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 plead the promises of God for the enforcing of all our petitions, put these promises in suit, and refer ourselves to them.
Lord, you have given me many precious and very great promises, 2 Peter 1:4(ESV) which are all Yes and Amen in Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20(ESV) Now be it to your servant according to the word that you have spoken. 2 Samuel 7:25(ESV)
Give me to draw water with joy from these wells of salvation, Isaiah 12:3(ESV) to nurse and be satisfied from Jerusalem’s consoling breast; Isaiah 66:11(ESV) and now, O LORD God, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant be established forever, and do as you have spoken. 1 Chronicles 17:23(ESV)
Deal with me according to the tenor of the everlasting covenant, which is well-ordered in all things and secure, and which is all my help and all my desire. 2 Samuel 23:5(ESV)
Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name; Psalm 119:132(ESV) do more for me than I am able to ask or think, Ephesians 3:20(ESV) and supply all my needs according to your riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19(ESV)
Isaiah 53 This week’s lessons explain how Isaiah 53 clearly points to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Suffering Servant who would accomplish salvation for His people.
Theme
Jesus’ Glorious Victory
That is the point to which we come in the last verses, for these speak of the Messiah’s glorious victory. His death was not without effect. Jesus accomplished everything He came to accomplish. Notice verse 10b: “He will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.” There are three things here. First, He will see his offspring. “Offspring” is “seed,” and it is in the plural. It says He is going to see His seed. He is going to have spiritual progeny, and He is going to see them. In other words, His death would be fruitful. It would not be for nothing. Those for whom He died will be saved.
I cannot help but contrast this promise with the promise made to Abraham. When God made the promise to Abraham He focused on the singular, “seed.” You find it toward the end of Genesis 22, after Abraham had been asked to sacrifice his son and had come very close to doing that. God stayed His hand and provided a ram as a substitute—a picture of Christ. Then God told Abraham: “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Gen. 22:17-18). “Offspring” is singular here; it points to Christ (cf. Gal. 3:16). However, when the word is used in Jesus’ own story it is plural, for it points to the many brethren who are saved by Christ’s death.
The second thing in verse 10 is this: “He will . . . prolong his days.” How long will He prolong them? Some of us are very addicted to exercise, and one of the reasons is that it is supposed to prolong our days. If you run your six miles a day and you do it five or six days a week, you are going to develop better health and live longer. At least that is what the books on running suggest. How long will that be? Five years perhaps? Ten years? Is that what it means when it says that Jesus will prolong His days? No, no! This is a prophecy of the resurrection. It means that He will live forever. So not only does Jesus see His offspring, the fruit of His work, but He lives to enjoy the fruit of His work forever.
The third point is: “And the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.” The will of the Lord does not always prosper in our hand, because we are not able to make it prosper. Our sin often tarnishes and mars what God is doing. Sometimes the work of God suffers in our hands. But it does not suffer in the hands of Jesus Christ! Jesus is the Lord of the Church. Jesus is building the Church. And when the Lord Jesus Christ constructs the building, the building stands.
At the time of Christ’s coming, Rome was in her glory. Shortly thereafter there was a great struggle between the Empire and the Christian Church. Christians were hauled into the Colosseum at Rome and killed there by the hundreds. An uninformed observer in the Colosseum in those days, looking down upon the death of the Christians, would have said, “What a pitiful race this is. How weak are the followers of the Nazarene. Why, in a short time they are going to be wiped out.” Yet I have stood in the Colosseum in Rome. It is in ruins. Rome has passed away. And the Church? The Church of Jesus Christ is strong because of Jesus.
The conclusion is obvious. Is not Isaiah writing of Jesus Christ? Is not Jesus Christ the Messiah? If He is, we ought to follow Him. He ought to be our Messiah. He ought to be your Lord.
Study Questions
To whom does Isaiah refer when he speaks of the Servant’s offspring?
In what way will the Servant’s days be prolonged?
Application
Key Point: Is not Isaiah writing of Jesus Christ? Is not Jesus Christ the Messiah? If He is, we ought to follow Him. He ought to be our Messiah. He ought to be your Lord.
Application: Pray that God will give you discernment as you compare your attitudes to those of Christ. What do you need to do in order to be more like Jesus?
For Further Study: Download for free and listen to James Boice’s message, “God’s Purpose in Human Suffering.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord.
There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge.
Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
Anarchy and Apostasy: What Happens When a Blessed Nation Turns Its Back on God?
In 1999, I wrote a book titled Living for Christ in the End Times. It was published in the year 2000. The subtitle I gave the book was “Coping with Anarchy and Apostasy.” To my chagrin, the publisher refused to use the subtitle. There was not anything I could do about that because in the book publishing world, publishers have absolute control over cover designs and titles. (In 2015, when we published the second edition, I jerked the book from the publisher and gave the book the subtitle I had desired.)
When I asked the publisher why my subtitle had been refused, I was told that it was “too radical.” When I asked why, I was told that apostasy in the church was not all that bad and that our society was nowhere near anarchy.
My response was that the subtitle was a prophetic one based on our nation’s rejection of its Judeo-Christian foundation. I had not been given any special revelation by God. My prediction was simply based on what the Scriptures say will happen to a blessed nation that turns its back on God.
Romans Chapter 1
Specifically, Romans 1 says that when a nation starts rebelling against God, He will lower His hedge of protection around the nation and allow sin to multiply. The first manifestation will be a sexual revolution. God will give the nation over in “the lust of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them” (Romans 1:24). Our nation experienced this phenomenon in the decade of the 1960s with the Hippie Revolution and its emphasis on “free love.”
Romans 1 next says that if the nation refuses to repent, God will lower the hedge of protection further, and the result will be a plague of homosexuality. God will give the nation over to “degrading passions,” for the women will “exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural” — and the men will do the same (Romans 1:25-26). Beginning in the 1970s, our nation started experiencing an outbreak of homosexuality and its demand for same-sex marriage and the endorsement of transgenderism.
The final step in God turning our nation over completely to its sins of rebellion occurred when He lowered the hedge a third time, resulting in the nation being turned over to “depraved minds” (Romans 1:28). That is where we are today.
America’s Current Situation
Currently, we are a nation in full-scale revolt against our Creator, who has been the source of all our national blessings. I am reminded of what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said when he was asked what happened to Russia that led to 70 years of Communist dictatorship. His response was short and to the point: “We forgot God.”
Our nation is now experiencing both gross apostasy and extreme violence. The Judeo-Christian foundation that held us together for 200 years has evaporated. In 1955, 91% of Americans claimed to be Christians. Today, that number has fallen to 61% — and many, if not most of these, are Cultural Christians only.
Our nation has been fighting a “cold war” for the past 50 years, as pagans have rejected our Judeo-Christian heritage and have increasingly targeted Christians and Jews for persecution.
I suggest that the assassination of Charlie Kirk will one day be viewed as the point at which our cultural “cold war” morphed into an all-out civil war. Increasingly, I believe we are going to find ourselves drowning in both apostasy and anarchy.
Apostasy and Anarchy
Our churches are wallowing in apostasy as they endorse homosexuals as pastors, elders, and deacons. They are also accepting and performing same-sex marriages. Some are even conducting drag queen services. The Catholic Church has returned to preaching “works salvation.” Protestants are no better, as they are now teaching that there are many roads to God. The latest “State of Theology” poll by Ligonier Ministries revealed that 47% of Evangelicals believe God accepts the worship of all religions and that 53% assert that most people are inherently good. The same poll also revealed that 49% of American adults view Jesus as a great teacher but not God.
On the anarchy scene, the evening news on television every evening is packed with scenes of violent radical groups attacking police officers simply because they are trying to enforce the law. Others are raising money to support murderers, like the one who shot the CEO of United Health and the young man who killed Charlie Kirk. Public opinion polls are showing that increasing numbers are saying that they approve political assassinations. The situation is so bad that the President is in the process of deploying military troops in our major cities. I truly believe the values of our nation have become so perverted that if a person were to kill President Trump, the assassin would be hailed as a national hero.
It appears that God has turned our nation over to what theologians called “abandonment wrath.” This happens when God steps back, removes his protection over a nation, and allows it to destroy itself.
The Future
Our nation is facing a cloud of gloom and doom, but there is a silver lining. Jesus said that in the end times, right before His return, the world will become as evil as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). If you will take a look at the Bible’s description of those days in Genesis 6, you will see that they were characterized by two things: immorality and violence. We have arrived.
And that means Jesus is about to break from the heavens. It’s the reason Adrian Rogers used to preach, “The world is growing gloriously dark.” It is also why Jan Markell often says, “The world is not falling to pieces. Rather, the pieces are all falling into place.”
The cry of my heart is summed up in the words of the prophet Isaiah recorded in chapter 64: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence — as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil — to make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!”
Most recently our student apologetics ministry at The Ohio State University hosted an event with Dr. Frank Turek who is president of Cross Examined.org. The title of the event is If God, Why Evil? A Q&A in Honor of My Friend Charlie Kirk. You can watch it here:
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. (12:14)
This verse is not easy to interpret, and has been a problem for many sincere Christians. At first glance, it seems to be teaching salvation by works—if we successfully pursue peace and sanctification, we will be saved and will see the Lord. The truth is, however, that a person who is not saved cannot pursue either peace or sanctification, at least not successfully. Only the Christian has the ability, through the Holy Spirit, to live in peace and in holiness. “ ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked’ ” (Isa. 57:21) and any righteousness men try to produce apart from God is as “a filthy garment” (Isa. 64:6). I believe the writer is speaking of practical peace and righteousness. Positionally, in Christ, Christians already are at peace and already are righteous, but practically we have a great deal to do. Because we are at peace with God, we should be peacemakers. Because we are counted righteous, we should live righteously. Our practice should match our position. Otherwise the unbeliever will stand back and ask, “Why don’t you practice what you preach? If you don’t live like Christ says to live, why should I accept Him as my Lord and Savior?” (cf. 1 John 2:6). Pursuing peace primarily relates to loving men, and pursuing righteousness primarily to loving God. If we love men, we will be at peace with them, and if we love God we will live righteously.
