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
Of the Third Part of Prayer, which is Petition and Supplication for the Good Things that we Stand in Need of.
Having opened the wounds of sin, both the guilt of it and the power of it, and its remainders in us, we must next seek unto God for the remedy, for healing and help, for from him alone it is to be expected, and this also he will let us ask him to do for us. Ezekiel 36:37(ESV) And now we must affect our hearts with a deep sense of the need we have of those mercies which we pray for, that we are undone, forever undone, without them; and, with a high esteem and value for them, that we are happy, we are made forever, if we obtain them; that we may like Jacob wrestle with him in prayer, as for our lives and the lives of our souls. But we must not think in our prayers to prescribe to him or by our importunity to move him. He knows us better than we know ourselves and knows what he will do. John 6:6(ESV) But thus, we open our wants and desires, and then refer ourselves to his wisdom and goodness; and hereby we give honor to him as our Protector and Benefactor, and take the way which he himself has appointed, of fetching in mercy from him, and by faith plead his promise with him: And if we are sincere in this, we are, through his grace, qualified according to the tenor of the new covenant to receive his favors, and are to be assured that we do and shall receive them. Mark 11:24(ESV)
And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? Truly my hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool. Psalm 39:7-8(ESV)
Lord, all my longing is before you, and my sighing is not hidden from you, Psalm 38:9(ESV) even the sighs and groanings too deep for words; for, he who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Romans 8:26-27(ESV)
I do not think that I will be heard for my many words, for my Father knows what I need before I ask him; Matthew 6:7-8(ESV) but my Master has told me that whatever I ask of the Father in his name, he will give it to me. And he has said, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:23-24(ESV)
And this is the confidence that I have toward him, that if I ask anything according to his will he hears me. And if I know that he hears me in whatever I ask, I know that I have the requests that I have asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15(ESV)
By Pastor Paul Levy; Minister’s Letter Sept 25; Independent Presbyterian Church, London
Dear all at IPC,
I was recently with an elderly friend who I visit. When I arrived he was unusually agitated, getting up to check the windows were shut, muttering to himself, feeling cold and then feeling warm, moving seats, tidying papers and then retidying, asking the same questions again and again. All the time I could hear him mumbling, repeating something under his breath as he moved around the room. He finally sat down for a moment and I was able to hear what he was saying:
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.”
He regained composure and his breathing steadied. He looked at me and said, “I’m not sure what happened there”.
The verse he was quoting was from Isaiah 26:3. I knew it and yet I’m not sure I’d really seen it in action so powerfully before. It was as if I saw the power of the word of God before my very eyes doing its work.
The verse comes from the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 26. The prophet is pointing forward, speaking of ‘that day’ (v1) in the city of salvation. Ultimately he is pointing to Christ and the salvation he brings. It is then, those who are right with God, will enjoy his peace v3, will know eternal security (v4), will participate in God’s victory (v5,6), will have security in the midst of the chaos of this life because of their God and the great longing of their life is to know God (v8). These people who will inhabit that city are characterised by a trust in God: “Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord God is an everlasting rock” (v4). It’s a picture of what God will bring in Christ, that day of salvation and judgement. In the midst of that is this great promise – put your mind on God and he will keep you in perfect peace. The words perfect peace are literally “peace, peace” – there’s an emphasis on how he can keep you in this ‘peace, peace’ when your mind is depending on the Lord.
As I’ve thought how my friend used this verse there are number of lessons.
The battle still rages even in old age. When I became a Christian, I naively thought (and was taught) that the hardest place to be a Christian was school. There is an element of truth to that but the real truth is that the hardest time to be a Christian is now. The battle with self and sin and Satan never lets up. Each stage of life might be different, but there’s always a battle.
My friend is 100 years old, and I could see on that afternoon him fighting to keep his mind on the Lord. The devil attacking him, agitating him. In many ways old age presents enormous challenges to our faith, we’re stripped back to only relying on God, we can’t do what we did, we can’t serve as we have in the past. There are frustrations and our world shrinks. We are thrown back on the Lord. So don’t dream of easier days, don’t think there comes a time when we won’t be under attack.
There is incalculable value in understanding scripture as the living word of God – my friend was holding on to God’s word, he knew it was true, he knew it worked. He realised that if he could get his mind on his God, his God would keep him, would give him peace. In many ways that is how he has lived his life, resting and relying on the word of God.
The battle for our minds is so important. The apostle Paul tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2), “set your mind on things above, not things on earth” (Colossians 3:2) we are “to take every thought captive” (2 Cor 10:5). What you think will effect how you live. We see it in sport when we say someone’s lost their head, or their head is not right. We are saying that their mindset has effected how they are performing.
Paul’s imagery in Ephesians is powerful: put on the armour of God, fasten on the belt of truth, use the sword of the Spirit. The battle is vicious, intense, and unrelenting and the weapon we have been given to fight with is scripture.
The Psalmist says, “I have hidden your word within my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). Bury the truth in your heart and so when you are shaken, the truth will come out. Jesus says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. I look at the shelf by my desk and it groans with a number of bibles. We have more translations, more access to scripture than any generation before us, but alongside that there is greater biblical ignorance than ever before.
The practice of memorising scripture is out of fashion, it can be seen as antiquated, and tragically it can be seen as something that children do but not adults. I think we as a church are probably weak in this area. It seems to me that we need to work hard on getting scripture into ourselves. I’m not arguing for memorisation without understanding, but we need to put scripture to work. We need to learn it to use it.
In times of great anxiety and fear, in times of sadness, in every time, God’s word can keep you. That isn’t trite and isn’t simplistic.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.”
It may be that my soul sits in darkness; and if this be of a spiritual kind, no human power can bring me light. Blessed be God! He can enlighten my darkness and at once light my candle. Even though I may be surrounded by a “darkness which might be felt,” yet He can break the gloom and immediately make it bright around me. The mercy is that if He lights the candle none can blow it out, neither will it go out for lack of substance, nor burn out of itself through the lapse of hours. The lights which the LORD kindled in the beginning are shining still. The LORD’s lamps may need trimming, but He does not put them out. Let me, then, listen to the nightingale sing in the dark. Expectation shall furnish me with music, and hope shall pitch the tune. Soon I shall rejoice in a candle of God’s lighting. I am dull and dreary just now. Perhaps it is the weather, or bodily weakness, or the surprise of a sudden trouble; but whatever has made the darkness, it is God alone who will bring the light. My eyes are unto Him alone. I shall soon have the candles of the LORD shining about me; and, further on in His own good time, I shall be where they need no candle, neither light of the sun. Hallelujah!
Jesus is never too busy to have compassion on those who cry out to Him for help. In this message, R.C. Sproul examines two encounters where Christ brought healing and hope to people in desperation.
I really enjoyed reading Michael Horton’s Rediscovering the Holy Spirit. It’s a good resource not only to read, but also to reference in future studies. I’ve been preaching on the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life, and Horton’s book has been helpful. Here’s a wonderful quote about God’s glory in our salvation. It’s from the end of chapter seven:
God in his grace is the Alpha and Omega of our salvation. This is the logic of the whole chapter of Ephesians 1: God chose us in Christ, not in ourselves. That is the only reason we are holy and blameless before him. He loves us in Christ, not because we are lovely in ourselves. He gathers us together in Christ, in whose sonship with the Father alone we enjoy our adoption. Even our trusting in Christ is attributable only to God’s grace to us in Christ by his Spirit. God does it all, so he must receive all the glory.
