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
Acknowledge the Great Evil of Sin, its Sinfulness and Foolishness
Confession 2.12 | ESV
We must acknowledge the great evil that there is in sin, and in our sin; the malignity of its nature, and its mischievousness to us.
The sinfulness of sin.
O that sin might be shown to be sin to me and appear in its own colors; and through the commandment may I see it to be sinful beyond measure, Romans 7:13(ESV) because it is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4(ESV)
By every willful sin I have in effect said, “I do not want this man to reign over me.” Luke 19:14(ESV) And, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” Exodus 5:2(ESV) And thus have I reviled the LORD, Numbers 15:30(ESV) and cast his law behind my back. Nehemiah 9:26(ESV)
The foolishness of sin.
O God, you know my folly; the wrongs that I have done are not hidden from you. Psalm 69:5(ESV) I was foolish in being disobedient, Titus 3:3(ESV) and my desires are senseless and harmful. 1 Timothy 6:9(ESV)
Folly was bound up in my heart when I was a child; Proverbs 22:15(ESV) for though vain man would be wise, he is born like the wild donkey’s colt. Job 11:12(KJV)
Nehemiah 6:15-7:73 In this week’s studies, we see how Nehemiah responded when the wall was finally completed.
Theme
Numbering the People
2. Jews who were laymen (vv. 8-38). This is a long and numerically significant list, as might be expected. It is in two parts. The first part lists eighteen individuals from whom the then living descendants came. The second part lists twenty towns in which the returning exiles settled. The introduction to the census suggests that these were the towns from which the families of these people had come originally.
3. Priests (vv. 39-42). The priests were the descendants of Aaron, Moses’ brother. They were responsible for the service of the great temple altar and aspects of the feasts. David had organized the priests into twenty-four families each responsible for a two or three week tour of temple duty. Nehemiah’s list mentions only four of these families, presumably the only ones who returned. According to the Talmud, these were later reorganized into a new set of twenty-four rotation groups using the original Davidic names (cf. Tosefta, ii, I, 216). Nehemiah lists just over four thousand priests, about one-tenth of the total census.
4. Levites (v. 43). Levites were the descendants of Levi, one of the original twelve patriarchs. Levites also served in rotation, and their job was to assist the priests descended from Aaron. Surprisingly, a very small number is listed, meaning that only a minority of the Levites had returned from Babylon.1
5. Singers (v. 44). The singers, like the gatekeepers who follow next, were taken from among the Levites. Their task was to assist in the temple worship (cf. 1 Chron. 25-26).
6. Gatekeepers (v. 45). The Levites, singers and gatekeepers were the categories of temple staff appointed by Nehemiah, according to verse 1. They were not the people mentioned by name here, of course; they were from among their descendants.
7. Temple servants (vv. 46-56). Temple servants were assistants to the Levites, just as Levites were assistants to the descendants of Aaron. The Gibeonites had been appointed to this role after they had deceived the Israelites at the time of the conquest. In fact, these may actually be their descendants, now incorporated into the nation by circumcision.
8. The descendants of the servants of Solomon (vv. 57-60). This group is closely linked to the previous one, a common total serving for both groups.
9. Those whose ancestry was questionable (vv. 61-65). These were in two categories: laymen and those who claimed to be priests. The situation of the priests was most serious since it involved matters of ritual purity and contamination for the whole people. A decision was made to exclude these persons from priestly functions until their case could be decided by submitting it to a sacred casting of lots known as the Urim and Thummim.
The census ends with the total number of Jews, to which are added a number of other totals, including those of servants, singers and animals.
1Derek Kidner reflects astutely on what this tells us about how the Law of Moses was being regarded at this time. “The Levites, whom the tithe law treats as greatly outnumbering the priests, had suddenly become a tiny minority with only a fraction of their former claim on the community’s support. Yet the law gives them everything, ‘every tithe in Israel,’ and only requires them to hand on a tenth of this to the priests: ‘a tithe of the tithe’ (Num. 18:21, 26). Had the law been still in the making or rewriting at this stage, as many have tried to argue, it could never have reached us in this form. To quote Y. Kaufmann, who draws attention to this: ‘Nothing proves more clearly how mistaken is the view that in post-exilic times, the Torah book was still being added to and revised….The founders of post-exilic Judaism were not the composers, but merely the collectors of the Torah literature. They did not alter anything of what they “found written,” much less add to it.’” (Kidner, Ezra and Nehemiah: An Introduction and Commentary [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979], 40). The Kaufmann quotation is from The Religion of Israel (Allen and Unwin, 1961), 193.
Study Questions
Who were the priests and Levites, and what did they do?
What do we know about the temple servants?
Application
For Further Study: Download for free and listen to James Boice’s message, “God’s Blessings on the City.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
A recent Linkedin article noted the average American worker holds TEN different jobs in a lifetime, with that number projected to grow to FIFTEEN in the future!
Although job-market volatility may contribute to those high numbers, such constant job change also suggests people are looking for fulfillment — a greater sense of purpose — in their lives.
And believe it or not, even Christians sometimes feel a lack of purpose as they struggle to find God’s will for them. But Scripture tells us our ultimate purpose in life is to have a relationship with Jesus and to tell others about Him.
As John MacArthur said, “You say you do not know what God’s will is, but I’ll tell you what it is. Above all it is that you know Christ and then that your neighbors hear about Christ. That is His will.”
And what really do we mean by “God’s will”? We’ll discuss that another time.
Carl Kerby is the founder of Reasons for Hope and co-creator of the DeBunked apologetic video series. His radio feature, Fast Facts, is heard weekly on VCY America, Saturdays at 9:25 AM Central.
God deserves nothing less than to be honored for who He is and all that He has revealed about Himself. Today, R.C. Sproul teaches on the need to resist our natural inclination of twisting the truth of God into falsehood and idolatry.
Imprecatory psalms ought not be avoided, but instead utilized. Like the rest of the Scriptures, they are truly the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of the Living God. We ought to rejoice over them, rather than act ashamed when we encounter them.
Not too long ago, I encountered a group of gentlemen who were adamant that I had to avoid ever quoting the imprecatory psalms in my sermons, public speaking, or writings. Each of them shared a similar concern: the language of imprecatory psalms is largely confrontational, and they wanted to avoid confrontation at all costs. I was told that my duty was to win sinners over to Christ by my conduct only, and confrontational verses—or words spoken directly against the sinner—could create a barrier in their coming to Christ.
It may come as a surprise, but I understood completely where they were coming from. I also believed they were completely wrong. While it’s true that an imprecatory psalm may make the sinner uncomfortable, that’s actually a good thing. Discomfort over God’s Word and God’s justice may lead them to repentance if that’s what God has sovereignly decreed. But, at the same time, we must be certain that we don’t become so enamored with the world, and with pursuing the world’s love, that we forget we have no reason to be ashamed of any of God’s Word. We ought to be as bold about our faith in the goodness of Psalm 139:19–24 as we are about John 3:16.
We must be certain that we don’t become so enamored with the world, and with pursuing the world’s love, that we forget we have no reason to be ashamed of any of God’s Word.
In fact, when David claims to hate the enemies of God in Psalm 139, he is entirely justified in doing so. We, also, may be justified in hating God’s enemies, when that hatred is pure as David’s was.
Permit me to explain how this is possible. We, of course, ought to desire that God would be glorified above all else, and anything that stands in the way of His being glorified must be despised and opposed. Consequently, we ought to also seek the continual expanse of His Kingdom over the earth, and so all obstacles standing in the way of Christ’s reign must be torn down and destroyed (2 Cor 10:4). The main way that we oppose and advance against such enemies and obstacles is through the proclamation of the Word of God and prayer. More specifically, we may sometimes oppose, fight, and advance against the enemies of God through imprecatory prayers.
When we pray imprecatory prayers, we must be cognizant of the idea that God justly deals with His enemies either by slaughtering them in His wrath, or, by His salvation, slaughtering what they once were. This language may seem scary, or perhaps even off-putting, but it is the language of Scripture.
We are to emulate God’s divine and pure hatred for His enemies. Ephesians 5:1 commands, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” As the children of God, we look to our Heavenly Father and see His hatred of the evil and wicked (Ps 5:4), and thus we perfectly hate the same (Ps 139:21). But, here’s the catch: we also witness the love of God for the cosmos (John 3:16), and thus we imitate His love, as well.
