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
Thomas Watson – (ca. 1620-1686), English non-conformist Puritan preacher and author
Watson was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was noted for remarkably intense study. In 1646 he commenced a sixteen year pastorate at St. Stephen’s, Walbrook. He showed strong Presbyterian views during the civil war, with, however, an attachment to the king, and in 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love’s plot to recall Charles II of England. He was released on June 30, 1652, and was formally reinstated as vicar of St. Stephen’s Walbrook.
Watson obtained great fame and popularity as a preacher until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Notwithstanding the rigor of the acts against dissenters, Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately as he found opportunity. Upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license to preach at the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health gave way, and he retired to Barnston, Essex, where he died suddenly while praying in secret. He was buried on 28 July 1686.
…So is every one that is born of the Spirit. JOHN 3:8
Only the servants of truth can ever know truth. You can fill your head full of knowledge but the day that you decide that you are going to obey God, it will get down into your heart. You shall know! I once read a book about the inner life of a man who was a sharp intellectual. By his own admission, he stood outside and examined spiritual people from the outside but nothing ever reached him. And that’s possible! You cannot argue around this. Read your Bible—any version you want—and if you are honest you will admit that it is either obedience or inward blindness. You can repeat the book of Romans word for word and still be blind inwardly. You can know the doctrine of justification by faith and take your stand with Luther and the Reformation and still be blind inwardly. For it is not the body of truth that enlightens: it is by the Spirit of truth. If you are willing to obey the Lord Jesus, He will illuminate your spirit, inwardly enlighten you; and the truth you have known will then be known spiritually, and power will begin to flow up and out and you will find yourself changed marvelously changed. It is rewarding to believe in a Christianity that really changes men and women. In that great day of Christ’s coming, all that will matter is whether we have been inwardly illuminated, inwardly regenerated, inwardly purified! The question is: do we really know Jesus in this way?
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2015). Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (p. 56). Moody Publishers.
What an interesting account, though short, is here given of the Shunammite. The sacred historian calls her a great woman; and she here manifests that she had a great mind. What she had done for the prophet, she sought no recompense for. Neither the favours of the king, nor the captain of his host, were of any value to her and her husband. Dwelling with content in what she had, and “among her own people,” was in her view enough of earthly enjoyment. But is there not a spiritual improvement to be made of this passage? Do not the people of our God dwell alone? And have they not been from everlasting so appointed, in the purposes of God their Father, and chosen in Christ, and called? They may, and indeed they ought, to desire to be spoken for to the King, the captain of the Lord’s host, as a people near to himself. Yes! I would say, let me be spoken for, that I may always live under an abiding sense of my Lord’s presence, and his love; and that my constant views of him, and his gracious tokens of kindness to me, may be my daily enjoyment. Methinks I would always be spoken for to him, in this point of view, and always myself be speaking to him; and tell my Lord that one smile of his, one whisper to assure me of my interest in him, and my love for him, and his love for me, will be more grateful than all the revenues of the earth. Here, like the Shunammite, would I centre all my desires. And while living upon Jesus, it will be my happiness also to “dwell among mine own people,” who, like myself, keep aloof from all unnecessary acquaintance and connection with the world, to “enjoy fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ!”
Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, pp. 58–59). Thomas Wardle.
Jehovah “is slow to anger.” When mercy cometh into the world she driveth winged steeds; the axles of her chariot-wheels are red hot with speed; but when wrath goeth forth, it toileth on with tardy footsteps, for God taketh no pleasure in the sinner’s death. God’s rod of mercy is ever in his hands outstretched; his sword of justice is in its scabbard, held down by that pierced hand of love which bled for the sins of men. “The Lord is slow to anger,” because he is GREAT IN POWER. He is truly great in power who hath power over himself. When God’s power doth restrain himself, then it is power indeed: the power that binds omnipotence is omnipotence surpassed. A man who has a strong mind can bear to be insulted long, and only resents the wrong when a sense of right demands his action. The weak mind is irritated at a little: the strong mind bears it like a rock which moveth not, though a thousand breakers dash upon it, and cast their pitiful malice in spray upon its summit. God marketh his enemies, and yet he bestirs not himself, but holdeth in his anger. If he were less divine than he is, he would long ere this have sent forth the whole of his thunders, and emptied the magazines of heaven; he would long ere this have blasted the earth with the wondrous fires of its lower regions, and man would have been utterly destroyed; but the greatness of his power brings us mercy. Dear reader, what is your state this evening? Can you by humble faith look to Jesus, and say, “My substitute, thou art my rock, my trust”? Then, beloved, be not afraid of God’s power; for by faith you have fled to Christ for refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you, than the shield and sword of the warrior need terrify those whom he loves. Rather rejoice that he who is “great in power” is your Father and Friend.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
AND Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. (These young men were self-willed, and perhaps also excited by strong drink, and therefore daringly violated the Lord’s commands in his own immediate presence. They followed their own wills as to time, place, and manner of offering the incense, no doubt considering these to be small matters, but indeed nothing is small in the service of God. He will be worshipped in his own way, and not in ours. There is more sin than they suppose in altering the ordinances as some do in our day. Moreover, there is one fire in the church, namely the Holy Spirit, and one incense, namely the merit of Jesus, and it is a daring impiety to seek other excitement, or offer any other righteousness to God.) 2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. (The devouring flame flashed right across the mercy seat and slew them. Think of that, and remember that they were minister’s sons and ministers themselves. Even our God is a consuming fire. They died while offering a vain will-worship, and it is to be feared that thousands will perish in like manner. Let us be careful and prayerful, and walk jealously before the jealous God; seeking even to worship him as his own Word directs.) 3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. (Even as all godly parents must when they see their graceless children perish before the Lord. God is most strict with those nearest to him. Let such be very jealous over themselves.) 4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. 5 So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. Thus all saw them and were warned. Sad indeed that these who should have taught holiness by their lives, could only teach it by becoming warnings of divine wrath in their deaths. 6 And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled. 7 And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. The nearest friends were called upon to approve the divine justice. Others might mourn the sin and doom of the offenders, but their brethren were bidden to make no sign of mourning. 8 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; 11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. Probably because Nadab and Abihu had been drinking, all priests were for the future forbidden to drink wine at times of service. It is a foul sin when the Christian minister seeks to stimulate his eloquence by wine; it is offering strange fire before the Lord, and will surely be visited upon him. He who serves God must be calm, sober, and not excited with any fleshly passion. O for a baptism of the Holy Ghost, to free the Lord’s ministers from every false excitement, and make them wait upon the Lord in quiet holiness.