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.
The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it.Genesis 28:13
No promise is of private interpretation: it belongs not to one saint but to all believers. If, my brother, thou canst in faith lie down upon a promise and take thy rest thereon, it is thine. Where Jacob “lighted” and tarried and rested, there he took possession. Stretching his weary length upon the ground, with the stones of that place for his pillows, he little fancied that he was thus entering into ownership of the land; yet so it was. He saw in his dream that wondrous ladder which for all true believers unites earth and heaven, and surely where the foot of the ladder stood he must have a right to the soil, for otherwise he could not reach the divine stairway. All the promises of God are “Yea” and “Amen” in Christ Jesus, and as He is ours, every promise is ours if we will but lie down upon it in restful faith.
Come, weary one, use thy Lord’s words as thy pillows, Lie down in peace. Dream only of Him. Jesus is thy ladder of light. See the angels coming and going upon Him between thy soul and thy God, and be sure that the promise is thine own God-given portion and that it will not be robbery for thee to take it to thyself, as spoken specially to thee.
This section is the first of the numerical lists in Proverbs, so prominent particularly in Pr 30. Numerical proverbs follow an “x, x + 1” formula. That is, they begin with a two-line proverb that mentions a certain number of similar items in the first line (e.g., six things the Lord hates), followed in the next line by a restatement of those same items with their number increased by one (e.g., seven things the Lord finds abominable). Although the number in the second line is the true number of items, the formula may serve sometimes to place the emphasis on the last item in the list (cf. 30:18–19) (Longman, Proverbs, 173). Some commentators treat this list as a distinct section. But while it likely did originate independently, its placement right after 6:12–15 is no accident. This list of seven things that the Lord hates also applies to the troublemaker because “no other type of person satisfies the description” (Waltke, Book of Proverbs 1–15, 345). 6:16. This verse introduces the list. What all the items share in common is that the LORD hates them. Anything that is an abomination to the Lord is extremely offensive to Him, violating His ritual, legal, or moral order and eliciting His most severe judgment. The language here is exceptionally strong; these items truly disgust God. Garrett calls these “Israel’s Seven Deadly Sins” (Garrett, Proverbs, 97). 6:17–18. The first five items involve body parts, going from top to bottom. Haughty eyes betray an arrogant pride that exalts self over others (v. 17a). A lying tongue spreads falsehood that manipulates and hurts others (v. 17b). Hands that shed innocent blood exemplify violence against those who do not deserve it (v. 17c). At the center of this evil person is a heart that devises wicked plans at others’ expense (v. 18a). His feet that run rapidly to evil indicate that he is eager to implement his evil schemes (v. 18b). 6:19. The last two items involve two types of people. A false witness perjures himself to corrupt justice (v. 19a). And one who spreads strife among brothers (v. 19b) “attempts to break apart the bonds that hold a society [or family] together” (Garrett, Proverbs, 98). People with characteristics like these seven (vv. 16–19) are the worst sorts of troublemakers. Although they make trouble for others, their own condition is far worse since they have made themselves objects of God’s wrath, because they “are an abomination to Him” (v. 16).
Finkbeiner, D. (2014). Proverbs. In M. A. Rydelnik & M. Vanlaningham (Eds.), The moody bible commentary (pp. 903–904). Moody Publishers.
6:16. There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: We have here (vv. 16–19) an example of a numerical proverb. While specific sins are enumerated, the list is not intended as exhaustive. The lists often build to the final item in the list. Such numerical constructions are common (e.g. Prov. 30:15, 18, 21, 29; Job 5:19; Eccles. 11:2; Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 13; 2:1, 4, 6; Mic. 5:5). Here, the extended proverb builds upon the previous description of the wicked man (vv. 12–15) and reinforces the Lord’s attitude toward such people. That this is an expansion on the previous section is obvious from two lines of evidence. The first is the repetition of similar themes: ‘haughty eyes,’ verse 17 (v. 13, ‘winks with his eyes’); ‘a lying tongue,’ verse 17 (v. 12, ‘a false mouth’); ‘hands,’ verse 17 (v. 13, ‘fingers’); ‘heart,’ verse 18 (v. 14, ‘perversity of heart’); ‘feet,’ verse 18 (v. 13, ‘signals with his feet’); ‘A false witness,’ verse 19 (v. 12, ‘a false mouth’). The second is the intentional repetition of the Hebrew word for ‘spreads strife’ (vv. 14, 19). The point made here is the Lord’s attitude toward the ways of the wicked: He ‘hates’ their conduct. The word describes the entire spectrum of negative emotions humans are capable of. It may include the most intense hatred as well as a more mild irritation. That Solomon had in mind the more intense end of this range is clear from the description of these ways as ‘an abomination’ to the Lord. This Hebrew word describes the most intense outrage possible—hatred not toward evil in general, but toward a specific expression of it.28 The word describes God’s hatred of pagan practices (Deut. 18:9, 12), but also of unethical conduct (Prov. 3:32; 8:7; 11:1, 20; 12:22; 13:19; 15:8, 9, 26; 16:5, 12; 17:15; 20:10, 23; 21:27; 24:9; 26:25; 28:9; 29:27).
6:17. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, The list of hated sins now commences, the first three being given here. ‘Haughty eyes’ begins the list and is, literally, ‘high eyes’ (Prov. 8:13; 21:4; 30:13; Ps. 18:27; 101:5). The idea is that of a proud look which betrays an arrogant heart. The proud invader of Isaiah 10:12–14 is an illustration of ‘haughty eyes.’ The term translated as ‘haughty’ is used in Numbers 15:30 to describe willful, defiant sin. Such sin is done ‘defiantly’ or, literally, ‘with a high hand.’ Next is ‘a lying tongue.’ The phrase is found in Psalm 109:2, where David describes some nameless deceiver who has slandered him. The larger context of the psalm, however, is understood as Messianic, for verse 8 is quoted in Acts 1:20 as applying to Judas. While deceit may win the day (Prov. 26:28), only a truthful tongue will endure (Prov. 12:19). Any advantages gained through deception will soon disappear (Prov. 21:6). The third detestable thing is ‘hands that shed innocent blood’ (Prov. 1:11, 16; 28:17). King Manasseh was guilty of this sin (2 Kings 1:16) and left a legacy of judgment that the nation would bear even after he was off the scene (2 Kings 24:3–4). The Israelites were guilty of this as a whole people as well: ‘They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood’ (Ps. 106:36–37). How descriptive of modern life, where thousands upon thousands of children are killed while yet in their mother’s womb, and all because of some perceived right to make a ‘choice!’ God announces us an abomination and declares His hatred of our ways.