LOVING MEN
Peace is a two-way street. It is not possible for two persons, or two nations, to live at peace with each other if one of them is persistently belligerent. Jesus was peaceful toward all men, but all men were not peaceful toward Him. Paul clarifies the principle. “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Rom. 12:18). We are only responsible for our side of the peace process, but we cannot use another’s belligerence as an excuse for responding in kind. We have an obligation to live peaceably, whether or not those around us treat us peaceably. If they do not live peaceably, that is their problem; it is never our excuse. I once witnessed an interesting drama on the street. A man driving ahead of me apparently had just picked up a brand new car. It still had the dealer’s license on it. Another driver, anxious to pass him, pulled around on the right, running through a huge mud puddle as he did. The new car was a mess. A third man, probably a friend who had taken the first man to the car dealer, was in another car. The two of them forced the impatient man off onto the shoulder and blocked him in. They then proceeded to pour soda pop all over the offending vehicle. It was not a demonstration in peacemaking. On another occasion, I inadvertently cut off another driver. He pulled up beside me at the next light and began cursing profusely. When he finished, I leaned out the window, admitted I was wrong and asked him to forgive me. That was obviously far from the response he expected, and he roared off in a huff. But an effort had been made for peace. In so far as I could, I tried to make peace (see James 3:13–18).
LOVING GOD
Sanctification has to do with our loving God. It speaks of the pure, obedient, holy life we live set apart for God’s glory, because of that love. When we love Him, we will want to be like Him, and when we are like Him, others will see Him in us and be attracted to Him. Love toward men and love toward God are inseparable. The most difficult part of the verse to interpret is without which no one will see the Lord. I believe the reference is to unbelievers who see and observe our pursuit of peace and holiness, without which they would not be drawn to accept Christ themselves. The passage does not read, “without which you will not see the Lord,” but without which no one will see the Lord. In other words, when unbelievers see a Christian’s peacefulness and holiness, they are attracted to the Lord. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). And He prayed to His Father that “they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me” (John 17:21). Our love for each other is a testimony to the Father and to the Son. It is a means of drawing people to Christ, apart from whom no one will see the Lord. As we run the race, leaving a straight path, showing love to men by peacemaking, and showing love to God by holiness, people will see the Lord. Paul agonized over some of the immature Christians at Galatia, to whom he wrote, “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). It was his heart prayer that, above all else, they grow in Christlikeness. Christlikeness is our greatest possible testimony to the world.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1983). Hebrews (pp. 404–406). Moody Press.
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. This verse sets a positive tone and is introductory to the rest of the passage. Let us look at this passage point by point.
a. What to do
The first command is: pursue peace! Keep on pursuing one goal—that is, peace; do not rest until you have attained it. When spiritual life flourishes in the family circle and in the congregation, peace holds the members together. But when disharmony stunts the spiritual life of family or congregation, peace has left, just as a fleeting shadow skips across the fields. Pursuing peace implies banning quarrels. “Live in peace with all men,” says the writer. What do the words all men mean? Do they include enemies? According to Jesus’ teaching, the answer is yes. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:44–45). And they who are called sons of God are the peacemakers (Matt. 5:9). “The peace makers are the true Israel and acknowledged by God as His children.” A recurring refrain in the Old Testament as in the New is the command to live at peace with one another. David exhorts the Israelites, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Ps. 34:14; see also 1 Peter 3:11). In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul stresses the pursuit of peace twice: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (12:18) and “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace” (14:19). Peace is attained through close communion with Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6; Col. 3:15). The second command is: pursue holiness. Peace and holiness are two sides of the same coin. Holiness is not the state of perfection already attained. Rather, the word in the original Greek refers to the sanctifying process that occurs in the life of the believer. To put it differently, the believer reflects God’s virtues. In so doing, he becomes more and more like Christ who through the Holy Spirit continues to work in the believer’s heart. As the writer of Hebrews says, Jesus is the one who makes the believer holy (2:11). Therefore, we as believers must do everything in our power to obtain holiness. The conclusion to these two commands is this: without peace and holiness no one will see the Lord. Only the pure in heart, says Jesus, will see God (Matt. 5:8; compare 1 John 3:2). A holy God can have communion only with those who are at peace with him (Rom. 5:1) and those who have been made holy through the work of Christ (Heb. 2:10; 10:10, 14; 13:12). God’s holy wrath is directed against those who are unholy (Heb. 10:29). The unrighteous person cannot stand the sight of Christ’s appearance, for his wrath is terrible (Rev. 6:15–17). Isaiah says that angels cover their faces in the presence of God (6:2); how then could an unholy person see God?
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of Hebrews (Vol. 15, pp. 384–385). Baker Book House.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. (Psalm 23:6)
A devout poet sings
Lord, when thou
Puttest in my time a day,
as thou dost now,
Unknown in other years, grant, I entreat,
Such grace illumine it, that whate’er its phase
It add to holiness, and lengthen praise!
This day comes but once in four years…. Up till now goodness and mercy, like two guards, have followed us from day to day, bringing up the rear even as grace leads the van; and as this out-of-the-way day is one of the days of our life, the two guardian angels will be with us today also. Goodness to supply our needs and mercy to blot out our sins—these twain shall attend our every step this day and every day till days shall be no more. Wherefore, let us serve the Lord on this peculiar day with special consecration of heart and sing His praises with more zest and sweetness than ever. Could we not today make an unusual offering to the cause of God or to the poor? By inventiveness of love let us make this twenty-ninth of February a day to be remembered forever.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in, secret himself shall regard thee openly. Matthew 6:3-4
No promise is made to those who give to the poor to be seen of men. They have their reward at once and cannot expect to be paid twice.
Let us hide away our charity—yes, hide it even from ourselves. Give so often and so much as a matter of course that you no more take note that you have helped the poor than that you have eaten your regular meals. Do your alms without even whispering to yourself, How generous I am! Do not thus attempt to reward yourself. Leave the matter with God, who never fails to see, to record, and to reward. Blessed is the man who is busy in secret with his kindness: he finds a special joy in his unknown benevolences. This is the bread, which eaten by stealth, is sweeter than the banquets of kings. How can I indulge myself today with this delightful luxury? Let me have a real feast of tenderness and Row of soul.
Here and hereafter the Lord Himself will personally see to the rewarding of the secret giver of alms. This will be in His own way and time; and He will choose the very best. How much this promise means it will need eternity to reveal.
The just so appearance of “fine-tuning” in our universe is rather uncontroversial amongst scientists and cosmologists. Even Paul Davies (who is agnostic when it comes to the notion of a Divine Designer) readily stipulates, “Everyone agrees that the universe looks as if it was designed for life.” The foundational, regional and locational conditions of our universe, solar system and planet are delicately balanced and finely calibrated. The slightest modification of these conditions would be disastrous for life. The delicate requirements for the existence of galaxies, star systems, and planets capable of supporting “intelligent observers” are incredibly fragile. In my book, God’s Crime Scene, I describe the nature of foundational, regional and locational conditions in the context of a crime scene I investigated many years ago. The evidence I observed in these layers led me to conclude an external suspect had tampered with the scene to cause a death. In a similar way, it appears the layered conditions of the universe have been “tampered with” to cause the emergence of life.
Our tiny planet also exhibits locational properties of fine-tuning necessary for life. Earth’s local conditions exhibit an array of equally unlikely characteristics that give us reason to be “suspicious.” Here are just four of the many ways our planet is fine-tuned for life:
The Earth’s Relationship to the Sun Is Favorable to Life: Earth orbits the sun within a tight “habitable zone” that is highly statistically unlikely for a planet. If Earth were very slightly more distant from—or slightly closer to—the sun, a stable water cycle would be impossible. Also, small changes in the orbital tilt of our planet, or minor variations in the tilt of Earth’s axis, would disallow our climate. The length of rotation matters, too. If Earth had a slower one, our days would be too hot and our nights too cool to support life; shorter, and the wind speeds would be too extreme.
The Earth’s Atmospheric Conditions Are Favorable to Life: The surface gravity of Earth is critical to its ability to retain an atmosphere friendly to life. If Earth’s gravity were stronger, our atmosphere would contain too much methane and ammonia. If our planet’s gravity were weaker, Earth wouldn’t be able to retain enough water. As it is, Earth’s atmosphere has a finely calibrated ratio of oxygen to nitrogen—just enough carbon dioxide and adequate water vapor levels to promote advanced life, allow photosynthesis (without an excessive greenhouse effect), and to allow for sufficient rainfall.
The Earth’s Terrestrial Nature Is Favorable to Life: Earth’s crust thickness must lie within a particular range in order to support life. A thicker crust would negatively impact the quantity of oxygen in our atmosphere; a thinner crust would result in excessive volcanic activity and unstable tectonic plates. In fact, Earth’s crust allows limited seismic activity, resulting in nutrient recycling and carbon dioxide release without destroying all life on the planet. The nutrient and mineral concentrations of Earth’s crust also fall within life-permitting ranges.
