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
Why would Jesus pray to God? It’s not a contradiction, but a window into the relationship within the Trinity. Explore the eternal connection between the Father and the Son, understand Jesus’ submission as the God-man, and learn how His prayer life reveals a vital lesson for every Christian follower. Grasp the concept of the tri-unity, the co-equal persons of God, and witness how Jesus’ prayers showcase His dependence and obedience, essential for our redemption. In this video, Pastor Nelson clarifies the mystery of Christ’s praying, highlighting the importance of prayer for believers today, answering your question: If Jesus was God, how could He pray to God?
Zechariah 14 specifically describes the following:
the Day of the Lord
a time of judgment and salvation for God’s people
filled with end time prophecies and promises of God’s ultimate victory over evil.
reminds believers of the hope and redemption that is to come through Jesus Christ,
also it reminds us of our victory over death, the grave and the devil. (from Smith’s Outline Bible)
The Day of the Lord, once again, is not a particular day or simply a 24-hour period of time. It is a period of time that includes the Tribulation period of seven years and the events immediately following it (The Millennial Kingdom, etc.).
It is like hearing some older person say to a younger person, “In my day, we did this and so and so,” where the word “day” is meant to include a period of time, whether days, months or even years. This is what is meant by the term “Day of the Lord.” It encompasses a specific period of time that includes a number of years and incorporates many events, not merely one particular day.
Zechariah 14:1-5 – Zechariah describes a time of great difficulty and conflict for Jerusalem, when:
The city of Jerusalem will be besieged and plundered
The LORD will intervene and fight for Israel against the nations who come against her
This will be at His return and when His feet touch the Mt. of Olives, the mount will be split in two
Similar to the parting of the Red Sea when God provided a miraculous escape for Israelites (Exodus 14:21-22)
Also points to the ultimate deliverance of all God’s children in the future
During this time, the Lord will have victory over all Israel’s enemies (Zechariah 14:6-11). The earth and space will experience cataclysmic changes due to the coming of the LORD. There will be no light, but simply a unique day known only to the LORD that we cannot appreciate now. We are told that “living waters” will flow continually after He returns.
Unlike what some teach, the LORD will be physically present and reign over the entire earth and all nations. We also see this also in Revelation 22:1-2. We are told the river of life flows from God’s throne and that every knee will bow and confess He is LORD. This will be a continuous situation during the coming Millennial Kingdom, which is what the prophet Zechariah is describing here.
Once the Lord physically returns, He will not only set up His Kingdom, which will last for 1,000 years, but He will enter into judgment of the Nations (Zechariah 14:12-15). The judgment will occur on those who attacked Israel. They will be struck with plagues and will be tossed into confusion and panic.
These future plagues will be similar to the plagues sent on Egypt (Exodus 7 – 12). The plagues sent on Egypt ultimately led to the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. This judgment also looks to the future judgment of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25, and ultimately points to the final Great White Throne judgment of Revelation 20.
Zechariah 14 ends with a description of the worship that will occur in the restored Jerusalem among all the people there. All nations will come to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles from wherever they are located throughout the earth.
The Feast of Tabernacles was a time of thanksgiving and remembrance of God’s provision for the Israelites in the wilderness – Leviticus 23:33-44. It also points to the coming perfect worship of all the saints in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22-27). The glory of God will be its light and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
Zechariah 14 is a powerful and dynamic chapter that speaks of the Day of the Lord and the ultimate victory of God over evil. It serves as a reminder to all believers of the hope and redemption that is to come through Jesus Christ. The imagery of judgment, deliverance, and worship points to the final fulfillment of God’s promises to his people. As we await the return of Christ, we can take comfort in the knowledge that God is sovereign and will ultimately triumph over all.
The Book of Zechariah is merely one portion of God’s Word that highlights future events specific to Israel. Zechariah 14 highlights the fact that though God is the One who gathers specific nations against Israel (similar to the events foretold in Ezekiel 38-39, aka the Northern Invasion), and through it ends up destroying many Jewish people during that time. However, He also saves for Himself a remnant of Jewish believers who will be protected and will ultimately go into the Millennial Kingdom.
It is fascinating that Zechariah 14 describes the physical return of our Lord as He touches down on the Mt. of Olives. Once He does, we are told that a huge valley will be created as one part of the mountain moves to the east and the other portion moves to the west. Because of the valley that is created by this event, Jewish people will walk through to safety in that valley, much like their ancestors walked across the dry sea bed when God, through Moses, parted the waters then leaving a mountain of water on each side with a dry path through the middle.
We learn that when the nations attack Israel, God will send a plague on them as recorded in verses 12-15. Notice that what is described here is similar to the after effects of a nuclear holocaust.
12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
Whether God destroys His (and Israel’s) enemies with nuclear detonations that armies may have with them or whether He sends a specific plague that causes people to literally melt away, we don’t know for certain. In any case, God deals with Israel’s attackers in a way that won’t be forgotten by those who survive.
Starting in Zechariah 14:16, we are told that everyone who survives all of this, will be among the people who go up to Jerusalem from wherever they are to worship King Jesus in Person. Those people of various nations who do not go up will have rain withheld from them so their crops cannot grow as a form of judgment.
Things will not be perfect during the Millennial Kingdom because people who have not died during the Tribulation, but are believers, will go into the Millennial Kingdom to live there. They will marry and have children. Those children will still have sin natures, passed onto them by their parents. Because of that, sin will still occur among those human beings.
Jesus will deal with any issues that occur during the Millennial Kingdom using His “rod of iron” (Revelation 2:27), which indicates that He will have to be very tough to keep sin in check. Interestingly enough, at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, Satan (who has been imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit during that time), will be released for a short while in order to create a rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10).
That may seem odd to us, that God allows Satan one more chance to turn people against God, but it is God’s way of finalizing sin, to eradicate it completely. It shows us that people, when left to themselves and their own devices, will almost always go against God’s will. This is one of the hallmark doctrines throughout Scripture. Free will leads to sin.
The very last verse of Zechariah 14 tells us some interesting things.
21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
Literally, every cooking pot in the New Jerusalem of the Millennial Kingdom will be set apart to give honor and glory to Yahweh. People will use them to bring their sacrifices used in worship to the LORD during that time. Life will be completely different from what it is now and it is difficult for me to adequately realize.
Regarding “there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord…” this verse tells us that the Canaanites, throughout their history and especially as they connect to Israel’s history, “represented people who were morally and spiritually unclean, reprehensible to Yahweh, and doomed to death,” (Genesis 9:25; Isaiah 35:8; Ezekiel 43:7; 44:9; Revelation 21:27; Notes from Dr. Thomas Constable).
In the end, it is exceedingly difficult to fully appreciate what this coming 1,000 year Kingdom means to us. Everything about life then will be completely different. There will be fairness and true equity based on God’s righteousness that flows from Him and will be reflected throughout the earth.
Zechariah 14 informs us of the very last of the last days in some detail. As we see things ramping up in the Middle East, we know that we are not there yet, however, we appear to be on our way. There may soon come a day when the forces that make up the Northern Invasion of Ezekiel 38-39 will come together to attack Israel, the apple of God’s eye. I don’t know if this will occur prior to the coming Tribulation or at the end of it. Commentators have mixed views.