6:18. A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, Items four and five of the list of seven hated sins are now before us. The Lord hates the ‘heart that devises wicked plans.’ For the word ‘devises,’ see on verse 14. For the word ‘wicked,’ see on verse 12. God was early on repulsed by this tendency in us: ‘Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually’ (Gen. 6:5). Proverbs speaks in stern tones about such ones (Prov. 12:20; 14:22; 24:2), as do the rest of the Scriptures (Ps. 36:4; Mic. 2:1). ‘Feet that run rapidly to evil’ are also an abomination to the Lord. The ‘feet’ are a repeated emphasis from verse 12. All this repetition makes it clear that this section (vv. 16–19) is an expansion upon that which was introduced in the previous section (vv. 12–15). The ‘heart’ describes the totality of the inner man, including his rational powers, emotions and volition. The ‘feet’ are what engage a man in what his heart has devised (Prov. 1:16; Isa. 59:7; Rom. 3:15). Together, they describe the inner man and his outward activities. The Lord hates the one whose nature is bent toward, and quick to pursue, that which is contrary to His nature.
6:19. A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers. The sixth abomination is that of a ‘false witness who utters lies.’ The word for ‘false’ is different than the one translated here by ‘lies.’ The former describes a distortion of the facts of a matter for personal advantage. The latter describes the manufacture of complete fiction. When it says that such a person ‘utters’ lies, the literal meaning is ‘breathes out.’ Seven of this word’s ten appearances in the Old Testament are found in Proverbs (12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9; 29:8). Most often, the word is associated with breathing out lies, as it is here (Prov. 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9). Only in Proverbs 12:17 is one said to breathe forth truth. The one of wicked heart utters lies as naturally as he engages in the involuntary process of respiration.33 Lies are the exhaust he puts off, having used people and circumstances to his ends. The first clause of this verse is identical with the last of Proverbs 14:5. The seventh item brings the list to a crescendo and returns us to the theme of verse 14b. The Lord hates the one who ‘spreads strife.’ Note that it is not simply the strife that is an abhorrence to God, but the one who creates it and spreads it. The word strife has already been introduced in verse 14. God cherishes unity more than we know: ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!’ (Ps. 133:1). David continues in that psalm to say that such unity is like the dew of heaven that descends upon the mountains of Zion. If such unity is a gentle, nourishing, refreshing, life-giving dew, then strife is a harsh, life-taking, discouraging blast of sulfurous breath from below. God despises the one who creates such division among brothers!
Kitchen, J. A. (2006). Proverbs: A Mentor Commentary (pp. 143–145). Mentor.
Vers. 16–19. These six things doth the Lord hate.—The seven abominable things:— A catalogue of evils specially odious to the Infinite One. I. HAUGHTY BEARING. “A proud look.” Pride is frequently represented in the Bible as an offence to the Holy God. Haughtiness is an abomination, because it implies—
Self-ignorance.
Unkindness.
Irreverence. II. VERBAL FALSEHOOD. “A lying tongue.”
Falsehood always implies a wrong heart. A pure heart supplies no motive for falsehood. Vanity, avarice, ambition, cowardice are the parents and patrons of lies.
Falsehood always has a bad social tendency. It disappoints expectations, shakes confidence, loosens the very foundations of social order. III. HEARTLESS CRUELTY. “Hands that shed innocent blood.” Cruelty implies—
An utter lack of sympathy with God’s creatures.
An utter lack of sympathy with God’s mind. He who inflicts pain is out of sympathy both with the universe and with his Maker. IV. VICIOUS SCHEMING. “A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.” There are some hearts so bad that they are ever inventing some evil thing. Illustrate by antediluvian man. V. MISCHIEVOUS EAGERNESS. “Feet swift in running to mischief.” They not only do mischief, but they do it eagerly, with ready vigilance; they have a greed for it. VI. SOCIAL SLANDER. The slanderer is amongst the greatest of social curses. He robs his fellow-creature of his greatest treasure—his own reputation, and the loving confidence of his friends. VII. DISTURBING STRIFE. “And he that soweth discord among brethren.” He who by tale-bearing, ill-natured stories, and wicked inventions produces the disruptions of friendship, is abhorrent to that God who desires His creatures to live in love and unity. This subject serves to show three things—
The moral hideousness of the world. These seven evils everywhere abound.
The immaculate purity of God. He hates these things. Therefore they are foreign to himself.
The true mission of the godly—to endeavour to rid the world of the evils offensive to Heaven. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Exell, J. S. (n.d.). Proverbs (pp. 169–170). Fleming H. Revell Company.
6:16 The things which characterize this wicked man (vv. 12–15) are hated by God (vv. 16–19), especially the sowing of discord (compare vv. 14 and 19). The formula “six things … yes, seven …” may mean that the list is specific but not exhaustive. Or it may indicate that the seventh is worst of all. 6:17 A proud look. Pride is dust deifying itself. The valet of an emperor said:
I cannot deny that my master was vain. He had to be the central figure in everything. If he went to a christening, he wanted to be the baby. If he went to a wedding, he wanted to be the bride. If he went to a funeral, he wanted to be the corpse.
A lying tongue. The tongue was created to glorify the Lord. To lie is to pervert its use for that which is ignoble. Is it ever right for a believer to lie? The answer is that God cannot lie, and He cannot give the privilege to anyone else. Hands that shed innocent blood. Every human life is of infinite value to God. He proved this by paying an infinite price at Calvary for our redemption. The institution of capital punishment (Gen. 9:6) reflects God’s attitude toward murder. 6:18 A heart that devises wicked plans. This, of course, refers to the mind that is always plotting some evil. The Lord Jesus listed some of these wicked imaginations in Mark 7:21, 22. Feet that are swift in running to evil. God hates not only the mind that plans the evil but the feet that are eager to carry it out. 6:19 A false witness who speaks lies. Here it is a matter of public testimony in a court of law. In verse 17b it was more a matter of everyday conversation. One who sows discord among brethren. The striking thing here is that God ranks the one who causes divisions among brethren with murderers, liars, and perjurers! How many of the seven sins listed above can you associate with the trial and crucifixion of our Lord?
MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (A. Farstad, Ed.; p. 806). Thomas Nelson.
Tylenol advisory makes more sense than the apoplectic response to it President Trump is being ripped apart by Big Pharma and mainstream physician societies for issuing an advisory on Tylenol during pregnancy. It’s hard to believe that they even read the update before issuing reactions. If Trump came out in favor of drinking more water, I’m afraid they might promote dehydration. Secretary Kennedy pointed out in his Monday White House press conference, that in the lifetime of the typical first-time mother in the US, the autism rate has gone from one-in-10,000 to 31-in-10,000. For boys in California, Kennedy cites studies showing one-in-12.5.
Researchers Just Found Something Extremely Alarming About AI’s Power Usage As detailed in a new paper, researchers from the open-source AI platform Hugging Face found that the energy demands of text-to-video generators quadruple when the length of a generated video doubles — indicating that the power required for increasingly sophisticated generations doesn’t scale linearly. For instance, a six-second AI video clip consumes four times as much energy as a three-second clip. … the math doesn’t look good.
New IVF embryo test risks ‘discriminatory eugenics practices,’ bioethicist warns A team of academics has developed a tool to allow couples undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to select which embryos to implant, drawing criticism from bioethicists who warn it could create a “dystopian society.” Herasight, a company co-founded by former Duke University lecturer Jonathan Anomaly, claims its product can predict an embryo’s likelihood of developing diseases such as glaucoma and Alzheimer’s. The company argues the technology gives parents more information about embryos created during IVF. though he previously published an essay titled Defending Eugenics that framed the term as “informed choice.”