The Earth’s Relationship to the Moon Is Favorable to Life: While other planets have an orbiting moon; ours is critical to our existence. Our large Moon is just the right size to stabilize Earth’s orbit and rotation, limiting the variations in our climate and temperature. Without a large moon, the axis of our planet would likely have wobbled dramatically—perhaps by as much as 90 degrees. The role of the Moon cannot be underestimated. Astronomer Donald Brownlee and paleontologist Peter Ward write, “Without the Moon there would be no moonbeams, no month, no lunacy, no Apollo program, less poetry, and a world where every night was dark and gloomy. Without the Moon it is also likely that no birds, redwoods, whales, trilobite, or other advanced life would ever grace the earth.”
Illustrations from God’s Crime Scene
Like the death scene I investigated, the layers of foundational, regional, and locational evidence in the universe show signs of “tampering.” The forces governing atomic structure, the matter of the universe and the creation of chemicals are conveniently aligned to allow life’s existence. Even tiny changes in these forces have disastrous consequences for life. Similarly narrow ranges exist related to our galaxy and planet. While the appearance of fine-tuning in any one of these cosmic parameters might not be all that compelling, the cumulative nature of these conditions obligates us to seek an explanation.
The forces governing atomic structure, the matter of the universe and the creation of chemicals are conveniently aligned to allow life’s existence. Share on X
Those who seek to explain this fine-tuning without invoking the existence of a Fine-Tuner, either (1) deny the need for fine-tuning related to the emergence of life, (2) argue fine-tuning is the result of chance or physical necessity, or (3) try to explain fine-tuning as a simple “observational phenomenon”. In God’s Crime Scene, I demonstrate (in detail) why these naturalistic explanations fail to account for the evidence. The appearance of fine-tuning in the universe is part of an overwhelming cumulative case for the existence of God. For more information about the fine-tuning of the universe, please refer to God’s Crime Scene, Chapter Two – Tampering With the Evidence: Who Is Responsible?
“True freedom consists not in the freedom to sin, but the freedom not to sin.”1 – Billy Graham
“Once I was free in the shackles of sin: Free to be tempted, just bound to give in; Free to be captive to any desire; Free to eternally burn in hell’s fire. ‘Til Someone bought me and called me His slave: Bound by commands I am free to obey; Captive by beauty I’m free to adore–Sentenced to sit at His feet evermore.” – John MacArthur
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.” – Corrie Ten Boom
“The good man is free, even if he is a slave. The evil man is a slave, even if he is a king.” – Augustine
“This, then, is true liberty: the joy that comes in doing what is right. At the same time, it is also devoted service in obedience to righteous precept.”– Benjamin B. Warfield
“In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we’re pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our maker’s praise without anxiety.” – A.W. Tozer
“There are two freedoms – the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.” – Charles Kingsley
“If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you are free.” – D. L. Moody
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” – George Washington Carver
“If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession: ‘God, preserve my soul, and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not be entangled.’ When this is true in our lives, a passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage.” – John Owen
“Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.” – Martin Luther
“Let us remember, as people of faith, that our primary mission is not to have a political ideology, it’s to change the world so that every man, woman, boy, and girl can experience true freedom.” – Mike Huckabee
“The fear of man strangles us, because we can never please everybody; but the fear of the Lord frees us, because it challenges us to live and serve for an audience of One.” – Paul Chappell
“To serve God, to love God, to enjoy God, is the sweetest freedom in the world.” – Thomas Watson
“Christian liberty is freedom not to indulge the flesh but to control the flesh, freedom not to exploit our neighbor but to serve our neighbor, freedom not to disregard the law but to fulfill the law.” – John Stott
“There is an amazing and refreshing journey of freedom for those who know Jesus Christ as Lord.” – Crystal McDowell
We can know a lot about our resurrection bodies. Why? Because we’re told a great deal about Christ’s resurrected body, and we’re told that our bodies will be like his.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2, RSV).
“Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49).
Though Jesus in His resurrected body proclaimed that he was not a ghost (Luke 24:39, NLT), countless Christians think they will be ghosts in the eternal Heaven. I know this because I’ve talked with many of them. They think they’ll be disembodied spirits, or wraiths. The magnificent, cosmos-shaking victory of Christ’s resurrection—by definition a physical triumph over physical death in a physical world—escapes them.
If Jesus had become a ghost, there would have been no resurrection, and redemption would not have been accomplished. But Jesus was not a ghost; He walked the earth in His resurrection body for forty days, showing us how we would live as resurrected human beings. In effect, He also demonstrated where we would live as resurrected human beings—on Earth. Christ’s resurrection body was suited for life on Earth. As Jesus was raised to come back to live on Earth, we, too, will be raised to come back to live on Earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14; Revelation 21:1-3).
The risen Jesus walked and talked with two disciples on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:13-35). They asked Him questions; He taught them and guided them in their understanding of Scripture. Though they didn’t know it was Jesus until “their eyes were opened” (v. 31), suggesting that God prevented them from recognizing Christ, they saw nothing different enough in His appearance to suggest that His resurrected body looked any different from a normal human body. In other words, they perceived nothing amiss. They saw the resurrected Jesus as a normal, everyday human being. The soles of His feet didn’t hover above the road—they walked on it.
We know that the resurrected Christ looked like a man because Mary called Him “sir” when she assumed He was the gardener at the tomb (John 20:15). Jesus spent remarkably normal times with His disciples after His resurrection. Early one morning, He “stood on the shore” at a distance (John 21:4). He didn’t hover or float—or even walk on water, though He could have. He called to the disciples (v. 5). He started a fire, and He was already cooking fish that He’d presumably caught Himself. He cooked them, which means He didn’t just snap His fingers and materialize a finished meal. He invited the disciples to add their fish to His and said, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12).
On another occasion, Christ suddenly appeared in a locked room where the disciples were gathered (John 20:19). His body could be touched and clung to and could consume food, yet it could apparently “materialize” as well. How is this possible? Could it be that a resurrection body is structured in such a way as to allow its molecules to pass through solid materials or to suddenly become visible or invisible?
We shouldn’t assume that Christ’s body will look exactly as it did before His death and resurrection, or that our bodies will look exactly as they do now. During Christ’s transfiguration, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothing “became as bright as a flash of lightning” (Luke 9:29). Likewise, Elijah and Moses are described as appearing “in glorious splendor” (Luke 9:31).
Christ may literally shine in His Kingdom on the New Earth. John says of the city, “The Lamb is its lamp” (Revelation 21:23). Christ appeared to Paul and blinded him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-9).
Likewise, Scripture promises us that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43), and “will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven . . . like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3, NASB).
Once we understand that Christ’s resurrection is the prototype for the resurrection of mankind and the earth, we realize that Scripture has given us an interpretive key to understanding human resurrection and life on the New Earth. Shouldn’t we interpret passages alluding to resurrected people living on the New Earth as literally as those concerning Christ’s resurrected life during the forty days He walked on the old Earth?
When Paul speaks of our resurrection bodies, he says, “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
When Paul uses the term spiritual body (v. 44), he is not talking about a body made of spirit, or a nonphysical body—there is no such thing. A body, by definition, is physical—flesh and bones. The word spiritual here is an adjective that describes the body; it doesn’t negate its meaning. A spiritual body is first and foremost a real body or it would not qualify to be called a body. If our bodies became spirits, Paul could have simply said, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spirit,” but that’s not what he says. Judging from Christ’s resurrection body, a spiritual body looks and acts like a regular physical body most of the time, but it may have (and in Christ’s case it does have) some physical abilities beyond what is currently normal.
Many of us look forward to Heaven more now than we did when our bodies functioned well. Inside your body, even if it is broken or failing, is the blueprint for your resurrection body. You may not be satisfied with your current body or mind—but you’ll be forever thrilled with your resurrection upgrade.