It is hard to wrap our minds around this concept, but God is not composed of parts or given over to emotions and passions (LBCF/WCF 2.1). He does not change. As some theologians have put it, “God is His attributes.” In other words, the love of God is not as distinct from the hate of God as we may initially imagine. They are, as it turns out, one and the same. From our vantage point, they appear different because of how we experience God. However, the Christian who has been reconciled to God experiences only His love, while the sinner exiled from God’s presence experiences only His hatred. Both experience God, who does not have parts, but their experiences largely differ.
The Christian is, however, composed of parts. The Christian is given over to passions and emotions. Thus, even as we seek to imitate our Heavenly Father in “hating” our enemies, we also seek to “love” our enemies. There is, then, no contradiction between imprecatory prayers and Jesus’s commandment, in Matthew 5:43–48, to love our enemies:
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Again, when we pray for God to tear down those obstacles that hinder the Kingdom from a full advance, we do well. God truly does hate such things. But, at the same time, it may be that one of those sinful enemies of ours who despises God, who we in turn hate with perfect hatred, is one of those elected unto salvation by the eternal love of God before the foundation of the world.
It may be that the enemy you prayed about may just become your brother or sister in Christ.
Thus, even as we pray for the defeat of our enemies, and even as we may at times employ graphic and vivid language (“Shatter their teeth, O Lord, and silence their tongues, that they may no longer lift their obnoxious voice against you”), our imprecatory prayers must always acknowledge that God is infinitely wiser than we are. It may be that those enemies will be judged and punished under the divine wrath of God. But it may also be that those enemies will have their sins judged in Christ, and will find salvation in Him alone, thus having their opposition ended as they die as God’s enemies and are raised to new life as beloved children in God’s Kingdom.
We can pray imprecatory psalms. They are God’s gift to us, directing us how to pray against enemies. But here’s the good news: God is sovereign, just, gracious, and merciful. He is infinitely wiser than we are. We can pray and entrust the results to Him. It may be that the enemy you prayed about may just become your brother or sister in Christ.
Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. (6:13–14)
Food and the stomach were created by God for each other. Their relationship is purely biological. It is likely the Corinthians were using this truth as an analogy to justify sexual immorality. The Greek text says literally, “The foods the belly, the belly the foods.” Perhaps this was popular proverb meant to celebrate the idea that “Sex is no different from eating: the stomach was made for food, and the body was made for sex.” But Paul stops them short. “It is true that food and the stomach were made for each other,” he is saying, “but it is also true that that relationship is purely temporal.” One day, when their purpose has been fulfilled, God will do away with both of them. That biological process has no place in the eternal state. Not so with the body itself. The bodies of believers are designed by God for much more than biological functions. The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. Paul had a better proverb in mind with that statement. The body is to be the instrument of the Lord, for His use and glory. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Our bodies are designed not only to serve in this life but in the life to come. They will be changed bodies, resurrected bodies, glorified bodies, heavenly bodies—but they will still be our own bodies. The stomach and food have only a horizontal, temporal relationship. At death the relationship ceases. But our bodies are far more than biological. For believers they also have a spiritual, vertical relationship. They belong to God and they will forever endure with God. That is why Paul says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:20–21). We need to take serious care of this body because it will rise in glory to be the instrument that carries our eternally glorious and pure spirit throughout eternity.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1984). 1 Corinthians (pp. 149–150). Moody Press.
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food,” but God will destroy both of them. The body is not for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. a. “ ‘Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food.’ ” Beginning with a general slogan, “all things are permissible to me,” Paul now recites a specific proverbial saying: it pertains to food and the stomach. The composer of this saying, whoever he was, made it vivid by reversing the two nouns in its second half. Therefore, the public readily accepted the motto. But even though Paul acknowledges the truth of this proverb, he adds a comment to the motto in a manner similar to that of the preceding text (see v. 12). God has created a world that produces a variety of foods to sustain life. If not wasted, food terminates in the stomach of the one who eats. And conversely, a stomach receives food for the benefit of the consumer. This is how God designed his great creation. But God also sets limits. Food products that are subject to perishing, and human life, which is subject to aging, in time pass away. Both food and the stomach are temporal and lack permanence. b. “But God will destroy both of them.” Here Paul addressed the temporality of food and the stomach. To stress their fleeting nature, he states that God will destroy both. In this context, Paul does not elaborate on either eating foods offered to idols, Christian liberty, or eating and drinking to God’s glory. Elsewhere he addresses those topics (8; 10:23–33). c. “The body is not for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” The message Paul delivers to the Corinthians is that they should not identify sexual appetite with an appetite for food and drink. J. B. Lightfoot notes that the Corinthians confused the prohibitions of two different categories, “meats and drinks on the one hand, and sins of sensuality on the other.” Food and drink should be consumed with moderation and discretion. But consumption as such is not a matter of morality, for anyone with sanctified common sense wishes to be and to remain healthy. Conversely, God’s command to shun fornication and adultery relates to sexual morality. God created the human body not for sinful pleasure but for his glory. He formed it in his image and after his likeness (Gen. 1:26), not for sexual immorality. The members of the Jerusalem Council knew that the Gentiles considered sexual immorality acceptable. Thus, to the decrees on food the council members added the moral law: “To abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from strangled animals, and from fornication” (Acts 15:29). Those Corinthians who flaunted their freedom in Christ considered themselves free to indulge in eating and in sexual gratification. But their sexual immorality violated the precepts of the Jerusalem Council and was a transgression of the Decalogue (Exod. 20:14; Deut. 5:18). God created man’s physical body for service in his creation (Gen. 1:28). He instituted marriage for the propagation of the human race and for the enrichment of the marriage partners. He sees the use of the human body for fornication to be absolutely contrary to this purpose (see 1 Thess. 4:3–5). Hence Paul notes that the body is to serve the Lord and, he adds, the Lord is for the body. To the slogan of the Corinthians Paul adds his own teaching. He parallels the rhythm and style of their slogan: Food for the stomach and the stomach for food. The body for the Lord and the Lord for the body.
As food and the stomach are meant for each other so the physical body and the Lord serve each other. Both food and the stomach are of passing significance, but the body and the Lord have lasting significance in relation to the resurrection. The parallelism should not be pressed to its logical conclusion, for that is not Paul’s purpose. Our physical body, created by God but stained by sin, will at death descend into the grave. It has been redeemed by Christ and will be raised as his body was raised. The Lord claims this body because it belongs to him (Rom. 14:8).
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (Vol. 18, pp. 194–196). Baker Book House.
And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath.Deuteronomy 33:13
We may be rich in such things as Joseph obtained, and we may have them in a higher sense. Oh, for “the precious things of heaven”!
Power with God and the manifestation of power from God are most precious. We would enjoy the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, the glory of our God. The benediction of the three divine Persons in love, and grace, and fellowship we prize beyond the most fine gold. The things of earth are as nothing in preciousness compared with the things in heaven.
“The dew.” How precious is this! How we pray and praise when we have the dew! What refreshing, what growth, what perfume, what life there is in us when the dew is about. Above all things else, as plants of the Lord’s own right hand planting, we need the dew of His Holy Spirit.
“The deep that coucheth beneath.” Surely this refers to that unseen ocean underground which supplies all the fresh springs which make glad the earth. Oh, to tap the eternal fountains! This is an unspeakable boon; let no believer rest till he possesses it. The all-sufficiency of Jehovah is ours forever. Let us resort to it now.
What is the Trinity? Is Jesus God? Is the Holy Spirit God? What is the Holy Trinity? What does the Bible say about the Trinity? Those are real questions that deserve biblical answers. In this video, we explain the Trinity using biblical references that explain the triune nature of God.
It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Several years ago I read about a champion woodcarver from Bavaria who found a piece of wood in the mouth of a sack of grain. The wood was the same color as the grains of wheat, so he took it into his head to carve the wood into imitation grains. He carved a handful of them, mixed them with some real wheat, and then invited his friends to tell them apart. The woodcarver had done the work so well that no one could tell the difference. Even he was unable to tell the imitation grains from the true wheat. In the end the only way to distinguish the true from the false kernels was to place the grains in water. After a few days the real grain sprouted, while the imitation grain remained exactly what it was before: dead wood. There is a parallel here to those who profess to be God’s people. To human eyes there may be a time when some of the true children of God are almost indistinguishable from people who are merely behaving as believers or are circulating among believers. But the difference is there nevertheless. It has been put there by God. And in the end, since some of these people have the life of God within them and some do not, these who possess that life will show it by their spiritual growth.