Anti-ICE shooter was lazy stoner who relocated to Washington to pick pot, ex-boss says: ‘He was all about the weed’ The anti-ICE gunman who killed one migrant and wounded two others at a Dallas ICE facility on Wednesday was once a pot-obsessed slacker who hustled marijuana from Washington back to his home state of Texas, according to his ex-boss. Joshua Jahn, 29 — who fired from a rooftop at a busload of migrants escorted by federal agents into the immigration facility before turning the gun on himself — worked a short-lived job on a legal cannabis farm in Benton City in 2017, where his ex-employer remembered him as a weed-loving drifter with little direction or drive.
Trump’s U.N. Speech Was a Masterclass in Real World Leadership President Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday was nothing short of a thunderclap to shock the world back to reality. In a forum where other presidents and prime ministers drowned the audience in hollow platitudes and safe clichés, Trump delivered something radically different:…. truth. “It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them – and sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help,” Trump said. That line stung the audience of grumbling diplomats not because it was rude, but because it was true.
Law Firms Exploiting Illegal Immigrants to File Personal Injury Lawsuits, Expert Says The scheme is simple. An illegal immigrant approaches a personal injury law firm to sue his workplace and property managers for an injury – real, inflated, or fake – for millions of dollars in return for assistance securing up-front loans to pay back the border coyotes that brought him here, Lauren Zelt, executive director of Protecting American Consumers Together, told Just the News. … they’re working with billboard [advertising] attorneys to stage accidents,
IDF says it preempted Microsoft ban on Intelligence unit’s cloud access Israel Defense Forces announced on Thursday that it had anticipated and prepared for Microsoft’s move to block access to its cloud services and AI tools. Unit 8200, the Israeli military’s elite intelligence division, backed up its data ahead of time, preventing any security damage. “We acted through all required methods to ensure there would be no harm,” the Israeli Defense Ministry stated. Doron Kadosh, a journalist with Israel’s Galei Tzahal radio, also confirmed that Unit 8200 had already prepared for the partial Microsoft ban and continues with its operations.
Record-Breaking Year: Nearly 70,000 Jews Visit Temple Mount in Hebrew Year 5785 The Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site consecrated by King David around 1000 BCE, experienced an unprecedented surge in Jewish visitors during the Hebrew year 5785 (September 2024 – September 2025), marking what activists describe as a “historic awakening” among the Jewish people. According to Beyadenu, a Jerusalem-based organization dedicated to strengthening Jewish ties to the holy site, 68,429 Jews ascended the Temple Mount during the past Hebrew year—a striking 22% increase from the previous year’s 56,057 visitors.
Snapback to take effect: UN rejects last-ditch effort to delay sanctions on Iran In a decisive move Friday, the United Nations Security Council rejected a final attempt by Russia and China to delay the reimposition of sanctions on Iran, just one day before the deadline, The Security Council rejected a resolution presented by Russia and China that would have given Iran a six-month extension before sanctions are reimposed. The sanctions, part of the 2015 nuclear deal’s “snapback” mechanism, will freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms transactions, and penalize ballistic missile development—further straining Iran’s already battered economy.
Trump’s ‘No West Bank Annexation’ Veto Isn’t What It Sounds Like, Expert Says legal scholar Eugene Kontorovich told The Algemeiner that Trump’s wording was being misunderstood, and that his remarks may still leave space for Israel to extend partial sovereignty in the West Bank, part of the ancestral Jewish homeland where the Palestinian Authority (PA) exercises limited self-governance. Trump’s comments on Thursday, Kontorovich argued, were not necessarily incompatible with Israeli mainstream positions.
Trump Says Gaza Deal Near, Hostages Could Soon Be Freed US President Donald Trump said he was close to forging a deal to end the war in Gaza and bring hostages home as he prepared to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. “It’s looking like we have a deal on Gaza. I think it’s a deal that gets the hostages back, it’s going to be a deal that ends the war,”
The Poison of Ecumenism The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON), representing millions worldwide, condemned the move. Nigerian Archbishop Henry Ndukuba was blunt: “Sections of the Anglican world have resolved to abandon the truth of God’s word by sacrificing the authority of Scripture for a postmodern agenda.” The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently shuttered its foreign mission agency —not only because of finances but because the denomination itself had lost its sense of mission. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is watching its seminaries collapse and pews empty. Both denominations are rich in property but bankrupt in people and purpose. decades of chasing cultural approval left these churches hollow.
God’s Word Is Eternal—Man’s Ideas Are Not: Scientific Community Admits That The ‘Big Bang Theory’ Is Falling Apart the current Big Bang theory leaves us with many unsatisfactorily unanswered questions, and recent astronomical observations threaten to undermine it completely. The Big Bang theory may very soon be in crisis. So once again, a key part of the naturalistic origins story is failing because it’s not confirmed by observational evidence. God’s Word is eternal. Man’s ideas are not. We should never hitch God’s Word to man’s ideas!
White House warns of mass firings if Democrats force gov’t shutdown A memorandum shared by the White House Office of Management and Budget shows that President Donald Trump’s administration is directing federal agencies to prepare for an “orderly shutdown” by developing plans to implement mass firings of government employees if Democrats in the U.S. Senate refuse to pass a continuing resolution and force a government shutdown.
Hegseth ends military committee promoting ‘divisive feminist agenda’ The Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is terminating the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services, which the Department of War said promotes a “divisive feminist agenda” that negatively impacts the U.S. military’s readiness. Military Times reported that a memorandum signed by Hegseth last week and obtained by the outlet directs the Pentagon to complete the “formal disestablishment” of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
Shallow M5.9 earthquake hits off the coast of Oregon A shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M5.9 hit off the coast of Oregon at 06:45 UTC on September 26, 2025 (23:45 local time, September 25). The USGS is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
At least 10 dead as Tropical Storm Bualoi (Opong) sweeps through Philippines At least 10 people have been confirmed dead in Philippines as of September 26 due to Tropical Storm Bualoi (locally named Opong), which made landfall Eastern Samar on September 25 before crossing into Masbate and sweeping through the Bicol region. The storm left behind a trail of destruction, displacing thousands who were already reeling from the destruction left by former Super Typhoon Ragasa.
US Nears Highest Cancer-Rate Around The World Cancer is one of the world’s leading causes of death, but its prevalence varies significantly from country to country. In this infographic, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu shows age-standardized cancer incidence rates across 180+ countries, revealing striking contrasts between different regions. Understanding these differences sheds light on how lifestyles, environment, and healthcare reporting all contribute.
10 Stunning Parallels Between The Assassination Of Charlie Kirk And The Plot Of A 1998 Nicolas Cage Movie Called “Snake Eyes” Once in a while, something comes along that completely blows me away. Right now, there is a theory about Charlie Kirk’s assassination that is spreading like wildfire on social media. I decided to look into it, and the deeper that I dug the more I kept finding. In this article, I am going to share with you what I have found, but at this moment I don’t have an explanation for it. Some people think that the parallels that I am about to share are just a giant coincidence, while others are convinced that they are evidence of some sort of a sinister plot. I will just present the facts and allow you to come to your own conclusions. The following are 10 stunning parallels between the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the plot of a 1998 Nicolas Cage movie called “Snake Eyes”…
Flirting With Nuclear War Is A Really Bad Idea, Because It Would Cause A Nuclear Winter That Could Kill Two-Thirds Of The World’s Population Let us hope that global leaders will not choose a path that takes us to nuclear war, because the fate of billions of people is literally hanging in the balance. Unfortunately, our relations with Russia have deteriorated significantly in recent weeks. Very serious threats are being made, and it appears that both sides are preparing to greatly escalate matters. I think that western leaders are convinced that the Russians will eventually back down, and I think that Russian leaders are convinced that NATO will eventually back down. But what happens if neither side ever backs down?