In this video, I share a quote from N.T. Wright about how the term “spiritual body” is often misunderstood:
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (4:16–17)
Having reassured the Thessalonians that their departed loved ones will not miss out on the Rapture, Paul gave a step-by-step description of that event. First, the Lord Himself will return for His church. He will not send angels for it, in contrast to the gathering of the elect that takes place at the Second Coming (Mark 13:26–27). Second, Jesus will descend from heaven, where He has been since His ascension (Acts 1:9–11). Earlier in this epistle, Paul commended the Thessalonians because they were waiting “for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus” (1:10). At his trial before the Sanhedrin, Stephen cried out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). The writer of Hebrews said of Christ, “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3). Third, when Jesus comes down from heaven, He will do so with a shout. Keleusma (command) has a military ring to it, as if the Commander is calling His troops to fall in. The dead saints in their resurrected bodies will join the raptured living believers in the ranks. The Lord’s shout of command will be similar to His raising of Lazarus, when “He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth’ ” (John 11:43). This is the hour “when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). The righteous dead of the church age will be the first to rise—a truth that must have greatly comforted the anxious Thessalonians. Fourth, the voice of the archangel will sound. There is no definite article in the Greek text, which literally reads, “an archangel.” In Jude 9, the only other passage in Scripture that mentions an archangel, the archangel is Michael. Scripture does not say whether or not he is the only archangel (there were seven archangels according to Jewish tradition). Thus, it is impossible to say who the archangel whose voice will be heard at that Rapture is. Whoever he is, he adds his voice to the Lord’s shout of command. Fifth, to the Lord’s command and the archangel’s voice will be added the sounding of the trumpet of God (cf. 1 Cor. 15:52). Trumpets were used in Scripture for many reasons. They sounded at Israel’s feasts (Num. 10:10), celebrations (2 Sam. 6:15), and convocations (Lev. 23:24), to sound an alarm in time of war (Num. 10:9) or for any other reason it was necessary to gather a crowd (Num. 10:2; Judg. 6:34) or make an announcement (1 Sam. 13:3; 2 Sam. 15:10; 20:1; 1 Kings 1:34, 39, 41). The trumpet at the Rapture has no connection to the trumpets of judgment in Revelation 8–11. It seems to have a twofold purpose: to assemble God’s people (cf. Ex. 19:16–19) and to signal His deliverance of them (cf. Zech. 1:16; 9:14–16). Sixth, the dead in Christ will rise first. As noted above, the dead saints will in no way be inferior to those alive at the Rapture. In fact, they will rise first, their glorified bodies joining with their glorified spirits to make them into the image of Christ, as the apostle John wrote: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). Those who were in Christ in life will be so in death; death cannot separate believers from God (Rom. 8:38): “therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8). Finally, those believers who are alive and remain will be caught up together with the dead saints in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Harpazō (caught up) refers to a strong, irresistible, even violent act. In Matthew 11:12 it describes the taking of the kingdom of heaven by force. In John 10:12 it describes a wolf snatching sheep; in John 10:28–29 it speaks of the impossibility of anyone’s snatching believers out of the hands of Jesus Christ and God the Father; in Acts 8:39 it speaks of Philip’s being snatched away from the Ethiopian eunuch; and in 2 Corinthians 12:2, 4 it describes Paul’s being caught up into the third heaven. It is when living believers are caught up that they are transformed and receive their glorified bodies (Phil. 3:21). “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” believers “will be changed” (1 Cor. 15:52), rescued from the grasp of Satan, the fallen flesh, the evil world system, and the coming wrath of God. The time of the Rapture cannot be discerned from this passage alone. But when it is read with other Rapture texts (John 14:3; Rev. 3:10; cf. 1 Cor. 15:51–52; Phil. 3:2–21), and compared to judgment texts (Matt. 13:34–50; 24:29–44; Rev. 19:11–21), it is clear that there is no mention of judgment at all in the Rapture passages, whereas the others major on judgment. It is therefore necessary to conclude that the Rapture occurs at a time other than the judgment. It is best, then, to separate the two events. That initiates the case for the Rapture to occur imminently, before the elements of judgment described in Scripture as leading up to the Second Coming in judgment. Again, no solitary text of Scripture makes the entire case for the pretribulation Rapture. However, when one considers all the New Testament evidence, a very compelling case for the pretribulational position emerges, which answers more questions and solves more problems than any other Rapture position. The following arguments present a strong case in favor of the pretribulation Rapture. First, the earthly kingdom of Christ promised in Revelation 6–18 does not mention the church as being on earth. Because Revelation 1–3 uses the Greek word for church nineteen times, one would reasonably assume that if the church were on earth rather than in heaven in chapters 6–18, they would use “church” with similar frequency, but such is not the case. Therefore, one can assume that the church is not present on the earth during the period of tribulation described in Revelation 6–18 and that therefore the Lord has removed it from the earth and relocated it to heaven by means of the Rapture. Second, Revelation 19 does not mention a Rapture even though that is where a posttribulational Rapture (if true) would logically occur. Thus, one can conclude that the Rapture will have already occurred. Third, a posttribulational Rapture renders the Rapture concept itself inconsequential. If God preserves the church during the Tribulation, as posttribulationists assert, then why have a Rapture at all? It makes no sense to Rapture believers from earth to heaven for no apparent purpose other than to return them immediately with Christ to earth. Further, a posttribulational Rapture makes the unique separation of the sheep (believers) from the goats (unbelievers) at the return of Christ in judgment redundant because a posttribulational Rapture would have already accomplished that. Fourth, if God raptures and glorifies all believers just prior to the inauguration of the millennial kingdom (as a posttribulational Rapture demands), no one would be left to populate and propagate the earthly kingdom of Christ promised to Israel. It is not within the Lord’s plan and purpose to use glorified individuals to propagate the earth during the Millennium. Therefore, the Rapture needs to occur earlier so that after God has raptured all believers, He can save more souls—including Israel’s remnant—during the seven-year Tribulation. Those people can then enter the millennial kingdom in earthly form. The most reasonable possibility for this scenario is the pretribulational Rapture. Fifth, the New Testament does not warn of an impending tribulation, such as is experienced during Daniel’s seventieth week, for church-age believers. It does warn of error and false prophets (Acts 20:29–30; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1–3), against ungodly living (Eph. 4:25–5:7; 1 Thess. 4:3–8; Heb. 12:1), and of present tribulation (1 Thess. 2:14–16; 2 Thess. 1:4; all of 2 Peter). Thus it is incongruous that the New Testament would be silent concerning such a traumatic change as Daniel’s seventieth week if posttribulationism were true. Sixth, Paul’s instructions here to the Thessalonians demand a pretribulational Rapture because, if Paul were teaching them posttribulationism, one would expect them to rejoice that loved ones were home with the Lord and spared the horrors of the Tribulation. But, in actuality, the Thessalonians grieved. In addition, with a posttribulational teaching one would expect them to sorrow over their own impending trial and inquire about their future doom; however, they expressed no such dread or questioning. Further, one might expect Paul to instruct and exhort them concerning such a supreme test as the Tribulation, but Paul wrote only about the hope of the Rapture. Seventh, the sequence of events at Christ’s coming following the Tribulation demands a pretribulational Rapture. A comparing and contrasting of Rapture passages with Second Coming passages yields strong indicators that the Rapture could not be posttribulational. For example: (a) at the Rapture, Christ gathers His own (vv. 16–17 of the present passage), but at the Second Coming, angels gather the elect (Matt. 24:31); (b) at the Rapture, resurrection is prominent (vv. 15–16 of the present passage), but regarding the Second Coming, Scripture does not mention the resurrection; (c) at the Rapture, Christ comes to reward believers (v. 17 of the present passage), but at the Second Coming, Christ comes to judge the earth (Matt. 25:31–46); (d) at the Rapture, the Lord snatches away true believers from the earth (vv. 15–17 of the present passage), but at the Second Coming, He takes away unbelievers (Matt. 24:37–41); (e) at the Rapture, unbelievers remain on the earth, whereas at the Second Coming, believers remain on the earth; (f) concerning the Rapture, Scripture does not mention the establishment of Christ’s kingdom, but at His second coming, Christ sets up His kingdom; and (g) at the Rapture, believers will receive glorified bodies, whereas at the Second Coming, no one will receive glorified bodies. Eighth, certain of Jesus’ teachings demand a pretribulational Rapture. For instance, the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:24–30) portrays the reapers (angels) removing the tares (unbelievers) from among the wheat (believers) in order to judge the tares, which demonstrates that at the Second Coming, the Lord has unbelievers removed from among believers. However, at the Rapture, He takes believers from among unbelievers. This is also true in the parable of the dragnet (Matt. 13:47–50) and in the discussion of the days of Noah and the description of the nations’ judgment, both in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24–25). Ninth, Revelation 3:10 teaches that the Lord will remove the church prior to the Tribulation. In the Greek, the phrase “I also will keep you from” can mean nothing other than “I will prevent you from entering into.” Jesus Christ will honor the church by preventing it from entering the hour of testing, namely Daniel’s seventieth week, which is about to come upon the entire world. Only a pretribulational Rapture can explain how this will happen. Thus, the Rapture (being caught up) must be pretribulational, before the wrath of God described in the Tribulation (Rev. 6–19). At the Rapture, living believers will be caught up together with the believers raised from the dead as the church triumphant joins the church militant to become the church glorified. Clouds are often associated in Scripture with divine appearances. When God appeared at Mount Sinai, “The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days” (Ex. 24:16). Clouds marked God’s presence in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34), the temple (1 Kings 8:10), and at Christ’s transfiguration (Matt. 17:5). At His ascension Christ “was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Some argue that the word meet suggests meeting a dignitary, king, or famous person and escorting him back to his city. They then argue that after the meeting described in this passage, believers will return to earth with Christ. But such an analogy is arbitrary and assumes a technical meaning for meet not required by either the word or the context. As noted earlier in this chapter, that explanation also renders the Rapture pointless; why have believers meet Christ in the air and immediately return to earth? Why should they not just meet Him when He gets here? Gleason L. Archer comments, “The most that can be said of such a ‘Rapture’ is that it is a rather secondary sideshow of minimal importance” (Gleason L. Archer, Jr., Paul D. Feinberg, Douglas J. Moo, and Richard Reiter, The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984], 215). As was also noted earlier in this chapter, a posttribulational Rapture contradicts the teaching of Christ in John 14:1–3 that He will return to take believers to heaven, not immediately back to earth. The final step in the plan of the Rapture is the blessed, comforting truth that after Christ returns to gather us (believers) to Himself, we shall always be with the Lord.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2002). 1 & 2 Thessalonians (pp. 133–138). Moody Press.