Holy and reverend is the name
Of our eternal King!
“Thrice holy Lord,” the angels cry,
“Thrice holy,” let us sing.
With sacred awe pronounce His name,
Whom words nor thoughts can reach,
A contrite heart shall please Him more
Than noblest forms of speech.
Thou holy God, preserve my soul
From all pollution free;
The pure in heart are Thy delight,
And they Thy face shall see.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 106). Baker Book House.
Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one shall bear his own load. (6:2–5)
The second responsibility of a spiritual believer who seeks to restore a fallen brother is to help hold him up once he is back on his feet. It is not enough simply to help him turn from his sin and then leave him alone. It is immediately after a spiritual victory that Satan often makes his severest attacks on God’s children. Christians are continually (present tense) to bear one another’s burdens. Bear has the thought of carrying with endurance, and burdens is from baros, which refers to heavy loads that are difficult to lift and carry. Used metaphorically, as here, it represents any difficulty or problem a person has trouble coping with. In this context the reference suggests burdens that tempt a sinning believer to fall back into the trespass from which he has just been delivered. A persistent, oppressing temptation is one of the heaviest burdens a Christian can have. To be freed from a sin is not always to be freed from its temptation. The spiritual believer who truly loves his brother and sincerely wants to restore him to a walk by the Spirit will continue to spend time with him and make himself available for counsel and encouragement. Prayer is the most powerful weapon believers have in conquering sin and opposing Satan, and nothing helps a brother carry his burdens as much as prayer for him and with him. The brother who has been delivered from a trespass has an obligation to let his spiritual friends help him carry his burdens. It is not spirituality but pride that makes a person want to “go it alone.” James tells believers to “confess [their] sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that [they] may be healed” (James 5:16). God Himself is the believer’s ultimate source of strength, and on Him we are called to cast our burdens (Ps. 55:22) and our cares (1 Pet. 5:7). But He often uses fellow believers as His agents to help carry the burdens of His children. Strong as he was in the Lord, Paul himself was not free from temptation or discouragement. He confessed that “when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more” (2 Cor. 7:5–7). When believers bear one another’s burdens, they fulfill the law of Christ. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you” (John 13:34). The law of Christ is the law of love, which fulfills all the rest of God’s law (Gal. 5:14; Rom. 13:8, 10). It is a misguided and unscriptural philosophy that causes some pastors to think they should not get too close to members of their congregation. Obviously they should never show favoritism, and there is danger in becoming too involved in superficial social relationships. But a pastor who does not intimately attend to the people under his care cannot possibly minister to them effectively. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, Paul continues, he deceives himself. At first glance that statement seems somewhat out of place. But in light of the call for spiritual believers to restore sinning brothers “in a spirit of gentleness” (v. 1), the need for such a warning becomes apparent. One of the chief reasons many Christians do not bother to help fellow Christians is that they feel superior to sinners and wrongly consider themselves to be spiritually something when the truth is they are really nothing. Like the Pharisees, their concern is not for the true righteousness that God gives and that comes only through humility (see Matt. 5:3–8) but for their own self-righteousness, which has no part in God’s kingdom or its work (v. 20). Their desire is not to help a stumbling brother but to judge and condemn him. At best, they leave him to “stew in his own juice,” thinking, if not saying, “He got himself into this mess; let him get himself out.” Conceit can coexist with outward morality, but it cannot coexist with spirituality. In fact, conceit is the ultimate sin, first on the list of things God hates (Prov. 6:16–17). The Christian who thinks he is something when he is nothing needs help in facing his own sin before he can be qualified to help anyone else out of a sin. He needs first to “take the log out of [his] own eye” (Matt. 7:5). If he refuses to see his own spiritual need, he deceives himself and is useless in serving God or in helping fellow believers. The Greek verb behind deceives means “to lead one’s mind astray” and relates to subjective fantasies that are self-deceptive. Therefore every Christian should examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. A believer’s first responsibility is to examine (from dokimazō, to approve after testing) himself, to be sure his own attitudes and life are right in the eyes of the Lord before he attempts to give spiritual help to others. Then, and only then, will he have reason for boasting in a proper way. If anything remains for boasting after honest self-examination, it will be that which induces boasting in the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12–18). God does not grade on the curve but by His own absolutes. He does not compare believers to each other but to His divine, perfect standards of righteousness. And if the Lord does not judge a believer by comparing him with other believers, how much less should a believer judge himself in that way? (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12). If there is reason for a believer’s boasting, or rejoicing, in regard to himself, that is, in regard to what God has done in and through him, it is on the basis of his faithfulness and obedience, not on the basis of what he may have accomplished in regard to, or compared to, another. If he is truly more faithful and useful than some of his fellow believers, that is God’s doing, not his own. Paul’s command for each one to bear his own load seems to contradict what he has just said about bearing one another’s burdens (v. 2). But he uses a different term here. Phortion (load) refers to anything that is carried, and has no connotation of difficulty. It was often used of the general obligations of life that a person is responsible to bear on his own. For a Christian, load can refer to “his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad,” for which he will give account “before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:12–15). His load can also refer to fulfilling his personal calling and ministry for the Lord. Jesus assures His followers that the “load” [phortion] of service He gives them “is light” (Matt. 11:30). In either case, every believer is accountable to bear his own load, even the light one Christ gives him, and to answer for his faithfulness in so doing when he faces Him.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1983). Galatians (pp. 179–182). Moody Press.
