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
We must give to God the glory of his patience and long-suffering towards us and his willingness to be reconciled.
O the riches of the patience and forbearance of God! Romans 2:4(ESV) How patient he is toward me, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9(ESV)
You have not dealt with me according to my sins, nor repaid me according to my iniquities, Psalm 103:10(ESV) but you wait to be gracious to me. Isaiah 30:18(ESV)
Sentence against my evil deeds has not been executed speedily, Ecclesiastes 8:11(ESV) but you have given me time to repent and make my peace with you, Revelation 2:21(ESV) and call even a faithless son such as myself to return to you, and have promised to heal my faithlessness; and therefore, behold, I come to you, for you are the LORD my God. Jeremiah 3:22(ESV)
Surely the patience of my Lord is counted as salvation; 2 Peter 3:15(ESV) and if the LORD had meant to kill me, he would not now have shown me such things as these. Judges 13:23(ESV)
And O that this kindness of God might lead me to repentance! Romans 2:4(ESV) For though I have broken faith with my God, yet now there is hope for me in Israel in spite of this. Ezra 10:2(ESV)
You have said it and have confirmed it with an oath, that you have no pleasure in the death of sinners like me, but rather desire that I should turn and live. Ezekiel 33:11(ESV) Therefore will I rend my heart, and not my garment, and return to the LORD my God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him? Joel 2:13-14(ESV)
Nehemiah 7:73-8:18 In this week’s studies, we see that Nehemiah not only wanted to rebuild the wall, but also the nation.
Theme
Explanation of God’s Word
In yesterday’s study we looked at the first two steps to revival as seen in our passage. Today we consider the third step.
3. The explanation of God’s Word (vv. 7- 8). One of the most important parts of Nehemiah is the statement in verses 7 and 8 of this chapter that the reading of the law was accompanied by interpretation or explanation. The text says, “The Levites … instructed the people in the law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.”
There is some difference among scholars as to whether the work of the Levites—not the same ones as those who were on the platform with Ezra—was that of translation or explanation. It may have involved translation since the law was in Hebrew and the people who had returned from Babylon now spoke Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew. Without a current, running translation they may not have been able to understand the text Ezra was reading.
But, on the other hand, the normal meaning of what the New International Version translates as “making . . .clear” suggests something much closer to what we would call an exposition or sermon. Explanation does not have the same authority as the Word of God itself. But it is important, since the Bible is not meant only to be heard and revered but also to be understood, assimilated and obeyed. This is the reason for the prominence of sermons in Christian worship and, to speak personally, why I do expository preaching. It is not that other things are not valuable. Liturgical elements of worship can be quite beautiful. Topical sermons can be relevant and often moving. But what God has promised to bless and what He has most used to bring blessing is the strict teaching and preaching of His Word. Will the preaching of the Word alone bring revival? Not necessarily, at least not in a mechanical way. Revival is God’s work. If we think we can produce it by this or any other mechanical means, we are actually only being manipulative, as many Christian orators have tried to be. But although revival does not follow mechanically upon faithful exposition of the Bible, God nevertheless does bless exposition. And it is through such Bible preaching that times of renewal and reformation characteristically have come.
First, prayer. Second, the public reading of God’s Word. Third, the exposition or preaching of it. These were all elements of what was achieved in Nehemiah’s day in Jerusalem.
Study Questions
Why is Nehemiah 8:7-8 considered one of the most important parts of the book?
In what two ways have scholars understood the work of the Levites? Which one is emphasized, and why?
Application
Reflection: How much importance do you attach to prayer, the public reading of God’s Word, and the careful exposition of it? Are these elements present in your church?
Key Point: First, prayer. Second, the public reading of God’s Word. Third, the exposition or preaching of it. These were all elements of what was achieved in Nehemiah’s day in Jerusalem.
For Further Study: Download for free and listen to James Boice’s message, “The Greatest Revival in History.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
For this we constantly believe that God, after the fearful and horrible defection of man from His obedience, did seek Adam again, call upon him, rebuke his sin a, convict him of the same, and in the end made unto him a most joyful promise: to wit, that the seed of the woman should break down the Serpent’s head, that is, He should destroy the works of the devil. Which promise, as it was repeated and made more clear from time to time b, so was it embraced with joy and most constantly retained of all the faithful from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, and so forth to the incarnation of Christ Jesus. Who all (we mean the faithful fathers) under the Law did see the joyful days of Christ Jesus and did rejoice.
In this sermon, Dr. Joel Beeke unpacks Revelation 19:6–9, exploring the glorious and utopian marriage between Christ and His church. He delves into the four key elements of this divine union: the wedding, the bridegroom, the bride, and the guests.
Dr. Beeke explains that the entire Trinity is involved in this eternal love story, where God the Father chose a bride for His Son, Christ paid the ultimate dowry price with His blood on the cross, and the Holy Spirit serves as a guarantee of the future marriage.
When Adam and Eve came before God naked and ashamed of their sin, He provided garments for them. Today, R.C. Sproul explains how Jesus takes away our guilt and shame by clothing us in His perfect righteousness.
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (5:11)
The purpose of God’s testimony through the water, the blood, and the Spirit is that sinners might receive eternal life. Eternal life involves far more than merely living forever in a chronological sense. The essence of eternal life is the believer’s participation in the blessed everlasting life of Christ (cf. John 1:4) through his or her union with Him (Rom. 5:21; 6:4, 11, 23; 1 Cor. 15:22; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3–4; 2 Tim. 1:1, 10; Jude 21). Jesus defined it in His High Priestly Prayer to the Father: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). It is the life of the age to come (Eph. 2:6–7), which believers will most fully experience in the perfect, unending glory, holiness, and joy of heaven (Rom. 8:19–23, 29; 1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:20–21; 1 John 3:2). The eternal life promised by God in the Old Testament (e.g., 2 Sam. 12:23; Pss. 16:8–10; 133:3; Dan. 12:2) and sought by the Jews of Jesus’ day (Luke 10:25; John 5:39) comes only to those who believe God’s testimony and place their faith in His Son. The gospel is exclusive; there are not many ways to God, but only one. In John 14:6 Jesus declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” “And there is salvation in no one else,” Peter added, “for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; cf. John 6:68; 17:2; Rom. 6:23; 1 Tim. 1:16; Jude 21).
THE RESPONSE TO GOD’S TESTIMONY
The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.… He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (5:10, 12)
What people do with God’s testimony to Jesus Christ determines their eternal destiny. There are only two possible responses: to believe God’s testimony, or to reject it. No one can remain neutral, for as Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me” (Matt. 12:30). The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Saving faith in Jesus Christ results in a lifelong hold on eternal life (cf. 3:23; 4:2, 15; 5:1, 4–5). Since true faith perseveres, those who turn away from the gospel reveal that they were never saved in the first place (see the exposition of 1 John 2:19 in chapter 9 of this volume). On the other hand, the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar. To deny that Jesus Christ is who God said He is, to refuse to believe in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son, renders God a liar—which is the severest of all blasphemies since God is perfect truth and cannot lie (cf. Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18). Rejecting God’s witness concerning His Son is not a misfortune to be pitied, or overlooked in the name of tolerance. It is a heinous, damning sin and an affront to God’s holy nature. Those guilty of it must not be patronized, comforted, or reassured, but confronted and called to repentance. This is no trivial issue; the integrity of God is at stake. John closed this section by setting out the eternal results of the only two possible responses to God’s witness to Jesus Christ: He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. Here again the exclusivity of the gospel is evident. Only those who believe the Father’s witness to the Son and acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior have eternal life; all who refuse to do so do not have the Son, and consequently do not have eternal life. The glorious promise to those who believe God’s testimony is that “as many as received [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). But the sobering warning to those who reject it is, “How will [you] escape if [you] neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb. 2:3).
MacArthur, J. (2007). 1, 2, 3 John (pp. 197–198). Moody Publishers.