Natural Israel and Spiritual Israel
The distinction between those who seem to be spiritual children and those who actually are is critical to understanding the next section of Romans. But in order to see it we have to step back a bit and review what Paul is saying. Paul is dealing with a troublesome problem faced by himself and the other early preachers of the gospel. The original Christians were Jews. Thus they very naturally began obeying the Great Commission by witnessing to their Jewish family members, Jewish friends, and Jewish neighbors. Since the promises of the Messiah were to Israel and since Jesus of Nazareth was that Messiah, according to their belief and understanding, Israel should have been willing to embrace him. But Israel as a whole did not, and as time went on the people who were becoming Christians and the largest number of emerging Christian churches were overwhelmingly Gentile. This was a severe disappointment to the early evangelists, even a great sorrow, as Paul’s opening paragraph in Romans 9 makes clear. But even more than this, it was a theological dilemma. The promises of God were to Israel, and yet Israel as a whole was unresponsive. Did this mean that God’s promises to Israel had failed, that is, that God had himself failed? That God was impotent in the face of unbelief? Or did it mean that the promises of God could not be trusted? That in the matter of salvation God was simply free to change his mind? This is the problem Paul wrestles with in the middle section of Romans, chapters 9 through 11. He has a number of arguments, which I summarized in the initial study in this volume. But the first of these, introduced in Romans 9:6, is that the promises of God were not made to all the physical descendants of Abraham, but only to those whom God had elected to salvation and in whom he had therefore implanted or was implanting life. Paul states this by saying, “It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” A little later and in a similar way, he contrasts those who are Abraham’s “descendants” with those who are his true “children” (v. 7). At first glance this argument may seem to be merely a novel idea, perhaps even an “argument from desperation,” as some would have it. But it is nothing of the sort. That not all Israel was true Israel was already an Old Testament perception. In the following verses, which we will explore in the next study, Paul shows that the distinction goes back to the patriarchs themselves. But even if this original distinction should be discounted, every Jew was aware of the contrast made by the prophets between the nation as a whole and the remnant. In the declining days of ancient Jewish history leading up to the overthrow of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. and the destruction of the southern kingdom by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., it was increasingly obvious that the nation as a whole was apostate and that only a few Jews gave any indication of being among God’s genuine people. It was the same at the coming of Christ. The nation as a whole was going about its business with little true faith at all, just as most people, both Jew and Gentile, do today. It was only a few individuals, like Joseph and Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah, Simeon and Anna, “who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). When Jesus appeared on the scene to begin his public ministry, he, too, made the distinction. In fact, this is one of the earliest things recorded of him. In John 1:43–46, we are told how Jesus called Philip to be one of his disciples and how Philip immediately found his friend Nathanael and brought him to Jesus. When Jesus saw Nathanael he said, “Here is a true Israelite …” (v. 47). It was the precise distinction Paul is making in this chapter. Nor should we overlook the fact that Paul has already made this contrast in Romans. In the second chapter he was trying to show that even highly moral and religious Jews need the gospel, like Gentiles, because neither the law, which they fail to keep, nor circumcision, the outward mark of the covenant people, can save them. Circumcision, like other religious ceremonies, has value only if it corresponds to an internal transformation. It is the heart that must be circumcised. Paul’s summary says, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Rom. 2:28–29a). How could it be otherwise, so long as we are dealing with spiritual matters and with God, who does not deal only with appearances but with reality? Clearly, God is not deceived by ceremonies.
What Is Required
What is required for one to be a true Israelite? We have already looked at a long list of things that are not required, at least things that do not in themselves make one a true child of God. They are the items Paul lists in verses 2 through 5: “the adoption … the divine glory … the receiving of the law … the temple worship … the promises … [and] the patriarchs.” These are real privileges that impart important spiritual advantages. But they do not bring salvation themselves. Indeed, not even being in the line that produced the Messiah is advantageous for salvation. What, then, is required? There is only one answer, and Paul has already developed it fully in the earlier parts of the letter. It is faith, saving faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and Savior. It is belief that Jesus died in our place, taking our sins upon himself, and that by faith in him we are delivered from the punishment due us for those transgressions and instead are counted as righteous through the righteousness of Christ. The “true Israel” of the Old Testament looked forward to Jesus’ coming and believed on him whom they did not yet know. The “true Israel” of the New Testament looks backward in time, believing on him who has come and whom they do know. Paul’s chief example of such faith is Abraham, whose story is told in summary form in Romans 4. Abraham was not saved by circumcision, because he was declared to be righteous before God in Genesis 15:6, which was years before his later circumcision. Nor was he saved by keeping the law, because no one, not even Abraham, is able to keep the law perfectly. The law only brings wrath and condemnation. Besides, the law was not even given until the time of Moses, which was four hundred years after Abraham’s time. How, then, was Abraham saved? It was by faith, which is what made Abraham a true Israelite. Paul says that “the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Rom. 4:16–17). As Paul will show, it is that call of God followed by faith that makes one a true member of God’s family.
Cultural Christians and True Christians
This is also true for those who call themselves Christians. That is, not all who call themselves Christians or who are thought of as Christians are true Christians. Some years ago an English writer named Leslie Stephen said that the name “Christian has become one of the vaguest epithets in the language.” This is true, perhaps even more so today than when those words were spoken. To many Jews, the name Christian is nearly synonymous with “goy” or “Gentile,” so that for them the world is divided basically into two great parts: Jews and Christians. Other people speak of “Christian nations,” by which they usually mean the western nations, those of Europe, the United States, Canada, and some others. They do this even though the cultural life of these nations is inconsistent with Christian teaching and only a small proportion of people in some of those countries ever attend a place of worship on Sunday. What is happening? Obviously, it is a case of there being many who bear the name “Christian” but who are not actually Christians. What is a true Christian? The name itself gives us a clue, since it literally means “a Christ one.” Let’s approach it by its origins. The first time this name was used was in ancient Antioch of Syria in the early days of the expansion of the gospel beyond Palestine. Antioch was an immoral place. It had several great temples at which cultic prostitution was practiced, and the moral tone of the city was so bad that Antioch had become a byword for depravity in the ancient world. The city was on the Orontes River. So, on one occasion, when an orator in Rome wanted to describe the worsening moral conditions of his city, he observed that the Orontes had been diverted so as to flow into the Tiber. It was the equivalent of calling the Orontes a sewer that was carrying the filth of the eastern city into Rome. In this degenerate city, God planted a body of genuine believers whom the pagans of Antioch began to call Christians. The Christians did not call themselves Christians. They had other names for themselves. They called themselves “people of The Way,” “saints” (or separated ones), “disciples,” “brothers,” and other descriptive titles. Jews did not call them Christians, because Christ means “Messiah,” and the Jews would never have called the sect of the Nazarene by that name. No, the believers were first called Christians by the heathen, and for obvious reasons. The believers were enamored of Christ and followed so closely after Christ that the pagans could hardly think of a believer without thinking of the Jesus he or she was following. They were “Christ’s people.” Theologically, this has several parts. It means that:
Christians believe in Christ. The Christ of the early Christian community, and of all true Christians everywhere, is the Christ of the New Testament, which means that he is the Son of God who became a man for our salvation. This is the one on whom the Christians believed. Moreover, this belief was no mere intellectual conviction. I have often said that faith (or belief) has three elements. The first is its intellectual content: who Jesus is and what he has done for our salvation. The second is the warming of the heart: being moved by Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. The third is personal commitment, the most important part of all. It means giving oneself to Jesus, becoming his, taking up his cross, being a disciple. This is what the believers in Antioch had done. They had committed themselves to Jesus so thoroughly that the pagans who looked on said, “They are Christ ones, Christians.”
Christians follow Christ. There was a second characteristic of these first Christians, which is also characteristic of all true Christians at all times. It is wrapped up in the matter of commitment, as I have just indicated: Christians are followers of Jesus. That is, if they have believed on him in a saving way and not merely by some mere abstract intellectual assent to his deity, then they are following after him on the path he sets before them. That path is the path of obedience, and as they walk along it they become increasingly like the one they are following and obeying. This is an important dimension of what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian means to believe on Jesus, surely. But it also means to be following after Jesus and thus becoming increasingly like him. A true Christian is someone who is becoming like Jesus Christ.
