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
The Lord Jesus has taught us to pray, not only with, but for others; and the apostle has appointed us to make supplication for all the saints, Ephesians 6:18(ESV) and many of his prayers in his epistles are for his friends. And we must not think that when we are in this part of prayer, we may let fall our fervency and be more indifferent because we ourselves are not immediately concerned in it; but rather, let a holy fire of love, both to God and man, here make our devotion yet more warm and lively.
We must pray for the whole world of mankind, the lost world; and thus, we must honor everyone, 1 Peter 2:17(ESV) and, according to our capacity, do good to everyone. Galatians 6:10(ESV)
I pray, as I am taught, for all people, believing that this is good and pleasing in the sight of God my Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and of Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 2:3-4(ESV) who gave himself as a ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2:6(ESV)
O let your way be known on earth, Psalm 67:2(ESV) that barbarous nations may be civilized, and those who live without God in the world may be brought to the service of the living God; Ephesians 2:12(ESV) and thus, let your saving power be known among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; yes, let all the peoples praise you: O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Psalm 67:2-4(ESV)
O let your salvation and your righteousness be revealed in the sight of the nations, and let all the ends of the earth see the salvation of God. Psalm 98:2-3(ESV)
O make the nations your Son’s heritage, and the ends of the earth his possession; Psalm 2:8(ESV) for you have said, “It is too light a thing for him to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel”; but you will make him as a light for the nations. Isaiah 49:6(ESV)
Let all the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. Revelation 11:15(ESV)
I would imagine that most if not all of those reading this article have read or at least heard of the book The Pilgrim’s Progress, the allegorical story about a man named Christian and his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Spurgeon once said this about its author, John Bunyan:
“Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress…without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God.”[1]
When we study Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1, we could say the exact same thing about Mary: her blood was Bibline. Though we do not hear about this passage talked about very often from the pulpit at Christmas time, my own personal study of it last Christmas revealed to me just how rich a passage it is. Allow me to show you why.
We find Mary’s Magnificat in verses 46-55 of the 80 verse, first chapter of Luke’s gospel. We call it the Magnificat because it is the first word of the Latin translation of the text. Luke begins with the announcements of the coming births of John the Baptist and Jesus, both of which happen through miraculous means. In verses 5-25, John the Baptist is promised by an angelic messenger to Zacharias and Elizabeth, a couple barren and advanced in years. Elizabeth’s ability to conceive at this point would have been by human means impossible. But with God, all things are possible, and she conceives in her old age.
Next, Luke tells us of the promised birth of Jesus in an equally impossible situation – through the womb of a virgin, the cousin of Zacharias and Elizabeth, whose name is Mary (v. 26-38). This is where we first meet the mother of our Lord in this gospel. What can we learn about Mary from this text?
Her name is the Greek version of the Hebrew Miriam, which means “exalted one.” This is extremely fitting as we will shall see.
She lived in a town called Nazareth, located about 70 miles north of Jerusalem in the region of Galilee (v. 26). Galilee tended to be a more Gentile area, but Luke 4:16 tells us that Nazareth had a Jewish synagogue that Mary and her family likely attended. The town itself was small, insignificant, had a low reputation, and was viewed with disdain (Jn. 1:45-46).
Mary is a virgin (v. 27). Therefore, Jesus could not have been conceived through human means.
She is engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendent of the line of David (v. 27). In those times, there was a one-year period between the betrothal and the wedding ceremony, but the couple was still considered married. That is what Mary and Joseph were in the midst of now. Mary was still at home and Joseph would have been preparing a home for her. When we picture Mary, we probably think of a girl who is a young adult age, as is normal today. But back then, girls got engaged much younger. More likely, Mary was actually twelve or thirteen, just a young teenager.
And yet, despite her humble, unlikely circumstances, John MacArthur makes this comment, “Out of all the women He could have chosen – queens, princesses, sisters or daughters of the wealthy and influential – He chose an unknown, unassuming young woman named Mary from an obscure village called Nazareth.”[2] Mary receives the announcement from the angel Gabriel that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear a son whose name would be Jesus, the Son of God, and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants. Though she surely did not fully understand how or why this would happen to her, she responds with these words, “Behold, the slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38). Again, MacArthur says, “Mary instantly, humbly, and joyfully submitted to God’s will without further doubt or question.”[3]
This was not a small thing that she was agreeing to. Her betrothal meant she and Joseph were not yet living together, but they were considered married. Joseph would know the child was not his so it would look like she had relations with some other man, which would constitute adultery. And the consequence for adultery according to the Law was death by stoning. Yet, knowing how it would be perceived, Mary agreed by faith.
Immediately after, she goes to see Zacharias and Elizabeth (Lk. 1:39-45). Gabriel had also told her that Elizabeth had conceived in her old age and was six months pregnant. Having just heard some unbelievable news of her own, seeing whether this pregnancy was true would confirm for Mary the message of the angel and the ability for God to bring about a miraculous conception in her own womb. As Mary arrives, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy and Elizabeth responds with joy and blessing for Mary and the fruit of her womb. Just like that, Mary now had confirmation of another miraculous conception and the affirmation of Who it was she carried. That’s all she needed to know that what the angel had told her was true.
In response to all these things, she burst out in this prayer of thanksgiving. There are no requests or supplications, just pure praise that magnifies God, His Word, and His work.
[2] MacArthur, John. God in the Manger: The Miraculous Birth of Christ. W. Publishing Group, 2001, pg. 31.
[3] MacArthur, John. 40 Lives in 40 Days. Thomas Nelson, 2022, pg. 88-89.
Madelyn Moses (MA Biblical Studies, The Master’s University) resides in Bucks County, PA and attends The Master’s Church of Bucks County in Richboro, PA. Follow her writing at Meditations & Musings on Facebook and Instagram.
For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 9:15
You cannot avail yourself of all that Jesus Christ provides for you in terms of release from a guilty conscience, unless there is a death. The will is useless without it. In fact, he says, death is so important that even the shadow, the picture in the Old Testament, required blood. Not, of course, the blood of Jesus Christ, but the blood of bulls and goats. Blood is inescapable.
That brings us to the point: Why? We shall never come to the answer until we squarely face the implications of the substitutionary character of the death of Jesus Christ. His death was not for his own sake, it was for ours. He was our representative. This is what God is so desperately trying to convey to us.
The cross is God’s way of saying there is nothing in us worth saving at all, if we remain set apart from Christ. As we were, men and women quite apart from Christ, God says, There is nothing you can do for me, not one thing. But when Christ became what we were, when he was made sin for us, God passed sentence upon him, and put him to death. This is God’s way of saying to us, There is not a thing you can do by your own effort that is worth a thing. All that we can ever be, without Christ, is totally set aside. Death eliminates us, wipes us out.
That is why our activity does not improve our relationship with him in the least degree. It does not make us any more acceptable. See what this does to our human pride. Who has not heard Christians talking in such a way as to give the impression that the greatest thing that ever happened to God was the day he found them. But we are not indispensable to him; he is indispensable to us. If we become bankrupt to do anything for God, we are then able to receive everything from him.