God’s Own Testimony (vv. 11–13)
Talk about the testimony of God and its reliability might lead one to ask, But just what is it that is testified to? What is the essential content of this divine revelation? In one sense, this is an unnecessary question, for John has been answering it in one form or another all along. On the other hand, this is a point at which a short summary of God’s testimony would be valuable. So John supplies it, saying, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” The testimony concerns salvation, John says. And the heart of it lies in the fact that salvation is to be found in Jesus as the Son of God, and in Jesus only. John’s reference to “eternal life” as the essence of salvation carries us back to the opening verses of the letter, in which he wrote that this life was revealed in Jesus, who is himself the life. Eternal life is not merely unending life, therefore. It is the very life of God. What we are promised in Christ is a participation in the life of the one who bears this testimony. This life is not to be enjoyed by everyone, however. This life is in Christ. Consequently, it is as impossible to have life without having Christ as it is impossible to have Christ without at the same time possessing eternal life. Toward the end of the Gospel, John gave his purpose in writing that book by saying he had written these things “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). That is, the Gospel was written primarily to those who were not yet Christians to lead them to become Christians. In a parallel way John now gives his purpose for writing the first epistle, saying, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (v. 13). Here, those to whom John is writing are Christians; and the purpose, as he notes, is to lead these to full assurance regarding their salvation. This has now been done, at least to the best of John’s ability. Consequently, the body of the letter properly ends here. What follows is postscript. Today many persons dismiss a claim to possess certain knowledge in spiritual things as presumptuous, but this is not correct, according to John’s teaching. God has ordered his revelation in Christ so that the one believing in Christ may know that he possesses an eternal salvation. The real presumption is in questioning such assurances and thus casting doubt on God’s word.
Boice, J. M. (2004). The Epistles of John: an expositional commentary (pp. 135–136). Baker Books.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.Psalm 73:24
From day to day and from year to year my faith believes in the wisdom and love of God, and I know that I shall not believe in vain. No good word of His has ever failed, and I am sure that none shall ever fall to the ground.
I put myself into His hand for guidance. I know not the way that I should choose: the Lord shall choose mine inheritance for me. I need counsel and advice; for my duties are intricate, and my condition is involved… The counsel of the infallible God I seek in preference to my own judgment or the advice of friends…
Soon the end will come: a few more years and I must depart out of this world unto the Father. My Lord will be near my bed. He will meet me at heaven’s gate: He will welcome me to the gloryland. I shall not be a stranger in heaven: my own God and Father will receive me to its endless bliss.
Glory be to Him who Will guide me here, And receive me hereafter. Amen.
I would like to commend the Africa Statement on Prosperity Gospel and Word of Faith Theology (ASPG), a formal document launched in 2025 for the purpose of drawing clear lines between those who hold to prosperity and word of faith theology and those who do not.
The brainchild for this statement apparently comes from Kenyan evangelical churches, as twenty-nine of the original thirty-eight signers serve as ministers in Kenya, with a handful of others residing in Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Cameroon, and Uganda.
The authors correctly observe that the greatest danger facing the church in today’s sub-Saharan Africa is not Islam, Hinduism, or atheism but the prosperity gospel—a false doctrine which dovetails nicely with many of the core tenets of African traditional religion.
The prosperity gospel teaches that Jesus came to earth to make believers physically healthy and wealthy, a blasphemous doctrine which Scripture clearly rejects. Jesus said following Him would often make life worse—not easier—sometimes costing a man his life (Mt. 16:24). Paul said in Acts 14:22: “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” God never removed Paul’s thorn in the flesh, despite the apostle’s repeated prayers (2Cor. 12:7-10).
The Importance of Statements
Throughout church history, ecclesiastical statements have played a crucial role in the purity and health of God’s people. Though sola Scriptura stands as a core tenet of the Christian faith, God has blessed godly men who have gathered to elucidate exactly what the Bible says about a particular doctrine. “No creed but the Bible” fails because enemies of the gospel have used the Scriptures to attack the truth. Read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs to find out how often blood was spilt because of a Bible verse.
“Creeds” (from a Latin word meaning “I believe”) contain a brief statement on a Christian belief, such as the deity or humanity of Christ. Historic examples include the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.
“Confessions of faith” are larger statements of belief that groups of Christians have constructed to serve as guides for their churches. Popular confessions of faith include the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles, the Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Baptist Confession of 1689.
“Statements” are typically longer than creeds but shorter than confessions and address contemporary matters in the church. Some examples of popular evangelical statements include the Nashville Statement (which addresses sexuality and gender roles), Evangelicals and Catholics Together (which addresses ecumenicism), and the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel (which addresses racial issues).
A Summary
The ASPG consists of fourteen articles, all of which include an affirmation and a denial. Article One acknowledges that while gifts and advantages come from God, He doesn’t guarantee material blessings to his children.
Article Two asserts that the purpose of Christ’s atonement was the forgiveness of sins, not a promise for health and wealth. Article Three addresses hermeneutics, insisting that students interpret the Bible using the rules of context and grammar, not methods of “subjective impressions” and “hidden revelations”. Article Four turns to the nature of the Old Covenant, acknowledging that Old Testament Israel was often promised material blessings but that Christians today do not stand in the same relation to God as the Jews once did.
Article Five turns to generational curses, acknowledging that bad living can carry terrible consequences while denying that Christians are necessarily chained to the sins of their unbelieving forefathers. Article Six tackles points of contact, denying that certain places or items enjoy a special connection to heaven. Article Seven recognises that suffering is a normal part of life that Christians should address through patient endurance, not by believing false notions that trials are never God’s will for our lives. This article employed excellent biblical precision in using the word “necessarily” when it stated: “We deny that suffering necessarily comes upon us as a result of our weaknesses of faith.”
Article Eight turns to financial giving at church, recognising that while Christians should be generous, they mustn’t believe that tithes can somehow tap into special blessings from God. Article Nine turns to positive confession, stating that while Christians should wisely speak the truth, they do not possess some supposed power to speak things into existence. Article Ten affirms that humans are made in God’s image but denies that Christians are “little gods”.
Article Eleven affirms that faith is necessary for salvation but denies that it contains creative power. Article Twelve denies positive declarations and Article Thirteen warns against the big-man syndrome in today’s churches, which demands “unmitigated loyalty and reverence” to the pastor. Finally, Article Fourteen addresses idolatry, denying that “appealing to man’s sinful and disordered desires” can motivate him to do right.
Conclusion
Two pillars make strong ecclesiastical statements: brevity and biblical precision. Often, what makes a position paper weak is not what it says but what it leaves out. But saying too much will turn a statement into a confession. Clear goals and parameters are crucial.
I think this statement struck the right balance, though I wonder if the authors could have been even clearer about the inability of modern pastors to heal, the impotence of magical formulas like “in the name of Jesus”, and the requirement for churches to mark and avoid false teachers (Rm. 16:17).
I heartily commend the African Statement on Prosperity and Word of Faith Theology. With skill and biblical wisdom, it addresses every core tenet of prosperity doctrine, and for this, the drafters of the document should be commended.
“When you finally start moving up into the air, I recommend that you don’t hold onto anything. I definitely don’t recommend looking down. . . . Just keep calm, take a deep breath, slowly release it, and keep your face looking upward.” This is how one person advised her fellow Christians to experience the rapture when it came two days ago.
Except it didn’t.
Or if it did, you and I (and everyone else, so far as I can tell) were left behind. This despite the fact that so many expected the rapture to come on September 23 that the New York Times,Newsweek, and numerous other outlets covered the story.
The date appears to have originated with a person named Joshua Mhlakela in South Africa. He said in a YouTube video that he is not a pastor, though news reports widely described him as such. In his video, he reported that Jesus came to him in a dream in 2018 and told him, “On the 23rd and the 24th of September 2025, I will come to take my church.”
His prediction aligned with this year’s observance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Evangelical TikTok users picked up Mhlakela’s assertion, some pointing to signs in Revelation 12 and various astrological alignments involving the constellations Virgo and Leo to claim that his prophecy was being fulfilled.
On social media, some said they had given away their belongings and quit their jobs. Others satirically celebrated the coming lower rents or asked believers to hand over their money or keys to their homes.
The latter response points to my point today.
“An hour you do not expect”
The “rapture” is a belief held by some that Jesus will take believers out of the world prior to a period of “great tribulation” on Earth. The word does not appear in the Bible, which is not definitive (the word Trinity is not in Scripture, either), but the idea is based on passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51–52. Some interpret Jesus’ invitation to John, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1), to refer to this event.