Christians witness to Christ. I think there must have been another reason why the early Christians were called Christians, and it is that they were apparently always talking about their Savior. The name of Jesus was constantly on their tongues, his gospel consistently on their hearts, and his glory uppermost in their minds. They were always looking for others whom they could tell about him, and they were always praying and working at their witness so that these others might be saved. It is significant in this respect that the first great missionary movement of the church began in Antioch. We are told about it in Acts 13: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (vv. 2–3). Paul undertook three missionary journeys at the direction of this church and with accountability to it, for at the end of each assignment he reported back to the congregation what God had done to save other Gentiles and some Jews through him. We cannot forget that Jesus himself said that his followers would be witnesses: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Christians learn more and more about Christ. Here is a fourth thing that is characteristic of true Christians. They want to learn more about Jesus. We are told of the Christians at Antioch that after Barnabas had gone to their city to encourage the infant church in its faith, he then went to Tarsus in Turkey to look for Paul, whom he remembered from earlier days (Acts 11:22–25). When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch so that “for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people” (v. 26a). It is significant that it was immediately after this, after the Christians at Antioch had been carefully taught about Jesus, that they “were first called Christians” (v. 26b). As they learn about Jesus Christ, Christians naturally become more like him, intensify their love for him, and witness about him to others.
A Time for Self-Examination
The point of all this is that each of us who calls himself or herself a Christian should be led to self-examination. And what we should ask ourselves is: “Am I a true Christian, or am I a Christian in name only?” This is a serious question and a necessary one. For if Israel—with all the spiritual advantages that Paul mentions in Romans 9—could be composed of thousands or even millions who were not true Israel, it is certain that the visible church of Jesus Christ in our day is filled with many who are actually unbelievers. Paul told the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5a). Peter told his readers, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10a). How can we test ourselves? How can we be sure we are Christians? There are a number of specific questions to be answered that pertain to the matters I have just been discussing.
Do I believe on Christ? The first requirement is faith, because faith is our point of contact with the gospel. Paul told the Philippian jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31a). Ask yourself, “Have I believed on Jesus?” Not, “Have I believed on him in broad cultural terms?”—like anyone in the western world might be expected to do, especially if he or she has been raised in a Christian home or has attended a Christian church. But rather, “Have I been touched by knowledge of Jesus’ death for me, and have I committed myself to him? Am I serious about following after Christ, obeying his commands, and pleasing him?”
Am I following after Christ? The first question leads to the next: “Am I actually Jesus’ follower?” The way Jesus called his followers was by the words Follow me. And when they did follow him, their lives were inevitably redirected. Some had been fishermen, but when they began to follow Jesus they became fishers of men. One had been a tax collector, but after he had followed Jesus, he became concerned with the currency of heaven. Nobody who has begun to follow Jesus Christ has ever been entirely the same or walked in the same paths afterward. So ask yourself: “Has my life been redirected? Is there anything I am doing now that I did not do before or would not be doing were I not committed to Jesus? And are there things I have stopped doing? Is Jesus my very own Lord and Savior?”
Do I testify to Christ? This is a harder point for true self-examination, because it is easier for some to talk about Jesus than for others. It is easier for some to talk about nearly anything than for others. Nevertheless, this is an important question and one worth asking. If you never speak to anyone about Jesus, how can you suppose that you really care about him and love him, not to mention caring about and loving the other person, who needs to receive the Savior? Nominal Christians do not talk about Jesus. They are content to let everyone believe as he or she likes. They wouldn’t think of trying to impose their beliefs on others. But not all who are Christians are true Christians, just as “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” Examine yourself. Do you testify of Jesus?
Am I learning about Christ? The last of the four questions I have posed for determining whether or not you are a genuine Christian is: “Am I trying to learn more and more about Jesus Christ? Do I know more about him today than I did at the time of my conversion? Or at this time last year?” I know people who claim to be Christians who never go to a Bible study, never take notes of a sermon and, as far as I can determine, never seriously study the Bible on their own. If you are one of them how can you think of yourself as a Christian when you have no interest in learning about the one who gave himself for you? How can you consider yourself a believer when you really don’t care about Jesus? Over the last few years I have been talking with diverse Christian leaders, and the one thing most of them say is that they see no hope for the United States or for American Christianity apart from a revival. The drift is so obviously downward. But what is a revival? A revival is the reviving of the alleged people of God, and it is preceded by an awakening in which many who thought themselves to be Christians come to their right senses and recognize that they are not new creatures in Christ and that all is not well with their souls. Revival begins in the church, not in the world. It begins with people like you. I, too, think we need a revival. But I do not see it happening. I want it to happen. I do not see it. But if it happens, why should it not begin with us? With you? May God grant it for his mercy’s sake.
Boice, J. M. (1991–). Romans: God and History (Vol. 3, pp. 1043–1050). Baker Book House.
FBI says ‘a lot more’ than 20 people ‘may have known’ Charlie Kirk was going to be shot The FBI is currently investigating the possibility that dozens of other individuals may have known about the planned murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk through their participation in an online chatroom. Dan Bongino confirms authorities know Charlie’s assassination wasn’t the act of one man — others were involved, and knew beforehand.
Japan rules out Palestinian state recognition The Japanese government has decided not to join a number of other countries in recognizing unilateral Palestinian statehood at the United Nations next week, according to local media reports. Britain, France, Australia, Belgium, and Canada have all signaled they will formally recognize the Palestinian Authority’s unilateral declaration of statehood at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week, which kicks off next Tuesday.
Trump invites Netanyahu to the White House Netanyahu reveals that Trump has invited him to the White House later this month, the fourth time this year that the Israeli leader meets with the US president in Washington. The meeting with Trump, Netanyahu said, is slated to take place on September 29, at the end of High-Level Week at the United Nations General Assembly.
Firing Workers Over Celebrating Kirk Assassination Is Not “Cancel Culture” In the days following the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk last week, dozens of workers have been fired over repulsive social media posts celebrating the killing and stating that the 31-year-old father of two had it coming. Whining from the left that these terminations are “right-wing cancel culture” further reveals just how morally debased liberals are, given that they apparently can’t comprehend the difference between punishing someone for expressing a political opinion and punishing someone for applauding cold-blooded murder.
Iran’s global scope of terror: Tehran’s international crime network exposed Iranian intelligence services are systematically outsourcing terrorist attacks to international criminal organizations, using drug cartels, biker gangs, and local criminals as proxies to target Jewish communities, Israeli interests, and Iranian dissidents worldwide, according to intelligence reports, government documents, and The Press Service
Israel Issues Travel Warning Ahead of Jewish Holidays Amid Rising Attacks, Discrimination Targeting Israelis Abroad On Sunday, the National Security Council (NSC) urged travelers to stay alert, cautioning that the two-year anniversary of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel could trigger attacks by Iran-backed or Hamas-linked terrorist groups targeting Jews and Israelis abroad. “The recent period has been characterized by continued efforts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets by the various terrorist organizations (most of them led by Iran and Hamas),” the NSC said in a statement.
Gaza should be turned into a ‘real estate bonanza’, Smotrich says, confirms negotiations on day after plan with US Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday addressed the question of “the day after” in Gaza, saying the territory should be turned into a “real estate bonanza.” Speaking at the Urban Renewal Summit hosted by the Real Estate Center and Madlan 2025, Smotrich revealed that he had “already begun negotiations with the Americans” over such a plan. His remarks mark the first official confirmation from Israel that the proposal is under discussion. This plan was built by the most professional people there are,” he said, adding that it now sits on U.S. President Donald Trump’s desk. “We are checking how this becomes a real estate bonanza—I’m not joking—and pays for itself.”
Pediatrician reveals the dangers, lies, and censorship behind transgender ideology “What we’re seeing is evil. It’s evil. And I’m not excusing it, but I’m laying part of the blame at the medical profession, the harm that is being done to these youth,” said Dr. Patrick Hunter. Dr. Hunter is member of the Florida Board of Medicine, the first and only board in the U.S. to have a policy that opposes youth transition and gender care for kids.