2 The second practical example of spirituality is the bearing of one another’s burdens. Four times in the letter Paul uses the word “bearing” (bastazō). In 5:10 it is the Judaizer who is to bear his judgment. At 6:5 each Christian is to bear his own load. At the very end, 6:17, he will speak of bearing the marks of Jesus Christ on his body. In this verse the reference is to helping another Christian—sharing his load—whenever temptations oppress him or life depresses him. Here Paul returns quite deliberately to the thought of love being the fulfillment of the law, for the “law of Christ” is the new commandment (John 13:34) fulfilled in part at least by such actions. “If you must needs impose burdens on yourselves, let them be the burdens of mutual sympathy. If you must needs observe a law, let it be the law of Christ” (Lightfoot, in loc.).
Boice, J. M. (1976). Galatians. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol. 10, pp. 501–502). Zondervan Publishing House.
2 Paul next addresses one means by which believers may express their unity in Christ. Rather than celebrating their own moral excellence compared to those who have fallen into sin, believers must aid those who struggle with sinfulness. Joining together to restore one who has sinned or to prevent others from being “caught in a sin” in the first place is a way that believers may “serve one another in love” (5:13; cf. Ro 15:1–3). By collectively taking on themselves the burden of temptation experienced by others, believers are able to ameliorate the impact that such temptation may have, to the mutual benefit of all attempting to keep in step with the Spirit. Such burden bearing “fulfills the law of Christ,” which is to love as Christ loved, surrendering one’s life for the good of others (cf. Jn 13:34–35).
Rapa, R. K. (2008). Galatians. In T. Longman III &. Garland, David E. (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans–Galatians (Revised Edition) (Vol. 11, pp. 633–634). Zondervan.
Entirely in line with the preceding verse is verse 2. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. This does not merely mean “Tolerate each other,” or “Put up with each other.” It means: “Jointly shoulder each members burdens.” Every body should put his shoulder under the burdens under which this or that individual member is groaning, whatever these burdens may be. They must be carried jointly. Though the term “one another’s burdens” is very general, and applies to every type of oppressing affliction that is capable of being shared by the brotherhood, it should be borne in mind, nevertheless, that the point of departure for this exhortation (see on 6:1) is the duty to extend help to the brother so that he may overcome his spiritual weaknesses. Continued: and so fulfil the law of Christ. This law of Christ is the principle of love for one another laid down by Christ (John 13:34; see also on Gal. 5:14; cf. James 2:8). However, Christ not only promulgated this law; he also exemplified it. Note how tenderly he dealt with: the sinful woman (Luke 7:36–50), the pentitent thief (Luke 23:43), Simon Peter (Luke 22:61; cf. John 21:15–17), an invalid (John 5:14), and the woman taken in adultery (John 8:11). And note also the marvelously generous reception which, according to Christ’s Parable of the Prodigal Son (commonly so described), is accorded to the returning penitent. Paul constantly holds before us the example of Christ (Rom. 15:3–8; 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:5–8), as well as Christ’s precept.
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Galatians (Vol. 8, pp. 232–233). Baker Book House.
Although the priesthood had all these detailed instructions as to how they were to respond in the case of a healed leper, they never had the opportunity to put these instructions into effect, because from the time the Mosaic Law was given, no Jew was ever healed of leprosy. As a result, it was taught by the rabbis that only the Messiah would be able to heal a Jewish leper …
The three Gospel accounts that tell us about the healing of a leper are: Matthew 8:2-4, Mark 1:40-45 and Luke 5:12-16. Matthew and Mark merely state that the man was a leper, but Luke, who by profession was a medical doctor, gave more details.
To find out what Dr. Luke said about this leper, what the priests did with the leper, and how that influenced their response to Jesus’ teaching – read the rest of the article!
Mark 6:31 — We’ve read earlier about the sinfulness of wasting time, but that doesn’t mean all time has to be busy. Time does need to be stewarded, though – there are times that you need to relax, times you can invest in recreation with a friend, or times you should spend with your spouse. Make sure that you are the master of your time, and that time doesn’t run out on you before you can accomplish what God has for you!
Mark 6:48 — “… and he saw them toiling …” – Jesus sees you when you are toiling, struggling, ready to give up. Jesus may not be visibly present, but He is there! Interesting that if the disciples had not called out to Him (even out of fear), they may not have had His provision of relief!
Psalm 40:1 — The Northern Lights recorded a song based on verses 1-3.
Proverbs 10:11 — Is your mouth full of righteousness or wickedness?
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The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. (Psalm 138:8)
He who has begun will carry on the work which is being wrought within my soul. The Lord is concerned about everything that concerns me. All that is now good, but not perfect, the Lord will watch over, preserve, and carry out to completion. This is a great comfort. I could not perfect the work of grace myself. Of that I am quite sure, for I fail every day and have only held on so long as I have because the Lord has helped me. If the Lord were to leave me, all my past experience would go for nothing, and I should perish from the way. But the Lord will continue to bless me. He will perfect my faith, my love, my character, my lifework. He will do this because He has begun a work in me. He gave me the concern I feel, and, in a measure, He has fulfilled my gracious aspirations, He never leaves a work unfinished; this would not be for His glory, nor would it be like Him. He knows how to accomplish His gracious design, and though my own evil nature and the world and the devil all conspire to hinder Him, I do not doubt His promise. He will perfect that which concerneth me, and I will praise Him forever. Lord, let Thy gracious work make some advance this day!
“If God be our God, He will give us peace in trouble. When there is a storm without, He will make peace within. The world can create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble.”1
“Prayer delights God’s ear; it melts His heart; and opens His hand. God cannot deny a praying soul.”
“Afflictions add to the saints’ glory. The more the diamond is cut, the more it sparkles; the heavier the saints’ cross is, the heavier will be their crown.”
“Let them fear death who do not fear sin.”