This is a complex subject, one I have discussed in detail in books and articles over the years. (You can go here and here for examples.) My purpose today is not to explore eschatology (the doctrine of last things) but to focus on the cultural implications of the current story.
Jesus clearly said about his return, “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). In fact, those who claim to be able to predict the date must be wrong by definition, for our Lord added, “the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (v. 44). “You do not expect” could be translated from the Greek, “all of you without exceptions are not expecting it when it occurs.”
Nonetheless, some across history have been undeterred in claiming to know more than Jesus said he knew about the timing of his return. Such predictions have been more frequent since 1948, the year Israel became a nation again, since many interpretive schemes consider this event to be pivotal to end times sequencing.
However, one predated it by more than a century: the “Great Disappointment” occurred when a Baptist preacher named William Miller predicted that Christ would return on October 22, 1844. Tens of thousands of his followers (known as Millerites) sold their possessions in preparation; when nothing happened, widespread disillusionment followed.
The better-known these failed predictions, the more ridicule they generated for the predictors—and the larger Christian community.
Billy Graham’s greatest fear
Such ridicule is unfortunately understandable. When so-called financial experts make stock market predictions that turn out to be inaccurate, we question their competence for their next prediction. When meteorologists get the weather wrong, we look askance at meteorology itself.
This tendency is especially unsurprising with regard to evangelical Christianity. Already widely considered outdated, irrelevant, and even dangerous, our truth claims are dismissed as esoteric and speculative, especially when they have to do with “unscientific” issues such as the end times.
All this to say, if there is any subject Christians should be especially careful to avoid in our post-Christian culture, it is end times speculation. Not only because Jesus promised we would be wrong, but because our wrong predictions will add fodder for those already predisposed to reject our Lord.
Billy Graham once described to the interviewer David Frost his greatest fear: “That I’ll do something or say something that will bring some disrepute to the gospel of Christ before I go.” He added, “I want the Lord to remove me before I say something or do something that would embarrass God.”
If we want to impact our culture for Christ, we must make Dr. Graham’s greatest fear ours as well.
Visiting Armageddon
Ironically, a way to live that draws people to Christ is to focus on the end times, but not in the way we’ve been discussing.
I was privileged to lead more than thirty study tours to Israel over the years. Each time, we made our way to the heights of Megiddo, an ancient fortress overlooking the vast valley below. In Hebrew, this area is known as Har Megiddo (the “mount of Megiddo”). Transliterated into English, it becomes “Armageddon.”
The site is mentioned just once in Scripture: at the end of history, the enemies of the Lord are described as assembling “at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16). Each time I led a tour here, we discussed this verse and the various end-times scenarios that center around it.
Then I told the group, “The only fact about the future about which I am absolutely certain is this: We are one day closer to eternity than ever before.”
Jesus could return today. Or you could step through death into his presence today (John 14:3). What it takes to be ready is also what it takes to live in ways that most glorify our Lord and attract others to him.
If you knew that day were tomorrow, what would you change today?
Quote for the day:
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” —Theophrastus (372–287 BC)
We are living in extraordinary times, perhaps a moment of history that is ripe for another Great Awakening. The shocking murder of Charlie Kirk on September 10 seems to have sparked a movement that transcends the typical response to such horrifying events. On the Sunday following his death, churches across this nation were overflowing with people, many of whom had never attended church previously, or who had not attended in many years. This trend continued on September 21, which also saw another remarkable event, the memorial service for Kirk. Every seat at State Farm Stadium was occupied, and the crowds kept coming. The arena next door was full, and crowds of people celebrated Kirk’s life at Westgate, just outside the stadium and arena.
While the crowd was significant, the most important aspect of this event was the clarity with which the gospel was proclaimed. Speaker after speaker came to the podium to share the truth of the cross of Christ. Sinners were called to repentance. The sinfulness of all people, not just those on one side of the political aisle, was clearly articulated, and all people on both sides were urged to abandon their sin and flee to Jesus for salvation. Worship songs were sung that proclaimed the truth of the gospel. The apex of the service was when Erika Kirk told the man who murdered her husband that she forgave him for what he had done. Not only was the forgiveness obtained by Christ declared but it was demonstrated in a moment that moved every heart present and every heart watching the livestream.
In the midst of the clarity of the gospel were other moments that were less helpful. Some questionable statements were made by a number of speakers, both theologically and practically. Not everyone who spoke or who led music has a track record of sound, robust theology. In fact, some speakers were not Christians. With all the good that happened, some might wonder what we should do with some of the elements that were concerning. Can the Spirit of God be at work when we see marvelous things side-by-side with elements that rightfully raise caution?
Puritan Pastor Jonathan Edwards ministered during the Great Awakening in 18th century colonial America. He was instrumental in the work of God during that revival. God accomplished incredible things through that movement of the Spirit, with some scholars contending that the birth of America some 40 years later would never have happened apart from that revival. But not everything during the Great Awakening was sunshine and roses. Many people raised concerns because of excesses they saw, apostasies of prominent leaders of the movement, unusual responses to the Word, and even unbiblical doctrines being promoted. Edwards spent time evaluating what the Spirit of God was and was not doing, and he wrote a treatise entitled The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. In this message, Edwards listed nine marks that are irrelevant to whether the Spirit is at work, five marks that the Spirit is at work, and three inferences readers should draw from these marks. As we prepare for possible revival, I want to highlight a few of these marks to apply to what the Spirit is doing in our day, nearly three hundred years later.
First, Edwards argued that a clear sign that something is from the Spirit of God is that the work raises people’s esteem of the true Jesus and establishes the truth about Him in their minds. We see plainly from Scripture that the work of the Spirit of God is to declare the truth about Jesus and to glorify the Son. Jesus said that the Spirit of truth would bear witness about Him (John 15:26), and He later added that the Spirit would come to glorify the Son (John 16:14). The Spirit’s primary role in this world is to magnify the glory of the Son of God, to shine the light of the glory of the face of Christ brightly in the hearts of sinners, and to so work in people’s hearts that they might declare, “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Any work that promotes a higher esteem, love for, and trust in Jesus is from the Spirit of God.
Second, Edwards asserted that the work of the Spirit opposes the interests of Satan’s kingdom. If the Spirit of God so works to promote the Son of God, He must of necessity move to destroy the works of the devil, since that is the very thing Jesus came to do (1 John 3:8). The works of the devil consist largely in encouraging sin and convincing sinners to cherish their worldly lusts. Another name for those vices that characterize Satan’s kingdom is the works of the flesh. Where the fruit of the Spirit begins to replace the works of the flesh, the Spirit of God is at work rescuing sinners from the domain of darkness and transferring them into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.
Third, Edwards highlights the biblical truth that a genuine work of the Spirit of God raises people’s esteem for the Word of God. Since the Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth (John 16:13), and the Word of God is the truth (John 17:17), the Spirit of God necessarily increases people’s trust in and regard for the Bible whenever and wherever He is at work. “The one who knows God hears us; the one who is not from God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error,” John wrote (1 John 4:6), showing plainly that those who hear the apostolic message are under the influence of the Holy Spirit, while those who disregard Scripture are deluded by the spirit of error. While a movement might have great energy, enthusiasm, and excitement, if it does not tend to promote a love for Scripture, it does not bear a critical mark of the work of the Spirit.
To combine Edwards’ fourth and fifth marks, a work of the Spirit of God convinces men of the truth, resulting in love for God and man. As the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.” Or again in v. 12, “If we love one another, God abides in us.” Love is a non-negotiable mark of those under the influence of the Spirit, for anyone who does not love does not know God (1 John 4:7). A work of the Spirit of God is not only manifested, then, when people come to know and believe the truth intellectually, but when that truth takes such root in their hearts that it transforms them into lovers of truth, lovers of the Source of truth, and lovers of those who bear His image.