NASA says solar activity is increasing after decades-long lull: “The sun is slowly waking up” The sun has become more and more active over the last 16 years, in a turn that surprised scientists and could affect space weather and technology on Earth… research …shows that solar activity has ramped up after 2008 — an unexpected reversal following a decades-long decline that was initially thought to foreshadow a period of historic inaction on the surface of the sun. An uptick in solar activity could influence space weather, potentially leading to more solar storms, solar flares and coronal mass ejections …
Comet c/2025 R2 (Swan) will reach the minimum distance from the earth in October: where and when it will be seen In the September sky there is a new and unexpected protagonist: it is the comet Swan 25bidentified thanks to the SWAN tool of the Soho telescope and now officially renamed C/2025 R2 (SWAN). Having just been discovered (last September 12), the information on its orbit is still scarce, but according to the estimates of the international astronomical union, the comet will reach the minimum distance from the earth between 12 and 19 October: currently it is in the Constellation of the Virgin And it is still very close to the sun … at sunset,
A Swarm of Comets is Flying into the Inner Solar System3I/ATLAS is Growing BIGGER Multiple comets are currently flying through the Inner Solar System in addition to interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. Because we’re currently in a Solar Maximum period, will all these comets trigger increased solar activity this fall? Are they omens for significant world events about to unfold? And what’s that latest with 3I/ATLAS? (watch)
Qatar airstrike: Targeted senior Hamas official appears on camera for 1st time Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, who was targeted in an assassination attempt in Qatar last week, appeared today (Wednesday) for the first time since the attack in an interview. Hamad added in the interview: “We are not afraid of Trump’s threats to unleash hell upon us. We do not take orders from him on how to treat enemy prisoners. We treat them according to our own methods and according to our religion.”
Israel’s ‘Iron Beam’ fully operational to hit missiles along with drones Firing Arrow interceptors can cost millions of shekels, Iron Dome interceptors can cost tens of thousands of shekels, but firing the Iron Beam is as cheap as turning a light on. The Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Israel’s “Iron Beam” is now operational and that a full series of batteries will be deployed across the country to provide cutting-edge new air defense capabilities within the coming months.
IDF official: Qatar seeks to renew mediation; 7,500 terrorists remain in Gaza City The deputy head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate’s Research Division, Col. A., told Knesset members Wednesday in a classified briefing to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel believes Qatar wants to return to mediating negotiations for the release of hostages and an end to the war. She said Egypt and Turkey are also interested in assisting with the talks, which have seen no progress since the Israeli strike in Doha on Sept. 9.
Only God Could Bring Victory Out Of What Looks Like Defeat Charlie Kirk was assassinated in an act of pure evil. There is little doubt that the premeditated murder was demonically inspired to have a dramatic impact. And it did. Equally demonic has been a subsequent outpouring of vile rhetoric on social media and even mainstream media – comments even cheering Kirk’s murder and implying or saying outright that he deserved to die at 31. Christians and Conservatives in droves are donning shirts that say, “We are ALL Charlie Kirk now” and “This is our Turning Point.”
Floods in Pakistan leave nearly 1,000 dead, 6.3 million affected, and 2.9 million displaced since June 26 Monsoon floods in Pakistan have killed at least 972 people and injured about 1,062 since June 26, 2025, affecting 6.3 million and displacing 2.9 million across the country. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains the worst-hit province with more than 500 fatalities, while Punjab has reported 290 deaths, and Sindh over 173,000 displaced. Health authorities have also issued dengue alerts for major cities in Sindh, where stagnant floodwaters heighten the risk of outbreaks.
At least 18 dead, 16 missing after cloudbursts and landslides in northern India At least 18 people were killed and 16 reported missing after cloudbursts and landslides triggered by heavy rains struck Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, India, on September 15–16, 2025. Authorities said more than 900 residents were stranded as roads and bridges were destroyed by flash floods.
InEarly October, Earth Will Pass Through The Orbital Debris Stream Of An Extremely Large Comet That Was Just Discovered Known As C/2025 R2 (SWAN) Scientists have just discovered another giant space rock that is rapidly heading in our direction. They think that it will fly past us at a distance of just 0.26 astronomical units, and if they are correct about that, it won’t hit us. But we are being warned that Earth will pass through the orbital debris stream of this extremely large comet, and that could result in a significant meteor storm. This comet was first identified less than a week ago, and so any projections that have been made so far could change. It is officially being called “C/2025 R2 (SWAN),” and it is already “bright enough to detect using binoculars.”
Israel Arming, Bankrolling Druze Fighters In Southern Syria With tensions continuing to simmer in Syria’s Suwayda Governorate, senior Druze commanders are reporting that the Israeli government has been arming and financing Druze militias that are seeking a large amount of autonomy over the area.
America’s ‘alarming’ depression problem Depression remains an ongoing problem in the U.S. as historically high rates persist, polling company Gallup reveals. The reported percentage of U.S. adults suffering or receiving treatment for depression has been higher than 18 percent for the past two years. A decade ago, in 2015, the number was just over 10 percent.
Netanyahu, Rubio, and Huckabee Reopen 2,000-Year-Old Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Monday formally opened the restored Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem’s City of David, the ancient thoroughfare once used by Jewish worshipers ascending to the Temple Mount during the Second Temple era.
Recent summit in China signals a shift in global energy politics to the East The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit was held between 31 August and 1 September in Tianjin, China. It marked a significant shift in global energy geopolitics, with India, Russia, and China forming a new energy alliance. The agreement between two of the world’s five largest economies for a pipeline to deliver gas from Russia’s Yamal fields to China via Mongolia is a cornerstone of this global energy realignment. “The permanent deflection of Russia’s Yamal gas supply – which was meant for Western Europe under Ostpolitik – to China reflects Brussels’s decline into geopolitical irrelevance and Germany’s vassalage to US interests,” Tilak Doshi writes.
Our Society Has Produced A “Lost Generation” That Doesn’t Have Any Hope …One of the most powerful pieces of evidence that our society is a failure is the fact that we have produced a “lost generation” of young adults that doesn’t have any hope. We shipped most of them off to public schools where they were trained to believe that they came from monkeys, there is no purpose to their lives, and when they die, nothing waits for them on the other side. This sick philosophy is endlessly pounded into the heads of our young people, and many of those who have adopted it have come to the conclusion that they might as well live as hedonistically as they can while they are here. Of course, that doesn’t give them any meaning or purpose either, and so a lot of them end up sort of drifting through life seeking anything that can fill the painful emptiness that they feel inside.
They Say They’ve Come to Conquer — Are You Listening? This isn’t “private faith.” In their own words: Islam is a “complete political, socio-economic system” that must “prevail over the entire man-made system” — over democracy, socialism, liberalism, all of it. That means Sharia above the Constitution. Religious supremacy over the rule of law. They’re not hiding it. They’re declaring it. The only question is – will America wake up before it’s too late?
Australian Muslim Senator Fatima Payman Cheers Charlie Kirk’s Assassination on TikTok Afghani–born Senator Fatima Payman has once again revealed her true colors. On a TikTok livestream, she weighed in on the political assassination of Charlie Kirk — sneering that he should “rest in piss” and that his life isn’t worth celebrating. Payman is not a fringe figure.
“It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual.” —Thomas Jefferson (1785)
PA Officers KIA: Three officers were murdered and two others are in critical condition after being ambushed by an assailant in a rural community near York, Pennsylvania. They were serving a stalking warrant on the assailant when he opened fire. The officers returned fire, killing the 24-year-old suspected assailant. The names of the officers have not been released. A neighbor and witness to the assault said it was “traumatic, like a scene off today’s TV.” As we have argued for decades, the consequences of unstable young people being saturated with media and gaming violence is deadly. This was the worst attack against PA officers in many years, and it follows similar attacks in other states. Most recently, four officers were killed and four were injured in Charlotte, North Carolina, in April 2024. Join us in prayer for the officers recovering and the families of those killed.
Fed cuts rates by 0.25% On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve, as widely anticipated, cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25%, dropping the overall interest rate down between 4% and 4.25%. The issue facing the Fed was that the inflationary rate continued to exceed its 2% goal. It had ticked up over the last couple of months, and economists are now predicting inflation will reach 2.6% next year. Still, concern over rising unemployment motivated the Fed to lower interest rates in a decision Fed Chairman Jerome Powell called a “risk-management cut” while also emphasizing, “it’s not a bad economy.” Donald Trump’s criticism of the Fed has centered on its perceived slowness to lower interest rates, which he contends has been negatively impacting the economy. It will be interesting to see what impact this will have on the economy and whether or not Trump is proven correct.
Civics education makes a comeback: Education Secretary Linda McMahon is launching the America 250 Civics Education Coalition to renew patriotism and strengthen civics knowledge nationally. Teaching kids about what makes America great is a crazy idea, but it just might work. On the current state of civics education in this country, McMahon put it bluntly: “I’m going to say it’s in decline, but I could almost say it is absent.” Only 13% of eighth graders were ranked proficient in history in 2022, and only 22% were proficient in civics. A 2018 study showed that three in four adults were confused about why the American colonists fought the British in the Revolutionary War. McMahon’s plan will tackle the problem head-on with over 100 events nationwide, a tour visiting all 50 states, student history competitions, and college lectures from members of Congress.