“Leave not off reading the Bible till you find your hearts warmed. Read the word, not only as a history, but labor to be affected with it. Let it not only inform you, but inflame you. “Is not my word like a fire? saith the Lord”: Jer 23:29. Go not from the word till you can say as those disciples, “Did not our hearts burn within us?” Lu 24:32.”
“God loves a broken heart, not a divided heart.”
“The apostles went away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ, that they were graced so far as to be disgraced for the name of Christ!”
“The right manner of growth is to grow less in one’s own eyes.”
“The flesh inclines us more to believe a temptation than a promise.”
“Soon the battle will be over. It will not be long now before the day will come when Satan will no longer trouble us. There will be no more domination, temptation, accusation, or confrontation. Our warfare will be over and our commander, Jesus Christ, will call us away from the battlefield to receive the victor’s crown.”
“Our murmuring is the devil’s music.”
“Affliction may be lasting, but it is not everlasting.”
“The pleasure of sin is soon gone, but the sting remains.”
“A man’s greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest; therefore eternity should be his scope.”
“Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.”
“Affliction promotes holiness. The more the diamond is cut, the more it sparkles!”
“God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer.”
“Read not the word carelessly, but with seriousness and affection; as the oracle of heaven, the well of salvation, the book of life.”
“What a vast difference is there between the first covenant and the second! In the first covenant it was, if you commit sin you die; in the second it is, if you confess sin you shall have mercy.”
“A soul encompassed with mercy is zealously active in God’s service.”
1All of the following quotes are from the websites below:
Join us for this engaging Q&A panel discussion from the 2024 Cessationist Conference! Our panel of esteemed theologians and pastors, including Justin Peters, Jim Osman, Conrad Mbewe, Josh Buice, Michael Riccardi, Tom Pennington, Michael Staton, and Scott Aniol, tackle key questions about cessationism, the work of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and the sufficiency of Scripture.
Shock and outrage after release of hostage remains shows body of Shiri Bibas not released, 3 others murdered in captivity There was an outpouring of outrage following the cruel release ceremony on Thursday, in which Hamas paraded the coffins of Israeli hostages on a stage decorated with fake bombs and Hamas propaganda, including a disturbing mural depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire drinking the blood of the Israeli hostages. That outrage intensified after findings revealed that the hostages had been murdered in captivity, and not killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Hamas had claimed. “The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds,”
Enraged Israelis Warn Government: End Hamas, Or Be Replaced In a reflection of mounting public fury, Channel 14 presenter Tal Meir delivered a stark warning to the Israeli government Thursday morning: eliminate Hamas, or be replaced by those who will. Her forceful message came in the wake of the recovery of several hostages’ bodies, including members of the Bibas family.
US envoy warns Hamas to release all hostages ‘or face total annihilation’ US envoy for hostages Adam Boehler had harsh words for Hamas after they returned an anonymous corpse to Israel instead of the body of Shiri Bibas. Boehler described Hamas’s action as “a clear violation” and offered this piece of advice: “It’s not just that you need to release her body; you must free all of the remaining hostages.” “If I were them, I’d release everyone, or they will face total annihilation,” he added.
Netanyahu pledged that Hamas would pay “the full price” for violating the ceasefire and hostage deal with Israel. Kennedy made it clear he planned to redirect the agency’s vast resources toward questioning long-established medical consensus, noting that “nothing is going to be off limits.”His investigation plans go beyond just vaccines and antidepressants. Kennedy listed several other things as possible causes of chronic diseases such as radiation from electronic devices, farming chemicals, processed foods, food allergies, tiny plastic particles in the environment, and chemicals used to make non-stick pans.
Trump: Netanyahu is angry, and he should be “These were babies. It’s rough stuff. It’s rough stuff. It looked like they were celebrating as they were bringing the bodies back. The scene is not even believable, it’s so barbaric. You’d think this couldn’t even happen in the modern age.” “The scene yesterday was really terrible because you’re talking about babies. This is really a low level,” he added.
Trump Fires USA’s Top Military Officer The USA’s top military officer, Charles Brown, gets fired by President Donald Trump. Brown has been chairman of the council for the country’s defense branches, Joint Chiefs of Staff, since October 2023.
TRUMP’S ULTIMATUM: THE U.S. HAS GIVEN EUROPE THREE WEEKS TO AGREE ON TERMS TO END THE UKRAINE WAR! IF WE DON’T, THE U.S. WILL WITHDRAW FROM EUROPE! BOOM! It’s happening. President Donald J. Trump is DONE playing games with NATO and the corrupt Ukrainian war machine. The message is clear: either Europe agrees to terms and ends this disastrous war in Ukraine, or the United States pulls out of Europe completely. No more free rides. No more U.S. troops babysitting Europe while their leaders drag their feet. Trump is a man of action, and he just put NATO and Ukraine on notice. Three weeks. That’s all they have. If they don’t sign the deal, America is out.
Hamas Releases New Hostage Body It Claims Is Shiri Bibas Hamas released a body on Friday it claimed to be that of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas, whose misidentification in a handover this week threatened to derail the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal. Israeli medical authorities said forensic teams were preparing to examine the body, which Hamas transferred via the Red Cross, and confirm its identity.
Former UN envoy Erdan urges Trump to press Qatar to take Gazans Gilad Erdan, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, called on U.S. President Donald Trump to pressure Qatar to take in all the residents of the Gaza Strip, instead of Jordan and Egypt. “Qatar is the source of all evil in the Middle East, along with Iran,” he told Israel’s Channel 14 TV network on Monday.
70 Christians In Congo Church Found Beheaded In Devastating Massacre By Islamic Terrorists Seventy Christians have been found beheaded in a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in what’s the latest devastating attack on believers in the northeast of the country. All 70 of those kidnapped were taken to a Protestant church in Kasanga where they were tragically killed. “We don’t know what to do or how to pray; we’ve had enough of massacres,” says an elder of the CECA20 church. “May God’s will alone be done.”
USA’s Envoy: Fruitful Meeting with Zelensky USA’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, says that the meeting on Thursday with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyj involved “positive” talks with a “brave” Ukrainian president. The cancelled press conference was another sign of the deep divisions between Ukraine and the USA over the Russian invasion war.