It is clear though that hatred of Israel and anti-Semitism itself is dramatically on the rise. Because of that, it is only a matter of time before a major attack against Israel is started. We know in Zechariah 14:1-2, there is major death and destruction before God steps in and fights for Israel. This occurs in Ezekiel 38-39 and here in Zechariah 14 (if they are two separate events).
As believers, all we can do is know what God’s Word says and believe that He will accomplish it and all His purposes, for His glory. Knowing what is coming should not engender fear within us but greater faith in His ability to provide. In the end, we know we will be with Him, in His Kingdom, serving Him with glorified bodies and the complete absence of our current sin natures. While it is hard to imagine, we know that nothing could be better!
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. EPHESIANS 2:13
The cause of all our human miseries is a radical moral dislocation, an upset in our relation to God and to each other. For whatever else the Fall of man may have been, it was most certainly a sharp change in man’s relation to his Creator. He adopted toward God an altered attitude, and by so doing destroyed the proper Creator-creature relation in which, unknown to him, his true happiness lay. Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the Creator-creature relation. A satisfactory spiritual life will begin with a complete change in relation between God and the sinner; not a judicial change merely, but a conscious and experienced change affecting the sinner’s whole nature. The atonement in Jesus’ blood makes such a change judicially possible and the working of the Holy Spirit makes it emotionally satisfying. The story of the prodigal son perfectly illustrates this later phase. He had brought a world of trouble upon himself by forsaking the position which he had properly held as son of his father. At bottom his restoration was nothing more than a reestablishing of the father-son relation which had existed from his birth and had been altered temporarily by his act of sinful rebellion. This story overlooks the legal aspects of redemption, but it makes beautifully clear the experiential aspects of salvation.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2015). Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (p. 97). Moody Publishers.
And who could this be but Jesus? Who but he alone could be the object of desire, or able to gratify the desire of all nations? Sit down, my soul, this evening, and consider the subject to the full; and if the result be, as it surely must be, under divine teaching, that none but Jesus can answer to this character, and he most fully and completely comes up to it in every possible point of view, thou wilt find another sweet testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus, that he who alone is thy desire hath ever been, and still is, to all that need and seek salvation, the desire of all nations. And, first, consider how universal the want of Jesus must be. “All the world is become guilty (the scripture saith) before God.” (Romans 3:19.) Hence, in every nation, kindred, tongue, or clime, every poor, awakened and convinced sinner stands in need of a Saviour; and, however diversified by language, customs, or manners, sin is felt exceeding sinful, and the desire of deliverance from its guilt and its consequences, however variously expressed, is the burden and cry of every prayer. Now, suppose that to souls of this description Jesus and his glorious salvation was revealed, would not the desire of every heart be towards him? Surely every eye would be directed to Jesus, and every tongue call aloud upon his name. Hence it is that Jesus, and he alone, is the desire of all nations. And as all poor sinners, whether conscious of it or not, stand in need of salvation, so, secondly, it must be observed, that it is Jesus, and he alone, who can give salvation; for, as the apostle speaks, “there is salvation in no other, neither is there any other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12.) And how extensive and all-sufficient is Jesus, to answer the desire of all nations! As one sun in the heavens becomes a fulness of light, and warmth, and healing to a whole earth; one ocean to supply all the rivers and lakes, and the inhabitants of the world; so one Lord Jesus Christ is both the sun of righteousness, and the everlasting river of life, which maketh glad the city of God. Every want, and every desire that can be necessary for time and eternity, all temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings, are in Jesus. He that is the desire of all nations, is in himself sufficient to satisfy the desires of every living soul. Pause one moment, my soul, over this view of thy Jesus, and say, is He, that is the desire of all nations, thy one, thine only one desire, to which every other is subordinate, and in which every other is swallowed up and lost? See what answer thou canst give to the heart-searching question. And when, through grace, thou hast derived renewed conviction from this view of the subject, that none but Jesus can fully answer the desires of an awakened soul, close the month, as thou hopest to close life, with the blessed hope, that he who is thy one desire now will be thine everlasting portion to all eternity. Amen and Amen.
Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, p. 95). Thomas Wardle.
If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone! She bore the heats of summer, the night dews and the rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus endure, and shall we start at the first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the wild beasts, with courage unusual in her sex, and will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus’ sake? These her children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified our Lord? Our obligations are boundless, our love should be fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should be our business, to protect his honour our occupation, to abide by his cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have affrighted Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but everything attractive. Never was living beauty so enchanting as a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with thee yet awhile, and do thou graciously unveil thyself to us; then shall we not sit beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
BUT I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (We may sorrow, but with measure and limit. We know that the souls of departed believers are safe, and that their bodies will rise from the grave: wherefore, then, should we weep and lament as the heathen and the unbelieving do?) 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (Note the words, “sleep in Jesus.” Death does not break the union between Jesus and his saints. We are one with him eternally; and therefore as surely as Jesus rose, so surely must all the members of his mystical body rise also.) 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (anticipate or take precedence of) them which are asleep. (We shall in no respect fare better. To sleep in Jesus is no dishonour to saints, and it shall not place them in a second class. They shall be in all things equal to those who survive till the Lord comes. We need not therefore dread death, nor feel any over-weening desire to live till the second advent. That the Lord shall come is our confidence; that we shall escape death by his coming is but a poor subject for congratulation. It will give us no gain over the sacred dead.) 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (So that, in order, those who have died will have the preference. Their glory is reached first:) 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (The resurrection first, then the rapture, and the eternal abode with Jesus. Fairest of hopes, art thou ours?) 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
CHAPTER 5:1–10
BUT of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (Unexpectedly to those who have slighted the warnings of prophecy.) 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (Certainly, suddenly, irresistibly. Turn which way they will they shall find no safety,—no deliverance.) 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Unrevealed though the time be, your faith stands on the watch, and you are prepared. 5, 6 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. Privilege involves responsibility. Are we children of the light? Then we are bound to be awake. The sons of darkness may legitimately slumber, but we must not, or we shall be unpardonably inconsistent. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. Drunkenness in those days had not grown so brazen-faced as now,—men who were given to intoxication reserved their revels for the darkness which would veil them. It would ill become us who have heavenly light to fall into the vices of nature’s midnight. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Jesus’ great love can only fitly be acknowledged by the entire consecration of our redeemed manhood to him, at all times and in all places. Spirit of holiness, work in us communion with Jesus and conformity to him. Amen.
Hear what the voice from heaven proclaims
For all the pious dead,
Sweet is the savour of their names,
And soft their sleeping bed.
They die in Jesus, and are bless’d;
How kind their slumbers are!
From sufferings and from sins released,
And freed from every snare.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 185). Baker Book House.
Today is National Atheist’s Day – also known as April Fools’ Day (Psalm 14:1)!
Deuteronomy 18:4 — Throughout the Bible God says that it’s okay and (depending on the passage) even required to pay your ministers! While some groups (the Plymouth Brethren come to mind) cite Paul’s example in 1 Corinthians 9:18 as to their use of unpaid volunteers to minister, it is interesting to note the emphasis and “dollar value” that God gives to those in ministry. God holds these men to a high standard (Luke 12:48) and publicly shames those who don’t meet that standard (1 Samuel 2:12, 8:3). As we saw earlier, God killed two of the sons of Aaron for not following directions (Leviticus 10:2).