16, 17. For with a shouted command, with a voice of an archangel and with a trumpet of God, the Lord himself87 will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. By separating these two verses—16 and 17—many readers have failed to see the true meaning. By printing and reading them together we see at once that here are the same two groups of believers whom we met in verse 15. One might present this graphically as follows:
Verse 15 Verses 16, 17 “we, those who remain alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord” “we who are alive, who are left” “those who fell asleep” “the dead in Christ”
It is clear also that both groups—the survivors and the dead (or those fallen asleep)—are believers. Anyone can see at once that the apostle is not drawing a contrast between believers and unbelievers, as if, for example, believers would rise first, and unbelievers a thousand years later. He states: “And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left shall be caught up together with them in clouds …” Both groups ascend to meet the Lord. Both consist of nothing but believers. The various elements in this vivid description of Christ’s descent and the rapture of the saints are as follows:
a. With a shouted command
This is the first of three phrases showing the two circumstances that will attend the Lord’s glorious return. He returns as Conqueror. The shouted command (κέλευσμα, in the New Testament occurring only here, but see Prov. 30:27 in the LXX) is originally the order which an officer shouts to his troops, a hunter to his dogs, a charioteer to his horses, or a ship-master to his rowers. In the present connection it is clearly the command of the Lord, as he leaves heaven, for the dead to arise. Note the context: those who have fallen asleep shall not be at a disadvantage (verse 15), for with a shout … the Lord himself will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise … (verse 16). Just as even here and now the voice of the Son of God is life-giving, causing those who are spiritually dead to be quickened (see N.T.C. on John 5:25), so also when he comes back “all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out” (see N.T.C. on John 5:28). The command, therefore, is definitely his own, proceeding from his lips. It is not a command issued to him, but an order given by him. Leaving heaven in his human nature, he utters his voice, and immediately the souls of the redeemed also leave, and are quickly reunited with their bodies, which, thus restored to life, arise gloriously.
b. With a voice of an archangel and with a trumpet of God
These two phrases, united by the conjunction and, probably belong together, so that the archangel is represented as sounding God’s trumpet. The term archangel or chief angel occurs only here and in Jude 9. In the latter passage Michael is the archangel. On Michael see also Rev. 12:7; then Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1. He is represented as leader of good angels and as defender of God’s people. With respect to the question whether Michael is the only archangel Dr. A. Kuyper expressed himself as follows: “This question cannot be answered, because Scripture says nothing about it. It is possible that Michael is the archangel, that is, the only archangel, but it is also possible that he is one of the archangels (one of the seven angels that stand before God’s throne), as in Daniel 10:13 he is called one of the chief princes, so that Gabriel as well as Michael might be an archangel.” With that opinion we are in hearty agreement. The fact that the article (the) is not used here—so that we have translated “an archangel”—does not definitely decide the matter. It may indicate that he is one of several, but it is also possible that the term archangel was felt to be definite (a proper name, as it were) even without a preceding article. However that may be, one fact at least is well-nigh certain: “a shouted command” and “an archangel’s voice” are two different things. The former proceeds from the Christ, the latter from his archangel. Nevertheless, the two sounds have this in common, that they are the signal for the dead to be raised (1 Cor. 15:52). (Note that also in Josh. 6:5 and Judg. 7:21, 22 the shout and the trumpet-blast go together.) At the sound of the trumpet the surviving believers are changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (again 1 Cor. 15:52). The trumpet-blast, in this connection, is certainly very fitting. In the old dispensation, when God “came down,” as it were, to meet with his people, this meeting was announced by a trumpet-blast (e.g, Ex. 19:16, 17: “and the sound of a trumpet exceeding loud … and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God”; cf. Ex. 19:19). Hence, when the marriage of the Lamb with his bride reaches its culmination (cf. Rev. 19:7), this trumpet-blast is most appropriate. Also, the trumpet was used as a signal of Jehovah’s coming to rescue his people from hostile oppression (Zeph. 1:16; Zech. 9:14). It was the signal for their deliverance. So also this final trumpet-blast, the signal for the dead to arise, for the living to be changed, and for all the elect to be gathered from the four winds (Matt. 24:31) to meet the Lord, may well be interpreted as being also the fulfilment of the trumpet-ordinance found in Lev. 25, and, accordingly, as proclaiming liberty throughout the universe for all the children of God, their everlasting jubilee! From all this it becomes abundantly clear that the Lord’s coming will be open, public, not only visible but also audible. There are, indeed, interpreters, who, in view of the fact that the Bible at times employs figurative language, take the position that we can know nothing about these eschatological events. To them these precious paragraphs in which the Holy Spirit reveals the future convey no meaning at all. But this is absurd. Scripture was written to be understood, and when it tells us that the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel and a trumpet of God, it certainly must mean at least this: that in addition to the shouted command of our Lord (which might be compared with John 11:43; see N.T.C. on that passage), a reverberating sound will actually pervade the universe.92 What forces of nature will be employed to produce this sound has not been revealed. One fact has now become evident: for believers this sound will be full of cheer. This is God’s trumpet! It is his signal, for the archangel is his angel. It is sounded to proclaim his deliverance for his people. Cf. Rev. 15:2 (“harps of God”). It announces the coming of his Son (as “Lord of lords and King of kings,” Rev. 19:16) for the deliverance of his people!
c. The Lord himself (or he, the Lord) will descend from heaven
This descent is visible (Rev. 1:7), audible (as has just been shown), majestic (see on 2 Thess. 1:7), unto judgment and deliverance (Matt. 25:31–46). If the words, “He shall so come in like manner as you beheld him going into heaven” may be interpreted somewhat broadly, it would seem that the actual descent (as distinguished now from the suddenness and unexpectedness of Christ’s appearance, and from the suddenness and finality that characterizes the entire return) will be characterized by a kind of majestic leisureliness. Note the description of the ascension in Acts 1:9, 10. At any rate, it will not be an instantaneous change of location from heaven to earth. There will be time (Rev. 10:6, correctly interpreted, is not in conflict with this) for the souls of those who had fallen asleep to leave their heavenly abodes, to be reunited with their bodies, and then in these gloriously raised bodies to ascend to meet the Lord in the air!
d. And the dead in Christ will rise first
See what has been said about this in the preceding. The meaning here is very clearly that those who departed from this life in Christ, and are here viewed as having remained in Christ, shall not be at a disadvantage. They will rise before the believers who survive on earth will ascend to meet the Lord. The survivors will have to wait a moment, as it were.
e. Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air
In addition to what has already been said, note the following: the fact that Paul says we does not necessarily mean that he expected to be among those who would still be living at Christ’s return. He says we because right now he, Silas, Timothy, the readers, are among those believers still living on earth. He immediately modifies this by interpreting it to mean: “those who are left (when the Lord comes),” in order to indicate that only God knows who they may be. Paul knows that the second coming will not take place immediately (see on 2 Thess. 2:2); and while he was in Thessalonica, this element in his teaching regarding the last things was not neglected (2 Thess. 2:5). Moreover, the saying of Jesus recorded in Matt. 24:36 was certainly not unknown to Paul (see also on 1 Thess. 5:1). Of course, it is also true that Paul never taught that the Lord would definitely not come during this apostle’s life-time. He probably hoped that he might live to see it. He wanted everyone to conduct himself in such a manner as to be always ready. But he does not set any date. Note: we, together with them. There is complete impartiality: survivors have no advantage. The predicate is shall be caught up (cf. for the verb also Acts 8:39—Philip the evangelist was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord; 2 Cor. 12:2–4—a man in Christ was caught up to the third heaven; and Rev. 12:5—the Christ-child is caught up, snatched away, from the power of the dragon). The suddenness, the swiftness, and the divine character of the power which is operative in this being snatched up are here emphasized. The survivors have been changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). The heavens and the earth, in their present form, are put to flight (Rev. 20:11; cf. 6:14). Now while figurative language abounds in this vivid description, one fact remains: the dramatic suddenness and swiftness of the series of events is stressed. Once the Lord appears upon the clouds of heaven and begins to descend, there will be no opportunity for conversion. His coming is absolutely decisive. He comes not to convert but to judge. See also on 2 Thess. 2:8; cf. Matt. 25:31 ff; 2 Cor. 6:2; and 2 Peter 3:9. Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation. The raised and the changed are caught up together in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Although these clouds may well be taken literally, nevertheless, they also have a symbolical meaning. They are associated with the coming of the Lord in majesty, for the punishment of the enemies of his saints, hence for the salvation of his people (cf. Dan. 7:13; then Matt. 26:64; finally, Ex. 19:16, 20; Ps. 97:2; Nah. 1:3). According to M.M. (p. 53) the expression to meet (εἰς ἀπάντησιν) was used in connection with an official welcome accorded to a newly arrived dignitary. No doubt the welcoming idea is also included in the expression as used here in 1 Thess. 4:17. That all believers, the raised as well as (and together with) the changed, shall ascend to meet the Lord in the air is clearly taught here. Whether such passages as Job 19:25; Acts 1:11 actually teach that the judgment is going to take place on earth is debatable. At any rate, nothing with respect to this is taught in the present passage. However, the main thrust of 1 Thess. 4:17 is not that we shall meet the Lord in the air, but that all believers together shall meet the Lord, never to be separated from him:
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of I-II Thessalonians (Vol. 3, pp. 115–119). Baker Book House.
“The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.” —James Madison (1788)
Release full SNAP giveaways, says judge: On Thursday, U.S. District Judge John McConnell rejected the Trump administration’s plan to provide partial Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments for November in response to the continued Democrat shutdown. McConnell said the administration was violating his previous order and directed it to fully distribute SNAP payments by depleting the roughly $5 billion in the SNAP contingency fund. The administration noted that covering SNAP costs through November would cost upwards of $9 billion. McConnell pointed to a $23 billion USDA fund for the school lunch program and suggested it could be tapped into to fully fund SNAP. Vice President JD Vance called the ruling “absurd,” noting, “You have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the middle of a Democrat government shutdown.”
FAA cuts back flights at 40 major airports due to Schumer Shutdown: Airplanes remain the safest way to travel. Amid the Democrats’ government shutdown, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is making cuts to scheduled flights to maintain that safety. Today, air traffic controllers will miss their second paycheck since the shutdown began, and absences have skyrocketed. Few Americans can afford to work for 37 days without a paycheck, as Democrats have forced air traffic controllers to do. Roughly 5% of flights will be canceled today at some of America’s busiest airports, rising to 10% by next week unless Democrats relent and pass the clean continuing resolution to fund the government. Dulles International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, O’Hare International, and Los Angeles International are among the 40 major airports facing flight cuts. FlightAware, a flight disruption tracking website, reported that 601 flights were canceled for today.