The point of the whole passage is: If we refuse to reckon this way, to count this to be true, if we refuse this, then there are no benefits of the new covenant available to us. A covenant is not in effect until there is the death of the testator, the death of the will maker. Christ the will-maker died, and it is we, through Christ our representative, who also died that death. But if we will not accept it, if we will not agree to this and accept God’s sentence of death upon all that we are, then we cannot have the benefits of his covenant. If we fight this sentence of death, for the rest of our Christian lives we shall be troubled with a guilty conscience. We will never rest in any final acceptance before God. We shall always be wrestling with the problem of whether we have done enough and have been pleasing enough to God by our activity. But if we accept this reality, the effect is to render all our service to him pure delight.
Father, open my eyes to this new principle of human behavior. Teach me to grasp this and to accept thy sentence of death upon everything in me that is not of Christ.
Life Application
Are we learning to be liberated from our own futile efforts to please God? Are we experiencing the heritage of God’s new arrangement for living, replacing our dead works with the power of Christ’s indwelling Presence?
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
“I, even I, am He that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?” – Isaiah 51:12-13
Let the text itself be taken as the portion for today. There is no need to enlarge upon it. Trembling one, read it, believe it, feed on it, and plead it before the LORD. He whom you fear is only a man after all; while He who promises to comfort you is God, your Maker, and the creator of heaven and earth. Infinite comfort more than covers a very limited danger. “Where is the fury of the oppressor?” It is in the LORD’s hand. It is only the fury of a dying creature; fury which will end as soon as the breath is gone from the nostril. Why, then, should we stand in awe of one who is as frail as ourselves? Let us not dishonor our God by making a god of puny man. We can make an idol of a man by rendering to him excessive fear as well as by paying him inordinate love. Let us treat men as men, and God as God; and then we shall go calmly on in the path of duty, fearing the LORD and fearing nobody else.
This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His attributes. We’ve seen Him through what He does, as servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and healer. Now we look at who He is by looking at His attributes. We looked at His omniscience yesterday and today we ponder His authority.
How to represent the authority of Jesus over life, in pictorial form, since this series is mainly pictorial? That was a tough one. I settled on the notion of the dock being the long journey of finite earthly life in the flesh, then we come to an inevitable end and launch up and into the eternal heavens. Jesus has authority over every step.
I recently wrote an essay focusing on the authority of Jesus. It is linked below if you’re interested, along with a couple of additional essays from credible sources.
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The End Time: Jesus Has the Authority What does this mean, exactly? Let’s look into the nature of the word authority and what it means when Jesus says He has been given all of it.
AIG: What is the extent of Jesus’ authority? When Jesus told His disciples He has full authority in heaven and earth, His declaration came before giving them a direction: “make disciples of all the nations.” … Yet we easily forget that the implication of biblical authority is much more than defending truth. In the case of Matthew 28:18–19, upholding the authority of the Bible is about doing. If God’s Word is authoritative, we must not overlook any directive in it. We should never consider one passage more authoritative than another.
Ligonier Devotional: The Authority of Jesus In today’s passage, Mark highlights the matter of Jesus’ authority by recording an exchange our Lord had in the temple with “the chief priests and the scribes and the elders” not long before He went to the cross.
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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-
Introduction/Background
Prophecies:
Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive Day 2: A shoot from Jesse Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time Day 4: Marry her, she will bear a Son
Birth & Early Life-
Day 5: The Babe has arrived! Day 6: The Glory of Jesus Day 7: Magi seek the Child Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship Day 9: The Child Grew Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple Day 11: He was Obedient Day 12: The Son! Day 13: God is pleased with His Son
The Second Person of the Trinity-
Day 14: Propitiation Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life Day 16: Kingdom of Darkness to Light Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence Day 18: The Highest King Day 19: He emptied Himself Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher Day 21: The Good Shepherd Day 22: The Intercessor Day 23: The Compassionate Healer Day 24: Jesus’ Omniscience
Paul has already reached two important goals in his appeal to the Galatians. He has defended his apostleship, including a defense of his right to preach the gospel with or without the support of other human authorities (1:11–2:21), and he has defended the gospel itself, showing that it is by grace alone entirely apart from human works that the Christian is freed from the curse of the law and brought into a right relationship with God (3:1–4:31). But there is one more point to be made before Paul concludes his letter: that the liberty into which believers are called is not a liberty that leads to license, as his opponents would charge, but rather a liberty that leads to mature responsibility and holiness before God through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This theme dominates the last two chapters of the Epistle.
1 Before plunging into this third section of his letter, Paul interjects a verse that is at once a summary of all that has gone before and a transition to what follows. It is, in fact, the key verse of the entire Epistle. Because of the nature of the true gospel and of the work of Christ on his behalf, the believer is now to turn away from anything that smacks of legalism and instead rest in Christ’s triumphant work for him and live in the power of Christ’s Spirit. The best MS evidence divides the verse into two parts—a declaration of Christ’s purpose in saving us (“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free”) and an appeal based upon that purpose (“Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery”)—rather than leaving it as one sentence as does the KJV. Thus, though only loosely connected with the preceding, the first part aptly sums up the message of chapters 3 and 4, while the second part leads into the ethical section. The appeal is for an obstinate perseverance in freedom as the only proper response to an attempt to bring Christians once more under legalism. Since the Jews of Paul’s time spoke of “taking the yoke of the law upon oneself,” it is likely that Paul is referring to such an expression here. To the Jews the taking up of the law’s yoke was good; indeed, it was the essence of religion. To Paul it was assuming the yoke of slavery. Perhaps Paul was also remembering that Jesus had spoken of Christians taking his yoke upon them (Matt 11:29, 30), but this involves a different kind of service—one that is “easy” and “light”—as the readers of the letter are to see.
Boice, J. M. (1976). Galatians. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol. 10, p. 486). Zondervan Publishing House.
1 Paul calls on the Galatians to act on the freedom they have in Christ. He appeals to them not to allow themselves to be persuaded to take up “again” the yoke of slavery. Whereas in their recent past they had been enslaved to “those who by nature are not gods” (4:8–9), in this instance Paul has in mind slavery to the Judaizers’ interpretation of the law (cf. 3:23). The verse begins grammatically in a rather abrupt manner, with no transitional phrase or particle connecting it to what has preceded. But Paul’s statement about freedom here echoes the expression “of the free woman,” which occurs throughout the latter portion of chapter 4 (cf. 4:22, 23, 30, 31). And in fact, Paul has emphasized freedom throughout Galatians (1:4; 2:4, 5; 3:26–28), so much so that freedom has been called the “basic concept underlying Paul’s argument throughout the letter” (Betz, 255). In a bold declaration of the result of the gospel, then, Paul exhorts the Galatians fully to appropriate the new identity they have in Christ. Since it is true that they are free in Christ, the Galatians are now told to “stand firm” in that freedom. The means of achieving this “standing firm” is to resist being ensnared by the “yoke” of the law (cf. Ac 15:10–11), and thus having their freedom compromised by returning to slavery. The Galatians were in danger of doing just that if they continued to follow after the message of the Judaizers (cf. Martyn, 446–47).
Rapa, R. K. (2008). Galatians. In T. Longman III &. Garland, David E. (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans–Galatians (Revised Edition) (Vol. 11, pp. 620–621). Zondervan.