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 — Note that these are not “abominations to you” in the case of unclean meat, but these are “abominations unto the LORD.” Yet today we have abortion, Ouija boards, horoscopes, fortune tellers, Wicca, astrologers, vampires, and the occult rampant in our society – not to mention the increasing obsession of popular culture with these activities.
Deuteronomy 18:15 — This is an incredible Messianic prophecy about the Prophet who would come. Was this prophet Mohammed as Islam claims?No – it was Jesus! Let Us Reason shows 32 similarities between Jesus and Moses. Even though Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, He was vehemently accused of false prophecy before the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:61) by those who were also attempting to disqualify Him under Deuteronomy 18:22.
Deuteronomy 20:8 — We see this in Judges 7:2-3 where the fearful are told to go home.
Deuteronomy 20:17 — Atheists today like to claim that they are more moral than God.
Luke 9:50 — This seems to contradict Matthew 12:30. Like the disciples, we too often find it difficult to understand all the sayings of Jesus (Luke 9:45). But here, as usual, context is king. In Matthew, He was talking to the Pharisees who tried to accuse Him of being empowered by Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24), while in Luke He is talking to the disciples who are jealous of others siding with Jesus but were not part of their group. In today’s English, we use many contradictory proverbs – all dependent on context.
Psalm 73:1 — I heard a great message on Psalm 73 entitled “Asaph’s Slipping Steps.” The cure for despair over the rise of the wicked is to enter the sanctuary of God (vs. 17). Like Job (Job 42:1-6) and Habakkuk (Habakkuk 3:2), when Asaph entered the sanctuary, he was grieved (vs. 21), he realized his foolishness and ignorance (vs. 22), and he recognized that he had no one but God (vs. 25). Draw near to God (vs. 28)!
They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels. (Malachi 3:17)
A day is coming in which the crown jewels of our great King shall be counted, that it may be seen whether they answer to the inventory which His Father gave Him. My soul, wilt thou be among the precious things of Jesus? Thou art precious to Him if He is precious to thee, and thou shalt be His “in that day,” if He is thine in this day.
In the days of Malachi, the chosen of the Lord were accustomed so to converse with each other that their God Himself listened to their talk. He liked it so well that He took notes of it; yes, and made a book of it, which He lodged in His record office. Pleased with their conversation, He was also pleased with them. Pause, my soul, and ask thyself: If Jesus were to listen to thy talk would He be pleased with it? Is it to His glory and to the edification of the brotherhood? Say, my soul, and be sure thou sayest the truth.
But what will the honor be for us poor creatures to be reckoned by the Lord to be His crown jewels! This honor have all the saints. Jesus not only says, “They are mine,” but, “They shall be mine.” He bought us, sought us, brought us in, and has so far wrought us to His image that we shall be fought for by Him with all His might.
Few phrases expose the confusion and contradiction of our time more than “self-identifying.” Many today assume that anyone can assign to themself any identity they wish, and no one can question it. Even if that chosen identity runs counter to every observable, biological reality. But what about as a Christian? Is it enough to simply identify yourself as a Christian to make it so?
Scripture teaches that you become a genuine Christians, not by assigning yourself the label, but by the Spirit, whose work is observable in a personal confession of faith in Jesus as Lord. Paul wrote, “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). Christianity’s fundamental message is “Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor 4:5), so Christians are those who have received Him as Lord (Col 2:6) and confessed Him to be the same. Memorably, Paul wrote in Romans 10:9:
… if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Christians believe that their salvation from judgment is based on Jesus’ vicarious life and substitutionary death, being assured of this by the fact that He rose from the dead. And that faith includes the public testimony and confession that He is Lord. We could say that “Jesus is Lord” is the most succinct creedal summary of Christianity and the very basis of our creedal heritage.
The word creed comes from the Latin, credo, which means, “I believe.”[1] And confession comes from Greek and Latin words referring to a public testimony or agreement. In other words, Christians can be identified objectively as those who confess with their mouths the creed of their hearts, that Jesus is Lord. But how can we determine whether someone means by their confession the same thing that the Bible does? How can we be sure they agree on the Bible’s teaching on who Jesus is and what it means to say that He is Lord?
Christians can be identified objectively as those who confess with their mouths the creed of their hearts, that Jesus is Lord.
Since the days of the Apostles, there have been distorted understandings of our Lord based on the misuse of His revelation. Take, for example, the claim of Hymenaeus and Philetus, that “the resurrection already happened” (2 Timothy 2:17). Truly, Christians “are alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11), but these men were distorting the biblical teaching on the resurrection. A common characteristic of false teaching is that it takes God’s words but uses the devil’s dictionary. In the second century, Tertullian observed, “They put forward the Scriptures, and by this insolence of theirs they at once influence some.”[2] In the 19th century, James Bannerman said the same:
A man may accept as the rule of his faith the same inspired books as yourself, while he rejects every important article of the faith you find in these books. If, therefore, we are to know who believes as we do, and who dissent from our faith, we must state our creed in language explicitly rejecting such interpretations of Scripture as we deem to be false.[3]
So to preserve the Scripture’s teaching on the future, bodily resurrection, and Christians are to persevere in the hope of it, Paul cited a “trustworthy saying” (vv. 11-13).[4] It is a short synthesis of what the Bible taught so that Timothy could use it as a standard to train other teachers (v. 14) and to guide his own teaching, “rightly handling the word of truth” (v. 15). This is how the church was to follow “the pattern of sound words” (1:13) that the Apostles had given.
Scripture itself assumes that it reveals a coherent body of doctrine that may be summarized and then used to evaluate any specific claim or teaching. This is why we find references to “the faith” (Jude 3) or “a standard of teaching” (Rom 6:17), or that elders are to “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught” (Titus 1:9). Scripture prods us to synthesize its teaching to discern whether doctrinal claims or confessions of Christ are true or false. Failing to use such creedal summaries of the Bible is simply unbiblical, as Carl Trueman has said:
To claim to have no creed but the Bible, then, is problematic: the Bible itself seems to demand that we have forms of sound words, and that is what creeds are.[5]
The early church obeyed this biblical imperative and followed the apostolic example by using credal summaries that they called “the rule of faith” or truth. Irenaeus articulated the rule of faith in the second century like this:
“One God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation, condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been received up in splendor, shall come in glory, the Savior of those who are saved, and the Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire those who transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent.”[6]
Anyone familiar with the later creeds will recognize their origin here in this rule. To explain the purpose of the rule of faith, Christian leaders likened it to the plans that were given along with tiles for the mosaics that were popular on floors and walls in the Roman empire. The plan showed how the tiles were to be installed to create the intended mosaic design. Similarly, the rule of faith showed how Christians were to properly arrange the teachings of Scripture to truly confess Jesus as Lord. Irenaeus put it this way: “he also who retains unchangeable in his heart the rule of the truth… though he will acknowledge the gems [mosaic pieces], he will certainly not receive the fox instead of the likeness of the king.”[7]
Yet as the church grew, “foxes” continued to crop up as biblical “mosaic pieces” were misassembled and disfigured the glory of Christ. This was especially concerning in respect to the fundamentals of the faith, the unity of God and the Lordship of Jesus. God’s people have always confessed “the Lord is one” (Deut 6:4). With the appearing of Jesus, the Lord revealed Himself to be God the Father, and the Son, Jesus (1 Cor 8:5-6), and the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:17). So, when we confess Jesus as Lord, we are baptized into the singular name of three persons – “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19). How would the church confess that the Lord is one and that the man, Christ Jesus, is Lord? The spread of unbiblical answers to this question demanded clarity on the being of God and natures of Jesus Christ.