Arctic Frost, continued: Trump’s phone grabbed by Smith: Jack Smith, the politically motivated and unconstitutionally appointed DOJ special counsel in the “Get Trump” Arctic Frost investigation, was given Donald Trump’s government-issued phone by the Biden administration, which AG Pam Bondi calls an “UNPRECEDENTED action.” Bondi added in a post on X, “Special Counsel subpoenaed all of President Trump’s PERSONAL phone records.” These actions were irregular and obviously intended to hamstring the then-former president’s future political prospects. We’ve previously written about the investigation’s spying on eight Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham. Graham’s involvement runs deeper, though, according to Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona, who says he brought evidence of Smith’s wrongdoing to Graham in 2019. Renzi suggests that since many of Graham’s staffers were on loan from the DOJ and worked with Smith, “he was nothing more than their pawn.”
Second Circuit breathes life into Trump’s effort to void NY conviction: Yesterday, President Trump got a big win in his effort to get his dubious 34-count conviction in New York for falsifying records regarding a payment to an adult actress thrown out. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Trump’s favor regarding his request to have the case moved from state court to federal court. Trump made this request in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding presidential immunity standards. The Second Circuit’s ruling means that a lower district court must revisit the question of whether it was improper for this case to have been tried in a state court rather than a federal court. This ruling does not guarantee that the district court will rule in Trump’s favor, but it certainly increases the likelihood of that.
Supreme Court allows Trump admin to acknowledge male/female binary: Somehow, as 2025 draws to a close, the fact of the two human sexes, male and female, remains a litigated issue. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has correctly rejected arguments that requiring trans-identifying individuals to register by their biological sex on passports would represent a “concrete injury,” as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have it. For all of human and American history, identification — official or otherwise — categorized humans as male or female. In 2022, based on no evidence but ideology, the Biden administration created an “X” option on passports, representing “unspecified or another gender identity.” The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision this week freezes a lower court order that halted the Trump administration’s efforts to remove the “X” option, suggesting that the administration will ultimately prevail when SCOTUS delivers a final opinion.
Looks like they like Elon Musk again: It appears that the Left’s war against Tesla, because Elon Musk was temporarily head of Donald Trump’s DOGE and overseeing cuts to bloated government agencies, is over and has been completely memory-holed. Tesla shareholders voted to give company CEO Musk a record-setting $1 trillion payment package over a decade. The vote wasn’t even close, with over 75% of shareholders approving the deal. It will increase Musk’s stock in Tesla from his current 15% to as much as 25% should he hit a number of benchmarks, including expanding the company’s market capitalization, which currently sits at $1.5 trillion, to $8.5 trillion over the next decade. Musk responded, stating, “What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla but a whole new book.” He added, “I guess what I’m saying is hang onto your Tesla stock.”
Trump cuts deal to lower “fat drug” prices: “This is a great day for American health and healthcare and for all the American patients,” said President Trump yesterday from the Oval Office as he announced a new cost-savings deal his administration has garnered with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. The drugs in focus are those used to treat obesity that have quickly become popular and are having a positive health impact on America’s growing diabetes problem. Under this agreement, Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Nordisk’s Wegovy will cost as little as $149 per month. Furthermore, Medicaid and Medicare will also help cover these drug costs, with Medicare patients having a copay of no more than $50. This could go a long way toward helping Americans cut overall healthcare costs if it leads to fewer health issues.
State Dept. yanks over 80K visas this year: The State Department, which has vast authority over visa approval and revocation, has revoked 80,000 visas this year, more than twice the number of removals in 2024. Most of the removals were related to criminal offenses, with approximately 16,000 for driving under the influence, 12,000 for assault, and 8,000 for theft. One of the first executive orders signed by President Trump in his second term instructed the State Department to ensure that visa holders “do not bear hostile attitudes toward” the United States or its people, prompting closer examination of applicants’ social media. The State Department has exercised its authority to revoke a visa for “supporting terrorism” to a greater extent than in the past, leading to several of the 8,000 student visa revocations. Visitors to the U.S. should be mindful that visas are a privilege, not a right.
Kazakhstan joins Abraham Accords: In a move that will benefit both countries and refute the Leftmedia’s claims that Israel is “diplomatically isolated,” Kazakhstan has become the sixth country to join the Abraham Accords. The 2020 agreement has not seen any additions since President Trump’s first term, but Thursday’s news could set the stage for more countries to join. “The Abraham Accords is a club that many countries want to be a member of, and it will be a step for turning the page on the war in Gaza and moving forward towards more peace and cooperation in the region,” a U.S. official stated. Saudi Arabia has been rumored to be another potential addition to the Abraham Accords. Israel and Saudi Arabia are moving closer to establishing direct talks aimed at normalization, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Washington in two weeks.
Jihadi threats ruin German Christmas markets: The jihadis’ plans to terrorize people are continuing to succeed in Germany. The word “Islam” means submission, and Germany is doing just that. Several towns across Germany have been “forced” to cancel their traditional Christmas markets because they can’t afford the security that would be required to keep them safe from the jihadists. Three mass attacks have occurred at Christmas markets in recent years: Berlin in 2016 with 12 dead and 56 injured, Solingen in 2023 with three killed and eight injured, and Magdeburg in 2024 with six dead and 323 injured. Seems they may want to stop importing millions of Muslims and start enforcing stricter laws on those who commit these heinous crimes instead of canceling customs that have been part of the German culture for generations. There’s a reason Europeans fought for a thousand years to keep Islamists out of their countries.
Headlines
Top Democrat backs U.S. intel on narco-trafficking strikes (Fox News)
Heritage Foundation rocked as antisemitism task force quits think tank (Newsmax)
DC sandwich slinger found not guilty of assaulting feds (Not the Bee)
Appeals court upholds Texas drag show ban law (Just the News)
Moody Bible Institute sues Chicago Board of Education for barring Christian students (Not the Bee)
Russia drawing up plans to conduct nuclear tests after Trump announcement (Fox News)
Trump deploying military to Damascus airbase in major Syria shift (Newsweek)
Humor: Nancy Pelosi prepares for sad future of outsider trading (Babylon Bee)
Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday that she is retiring from the U.S. House after “serving” there since 1987, including leading Democrats for 20 years and two separate stints as the chamber’s first female speaker. Our Emmy Griffiin summed up the key point: “She will be leaving Congress a worse place than she found it.”
Conservative podcaster Stephen L. Miller said what many Americans are thinking: “Pelosi isn’t retiring. She’s just cashing out.”
When Pelosi entered Congress at the spry young age of 47, she was worth a mere $3 million. Not exactly middle class. Now age 85, she and her husband, Paul, have accumulated a fortune estimated to be between $250 and $335 million. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing related to insider trading, but the timing and results of her trades — consistently outperforming the market and the best investors — leave open two possibilities: She had either inside information or the insane “luck” that’ll get you kicked out of the casino.
She has always opposed banning stock trading for members of Congress, though Republican Senator Josh Hawley sponsored a bill dubbed the PELOSI Act to do just that. He changed the trolling name to get a few Democrats on board, but it’s still just sitting on a desk somewhere.
Naturally, Pelosi offered a grand assessment of her career: “There has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say, ‘I speak for the people of San Francisco.’ I have truly loved serving as your voice in Congress, and I’ve always honored the soul of Saint Francisco — ‘Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.’ The anthem of our city.”
She has been anything but an instrument of peace.
Barack Obama also hailed her heroism. “For almost four decades, Nancy Pelosi has served the American people and worked to make our country better,” he posted. “No one was more skilled at bringing people together and getting legislation passed — and I will always be grateful for her support of the Affordable Care Act. She made us proud to be Democrats, and will go down in history as one of the best speakers the House of Representatives has ever had.”
Pelosi absolutely was skilled. Her whip-cracking was infamous for getting Democrats goose-stepping toward whatever legislation they deemed was necessary to “save” America at the time. She kept Democrats unified while Republicans are more akin to a herd of cats.
As Obama alluded, the obvious example of her iron fist is the grossly misnamed Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare. She infamously insisted, “We have to pass the bill so that you can, uh, find out what is in it.” Fifteen years later, we know it has been a disaster that greatly inflated the cost of healthcare.
When that unconstitutional monstrosity passed in 2010, Democrats had a huge majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate. Obama said Pelosi brought people together, but he meant Democrats. No Republicans voted for ObamaCare. No Republicans voted to expand generous premium subsidies in 2021 or 2022, and the Democrats’ demand for making those lavish subsidies permanent is why the government has been shut down for a record 37 days now.
Passing ObamaCare cost Democrats one of the worst election defeats in history, as Republicans gained 63 seats in the 2010 midterms. But the nation will likely forever be saddled with a vast new entitlement.
The same party division was on display when Democrats forced through the inflation-igniting American Rescue Plan in 2021 and the deceptively branded Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In fact, Pelosi bears a lot of the blame for the near-total lack of bipartisan legislation in today’s Congress.
Backing up a bit, Pelosi’s infamy grew during Donald Trump’s first presidential term. She led the Democrats’ two successful House impeachment efforts against him, only to see both crash and burn in the Senate. She falsely claimed there was “cold, hard evidence” that Trump’s campaign and family were “eagerly intending to collude possibly with Russia.” She angrily ripped up his State of the Union Address in 2020 as he was saying, “God bless America.”