For freedom Christ has set us free. There is every reason to agree with modern versions when they print Gal. 5:1 as a little paragraph all by itself, the first paragraph of a new chapter. That something new begins here is clearly evident from the contrast between the argumentative style of the earlier chapters, including the immediately preceding context, and the hortatory language that begins here in 5:1. Having been taught that in Christ we are free, we (here specifically the Galatians) are now encouraged to maintain that freedom (verse 1) and to interpret and apply it properly (verse 13 ff.). But this very statement also indicates the close connection between chapters 4 and 5. The truth stated and vigorously defended in the preceding chapters is applied to life in chapters 5 and 6. That the idea of freedom is very much in the foreground is clear not only from verse 1 but also from verse 13 ff. The question arises: Just what does Paul mean when he speaks of freedom? It implies first of all deliverance. This deliverance is sometimes conceived of as rescue from the guilt and power of sin (Rom. 6:18); hence, from an accusing conscience (Heb. 10:22), from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:1; cf. Heb. 10:27), and the tyranny of Satan (2 Tim. 2:26; cf. Heb. 2:14). Nevertheless, although all of this is probably implied in Paul’s use of the term here in Gal. 5:1, 13, the context indicates that he is thinking particularly of freedom from “the law,” that is, deliverance from the curse which the law pronounces upon the sinner who had been striving—unsuccessfully, of course—to achieve his own righteousness (Gal. 3:13, 22–26; 4:1–7), but has now, by grace, turned to Christ and salvation in him. Cf. Phil. 3:4–9. For God’s chosen one this freedom includes rescue from the results of the law’s inability to make alive what is dead (Gal. 3:21). Implied is also freedom from fear, the fear that arises from a. the erroneous idea that both the moral and the ceremonial law must be strictly obeyed if one is to be saved, and b. the oppressing awareness of inability to meet this demand (Gal. 3:23; 4:21–31; Rom. 7:24–8:2). Deliverance is, however, a negative concept, though the positive is clearly implied. Freedom is more than deliverance. It is a positive endowment. What the law could not do God has accomplished through Christ and the Spirit (Rom. 8:3, 4). Positively, then, freedom, as Paul sees it, is the state in which a person is walking and living in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25), so that he produces the fruit of the Spirit (5:22, 23), and with joy and gratitude does the will of God (5:14; Rom. 8:4), in principle fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), even “the law of liberty” (James 1:25). This liberty amounts to delighting in the law of God in one’s inmost self (Rom. 7:22). The person who is truly free no longer acts from constraint but serves his God willingly, with cheerfulness of heart. Freedom of access to the Father is implied, of course, for the blessing of which Paul speaks is enjoyed by sons (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15). Such true freedom is therefore always a freedom plus. It is with freedom as with justification. See p. 98. When an accused man is declared not guilty, he is free. Likewise when a slave has been emancipated, he is free. But the judge or the emancipator does not, as a rule, adopt the acquitted individual as his son. But when the Son makes one free, he is free indeed (John 8:36). He then rejoices in the glorious liberty of sonship, with all that this implies as to “access,” right to the inheritance, etc. Paul emphasizes that it was Christ himself—not our own merits or our own deeds—that set us free. He did it by becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13); hence, by his blood (Heb. 10:19, 22); and he did it and is constantly doing it through his Spirit (Gal. 3:2, 3, 14; 4:6, 29; cf. Rom. 8:4). Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Cor. 3:17). The thoroughly human Paul expresses himself in a manner which could almost be described as containing a bit of humor when he says, “For freedom Christ has set us free,” as if to say, “Is it not ridiculous to imagine that Christ would have opened for us the gate of our prison—at such a cost!—merely to transfer us to another prison? Surely, he set us free in order that we might indeed be and remain free!” Continued: continue to stand firm, therefore (cf. 2 Thess. 2:15). Perseverance in the fight against re-enslavement is here prescribed. The Galatians had been running beautifully (5:7), but they had failed to carry on. They had, in fact, reversed their course. What Paul is saying, then, is that over against the opponents they should stand firm and should so continue. This standing firm is not that of a well-nigh unassailable fenced-in statue, but rather that of a tree firmly rooted in the midst of the raging storm. Even better, it is that of the soldier on the field of battle, not fleeing but offering stout resistance to the enemy and defeating him (Eph. 6:10–20). The very fact that it was no one less than Christ himself who had set the Galatians free, so that by standing firm, they are voluntarily continuing in the sphere of his activity, should encourage them; hence, “Continue to stand firm, therefore.” The crown of valor is victory (Matt. 10:22; Rev. 2:10). Paul adds: and do not be loaded down again with a yoke of slavery. Peter had spoken about an unbearable yoke (Acts 15:10). He was referring to the yoke of the law, including its many regulations, augmented subsequently by man-made “traditions.” Under that yoke Israel had groaned. The Galatians, mostly of pagan origin (4:8), had been similarly subjected to rules and regulations pertaining to their former pagan religion. Ramsay speaks of “a highly elaborate system” of such burdensome stipulations, prevalent in Galatia. Hence, what the apostle is saying is that those who were delivered from this unbearable yoke of paganism should certainly not try to shoulder another similar yoke, that of Judaism. See also on 4:9. Having escaped from one ritualism are they now going to bow before another? Rather, let them flee for refuge to him whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light (Matt. 11:29, 30).
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Galatians (Vol. 8, pp. 191–193). Baker Book House.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (Revelation 2:11)
The first death we must endure unless the Lord should suddenly come to His temple. For this let us abide in readiness, awaiting it without fear, since Jesus has transformed death from a dreary cavern into a passage leading to glory.
The thing to be feared is not the first but the second death, not the parting of the soul from the body but the final separation of the entire man from God. This is death indeed. This death kills all peace, joy, happiness, hope. When God is gone, all is gone. Such a death is far worse than ceasing to be: it is existence without the life which makes existence worth the having.
Now, if by God’s grace we fight on to the end and conquer in the glorious war, no second death can lay its chill finger upon us, We shall have no fear of death and hell, for we shall receive a crown of life which fadeth not away. How this nerves us for the fight! Eternal life is worth a life’s battle. To escape the hurt of the second death is a thing worth struggling for throughout a lifetime.
Lord, give us faith so that we may overcome, and then grant us grace to remain unharmed though sin and Satan dog our heels!
The term “meekness” can be misconstrued to mean weak or fearful. However, the Bible contains the true definition for this fruit of the Holy Spirit. In this message, watch as R.C. Sproul encourages us to grow in meekness and self-control.
The Christmas season is about far more than trees, lights, and tinsel. It’s a fulfillment of prophecy and promise. On this third installment of “Jesus and the Prophecies of Christmas,” we’re exploring the purpose of Jesus’ birth and what the Old Testament prophecies predicted hundreds of years before the nativity.
There’s a reason the Christmas story has resonated and resounded for more than two millennia – it’s a story for every man, woman, and child who has ever lived. Skeptics and others often ask “why” — why did an all-powerful God want to send his own son to the manger and then ultimately the cross?
We address that and more in this episode. Join Greg Laurie, Jeff Kinley, Ray Comfort, Jesse Bradley, Shane Idleman, and CBN’s Billy Hallowell for this must-hear conversation.
And on the next episode of “Jesus and the Prophecies of Christmas” — the finale airing December 21 — we’ll take a look at God’s promises to King David and we’ll jump back into the nativity story to see some of the other powerful and prophetic messages delivered to some key figures who don’t often get attention.
A central part of who Jesus is and therefore what we are to believe is found in Jesus’s teaching about what he came to do. He came to do a number of things.