By focusing on such questions, the early church was not majoring on minors, much less was it being seduced by Greek philosophy. Rather it understood that being precedes doing, and that what God has done to save us by faith in Jesus depends entirely on who God is as Father, Son, and Spirit and what it means for Jesus to be Lord. If Christ is not truly God, then He could not have endured eternal judgment on our behalf nor secured eternal righteousness as our everlasting Intercessor. And if God is not Triune, then He cannot be seen or explained by the Son who assumed our nature and walked among us as a man, nor bring us to Himself through faith in Jesus by the Spirit.
When we confess Jesus as Lord, we are baptized into the singular name of three persons – “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
So by the fifth century, the rule of faith had been sharpened by trial and consensus into what we now know as the ecumenical creeds, the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, along with the Definition of Chalcedon.[8] Though the history is detailed and complicated at many points, the motivation to compose and affirm these creeds was the same as Paul’s “trustworthy sayings” in the New Testament. They were standards to keep men from rearranging scriptural truth to depict a fox rather than our Savior. Far from adding to Scripture, creeds were preserving its meaning and attempting, as R.C. Sproul put it, “to show a coherent and unified understanding of the whole scope of Scripture.”[9] That was the explicit understanding in the early church, while the creeds were still young. Basil, for example, while arguing for the unity of the Father and the Son said:
That it is the tradition of the Fathers, though, is not sufficient for us, for they followed the meaning of the Scripture and had as a source the very proof-texts that I presented to you from Scripture a little earlier.[10]
As concise summaries of scriptural truth, creeds were used to prepare candidates for baptism and to give the church standards to examine their public confession of Christ. Of all people, credobaptists ought to appreciate this! And, of course, Baptists have.
The cry for sola Scriptura in the Reformation in no way diminished the Reformers’ regard for the tradition received from the early church. John Calvin, for example, in the preface to his Institutes argued, “If the contest [with Rome] were to be determined by patristic authority, the tide of victory—to put it very modestly—would turn to our side.”[11] Later he wrote:
… we willingly embrace and reverence as holy the early councils, such as those of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus I, Chalcedon, and the like, which were concerned with refuting errors—in so far as they relate to the teachings of faith. For they contain nothing but the pure and genuine exposition of Scripture.[12]
As the Reformational churches wrote confessions to expound and distinguish their positions, they remain rooted in the credal heritage of the earlier centuries. The confessions of the Particular Baptists are no exception. The First London Confession of Faith reflects classical, creedal language, following the Athanasian creeds.[13] While the Second London Confession of Faith (2LCF) follows the Nicene creed in describing the Trinity with as “of one substance” and the Son as “begotten” (2.3). It also follows Nicaea and Chalcedon on the person of Christ (2LCF 8.2) even more closely than its predecessor, the Westminster Confession.[14] So Tom Nettles is right to argue:
Baptists are orthodox. That is to say one must first be a Christian before he can be a Baptist. Orthodoxy includes knowledge of God as the triune God and knowledge of Christ as Son of God and Son of Man.… The language [of 2LCF 2.3] derives from the vocabulary and concepts of the early church councils and reflects the decisions expressed in the creeds of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon. It even affirms the filioque clause, that is, that the Spirit proceeds from the Father ‘and the Son’. These Baptists would not find credible any sense of spiritual security or knowledge of God that did not conform to the ‘doctrine of the Trinity’. Any doctrines of the faith not consistent with and dependent on this doctrine had no proper foundation.[15]
One of the early Particular Baptist pastors, Hercules Collins, published a revision of the Heidelberg Catechism, consistent with Baptist convictions, which he titled An Orthodox Catechism. To Question 22, “What are those things which are necessary for a Christian man to believe?” Collins gave as an answer:
All things which are promised us in the gospel. The sum of this is briefly comprised in the articles of the catholic and undoubted faith of all true Christians, commonly called the Apostles’ Creed.[16]
Here Collins reflects the same conviction as the Reformer, Martin Luther, who once said of the Apostles’ Creed, “Christian truth could not possibly be put into a shorter and clearer statement.” Collins further included the full text of the Apostles’ Creed, along with the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds in an appendix, offering this explanation in his preface:
I have proposed three Creeds to your consideration, which ought thoroughly to be believed and embraced by all those that would be accounted Christians, viz, the Nicene Creed, Athanasius His Creed, and the Creed commonly called the Apostles; the last of which contains the sum of the Gospel; which is industriously opened and explained; and I beseech you do not slight it because of its Form, nor Antiquity, nor because supposed to be composed by Men.[17]
The Baptists rejected magisterial church polity because of what Scripture taught, and they affirmed the historic creeds for the same reason. The historic Baptist view is “The creedal baby must not be discarded with its ecclesial bathwater.”[18] Baptists today must hold the same conviction.
The church needs the creeds if we are to proclaim Jesus is Lord to the world with biblical clarity and receive only those into our number who confess it truly with us.
We are called to minister to a generation convinced of an individual’s ability to construe reality however they see fit. So, the danger of misconstruing the fundamental pillars of Christian faith is as present today as it was in earlier centuries. We see it in the spread of novel doctrines, like “eternal functional subordination” (EFS), which claims the Son is subordinate to the Father in God Himself.[19] The arguments underlying EFS mimic the way that Arians interpreted passages of Scripture.[20] And they disregard the teaching of Nicaea on the Son, as “of one substance with the Father,” and the Athanasian Creed, “in this Trinity, none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another.” If such an approach to Scripture is adopted, churches are left vulnerable to any number of heresies. B.H. Carroll, the first President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, recognized this more than a century ago:
The modern cry, ‘less creed and more liberty,’ is a degeneration from the vertebrate to the jellyfish, and it means more heresy. Definitive truth does not create heresy – it only exposes and corrects. Shut off the creed and the Christian world would fill up with heresy unsuspected and uncorrected, but nonetheless deadly.[21]
Of course, merely formal creedal affirmations are always possible. Some may ascent to them with a knowledge that is little better than a demon’s (Jas 2:19). But this is not avoided by avoiding the creeds. Rather we expect and disciple others to sincerely and personally embrace the scriptural truth they summarize. Creeds are not a hindrance to a personal, sincere profession of faith in the Lord Jesus. C.H. Spurgeon argued the same:
To say that ‘a creed comes between a man and his God,’ is to suppose that it is not true; for truth, however definitely stated, does not divide the believer from his Lord.[22]
In recent surveys, nearly three-fourths of America identifies itself as Christian. But we would be justly skeptical of that reflecting reality. Self-identified “Christians” and wide-spread confusion about the truth of our God and His Son, Jesus, has sadly muddled the testimony of the gospel in our nation. In this day, God still calls the church to be “a pillar and buttress of the truth,” so what “we confess” has eternal significance (1 Tim 3:15-16). The church needs the creeds if we are to proclaim Jesus is Lord to the world with biblical clarity and receive only those into our number who confess it truly with us. It would not be biblical, Christian, or Baptist, to fulfill our calling without them.
