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
Pastor and Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe once said: “If you look to others you will be distracted; if you look to yourselves you will be discouraged; but if you look to Christ you’ll be delighted.”1 As I read this quote I thought that Wiersbe’s analysis was spot on. Let’s take a minute to look at each of these “D” words.
If you look to others you will be distracted
So often we make decisions in life based on what we think others may think about us and the decisions we are thinking of making. This mindset as a Christian can often get us distracted from making decisions based upon what Jesus would think, which is really how we should be making all of our decisions in life. It often comes down to we are more concerned about what will others think about us if we act in a certain way more than what would Jesus think about us. Thus, by looking to others not only can we get distracted but we can displease the Lord by putting others before Him. I pray that all of us will fix our eyes on Jesus when making decisions because in the final analysis what He thinks must always trump what others may think.
If you look to yourselves you will be discouraged
As a Christian I know that when I look to myself I can often get discouraged because I often fall short of the high standards I place upon myself to emulate and please Jesus. While I know how special I am to Jesus and how much He loves me, sometimes I forget that Jesus knows that as a human being I will often fail to follow His will and bring Him glory. Instead of condemning myself when I fail, which will always lead to discouragement, I need to just confess my failure, repent, and know that Jesus will forgive me and will still wonderfully use me in the future.
Satan would like nothing more than to keep me discouraged by having me wallow in my failures. But thankfully I know who I am in Christ and the quicker I take my focus off of myself and place it on Jesus, the sooner I can find peace for my soul by knowing His love for me is not performance based but based on being His child. So, Christian, the next time you fail Christ don’t think of yourself as a failure and get discouraged, but as a work in progress, striving for more holiness, and resolve to do better the next time.
If you look to Christ you will be delighted.
Now for the wonderful part! When we look to Jesus we can be delighted because we are fixing our eyes on, not only the Creator of the universe, but the One who saved our soul from eternal punishment in hell. There are so many delightful thoughts that come to my mind when I think about Jesus. For example, I know that I am eternally secure in Christ and heading to heaven; despite my many failures. I know that I am a treasured possession to Jesus. I know that Jesus has gone on ahead to prepare a mansion in heaven (the new earth) for me. I know that Jesus has given me the great privilege to work for Him and bring Him glory. And I know that my name is written in the Lamb’s book of life! And there are so many other wonderful thoughts that Jesus has toward me. In fact, according to (Psalm 139:18): “Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand…” My friends I can think of nothing in this world that is more delightful than looking and talking to Jesus. Yes, He is that great!
…Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. MATTHEW 20:26, 27
The essence of Christ’s teaching concerning greatness was this: true greatness among humans must be found in character, not in ability or position. While a few philosophers and religionists of pre-Christian times had noted the fallacy in man’s ideas of dominion and status, it was Christ who defined and demonstrated true greatness. “Let him be your minister: let him be your servant.” It is that simple and that easy—and that difficult! We have but to follow Christ in service to the human race, a selfless service that seeks only to serve, and greatness will be ours! That is all, but it is too much, for it runs counter to all that is Adam in us. Adam still feels the instinct for dominion; he hears deep within him the command, “Replenish the earth and subdue it.” Therefore he does not take kindly to the command to serve! Sin must go and Adam must give way to Christ: so says our Lord in effect. By sin men have lost dominion, even their very right to it, until they win it back by humble service. Though redeemed from death and hell by the vicarious labor of Christ on the cross, still the right to have dominion must be won by each man separately. Each must fulfill a long apprenticeship as a servant before he is fit to rule. After Christ had served (and His service included death) God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name. As a man He served and won His right to have dominion. He knew where true greatness lay—and we do not.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2015). Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (p. 57). Moody Publishers.
We have an authority from Jesus himself, to say, that he, and he alone, is the manna of the gospel: for in his discourse with the Jews, he called himself, in allusion to the manna of the wilderness, “the living bread,” and “the bread of God, which came from heaven;” of which, he said, whosoever should eat, should live for ever. But when Jesus imparts this blessed food to his people, it is hidden. And, indeed, many of the properties of it are made more blessed, from the very nature of its secrecy. My soul, ponder over the subject a few moments this evening, and behold in it, how truly gracious it is in the Lord, to hand to his people in secret those enjoyments of himself, of which the world is altogether unconscious. Mark the outlines of it, and trace it in its effects in thine own experience. As Jesus was preached to the world, both by the law and the prophets, and when appearing in substance of our flesh manifested forth his glory, yet was he known only to his disciples: the great mass of men neither knew him, nor regarded him. If he was preached in types and sacrifices, under the Old Testament dispensation, or in open gospel under the New, few believed the report: the cry still went forth, “Is not this the Carpenter’s son?” Say, my soul, is not Jesus still “the hidden manna?” Dost thou discover him in his holy word? still is his word hidden: for though it is read openly by all, yet the mystery of it is known but to few. Doth the Holy Ghost testify to thee of Jesus, in thy desires after him; in thy communions with him; in the actings of thy faith upon him; and in thy enjoyments from him? Nevertheless in all these, however certain and refreshing to thee, thy pleasures are hidden from the world. This is mercy, personal and peculiar: strangers do not, cannot intermeddle with this joy. Precious Lord Jesus! give me larger and fuller enjoyments of thee day by day; and night by night let my secret and retired meditations of thee be sweet! Oh! for grace to live more and more upon those hidden privileges, and more and more to prize them. Come to me, dear Lord! and give me such rich participations of thyself, in the fulness of thy person, blood, and righteousness, that receiving from thee the hidden manna, I may say in thine own precious words, “I have meat to eat which the world knows not of.”
Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, p. 59). Thomas Wardle.
You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand cavilling at it. This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to his easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in vain-glory, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; he leads the way in the path of sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if he carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? The Via Crucis is the way of safety; fear not to tread its thorny paths.
Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers, or lined with velvet, it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colours, it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of sorrows tried the load. Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus carried it, and it will smell sweetly; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble. The Lord help you to bow your spirit in submission to the divine will ere you fall asleep this night, that waking with to-morrow’s sun, you may go forth to the day’s cross with the holy and submissive spirit which becomes a follower of the Crucified.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: 3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; (perhaps the priest was otherwise occupied, and then the leper must wait until he could leave the camp and come to him, but Jesus is always ready to hear the sinner’s cry. Moreover all that the priest could do was to pronounce a man ceremonially clean who was already healed, but Jesus actually heals the sin-sick soul) and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; 4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: 6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: 7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. (See how the two streams of blood and water meet in the type as they do yet more fully in Jesus. He, as slain for us, purges away our guilt; and, as living for us, he is our righteousness. “He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” He came not by water only, but by water and blood, and we also are now born of water and of the Spirit. Now also we fly in the open field, and a new song is in our mouth, even praise unto our God.)
IN the Evangelists we meet with the cure of a leper by our Lord, in which the Jewish rites and ceremonies are alluded to.
MARK 1:40–45
40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Here was faith enough to believe that Jesus could remove an incurable disease, but there lingered a sad “if” in his faith, like a dead fly in the pot of ointment. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus accepted the imperfect faith, and gave in return a perfect cure. 41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. (What a blessed “I will.” Christ’s will is omnipotent. He can save us even with his wish. He can save us at this present moment.) 42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. (Salvation is instantaneous. The moment we believe in Jesus we have eternal life.) 43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; 44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. (While the law stood our Lord observed it; how much more should we obey the gospel in every point of precept and ordinance.) 45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter. (Jesus was modest and retiring, and sought not honour of men. But the man’s gratitude would not let him be silent. He told his story, and the news ran along like fire over a prairie—it blazed abroad, to the praise of the Good Physician.)
Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin,
And born unholy and unclean;
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall
Corrupts the race, and taints us all.
Behold I fall before Thy face,
My only refuge is Thy grace;
No outward forms can make me clean;
The leprosy lies deep within.
No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast,
Nor hyssop branch, nor sprinkling priest,
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea,
Can wash the dismal stain away.
Jesus, my God! Thy blood alone
Hath power sufficient to atone;
Thy blood can make me white as snow;
No Jewish types could cleanse me so.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 108). Baker Book House.
14 Over against all such improper and sinful boasting, Paul sets an entirely different boasting of his own. It is a boasting “in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So important is this cause of boasting that, says Paul, it is inconceivable that he could boast in anything else. It is striking how much of the gospel is involved in this statement. The cross speaks of the atonement necessitated by man’s sin (see above on v. 12). The full name of the Savior speaks of the significance of his person and the role he played, meaning literally “God who saves, the Messiah.” Finally, the pronoun “our” speaks of the personal aspects of Christ’s redemption, for it becomes “ours” through the response of faith. The legalizers had a motive for their actions. Well, so did Paul. Only his motive was not that of a fear of persecution or of a desire to boast in statistics. He was boasting in the cross of Christ because of what the cross had accomplished in his life. As Paul looks back on his life he realizes that before his conversion he was exactly like the legalizers. Once he, too, was ruled by externals. He, too, gloried in human attainment (Philippians 3:3–6). But when he met Jesus, all this passed for him, so much so that he is able even to apply the bold image of crucifixion to it. The world with its selfish and fleshly attitudes was crucified to him and he to the world. In its place came Christ alone—Christ, who is everything.
Boice, J. M. (1976). Galatians. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol. 10, p. 507). Zondervan Publishing House.
14 Paul has just expressed what he considers to be improper or misguided boasting. Now he suggests where appropriate boasting or exultation should center: “in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. Ro 5:3–5, 11; 1 Co 1:18–31). It is only in the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that redemption is to be found; it cannot come by circumcision as a means of law observance (cf. 2:16–21). Focusing on the cross ends all forms of legalistic observance, as Paul has maintained throughout this letter to the Galatians (1:4; 2:20; 3:1, 13; 6:12, 14). Thus, contrary to the base motivations of the Judaizers, who want only to advance their own cause among their Jewish brethren by means of “capturing” these Gentiles, Paul boasts in the very thing that brings him persecution (cf. 1:10; 5:11; 6:12), and the only thing that brings one into reconciliation with the one true and living God. Further, identification with Jesus and his cross brings one into different relationship to the world (kosmos, GK 3180). In Christ, this “mode of life which is characterized by earthly advantages, viewed as obstacles to righteousness” (Burton, 354), this world system with its claims to one’s time and energy and its supposed entitlements and position is “crucified” to the believer and the believer crucified to it. This is not to suggest that Paul means a distancing oneself from the physical world, an opting out of involvement with God’s material creation. Rather, what Paul has in mind is a disengagement from human power structures or from wealth sinfully used as a means to advance one’s own agenda at the expense of others around you (cf. Mk 10:42).
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. 637–638). Zondervan.
Glorying in the cross (v. 14)
What a striking contrast the apostle Paul presents: ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (v. 14). What for others was an object of loathing and disgust was for Paul a thing in which to glory. Not so much in the cross itself, of course—it was nothing but a piece of wood—but in the amazing death that took place on it and the amazing person whose death it was. The object of Paul’s glorying was the crucified Jesus, the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him (2:20). The cross of Jesus—in this sense—was what Paul trusted in, rejoiced in, revelled in, lived for. It filled his horizons, engrossed his attention, and absorbed his time and energy. It was, in an entirely healthy sense, his obsession. And rightly so! Whether we consider the exaltedness of the sufferer, the wonder of his love, the perfection of his atonement, its worldwide scope, or the greatness of the salvation that has come to us through it, there is nothing more reasonable or right than that we should ‘glory … in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (KJV). It truly is the very heart of Christianity. Paul goes on to tell us how the Saviour’s cross had entirely changed his relationship to the world: ‘through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world’ (v. 14). ‘World’ here does not mean the created universe. Far from dealing a death-blow to our relationship to the physical world, our union with the crucified Christ actually enhances our enjoyment of it:
Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow
Flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.