When these marks appear in any movement, they are clear and certain marks that the movement is a work of the Spirit of God. Edwards also notes that in such times, we should not reject the work of the Spirit of God because we see unusual things about it, so long as those elements are within biblical bounds, or because errors of judgment, delusions from the devil, or imprudences of men are mixed with it. Wherever the Spirit of God is at work, the devil is seeking to oppose, confuse, and distort what the Spirit is doing. We should therefore expect that in any work of the Spirit of God we will see distortions from the enemy, tares sowed among the wheat, poor judgment by men, and other such things as would seek to derail or thwart God’s work.
When we apply these marks to the current movement we see following Kirk’s murder, what should we conclude? We can ask these four questions:
Does this movement raise people’s esteem of and faith in Jesus Christ?
Does this movement oppose the interests of Satan’s kingdom by turning people away from their sinful desires and worldly lusts?
Has this movement resulted in people having a higher view of Scripture and a greater submission to its authority?
Has this movement convinced people of the truth such that they have become ardent lovers of both God and their fellow image-bearers?
I think it’s presently too early to draw any firm conclusions about whether this is a work of the Spirit of God on the scale of a national revival. Clearly, the gospel has been preached, the true Christ has been exalted, and some errors have been mixed in with the truths that were shared. Because we see both hopeful and concerning signs, we do well to prepare for revival by understanding its distinguishing marks, even while we suspend judgment as to whether this is the beginning of such a revival. We ought to filter all that we observe through these distinguishing marks, celebrating what genuinely comes from the Spirit of God and rejecting what is a counterfeit from the spirit of error.
As we seek to discern what the Spirit is doing, Edwards’ second inference is apropos, where he writes, “Let us all be hence warned, by no means to oppose, or do any thing in the least to clog or hinder, the work; but, on the contrary, do our utmost to promote it.” Edwards meant that we should acknowledge and rejoice when we see Christ truly at work, and we must be careful not to dismiss what Christ has done because we see the enemy seeking to oppose it. We want to encourage work that truly is wrought by the Spirit of God, seeking to see the Spirit’s work poured out in ever-increasing abundance without naively embracing or promoting elements that do not come from the Spirit of God.
Many Christians fall too heavily on one side of the other. Some celebrate everything that took place at the memorial as a work of God’s Spirit, insisting that any discernment is evidence of cynicism or a critical spirit. Others fail to see any work of God’s Spirit because of the elements that did not meet Edwards’ biblical criteria for such a work. During the Great Awakening, people fell on both sides of these issues as well. As Edwards helpfully explained, wherever there is wheat there are also tares, and wherever the Spirit of truth operates, the spirit of error opposes. Faithful Christians seek to see both aspects clearly, celebrating the one and exposing the other.
We might be on the precipice of a significant work of God’s Spirit in our day. If we are, we need to be ready to discern the work of the Spirit from imitations and counterfeits lest we hinder the work or miss it entirely. We should all pray that God would indeed use this moment to bring genuine, nationwide revival, a 21st century Great Awakening.
In America today a new gospel is being preached called tolerance. We are told that we need to be tolerant of every person’s belief system. If we are not we are called bigoted, narrow-minded, and prejudiced. And since Christians, by definition, believe that they have the only truth when it comes to matters of God, heaven and hell, sin, and a host of other doctrines, they as a result are labeled intolerant.
We are told that we should keep our views to ourselves and not to preach our intolerant beliefs to others. I, however, like what Billy Graham shared on this point when he said: “Because truth is unpopular does not mean that it should not be proclaimed.”1 And here lies the problem for Christians. We, by definition, will always prove unpopular to the great masses of people because quite frankly most people don’t want to hear the truth about themselves. Telling people that they are sinners, that they need to repent, that Jesus is the only way back to God, and that if they refuse to embrace the Christian gospel that they are doomed to spend eternity in hell, will often not make us very popular with many.
But thankfully there are still some people who are open to hear the truth and our job as Christians is to share the truth of the gospel and believe that those who are open-minded may be willing to examine their own hearts and realize their need to get right with Jesus. While many will reject our message and we will clearly not be popular with the masses we must always stand on the truth regardless of how people view us. We need to realize that the eternal destiny of souls are at stake and that our message of the truth of the gospel is the only antidote for a world steeped in sin.
Popularity is not the issue – the truth is. And the truth of the matter is if we want to be popular with man we often will not be popular with Jesus. But praise God that the inverse is true. If we are willing to be unpopular with man we will garner the approval of Jesus. (Matthew 5:11-12) shares one of the most encouraging set of verses in all of Scripture: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
When we stand on the truth of the Word of God we should be confident that we are pleasing our Savior and accruing great rewards in heaven. We must never negotiate away the truth of the gospel, in order to be more popular with man, since, as I stated earlier, the eternal destiny of souls lay in the balance. Pastor John MacArthur stated the case for truth well when he said: “The truth is in Jesus and it leads to the fullness of truth about God, man, creation, history, sin, righteousness, grace, faith, salvation, life, death, purpose, meaning, relationships, heaven, hell, judgement, eternity, and everything else of ultimate consequence.”2
Finally, always remember that truth will never need to be changed to accommodate our everchanging culture. Again, Billy Graham adds insight here when he shared: “Truth is timeless. Truth does not differ from one age to another, from one people to another, from one geographical location to another . . . the great all-prevailing Truth stands for time and eternity.”3
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done.” And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?” (26:39–45a)
These verses focus alternately on Jesus’ supplication to His heavenly Father and on the three disciples’ falling asleep. On the one hand is Jesus’ intense, self-giving desire to do His Father’s will, even to the point of becoming sin to save sinners and by prayer to deal with temptation cast at Him. On the other hand is the disciples’ indifferent, self-centered inability to watch and to confront the conflict and danger with intercession on their Lord’s behalf. While Jesus, understanding the power of the enemy, retreated to prayer, they retreated into sleep. Again going a little beyond the three disciples, Jesus fell on His face and prayed to His Father. Except at the time when He quoted Psalm 22:1 as He cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46), Jesus always addressed God as Father. In so doing He expressed an intimacy with God that was foreign to the Judaism of His day and that was anathema to the religious leaders. They thought of God as Father in the sense of His being the progenitor of Israel, but not in the sense of His being a personal Father to any individual. For Jesus to address God as His Father was blasphemy to them, and “for this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Although Jesus consistently called God His Father, only on this occasion did He call Him My Father (cf. v. 42), intensifying the intimacy. The more Satan tried to divert Jesus from His Father’s will and purpose, the more closely Jesus drew into His Father’s presence. Mark adds that Jesus also addressed Him as “Abba! Father!” (Mark 14:36), Abba being an Aramaic word of endearment roughly equivalent to “Daddy.” Such an address would have been unthinkably presumptuous and blasphemous to Jews. Jesus implored the Father, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” By asking, “If it is possible,” Jesus did not wonder if escaping the cross was within the realm of possibility. He knew He could have walked away from death at any time He chose. “I lay down My life that I may take it again,” He explained to the unbelieving Pharisees. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:17–18). The Father sent the Son to the cross, but He did not force Him to go. Jesus was here asking if avoiding the cross were possible within the Father’s redemptive plan and purpose. The agony of becoming sin was becoming unendurable for the sinless Son of God, and He wondered aloud before His Father if there could be another way to deliver men from sin. God’s wrath and judgment are often pictured in the Old Testament as a cup to be drunk (see, e.g., Ps. 75:8; Isa. 51:17; Jer. 49:12). This cup symbolized the suffering Jesus would endure on the cross, the cup of God’s fury vented against all the sins of mankind, which the Son would take upon Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God. As always with Jesus, the determining consideration was God’s will. “I did not speak on My own initiative,” He declared, “but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak” (John 12:49; cf. 14:31; 17:8). He therefore said submissively, “Yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” This conflict between what I will and what Thou wilt reveals the reality of the amazing fact that Jesus was truly being tempted. Though sinless and unable to sin, He clearly could be brought into the real conflict of temptation (see Heb. 4:15). But when the Lord returned to the three disciples, He found them sleeping. That discovery, though not unexpected, must have added greatly to His grief and distress. No one can disappoint and hurt us so deeply as those we love. Jesus was not surprised, because in His omniscience He was perfectly aware of their weakness and had predicted that it would, that very night, be manifested even in desertion (see v. 