[1] Burk Parsons explains the etymology as “Dating back to the late twelfth century, the word credo likely emerged from the compound kerd-dhe, which can be translated ‘to put one’s heart,’ pointing out the nature of a creed as that which we believe from our hearts and confess with our mouths.” In Why Do We Have Creeds? (P&R, 2012), p. 7.
[5] Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative (Crossway, 2012), p. 76
[6] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.4.1-1; cited by Justin Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils (Zondervan, 2014), p. 12.
[7] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.9.4; see Kathyrn Greene-McKreight, “Rule of Faith,” in Dictionary for the Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Baker, 2005), pp. 703-04.
[8] Technically, what we typically call the Nicene Creed is the “Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed,” as the Nicene Creed of 325 was expanded and finalized at Constantinople in 381. For an accessible and brief introduction to the history of the creeds and councils, see Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils (Zondervan, 2014). For a longer, more detailed survey, see Donald Fairbairn & Ryan Reeves, The Story of Creeds and Confessions (Baker, 2019).
[9] R.C. Sproul, “Norma Normata – A Rule that Is Ruled,” Tabletalk (Ligonier, April, 2008), cited by Parsons, Why Do We Have Creeds?, p. 19.
[10]On the Holy Spirit, 7.16; Stephen Hildebrand, trans (SVS Press, 2011), p. 44
[11]Institutes of the Christian Religion, Prefatory Address, 4 (McNeill, Ed.; F. L. Battles), 1:18.
[13] Malcom Yarnell, “Baptists, Classic Trinitarianism, and the Christian Tradition,” in Baptists and the Christian Tradition (B&H, 2020), p. 61; James Renihan, For the Vindication of the Truth: A Brief Exposition of the First London Baptist Confession of Faith (Founders Press, 2021), pp. 36-40.
[14] James Renihan, To the Judicious and Impartial Reader: An Exposition of the 1689 London Baptist Confession (Founders Press, 2022), 219–220.
[15] Tom Nettles, The Baptists, vol. 1, (Christian Focus, 2005), p. 37
[16] Thomas Nettles with Steve Weaver, Teaching Truth, Training Hearts (Founders Press, 2017), p. 64
[18] Rhyne Putnam, “Baptists, Sola Scriptura, and the Place of the Christian Tradition,” in Baptists and the Christian Tradition, p. 45.
[19] EFS has also been labeled Eternal Relations of Authority and Submission (ERAS) and the Eternal Submission of the Son (ESS). Its main proponents include Bruce Ware, Grudem, and Owen Strachan. For an overview of their teaching and citations of their publications, see Matthew Barrett, Simply Trinity, pp. 213-59. See also Steve Meister, “You Need One to Count to the Trinity,” Credo (15/1, 2024), available: https://credomag.com/2024/06/you-need-one-to-count-to-the-trinity/.
[20] See, for example, Matthew Emerson, “The Role of Proverbs 8,” in Sanders & Swain, eds., Retrieving Eternal Generation (Zondervan, 2017), p. 65, n. 66.
[21] Cited by Parsons, Why Do We Have Creeds?, p. 24
[22] C.H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 34 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1888), iii.
Description:Is it right for Christians to pay taxes to wicked rulers? Continuing his sermon series in the book of Mark, R.C. Sproul unfolds Jesus’ teaching about the responsibilities we have toward the state.
The Bible says that Jesus came in the “fullness of time”? What does that mean and why did Jesus come precisely when he did?
To see more training videos with J. Warner and Jimmy Wallace, visit the YouTube playlist.
For more information about the impact Jesus and His followers had on science, read Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible. This unique and innovative book makes a case for the historicity and Deity of Jesus from history alone, without relying on the New Testament manuscripts. It contains over 400 illustrations and is accompanied by a ten-session Person of Interest DVD Set (and Investigator’s Guide) to help individuals or small groups examine the evidence and make the case.
Earth’s Inner Core Is Rotating Backwards—and Scientists Are Finally Watching It Happen Earth’s inner core has reversed its spin—and scientists are finally watching this deep planetary shift unfold in real time. Buried more than 3,000 miles beneath our feet, Earth’s solid inner core was once thought to be unchanging—locked in place at the heart of the planet. But new research has revealed something much more dynamic. According to a recent study published in Nature Geoscience, Earth’s inner core has not only slowed down, it now appears to be rotating in reverse compared to the planet’s surface. The Planet’s Deepest Engine is Changing Course
US Vice President Closes Ranks On Annexing Greenland After Leaked Controversy Vance said over the weekend that the United States has to get Greenland to stop the threat of China and Russia as Denmark has “not done a good job.” Yet Vance said during a visit to Pituffik space base on Friday, “Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in them and in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass.”
Hamas cracks down – terror group tortures and kills ‘collaborators,’ including Gazan protest leaders A report in Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat claims the terror group has “revolutionary courts” where it has prosecuted Gaza residents accused of collaborating with Israel. The report coincided with the publication of a statement in the Hamas-affiliated Gaza Now Telegram channel, which claimed that six collaborators were killed over the weekend. “Six collaborators with the Zionist occupation have been executed in the Gaza Strip by the decision of the Revolutionary Court,” the announcement late Friday night said.
Iran threatens to target US-British joint base in Indian Ocean Trump warned that any future attacks from the Houthis, who have targeted US Naval vessels hundreds of times and wreaked havoc with global shipping channels, would be treated as a direct aggression from Iran itself. Iran has threatened to retaliate against the joint U.S.-U.K. naval base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago if the United States attacks the Islamic Republic,
Trump hints at third term: I’m not joking US President Donald Trump on Sunday made his most explicit remark yet about seeking a third term, stating, “I’m not joking” about the possibility. His comments raise questions about whether he is considering ways to challenge the constitutional limit that prevents US presidents from serving more than two terms.
Iran’s water crisis at tipping point in threat to Islamic regime’s stability “Iran is drying up,” Dr. Sharona Mazalian Levi from The Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University affirmed, painting a grim picture of what she described as one of the most pressing environmental challenges facing the Islamic Republic today. “Iran is facing an unprecedented water crisis that threatens the nation’s stability,” Mazalian Levi said. “The Karaj Dam is now at only 6% of its capacity,” she noted, referencing reports from Tasnim news agency that 94% of the reservoir is empty.
A Bad Week for the Muslim Brotherhood It’s not been a good week for two of the Muslim Brotherhood’s most prominent affiliates. In Gaza and in Turkey, the final days of the holy month of Ramadan have been marked by angry demonstrations calling for an end to the rule of, respectively, Hamas and the Justice and Development (AKP) Party.