She repeatedly lied about her role in failing to secure the Capitol with the requested National Guard presence before January 6. “Donald Trump delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake,” she posted in August while objecting to his use of the Guard to fight crime in Democrat-run DC. The truth is that Pelosi caused the delay, as former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund asserted.
Asked by a reporter about that pesky fact recently, Pelosi snapped, “Shut up. I did not refuse the National Guard; the president didn’t send it.” The linked video shows her admitting her failure on January 6 itself.
Just days ago, she dubbed Trump “a vile creature” and “the worst thing on the face of the earth.”
There’s certainly no love lost between the two. Trump responded, “The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America. She was evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country.”
I could say so much more, including noting that Pelosi’s dogged devotion to abortion without restrictions of any kind put her at odds with the Catholic Church and the faith she claimed informed her decisions. But I’ll simply conclude with a warning: As bad as Pelosi was, and as much horrible, nation-altering left-wing legislation as she rammed through Congress, the Democrat Party is going in an even more radical direction now than it was under her leadership. I doubt Republicans will ever long for the days of her speakership, but that doesn’t mean things are getting better among Democrats.
Douglas Andrews: The Good News About 2026 — The GOP got drubbed this week in all the predictable places, but there are good reasons for optimism between now and next November’s midterms.
Thomas Gallatin: The ‘Democratic Socialist’ Harbinger — With Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory in New York City and polling of national Democrats, the socialist threat to America’s future is significant.
Emmy Griffin: What Is Good Journalism? — There need to be standards for integrity and courage in journalism. Tucker Carlson seems to have misplaced both of them.
Brian Mark Weber: Workers Think Dems Are ‘Weak’ and ‘Woke’ — Socialism and identity politics may be appealing to half of New York City voters, but that’s not enough to save the party nationwide.
Gary Bauer: Election Fallout — Wherever the Left has control, they force on us bizarre, radical policies that hurt your children and grandchildren.
Ron Helle: 250 Years — Reflections — It is fitting that as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps, our leaders once again hold our nation’s “Force in Readiness” in the high regard it is due.
The Message Republicans Need to Hear if They Want to Win in 2026 — Emily Jashinsky and Victor Davis Hanson discuss how Republicans must stop with the distractions, focus relentlessly on economic messaging, and clearly communicate Trump’s economic strengths.
Ketanji Brown Jackson Face-Plants — KBJ shocks everyone with her confused, fact-free performance during the hearing over President Trump’s tariff authority.
This Is What You Get for Standing Up for Women — Pro soccer player Elizabeth Eddy wrote an op-ed calling for keeping men out of women’s soccer. Her teammates promptly responded by calling her transphobic and racist.
The Forgotten Christian Genocide — What makes Islam entirely different from Christianity? What is the role of powerful Western nations like the U.S. in taking action to defend persecuted Christians abroad?
SHORT CUTS
Friendly Fire
“The people who love [Zohran] Mamdani the most are not people who pay bills every day. … You don’t see business owners clamoring to support him.” —radio host Stephen A. Smith
“Are you really going to be able to freeze rent, or are you going to end up hiking it because you don’t have enough people here to pay it?” —Stephen A. Smith
“We’re allowing the most extreme, pugilistic elements of our party to call the shots.” —Democrat Rep. Jared Golden, announcing that he won’t seek reelection
Bizarro World
“This election proved again that democracy works and voters know how to course correct. People are frustrated with rising costs and they’ve had it with mean politics. They want leaders who solve real problems like affordability and bringing the country back toward the middle.” —former Ohio Gov. John Kasich
You’ve Been Warned
“A Democrat is going to be elected in 2028. … There’s going to be a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate. The Democratic president is going to announce a special transition advisory committee on the reform of the Supreme Court. … They’re going to do some blue-ribbon panel of distinguished jurists, and they are going to recommend 13 [justices]. And a Democratic Senate and House are going to pass it, and the Democratic president is going to sign it. … I would bet a lot of money that that’s what’s going to happen. A lot!” —Democrat strategist James Carville
Political Futures
“Democrats spread their efforts widely, and their campaigns know how to mobilize voters across every level of the ballot. Republicans, by contrast, have relied on enthusiasm rather than structure. Enthusiasm wins rallies, not elections. … Low turnout doesn’t just happen. It’s a symptom of voters feeling uninspired, disconnected, and unconvinced that their vote will make a difference. That’s where Democrats have outperformed Republicans.” —Gregory Lyakhov
“If there’s a big swath of Trump voters who will never show up to vote unless Trump himself is on the ballot, Republicans need to stop catering to those voters and come up with plans to appeal to the voters who do show up on a regular basis. Trump is an amazing get-out-the-vote force, but only for himself. The loyalty to him doesn’t transfer to other Republicans.” —Jim Geraghty
For the Record
“As you read the various propaganda media stories about people suffering from the government shutdown, remember Democratic Leader Schumer thinks ‘every day gets better us.’ Meanwhile, every day gets worse for struggling Americans and federal employees.” —former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
“Know that the country’s left, today represented by the Democratic Party, hate the idea of personal responsibility, which is the cornerstone of personal freedom.” —Star Parker
The Bottom Line
“Both sides are guilty. The Left excuses its extremists as ‘activists.’ The Right excuses its own as ‘patriots.’ Each side’s moral blind spot validates the other’s madness. But when society measures justice by team loyalty, it ceases to be a society at all.” —Armstrong Williams
Was He Right?
“Mamdani will spark a 1990s-style crime wave in NYC, and many more New Yorkers will die.” —the late Charlie Kirk on September 8
ON THIS DAY in 1874, Thomas Nast published a cartoon depicting the Republican Party as an elephant, and it stuck. It’s certainly better than the Democrat Party’s jackass.
The trans tsunami has caused untold damage, especially to women and children. Like the homosexual behemoth before it, the trans mafia has everything going for it: the full backing of the media, our schools, popular culture, most politicians and leaders, and the commentariat.
With such an onslaught it is hard to resist. But there are some rays of hope to be found here and there. Let me speak to three of them. Just this morning I woke up to this good news headline: “Supreme Court hands Trump victory on transgender passport policy change”. The story begins this way:
The Supreme Court cleared the way for the State Department to require people to state their biological sex on new or renewed passports, a victory for the Trump administration as it aims to tighten policies involving transgender people. The high court found in a 6-3 order temporarily greenlighting the policy that a lower court in Massachusetts had erred in blocking it.
Finally, a bit of sanity and common sense. Well done Trump and SCOTUS. We need many more victories like this. And, secondly, perhaps the tide is beginning to turn. As I mentioned in an earlier article:
A report from the Centre for Heterodox Social Science in the US has found that there are far fewer young people now identifying as trans or homosexual over the past few years. As one media discussion states:
“The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which conducts a large annual survey of US undergraduates, polled over 60,000 students in 2025. My analysis of the raw data shows that in that year, just 3.6% of respondents identified as a gender other than male or female. By comparison, the figure was 5.2% in 2024 and 6.8% in both 2022 and 2023. In other words, the share of trans-identified students has effectively halved in just two years.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2025/10/24/on-the-trans-frontlines/
That is another welcome inductor that the fightback might be doing some good. And thirdly, a brand-new book that is out on this matter is a must read. It is all the more important because it is penned by a leftist. I refer to Anita Bartholomew’s Sacrificial Lambs: A Liberal Reporter Exposes How the Progressive Left Harms Children in the Name of Gender Ideology (Pitchstone Publishing, 2025).
She is indeed a liberal, and for a long time she played the trans game, thinking it was the nice thing and the right thing to do to just go along with the whole agenda. But she began to realise there was nothing nice or right about this. Allowing people to live in their world of delusion – and affirming it – is not helpful, but harmful.
Sacrificial Lambs: A Liberal Reporter Exposes How the Progressive Left Harms Children in the Name of Gender Ideology by Bartholomew, Anita (Author)
Just a few quotes from the book’s Introduction will give you enough of a feel for where she is coming from and why this volume is so very important. She starts by saying this:
Until recent years, I had mostly used gender-confused people’s “preferred pronouns.” It seemed rude not to. Living in the uber-progressive Pacific Northwest, I’d met a number of people who considered themselves trans. They didn’t seem to be bothering anyone else…. I thought I was being kind. I can pinpoint the moment when I first recognized there was something not quite right about all this. (p. 7)
She discusses that event and then writes:
This was a grown man. He knew he was a man. I knew he was a man. And he was wearing the most elaborately feminine outfit of any guest in the room. Though I realised I’d behaved in an odd, preprogrammed way, my negative feelings had to do with my own play-acting, not with his. It didn’t dawn on me until much later that my behavior was much like that of all the other liberals I knew, and reflected the messages society was getting from virtually all our major institutions. (p. 8)
Schools have a lot to answer for all this:
While looking into the racially charged lessons taught in left-leaning school districts, I discovered that teachers, prompted by materials from queer theory-inspired sexuality education organizations such as SIECUS, Advocates for Youth, Planned Parenthood, and others, were telling kids that doctors had only guessed what sex the kids were at birth. Their body parts didn’t actually determine whether they were boys or girls, though. They might be either. Or both. Or neither. From the time children in the most progressive school districts walk through the front door, they were bombarded with messages saying that they could ditch their sex and choose another.
This was next-level nuts indoctrination. And they got worse as they got older. By fourth or fifth grade, sexuality educators would be teaching them that they could avoid going through the “wrong puberty” by taking powerful drugs that block puberty’s onset – and also blocked the skeletal and brain development that occurs during puberty, potentially permanently….