31). But that knowledge did not alleviate the pain caused by their not being sensitive enough or caring enough to watch and pray with Him in the last hours of His life. Just as these same three disciples had slept when Jesus was transfigured (Luke 9:28, 32), they were sleeping at the moment of the greatest spiritual conflict in the history of the world. They were oblivious to the agony and need of their Lord. Despite His warnings of their abandonment and of Peter’s denial, they felt no need to be alert, much less to seek God’s strength and protection. (How we can thank the Lord for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who continually prays for us! See Rom. 8:26–27.) It was probably after midnight, and the need for sleep at that hour was natural. Jesus and the disciples had had a long and eventful day, and they had just finished a large meal and walked perhaps a mile or so from the upper room to the Mount of Olives. But even the disciples’ limited and confused perception of His imminent ordeal and of their desertion of Him that He had predicted should have motivated and energized them enough to stay awake with Him at this obviously grave time. In fairness, it should be noted that sleep is often a means of escape, and the disciples may have slept more out of frustration, confusion, and depression than apathy. They could not bring themselves to face the truth that their dear friend and Lord, the promised Messiah of Israel, not only would suffer mockery and pain at the hands of wicked men but would even be put to death by them. As a physician, Luke perhaps was especially diagnostic in viewing their emotional state, and he reports that, as we might expect, they were “sleeping from sorrow” (22:45). But even that reason did not excuse their lack of vigilance. They did not fully believe Jesus’ predictions of His death and of their desertion primarily because they did not want to believe them. Had they accepted Jesus’ word at face value, their minds and emotions would have been far too exercised to allow sleep. The startling events and controversies of the last few days-the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus’ repeated predictions of His suffering and death, the prediction of their fleeing in the time of trial, and the obvious anguish He now experienced-should have provided more than sufficient motivation and energy to keep them awake. But it did not. Had they sought the Father’s help in prayer as Jesus did and as He exhorted them to do, they not only would have stayed awake but would have been given the spiritual strength and courage they so desperately needed. The disciples’ predicted desertion of Jesus began here, as they left Him alone in His great time of need. His heart must have broken when He said to Peter, but also for the benefit of James and John, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?” Considering the circumstances, the rebuke was especially mild. It was not Jesus’ purpose to shame the disciples but to strengthen them and teach them their need for divine help. “Keep watching and praying,” He implored, that you may not enter into temptation.” The Greek verbs behind keep watching and praying are present imperatives and carry the idea of continuous action, indicated in the NASB by keep. The need for spiritual vigilance is not occasional but constant. Jesus was warning His disciples to be discerning enough to know they were in spiritual warfare and to be prepared by God to resist the adversary. He was warning them of the danger of self-confidence, which produces spiritual drowsiness. The only way to keep from being engulfed in temptation is to be aware of Satan’s craftiness and not only to go immediately to our heavenly Father in prayer when we are already under attack but to pray even in anticipation of coming temptation. Peter perhaps first began to learn that lesson on this night in the garden. And after serving faithfully as an apostle for many years, he admonished Christians: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). He also gave the assurance, however, that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation” (2 Pet. 2:9). We cannot overcome Satan or the flesh by our own power, and we risk serious spiritual tragedy when we think we can. When a military observer spots the enemy, he does not single-handedly engage him in battle. He simply reports what he saw and leaves the matter in the commanding officer’s hands. In the same way, believers dare not attempt to fight the devil but should immediately flee from him into the presence of their heavenly Father. As our Lord taught, we are to pray for God not to “lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). As Jesus here acknowledges, doing what is right is often difficult, because although the spirit is willing, … the flesh is still weak. Regenerated people who truly love God have a desire for righteousness, and they can claim with Paul that they genuinely want to do good. But they also confess with Paul that they often do not practice in the unredeemed flesh what their regenerated spirits want them to do. And, on the other hand, they sometimes find themselves doing things that, in the inner redeemed person, they do not want to do (Rom 7:15–20). Like Paul, they discover that “the principle of evil is present in [them],” that there is a law of sin within their fleshly humanness that wages war against the law of righteousness in their redeemed minds (vv. 21–23). In light of that troublesome and continuing conflict, Paul then lamented, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Answering his own question, he exulted, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin” (vv. 24–25). The only source of victory is the power of Jesus Christ. The fact that Jesus again … came and found them sleeping indicates that the disciples fell asleep even after He had awakened and admonished them. Their eyes were heavy, and because they would not seek the Father’s help they found themselves powerless even to stay awake, much less to offer intercession for or consolation to their Master. After He found the disciples sleeping the second time, Jesus left them again, and went away and prayed a third time. Although the gospels do not indicate it specifically, it would seem possible that, as already mentioned, Jesus had three sessions of prayer in response to three specific waves of Satanic attack, just as in the wilderness. It took three attempts for Satan to exhaust his malevolent strategy against the Son of God. Each time Jesus suffered more extreme torment of soul, but each time He responded with absolute resolution to do the Father’s will. After the third siege, our Lord said the same thing once more to His heavenly Father, that is, “Thy will be done” (see v. 42). In these prayers, as in all His others, Jesus gives His followers a perfect example. Not only do we learn to confront temptation with prayer but we learn that prayer is not a means of bending God’s will to our own but of submitting our wills to His. If Jesus submitted His perfect will to the Father’s, how much more should we submit our imperfect wills to His? True prayer is yielding to what God wants for and of us, regardless of the cost—even if the cost is death. The nature or character of our praying in the face of temptation should be to cry out to the Lord for His strength to resist the impulse to rebel against God’s will, which is what all sin is. We can be sure that the more sincerely we seek to do God’s will, the more severely Satan will attempt to lure us from it, just as he did with Christ. And like our Lord, our response should be prayerful, single-minded determination to draw near to God. After the third time of supplication Jesus was the victor and Satan was the vanquished. The enemy of His soul was defeated, and Christ remained unscathed in perfect harmony with the will of His Father, calmly and submissively ready to suffer and to die. And in that death He was prepared to take upon Himself the sins of the world. If the very Son of God needed to cry out to His heavenly Father in time of temptation and grief, how much more do we? That was the lesson He wanted the eleven, and all His other disciples after them, to learn. After the third session of prayer, Jesus came to the disciples, and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?” Even after the two rebukes and heartfelt admonitions from the Lord, the three men were still sleeping. Their eyes were still heavy (cf. v. 43) because they were controlled by the natural rather than by the spiritual. They were so totally subject to the flesh and its needs that they were indifferent to the needs of Christ. They were even indifferent to their own deepest needs, because, just as Jesus had warned a short while before, they were about to be overwhelmed by fear for their own lives and by shame of Christ. Yet instead of following their Master’s example through agonizing in prayer, they blissfully rested in sleep. Jesus was teaching the disciples that spiritual victory goes to those who are alert in prayer and who depend on their heavenly Father. The other side of that lesson, and the one the disciples would learn first, was that self-confidence and unpreparedness are the way to certain spiritual defeat.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985–1989). Matthew (Vol. 4, pp. 173–178). Moody Press.
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, My Father, if it is not possible that this (cup) be spared me except I drink it, thy will be done. Again Jesus retires to the place of solitude. From his sleepy disciples he could expect no help. Again he prays. Though both prayers—the one of verse 39 and that of verse 42—are the same in essence, there is a difference in emphasis. The main clause is no longer, “Let this cup be spared me,” but “Thy will be done,” a petition identical in wording and meaning with the one Jesus had himself taught his disciples (Matt. 6:10b). What is happening, then, is that by his own very painful and distressing experience Jesus is “learning” what it means to be obedient, and is revealing this obedience in a progressively glorious manner.
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew (Vol. 9, p. 919). Baker Book House.
‘When The Tyrant Dies, His Reign Ends. But When The Martyr Dies, His Reign Begins’ Soren Kierkegaard said, “When the tyrant dies, his reign ends. But when the martyr dies, his reign begins.” I can’t think of a better summation of what has been transpiring across the globe since Charlie Kirk’s assassination. And yes, I mean around the globe. From South Korea to Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Japan, and numerous other nations, vigils are being held to honor his name and memory.