Disease spreading in US after major outbreak A measles outbreak is continuing to spread in Texas and New Mexico as health officials have reported 90 cases of the disease, … in Texas and eight cases in New Mexico.
China Reports New Coronavirus ‘With Pandemic Potential’ Discovered a report by The Daily Mail claiming a new coronavirus has been discovered in the wild in China that has the potential to another pandemic. Yes, you heard that right. In scenes eerily reminiscent of the beginnings of Covid, researchers at the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology … The new virus is even closer related to MERS, a deadlier type of coronavirus
Epstein Client List Today? AG Pam Bondi Says It’s ‘Sitting On My Desk Right Now’ Attorney General Pam Bondi says the Jeffrey Epstein client list is ‘sitting on my desk right now to review,’ per a ‘directive by President Trump.’ Bondi told journalist Benny Johnson from CPAC that the Epstein and P Diddy lists contain “Lots of documents,” adding “We are keeping this promise” to release them, adding “I was briefed on that yesterday I can’t talk about that that publicly.”
Trump Set To Take Control Of Postal Service – Privatization Could Be Next Continuing his government-reformation fiesta, President Trump is expected to issue an executive order dissolving the US Postal Service leadership and absorbing the organizaton into the Commerce Department. That bold move may be just a first step toward an even more ambitious and controversial goal: privatizing the perpetual money-loser.
“You Better Do It”: Trump Destroys Maine Governor For Defying Transgender EO President Donald Trump sparred with Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) on Friday during a National Governors Association meeting at the White House, after Trump told Mills he would withhold federal funding from the state over the state’s refusal to comply with an executive order barring male transgender athletes from women’s sports. On Thursday, Trump announced that Maine wouldn’t receive federal funding unless they comply with the executive order.
‘You’re FIRE-d’: LA Mayor Karen Bass Boots Fire Chief Over Handling Of Palisades Blaze “Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief,” said Bass in a Friday statement. “We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.” Of course, the woman in charge of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Janisse Quiñones, wasn’t fired for failing to ensure the main reservoir wasn’t empty!
6,000 IRS jobs to be cut by Trump admin According to The New York Times, messages obtained by the outlet showed that IRS managers started asking employees on Wednesday to report to their offices and bring any equipment issued by the government.
Nearly 2,000 College Students Surrender to Christ at Ohio State, ‘God Is Moving’ Nearly 2,000 students at Ohio State University surrendered their lives to Jesus Tuesday during a one-night worship service that is part of the Unite Us movement sweeping the nation. The event drew more than 6,500 students to the Schottenstein Center — the home of the Buckeyes basketball team — and also attracted support from players of the national championship football team.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Failing Global Ambition Initiative (BRI), once seen as Beijing’s ticket to global dominance, is now faltering under mounting debt, unfinished projects, and growing international skepticism. As countries like Brazil, India, and Sri Lanka withdraw or renegotiate their involvement, the BRI’s failures expose its role in economic entrapment and geopolitical leverage rather than genuine development.
Is Trump’s Birthright Citizenship EO A-OK? Douglas Andrews An esteemed law professor argues in The New York Times that the 14th Amendment doesn’t guarantee citizenship to the children of illegal aliens.
Christians Muddling Immigration Thomas Gallatin Failing to recognize the different roles of the church and state has gotten some Christians on the wrong side of immigration enforcement.
Trump’s Common Sense Puts Dems in a Box Douglas Andrews By embracing 60-40 and 70-30 issues, Donald Trump is forcing his deranged detractors into woefully unpopular policy positions.
Weaponization of Government Emmy Griffin President Donald Trump is in danger of misusing the Department of Justice.
The BIG Lie “Studies have consistently shown that immigrants commit less crimes, that sanctuary jurisdictions have seen no increase or lower crime rates. Now, unfortunately, the Trump administration has spread lies about the suggestion that our cities are harboring criminals.” —San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu Swampthink “Of course there’s some wasteful spending, but you don’t use a meat axe and cut everything.” —Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer Village Idiot “What does that mean when an unelected billionaire can waltz into our agencies and slash and burn the whole thing to the ground like a Taliban terrorist?” —Congressman Hank Johnson Fact-Check: False “This Isn’t the Donald Trump America Elected.” —former Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes Projection “This is about the government telling the public and press what words to use and retaliating if they do not follow government orders.” —the Associated Press in reference to the White House restricting AP access Fearmongering “I want to tell you about Trump’s agenda for our kids: shut down the Dept of Education; micromanage teachers from the White House; sell off our schools to the billionaires.” —Senator Chris Murphy Tempest in a Teapot “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 Dezinformatsiya “[JD Vance] was standing in a country [Germany] where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.” —CBS News’s Margaret Brennan 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 World’s Smallest Violin “After the speech of Vice President Vance [to the Munich Security Conference] we have to fear that our common value base is not that common anymore.” —Christoph Heusgen, German ambassador to the United Nations, who left the podium in tears after lamenting America is not embracing the totalitarian “values” of leftist Europe 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 Passing the Buck “There were [wildfire] warnings that I, frankly, wasn’t aware of. … It didn’t reach that level to me to say, ‘Something terrible could happen, and maybe you shouldn’t have gone on the trip.'” —Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Leftist Lunacy “Egg prices are supposed to come down, not airplanes.” — “The View” co-host Joy Behar “Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trump’s fault.” —Congressman Eric Swalwell “Our rules specify that when we have a nonbinary candidate or officer, the nonbinary individual is counted as neither male nor female, and the remaining six offices must be gender balanced.” —former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison “Trump says there are ‘two sexes.’ Experts and science say it’s not binary.” —Washington Post headline “RFK’s plan to make America healthy again? Round up people with mental health conditions in camps.” —Salon headline “As a White Man, Can I Date Women of Color to Advance My Antiracism”? —New York Times Magazine headline “Don’t tell me you reject DEI when you live in a White House built by black hands.” —Senator Raphael Warnock Straight From the Horses Mouth “We’re really proud that we’ve eliminated the required college degree in more than 90% of our jobs. It’s plain and simple: Equity is the motive.” —Delta Air Lines Chief DEI Officer Keyra Johnson Hot Air “Climate change is turning Valentine’s Day bitter for chocolate lovers.” —NBC News headline “Why Climate Change Sometimes Brings Major Winter Storms.” —TIME headline
News from around the nation and the world. Crosstalk looks at it all from a Christian perspective and reports as much as time will allow each Friday. Here’s a sample of stories from this week’s broadcast:
–*Breaking News*–Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has fired the fire chief who said the city failed residents as it pertains to the wildfires.
