the Department of Justice.
Douglas Andrews: Trump’s Common Sense Puts Dems in a Box — By embracing 60-40 and 70-30 issues, Donald Trump is forcing his deranged detractors into woefully unpopular policy positions.
Thomas Gallatin: Dems Struggle for Footing — With Donald Trump’s growing popularity, Democrat lawmakers are increasingly frustrated by their lackluster leadership.
Linda Moss Mines: Reconstructing a Deconstructed Country — Andrew Johnson was not going to easily comply with Republicans’ demands or their plans to lead reconstruction policy.
Next Victims of DOGE Fear Being Exposed — Patrick Bet-David dives into the shocking $35 trillion mystery buried in government wasteful spending — uncovered with a little help from DOGE and some serious detective work.
“What’s crazy is I AGREE that we have a rogue regime ruining our country & I’ll be watching to see what the ICC does. Trump is a national security risk & embarrassment & MAGANIACS are the only ones that can’t see it.” —Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett
Non Compos Mentis
“Don’t tell me you reject DEI when you live in a White House built by black hands.” —Senator Raphael Warnock
Poor Taste
“Egg prices are supposed to come down, not airplanes.” — “The View” co-host Joy Behar
D’oh!
“Progress of our nation has been about the expansion of rights, not the restriction of rights. We’re seeing a U-turn right now.” —Kamala Harris, unintentionally affirming that Trump is restoring rights violated by the Biden/Harris regime
Paradigm Shift
“We are waging a 21st-century information warfare campaign against the Left and they are using tactics from the 1990s. They are holding tiny press conferences, tiny little rallies. They’re screaming into the ether on MSNBC. This is what you call top-down command and control — you get your talking points from a newspaper and you put it on the broadcast network and then it disappears! What you’re seeing on the Right is asymmetrical; it’s like grassroots guerrilla warfare. Someone says something on social media, Musk retweets it, Rogan podcasts it, Fox broadcasts it, and by the time it reaches everybody, millions of people have seen it. It’s free money!” —Jessie Watters
Re: The Left
“Here’s a dirty secret about the federal government many Americans are just learning: It’s run by Democrats, even when voters elect Republicans. … By fighting the partisan bias of the permanent government, President Trump isn’t endangering the Constitution — he’s restoring its balance.” —Daniel McCarthy
“Always funny to me that ‘listen to your people when they object to mass migration’ and ‘censorship is bad’ is treated as a ‘threat to democracy.’ Do you know what ‘democracy’ actually means?” —JD Vance
For the Record
“[Trump] is actually following through on the promise to cut federal government waste, fraud, and abuse. And this is the first president to actually do such a thing and the Democrats are up in arms about it.” —White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
“Why should Congress and various government agencies care? It’s not their money they are spending. Republicans should not be left off the hook. Many are just as guilty as the Democrats they are now deriding.” —Cal Thomas
“If anything, the frightening realization that we can save a billion here and a billion there and still make just minimal progress toward fiscal stability serves as a wake-up call about the enormity of our economic challenge. We need DOGE on steroids.” —Jack DeVine
Belly Laugh of the Day
“If I can’t continue to send Social Security checks to each of the Founding Fathers, I’ll have no choice but to resign.” —Senator Mike Lee
And Last…
“Look, you just gotta try harder not to suck.” —Senator John Kennedy in reference to the Democrat Party
Israel and Hamas agree to speed up the exchange of hostages, with Hamas to release six this Saturday- but it will also reportedly return the remains of four dead hostages Thursday, including a mother and her two young children- Kfir, Ariel and Shiri Bibas – as the husband and father, Yarden Bibas, was set free on February first- but the Israeli government says the fate of the mother and children can’t be confirmed yet; Chris Mitchell talks about how the story of the Bibas family has gripped Israel, how many more hostages could be released in Phase Two of the deal, Hamas’s reaction to Prime Minister Netanyahu saying the terror group will no longer remain in Gaza as part of Phase Two, the possibility of more war if no deal is reached, and Egypt building up its military in the Sinai; the growing danger of antisemitism in the United Kingdom, and why some Jews are actually moving out; and our Studio 5 conversation with singer/songwriter Jon Shabaglian, who uses Scripture in his songs and mentors other worshippers.
When Elon Musk asked how Norm Eisen could be financed, I replied, “If the United States govt gave money to Qatar, knowing Qatar was going to send that money to organizations within the USA intended to carry out an objective of a small group in U.S. govt., what would that be called?”
Qatar is a major source of funding for the Brookings Institute. Brookings funds various Lawfare operations, including Norm Eisen. The extended process is quite simple. If elements within the U.S. Govt., wanted to indirectly fund Brookings, could they do it by sending funds to Qatar?
The question is not supposition, because this was the exact process Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta used for the State Dept to send weapons to the Libyan “rebels,” aka Operation Zero Footprint.
Operation Zero Footprint was the State Dept/CIA sending funds to Qatar, and the Qatari govt then purchasing missiles from the CIA to give to al-Qaeda affiliates in Libya. We can consider the historic Iran-Contra scandal under a similar framework. However, the nuanced difference is about sending money toward a foreign govt (via USAID), while knowing the money would return to fund a domestic agenda inside the USA.
Example: USAID sends money to the U.K, and then British political allies send political operatives into the USA to support Kamala Harris. We know the latter part of that sentence happened. So, did the Biden administration (Samantha Power) fund the Labour Party operation? […]
Welcome to Lionel Nation—the home of bold ideas, fearless truth and deep analysis of the world’s most pressing topics. In a stunning display of decisive leadership, President Donald Trump has unleashed a series of bold initiatives through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by tech visionary Elon Musk, sending shockwaves through the radical left and reaffirming his unwavering commitment to the America First agenda. Within just one month, the Trump administration has targeted bloated federal agencies, slashing wasteful spending and eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic positions, much to the dismay of Democrats who cling to their outdated, big-government ideologies. The left’s disbelief is palpable as they witness the rapid dismantling of their cherished institutions, including the Department of Education and USAID, which have long been criticized for inefficiency and mismanagement. Despite their outcries and legal challenges, President Trump and Musk remain undeterred, pressing forward with plans to streamline government operations and return power to the American people. The radical left’s inability to comprehend the momentum of this MAGA-driven transformation only highlights their detachment from the desires of hardworking citizens who demand accountability and efficiency from their government. As the Trump-Musk partnership continues to yield tangible results, it’s evident that the America First avalanche is just beginning, leaving Democrats scrambling to salvage their crumbling agenda.
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