New FBI Files Drop Fresh Bombshells on Russiagate Newly declassified FBI files have further confirmed that the real “collusion” scandal surrounding the 2016 election didn’t take place between Russia and the Trump campaign, but between top Obama White House officials, Hillary Clinton campaign staffers, congressional Democrats, and a blatantly weaponized intelligence community. based on recently declassified FBI documents, there is now sufficient evidence to believe that allies of disgraced ex-FBI Director James Comey and California Senator Adam Schiff leaked classified information to friendly reporters at The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Abortion pill injuries are massively underreported due to activists, complicit media: new report The report from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) adds important context to recent studies showing that the complications are often unreported. Abortion drugs can never be considered safe because they kill an innocent preborn baby. But they also can be incredibly damaging for the women who take them as well. The document details the “deliberate effort by abortion advocates and their media allies to make abortion pills seem safer than they really are.”
In Major Breakthrough, Scientists Successfully Treat Devastating Brain Disease Huntington’s for the First Time for the first time in history, it’s successfully treated Huntington’s disease, a devastating and inherited disorder that kills nerve cells and leads to rapid decline and death. Until now, the disease had no treatment to cure it or alter its course. the development of Huntington’s was slowed by an astonishing 75 percent in patients, effectively giving them decades of “good quality life,”
Report: Trump to unveil Gaza ceasefire outline with Arab leaders US President Donald Trump presented Arab and Muslim leaders with an outline for ending the war in Gaza and for post-Hamas governance, Axios reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the meeting took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and included senior officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Axios said the main principles of the American outline include the release of all hostages,
Ukraine restores diplomatic relations with Syria, Zelensky says Ukraine broke off relations with Syria in 2022 after the ousted Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad’s government, recognized swathes of Russian-occupied Ukraine as “independent” Russian-backed areas. “Today, Ukraine and Syria signed a Joint Communiqué on the restoration of diplomatic relations.
Iran’s President Tells UN Tehran Will Never Seek to Build Nuclear Bomb Iran has no intention to build nuclear weapons, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, just days before international sanctions could be reimposed on his country over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. “I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said.
Trump Promises Arab Leaders He Won’t Let Israel Annex West Bank, Politico Reports US President Donald Trump promised Arab leaders he would not let Israel annex the West Bank, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing six people familiar with the matter. Two people described Trump as being firm on the topic during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Politico reported.
God’s Character And Unchanging Word Dismantle The Lie Of Replacement Theology Why would God be a liar if replacement theology is correct? Genesis 12:1-3 records God’s covenant with Abraham. God reiterated this covenant with Abraham in Gen. 13:14-18, 15:4-5, 17:1-22. God reminded Abraham’s descendants of this unconditional promise (Gen. 35:10-12; 1 Chron. 16:15-18).
EXCLUSIVE: Bondi transfers former death row inmates commuted by Biden to ‘supermax’ prison Eight federal inmates — once on death row for murders, including the killings of fellow prisoners, gang-related stabbings, and the slayings of two campers — have been transferred to a notorious “supermax” prison in Colorado, the Justice Department told Fox News Digital. The news comes as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi looks to crack down on the previous administration’s sweeping clemency actions. The 37 death row inmates commuted by Biden are all expected to be moved to the facility by “early next year,” the Justice Department source told Fox News Digital.
Pentagon seeks Trump approval for first US military execution in 60 years following Fort Hood mass shooting Nidal Hasan killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting and has exhausted all appeals. The Pentagon is preparing to ask President Donald Trump to authorize the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of carrying out the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, a senior Department of Defense official told The Daily Caller News Foundation. If approved, it would be the first U.S. military execution in more than six decades. Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 others in the attack. During his subsequent trial, Hasan admitted to the shooting and claimed it was necessary to protect the “Islamic Empire” from American forces. “I am 100% committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan,” Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Digital.
China trying to circumvent the Panama Canal A new report claims that China is using its increased influence in Latin America to circumvent the Panama Canal with massive infrastructure projects in Peru and Brazil. The report, which was published on Tuesday by Horizon Advisory, warned, “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is well on its way to seizing influence and coercive leverage across Latin America.” China is investing in a “bi-oceanic railway” in Brazil that “locks in Chinese influence and presence” in the region.
Strong and shallow M6.2 earthquake hits Venezuela A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.2 hit northern Venezuela at 22:21 UTC (18:21 local time) on September 25, 2025. The agency is reporting a depth of 8 km (5 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth. The USGS issued a Yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses.
Typhoon Ragasa makes landfall Yangjiang City, Guangdong, after leaving 17 dead in Taiwan Ragasa made landfall over the coast of China’s Guangdong Province at 17:00 LT (09:00 UTC) on September 24, 2025, as a severe typhoon, with sustained winds of 145 km/h (90 mph). The storm caused widespread disruption across southern China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, where at least 17 people were killed in flooding a day earlier.
The Most Ominous Thing That A President Of The United States Has Said In My Entire Lifetime There will be no peace with Russia, and we all know what that means. When I initially learned what President Trump had said about the war in Ukraine, I had a very difficult time believing it. When he was running against Kamala Harris, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to end the war in Ukraine over and over again. That was an extremely popular position, because the vast majority of Americans do not want to end up in an apocalyptic conflict with Russia. But now everything has changed. Trump has been receiving really bad advice from his national security team, and based on that advice he has fully embraced the war in Ukraine. In fact, he now appears to believe that Ukraine can actually win the war and take back all of the territory that Russia has conquered.
New Research Debunks The Argument That Women Need Planned Parenthood For ‘Health Care’ …The Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) analysis found that patients living in states where Planned Parenthood clinics had been defunded by the government were able to successfully switch to other providers, such as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), Rural Health Clinics (RHC), private doctors’ offices and pregnancy resource centers.
Britain’s `Death by Doctor’ Bill being stitched up to please the death-hungry globalists? After the resumed House of Lords’ debate on Friday, the BBC declared, “Assisted dying bill moves one step closer to becoming law.” The BBC lied. Dr. Vernon Coleman explains why. Additionally, because the Bill is a Private Members’ Bill, the Lords could throw it out. But instead, the Lords has pushed the can down the road. Dr. Coleman questions whether the Lords’ delay in voting on the Bill is a tactic to allow it to be pushed through without much more consideration. He explains why he is suspicious.
Prisons for Jihad: How Al-Furqaan Turns America’s Inmates Into Islam’s Foot Soldiers Handing Al-Furqaan Foundation tax-exempt status and open access to America’s prisons is not rehabilitation but reckless negligence at best — and funding enemy recruitment at worst — empowering a foreign-funded Islamic network caught pushing antisemitic, anti-Western propaganda to turn our prison system into a recruitment pipeline.
“Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both.” —James Wilson
Bolton’s secret documents: Last month, FBI agents executed search warrants on Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, John Bolton, at his home and his downtown office. It has now been revealed through court filings that the FBI seized a number of documents marked as classified, with some apparently related to weapons of mass destruction. Reportedly, none of the documents marked “secret” and “classified” were taken from Bolton’s home; however, a number of electronic devices were. In 2020, the DOJ launched an investigation into Bolton regarding the possible leaking of classified information tied to his book, The Room Where It Happened. The Biden administration subsequently shut it down. The FBI appears to be investigating whether Bolton violated the Espionage Act.
DOJ looks into possible Comey perjury: Reports indicate that the DOJ is currently considering the possibility of filing charges against disgraced former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly lying to Congress regarding his knowledge of FBI leaks to the media prior to his 2017 firing. In 2020, during a Senate hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz questioned Comey regarding the authorization of leaks to the media, which he denied. But it turns out that he did have knowledge of it. Donald Trump has pressed for action to be taken to hold former government officials accountable for seeking to impeach him during his first term, telling reporters, “If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty, or if they should be judged, they should be judged. And we have to do it now.” The deadline for the DOJ to file charges against Comey is next Tuesday.