Jesus clearly came to reveal misunderstanding and disobedience among the Jewish people and their leaders. One interesting way to see this is to examine the three Sabbaths mentioned in the book of John. Jesus regularly attended synagogue on the Sabbath, and sometimes he took his turn as an adult male by reading from the scroll. But beyond that, he exposed misunderstanding and disobedience by acting contrary to what his religious peers required for Sabbath observance.
In John 5:18, the Jews charged Jesus with making himself equal with God. But did you also notice the other charge in the line above that: “breaking the Sabbath”? What prompted this charge? Jesus had seen a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years lying on his mat and said to him, “‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked” (John 5:8–9a). The story continues: “The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat’” (John 5:9b-10). Really, it was Jesus they were after: “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him” (John 5:16). Indeed, the Jews were good at remembering the smaller laws and reminding others of those laws, but they had forgotten why the law had been given in the first place. Jesus called further attention to their misuse of the law when he said,
I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? (John 7:21–23)
The second Sabbath is mentioned in chapter 9, where a man born blind receives his sight from Jesus:
Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” (John 9:14–16)
Again, the Pharisees missed the point of the Sabbath. I think Jesus deliberately picked the Sabbath as an opportunity to expose their hypocrisy and jolt them out of their self-righteousness. Jesus did not come to help anyone keep up the pretence of holiness and love; he came to bring the real thing.
John’s third mention of the Sabbath especially demonstrates what a sham the people’s understanding of the day had become. In chapter 19 he writes,
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. (John 19:31)
Do you see the irony in this? The chief priests were so mindful of the law’s obligations, they literally dogged Jesus to death for healing on the Sabbath. So mindful were they that they cleaned up after the murder they had committed to avoid ceremonial uncleanness on the Sabbath.
2. Provide a Sacrifice for the Salvation of Sinners
More fundamentally, Jesus came to save sinners. As he said, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save it” (John 12:47). And he came to save the world by acting as God’s provision for their sins. He told the Pharisee Nicodemus,
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14–16; cf. John 8:28; John 12:32)
Just as the bronze snake was God’s provision for Israelites bitten by poisonous serpents (Numbers 21), Jesus came as God’s provision for the salvation of sinners.
Jesus is the Passover sacrifice, who was killed in the stead of sinful human beings.
How, specifically, does God’s provision in Christ save sinful humanity? John the Baptist points toward the answer near the beginning of the Gospel: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus is the Passover sacrifice, who was killed in the stead of sinful human beings. Jesus then says in chapter 6, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:53–54). Jesus did not intend for his disciples to grab his arm and begin to chew on him. Rather, he intended for his blood to be shed and his body to be broken when he was lifted up on the cross. And sinners must put their confidence, their faith, in his substitutionary sacrifice.
3. Bring Light into the World
Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus came to shed light upon God, man, and God’s plan of salvation (John 1:4–9). As John says, “This is the verdict: light has come into the world . . . whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God” (John 3:19, 21). Jesus himself said to the crowds in Jerusalem, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46; also John 8:12; John 9:5, etc.).
4. Be Glorified by the Father
And how did this light present itself? By the glory of the Father shining upon the Son. John writes, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And Jesus clearly said his glory came directly from the Father: “My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.”1
Interestingly, throughout John’s Gospel the reader is told that Jesus’s time had “not yet come” (John 2:4; John 7:6, 8, 30; John 8:20). What is meant by this is not entirely clear at first, except that it is given as the reason for why no one could seize or stone him. The great dividing point in the Gospel comes in Jesus’s last week, when he entered Jerusalem and announced that his time had come:
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. . . . Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name! (John 12:23, 27–28; also, John 17:1)
The time that had come was the time of his glorification, and his glorification, we learn, happened at the cross! At the same moment, Jesus gave all glory to the Father: “Father, glorify your name!” Jesus the Son was in a unique position to bring glory to God the Father, by effecting the Father’s merciful salvation and showing the Father’s perfect love.
So John writes with a majestic simplicity, “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love” (John 13:1).
This is what we are to believe: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world to expose disobedience, provide a sacrifice for sins, bring light to the world, and be glorified by the Father. In so doing he in turn gave glory to the Father.
Notes:
John 8:54; also John 2:11; John 8:50; John 11:4; John 12:41; John 13:32; 16:14; John 17:4–5, 22, 24.
Mark Dever (PhD, Cambridge University) is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and president of 9Marks (9Marks.org). Dever has authored over a dozen books and speaks at conferences nationwide. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Connie, and they have two adult children.
When Mark Dever came to the church as a pastoral candidate, they asked him what his vision for the church was. What was his plan for turning the church around? He had just four words.
Jesus’s promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church (Matt. 16:18) was not given to any particular church but to the church universal.
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. (10:25–31)
But Jesus already had told them plainly who He was (cf. 5:17ff.; 8:12, 24, 58); in fact, He had spent the last three years doing so. Not only that, the works that He did in the Father’s name also demonstrated that He was the Messiah; the Son of God; God in human flesh (cf. vv. 32, 38; 3:2; 5:36; 7:31; 11:47; 14:11; Acts 2:22). The Lord’s twice-repeated declaration, you do not believe, indicates that the problem was not due to any ambiguity in the revelation of the truth, but rather to their spiritual blindness. They lacked understanding, not because they lacked information, but because they lacked repentance and faith. Their unbelief was not due to insufficient exposure to the truth, but to their hatred of the truth and love of sin and lies (John 3:19–21). Anyone who willingly seeks the truth will find it (7:17), but Jesus refused to commit Himself to those who willfully rejected the truth. Had He again given them the plain answer they were demanding, they would not have believed Him anyway (cf. 8:43; Matt. 26:63–65; Luke 22:66–67). From the perspective of human responsibility, the hostile Jews did not believe because they had deliberately rejected the truth. But from the standpoint of divine sovereignty, they did not believe because they were not of the Lord’s sheep, which were given Him by the Father (v. 29; 6:37; 17:2, 6, 9). A full understanding of exactly how those two realities, human responsibility and divine sovereignty, work together lies beyond human comprehension; but there is no difficulty with them in the infinite mind of God. Significantly, the Bible does not attempt to harmonize them, nor does it apologize for the logical tension between them. For example, speaking of Judas Iscariot’s treachery, Jesus said in Luke 22:22, “The Son of Man is going [to be betrayed] as it has been determined.” In other words, Judas’s betrayal of Christ was in accord with God’s eternal purpose. But then Jesus added, “Woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!” That Judas’s betrayal was part of God’s plan did not relieve him of the responsibility for his crime. In Acts 2:23 Peter said that Jesus was “delivered over [to the cross] by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” Yet he also charged Israel with responsibility for having “nailed [Jesus] to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” God’s sovereignty never excuses human sin. (For a more complete discussion of the interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, see the exposition of 6:35–40 in chapter 20 of this volume.) Repeating what He said in His discourse on the Good Shepherd (see the exposition of vv. 3–5 in the previous chapter of this volume), Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” The elect will heed Christ’s call to salvation and continue in faith and obedience to eternal glory (cf. Rom. 8:29–30). The Lord continued by articulating the wonderful truth that those who are His sheep need never fear being lost. “I give eternal life to them,” Jesus declared, “and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Nowhere in Scripture is there a stronger affirmation of the absolute eternal security of all true Christians. Jesus plainly taught that the security of the believer in salvation does not depend on human effort, but is grounded in the gracious, sovereign election, promise, and power of God. Christ’s words reveal seven realities that bind every true Christian forever to God. First, believers are His sheep, and it is the duty of the Good Shepherd to protect His flock. “This is the will of Him who sent Me,” Jesus said, “that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (6:39). To insist that a true Christian can somehow be lost is to deny the truth of that statement. It is also to defame the character of the Lord Jesus Christ—making Him out to be an incompetent shepherd, unable to hold on to those entrusted to Him by the Father. Second, Christ’s sheep hear only His voice and follow only Him. Since they will not listen to or follow a stranger (10:5), they could not possibly wander away from Him and be eternally lost. Third, Christ’s sheep have eternal life. To speak of eternal life ending is a contradiction in terms. Fourth, Christ gives eternal life to His sheep. Since they did nothing to earn it, they can do nothing to lose it. Fifth, Christ promised that His sheep will never perish. Were even one to do so, it would make Him a liar. Sixth, no one—not false shepherds (the thieves and robbers of v. 1), or false prophets (symbolized by the wolf of v. 12), nor even the Devil himself—is powerful enough to snatch Christ’s sheep out of His hand. Finally, Christ’s sheep are held not only in His hand, but also in the hand of the Father, who is greater than all; and thus no one is able to snatch them out of His hand either. Infinitely secure, the believer’s “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). The Father and the Son jointly guarantee the eternal security of believers because, as Jesus declared, “I and the Father are one” (the Greek word one is neuter, not masculine; it speaks of “one substance,” not “one person”). Thus their unity of purpose and action in safeguarding believers is undergirded by their unity of nature and essence. The whole matter of security is summarized in our Lord’s own words in John 6:39–40:
This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.