Tony Blair could be the head of a new government in Gaza Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is reportedly in talks to lead a US-backed, temporary transitional authority in the Gaza Strip, according to multiple news sources. The move came just days after the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal announced recognition, raising the total number of countries that have recognised “Palestine” to 159 out of 193 UN member states.
US government’s leap toward universal genetic surveillance in the guise of immigration enforcement “The US Department of Homeland Security has built a massive DNA surveillance system, collecting over 1.5 million genetic profiles in four years. The DNA collection programme, which includes data from US citizens, minors and the elderly, raises concerns about genetic privacy, due process and the limits of executive power. The system, which uses Palantir’s surveillance technology, lacks transparency, oversight and accountability. The US government is abusing its immigration powers to amass DNA for future policing, a report from Georgetown Law said.”
U.S. Scientists Assembled Viruses That Were Designed By AI, And They Were Shocked When They Started Hunting Down Bacteria And Reproducing Now we are allowing AI to create new viruses? Are we mad? What scientists at Stanford University are doing sounds like the plot to a really bad disaster movie. Viruses that are designed by AI are assembled by crazy researchers, and then those viruses start hunting down bacteria and reproducing. Needless to say, it doesn’t take much imagination to see where the rest of the movie would go. I realize that all of this sounds completely insane, but this is actually happening in real life. Our scientists really are assembling viruses that have been dreamed up by AI, and those viruses really are “capable of hunting down and killing strains of Escherichia coli”…
Problem, reaction, solution: Starmer’s digital ID is a solution looking for a crisis Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to announce plans for a compulsory UK-wide digital ID scheme in a speech today, 26 September 2025. Dubbed the “Brit card,” the digital ID is expected to be rolled out by the end of the current Parliament. An article from 2017 demonstrates that Starmer’s digital ID is a solution that has been waiting for a crisis.
New cancer cases worldwide could rise over 60% by 2050, study claims A study in the Lancet medical journal found the number of new cancer cases in 2050 is forecast to be 30.5 million, up 61% from 19.0 million in 2024 – mostly driven by population growth and an increasingly ageing population.
The Dangerous Conspiracies of Candace Owens Samantha Koch What should have been a moment of mourning over Charlie Kirk has instead tragically turned into a bitter fight over truth, legacy, and conspiracy.
Dearborn and the American Future Douglas Andrews A sizable Michigan city is now majority Arab-American, and its political leadership has made it clear that dissenting American opinions are unwelcome.
Tylenol, Autism, and Team Trump Thomas Gallatin Donald Trump announced the results of recent studies that suggest a possible link between Tylenol and autism, which caused a predictable reaction from the Left.
The Storm Cloud That Is Bluesky Sophie Starkova Predictably, the Left’s alternative social media platform to the free speech haven of Elon Musk’s X has become a cesspool of hatred and ugliness.
Inflammatory Democrat Rhetoric and the Dallas ICE Assault Nate Jackson Words are not violence, but words certainly can incite violence — especially when our elected officials demonize law enforcement as the “Gestapo” and “slave patrols.”
ABC’s Killer Joker and the Real Speech Suppressors Mark Alexander Suggesting, after decades of leftist late-night hate rhetoric, that he “believes in the teachings of Jesus” betrays the depth of Kimmel’s depraved disingenuousness.
RFK Jr. Targets Big Pharma Ads Michael Swartz The HHS secretary is working on a backdoor method of restricting advertisement, but the side effects may be less desirable than the supposed illness he’s aiming to treat.
A Sea Change on Political Discourse? Jack DeVine Will our politicians keep inciting political violence? Or will they, for once, listen to their bosses (us) and tone down the rhetoric?
The Rules Have Changed Michael Smith The Democrat leadership guides a party that is on the short end of every 80/20 or even 90/10 issue. Leftists are afraid — and they should be.
Beware of Political Violence Data Manipulation Emmy Griffin We are all being gaslighted when it comes to determining who is committing most of the political violence in America. The truth is that most of it comes from the Left.
Leftmedia Lie: Conservatives Aim to ‘Exterminate Trans People’ Thomas Gallatin The Left can’t give up its efforts to falsely smear Republicans as “fascist” “haters,” but it is leftists who are most prone to violence against conservatives over ideas.
Dropping the Gloves on Antifa Douglas Andrews With the stroke of a pen, Donald Trump made it clear yesterday that antifa’s carefree days of committing acts of domestic terrorism might be numbered.
Erika Kirk’s Powerful Gospel Message of Forgiveness Nate Jackson “I forgive him,” the widow of Charlie Kirk said of her husband’s murderer in an epic moment at Sunday’s memorial service, which was full of the hope of Christ.
QUOTES 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 Friendly Fire “To be a black woman running for president of the United States and as a vice presidential running mate, a gay man, with the stakes being so high … it would be a real risk.” —Kamala Harris Delusions of Grandeur “It is the closest presidential race in the 21st century in terms of the outcome.” —Kamala Harris “Joe Biden was a highly capable president who accomplished great things.” —Kamala Harris Fanning the Rhetorical Flames “We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators. That’s what we’re dealing with right now in Donald Trump.” —Kamala Harris The BIG Lies “Charlie Kirk assassin has been identified as MAGA.” —Rep. Dave Min “The right-winger who didn’t want Charlie Kirk to speak did what right-wingers do and shot him.” —American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten Non Compos Mentis “I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone.” —”comedian” Jimmy Kimmel “It is unfortunate that more of my colleagues … could not see the amount of harm that [Charlie Kirk] was attempting to inflict upon our communities.” —Rep. Jasmine Crockett “I do believe those of you who are interested in rewriting this hateful man’s history are full of sh*t.” —Rep. Ilhan Omar on Charlie Kirk while speaking in a church “His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.” —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who voted “No” on a resolution to honor Charlie Kirk “One of the things I do want to point out … that honestly hurts my heart is when I saw the ‘No’ votes, there were only two Caucasians. For the most part the only people that voted ‘No’ were people of color.” —Rep. Jasmine Crockett regarding the resolution honoring Charlie Kirk 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 Demagogue “I don’t know what’s happened [in Dallas], and I don’t know about the guns, but we need better laws on guns.” —Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer Leftist Hysteria “It is outrageous. It’s a page right out of Xi’s playbook. This is just despicable, disgusting, and against Democratic values. Trump and his allies [are doing what] autocracies do. … I am just outraged by it. Again, this is what dictators do. This is what Xi would do. This is what Putin would do.” —Sen. Chuck Schumer “It’s happening. The takedown of Jimmy Kimmel is likely the start of a campaign to use the murder of Charlie Kirk as a pretext to use the power of the White House to wipe out Trump’s critics and his political opponents.” —Sen. Chris Murphy Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud “Our ultimate goal is to … get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.” —Sen. Chuck Schumer More BIG Lies “The extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America.” —House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries “Republicans are forcing hospitals, nursing homes and health clinics to close. People will die. You deserve better.” —Rep. Hakeem Jeffries Braying Jennies “As somebody who understands history, when I see ICE, I see slave patrols.” —Rep. Jasmine Crockett “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 “I can’t stand JD Vance. … He could literally, like, rescue my cat out of a burning building and I would still hate JD Vance.” —Joy Reid “I’m not president right now. There’s nothing I can do about it.” —Kamala Harris responding to a heckler on her book tour
Fox News host Sean Hannity goes through the list of ‘hoaxes’ against President Donald Trump on ‘Hannity.’ #fox #media #breakingnews #us #usa #new #news #breaking #hannity #foxnews #seanhannity #trump #donaldtrump #deepstate #conspiracy #hoax #fbi #cia #justice #law #politics #political #politicalnews #government #president #whitehouse #washingtondc #washington #dc
‘Gutfeld!’ host Greg Gutfeld and his panel discuss the ‘demonization’ from the left and give their takes on whether people need to think more like Don Rickles and less like Don Lemon. #gutfeld #foxnews #greggutfeld #gutfeldshow #democrats #democraticparty #democrat #demonization #left #liberals #politics #political #politicalnews #government #donrickles #donlemon #culture #society
Former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich joins ‘America Reports’ to discuss the rise in left-wing political violence and President Donald Trump’s crackdown on domestic terrorism face to face, online, and financially.