How was all this affecting children? I realized that I had already the beginnings of an answer when I thought of all my friends and colleagues whose kids had announced, without prior warning, that they were no longer their actual sex…. (p. 9)
She offers us this inconvenient truth:
No one has ever been able to accurately predict which children with the formerly rare gender identity disorder that begins in very early childhood will persist in their desire to be the opposite sex. Depending on the study, it might be anywhere from 10 to about 20 percent, but our recent analysis suggests it’s likely much closer to the lower end of the spectrum. That means that, from the outset, medically transitioning children was always fated to do great harm. There was always fated to mutilate the healthy bodies of children who would have otherwise grown up to accept their bodies… (p. 11)
And it is not just children who are being impacted:
When I began my investigation, I was most concerned about the countless children being induced to imagine they might be trapped in the wrong bodies. I believed at first that adults were in a different category. To get shocked out of my assumptions required connecting with a great many young adults who had fallen for the false claim that they could change sex, some who have since detransitioned and some who still call themselves trans. Several detransitioners were gung ho on living the transgender life, right up to the epiphanic moment that they recognised it had all been a lie. It often emotionally devastated them – a devastation almost as profound as what they had agreed to have done to their bodies. (p. 17)
She says this about what can be found in the book:
Sacrificial Lambs is based on rock-solid evidence, thoroughly documented, showing that every argument you might have heard in favor of embracing gender ideology is false. Even if you’re still a believer now, by the last page, after you’ve seen the breadth and depth of how gender ideology harms, not just our young, but all of society – you included – you should be ready to detox. This book is meant to help you do that.
We can’t protect kids until we adults cure ourselves of any illusions that this is just another passing fad, a fringe movement that affects very few and will dissipate on its own. Gender ideology has a committed, well-funded, multi-faction army promoting and defending it. It’s going to take the equivalent on the other side to stand up against it.
It seeped into our society because we didn’t take its threat seriously. It seemed to require only this from us: that we be kind.
We couldn’t have imagined that doctors would eagerly prescribe experimental drugs to mentally ill kids who fell for the make-believe, calling those chemicals “medically necessary” and “life-saving.” We never expected our most trusted news sources to lie to us about what was happening. We couldn’t guess that so many youngsters who “transitioned” would later look at their broken bodies and mourn.
We couldn’t have predicted any of this. We didn’t know. But now, we do. At least, some of us do. So, now it’s time to be part of the solution – and reverse course. (pp. 19-20)
I hope to write more about this vitally important volume in the days ahead. But I strongly encourage you to get a copy and read it for yourself. Then, get a second copy, and give to someone who needs to read it.
Photo by Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Annual Summit
Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s wealth grew by at least 2,292%, largely through stock trading, during her 37 years in Congress.
The former House speaker, who announced Thursday that she will retire from Congress in 2027, had a $2,675,036 minimum net worth in the year she began serving and a $63,996,050 minimum net worth in 2024, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of assets and liabilities listed in her congressional financialdisclosures. An analysis by Quiver Quantitative estimates her current net worth more precisely at $278,760,000 million.
Pelosi’s maximum net worth in 2024 was an estimated $311,443,000, her filings show. Lawmakers did not report maximum dollar amounts in 1987, the year Pelosi served her first term.
Israel launched its largest attack on Hezbollah’s infrastructure in Southern Lebanon. It happened Thursday, and it’s the largest since the 2024 ceasefire. U.S. airlines in more than 40 of the country’s biggest airports cancelled hundreds of flights due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s order to reduce traffic because of the Government shutdown. To Kentucky and the site of a deadly plane crash that killed at least 13 people. A candlelight vigil was held last night in Louisville to remember the victims and thank first responders. The youth organization, Dare to Share, is calling on young people to rise and share their faith to bring hope to their generation. Thousands of college students made decisions to give their lives to Christ in Cincinnati, Ohio this week. The weekend is here and it’s time for some family fun at the theaters. One film is “Sarah’s Oil”. It tells the true-life story of Sarah Rector known as the youngest black millionaire. The movie “Unexpected Christmas” hit theaters today. The comedy-drama follows a family who comes together for a Christmas reunion. Things seem to go well until chaos ensues.
The American Dream isn’t cheap. Owning a home, raising a family, and retiring comfortably now total over $5 million across a lifetime for a household.
This milestone has grown increasingly out of reach as the median age of a U.S. homebuyer has risen to 56, up from 31 in 1981. Meanwhile, U.S. fertility rates have hit record lows amid rising unaffordability.
ℹ️ The full methodology that shows how Investopedia calculated each of these costs can be found here.
The American Dream Costs $5 Million Over a Lifetime
Below, we show the lifetime cost for a household of each key markers of the American Dream:
Retirement is set to cost $1.6 million, the biggest expense overall.
This was calculated by taking $63,609 in average U.S. retirement spending per year, while factoring a 2.5% rate of inflation over 20 years. Today, 86% of Americans say its their dream to retire comfortably.
Home ownership has an average lifetime cost of $957,594. To calculate these costs, Investopedia applied the median U.S. home price of roughly $415,000 with a 20% down payment. Then, payments for a 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.69% were calculated, excluding maintenance and Homeowners Association fees.
As we can see, car ownership also comes at a large cost—estimated at $900,346. However, it’s worth noting that this applies to a household buying two new cars every 10 years. While this includes insurance costs, maintenance, and monthly payments, it does not factor in the proceeds from selling your car.
Meanwhile, raising two children will total $876,092 (including a four-year degree at a public college). If your dream is to have a wedding, the average cost now stands at $38,200, including the ring, ceremony, and reception.
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on America’s home buyers by generation.
We can draw a few conclusions from an off-year election, when iconic races in blue states went, as expected, overwhelmingly Democratic.
Nevertheless, there is only a year left before the midterms. So Republicans must react to even these paltry results.
1) Democrats’ chaotic nihilism still works. The chaos strategy causes so much turmoil, noise, and negative media coverage that the confused voting public simply cannot sort it all out. The public wishes the upheaval would just go away and often blames those with the most current authority — logically, the incumbent Trump and his administration.
2) Every day of Trump’s first year, there were either campus eruptions, Tesla firebombings, street violence against ICE, or crazy district judges’ injunctions.
The latest firecracker was thrown by a now Biden-like, faltering Nancy Pelosi, who recently screamed on CNN that President Donald Trump “is just a vile creature, the worst thing on the face of the Earth.”
The public has no time to sort out all the actual causes for such mad hattery. It knows only from Democrats that the commotion is roughly correlated with “Trump.”
Note that there is never a positive Democratic “Contract with America,” since it is impossible to advance anything popular or moderate past its now firmly socialist base.
3) Democrats also use the chaos strategy to target key electoral groups.
In this week’s election, Republicans finally grasped the purpose of the pre-election shutdown.
It was designed to galvanize key constituencies to get out the vote in a low-turnout year. The lockdown was especially aimed at two groups: laid-off and unpaid government workers and entitlement recipients terrified that their checks would dry up.
Both turned out disproportionately in Virginia and New Jersey.
The same strategy applies to the Hispanic vote that had defected in large numbers to Trump in 2024. However, this week, in many counties, the Hispanic vote shifted back toward the Democratic Party.
The truth does not get out enough that 70-80 percent of deportations are targeted at those with either criminal records or prior deportation orders.
Instead, the nonstop violent protests, the dangerous nullification threats from blue-city officials, and the slanted media coverage worked like proverbial propaganda to reduce ICE to “the Gestapo.”
Too many of the public believed that “Nazis” were hounding only law-abiding housekeepers and landscapers, who have been here for decades and only by accident forgot to make their de facto Americanness official.
Or so the successful Big Lie went — and went unchallenged.
The administration and MAGA do not talk enough about positive news of GDP growth, tolerable inflation, massive foreign investment, a calmer Middle East, or numerous miraculous ceasefires around the globe.
Instead, when there is a vacuum in self-praise, it is more easily replaced by the sensationalism of Trump’s “revenge tour” in hounding the boy scout James Comey and poor Letitia James, of taking a wrecking ball to the revered White House, or of insulting for no reason our blameless, “nice,” and gentle Canadian neighbors. The economy, not culs-de-sac, wins elections.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 29: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) holds a news conference with fellow Senate Democrats to highlight the dangers of SNAP and WIC benefits ending during the federal government shutdown in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room at the U.S. Capitol on October 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
4) Much of the Trump agenda, other than spectacular military recruitment and a secure border, is more long-term than instantly gratifying.
The multi trillion-dollar foreign investments may take a year or two to create jobs and spark the economy.
The deportations will take time to switch more jobs to U.S. citizens.
New gas, oil, and nuclear energy production, trimming the federal workforce, deregulating, and greenlighting AI and other new technologies will not be felt immediately.
After the summer 1984 convention, even Ronald Reagan trailed the anemic Walter Mondale in a few polls. Then the first three quarters of GDP — cumulatively over 7% growth — were digested, as the economy took off and buried Mondale by the November elections.
5) There is no longer a Democratic Party. It is now an unapologetically neo-socialist Jacobin movement. So traditional negative advertising designed to incur scandal and shame simply does not always work. All that matters is the hard-leftist fides of a candidate — period!
Threaten a political opponent with assassination? Brag about killing his kids?
Promise to arrest a foreign head of state when he visits your city?
Boast about grabbing the “means of production.”
So what?
To the new left, this is just proof that their new candidates and voters “mean business.” They cannot be shamed — not even by mocking Charlie Kirk’s wound or hoping Trump is not so lucky a third time.
There is plenty of time for Republicans to digest these results, especially the strategy and dangerous nature of the new left, along with the mercurial moods of the swing voters — and the need to stick to the economy.
But the clock is ticking.
Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness. He is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,” from Basic Books.
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