–*Breaking News*–U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is saying the Jeffrey Epstein client list is “sitting on my desk right now.”
–In response to a blood parade by Hamas where they celebrated the deaths of hostages, including young Jewish children, President Trump said, “I want to see Gaza wiped out. I don’t want to see even one building standing.”
–At the end of an incredibly hard day of mourning, Israelis had to deal with a series of mass transportation terror attacks. Bombs exploded on 3 public buses on Thursday evening. Miraculously no one was injured in the explosions that police believe were coordination terror attacks, most likely carried out by Hamas.
–Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, is declaring a national day of mourning following the return of the remains of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons who were kidnapped by Hamas back on October 7th, 2023.
–The Republic of Fiji, known as one of the friendliest nations toward Israel, has decided to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
–The IDF confirmed Monday that troops will stay in 5 strategic locations in southern Lebanon beyond Tuesday’s withdrawal deadline under a cease fire with Hezbollah, despite Lebanon’s government expressing frustration over the delay.
–Lebanon has indefinitely extended its flight suspension to and from Iran after initially imposing a ban February 18th, following revelations that Iran was smuggling cash to its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, through civilian flights.
–Turkey has severed all ties with Israel.
–The Trump administration has frozen funding for the Palestinian Authority’s Security Forces, a group that purportedly aims to crack down on terrorism in the West Bank but employs terrorists who have carried out attacks on Israelis.
–President Trump praised the U.S. Central Command forces for carrying out a successful air strike last weekend in Syria that targeted a senior “terrorist leader.”
–King Charles III accepted an accord of reconciliation from the leaders of several major Jewish and Muslim groups in the U.K. on Wednesday.
–U.S. and Russian officials had some diplomatic talks in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian officials present on Tuesday.
–A Canadian citizen has been charged by U.S. authorities for allegedly using a drone to take photos of a military base in Florida.
–The Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon is still infiltrating U.S. telecom networks, despite being sanctioned by U.S. authorities.
On Saturday’s “America Right Now,” host Tom Basile critiqued Democrats for opposing President Donald Trump’s agency reforms, and emphasized the need for budget cuts and a return to constitutional spending principles to restore federalism.
“It will be the policy of the United States to fight antisemitism vigorously, and to use all legal means at our disposal to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold accountable those who commit unlawful acts of harassment and violence motivated by antisemitism.”
This unequivocal declaration comes from President Donald Trump’s executive order issued earlier this month. The order gives all federal agencies exactly 60 days to propose new and muscular ways to eradicate the meteoric rise in antisemitism in the U.S.
In the year and a half since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S., according to Anti-Defamation League data, has surged by more than 200%, with more than 10,000 cases of harassment, threats, vandalism and outright violence against Jews. Of these, more than 2,000 incidents occurred on university campuses—an increase of nearly 500%.
To understand why Trump’s executive order is so important, and what exactly it can do, we must first understand the reality that preceded the election of the 47th president, namely Joe Biden’s years in the White House.
Buildings burn during riots in Minneapolis four days after the death of African-American George Floyd, May 29, 2020. Credit: Hungryogrephotos via Wikimedia Commons.
Black and white
According to many American commentators, the former vice president’s path to the Oval Office began to be paved more vigorously in the summer of 2020, when a white Minneapolis Police Department officer named Derek Chauvin used unreasonable force, causing the death of a black detainee named George Floyd.
Almost overnight, massive riots erupted in hundreds of U.S. cities, with dozens killed and more than a billion dollars in property damage. The riots were led by members of a relatively new movement called Black Lives Matter, which maintained deliberate ambiguity about its goals, leadership or any other transparency details expected of a public organization. Members of the movement accused white America of systemic racism and demanded far-reaching changes, chief among them the complete abolition of all police forces, under the slogan “Defund the Police.”
As ridiculous as it may seem, the idea gained traction, and between Floyd’s killing in May 2020 and December of that year, Black Lives Matter raised more than $10 billion, including from major corporations and large donors to the Democratic Party. The Democrats immediately rallied to the flag, praising the movement and promising to continue promoting its goals.
It didn’t matter that reports from some brave and independent media outlets showed that the movement’s leaders were using the funds mainly to buy themselves luxurious mansions. It didn’t matter that the movement’s official website clashed not only with Jews but also with the institution of the family, which—the movement declared—must be dismantled, since every family is oppressive by its very nature, and therefore children should only be raised in communal collectives. It didn’t matter that large cities that implemented the promise to dismantle the police were immediately flooded with unprecedented waves of crime and violence.
It also didn’t matter that the narrative that ignited the movement, that of police violence against blacks, was blatantly false:
Since 2015, when the U.S. began collecting precise data on policing, there have been about 10 million arrests per year, and exactly 14 unarmed black people were shot dead by police officers. Each of these cases can be examined individually, and ways can be suggested to reduce shooting of innocents, but it cannot be claimed, as members of Black Lives Matter and their associates in the Democratic Party did, that this is an epidemic of racism and violence.
None of the above data particularly interested Joe Biden and his colleagues. The presidential candidate called it a “historic movement for justice” and promised to support it and its goals.
He did not lie: On his first day as president, he signed Executive Order 13,985, which promised to allocate significant resources to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. Those who supported the president and his policies claimed that this was nothing less than a revolution to finally eradicate the racism that pervades American society.