Incensed by what they accurately and unmistakably perceived as another blasphemous claim to deity by Jesus, the Jews, self-righteously exploding in a fit of passion, picked up stones again to stone Him—the fourth time in John’s gospel that they had attempted to kill Him (5:16–18; 7:1; 8:59). Though the Romans had withheld the right of capital punishment from the Jews (18:31), this angry lynch mob was ready to take matters into its own hands.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). John 1–11 (pp. 441–443). Moody Press.
Christ, the Calvinist
John 10:27–29
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”
One time, after I had preached a sermon from John touching on some of the main points of the Reformed faith, I found a copy of that week’s bulletin on which someone had scribbled his opinion of the message: “I’m sick of Calvinism in every sermon.” The message did not particularly bother me. Notes like that seldom do. But I found it surprising that the person who wrote the note somehow regarded Calvinism as a system of thought that could well be dispensed with while, nevertheless, as he assumed, still preserving Christianity. In other words, this person, like many others, somehow regarded the doctrines that go by the name of Calvinism as at best an addition to the pure gospel and at the worst a system that is opposed to it. Is this true? Are the doctrines of grace wrong? One proof that they are not is seen in the verses to which we come in this chapter.
Historic Calvinism
The verses I have in mind are those in which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke plainly to his enemies, saying that those who do not believe on him do not believe because they are not his sheep, that those who are his sheep believe and follow, that this is true because they are given to him by the Father, that these who are given to him by the Father inevitably come to him and, finally, that these who come will never be lost. This is a message of man’s complete ruin in sin and God’s perfect remedy in Christ, and it can be expressed in the distinctive points of Calvinistic theology. Before we look at these points in detail, however, we should see that far from being an aberration or addition to the gospel, these truths have always belonged to the core of the Christian proclamation and have been characteristic of the church at its greatest periods. To begin with, the doctrines of grace that have become known as Calvinism were most certainly not invented by Calvin, nor were they characteristic of his thought alone during the Reformation period. As we shall see, these are the truths taught by Jesus and confirmed for us in Scripture by the apostle Paul. Augustine argued for the same truths over against the denials of Pelagius and those who followed him. Luther was a Calvinist. So was Zwingli. That is, they believed what Calvin believed and what he later systematized in his influential Institutes of the Christian Religion. The Puritans were also Calvinists; it was through them and their teaching that both England and Scotland experienced the greatest and most pervasive national revivals the world has ever seen. In that number were the heirs of John Knox: Thomas Cartwright, Richard Sibbes, Richard Baxter, Matthew Henry, John Owen, and others. In America, thousands were influenced by Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, and George Whitefield, all of whom were Calvinists. In more recent times the modern missionary movement received nearly all its direction and initial impetus from those in the Calvinistic and Puritan tradition. The list includes such men as William Carey, John Ryland, Henry Martyn, Robert Moffat, David Livingstone, John G. Paton, John R. Mott, and many others. For all these the doctrines of grace were not an appendage to Christian thought but were rather that which was central and which most fired and gave form to their preaching and missionary efforts. This, of course, is precisely why I am reviewing this history—to show that the doctrines known as Calvinism are not something that emerged late in church history but rather are that which takes its origins in the teachings of Jesus, which has been found throughout the church in many periods, and which has always been characteristic of the church at its greatest periods of faith and expansion. It follows from this that the church of Jesus Christ will again see great days when these truths are widely proclaimed, and proclaimed fearlessly. Jesus is our example. We sometimes think of these doctrines as household doctrines; that is, as truths to be proclaimed only to those who already believe. But this was not Jesus’ procedure. He taught them also to his enemies. In this case, they had come to him with the implication that he was responsible for their failure to believe; they had said, “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” He answered this, not so much with a statement concerning his identity as the Messiah (although he did say that his words and works authenticated him), but much more importantly by a full statement of man’s utter inability to choose God and of the necessity for divine grace in each step of salvation. Did they want it told plainly? Well, this is the truth told plainly: “You do not believe because you are not my sheep.… My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (vv. 26–29).
State of the Lost
First of all, Christ’s words reflect the desperate state of the lost; that is, the state of all men as they are apart from Christ. The teachings on this point are not so much direct as indirect. Still they underlie the positive points made in this passage. In reference to man’s desperate state apart from Christ, these verses show that he has lost spiritual life; otherwise it would not be necessary for Christ to speak of it as a gift. Originally, man had life. When the first man and woman were created by God they were created with that life that shows itself in communion with him. Consequently, we learn that they communed with God in the Garden in the cool of the day. When they sinned, this life was lost, a fact evidenced by their hiding from God. This has been the state of people ever since. Consequently, when the gospel is preached, those who hear it turn away unless God intervenes to do a supernatural work of regeneration in their hearts. Moreover, the desperate state of people apart from Christ is suggested by the fact that no one can recover this life except as a free gift from God. Jesus calls it a gift, for it is undeserved and unearned. If it were earned, it would be wages; if it were merited, it would be a reward. But eternal life is neither of these. It is a gift, which means that it originates solely in God’s good will toward men. As a last thought on this subject, it is also true, is it not, that men and women will perish except for this gift. Jesus says of those to whom he gives life that “they shall never perish.” But since he makes this promise, it must be because we will perish if he does not intervene. We are sinners. Sin makes us heirs of God’s wrath. If God does not intervene, we stand under divine judgment, without hope, facing the punishment due us for our own sins. According to these verses, we cannot even come to Christ, for we are not of his sheep and so lack the ability to hear his voice and turn to him.