Satisfaction with K-12 education system hits new low: Just 35% of American adults say they are satisfied with the country’s K-12 education system, a new Gallup survey has found. That represents a new record low for the survey, undercutting the previous low of 36% in 2000 and 2023 polls. Gallup researcher Megan Brenan observed, “The NAEP [National Assessment for Educational Progress] results show steep declines in K-12 students’ reading and math scores since 2019, with many failing to reach even basic proficiency.” Indeed, when a significant number of students are failing, it’s no wonder Americans have a decidedly negative view of the nation’s schools. Broken down by political affiliation, just 29% of Republicans expressed satisfaction with America’s schools, compared to 42% of Democrats and 34% of independents.
ABC reporter “regrets” fawning comments about Robinson: ABC News Correspondent Matt Gutman “apologized” for his on-air comments Tuesday, in which he gushed over how much assassin Tyler Robinson loved his boyfriend. Gutman interpreted Robinson’s comments in a text exchange as something just short of a love letter to his trans-identifying boyfriend. Others have pointed out that Robinson’s texts show more concern over covering his tracks and reclaiming his grandfather’s rifle. In his “apology,” Gutman explained that he was trying to highlight the difference between the cold-blooded assassination and the tender loving words in the texts. Gutman’s apology may allow him to keep his job, but it is plain to see that whenever a killer is on the left side of the aisle, the corporate media will grasp at any straw they can find to create sympathy.
Obama points at Trump for Kirk assassination: Speaking on stage at the Jefferson Educational Society event in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Barack Obama implied that Donald Trump was indirectly responsible for Charlie Kirk’s assassination due to his “extreme” views. While acknowledging that Kirk’s assassination was “horrific,” Obama rattled off a list of falsely framed statements from Kirk, including that he said black women were stupid. He then claimed that Trump was using Kirk’s assassination as “a rationale for trying to silence discussion around who we are as a country and what direction we should go.” Obama also gaslighted his own political record, asserting, “Those extreme views were not in my White House. I wasn’t embracing them. I wasn’t empowering them. I wasn’t putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views.” Can we get a fact-check?
Antifa designated a terrorist organization: President Donald Trump has designated the consistently violent and disruptive antifa organization as a terrorist group. Furthermore, he is recommending that antifa’s funding be investigated. The move comes in response to the Charlie Kirk assassin’s messaging etched on a bullet casing of “Hey fascist, catch!” Trump is clear-eyed about the fact that the leftist practice of referring to anyone to the right of Karl Marx as a fascist contributed to Robinson’s radicalization. Trump explained, “Violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day.” This is the first significant action Trump has taken in response to Kirk’s assassination; how it will play out remains to be seen.
Four Republicans save Ilhan Omar: Republican Representatives Mike Flood, Tom McClintock, Jeff Hurd, and Cory Mills voted to table a measure that would censure Ilhan Omar and strip her of her committee assignments on First Amendment grounds on Wednesday. Hurd condemned the Democrat squad member’s comments as “ghoulish and evil” but argued that they were not made in the House and that no House rules had been broken. Representative Flood argued that the proper procedure would be to refer Omar’s comments to the House Ethics Committee before a censure. There are several other measures yet to be voted on that are also intended to strip Omar of her committee assignments.
Dearborn’s Islamic problem: During a recent city council meeting in Dearborn, Michigan, a Christian pastor and local resident was told by the city’s Muslim mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, that he was “not welcome” in the city. Ted Barham came to the council meeting to object to two intersections that were being named in honor of an Arab American news publisher, Osama Siblani, who had a long history of praising the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas. Barham contended that the decision was “provocative,” like naming them “Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street.” Hammoud called Barham a “bigot,” “racist,” and “Islamophobe.” But he wasn’t done: “Although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here.” He added, “And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of this city.”
Headlines
Two million illegals out of the U.S. since Trump took office, DHS confirms (Just the News)
Leftist students deface Charlie Kirk mural at UNC Wilmington (Not the Bee)
Judge finds Khalil misled DHS, ordered him deported (Washington Times)
Feds denaturalize immigrant who fraudulently obtained citizenship after raping stepdaughter for years (Daily Wire)
Tim Walz announces bid for reelection (Daily Wire)
Jerry resigns from Ben & Jerry’s because parent company won’t let them be woke anymore (Not the Bee)
Trump to leave Windsor Castle, meet Starmer on day 2 of UK state visit (ABC News)
Embarrassment for MSNBC, CNN as upstart NewsNation wins out in primetime ratings (Washington Free Beacon)
Shortly after the murder of Charlie Kirk, high-profile Harvard Law School professor (emeritus), Laurence Tribe, posted this BIG Lie: “Kirk’s apparent assassin seems to have been ultra-MAGA, exploding the GOP/MAGA attempt to pin the blame for this tragedy on liberals.”
Too bad Harvard can’t fire Tribe for this lie, as he is now retired, but … can it pull his pension?
Not to be out-dumbed, late-night “comedian” and serial misogynist Jimmy Kimmel, parroted Tribe’s invective assessment, fueling the propagation of this lie on social media. According to Kimmel on Monday, four days after Charlie’s assassination, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
But apparently, Kimmel, in his celebrity bubble, missed the memo.
Consequently, TV media holding company Nexstar, among the nation’s largest network broadcasting groups with more than 200 stations in 116 markets reaching 220 million people, has pulled Kimmel’s show from its ABC affiliates.
According to Nexstar’s broadcasting chief, Andrew Alford: “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views or values of the local communities in which we are located. Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
This action followed concerns expressed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr: “In some quarters, there’s a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature … of one of the most significant newsworthy public interest acts that we’ve seen in a long time in what appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or a Republican-motivated person.”
Carr added, “[Late-night hosts] went from being court jesters that would make fun of everybody in power to being court clerics and enforcing a very narrow political ideology.” He also thanked Nexstar “for doing the right thing.”
Responding appropriately, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest of ABC’s affiliate broadcasters, announced that on Friday, they will be airing a tribute to Charlie Kirk in Kimmel’s former time slot. Sinclair also announced, “The special will also air across all Sinclair stations this weekend. In addition, Sinclair is offering the special to all ABC affiliates across the country.”
Sinclair added that it will “not lift the suspension of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.”
It is not clear if Kimmel will make a comeback on some ABC affiliates, but I hope not.
Departing his studio at El Capitan Entertainment Centre in Los Angeles after the suspension, Kimmel was “absolutely f**king livid.”
Well, it’s not like he was assassinated for expressing his opinion.
Kimmel’s displacement comes in the wake of CBS canceling renewal of Stephen Colbert’s platform to spew his leftist garbage.
That was followed by a challenge from Jay Leno to those using their late-night programs as propaganda platforms for the Democrat Party. Leno, the 1992 successor to Johnny Carson as the host of “The Tonight Show,” and the most successful late-night TV funny man since Carson, offered this assessment: “I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, you know, the pressures of life, whatever it might be. And I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other. … I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture. … I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group, you know, or just don’t do it at all.”
Leno is much too kind.
After years of unmitigated bias by the Leftmedia acting as Demo Party publicists, there is a slight but palpable shift underway.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
Samantha Koch: What Charlie Kirk Stood For: Faith, Family, Free Speech — Whether you agreed with him or not, Charlie made it clear through his words and actions that faith, family, and free speech are foundational to a flourishing society.
Patrick Hampton: Charlie Kirk: A Personal Tribute and Thank You — Charlie’s mission wasn’t to erase our differences but to anchor us in core truths: the sanctity of life, the defense of religious liberty, and the duty to steward our nation with courage and grace.
Nate Jackson: The FBI’s ‘Arctic Frost’ Effort to Freeze the Right — “In total, 92 Republican targets, including Republican groups and Republican-linked individuals, were placed under the investigative scope of Arctic Frost.”
Air Force Birthday — The U.S. Air Force was officially established on September 18, 1947.
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Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.
Latest PodcastPopCon #114: Charlie Kirk – What His Death MeansCharlie Kirk is gone. In this special episode, we wrestle with what he built, what was lost, and why “when we stop talking, violence begins” must be our rallying cry.
BEST OF VIDEOS
Disney’s ABC Cancels Jimmy Kimmel Show — The late-night talk show host flat-out lied about Charlie Kirk and his assassin in his monologue, and the network has indefinitely suspended his show.
This Is Not the Way — Attorney General Pam Bondi shares a shocking strategy to target “hate speech.”