No one has a truer, deeper appreciation of the created order than the Christian who sees in it the Father’s world and is constantly moved to worship by its magnificence and beauty. So what, then, does Paul mean by ‘the world’? He is thinking about a human society that is aligned with the evil one, is under the dominion of sin, and is thoroughly anti-God in its thinking, practices, and religion. To that world Paul, and every other true believer, has been ‘crucified’. We no longer share its outlook, live by its principles, adopt its philosophies, love the things it loves, or take its idols for our gods. Through union with the Christ who died for us our relationship to it has entirely changed. We still live in it, but we are no longer of it. Grace has made us citizens of heaven. As a consequence, our attention is now engrossed and our lives and worship shaped by the values, religion, interests, laws, and God of that altogether different and better world. And we are thankful! For although we feel the pull of the world and confess with shame its continuing power to attract us and to tempt us, we do not want to be of it as we were before. It is a world in rebellion against God, bearing its citizens to destruction, and we are glad that through the cross of our Redeemer we have for ever escaped its corrupting and damning influences.
Campbell, D. (2009). Opening Up Galatians (pp. 119–121). Day One Publications.
Over against this type of “glorying” Paul now sets his own: 14. As for myself, however, far be it for me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
The Cross: Paul’s Only Reason for Glorying
(1). Why Paul Glories Only in the Cross
The cross is about the last thing which natural man would ever have selected as a reason for boasting. It was “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23). The cross exposes man’s desperate state, his utter bankruptcy that made such suffering necessary. Accordingly, it reveals the folly of all human pride. It teaches man to say: “I never knew myself as a sinner, nor recognized Christ as my Savior,
Until upon the cross I saw
My God, who died to meet the law
That I had broken; then I saw
My sin, and then my Savior.”
No one is ever able to see on that cross “the wonder of God’s glorious love” unless he also sees “his own unworthiness,” and “pours contempt on all his pride.” By God’s marvelous grace Paul had come to view that cross as: a. The Mirror, and this not only of his own unworthiness but also of God’s resplendent attributes, that is, of such “excellencies” as God’s righteousness which must receive its due (Rom. 8:3, 4); God’s power and wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24); and his love, mercy, and grace (2 Cor. 5:19–21; Gal. 2:20); all of these in sublime harmony with each other (Ps. 85:10). b. The Means of Redemption in its most comprehensive sense (Justification, Sanctification, Glorification). See such passages as Rom. 3:25, 26; 6:6; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 2:16; Col. 1:20; 2:14. Cf. Heb. 9:22; Rev. 7:14. c. The Magnet by means of which men of every tribe and nation, being drawn to Christ Crucified, are also drawn together as one body (Gal. 3:23–29; Eph. 2:16, 18; Col. 3:11. Cf. John 3:13, 14; 12:32). d. The Model for men to imitate. The redemptive acts can never be imitated, but the spirit of self-sacrifice and love that is revealed in these acts should be reflected in the hearts and lives of God’s children (Rom. 15:1, 2; 2 Cor. 8:9; Eph. 5:1, 2; Phil. 2:5–8). Cf. John 13:14, 34; 1 Peter 2:21–24. Is it any wonder, then, that Paul glories only in the cross?
(2). How Paul Glories in the Cross
a. By surrendering himself to Christ Crucified as his own Lord and Savior (Gal. 2:20); b. By praying that the power of the crucified and risen Savior may more and more assert itself in his own life (Phil. 3:7–16); c. By proclaiming the crucified and risen Lord—notice full title “our Lord Jesus Christ”—wherever he is sent (Gal. 1:16), the love of Christ constraining him to do so (1 Cor. 9:16; 2 Cor. 5:14); and d. By courageously defending the gospel of Christ Crucified over against every attack upon it (as is shown by this very epistle to the Galatians, in its entirety).
(3). What Effect Paul’s Glorying in the Cross Has upon the Relation between Paul and the World
a. By this cross, says Paul, “the world has been crucified to me.” He does not say, “I crucified the world,” but “the world has been crucified to me.” In other words, he bears testimony to the fact that the Holy Spirit, by means of the pure doctrine of the cross, had wrought a mighty work in his soul. The “world,” that is, all those earthly pleasures and treasures, honors and values, that tend to draw the soul away from Christ, had lost their charm for Paul. The world had become dead to Paul. I am in complete agreement with Calvin when, in commenting on this expression, he states: “This exactly agrees with the language which Paul employs on another occasion,” and then refers to Phil. 3:7, 8: “Nevertheless, such things as once were gains to me these have I counted loss for Christ. Yes, what is more, I certainly do count all things to be sheer loss because of the all-surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all these things, and I am still counting them refuse, in order that I may gain Christ” (my translation, not Calvin’s). b. Paul adds, “and I (have been crucified) to the world.” Logic would seem to demand that, as far as possible, the two statements (a. and b.) be interpreted, in such a manner that the words “has—or: have—been crucified” have the same meaning in both cases. Hence, this second clause must mean that Paul had become dead to the world, an object of contempt to all those who place their confidence in earthly pleasures and treasures, honors and values, that tend to draw the soul away from Christ. Duncan expresses it very aptly: “Paul’s ideals and outlook have now become so spiritual and unworldly that the world can ignore him, just as if he had ceased to be.”
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Galatians (Vol. 8, pp. 243–245). Baker Book House.