Nightmare! According to the CDC, “nightmare” drug-resistant bacteria cases are rising … 70% between 2019 and 2023. What is that in real numbers? In 2023 there were 4,341 cases, with special attention to 1,831 of real concern. Or, it went from 2 per 100,000 people in 2019 to 3 per 100,000 people in 2023. The real danger, they say, is that “Its likely many people are unrecognized carriers of the drug-resistant bacteria, which could lead to community spread.” So … another crisis. Another panic. Except … if “many people are unrecognized carriers” of this thing and only 3 in 100,000 are infected, how much of a problem is this thing, really? Are we looking at a real problem, or a “terrorist attack” where Big Pharma and the CDC and the media are the terrorists? Now that is a nightmare.
Really … We Have Principles Microsoft disabled some services used by a unit in the Israel Ministry of Defense because apparently they were using it to watch Gaza and the West Bank. I suppose that’s Microsoft’s call. I’m hoping they’ll shut down every single user that is using their products for illegal or immoral reasons and … oh … okay … that won’t happen. It smells a lot more like anti-Semitism rather than “principle.”
The New New York? Zohran Mamdani is currently the leading candidate for Mayor of New York City. Mamdani is a proud Shia Muslim, considered “more radical than the radical left,” and associated with anti-Israel and pro-socialist principles. He’s running on increased taxes, big government, and increased minimum wages. I guess this explains how AOC keeps getting reelected.
No Bias Here The media is reporting on the indictment of James Comey on two counts … one of making false statements and the other on obstruction of justice. As it is not remotely possible that he did either or that the Justice Department is correct in this, and since the left has happily used the Justice Department as its own weapon against Trump, the media is reporting the story as “marking a major escalation in President Trump’s efforts to target his political opponents and use the Justice Department as part of his campaign to seek retribution against his most ardent critics.” Maybe. But now we’ve arrived at “We can do it but he can’t,” “If Trump’s involved, it’s wrong,” and “There is no justice” … and it’s not a pleasant or safe place to be.
Seeing Reason Jimmy Kimmel was reinstated after being shut down for his remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Apparently, ABC saw the light. The real question is … what light? Did they change their minds, or … did the light from the bullet holes at their ABC10 studio from a radical left protester change their minds? Well, that can’t be it. Only the Right is violent …
Your Best Source for Fake News The week has been a field day for the Bee. Just on the violence and reactions to it from the Left on the last couple weeks, we have the story of Hamas calling on Democrats to tone down the violence. We have Hillary telling us to stop pointing fingers. We all know it’s the Republicans to blame. Then, the “Days Since Leftist Terrorist Attack” counter got set back to zero … again. And the Democrats have boldly changed their logo to show the donkey carrying a sniper rifle.
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund tells John Fawcett he was never told about the FBI’s 274 plainclothes agents on Jan. 6.
The cover-up just got exposed.
Former Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Steven Sund, revealed in an interview with John Fawcett on The Great America Show Friday night that he was never told by the FBI that hundreds of their agents were deployed inside the Jan. 6 crowds.
How is it possible that the top cop in charge of protecting the U.S. Capitol, the man responsible for securing Congress, was left in the dark about something this massive?
On Thursday night, the FBI finally admitted that it had 274 plainclothes agents inside the massive Trump crowds on January 6, 2021 — hundreds more than previously reported.
The Blaze reported that congressional sources claimed this was “not necessarily a surprise,” since the FBI often embeds counter-surveillance personnel at large events. But what is shocking is the FBI’s steadfast refusal for years to disclose their true level of presence at the Capitol.
Even worse, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Inspector General declared in an 88-page report released in December 2024 that the FBI had “no undercover employees” inside the Jan. 6 crowds. That claim now looks like another brazen lie.
Former FBI Director Chris Wray lied and lectured House Republicans for accusing the FBI of planting informants/operatives/agents inside the massive crowd of Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress in July 2023 that he “does not believe” undercover FBI agents were present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Wray’s statement came during a tense exchange with Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who specifically asked about the number of undercover agents in the Capitol vicinity on the infamous day.
“I’m not sure there were undercover agents on scene,” Wray responded to Biggs. “As I sit here right now, I do not believe there were undercover agents on.”
Biggs wrote on Twitter that “Wray will be held accountable for this lie.”
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told John Fawcett on The Great America Show that he was never informed the FBI was sending agents into the crowds on Jan. 6.
It gets even worse. Fawcett told The Gateway Pundit that during the interview, Chief Sund revealed that on January 5th, just one day before the protests, he met with all the major federal agencies and specifically asked if any liaison would be put in place from agencies that planned to have people there. They didn’t say a word.
John Fawcett: Let me ask you this, because to me, on January 6th, you are Chief Stevenson. You are head honcho. You are king of the Capitol. It’s your responsibility. It’s your role to make sure everything’s tied down. You obviously did your job by trying to do your diligence beforehand and were stifled at every single moment.
To me, it seems now—I’m not a career law enforcement guy. I’ve never been in law enforcement. I’ll probably never be in law enforcement. But to me, as just a pedestrian, it seems like if I’m the FBI, if I’m the federal government, I’m going to pick up the phone and say:
“Hey, Chief, just want to let you know, we know January 6th is supposed to maybe get a little bit crazy. We’ll have 300 agents there for you. They’ll be plainclothes. There’ll be some guys not in plainclothes. Is that a rational thing for me to be thinking—that, hey, we’ll pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, Chief, you’ll have 300 guys there if you need them. Here’s your point of contact for January 6th. Let us know if you need anything else.’”
Chief Sund: Well, take it a step further. If they were saying that they were going to have that group in the crowd already, most likely what they’d do is they’d put a liaison up in my command center. I mean, if you’re going to have that type of assets and resources deployed onto someone’s jurisdiction, you’re going to put somebody in their command center. That’s key.