Why Combining The Rapture And The Second Coming Is Biblically Impossible Do you realize that as New Testament saints, we will take part in the most spectacular event that the world will ever see? Nothing in the history or future of our planet is even remotely comparable to the astonishing sight of Jesus’ future return to the world in great glory and power.
Netanyahu offers Hamas leaders Gaza exit but demands group disarm Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday offered to let the leaders of Hamas leave the Gaza Strip but demanded the group abandoned its arms, as his country kept up its bombardment of the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu rejected criticism that his government was not engaging in negotiations aimed at releasing hostages held in Gaza, insisting that the renewed military pressure on Hamas was proving effective. “We are negotiating under fire…
An Internal Revolution Started By The Communists Everyone knew that there would be violence once Donald Trump returned to the White House. He has been the most demonized man in America for the past eight years, and there are a lot of people out there that have deeply internalized the propaganda that has been relentlessly pounded into their heads. At this point, there is no president in the entire history of our country that the left hates more than Donald Trump. Just the mere thought of him can provoke uncontrollable rage in many leftists.
‘Astroturf’: Critics speculate Tesla protests are not a grassroots movement, but carefully organized campaign In the U.S. the protests slated for Saturday were promoted by actors, filmmakers, congressional legislators, academics and activists who led a “mass mobilizing call” last week to rally support, and described in the media as a “grassroots” effort to buck Musk and Trump, while working to tank Tesla’s stock. “While local #TeslaTakedown protests may appear spontaneous and community-driven, they are the product of well-funded, tightly coordinated campaigns led by national political organizations like the Indivisible Project, http://MoveOn.org, and professional protest firms,” Nomani continued.
Trump aims to outlaw most government unions on ‘national security’ grounds little-used provision allows the president to exempt most federal jobs from union protections. President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order purporting to outlaw collective bargaining across two-thirds of the federal government, citing a little-used provision of federal labor law that invokes national security. Trump’s new edict “ends collective bargaining” with unions at the Defense, State, Veterans Affairs, Justice, and Energy departments, as well as portions of the Homeland Security, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Interior, and Agriculture departments.
World’s first “Synthetic Biological Intelligence” runs on living human cells The world’s first “biological computer” that fuses human brain cells with silicon hardware to form fluid neural networks has been commercially launched, ushering in a new age of AI technology. the engineers behind it say it learns so quickly and flexibly that it completely outpaces the silicon-based AI chips used to train existing large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. the engineers behind it say it learns so quickly and flexibly that it completely outpaces the silicon-based AI chips used to train existing large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. the engineers behind it say it learns so quickly and flexibly that it completely outpaces the silicon-based AI chips used to train existing large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. the engineers behind it say it learns so quickly and flexibly that it completely outpaces the silicon-based AI chips used to train existing large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. the engineers behind it say it learns so quickly and flexibly that it completely outpaces the silicon-based AI chips used to train existing large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT.
Lebanese army arrests operatives responsible for rockets launched at Israel The Lebanese army arrested several people suspected of firing rockets towards Israel, the new commander of the Lebanese armed forces, General Rodolph Heikal, announced on Sunday during an inspection of military positions in the border region.
Strong M7.1 earthquake hits Tonga, potential tsunami threat A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.1 hit off the coast of Pangai, Tonga, at 12:18 UTC on March 30, 2025. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning and Watch issued from Texas and Oklahoma to Missouri Severe thunderstorm warnings and watches are in effect for parts of central and eastern U.S. on Sunday, March 30, 2025, as thunderstorms pass over Texas and parts of Oklahoma, putting millions under alert for damaging hail and strong gusts.
Terror in Plain Sight: ISIS Financier Lived Freely in New Jersey While Lying His Way to U.S. Citizenship Once again, America is confronted with the consequences of willful blindness. A man from Edison, Middlesex County, New Jersey—Gafur Abdudzhamilovich Aliev, age 44—has been indicted for lying on his U.S. naturalization application by concealing ties to the terrorist organization ISIS. This isn’t an isolated case—it’s a symptom of a national security failure.”
Canadian Banks Linked To Chinese Fentanyl Laundering Risk US Treasury Sanctions After Cartel Terror “In an explosive interview with The Bureau’s Sam Cooper, David Asher – a former senior U.S. State Department official with close ties to the Trump administration’s financial and national security apparatus—issued a stark warning: Canadian banks could soon face a “new universe” of regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Treasury. This follows the formal designation of Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa group, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). According to Asher, the command-and-control structure for laundering proceeds from synthetic narcotics—produced using Chinese precursor chemicals—is largely orchestrated by Chinese triads operating out of Canada.”
Russia Seeks To Balance Ties With US, China: Official The Kremlin is seeking to balance its relationship with the United States alongside its military and economic partnership with communist China, according to a senior Russian official.
Ramadan Rage: Islamic Leader Yasir Qadhi Declares War on Texans Who Dare Resist Islamization As RAIR Foundation’s exposés ignited national outrage, Yasir Qadhi used the sacred month of Ramadan to declare the Islamization of America “unstoppable”—and now, with Texas officials finally responding, the public has one chance to speak out: a Town Hall on EPIC City, March 31, 2025, hosted by Collin County Judge Chris Hill.
Violent Fascists Take to the Streets for Global Day of Action: ‘Burn a Tesla, Save Democracy’ Kicking off what looks like another “Summer of Love,” the fascists, who ironically call themselves anti-fascists because they don’t seem to understand what it means, are taking to the streets targeting over 200 Tesla locations across the US, Canada, and Europe on Saturday in a so-called “Global Day of Action.”
Doctors who gave the covid-19 vaccine will be bankrupt by 2030 In 2020, Dr. Coleman warned that doctors who prescribed the covid vaccine would likely face lawsuits and even imprisonment. It seems his warning was accurate, proof of which is provided by a recent ruling of the European Court of Justice. The establishment turning on doctors is not a confession that governments coerced populations into taking harmful injections and a sign we are entering an era of accountability. Rather, eliminating human doctors is part of the conspirators’ plan.
“History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people.” —Benjamin Franklin (1774)
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, & Jordan Candler
Trump axes union rights for several agencies: Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending collective bargaining for many federal employees. The order specifically applies to federal employees working within agencies engaged “with national security missions,” which includes but is not limited to the Department of Defense, the Department of Veteran Affairs, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the EPA, the Energy Department, the CDC, the FDA, the Treasury Department, and the Coast Guard. Trump based his authority for this order on the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, which a memo from the White House noted ensures “that agencies vital to national security can execute their missions without delay and protect the American people.” Collective bargaining for federal employees has always been an oxymoron, as they are supposed to be working on behalf of taxpayers, not against them.
Comedic Hillary blasts Trump’s Signal snafu: If political satire flatlined in 1973 when Henry Kissinger was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, it was defibrillated on Friday by BlackBerry-smashing, homebrew-serving Hillary Clinton. In a New York Times op-ed about the Trump administration’s Signal snafu, Her Lowness began: “It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity. We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already.” And on she went. Remember, this is the same “extremely careless” Clinton who routinely passed classified — and, in at least eight cases, Top Secret — information via her personal email server. Of all the people the Times could’ve picked to prosecute this case, the paper chose Hillary Clinton? You can’t make this stuff up.