We’re Not Having Enough Kids — It’s a Disaster — Stephen J. Shaw is a data scientist, demographer, and filmmaker best known for his groundbreaking documentary Birthgap — Childless World.
Now They Want Free Speech — Leftists who wanted people fired for using the “wrong” pronouns are suddenly screaming “free speech” over the right to be vile.
“We’re talking about a love-torn child. A kid. This is probably his first real relationship, and someone was disparaging the person that he loved.” —Montel Williams on CNN
Authoritarianism
“You are an Islamophobe, and although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you do not welcome here.” —Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud responding to a resident who objected to naming a street after Osama Siblani, who praises Hezbollah
Leftist Babble
“Politicizing the murder of Charlie King [sic] to go after free speech is not the legacy I think Charlie King [sic] would have wanted.” —Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) (Maybe he confused Charlie Kirk with Martin Luther King.)
If the Shoe Fits
“I am combating the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you. And we have countlessly proven you to be a liar in Russiagate, January 6th, you are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate. You’re a disgrace to this institution, and an utter coward.” —FBI Director Kash Patel to Demo Sen. Adam Schiff in congressional testimony
The BIG lie
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” —Jimmy Kimmel, who’s been indefinitely suspended by ABC for his disgraceful and ugly lie
Shot/Chaser
“You are requiring applicants to be able to do a certain kind of pull-ups, which a lot of women cannot because of physiological differences.” —Senator Mazie Hirono admitting biological differences between men and women
“If you wanna chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs, you better be able to do a pull-up.” —FBI Director Kash Patel
The Soft Racism of Low Expectations
“Affirmative action assumes that black people need extra points in order to achieve the same result as a person who is not black. And what that does is seed doubt in the minds of people, who then see black people in particular slots, and that’s unfair to black people.” —Ben Shapiro
For the Record
“Put bluntly, a Republican standing on Charlie Kirk’s grave to promote hate speech laws is about as offensive — and constitutionally illiterate — as it gets.” —Ian Haworth
“We can no longer tolerate the abject and blatant violations of our Constitution, as we saw with Biden’s open borders policy.” —Allen West
And Last
“Anyone dumb enough to believe ‘speech is violence’ did not get spanked by their parents” —Jimmy Failla
ON THIS DAY in 1947, President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act, which established the United States Air Force. Though previously the Army Air Corps, the Air Force celebrates September 18 as its birthday.
Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray for the protection of our uniformed Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Lift up your Patriot Post team and our mission to support and defend our legacy of American Liberty and our Republic’s Founding Principles, in order that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.
As the war continues in Gaza City, the world takes sides for and against Israel. Israel’s fight against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran has dominated the headlines for nearly two years. there’s also another front in this war for the land and the weapon is a grapevine. A heartbreaking day in York County, Pennsylvania. 3 Police officers lost their lives in the line of duty after a gun battle. The Federal Reserve is officially set to cut interest rates for the first time since President Trump took office. Republicans in the House are taking action to help the government pay its bills. With attacks on houses of worship rising — a former U.S. Navy seal is joining the fight with a company he started to protect such places using artificial intelligence. “Make America Healthy Again” — that’s the aim of H.H.S. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. His first target: eliminating artificial food dyes.
Widener Library, Harvard University (in full dress for the inauguration of the new university president. (Credit: Joseph Williams)
Guest post by Ken Pittman
Like many millions of others, I learned of the bloody execution of Charlie Kirk soon after it happened at 12:23 pm on September 10th.
I knew of Charlie as a Christian-first conservative American, best known for engaging college campuses for political debate.
For many, he became a national example of how conservatives should engage the other side. Some saw him as an agitator by doing so. Others grew to see him as a horrible,
right-wing fascist who should be stopped by any means.
Soon after Kirk’s assassination, it was clear that at least hundreds of thousands of Americans were eagerly willing to openly ‘spike the football’ and celebrate or taunt those who mourned Kirk’s slaughter either on social media or in person. I found this to be shocking.
They hated Kirk badly enough that his shocking bloodshed, which took his life, wasn’t enough for these depraved masses.
So how did we get here? How are so many mostly young Americans radicalized?
I first watched the established media networks and newspapers formulate their motive for the assassination. It became “clear” to them all, in a suspiciously synchronized way, that the shooter was right-wing and a Trump supporter.
Some lunged toward the theory that the alleged and arraigned shooter, Tyler Robinson, was a “Groyper”, if you never heard of the word, I don’t blame you.
It’s a term which is basically a person belonging to a fringe group of alt-right white nationalists, alleged Nazis, headed by a far-right Illinois man, Nick Fuentes.
The absurd theory by left-wing media was that an ultra-fascist killed a fascist for not being as fascist as the assassin.
Then, once the mainstream media realized that they could not control the narrative, they began to share the information already outed by Utah’s Governor Cox, the FBI, and conservative media, who for days have been sharing the statements by Robinson’s own family, his friends, and his live-in transitioning boyfriend who is said to be cooperating with authorities.
Now, the attempt is to plausibly blame the phenomenon of so many radicalized young Americans, on gaming and online sites and their groups. I’m certain that this should ALSO be looked at very deeply and may share in the causation.
However, I am a licensed private investigator who is chronically slow to get to conclusions. I need solid data, evidence before acknowledging anything as being a fact.
So I started to see a disturbing pattern in our nation in the hours and days after Kirk’s death. I looked in particular at the many ugly and irresponsible comments made by a certain vocational demographic: College Professors.
It’s been no secret that college campuses are dominated by liberal student bodies and faculties. But the inventory of crazed thoughts by so many people in positions to have full access to the minds of our millions and millions of college-age students looking to learn from them prevented me from scratching them off of my list of suspects in my process of elimination to find the etiology behind the violence.
A 2006 study by Professors Neil Gross and Solon Simmons of George Mason University, sampling over 1400 college professors in 912 American higher education institutions, determined that only 9% were conservative politically.
Some regions were worse than others, but one example was my own region here in New England, where professors claiming to be “moderate to liberal” outnumbered conservative professors 28 to 1.
How badly are these mentors poisoning the minds of so many people who were otherwise perceived as having bright futures and “on their way” in life?
I’m not accusing; I’m asking a question. I’m investigating, but so should the federal government.
Where is your evidence?! I’m glad you asked. We can’t prove anything without evidence.
Again, I’m not exonerating these causes pointed to by CNN panelists and others who say it’s the unknown vortex found in gaming sites and online groups on the net and dark net. I believe they may possibly end up being the perpetrator or possibly an accomplice.
But let’s examine the rabbit hole I have chosen for a moment.
There is a lot of hatred for conservatives found on the campus, and it has grown worse.
Liberal or potentially radical professors have the brains of America’s higher-educated youth, class after class, day after day, week after week, semester after semester, year after year.
When a conservative is given a somewhat rare but occasional invitation to speak at a college, what is the norm here? Sudden petitions to stop the event. Protests, threats of violence, riots and now add murder to the behavior.
Except for Kirk’s murder, it’s nothing new and it’s quite tolerated by the college authorities whose silence connotes endorsement in the eyes of this observer.
In February 2016, Ben Shapiro had to be escorted by a large contingent of police to protect him as he was escorted off the campus of California State University, Los Angeles due to the student violence.
In February 2017, Breitbart, a conservative media outlet, sent an editor there after receiving an invitation from conservative students at University of California at Berkeley.
Milo Yiannopoulos appeared on campus, despite death threats and threats of violence. His event was canceled when students shot fireworks at police, broke windows and set a building, cars and barrels on fire.
In November 2022, conservative pundit Ann Coulter was invited to speak at the Ivy League school Cornell but was met with so much hostility by students who promised in flyers passed around before her arrival to “deplatform” her. She spoke for a constantly interrupted seven minutes before being forced to retreat off the stage.
The climate had been worsening. Enter Charlie Kirk.
Not to discount the bravery and steadfast determination of others like Ben Shapiro, for example, but Charlie Kirk brought a different set of skills to all of this. He was an absolute threat. But not the kind of threat that the ginned-up left was being fed.
Charlie’s brand and mind both confounded intellectual academia. He was charming, polite, engaging and unwavering in his demeanor as he expressed an unapologetic ideology, whose message is clearly not allowed on campus if it makes a difference on the college campus. Here, they do not celebrate diversity… of ideas.
He made a difference. A large following of Kirk began by college students and other young Americans to the point where he went from insignificant to extreme relevancy at the speed of light.