The less enthusiastic, on the other hand, argued that while there is room for improvement, America in 2020 is light years away from that of the ’50s or ’60s, and that allocating significant resources to fight a problem that is not really noticeable will only cause social upheaval.
Almost overnight, a significant part of American institutions—giant corporations, universities and the federal government itself—aligned with the Biden administration and began to divert significant budgets, partly encouraged by the administration, to DEI.
The University of Pennsylvania, for example, announced in 2020 an initiative called Projects for Progress, designed to invest vast resources in everything related to fighting all types of discrimination, real or imagined. Or, more accurately, almost all types of discrimination.
“After DEI took hold at Penn, antisemitic fervor on campus intensified,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, former vice dean of the university’s medical school. In an article in City Journal, Goldfarb explained that all this is no coincidence.
“At the heart of DEI is a simple binary: The world is divided between oppressors and the oppressed. Proponents of DEI cast white people as oppressors and black people as the oppressed. While they apply this frame primarily to America, they often apply it to Israel, too. Apparently, Israel is a bastion of Jewish whiteness, with a racist commitment to shattering the lives of nonwhite Palestinians,” he wrote.
Danger on campus
In 2021, for example, Jay Greene, a fellow at the prestigious Heritage Foundation research institute, examined the social media accounts of 750 people holding key positions in DEI departments at 65 American universities, and found not only that almost all of them frequently shared content about Israel—despite the fact that the Jewish state, needless to say, is not supposed to play a significant role in the lives of those whose job definition is to ensure equality on campuses thousands of miles away from the Gaza Strip—but also that 96% of the content they shared about Israel was not only extremely critical but bordered on antisemitism.
A rare glimpse into the antisemitism of the DEI world was provided by Tabia Lee, a black non-Jewish woman who in 2021 was hired to lead the DEI efforts of De Anza College, near San Jose in Northern California.
In an article she wrote for the New York Post after her dismissal in 2023, Lee said that she was horrified, when she arrived at the college, to experience an atmosphere of antisemitic incitement and agitation. When she told her colleagues that Jewish students deserve treatment exactly like any other minority group, they replied that this was not true because Jews are Zionists, Zionism is racism and white supremacy, and therefore care should be taken, if Jewish events are allowed to take place at the college at all, that these events focus on Israeli injustices against Palestinians.
Lee was appalled and immediately demanded that the college officially condemn antisemitism. The college leadership refused, and after students and colleagues in the DEI department called her derogatory names such as “filthy Zionist,” Lee lost her job.
The picture she painted is painful and accurate. Before Biden’s election, systematic antisemitism on campus was rare. After the Democrats’ return to the White House, universities began establishing DEI departments at a dizzying pace, and staffed them with faculty members who saw hatred of Israel not only as a legitimate opinion but also as a moral duty of anyone who considers themselves a good progressive.
This is why so few universities lifted a finger after Oct. 7, when students raised Hamas and Hezbollah flags, set up tents in the heart of the campuses, and attacked their Jewish friends: Antisemitism in universities was the result of years of built-in policy, not a momentary and surprising outbreak.
Just as university presidents turned a blind eye to antisemitism—a blindness that cost some of them, including the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Columbia, their jobs, not to mention vast sums in donations from Jewish supporters—so did the Democrats.
On Oct. 31, 2024, for example, Republican lawmakers on the House Education and Workforce Committee published a 325-page report on the state of antisemitism in universities. The report summarized a year of interviews with hundreds of people, as well as a thorough examination of 400,000 pages of internal documents at prestigious institutions such as those of the Ivy League.
One of the most incriminating findings published in the report was a transcript of a conversation between Minouche Shafik, former president of Columbia University, and David Greenwald and Claire Shipman, the co-chairs of the university’s board of trustees.
Shafik told Greenwald and Shipman about a conversation she had with then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Shafik asked Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish politician in the U.S., what he thought the university should do with pro-Hamas students who disrupt studies on campus and harass Jews. And Schumer, as Shafik reported, said the university should do nothing, as antisemitism is a political issue that only interests Republicans.
Schumer, of course, denied the report, but it’s hard to imagine why an experienced leader such as Shafik would lie about such a matter in an internal conversation with her confidants. And even if the report is not accurate, it cannot be denied that the Biden administration did little, if anything, to ensure the safety of Jewish students on American campuses.
Which brings us back to Trump.
War on DEI
In the first weeks of his second term, Trump declared all-out war on DEI. He not only declared that every federal agency must immediately dismantle all DEI departments established in recent years, but also instructed the federal government to identify and immediately combat all DEI initiatives in the private sector that led to reverse discrimination.
Does such discrimination exist? The answer can be inferred from the panic that gripped giant companies such as Facebook, Google, Disney and others, which rushed to immediately dismantle DEI initiatives that just a few months ago boasted hundreds of employees and budgets of millions of dollars. It’s time, the president declared in several interviews, to build an American society “color-blind and based on abilities, not identities.”
And nowhere will this change be felt more prominently than in American universities: At least 240 of them in 36 states have announced, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the cancellation of all or a significant part of their DEI initiatives.
Public universities in North Carolina, for example, announced last week the cancellation of the requirement to take courses dealing with DEI to be eligible for a bachelor’s degree, and the University of Colorado removed the page dealing with DEI from its official website.
But many other universities declared war on the president and his policies, and vowed to continue on their path until further notice.
Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber, for example, chose the famous British slogan from World War II—“Keep Calm and Carry On”—which left no doubt as to who are the good guys here and who are the potential destroyers of democracy. The university, he made clear, will continue with its DEI initiatives until all the lawsuits recently filed against Trump and his presidential orders are resolved in court.
But it’s likely that Eisgruber and his fellow travelers will soon have to recalculate their route. The U.S. president and his people, explained Asaf Romirowsky, CEO of two influential academic associations—Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa—are taking campus antisemitism extremely seriously, and intend to use far-reaching measures to ensure that Hamas and Hezbollah supporters face real punishments.