Trump “pissed” with Putin: “I was very angry, pissed off when [Vladimir] Putin started getting into [Volodymyr] Zelensky — his credibility — and started talking about new leadership in Ukraine,” Donald Trump reportedly told NBC News’s Kristen Welker. That followed Putin’s call last week for a change in Ukraine’s leadership before a potential peace deal. Trump and his administration have been negotiating a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, but with little success thus far. A frustrated Trump, who has taken a neutral stance regarding blame for the war, warned Putin, “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault … I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia.” Meanwhile, Trump warned Zelensky against backing out of a mineral rights deal.
Columbia interim president steps down, former journalist takes over: It seems less like a move to bring accountability or change to the flailing Columbia University than a shell game to protect bad policies. Katrina Armstrong, interim president at Columbia, has stepped down. Apparently, reforming the school and eliminating anti-Semitism so that the Trump administration will renew federal grants worth $430 million is a bridge too far for the Columbia Board of Trustees. The board chose its cochair, Claire Shipman, as the new acting president. Shipman has spent approximately 27 years working for CNN and ABC and recently divorced former Obama Press Secretary Jay Carney. With a pedigree like that, we can be sure that Shipman’s tenure will be one of resisting this administration’s attempt to free the university from ideological capture.
State is shuttering USAID: The U.S. Agency for International Development may finally be history, as the State Department effectively shuttered the rogue agency on Friday, hours before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court ruling that had blocked DOGE’s effort to shut down the agency. An announcement from the State Department said it “will seek to retire USAID’s independent operation” and will “assume the responsible administration of USAID’s remaining life-saving and strategic aid programming.” Translation: All USAID programs deemed worthy of saving, roughly 20%, will be absorbed into the State Department, and the rest will be ended. Furthermore, the department announced, “All non-statutory positions at USAID will be eliminated.” The Fourth Circuit rejected the lower court’s view that dismantling USAID was likely unconstitutional, with Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. writing, “While defendants’ role and actions related to USAID are not conventional, unconventional does not necessarily equal unconstitutional.” Good riddance, USAID.
Patel releases FBI docs on 2017 GOP baseball shooting: It’s been nearly eight years since a deranged leftist attempted to massacre congressional Republicans at a baseball practice in suburban DC — a shooting that nearly cost then-Majority Whip Steve Scalise his life. Outrage ensued some four years later, though, when it was learned that the FBI had deemed the attack as a “suicide by cop.” Former Director Chris Wray ultimately reversed the bureau’s disgraceful conclusion — meant to obscure the party affiliation of the assailant — but he never released the FBI’s documentation. Now, in a win for transparency, Director Kash Patel has done so, explaining, “I can report that … the FBI has provided the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence all requested documents related to the Congressional Baseball Game shooting in 2017.”
Coyotes are now smuggling migrants out of the country: It was stunning enough to see how quickly the influx of illegals coming across our southern border dried up. But in yet another example of the Trump Effect, the traffickers who smuggled humans into our country are now, according to journalist Alfredo Corchado, offering those illegals “paquetes de retorno,” or return trips, now that the free stuff of the Joe Biden years has given way to Rule of Law. Even The New York Times has noted the trend, reporting on one illegal who made an appointment with a judge so he might voluntarily depart and perhaps one day return legally. Meanwhile, despite strong support for Trump’s deportation regime, a Rasmussen survey finds that 26% of voters are somehow opposed to deporting Venezuelan gang members.
Biden’s sorry student loan legacy: Human nature tells us that if you pay people not to work, they won’t work. Similarly, we now know that if you give out millions of lucrative loans without a serious expectation that they are paid back, many folks won’t pay them back. Recall that Joe Biden implemented a cynical vote-buying scheme in which he “paused” the repayment of student loans due to the COVID pandemic. Then he began writing off large tranches of those loans, even as the Supreme Court declared his actions unconstitutional. Now, according to the New York Fed, a record share of those student loans — nearly one-fourth of them — are delinquent, and as of February, 63% of loans haven’t been reduced since repayments were restarted in 2023.
“Snow White” tanks: Disney’s live-action remake of its beloved animated classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” followed up a bad opening weekend with an even worse second weekend. Ticket sales for “Snow White” nosedived 66%, pulling in just $14.2 million and falling to second place behind the surprisingly solid opening for the new Jason Statham thriller “A Working Man.” Disney spent north of $350 million on this remake, so to break even, it will need to gross around $700 million. Thus far, the film has pulled in $143 million worldwide. Well on its way to proving the popular refrain “Get woke, go broke,” “Snow White” is now on a trajectory to become what director John Nolte calls “the biggest box office bomb in history.”
“A is for Abortion” according to a display at a Fairfax school: “I respect the right of our students to respectfully share their honest, comprehensive historical perspective that is relevant to them as young adults.” That’s how Dr. Michelle Reid, superintendent of Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Schools, defended a display that features an image of a coat hanger and a pregnancy test under the words “A is for Abortion.” The display is a West Springfield High School project for an elective Women’s History class. One wonders how comprehensive the perspective on abortion could possibly be coming from a class that excludes the study of half the human population. Other woke letters in this alphabet include “M is for Mansplain,” “T is for Trans Women,” and “Z is for male gaZe.” Sadly, this story is another example of indoctrination in our failing public school system.
Headlines
Trump appeals deportation case to Supreme Court (Daily Signal)
Trump admin appeals decision blocking dismantling of CFPB (Fox Business)
Major law firm strikes preemptive deal with White House (Politico)
Trump warns Iran “there will be bombing” if Tehran spurns nuclear talks (Newsweek)
Former Musk EV rival Trevor Milton pardoned by Trump (Daily Wire)
March for Our Lives lays off most employees (Bearing Arms)
Humor: Trump leaves presidency to become even more powerful district court judge (Babylon Bee)
If you live anywhere outside of Wisconsin, why would you care about the state’s Supreme Court election tomorrow? Well, Donald Trump and Elon Musk sure do care a lot — and so do their Democrat antagonists — which sets the stakes pretty high.
The election pits former state Attorney General and now Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford. If the more conservative Schimel wins, it will tip the court back in the right direction from its previous 4-3 leftist majority. Progressive Justice Ann Walsh Bradley recently retired, leaving a 3-3 split.
Wisconsin’s court is expected to hear challenges to the state’s abortion and voter ID laws, as well as its election map, which will have huge implications for the current slim majority Republicans hold in the U.S. House. Multiple op-ed writers have called it the most important election of 2025.
“In the Great State of Wisconsin, a Radical Left Democrat, one who is insistent on bringing hardened CRIMINALS, that we removed to far away places, back into our Country, allowing men into women’s sports, Open Borders, and more, is running against a strong, Common Sense Republican, JUST CALL HIM BRAD, for the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday after previously endorsing him. “It’s a really big and important race, and could have much to do with the future of our Country. Get out and VOTE, NOW, for the Republican Candidate — BRAD!!!”
Trump has also called Crawford a “deranged left-wing [George] Soros-funded lunatic.”
Meanwhile, Musk’s America PAC has been giving $100 to every registered voter in the Badger State who signs a petition “rejecting the actions of activist judges.” Two of those signers received $1 million each. Musk turned up the rhetorical heat at a rally Sunday. “What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives,” Musk told the crowd after tossing his cheesehead foam hat to them. “That is why it is so significant. Whichever party controls the House to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization. I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.”