Grace
This brings us to the next thought. For while it is true that in ourselves we cannot come to Christ and so lie under God’s just condemnation, the main point of these verses is that God has nevertheless acted in grace toward some. Earlier this was expressed by saying that Christ died for the sheep; in other words, by the doctrine of a particular redemption (v. 11). In this section we are told that Jesus has given eternal life to the same people (v. 28), and that these are those whom God has given him (v. 29). You cannot trace the origins of our salvation farther back than that. In this, as in all things, the origins are to be found in God. Some say, “But surely God called them because he foresaw that some would believe.” But it does not say that. Others say, “He chose them because he knew in advance that they would merit salvation.” It does not say that either. What it does say is that the initiative in salvation lies with God and that this is found, on the one hand, in God’s electing grace whereby he chooses some for salvation entirely apart from any merit on their own part (which, of course, they do not have) and, on the other hand, in Christ’s very particular atonement by which he bore the penalty for the sins of these people. I need to say also, however, that there are aspects of the death of Christ that apply to the world at large. I am not denying that. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is a revelation of the nature of God. It is a revelation of his hatred of sin in that Christ died for it. It is most certainly a revelation of God’s love, for love lay behind it. It is an example to the race. These things are true. But in addition to these there is also a sense in which the Lord Jesus Christ died particularly and exclusively for his own, so that he literally bore the penalty for their particular sins, that they might be forgiven. These truths do not make us proud, as some charge. Rather they increase our love for God who out of pure grace saves some when none deserve it.
An Effective Call
The third of the reformed doctrines presented by Jesus is the effective call: that is, that God’s call of his people is accompanied by such power that those whom he calls necessarily come to him, believing on Christ and embracing Christ for salvation. Jesus expresses this by saying: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (v. 27). It is a mark of the sheep that they both hear and follow their shepherd. In the Puritan era it was the habit of many preachers to play on these two characteristics, calling them the marks of Christ’s sheep. In days when there were many flocks of sheep it was necessary to mark the sheep to distinguish them. In our day, at least on cattle, this is done by branding. On sheep it was often done by cutting a small mark into the ear. “Well,” said the Puritans, “each of Christ’s sheep has a double mark—on his ear and on his foot. The mark on his ear is that he hears Christ. The mark on his foot is that he follows him.” This is true, of course. It leads us to ask, “Do we hear? Do we follow?” How many of those who come to church on a typical Sunday morning really hear the voice of Christ or have ever heard it? They hear the voice of the preacher; they hear the voices of the members of the choir. But do they hear Christ? If they do, why are they so critical of what they hear? Why are their comments afterward so much more about the Lord’s servant than the Lord? Those who are Christ’s hear Christ. And they follow him. But how many who come to church are really following? Most seem to make good leaders—in their own cause—but they are poor followers. They make good critics—of the Bible and of Christ’s people—but they are poor disciples. They make respectable wolves, for they ravage the flock, but they do not have the traits of the sheep and would even be contemptuous of them if they had an understanding of what those traits are. Do not presume on your relationship to Christ. You are not his unless you hear his voice and follow him. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). He said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7).
Never Lost
Finally, notice that these verses also speak at length of God’s perseverance with his saints. That is, they teach us that none whom God has called to faith in Christ will be lost. Indeed, how can they be, if God is responsible for their salvation? Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (v. 28). “But,” says someone, “suppose they jump out of their own accord?” “They shall never perish,” says the Lord. “Never?” “No, never,” says Jesus. “They shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” This does not mean that there will not be dangers, of course. In fact, it implies them; for if Jesus promises that no one will succeed in plucking us from his hands, it must be because he knows that there are some who will try. The Christian will always face dangers—dangers without, from enemies, and dangers within. Still the promise is that those who have believed in Jesus will never be lost. We may add that the Christian may well be deprived of things. He may lose his job, his friends, his good reputation. Still he will not be lost. The promise is not that the ship will not go to the bottom, but that the passengers will all reach shore. It is not that the house will not burn down, but that the people will escape safely. Do you believe this promise, that you are safe in Jesus’ hands, that you will never be lost? Are you able to trust God for this as you have for other truths? I suppose there is a way of explaining away almost everything, but I must say that I do not see how the opponents of eternal security can explain away this text. Am I Christ’s? Then it is he who has promised that neither I nor any who belong to him shall perish. If I do perish, then Jesus has not kept his word, he is not sinless, the atonement was not adequate, and no one in any place can enter into salvation. I wish that all God’s children might come to know and love these truths. I wish that many might be saved by them. We live in a day that is so weak in its proclamation of Christian doctrine that even many Christians cannot see why such truths should be preached or how they can be used of the Lord to save sinners. This was not always so. It was not always the case that these truths were unused by God in saving sinners. Did you know that it was these doctrines, particularly the doctrine of God’s perseverance with his people, that God used to save Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers who ever lived? Spurgeon was saved when he was only fifteen years old, but before that time he had already noticed how friends of his, who had begun life well, made shipwreck of their lives by falling into gross vice. Spurgeon was appalled by such things. He feared that he himself might fall into them. He reasoned like this: “Whatever good resolutions I might make, the probabilities are that they will be good for nothing when temptation [assails] me. I [will] be like those of whom it has been said, ‘They see the devil’s hook and yet cannot help nibbling at his bait.’ I [will] disgrace myself.” It was then that he heard of the truth that Christ will keep his saints from falling. It had a particular charm for him and he found himself saying, “If I go to Jesus and get from him a new heart and a right spirit, I shall be secured against these temptations into which others have fallen. I shall be preserved by Him.” It was this truth along with others that brought Spurgeon to the Savior. I wish it might be the same with you! I do not preach a gospel that has a shaky foundation. I do not proclaim a religion of percentages and probabilities. I proclaim the message of Christ, Paul, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and all others who have found God to be their pure hope and salvation. It is the message of man’s complete ruin in sin and of God’s perfect remedy in Christ, expressed in his election of a people to himself and his final preservation of them. God grant that you might believe it wholeheartedly.
The Hands of God
John 10:28–29
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”
If you have ever watched a carpenter do rough construction work, you may have seen him do something that will illustrate what the Lord was doing as he was speaking these words to the disciples. Since he had been a carpenter Jesus may have done this same thing himself. Sometimes in rough carpentry a workman will drive a long nail through a thinner board so that the point sticks out the back. Then with a blow of his hammer he will drive the point of the nail over sideways, embedding it in the wood. This is called clinching the nail. It makes the joint just a bit more firm since the nail cannot work itself out from this position.