You said something really interesting coming into that—that as the chief, you’re king of the castle. The only problem with the Capitol is the bureaucracy. Even though, as the Chief of Police, there was a chief law enforcement officer for the House and a chief law enforcement officer for the Senate that sat over top of me. That created the big bureaucracy that I ran into. You’d like to think the chief could call the shots, especially with my experience? Not the case on January 6th.
John Fawcett: No, I wasn’t saying it—putting the blame on you in any way.
Chief Sund No, I was just—so your viewers get a picture. It’s like no other jurisdiction in the world. They really need to fix that.
WATCH:
🚨Former Chief of Capitol Police @ChiefSund told me tonight on The Great America Show that he was never informed the FBI was sending any agents in on Jan 6. How could the Chief of law enforcement for the Capitol not be informed about something so big!? pic.twitter.com/ggFGk9IySK
It can be recalled that ex-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told lawmakers in February 2021 during a hearing before the Senate Rules and Homeland Security committees that he did not get the FBI report warning of violence on January 6.
The FBI issued a report on January 5, one day before the riot at the Capitol dome building, that detailed calls for violence.
Mr. Sund said his department had received the FBI report, but it never reached his office.
Sund testified that an officer with the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI received the report and then gave it to an official in the Intel Division at the US Capitol Police HQ.
“I actually just in the last 24 hours was informed by the department that we actually had received that report,” Sund said. “It did not go any further than that.”
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) entered into the record explosive testimony of eyewitness accounts from Michael Waller detailing how he saw “agents-provocateurs” at the Capitol.
Michael Waller, a senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy, specializing in propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion, said he was at the Capitol on January 6 and witnessed:
Plainclothes militants. Militant, aggressive men in Donald Trump and MAGA gear at a front police line at the base of the temporary presidential inaugural platform;
Agents-provocateurs. Scattered groups of men exhorting the marchers to gather closely and tightly toward the center of the outside of the Capitol building and prevent them from leaving;
Fake Trump protesters. A few young men wearing Trump or MAGA hats backwards and who did not fit in with the rest of the crowd in terms of their actions and demeanor, whom I presumed to be Antifa or other leftist agitators; and
Disciplined, uniformed column of attackers. A column of organized, disciplined men, wearing similar but not identical camouflage uniforms and black gear, some with helmets and GoPro cameras or wearing subdued Punisher skull patches.
Well known Antifa-Insurgence leader John Earl Sullivan was arrested in Utah after the US Capitol riots.
Also, Chief Steven Sund has been outspoken of Nancy Pelosi and her failures to secure the US Capitol that day.
It has been widely reported that President Trump asked for the National Guard three days in advance of January 6. But Pelosi turned him down. She refused to call in the National Guard despite numerous warnings of possible violence.
Pelosi then refused to turn over information about her culpability in the security breakdown during the Jan. 6 riot for over a year to congressional investigators.
Steven Sund not only confirms her culpability along with the rest of the Democratic leadership. Sund reported that Pelosi utilized him as a scapegoat and forced him to step down as Police Chief. We all know now she was just trying to obfuscate her own responsibility for the attack.
The day after January 6, Nancy Pelosi blamed Chief Sund for the security failures that day. Pelosi insisted she never spoke with Chief Sund the entire day.
Chief Steven Sund refuted Pelosi. Sund told the subcommittee he spoke with Pelosi three times on January 6 (while she was running the building with her film crew.)
Matt Taibbi reminds Americans of the serious nature of the crimes committed by fired FBI Director James Comey.
Investigative journalist Matt Taibbi joined Jesse Watters on Friday night to discuss the James Comey indictments.
Taibbi blasted Comey for leaking false documents to the leftist press accusing President Trump of being a Russian spy. This was something Comey KNEW was factually incorrect and yet he took these actions to take down a sitting US President.
The criminal charges against Comey are much more serious than what the media is reporting!
In a previous time in American history Comey would be hung for treason.
Matt Taibbi: “People have to remember what is the substance of these lies? What were they for? These news stories that were put out there that were leaked to the press, the thrust of them was that Donald Trump was under the throes of a foreign government. He was a Russian agent.
Think of the national security implications of implying that your own president is a spy for a foreign country.
Would that be tolerated in any normal country?
You cannot let that go on. You can’t have an FBI director doing these kinds of things and engaging these sorts of manipulations and lying to Congress about it and getting away with it.”
Jesse Watters: Yeah, he basically framed him as a traitor. What’s the punishment for treason? We all know what that is. I mean, this is the worst thing you can possibly do…
Matt Taibbi: One thing I think we’ve learned during the Russiagate period is that James Comey has a peculiar vanity that I think is often his undoing.
He often thinks that he’s being clever when he’s not. He often thinks that he’s showing tremendous rectitude when he’s actually looking like a phony on television.
The more exposure that he gets for himself, I think actually the more it will redound to Trump’s benefit.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s good if he’s on television more during this period.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi (Office of Public Affairs, United States Department of Justice)
Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered the deployment of DOJ agents to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities across the country — and instructed Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) to target radical left-wing mobs that have been assaulting federal officers and obstructing immigration enforcement.
The message is clear: “The Rule of Law Will Prevail.”
In a fiery statement posted to X, Bondi declared:
“I have witnessed the continued onslaught of violence perpetrated against ICE officers across our country.
The Department of Justice will not stand idly by in the face of such lawlessness.
At my direction, I am deploying DOJ agents to ICE facilities—and wherever ICE comes under siege—to safeguard federal agents, protect federal property, and immediately arrest all individuals engaged in any federal crime.
Pursuant to President Trump’s recent executive action, I am also instructing the Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the country to disrupt and investigate all entities and individuals engaged in acts of domestic terrorism, including the repeated acts of violence and obstruction against federal agents.
The Department of Justice will seek the most serious available charges against all participants in these criminal mobs, including conspiracy offenses, assault offenses, civil disorder offenses, and terrorism offenses.
While these never-ending attacks are designed to break our will, they only strengthen our resolve to complete the work begun.
To that end, I have directed the FBI, DEA, ATF, and USMS to accelerate our efforts alongside the Department of Homeland Security to locate, apprehend, detain, prosecute, and remove all illegal aliens present in our country. The rule of law will prevail.”
I have witnessed the continued onslaught of violence perpetrated against ICE officers across our country. The Department of Justice will not stand idly by in the face of such lawlessness. At my direction, I am deploying DOJ agents to ICE facilities—and wherever ICE comes under…
This move comes in the aftermath of a shooting at an ICE field office in Dallas, which left a detainee dead and multiple federal personnel wounded.
Bondi’s bold move is backed by the full authority of President Donald Trump, who signed an executive memorandum declaring domestic terrorism and organized political violence a national security priority.
Trump’s order cites chilling examples of political violence that have rocked the nation: the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the 2024 assassination of a senior healthcare executive, the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and two separate assassination attempts against Trump himself during the 2024 election cycle.
The President also highlighted the 1,000 percent surge in attacks on ICE officers since January 2025, noting the most recent atrocity — a mass shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas that left multiple casualties.
The order leaves no doubt: this is not “random” violence, but organized campaigns of intimidation, radicalization, and terror designed to silence opposition and dismantle America from within.