Leviticus 15:25 — As we read these different maladies, some of them may draw our attention (e.g. women who have an issue of blood). It’s interesting because we read about a woman with this issue several days ago (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25–34; in a few weeks we’ll read about her again in Luke 8:43–48). The woman was forbidden from touching Jesus (Leviticus 15:11), so she sought to touch only the hem of His garment. Interestingly, just like the lepers, this woman would also need to offer a sacrifice (Leviticus 15:29). Makes you wonder what the priests thought when people came to offer their sacrifice, and upon being asked why, they said “Jesus healed me.”
Leviticus 16:2 — Aaron, the High Priest, was limited in his access to the LORD. The Day of Atonement is the day that he could come and offer atonement for himself, his house, and all the congregation of Israel (Leviticus 16:17).
Leviticus 16:10 — The scapegoat or in Hebrew, Azazel, has entered Jewish mythology.
While there are different versions in the Book of Enoch, the Book of the Giants, and other pseudepigraphal books, the story is essentially that Azazel was the name of one of the fallen angels who sinned in Genesis chapter 6. As a curse on his sin, Azazel was forced to take the form of a goat-like demon. This myth is not supported by the Bible and is not compatible with what the Bible says about Azazel or the scapegoat.
Leviticus 16:22 — The scapegoat was fulfilled in Jesus, our vicarious atonement, who takes our sins away (John 1:29, I John 3:5). How far did Jesus take them away? Psalm 103:12!
Mark 7:21-23 — Do any of these things occur in your life?
evil thoughts
adulteries
fornications
murders
thefts
covetousness
wickedness
deceit
lasciviousness
an evil eye
blasphemy
pride
foolishness
Check your heart – which spirit is controlling you?
Psalm 40:17 — It’s humbling to say you’re poor and needy. But God dwells with the humble (Isaiah 57:15).
Proverbs 10:14 — What’s a way you can lay up knowledge today?
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I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)
Here is a mutual interest. Each belongs to each. God is the portion of His people, and the chosen people are the portion of their God. The saints find in God their chief possession, and He reckons them to be His peculiar treasure. What a mine of comfort lies in this fact for each believer!
This happy condition of mutual interest leads to mutual consideration. God will always think of His own people, and they will always think of Him. This day my God will perform all things for me; what can I do for Him? My thoughts ought to run toward Him, for He thinketh upon me. Let me make sure that it is so and not be content with merely admitting that so it ought to be.
This, again, leads to mutual fellowship. God dwells in us, and we dwell in Him; He walks with us, and we walk with God….
Oh, for grace to treat the Lord as my God: to trust Him and to serve Him, as His Godhead deserves! Oh, that I could love, worship, adore, and obey Jehovah in spirit and in truth! This is my heart’s desire. When I shall attain to it, I shall have found my heaven. Lord, help me! Be my God in helping me to know Thee as my God, for Jesus’ sake.
I hear it so often: “I’m ready for the Rapture.” I must admit that I say it quite often myself. The world situation seems to get worse and worse each day.
The hatred toward Israel is supernaturally evil, and there are so many people who hate Donald Trump because he’s trying to get America back on the right track. There’s a war between Russia and Ukraine, and Hamas just spreads its evil violence everywhere. Syria has just had an upheaval of their leadership; Assad ran off to Russia for protection while another group of terrorists took over. It’s just a matter of time until Isaiah 17:1 is fulfilled and Damascus becomes a ruinous heap.
It amazes me that so many people seem to support all things that are opposed to God. Not only politically but morally. The “alphabet” group who want respect and acceptance but do nothing to earn respect are truly in need of salvation.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).
That seems to describe life today. What is it that causes people to choose evil ways over good?
Satan is the one who influences us to choose evil. He has been around since the beginning, and he is opposed to God. Satan encourages the spirit of antichrist. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:18).
We are living in the last days. The Apostle John wrote those words many centuries ago, and it seems as if he was expecting Jesus to return at any moment. Brothers and sisters, we should have that same mindset. It’s obvious that the spirit of antichrist is strong, and that should tell us that the Rapture is nearing.
What does John mean when he uses the term “antichrist”? The Greek word is “antichristos,” and according to Vines Expository Dictionary, it can mean either “against Christ” or “instead of Christ.” We can see that spirit all around us. So many people choose to worship the god of this world, Satan, and allow his evil to rule. Instead of repenting of sin and letting Christ rule in one’s life, many choose to embrace the god of self and worship the ways of the world.
Until Christ calls us Home, we have to live in this world. Temptations and sin are all around us, and the evil seems to be growing stronger. It would be a relief if we didn’t have to live where so many people are opposed to Jesus and see Christians as a threat to their “fun.” In many countries, it is unlawful to follow Christ. Persecution is strong, and I admire any Christian who can rise above the persecution and stand firm on their faith. Jesus knew that His followers would face many challenges, and His final prayer included a prayer for you and me. He asked for God the Father to protect us.
“And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth…. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (John 17:13-17, 20).
If all Christians were gone from the world, there would be great tribulation. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and He restrains the full spirit of antichrist from controlling all people. A day is coming when all Christians will be taken Home to be with the Lord, and students of prophecy can see it will be soon. Evil is growing stronger, many preachers are preaching to tickle ears instead of standing solid on Scripture, and the evil hatred of Israel is growing stronger. These are all attitudes that tell us time is growing short.
The spirit of antichrist is powerful but has no power over the true Christ. Christians must not embrace the world but be strong in our faith and follow Christ without wavering. There will be a man who is more than the spirit of antichrist. He will be known as the Antichrist. It’s my belief that this man is alive today and will only show himself after Christians are raptured.
The Apostle Paul spent three weeks in Thessalonica and taught the new believers there about the Rapture. Life held troubles for them, and they became concerned that they had missed the Rapture. They listened to false teachers who confused God’s truth, so Paul wrote to straighten out their thinking.