Whew — from Wisconsin to Western civilization and the entire destiny of humanity itself.
Meanwhile, Democrats have been running ads attacking Schimel by tying him to Trump and Musk, both of whom are underwater in state approval ratings, though Trump did win the state twice. They’re also explicitly making this court race about future House races in a state with a current 6-2 Republican delegation. “Chance to put two more House seats in play for 2026,” read one fundraising email sent on behalf of Crawford. “Winning this race could also result in Democrats being able to win two additional US House seats, half the seats needed to win control of the House in 2026.”
Likewise, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries thinks the congressional “lines are broken” and that the only fix is “an enlightened Supreme Court.” That gets to the crux of the argument, too. Who makes laws — legislators or judges? Democrats don’t care so long as they win.
The two sides have already spent over $90 million on this supposedly nonpartisan judicial race, shattering the previous record of $50 million in 2023.
Indeed, as Trump put it, “It’s really much more than local. The whole country is watching.”
Thomas Gallatin: Trump’s Auto Tariff Gambit — Will his 25% tariff on auto imports end up derailing his economic agenda?
Douglas Andrews: Donald Trump’s Greenland Gambit — The barren island has great national security significance and is rich in natural resources, which is why Trump wants to do a deal.
Emmy Griffin: DEI Nonprofit Dies Because of Greedy Executives — While the zeitgeist is turning away from this racial grift, a shuttered nonprofit accuses its founder of using the company for self-enrichment.
Brent Ramsey: China: The Bane of Modern Civilization — Exploring China’s government and culture and its behavior towards other countries, ethnicities, and segments of its own citizenry.
Roger Helle: When the Fire Falls: Part II — Too many times, we have silenced ourselves rather than take on the leftist bullies in our lives.
They Were Hiding All This — Jordan Peterson talks with Corey DeAngelis about what happened with the teachers unions and why it was related to Trump’s recent victory among parents.
‘This Is Very Concerning’ — The Left is entering the realm of podcasts. Meanwhile, the podcasters of the Right are toying with conspiracies and anti-Semitism.
“I never remember in my lifetime a sitting president trashing a previous president. I’ve never heard that before.” —”The View” co-host Joy Behar
Grand Delusions
“We let them define the issue on immigration. We let them define the issue on DEI. And we let them define what ‘woke’ is. … We got ourselves in this mess because we weren’t bold enough to stand up and say, ‘You [sic] damn right we’re proud of these policies. We’re going to put them in, and we’re going to execute them.’” —Tim Walz
Hollyweird
“Along came our 45th president and we entered into a whole other world… We became a symbol of the resistance and a fight for human rights.” —”The Handmaid’s Tale” executive producer Warren Littlefield
Shot/Chaser
“Confirmed: Ninja swords will be banned by this summer. When we promise action we take it.” —British Prime Minister Kier Starmer
“When ninjas are invading your nation, you know that open borders have gone too far….” —Senator Ted Cruz
Re: The Left
“Expanding the federal government has been a progressive priority since the time of Woodrow Wilson, and now its tentacles — via federal funding and a skein of rules — reach practically into every corner of American life. The universities are particularly dependent on government and intertwined with it, and are quickly learning how uncomfortable it is when their paymaster isn’t ideologically aligned with them and is willing to throw his weight around. … If the academic establishment is now fully realizing the power that its federal patron has over higher education, maybe it should have made a little more time for libertarian critiques of government power all along.” —Rich Lowry
Political Futures
“Undoubtedly, heads should roll [vis-à-vis Signal]. But the Republicans, rightly so, are not going to go first. … Two wrongs do not make a right but don’t expect the political right to keep offing its supporting cast when Democrats keep promoting theirs.” —Erick Erickson
“In 2024, Trump increased his 2020 vote total in every single state. And he won 89% of all the counties in the United States. On every issue, Democrats sided with strident leftist movements rather than the majority of Americans.” —Victor Davis Hanson
Belly Laugh of the Day
“I got an 18-year-old, Gus … and I’m having one of those dad talks with him. … In the middle of it he gives me the old, ‘Says the guy who got his ass kicked by Donald Trump.’” —Tim Walz
And Last…
“People often misunderstand Elon. He’s not motivated by money or fame — he’s motivated by the idea of improving humanity. [H]is goal has always been the same — to leave the world in a better place than he found it.” —Elon’s mother, Maye Musk
ON THIS DAY in 1970, Explorer I reentered the earth’s atmosphere after spending 12 years orbiting the planet. It was the first U.S. satellite, and a key part of the space race with the Soviet Union.
Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic’s Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.
Christian Resources is a non-profit teaching, apologetics and publishing ministry founded by William Webster dealing with issues related to Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Gospel, Church history and the Christian life. The ministry is dedicated to the teaching and proclamation of the Gospel, a biblical and historical defense of the teachings of the Reformation and the discipling of believers in their Christian walk. ▶️https://christiantruth.com/
William Webster has a Masters of Theology in Biblical Interpretation and a PhD in Historical Theology, both from Whitefield Theological Seminary.
▶️Roman Catholic Tradition: William Webster (Playlist):
Christian Resources is a non-profit teaching, apologetics and publishing ministry founded by William Webster dealing with issues related to Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Gospel, Church history and the Christian life. The ministry is dedicated to the teaching and proclamation of the Gospel, a biblical and historical defense of the teachings of the Reformation and the discipling of believers in their Christian walk. ▶️https://christiantruth.com/ William Webster has a Masters of Theology in Biblical Interpretation and a PhD in Historical Theology, both from Whitefield Theological Seminary. ▶️Roman Catholic Tradition: William Webster (Playlist): • Roman Catholic Tradition: Its Roots, …
Christian Resources is a non-profit teaching, apologetics and publishing ministry founded by William Webster dealing with issues related to Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Gospel, Church history and the Christian life. The ministry is dedicated to the teaching and proclamation of the Gospel, a biblical and historical defense of the teachings of the Reformation and the discipling of believers in their Christian walk. ▶️https://christiantruth.com/ William Webster has a Masters of Theology in Biblical Interpretation and a PhD in Historical Theology, both from Whitefield Theological Seminary. ▶️Roman Catholic Tradition: Lecture 12 The Eucharist / The Mass Webster (Playlist): • Roman Catholic Tradition: Its Roots, …
Europe has lost its collective mind. It talks up a ‘coalition of the willing’, while blocking any settlement of the Ukraine conflict. And Zelensky descends into literal madness. Meanwhile, Russia eyes the endgame and the return of peace.
CrossTalking with George Szamuely and Mark Sleboda.
President Trump warned Iran that if they don’t negotiate, things will go very bad. The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck Southeast Asia has risen to more than 1,700 as more bodies have been pulled from the rubble. The U.S. has designated 8 Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. A federal judge has ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency may have violated the Constitution when it shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development. CBN’s “Helping the Homefront” celebrated Spring with an 8k race to honor military service members.
Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the attitude of liberal judges halting President Donald Trump’s policies on ‘Life, Liberty & Levin.’ #trump #court #deportation #foxnews
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