Two Nails, Four Hands
In a sense this is what Jesus did in these verses. He was so interested in getting the doctrine to stick in his disciples’ minds that he not only drove one nail, he drove two, and clinched them both. This is what I mean. First, he taught that those who are his own have been given eternal life. This alone makes the truth fast; for eternal life is life that can never be lost. If it could be lost after a few years or even after many years, it would not be eternal. Nevertheless, Jesus knew that there would be many who would find this difficult to accept and who would attempt to explain it away by saying perhaps that eternal life is a quality of life rather than a life of unending duration. Lest they succeed in doing that, he went on to drive the nail over sideways, thereby clinching it into the wood. “They shall never perish,” he said. “I give them eternal life”—that is the nail. “They shall never perish”—that is the clinch by which the doctrine is reinforced and made fast. One nail, however well fastened, does not always make a good joint. So Jesus went on to drive a second nail and clinch that. His second nail is found in the phrase “no one can snatch them out of my hand.” The clincher is this—“My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” It is hard to see how anyone can be safer or any doctrine clearer than that. Moreover, there is the matter of the hands. First, Jesus says that we are secure in his hand. We can imagine ourselves as a coin around which his fingers have folded. That is a secure position for any object, but especially for us, considering whose hand it is that holds us. But then, lest we think that this is not enough, Jesus adds that the hand of God is over his hand so that we are enclosed in two hands. We are therefore doubly secure. If we feel insecure, we should be reminded that even when we are held in this manner, the Father and Son still have two hands free to defend us. I wish that all Christians might enter into an assurance of that security. “They shall never perish,” says Jesus. Believe it! Believe it, too, when he tells us that no man will ever pluck us out of those hands. “But,” says someone, “it may be true, but to teach it is dangerous. If people believe that nothing can ever snatch them from Christ’s hand, then surely they will feel free to sin. If I thought so, I would sin.” Would you? If so, I feel sorry for you. I even doubt that you know the Lord, for my experience indicates that it is a knowledge of the love and grace of God that, more than anything else, keeps a believer from sinning. “Even if there is a possibility of these truths encouraging sin, would it not be better not to preach them? Would it not be better to tell Christians that they might be overcome by sin and so perish?” No, it would not! Moreover, how could I tell what I do not believe? Shall I slander God with falsehoods? Let me put it in terms that you will surely understand. Shall I come to your house and tell your children—little Mary, just two years old, or Michael, just six—that if they disobey you they will cease to be your children and that you will throw them out into the streets? If I were to do that, you would be angry, and rightly so. Rather, you would want me to say, “Children, do you not know that your father loves you, that he will never stop loving you? Therefore, do not disappoint him. Love him and do what he says.” Do you understand that illustration? If so, do not impute lesser motives or lesser love to God. Believe these truths, and allow them to become a great incentive to godly conduct in your life. Moreover, do not be afraid to have them preached, and do not fear to share them with other believers.
Hands of the Father
Let us be specific about the words of our text, particularly about the hands. Jesus said that we are secure in his hand and in the hand of the Father. What do we know about these hands? We recognize, of course, that to talk in this way is at least in part to use poetic language. But the truths are not less true because they are expressed poetically; and in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ the reference to the hands is not even primarily poetic. His hands were real hands. So what do we know about them? And what do we know about the hands of the Father? Well, the hands of the Father are creative hands, for one thing. These are the hands that made the world, that formed man from the earth’s dust. The Book of Genesis says: “The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). In biblical thought three truths are closely tied up with this teaching. First, God knows us. He knows us because he made us. So nothing that is within us ever surprises him. That is what David had in mind when he said, “For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103:14). We do not need to fear that something in us will suddenly rise up to startle God and cause him to change his attitude toward us. Second, the fact that we have been made by God means that we have been made for a purpose and that it behooves us to realize that purpose. To realize God’s purpose is to find fulfillment and joy, not to find misery. Moreover, it is not for us to question the purpose any more than a pot should question the shape it has been given by the potter. This image is used by the apostle Paul in Romans in order to justify the ways of God in his dealings with Israel. Third, the fact that we have been made by God means that we should acknowledge that and worship him thankfully. One of the Psalms says: “Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (Ps. 95:6–7).
Loving Hands
The hands of the Father are creative hands, then. But they are also loving hands. That is, they are hands that continue to care for and provide for that which they have made. My favorite picture of this is found in Hosea. It is of God, as a literal father, caring for Israel, pictured as a child who is just learning to walk. The child can also represent ourselves in spiritual infancy. God says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.… It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.… How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?” (Hosea 11:1, 3–4, 8). God says that he has been as a father to us, teaching us to walk. His hands have held us up while we were learning and have caught us when we were about to fall down. Moreover, he tells us that this is proof of his love and that he will not give up on those who are his true children.
Angry Hands
Finally, we need to see something that is not so pleasant to contemplate. God’s hands are creative hands. They are caring hands. But they can also, so says the Scripture, become angry hands. They are hands by which judgment can be administered and by which it will be administered to all whose sin is not covered by the blood of Christ and who are therefore not among the company of God’s people. John the Baptist spoke of this, saying that when Christ came it would be with fan in hand and that he would thoroughly purge his floor (Matt. 3:12). John was thinking of the way by which, in Mediterranean lands, wheat was separated from the chaff. Usually this was done by tossing the two into the air so that the wind could blow the lighter chaff away. If the wind did not blow, the winnowing would have to be postponed. However, in Christ’s day, says John, Christ will provide his own wind; he will use his fan to separate the righteous from those who will not have him as Savior. It is of the same judgment that the author of Hebrews writes, saying, “The Lord will judge his people,” and then adding by way of stern warning, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:30–31). There is a progression at this point. The hands of God are hands that have created. The hands of God are hands that have loved and cared. But man in general has despised the creation and turned from God’s love. There is therefore nothing ahead for such men but God’s righteous anger and judgment. This thought so possessed Jonathan Edwards that he preached often upon it. In fact, his best known sermon is on precisely this theme. It is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” a title taken from the text that I have just mentioned. The text of the message is Deuteronomy 32:35—“in due time their foot will slip.” The point of the sermon is that nothing withholds a man who will not have Christ from God’s judgment except God’s sovereign will, by which for a time he withholds punishment. I am told that such truths cannot be preached today, that such teaching will drive listeners away. That may be. At any rate, I am sure that at least one of three things will happen. Either these truths will drive the people away, or the people will drive the minister away, or there will be a great awakening, as there was under Edwards’s preaching. Some say, “Where is revival today?” I say, “Where are the faithful teachers of God’s Word?” I say, “Let the angry God be proclaimed, as well as the God of love, and men’s hearts will be stirred to repentance. They have been before. Do it, and many will flee out of a true sense of need to the Savior.”
The Hands of Jesus
Look now at the hands of the Son. What do we know about these hands? Well, first, they are the hands of a workman; they are rough hands. These hands know labor; they understand toil. He is not remote, this Jesus. He understands us and feels with us in our infirmities. Moreover, I see this truth and then turn to a text like John 14:2–3 and find an even greater truth there. We are told: “I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus tells us that he has gone to prepare a home for us. Well, then, I will not worry about the condition of that home or even whether it is going to be finished by the date of occupancy, for the greatest carpenter that ever lived is going to build it for me. In the same way, I do not worry about the condition of my resurrection body. For Paul tells us that if our earthly body “were destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven not built by human hands” (2 Cor. 5:1). The hands of Jesus are also outstretched hands. I see the outstretched hands of Jesus everywhere in the New Testament. They are outstretched in healing, for example. I see him reaching out to touch and heal the leper when no one else would touch him (Matt. 8:3). I see him reach out to heal Peter’s mother-in-law when she lay sick of a fever (Matt. 8:15). I see him reach out to restore life to the young daughter of the ruler, recorded in Matthew 9 (vv. 18–26). He touched the son of the widow of Nain to restore his life (Luke 7:11–18). His outstretched hands restored sight to the man who had been born blind (John 9:6–7). Christ’s hands also are outstretched to save such as are floundering. I love the story of Peter walking on the water toward Christ. The disciples were in the boat on the Sea of Galilee when they saw Jesus. He was walking toward them on the water. When Peter saw it he concluded rightly that if Jesus could do it, then by the power of Jesus he could do it also. So he said, “Lord, can I come?” When Jesus agreed, Peter started out. But soon he took his eyes from Jesus, looked at the water instead, and began to sink. “Lord, save me,” he cried. Immediately, we are told, “Jesus reached out his hand and caught him” (Matt. 14:31). Sinking into the waves? That seems to be a picture of losing salvation. But then we see the outstretched, saving hands of the Lord Jesus. Peter’s faith failed, but Jesus did not fail to save Peter. These hands are stretched out also in blessing. We see the Lord blessing the children, even when the disciples in a fit of self-importance wished to keep them away (Matt. 19:13–15). We find the same thing at the end of Luke’s Gospel, in the last picture we have of the Lord Jesus while on earth—“When he had led them out to Bethany he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven” (Luke 24:50–51).