“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
The King James wording is a bit hard to understand, so let’s see it in the New King James. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7, NKJ).
Only God can restrain sin, so we can be sure it is God the Holy Spirit restraining the evil that will take over the earth. Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so when we are taken Home in the Rapture, the Antichrist will have nothing to restrain his evil. Don’t misunderstand me; the Holy Spirit will still be active on earth, and people will come to faith during the Tribulation, but they will not be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It will be very difficult for them.
I would like to rush the Rapture. This world is getting darker and more wicked every day. Prophecy is being fulfilled rapidly, and it’s hard to keep up with it all. The pieces are all falling into place quickly. As we watch the signs of the times, we can see that Israel is under tremendous attack, but they are beginning to get ready to rebuild the Temple, and the Anti-Christ will allow that to happen. He will occupy the Temple, causing the Abomination of Desolation described by Daniel and by Jesus to happen. We can also see the stage being set for the Ezekiel war.
AI will certainly play a huge part in the final days, and I believe it is making the way for the Mark of the Beast. These are things that will take place after the Rapture. Brothers and sisters, the Rapture is our Blessed Hope. God has not appointed us to wrath, but Christ will take His bride to be with Him to protect us.
“Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee” (Titus 2:12-15).
Only God knows when the Rapture will take place. It isn’t dependent upon a day or Jewish feast, but it is dependent upon a number. When Jesus walked this earth, He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies. The Scribes and Pharisees studied the Law and the Prophets but twisted God’s words to fit their own self-interest. Many modern preachers do that same thing. Because Christ, the Messiah, was rejected by the Jewish leaders, the nation was blinded, so they couldn’t accept Him. At that time, God turned His focus from Israel to Christians, but that will change after the Rapture. God’s focus will return to Israel, and when they call upon Jesus as their Messiah, He will fight for them. Much will happen before then. The Rapture must happen first. If you desire to rush the Rapture, then share the Gospel with others; bring them to faith in Christ.
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25).
Be sure of your own faith and have answers for questions you will be asked. Prepare in advance, and pray continually.
God doesn’t want anybody to die without coming to salvation through Jesus. Sometimes it seems as if God is very slow to take us Home, but that’s because He wants everyone to have the opportunity for salvation.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:19).
We can’t rush the Rapture, but we can share the Gospel and give others the opportunity to come to Christ before it’s too late. Maybe that is rushing it.
Keep listening for His call for all Christians to join Him in eternity. What a day that will be!
Join Pastor Jack and special guest Ken Ham for an exciting conversation that covers topics from gender, evolution, abortion, creationism, and the government. Ken Ham is the Founder CEO of Answers in Genesis and its two popular attractions: the acclaimed Creation Museum and the internationally known Ark Encounter, which features a life-size 510-foot-long Noah’s Ark—sometimes described as the “8th Wonder of the Modern World.” Each year, the two attractions host over 1.5 million guests. Ken Ham is also an in-demand Christian speaker and interview guest and has authored over 30 books. Ham became well known throughout America for his 2014 evolution/creation debate with Bill Nye, TV’s “The Science Guy.” Ken Ham hosts the daily radio program Answers on over 1,000 stations. He’s also the founder of the award-winning Answers magazine. In 2020, Ham launched Answers TV, an ambitious streaming service. His website, AnswersInGenesis.org, has twice won the top award from the National Religious Broadcasters for Best Website.
O come, my soul, bless thou the Lord thy maker, And all within me bless His holy name; Bless thou the Lord, forget not all His mercies, His pardoning grace and saving love proclaim.
Refrain
Bless Him forever, wondrous in might, Bless Him, His servants that in His will delight.
Good is the Lord and full of kind compassion, Most slow to anger, plenteous in love; Rich is His grace to all that humbly seek Him, Boundless and endless as the heav’ns above.
His love is like a father’s to his children, Tender and kind to all who fear His name; For well He knows our weakness and our frailty, He knows that we are dust, He knows our frame.
We fade and die like flow’rs that grow in beauty, Like tender grass that soon will disappear; But evermore the love of God is changeless, Still shown to those who look to Him in fear.
High in the heav’ns His throne is fixed forever, His kingdom rules o’er all from pole to pole; Bless ye the Lord through all His wide dominion, Bless His most holy name, O thou my soul.
Science Museum in London Says Legos Are “Anti-LGBT” How are simple Lego bricks “anti-LGBT”? Well, to answer that question, you have to understand how these activists think. They look for oppression in anything that reinforces “heteronormativity.”
Orbán rejects Ukrainian EU membership Ukraine should not be allowed to become a member of the EU, if Hungary gets to decide. This was announced by the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his annual speech to the nation.
Coast Guard on site after suspected sabotage The police investigation into damage to a data cable off the east coast of Gotland, within Sweden’s economic zone, continued on Saturday. The police announced on Friday that a preliminary investigation into sabotage had been initiated. There were no suspects at the time. The cable runs between Germany and Finland.
Last 6 living hostages of ceasefire’s first phase released by Hamas, return safely to Israel Israeli citizens Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed were released from captivity in Gaza by the Hamas terrorist organization on Saturday and returned to Israel to reunite with their families. “Our hearts are bursting with excitement, and we embrace the families. Their return is a moment of joy and relief for their families and for all of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in the evening. Most of the hostages emerged somewhat frail and had lost a substantial amount of weight.
Israel’s National Digital Agency warns: Prepare for quantum cyberattacks on critical data The Israeli National Digital Agency has asked government organizations to prepare for the growing threat of quantum-computing cyberattacks. Such sophisticated attacks could potentially undermine Israel’s critical encrypted state and military data. “The quantum threat is not a distant, futuristic scenario but an immediate reality requiring swift and comprehensive action,” … Israel’s growing focus on quantum-computing threats is linked to global developments in the United States and beyond.