Trump’s executive directive orders the National Joint Terrorism Task Force and all JTTFs nationwide to launch a sweeping crackdown on domestic terrorist networks. The order mandates investigations into:
Recruitment and radicalization campaigns for political violence
Institutional and individual funders of extremist movements
NGOs and foreign-linked organizations laundering money into domestic terror operations
Coordinated doxing, swatting, rioting, looting, and targeted political intimidation
The President also directed the Treasury Department and IRS to cut off all funding pipelines, ensuring no tax-exempt entities or financial networks can bankroll these violent movements.
You just can’t make this stuff up. In 2019 we presented an inventory of Comey’s “criminal” leaks. One person on the list was Comey’s friend Patrick Fitzgerald who is now representing Comey in his case.
“Dirty Cop” Jim Comey was fired from his position as FBI Director in 2017. On Thursday night Comey was charged with two crimes.
Comey is a dirty cop who went after President Trump in an effort to remove him from office. Comey, Barack Obama, John Brennan, James Clapper, Andrew Weissmann and many more were accomplices in this attempted coup. To this date, they have not been held accountable for this historic, unprecedented and massive crime on the American people.
Comey was FBI Director and was fired. He also was found leaking documents in an effort to bring down President Trump. We believed these leaks were criminal based on the information below.
Regardless, who would ever imagine the FBI Director in this country leaking documents to the press to bring down a duly elected President who did nothing wrong?
In 2019 we listed the known leaks that Comey made to the press. His current attorney was involved in criminal leaks which Comey has yet to be charged for.
In Comey’s current case where he is charged with two crimes he filed with the court a document identifying his attorney as Patrick Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald is an old friend of Comey’s. He also is someone Comey leaked documents to.
In 2019 we produced a list of persons Comey had leaked documents to. Fitzgerald is on the list.
Here is what we reported:
Disgraced and fired dirty cop James Comey leaked his classified memos to numerous individuals in various entities. He leaked his memos to the following that we know of:
Andrew McCabe
James Baker
James Rybicki
Daniel Richman Daniel Richman had SGE status with the FBI at the time he leaked Comey’s memos to the NYT Daniel Richman’s Columbia bio page says he “served as a consultant to the Department of Justice” and he is “currently an adviser to FBI Director James B. Comey.”
Patrick Fitzgerald
David Kelly
Benjamin Wittes- Comey’s friend, former aide, and recipient of Comey’s leaks editor-in-chief of the blog Lawfare
James Comey admits to leaking his memo content to the NYT for political purposes
Comey’s actions were criminal when he leaked his memos regarding President Trump to the far-left mainstream media (MSM) and here is why –
Comey claimed he released his memos in response to a Tweet from President Trump, but Comey’s memos were released prior to the date of the tweet [source]
Comey also lied when he said he gave the memo to the New York Times (Via Daniel Richman) on Monday May 15th. We know this because the NYT article came out on the 11th [source]
Comey claims that he did not consider his memos to be government property: “No, and I didn’t consider it a part of an FBI file…it was my personal memoir,” Comey said of his classified memos
If the Comey memos were not classified information, why were portions redacted?
Former US Attorney General: When Comey Wrote His Notes They Were Classified – Those Were Government Memos
Additionally, his memos were reclassified by the FBI at a later date.
Comey sent his memos to his fellow FBI agents, and he even addressed his fellow agents in his memos. Did he handle the memos properly at this time?
Likewise, Comey’s transmission of memos to his lawyers about classified conversations he had with Trump are troubling. Those forced the government to send “scrub teams” to recover any classified information that may have been transmitted, according to multiple sources briefed on the operation [source]
Comey is in big trouble just for leaking the information he maintained related to his interactions with President Trump. He lied numerous times outside of this memo scandal. He also committed crimes in attempting a coup of our US government.
We reported in 2019:
Comey either goes to jail, along with Hillary, Strzok, Page, Brennan and Obama, or we the people will march on Washington to demand justice!
The post reflects on the recent loss of notable Christian leaders, prompting questions about God’s purpose. While experiencing grief, the author emphasizes the importance of home ministry and discipleship beyond even public ministry. Encouragement in reminding readers of God’s sovereignty and the significance of every believer’s role in spreading light in the world.
Top left to right, MacArthur, Dobson. Bottom left to right, Kirk, Baucham
John MacArthur. James Dobson. Charlie Kirk. Voddie Baucham. And we can add Steve Lawson and Josh Buice to the list of those who are suddenly yanked from us.
We ‘lost’ Steve Lawson to his sin in September 2024. Josh Buice to his sin a few months later in May 2025. We lost John MacArthur to heaven in July 2025. James Dobson in August. Charlie Kirk in September. Voddie Baucham September.
The questions ‘What is God doing?’, ‘What is happening?’ are coming up more and more. Todd Friel of Wretched/Fortis Institute said it was a ‘gut punch’ when he heard of the loss of Voddie. Yes, it feels like we have been dragged down the road and wrung out. Emotionally spent, we are panting and asking these questions. But don’t become theologically spent. God is still good!
Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis gave a 4-minute tribute and memory about Voddie. He askes the same question, What is God doing? and ends his piece with some encouragement.
Todd Friel of Wretched/Fortis Institute spoke a heartfelt tribute to Voddie and ended with encouragement.
Angela Mitchell at Raising Apologists asked on Facebook, “What kind of days are we living in when it seems that the most sound doctrinally, the most stable biblically, and the most courageous leaders we have looked up to are all being called home?“
I will put her comments here in case someone does not have Facebook, but there is a bit more to this post on her site to read and ponder-
We are heartbroken and filled with grief and complex emotions right now. We want to do something significant for God and hope that He makes much of Himself through us.
Many can become caught up in the idea that homemaking and viewing your role at home is “sidelined” while others pursue more public ministry. It’s easy to start thinking that real change and ministry happen only on street corners and college campuses, neglecting the important work taking place at home. You might feel pressured to build a platform, assuming that this is the only way forward, and view your home as less significant.
However, real change begins at home; it trickles into your local church as you seek to use your gifts there and ultimately has a broader impact on the church at large. In this season of having children, especially small ones, moms and dads should prioritize discipleship at home. Who will take on this responsibility if you won’t?
As I have been studying the book of Titus, I’ve learned that in order for the believers in Crete to evangelize among the evil people there, their primary preparation for evangelism was to live among them with the unarguable testimony of righteous, loving, selfless, and godly lives in marked contrast to the debauched lives of the false teachers there (John MacArthur study Bible). How relevant is this today?–end Angela Mitchell quote.
Let us do the same today.
As Todd Friel said in his heartfelt video remembering Voddie, (linked above) “the universal chess table is fully under God’s control.” God is good, all the time. God moves his people from place to place in sending missionaries and evangelists. He moves people from earth to heaven, and sends souls in babies to earth in birthing the next generation. Who will go? Who will preach? Well, myriad preachers are doing just that, every day and all over the world. They speak light into the darkness.
The more powerful or well-known ministers that God has raised up, we mourn them when they pass, but we are grateful we were blessed by them for a while. Everything on earth is temporary, including our own selves. Eternity awaits, today or 60 years from now, but it is always there. Hug your loved ones tight, do not let the sun go down on your anger, pray ceaselessly, and look up, for our Redemption draweth nigh.
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