OMB plans to use a possible government shutdown to achieve mass layoffs: Discretionary funding will lapse on October 1, and the Office of Budget and Management has issued a memo ahead of the end of the fiscal year that ups the ante for a possible government shutdown. In the memo, agencies are instructed to develop reduction-in-force (RIF) plans for a possible shutdown that target positions inconsistent with Trump’s priorities. This is a departure from other government shutdowns, during which employees were furloughed and reinstated once funding was secured. This memo is a tactic to pressure Democrats into passing the clean funding bill advanced by the Republican Party. Clean funding bills are usually a boon to the party not in power, but Democrats are insistent on securing funding for expiring ObamaCare subsidies.
Judge rules Trump broke law firing IGs: U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ruled on Wednesday that Donald Trump violated the law when he fired several inspectors general just days after taking office in January. Trump removed IGs from the Departments of Labor, Energy, State, Commerce, Interior, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development. In 2022, Congress passed the Inspector General Act, requiring the president to notify Congress and give a valid reason prior to the removal of any federal agency IGs, which Trump did not do. The law was directly aimed at Trump, given the action he took during his first term to remove an IG. Despite the ruling, however, Reyes said she was powerless to reinstate the fired IGs. “They deserved better from their government,” she wrote. “They still do. Unfortunately, this court cannot provide plaintiffs more.”
“Hey, fascist! Catch!” flyers posted around Georgetown U: Posters were put up around Georgetown University’s campus this week featuring the phrase “Hey, fascist! Catch!” in large letters. That phrase was also engraved on a bullet by Charlie Kirk’s assassin. The John Brown Club, which is not an official Georgetown student organization, describes itself on the flyer as “the only political group that celebrates when Nazi’s [sic] die.” Following public outcry, the flyers were removed by Georgetown administrators. Education Secretary Linda McMahon thanked the public for bringing the posters to her attention and emphasized that violent rhetoric on college campuses must have consequences.
U.S. intercepts Russian warplanes flying near Alaska: Two Russian Tu-95s and two Su-35s entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Wednesday, which prompted a response from NORAD. An E-3, four F-16s, and four KC-135 tankers responded and made the intercept and identification of the Russian aircraft. The Alaskan ADIZ is international airspace, and the Russians never entered sovereign American or Canadian airspace. NORAD describes this action by Russia as a regular occurrence that is not considered a threat. Still, this action comes on the heels of Russian violations of European airspace in the last month, most recently in Estonia.
California solar plant shuttering: A $2.2 billion solar plant, completed in 2014 and subsidized by U.S. taxpayers via the Energy Department under Barack Obama, has announced that it will shut down operations next year due to failing to meet efficient energy production needs. The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, located in California’s Mojave Desert, was initially billed as a forward-looking green energy power plant. However, despite the hype, the plant’s technology is already outdated and too expensive, and ironically requires natural gas to maintain its operation. Spread across five square miles, the facility utilizes thousands of mirrors computerized to move to reflect sunlight onto three 459-foot central towers, where the sun’s heat is absorbed and converted into energy. Notably, the facility is far from environmentally friendly, as it is notorious for killing more than 6,000 birds a year.
New gene therapy is the first successful treatment of Huntington’s disease: Huntington’s disease relentlessly kills brain cells and is invariably fatal over the long term. Treatment has so far been limited to supportive care until UniQure released trial data of its new gene therapy. The trial involving 29 patients has not yet been fully peer-reviewed, but the initial data indicate an average 75% slowing in the progression of the disease. The treatment involves 12-18 hours of neurosurgery and introduces DNA to brain cells that prohibits the development of the mutant huntingtin protein, which kills neurons. Since brain cells are not replaced in the same way as other cells in the body, the treatment is expected to last for life. UniQure plans to launch the drug in the U.S. in 2026 if it can secure a license. More than 40,000 Americans suffer from Huntington’s.
Headlines
U.S. GDP grew stronger than estimated in second quarter (WSJ)
ICE ramps up security at facilities nationwide after Dallas attack (Newsweek)
Female cartel member busted for running baby-trafficking, organ-harvesting rings (NY Post)
Apple TV+ postpones “The Savant” in wake of Charlie Kirk assassination (Hollywood Reporter)
California high school girls’ volleyball team with male athlete sees eighth forfeit (Fox Sports)
Former French president Sarkozy jailed for five years (Newsweek)
Humor: Kamala does speaking tour to remind nation why Trump is president (Babylon Bee)
Donald Trump was elected a second time to clean up the illegal immigration disaster Joe Biden and Kamala Harris created at the southern border.
Once in office, Trump, Border Czar Tom Homan, the Department of Homeland Security under Kristi Noem, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began enforcing the law. That means not just closing the border to illegal entrants but rounding up and deporting illegal aliens, who should not be here. So far this year, two million illegals have been removed or self-deported.
Democrats, bent on casting everyone to the right of Karl Marx a fascist, made it all about race and allusions to Nazi Germany, routinely referring to ICE agents as the “Gestapo” for enforcing the law.
Sociopathic leftists, inspired by this inflammatory and false Democrat rhetoric, ramped up attacks on ICE agents by 1,000% this year, culminating in Wednesday morning’s sniper assault in Dallas, which — somewhat ironically — killed one detainee and wounded two others.
Words are not violence, but words certainly can incite violence.
Across the street from the Dallas ICE facility, Joshua Jahn, 29, was found dead of suicide with a bolt-action rifle similar to the one used to assassinate Charlie Kirk. A clip with rifle bullets included one with “ANTI-ICE” written on the casing. Authorities say he “fired indiscriminately,” hitting both the ICE building and an unmarked transport van, where the three victims were.
Jahn’s brother said he “wasn’t interested in politics on either side as far as I knew,” but he did vote in the 2020 Democrat primary. His mother is also an anti-Second Amendment left-winger who ranted at Republicans on social media over mass shootings.
Naturally, MSNBC, which parrots Democrat “Gestapo” talking points, suggested that Jahn might be right-wing.
The Trump administration is having none of it.
“These horrendous killings must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences,” Secretary Noem posted on X. “Comparing ICE Day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, we just want to go home to our families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop.”
JD Vance was less kind. “You don’t have to agree with my immigration policies,” he said. “You don’t have to agree with Donald Trump’s immigration policies. But if your political rhetoric encourages violence against our law enforcement, you can go straight to hell. And you have no place in the political conversation of the United States of America.”
“If you want to stop political violence, stop attacking our law enforcement as the Gestapo,” he added. “If you want to stop political violence, stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi. If you want to stop political violence, look in the mirror. That’s the way that we stop political violence in this country.”
President Trump agreed. “This is despicable!” he lamented. “The Brave Men and Women of ICE are just trying to do their jobs, and remove the ‘WORST of the WORST’ Criminals out of our Country, but they are facing an unprecedented increase in threats, violence, and attacks by Deranged Radical Leftists.”
He left no doubt about the blame: “This violence is the result of the Radical Left Democrats constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to ‘Nazis.’” He added, “I AM CALLING ON ALL DEMOCRATS TO STOP THIS RHETORIC AGAINST ICE AND AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT, RIGHT NOW!”
Are Noem, Vance, and Trump being fair?
Maybe Jahn was a self-radicalized sociopath. Or maybe months of Democrat hysterics sank in.
In our video section today is a compilation of numerous Democrats repeatedly using the word “Gestapo” and otherwise demonizing law enforcement for “terrorizing,” “kidnapping,” and “disappearing” people on the streets.
It’s utterly disgraceful rhetoric. Democrats allowed the lawless invasion of illegals, and now they’re vilifying the law enforcement agents tasked with cleaning it up.
Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom of the sanctuary state of California is among the worst offenders. He recently signed a California law requiring ICE agents to take off their masks. “Unmask,” he said. “What are you afraid of?”
Now we know. Masks are meant to protect agents’ identities precisely because of incidents like the one in Dallas.
How ironic that Newsom, who infamously went unmasked during the “mask-up” pandemic craze, thinks that the feds should abide by his law when he refuses to uphold immigration law.
Worse, the day before the assault, the undeclared 2028 presidential candidate ranted to Stephen Colbert. “Masked men [are] jumping out of unmarked cars, people disappearing, no due process, no oversight, zero accountability,” Newsom said. “People ask, ‘Well, is it authoritarianism [or are] you being hyperbolic?’ Bulls**t, we’re being hyperbolic. If you’re a black or brown community, it’s here in this country. … These are not just authoritarian tendencies; these are authoritarian actions by an authoritarian government.”