Egypt to unveil two-phase counter proposal to Trump’s post-war Gaza plan The Egyptian government is reportedly seeking to present a counterproposal to U.S. President Donald Trump’s post-war Gaza plan to resettle two million Gazans in other nations while the coastal strip is rebuilt under the U.S. administration. Egypt wants Gaza’s population to remain in the Strip while it is rebuilt through international efforts. However, the majority of Gaza’s buildings have been seriously damaged or destroyed as a result of the war and Hamas terrorists embedding themselves in civilian structures. Therefore, it is unclear where Egypt believes Gazans should reside during the restriction, which is expected to last more than one decade.
Eliya returned from captivity – to discover that his girlfriend is alive Eliya Cohen, a resident of Tzur Hadassah who was released Saturday from Hamas captivity, met his girlfriend Ziv for the first time since the October 7 massacre. In meeting Ziv, Eliya discovered that she was not killed in the “bomb shelter of death” during the massacre, but survived the ordeal. Eliya and Ziv attended the Nova music festival in the early hours of October 7. When the terrorists arrived, the two hid in a nearby bomb shelter, where they were fired on by Hamas terrorists. ZIv succeeded in surviving by hiding under the dead bodies around her, and Eliya was kidnapped to Gaza.
Hamas’s Grotesque Parading of Hostage Bodies Shows True Face of Their Vile Ideology To be clear, this was not about returning remains to grieving families. It was a calculated, sadistic performance deliberately designed to inflict maximum pain and suffering on those who had spent over 500 days praying for the safe return of their loved ones. It was barbarism incarnate, a pageant of death, an orgy of evil, orchestrated by men who claim to represent God but whose actions reveal them as the ultimate desecrators of His name.
Elon Musk calls for deorbit of International Space Station as soon as possible When pressed about whether or not he meant to up the current schedule that calls for it to be safely brought down after 2030, Musk said, “The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend two years from now.”
Few Non-visitors Are Aware of the 3,500-Year-Old Obelisk in NY’s Central Park Nestled amidst the lush greenery of Central Park lies the oldest outdoor monument in New York City: Cleopatra’s Needle. The tale of how this imposing ancient Egyptian obelisk got there, as well as how it got its name, could easily be the subject of a Hollywood blockbuster. … the 3,500-year-old obelisk was actually one of a pair, crafted during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III in about 1450 BC.
‘He’s a real general’: How Trump chose Dan Caine to be top US military officer Dan Caine may not have been on Washington’s radar before Friday night. But President Donald Trump’s fascination with the retired three-star general, his surprise pick to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appears to go back to their first meeting in Iraq in 2018. Caine, then the deputy commander of a special operations task force fighting Islamic State, told the president that the militant group could be destroyed in just a week, Trump recalled during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019. He was most recently the associate director for military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency, before his retirement late last year. But it was his time in Iraq from 2018 to 2019 that helped him gain Trump’s attention.
Trump says Zelensky and Putin must ‘get together’ Trump’s comments marked a shift from criticizing Zelensky as a “dictator,” after the Ukrainian president complained that his country — invaded by Russia in 2022 — had been left out of talks between U.S. and Russian officials. “President Putin and President Zelensky are going to have to get together. Because you know what? We want to stop killing millions of people,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Pentagon Purge: Trump Fires Chairman Of Joint Chiefs, Navy Chief And Other Top Brass Making good on a campaign pledge to shake up the senior military ranks to ensure a focus on his policy priorities, President Trump on Friday night took the extraordinary step of firing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and five more senior Pentagon officers. Hegseth said military lawyers put “his or her own priorities in front of the war fighters, their promotions, their medals, in front of having the backs of those making the tough calls on the front lines.”
Kash Patel Is Already Making Huge Changes At The FBI After his swearing-in, he gave a not-so-subtle speech, showing that he’s ready to handle the media’s smears. “I know the media’s in here, and if you have a target, that target’s right here,” he said, pointing to himself. “It’s not the men and women at the FBI.” “You’ve written everything you possibly can about me that’s fake, malicious, slanderous, and defamatory,” he continued. “Keep it coming — bring it on. But leave the men and women, the FBI out of it. They deserve better.”He also promised that a new day at the FBI has started. … on Friday, he ordered the transfer of 1,500 agents and staff from the bureau’s Washington, D.C., headquarters to field offices across the country.
California’s High Speed Rail To Face Audit, US Transportation Chief Says Duffy said California’s high-speed rail has so far consumed nearly $16 billion in 16 years, with almost nothing to show for it, while timelines and budgets have mushroomed, more than tripling since the project was introduced in 2008. The state rail authority reports it has spent $13 billion from July 2006 through June 2024, while recent estimates for completion run as high as $130 billion.
The Answer To 1913 Is 2025: 3 Charts That Show Why The Income Tax, The IRS, & The Fed Should All Be Abolished It is not a coincidence that a federal income tax and the Federal Reserve were both established in 1913. Since that time, we have piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and that is precisely the outcome that the system was designed to produce. This year, we are seeing things get proposed in Washington D.C. that once would have been unthinkable. For example, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just told Fox News that President Trump wants to “abolish the Internal Revenue Service”… it is being reported that “approximately 7,000 probationary workers” at the IRS are about to be hitting the bricks…
Revealed: the true scale of Britain’s illegal drug use Ketamine usage more than doubled in England last year amid the rising popularity of designer “drug cocktails,” The Telegraph can reveal…Almost 25 tons of Ketamine were consumed in England last year, up from 10.6 tons in 2023.