“Trump’s executive order regarding antisemitism,” Romirowsky told Israel Hayom, “makes it very clear which way the wind is blowing. It specifically mentions U.S. immigration laws, which order the immediate deportation of any noncitizen who supports or encourages organizations defined as terrorist organizations.”
Since a significant number of the loudest anti-Jewish activists on campus are foreigners staying in the U.S. on student visas, Romirowsky explained that it’s likely the administration will demand their immediate deportation. And this, it’s also likely, will put universities in a sensitive position: Columbia, for example, did everything in its power to avoid identifying the students who participated in the antisemitic riots on campus last year, and ordered a brief investigation that was closed after six days, claiming it failed to identify any of the students guilty of disturbing the peace.
Given the fact that most of the rioters were documented in videos uploaded to social media, the claim is patently ridiculous, but the university administration knows that if it points to names, and students are deported as a result, it will have to deal not only with internal riots but also with a potentially huge loss of income: As of 2023, 56% of Columbia’s students were foreign students, who usually pay full tuition. The university is not eager to do anything that might lead to harming this golden goose.
In the pocket
Unfortunately for them, Romirowsky explained, Trump has even sharper tools to hit universities’ pockets. “Columbia alone,” he said, “received more than $6 billion from the federal government in the last five years in various grants. If Trump decides not to approve budgets for any academic institution that doesn’t comply with the law, it will mean the loss of vast sums.”
Trump can also significantly affect donations that constitute the bulk of universities’ capital. Columbia, for example, has a treasure chest of about $14.8 billion, managed in various investment funds. During his first term, Trump passed a law that taxed net investment income of universities whose total endowment exceeds $500,000 per student at a rate of 1.4%, which mainly affected large and wealthy universities. Last week, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who is close to Trump, introduced a bill to raise the tax rate on investment income of wealthy universities to 10%.
“Universities need to understand that the president and his people didn’t come to play games,” Romirowsky said. “When violent demonstrators impose terror against Jews on campus, and when there’s no real freedom of expression for anyone who supports Israel, our universities are in danger of turning from acclaimed academic institutions into nests of hatred and violence. The previous administration saw this process happening and encouraged it. The current administration is committed to doing everything to change direction and protect the core values that have made the U.S. and its universities renowned worldwide.”
Romirowsky added that he expects another series of steps from the administration, including real investigations against anyone who refuses to enforce the law and ensure the safety of Jewish students.
He also said he hopes to see the administration taking sanctions against Qatar, which has invested $4.7 billion in recent decades in American universities, making the country the largest foreign donor to higher education in the U.S. Qatari money, Romirowsky explained, very often leads to appointments of people with extreme antisemitic positions, as well as curricula that present Israel in a distorted and terrible light.
“It’s inconceivable that a country that supports terrorist organizations like Hamas and continues to fund America’s sworn enemies should have such extensive influence on what American students know and think about the world,” he said.
Judging by events of recent weeks, Trump understands all these threats very well. And unlike his predecessor in office, he takes them seriously.
REAL Women of Canada have put together this thorough backgrounder on the candidate who seems most likely to win the Liberal Party leadership race. While this lobby group isn’t offering an explicitly Christian perspective, that’s their general, implicit worldview.
Materialists – those who say all we are is what we are made of – would say who you are is housed in your brain. All you are, is found somewhere in there.
Except it isn’t.
Neurosurgeon Wilder “Penfield could find no part of the brain that, when stimulated, caused patients to think abstractly — to reason, think logically, do mathematics or philosophy or exercise free will.”
This isn’t an article about the soul, but it sort of is.
While you could direct these at the admissions department, it’d be even better to ask them to a recent alumni. As the author notes, college publications really put a spin on things, such that you can almost read in the worldview you are looking for. But when they are having a speaker tackle the topic of gender, is it really clear from the materials what he’ll be saying, or are you making some generous assumptions? You really may need to ask someone who was there.
(Not all the questions are gold, but I found 8 out of 10 really useful.)
President Trump’s aspirations for this frozen, mostly unpopulated island have kept it much in the news as of late. But its real news value comes from recently reported findings that could calm climate hysteria. Turns out that Greenland was once green, which means the Earth must have been a lot warmer in the past – 14 degrees warmer, according to these guys.
That said, the dates for this latest discovery are way outside of the timescale the Bible reveals – this is supposed to be a look back at between 250,000 and a million years ago – so that’s messed up. But for secularists who abide with millions of years, they have some explaining to do as to why 3 degrees warmer would end the Earth today, but 14 degrees warmer didn’t do so back whenever. And for Christians, we can stand on God’s promise in Gen. 8:22 that the end the climate cataclysmists are predicting simply will not come:
“Gen-8-22&version=ESV”>Gen-8-22“>As long as the earth endures, Gen-8-22&version=ESV”>Gen-8-22“>seedtime and harvest, Gen-8-22&version=ESV”>Gen-8-22“>cold and heat, Gen-8-22&version=ESV”>Gen-8-22“>summer and winter, Gen-8-22&version=ESV”>Gen-8-22“>day and night Gen-8-22&version=ESV”>Gen-8-22“>will never cease.”
In this short 20-minute film, a limbless man (played by Christian apologist Nick Vujicic) is forced to get by as a circus sideshow. But that changes when he is recognized as beautiful by a rival circus owner, and welcomed to stay with this “Butterfly Circus.”
This is a PG film, in part because the backstory of one character involves prostitution (nothing sexual is shown – we just see her pregnant and being shown the brothel door). The other reason parents are needed is because of how the film could be misinterpreted by children. Young viewers (and old ones too) need to remember that the Butterfly Circus owner recognized the limbless man as beautiful at the start of the film.
To say it another way, it wasn’t anything the limbless man did, or potentially could do, that made him beautiful. We are all called to develop whatever talents God has given us, but it’s not our abilities that give us value or make us beautiful. Our beauty and our worth come from God’s valuation of us – what He esteems is valuable indeed!
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