The Leftmedia is predictably complicit. For example, in June, CNN promoted an ICE-tracking app. Earlier this week, NBC News posted a video along with an accusation that ICE agents nabbed a “5-year-old autistic girl” to use her as bait “to pressure father to surrender.”
It was completely untrue. The father abandoned his daughter while fleeing authorities. NBC removed the post with a correction, blithely stating that it had “mischaracterized the activities of ICE agents.”
That didn’t stop Ilhan Omar, the Democrat representative from Minnesota who should be deported back to Somalia, from calling it “vile and beyond cruel,” adding, “Abolish ICE.”
Vance specifically called out NBC and Newsom. Attacks like the one in Dallas happen “when Democrats, like Gavin Newsom did, say that these people are part of an authoritarian government,” he said. “When the left-wing media lies about what they’re doing, when they lie about who they’re arresting, when they lie about the actual job of law enforcement, what they’re doing is encouraging crazy people to go and commit violence.” He called NBC’s story “a complete fabrication” and “a complete dishonest lie,” saying, “But when you go around and lie about our law enforcement and you tell them that they’re mistreating five-year-old girls, what do you think is gonna happen?”
That’s a question more Democrats and Leftmedia hacks ought to be asking themselves.
Samantha Koch: The Dangerous Conspiracies of Candace Owens — What should have been a moment of mourning over Charlie Kirk has instead tragically turned into a bitter fight over truth, legacy, and conspiracy.
Emmy Griffin: Tylenol Pill-Poppers Protest on Social Media — Pregnant leftists spitefully take Tylenol to eschew warnings from Trump and RFK Jr. about possible negative neurodevelopmental outcomes in babies.
Thomas Gallatin: Google Admits Biden Pressured Censorship — Alphabet, the company behind Google, acknowledged what many conservatives have long alleged — that it suppressed and censored speech at the behest of the Biden administration.
Patrick Hampton: A Call to Defend Free Speech and Open Dialogue — If we let government or powerful interests silence those we disagree with, we abandon the very principles that built our urban neighborhoods and our nation.
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Reader Comments
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I Warned You This Would Happen — Konstantin Kisin explains that the Left genuinely believed it would get away with promulgating lies to advance its cultural agenda.
The Left’s ‘Upside-Down Morality’ Crisis — Decarlos Brown Jr. Robin Westman. Audrey Hale. These are just a few names of killers that the Left rushed to defend while ignoring their victims.
How Liberal Pregnant Women Are Protesting Trump — Trump’s latest health comments linking Tylenol use during pregnancy to autism have sparked intense backlash. Let’s talk about how pregnant women are pushing back against his controversial claims.
SHORT CUTS
Fearmongering
“Donald Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections and … I fear that we will not have an election in 2028. I really mean that in the core of my soul. Unless we wake up to the Code Red, what’s happening in this country.” —California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Non Compos Mentis
“I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone.” —”comedian” Jimmy Kimmel
Say That Again … Slowly
“We have got to stop demonizing each other. Now, I think most of that right now in our country’s history is coming, you know, from the Right, coming from people who want to dominate. … We have got to stop with the finger-pointing and the scapegoating.” —Hillary Clinton
Dumb & Dumber
“The idea that you could turn the clock back and try to recreate a world that never was, dominated by, you know — let’s say it, white men of a certain persuasion, a certain religion, a certain point of view, a certain ideology — it’s just doing such damage to what we should be aiming for.” —Hillary Clinton
“Maybe the way that JD Vance got into Yale is because they were tired of just letting in white men from New York … from all the elite schools, and they wanted an Appalachian white. That’s how that man got into Yale, I promise you. Same thing with Ron DeSantis, from a small town in Florida. … Baby, that’s also affirmative action and DEI.” —Joy Reid
Re: The Gender Cult
“The people who have ‘transitioned’ have poured a massive amount of emotional and financial investment into their choice, and there is no going back. The last thing that they want to hear — from anyone — is that it is all a fraud, that they’ve wasted all that psychic energy and money, that they’ve harmed themselves via hormones or surgery for no reason. The level of delusion involved in the trans cause, meanwhile, requires pushing on all fronts, to get every claim of the trans advocates accepted and to squash all dissent. If there’s one crack in the edifice, it discredits the entire enterprise.” —Rich Lowry
Re: The Left
“Kimmel: ‘Erika Kirk forgave the assassin, whose motives I covered up, so give me my show back, or you’re not a real Christian.’” —Michael Knowles explaining Kimmel’s “apology”
“Jimmy Kimmel’s return sends a powerful message to little kids EVERYWHERE that if you work hard and wear blackface, liberals will stand up for you as long as you hate Trump.” —Jimmy Failla
“Radical leftists violently reject both free speech and law enforcement. They’re at war with civilization itself.” —Seth Dillon
In Memoriam
“I’m not sure Charlie [Kirk] knew how big his impact was. There’s a saying among the timber workers in Oregon: ‘You never know the height of a tree until it falls.’ And that’s the case with Charlie.” —Dennis Prager
ON THIS DAY in 1918, Eddie Rickenbacker earned the Medal of Honor by shooting down two German aircraft despite flying alone against seven enemy planes. Those were just two of the 26 enemy planes he ultimately shot down, earning him the title “Ace of Aces.”
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.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the UN for a speech tomorrow denouncing international leaders who support a Palestinian state; Israel promises to strike back after a Houthi drone hits Israeli resort town; in a meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders, President Trump suggests peace plan to end the war in Gaza, and also reportedly says he would stop Israel from declaring sovereignty over the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria in the West Bank – but some Israelis believe that annexation is a way to stop the creation of a Palestinian state; Chris Mitchell talks about why some countries are pushing for a Palestinian state, the battle over annexation, the role of the Abraham Accords, and the Israeli reaction to the Syrian President’s UN speech; gunman kills one and injures two in attack on ICE facility in Dallas; how Christians and other religious believers have been wiped out in the Middle East; and another sign of God moving on a college campus, as dozens get saved at a worship and Gospel event.
Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity and Greg Gutfeld bring Fox News viewers their fresh takes on the top news of the day. #foxnews #news #us #fox #ice #dallas #shooting #lawenforcement #gavinnewsom #democraticparty #democrats #democrat #google #kimmel
The Prime Minister is set to announce that all adults in the UK will be required to own a new form of government-issued digital. The proposals are the government’s latest bid to tackle illegal immigration, with the new ID being a form of proof of a citizen’s right to live and work in the UK. Read more here: https://news.sky.com/politics #skynews #id #uk #europe
“[T]hat’s how we’re being attacked now, and it’s not done by small-time operators, as you’re hearing about and you will read about. These are organized syndicates who are designing to hurt America. And why do they hurt our health care system? Well, CMS is probably the largest target of all, responsible for about $1.7 trillion dollars of disbursements. So, it’s a big target on our side. And they can pierce the veil of protection by just getting identifier numbers from our seniors or Medicaid recipients or others.”
(Victoria Taft – JP Media) What if I told you that cartels and other bad actors from around the world conspired to undermine the integrity of the health care system in the U.S. and came way too close to succeeding?…
If you didn’t hear about the bust of 324 people; the U.S.-based cartel shell medical supply companies; the pill mills pushing opioids; the doctors on the take; or how law enforcement captured many of the bad guys at the U.S. border and airports as they rushed to escape, that’s understandable. The feds revealed this potential $14.6 billion “depth charge” planted inside the Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance programs in June, while most people were away on summer vacation. View article →
Why is the media silent now? Why does it show no interest in the exclusionary discrimination directed by a Muslim government official toward a Christian?
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for New York on Wednesday night for a Friday address at the U.N. General Assembly. It comes as the Houthis in Yemen hit the Israeli resort town of Eilat with another drone, causing nearly two dozen injuries.
The drone, videotaped from multiple angles and posted on social media, left at least 22 people wounded, two seriously.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warned the terrorists after the drone attack, saying, “The Houthi terrorists refuse to learn from Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza, and will learn the hard way. Whoever harms Israel will be harmed sevenfold.”
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