Message to DOGE: FDA, Pfizer and Moderna committed fraud during the approval process for the mRNA covid “vaccines” The FDA enabled Pfizer and Moderna to avoid expert scrutiny and public scrutiny by not requiring them to inform the public and the US President that their covid injections were gene therapies, not vaccines. The FDA allowed Pfizer and Moderna to bypass the usual approval process for gene therapies, avoiding the submission of additional safety studies, and instead approved their products through the wrong committee, resulting in illegal and wrongful approvals.
A major shake-up is underway at MSNBC as the network’s new president has canceled far-left prime-time host Joy Reid’s show, “The ReidOut,” multiple sources familiar with the changes confirmed to The New York Times.
Reid’s final episode is planned for sometime this week, according to sources, adding that her prime-time spot will be swapped out with several anchors, including political commentator Symone Sanders Townsend, former Democratic strategist and former chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele, and journalist Alicia Menendez.
The move signals Rebecca Kutler’s effort to overhaul MSNBC after being named the network’s president earlier this month. Ratings have plummeted since Trump secured the White House in last November’s presidential election. Many hosts, including Reid, have been visibly struggling with severe cases of “TDS.”
“Joy Reid’s show getting canceled is devastating news for the left. Now where will they go for their daily dose of race-baiting lies and far-left conspiracy theories?!” journalist Breanna Morello wrote on X.
Joy Reid’s show getting canceled is devastating news for the left.
Now where will they go for their daily dose of race baiting lies and far-left conspiracy theories?!
The crazed TV host has been one of the loudest Trump bashers in corporate media and still does not have enough common sense to understand the Overton Window shifted last summer from artificially being held at the left to now center-right.
Yet, to this day, she continues to spread far-left misinformation and disinformation propaganda, even as ratings plummet—not just for her show, but for the entire network.
Nielsen Media Research data shows that viewership for the ReidOut show has crashed 50% since Trump won the election.
The latest cable news ratings as of Feb. 20 show that MSNBC was ahead of CNN but well behind Fox News in the prime-time news race.
Cable News Ratings Thu Feb 20
Average Viewers & Share
Total
1⃣@FoxNews 3,220,250
2⃣@MSNBC 1,040,125
3⃣@CNN 543,750
Here’s some of the looney batshit crazy toxic propaganda the woke host (soon to be unemployed) pushed to the American people:
And it gets worse:
Oh – and remember when this happened?
Never forget that when Joy Reid got in trouble for stuff she had written on an old blog, she claimed time-traveling Russians hacked her blog and wrote all that stuff in her own voice to make her look bad, and everyone at NBC was fine with that. https://t.co/fme7Bh5t8S
Back to Kutler, a former senior executive at CNN, who has made it very clear that MSNBC faces severe headwinds in the Trump era.
“Our jobs are hard on a normal day, and these are not normal times,” Kutler told MSNBC employees on her first day. This comes as the dying network is being spun off by cable giant Comcast, NBCUniversal’s parent company.
More shake-ups at MSNBC are ahead. NYT explained:
Other major changes are expected at MSNBC. In January, Rachel Maddow, the network’s best-known anchor, returned to hosting her 9 p.m. show five days a week during the first 100 days of the Trump administration after having scaled back to only Mondays. At the time, the network said that Alex Wagner, who had hosted the 9 p.m. show four days a week, would return at the end of April.
That is no longer the case. Instead, MSNBC is planning to appoint a new anchor to fill Ms. Wagner’s spot, the two people said. A likely candidate for that hour is Jen Psaki, a former White House press secretary in the Biden administration, who hosts shows on Sunday at noon and 8 p.m. on Mondays, the people said, though adding that this decision hadn’t been finalized.
This comes as dying corporate media has spent the last 15 years pushing an info war of a woke agenda on the American people to divide the nation instead of actually reporting the news. The result has been not only a collapse in public trust but also a sharp decline in ratings.
DEI and Wokeness were tools used to artificially pump racism. This is what happens when demand for racism exceeds the supply. pic.twitter.com/BNxRQrZV84
At long last, someone has said it. Trump has finally called it like it is—Zelensky is the emperor with no clothes. In fact, he’s the dictator with no clothes, propped up by Western elites who refused to see what was in plain sight. But the illusion is shattered. Trump didn’t just call him a dictator, he shut him out of peace talks and made it clear that if Zelensky wants to be taken seriously, he needs to hold elections, abandon his defiant posturing, and start behaving like a statesman rather than a petulant client.
For years, wherever Zelensky went, Western elites and their media lapdogs treated him as untouchable—questioning him was practically a crime. The adulation didn’t even begin in 2022 when full-scale war erupted. It started back in 2019, when Zelensky became the vehicle for Trump’s first impeachment, cast as the poor, beleaguered leader whom Trump had supposedly tried to extort. It was all a lie, but that didn’t matter. The media and political class needed him propped up, so they did—shielding him from scrutiny no matter how absurd his behavior became.
The arrogance and defiance Zelensky has displayed didn’t emerge in a vacuum—it was merely the latest chapter in a pattern of reckless entitlement that defined Ukraine’s political class long before he took office. To understand it, we have to go back to 2016, when Ukrainian officials blatantly interfered in the U.S. election, attacking Trump in a way that was not just unprecedented but completely beyond the norms of international relations. It’s one thing for a foreign power to quietly prefer one candidate over another—but for a small, dependent country to openly wage political warfare against the leading contender in a U.S. presidential race was madness.
Their prime minister publicly denounced Trump, claiming he “challenged the very values of the free world.” Ukraine’s Interior Minister went even further, calling Trump a “dangerous misfit” who was “dangerous both for Ukraine and for the United States to the same extent.” Their ambassador to Washington launched a blistering op-ed—something virtually unheard of in international diplomacy—and Ukraine’s intelligence services leaked a fabricated ledger to sabotage Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, in an operation that led directly to Manafort’s ouster. Even Ukraine’s equivalent of a CIA director, Valentin Nalyvaichenko, later all but admitted to the interference,stating, “Of course, they all recognize that our [anti-corruption bureau] intervened in the presidential campaign.”