Suddenly it was somehow unfair that Charlie Kirk engaged with the minds of a college for a one-time, period of two hours, compared to the thousands of hours of their minds captivated and accessed to the minds of liberal, even marxist professors.
Kirk was no fascist. He was no Nazi. He defined himself as the following: A Christian first. An American second. A Conservative third. A Republican last.
I’m sure there are many nasty groups formed online and in the gaming community predominantly used by young males, but I cannot unsee and unhear the terrible threats for invited, renowned conservatives found on almost any college campus they dare to enter.
Conservatives like Charlie Kirk are now the paramount example of another kind.
It is a great day for too many minds whose conclusions seem not just inaccurate, but also ominously uniform and whose causation may have gone unchecked for too long. Kirk’s death isn’t just an attack on him. It may be a sign of a Stage 4 malignancy of our national education system.
Surveys show just shy of one third of Americans trust the news media, a staggering decline from half a century ago, when more than 70% of U.S. adults believed reporters to be fair and honest.
Certainly, some of that can be attributed to the decentralization of media (factor in the rise of social media) and the hyper-partisan nature of culture over the last decade or so. But those things alone — while contributing factors — aren’t driving the shortage of confidence people have in the news media.
Famed investigative journalist Lee Strobel, the erstwhile Chicago Tribune reporter who rose to fame when he (unsuccessfully) tried to factually disprove the evidence for Jesus and ended up becoming a Christian, recently appeared on CBN’s “Faith in Culture” Podcast, where he asserted it’s the motivation that drives people toward journalism that has changed — and not for the better.
“It saddens me so much,” Strobel said of the state of journalism today, going on to explain that, in college, he was “trained to tell both sides of the story” because his “job was to report the news.”
When he asks journalism students today why they are pursuing careers in news media, Strobel said he often hears they “want to change the world.”
“That wasn’t our motivation, and that was not our role,” he said of his time as an investigative reporter. “Our role was to report the news and tell both sides.”
“The Case for Christ” author recalled his years as a legal reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where — as an atheist — he often reported on abortion stories. At the time, he was staunchly pro-abortion (and even admitted to helping arrange an abortion for a woman while he was in college).
“I wrote a million articles about court cases involving abortion and, guess what?” he asked rhetorically. “If you read any of those articles, you would not be able to tell where I stood on the issue, because I told both sides. And I quoted good people on both sides. And I tried not to skew the story one way or the other. That was the approach we took to the news.”
Strobel, now a Christian who holds to a biblical pro-life ethic and opposes abortion, said the lack of Christian representation in newsrooms across the country is concerning.
Additionally, the journalism industry writ large seems, in his view, “to have lost this value of seeking objectivity and trying to tell both sides,” a trend he finds worrisome.
“Our First Amendment is there because — it is our First Amendment because of how important it is,” he said. “A free press is foundational to our republic and, when we can’t trust anymore what we’re being told by a free press, that’s a very dangerous position for a republic to be in.”
We talked with Strobel about so much more on the “Faith in Culture” Podcast. Listen now:
The Trump administration’s spree of shipping foreign troublemakers continues to roll on, as an immigration judge has ordered that the former Columbia University graduate student who became an outspoken anti-Israel activist be deported.
FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS volume 24, number 38, September 18, 2025
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people, Proverbs 14:34.
Last week’s assassination of open air preacher Charlie Kirk, and the demonic rejoicing of so many who loved seeing him gunned down in broad daylight, is shocking and disgusting to any reasonable and rational person. I know many are calling Charlie Kirk a political activist but his political statements were “downstream” from his Christian faith and Christian worldview. Charlie was an open air preacher, pure and simple, and he was assassinated because he was exposing wicked people’s wicked deeds. Charlie is correctly called a modern day Christian martyr. I remind you that our English word for witness is derived from the Greek word “martyr”.
This death fetish is not merely a recent phenomenon. It has significant historical precedent. Take 18th England as only one example.
Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658 paved the way for King Charles II, who was in exile, to return to the throne of England. He quickly instituted the Act of Uniformity in 1662 requiring pastors to submit to the king’s revised Prayer Book, which among other things, demanded that pastors and church members state that the head of the church was the King of England, something he and another 2000 pastors refused to do, since Christ alone is King of His church.
The churches became bereft of godly pastors who preached the whole counsel of God. Consequently, without godly, Christ centered preaching, within just a few years the entire nation of England had fallen into unimaginable wickedness. By the early 1700’s adults and children of both sexes could be hanged for not less than 160 different violations of the law. One could be hanged for picking a pocket, stealing a horse or sheep, breaking a young tree, snatching fruit from a tree, or killing a rabbit from a gentleman’s estate. John Wesley said that he had preached in a jail where fifty-two felons were waiting to be hanged, one of whom was a ten year old child. Moral and spiritual standards had largely broken down to such an extent, resulting in an enormous increase in crime, that the ruling class legislated the death penalty to cover all these offenses in order to protect their own property rights.
A death fetish quickly took hold of the people. Public hangings became “must see” events, what the people called “hanging shows.” For example, in a place called Tyburn, West London, executions occurred every six weeks and these drew vast crowds of people who purchased tickets for up close and personal access to the proceedings. Revelers packed the streets to see the “guests of honor.” By the time for the “hanging shows” had come, both the victims and the crowd were generally drunk on gin. The journey by cart took about forty-five minutes and the crowd roared with anticipation at how these people would die. Hats, sticks, and clubs were waved in the air to agitate those on their way to the gallows. So called “resurrection women” would always be close by to take the bodies and give them to surgeons for dissection. One man observed, “. . . what a scene of confusion all this makes, which yet grows worse near the gallows. . . the terrible blows that are struck, the heads that are broke, the pieces of swinging sticks and the blood that fly about, the men that are knocked down and trampled upon, are beyond imagination.”
By the middle of the 18th century the death fetish, blood lust, and barbarism flooded the nation of England with a collective hardness of heart and callousness toward the poor, wretched, and lawless. When efforts were made to educate the poor they were met with resistance by the higher class of people who said that these people were poor because God had ordained it to be so, and they must therefore learn to accept their lot in life so that they may support those who are blessed with a higher lot in life.[1]
Why do nations become wicked, especially those which had previously enjoyed such prosperity and peace? Why does our nation have a death fetish? No doubt social media and the stoking of people’s hatred for anything just and righteous plays a substantial role, but there is a more basic reason. Proverbs 14:34 tells us that righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people. Moses told Israel, just prior to their entrance into Canaan, that if they diligently obeyed the Law of God, if they were careful to do all He commands, then God would exalt them above every nation in the world (Deut.28:1-14). On the other hand, sin is a disgrace or reproach to a nation. A nation given to licentiousness will sink very rapidly into a death fetish and all manner of debauchery, crime, inhumane treatment of people and animals, and more.
What is the solution? You know what it is. I say it all the time. We must have Biblical preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to double down on motivating more and more men to go to the streets and preach there to anyone who will listen. I pray Charlie Kirk’s legacy will result in thousands more young men taking the gospel to every college campus in our nation. We need to challenge pastors to preach with convicting, converting, and sanctifying power. Sermons in the form of mere “information dumps” are not enough. Politics will never get this work done. The reason we have so many laws, so much government bureaucracy, and litigation is because the people in power, in various ways, are trying to keep the lid on crime and violence. When nations are righteous, then very little legislation is needed.
Beginning in 1735 God, in His mercy, raised up John Wesley, George Whitefield, Howell Harris, Daniel Rowland, and others in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to preach in the streets and pulpits and He was pleased to visit these nations with an extraordinary manifestation of His power and glory, resulting in millions of conversions which, over the next sixty years or so, brought these nations back to a more righteous existence. This is our great need. This is my prayer. I have, for many years, as I prepare to stand and preach the word of God, recited to myself the following:
“Yea, this book is written in the desire, perhaps in a measure of inner certainty, that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more bring into being His special instruments of revival, that He will again raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”[2]
When I first read this quote I was a young man. Now I am old, and while I still love to preach in the pulpit and streets I know my curtain will close in due time. My prayer is that God will raise up many more young men as Dallimore describes. God has always used Biblical preaching to transform men, families, communities, and nations. Nothing has changed. This is the great need of our day. Are you praying for God to raise up such men? Men, some of you are already preaching. Stay at it. Others of you need to get going. Will you? ______________
England Before and After Wesley: The Evangelical Revival and Social Reform, J. Wesley Bready, pages 127, 128.
From George Whitfield: The Life and Times of the 18th Century Evangelist, volume one, page 18, by Arnold Dallimore.
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