When Trump won anyway in 2016, he let it slide. He wasn’t going to punish Ukraine for backing the wrong horse. Instead, he sought peace—because, as the media and establishment so often overlook, the war in Ukraine didn’t begin in 2022 but in 2014, and it had long been Trump’s ambition to end it. But his hands were tied by the Russia collusion hoax, which effectively criminalized diplomacy with Moscow. Anytime he wanted to do anything, he was met by loud and hysterical screaming from the media, the establishment and Democrats. When the Russian ambassador visited the White House, as is totally customary, the media went apoplectic, accusing Trump of treason. When Trump met Putin in Helsinki in 2018, the hysteria reached off-the-charts proportions. Putin had given Trump a soccer ball from that year’s World Cup for Trump’s 12-year-old son, and the media claimed it may have been a listening device.
Trump was given no room to maneuver. Instead of pursuing peace, he was forced to arm Ukraine—a step even Obama had refused to take. Then came the impeachment hoax, with Zelensky at its center, making matters infinitely worse. Any attempt at serious negotiations—any engagement with Russia, any acknowledgment that peace requires concessions—would have been seized upon as proof that Trump was a traitor. The very idea of compromise was framed as “selling out” Ukraine, the same false charge leveled against Trump in the first place.
Wounded by the impeachment hoax, Trump was hobbled, and then came Biden. With him, Zelensky got everything he wanted—billions in weapons and reckless escalations that led directly to war.
For years we were told that NATO entry had nothing to do with the outbreak of the wider war in 2022, but now even the NATO chief admits NATO expansion was key to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, Biden and his team of inept and corrupt comrades had all but promised Ukraine NATO entry in the lead-up to the 2022 war. Biden held out NATO membership to Ukraine in December 2021, as did his secretary of state, Antony Blinken. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin went even further, saying the door was open to Ukraine for NATO membership during an October 2021 trip to Ukraine. And let’s not forget that Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, was one of the chief architects of the Russia collusion hoax, which directly impeded Trump from being able to do anything during his first term.
Yet even as Biden and his team recklessly escalated tensions, Zelensky remained oblivious to the risks, convinced that the West’s blank check would never bounce. When the war exploded into a full-scale conflict in 2022, the U.S. poured hundreds of billions into Ukraine, fueling the fight with no clear strategy or exit plan.
Zelensky had one job: to prevent the war or, failing that, to end it as quickly as possible. Instead, he sold his country off—to Western cold warriors who saw Ukraine as a pawn, to proxy war zealots determined to prolong the fight, and to domestic grifters gorging on American largesse. When a real chance for peace emerged early in the war, he didn’t seize it. He threw it away at the command of Boris Johnson and Joe Biden, dragging Ukraine even deeper into a war that should never have happened.
As former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder—one of the last of the old-guard Western leaders—later revealed, he had been mediating the Istanbul peace talks in April 2022. Ukraine and Russia had largely reached an agreement—until Johnson and Biden stepped in and told Zelensky to walk away. He obeyed, choosing war over peace at the command of those who had their own agendas—agendas that had nothing to do with the lives or deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.
Yet even as public support waned and the global political landscape shifted, Zelensky refused to adapt—convinced that the money, weapons, and political backing would never stop flowing.
In September 2024, Zelensky came to the United States, and campaigned in Pennsylvania for Kamala Harris, completely oblivious to the possibility that she might lose. While in the United States, he also gave an interview to The New Yorker, making his feelings about Trump and JD Vance clear. Dismissing Trump outright, he claimed, “My feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war, even if he might think he knows how.” He was just as condescending toward Vance, calling him “too radical” and adding, “I don’t take Vance’s words seriously.” He even suggested that Vance needed to be educated by Jewish Americans, claiming they were “a strong power base in the United States.”
Those are hardly the words of a leader capable of navigating peace talks, adapting to shifting political winds, or showing even a trace of gratitude toward the American taxpayers who bankrolled his war. Instead of adjusting, Zelensky doubled down on his arrogance, blind to the fact that the very people he mocked might soon be the ones calling the shots.
Despite his endless missteps, poor political acumen, and habit of backing the wrong horse, Zelensky kept getting last chances.
Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kiev to discuss financial matters. Zelensky’s response was more arrogance, refusing to agree to an arrangement to at least partly repay America’s colossal expenditures on Ukraine. And let’s not forget: U.S. taxpayers weren’t just funding the war effort. They were covering 90% of Ukraine’s media, paying Ukrainian pensions, and subsidizing their civil service. It wasn’t just about weapons—it was about propping up an entire state.
Zelensky had yet another chance to reset when he met Vance in Munich last week. He failed again. No humility, no recalibration—just the same tired routine.
Munich was likely the moment Trump and Vance concluded that as long as Zelensky remained in power, a peace deal was impossible. And how did he respond? By lashing out. Within a day of Munich, he was claiming that Trump “lives in a disinformation space,” only further cementing his own irrelevance.
For years, Zelensky behaved like a spoiled child indulged by weak-willed caretakers. Under Biden, no demand was too excessive, no tantrum too outrageous. When Trump arrived, he never adjusted and never recalibrated. And now the indulgence is over. The adults are back.
Trump made that unmistakable in a post yesterday on Truth Social, calling Zelensky what he is: a dictator. The media, Democrats, and European elites are in hysterics—but the truth is finally out. That which was once unsayable has now been said. For years, Zelensky wrapped himself in the language of democracy while shutting down opposition parties, silencing independent media, and, worst of all, canceling elections outright. That isn’t democracy—it’s dictatorship. The charade is over. And unless Zelensky undergoes a complete and immediate transformation, the war will end without him. One way or another, it is coming to a close. The show is over.
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