Wounded Hands
The last thing we need to see is, in some respects, the most obvious truth of all. The hands of Jesus are also wounded hands. The imprint of the nails of the crucifixion is in those hands, and it is for us that they were wounded. God told us that they would be. It is prophesied in Psalm 22, in which the crucifixion of the Lord is presented: “A band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet” (v. 16). Isaiah wrote: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). Zechariah foretold that this would be a sign by which the true prophet, the Messiah, would be recognized (Zech. 13:6). It is by this that we recognize him. Thomas is our pattern. Thomas had not been present on that first occasion when Jesus appeared to his disciples. The others told Thomas about it afterward, but Thomas replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it” (John 20:25). A week later Jesus appeared again, Thomas being present, and offered to fulfill the conditions of Thomas’s test. But the mere sight was enough for Thomas. Thomas fell at Christ’s feet and worshiped, saying, “My Lord and my God” (v. 28). Is that sight not clear enough for you also? Are Jesus’ wounded hands not evidence enough for you of his love? God says that his action in Christ is perfectly clear, so much so that there is no excuse for a failure to believe it. In fact, he says that the way of salvation in Christ has been “made known” (Rom. 3:21). The way of salvation has been made as clear as a striking hand or a blow to the face. Today it is the hand of a gracious God who holds out the way of salvation to you. If you reply that you cannot see it, he asks you to look at the hand itself; for it is a wounded hand, one bearing the print of the nail received by Jesus in dying for your salvation. By faith you may put out your hand and touch that wound. You may know that it is evidence, irrefutable evidence, of God’s great love for you. That hand was struck for you. The one extending that hand died for you. Allow him to enclose your hand, to enclose you, and to bring you into that great company of those who possess eternal life and who shall never perish.
Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John: an expositional commentary (pp. 777–788). Baker Books.
God Is in Control We all think we are in control. We are not. God is in control. Sometimes, it washes over you, almost knocks you over. It is also consoling. On a recent trip to DC, God’s all-knowing hit me hard again. Entering that DC airport, a strong feeling, powerful. It was specific and out of nowhere. You are on a no-name airline. If any plane is hijacked today, it will not be yours.
US reportedly strikes Islamic State targets in Syria Today, 11:59 pm The US military launched airstrikes against several Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday, The New York Times reports, citing a US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The strike comes nearly a week after two US troops and an American civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria after an extremist member of Syrian security forces opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol.
IMPEACHMENT MADNESS: Democrats Prove They Have No Real Interest in Governing flimsy pretexts the Democrats used to impeach President Trump twice during his first term. Indeed, the second impeachment was so absurd that Chief Justice John Roberts refused to preside over the Senate trial. Moreover, it is manifestly obvious that the Democrats still suffer from impeachment fever. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) has already introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump twice during the first year of his second term, and 140 Democrats voted in favor of impeachment only one week ago.
Maersk ships traverses Red Sea for first time in 2 years as Yemen’s Houthis hold fire Danish shipping company Maersk said on Friday that one of its vessels had successfully navigated the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time in nearly two years, as shipping companies weigh returning to the critical Asia-Europe trade corridor.
‘From the river to the sea’ chant is antisemitic, says France’s human rights envoy Some chants routinely heard at anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests around the world are antisemitic, said France’s human rights ambassador, two days after 15 people were killed in a shooting attack at a Sydney Hanukkah event. “‘From the river to the sea.’ We consider that to have an antisemitic purpose,” Isabelle Lonvis-Rome told The Times of Israel during an interview in Jaffa. “That’s clear.”
Top constitutional lawyer warns against Liberal bills that could turn Canada into ‘police state’ One of Canada’s top constitutional legal experts has warned that freedom in the nation is “dying slowly” because of a host of laws both passed and now proposed by the Liberal federal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying it is “up to citizens” to urge lawmakers to reverse course. “How did the United Kingdom end up arresting thousands of its citizens (more than 30 per day) over their Facebook, X, and other social media posts? This Orwellian nightmare was achieved one small step at a time. No single step was deemed worthy of fierce and effective opposition by British citizens,” he warned.
Operation Narnia – Israel’s secret plan to eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons program Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump began planning their joint strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during Netanyahu’s February visit to the White House. According to that report, when the two leaders met, Netanyahu presented Trump with four possible attack scenarios for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, which both countries assessed was aimed at developing a nuclear weapon.
Christmas is coming back to Israel, and that matters more than tourism This Christmas season marks something Israel has not seen in far too long: the return of tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims to the places where their faith was born. After months of war, uncertainty, and isolation, the Ministry of Tourism is preparing for roughly 130,000 visitors in December, including about 40,000 Christians arriving to celebrate Christmas in Israel.
IDF reveals stunning details of operation to capture captain of Hezbollah’s ‘terror boat’ project Over a year after Israeli forces captured a Hezbollah terrorist in one of the most daring raids of the war, the Israel Defense Forces published new information highlighting the importance of the capture of sea captain Imad Amhaz. Amhaz had been seized from his bed by Israeli commandos from the elite Shayetet 13 unit – often compared to the U.S. Navy SEALS – in the town of Batroun, about 140 km (87 miles) north of the Israeli border, in a raid dubbed “Operation Behind the Back.”
Rubio: No peace if Hamas retains the ability to attack Israel US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a press conference on Friday that the United States will not commit to specific terms of a Hamas disarmament plan but emphasized that any arrangement must ensure the terror group cannot threaten Israel. Asked whether Washington could accept Hamas’s reported willingness to surrender its heavy weapons while retaining lighter ones, Rubio said, “I’m not going to get into the details of those types of negotiations.”
US to move ahead with Gaza governance board and stabilization force, Rubio says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that a new governance structure for Gaza, made up of an international board and a group of Palestinian technocrats, would be in place soon, followed by the deployment of foreign troops, as the US hopes to cement a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Rubio, speaking at a year-end news conference, said the status quo was not sustainable in Gaza,
Israel Police chief calls for return of last slain hostage Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levi recounted the bravery of officer Gvili before he fell in battle on Oct. 7, 2023, fighting dozens of terrorists who invaded southern Israel. “Ran did not hesitate. He left his home, even though he was injured, fought with courage and saved many lives. And today, we pray together for his return,” Levi said.
The Legalization Of Euthanasia: Illinois And New York Embrace The Culture of Death Within a single week, the governors of Illinois and New York both announced their support for physician-assisted suicide legislation. In Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker (D) signed a bill legalizing the practice last Friday. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul (D) announced yesterday that she has reached an agreement with the state legislature and will sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act in January 2026. With these developments, Illinois and New York join 11 other states and Washington, D.C., that have already authorized physician-assisted suicide.
Franklin Graham Delivers Message At Pentagon’s First-Ever ‘Christmas Worship Service’ The Department of War hosted the Pentagon’s first “Christmas Worship Service” on Wednesday, with both military and civilians gathering in the center courtyard to sing songs of praise to God and hear a presentation of the Gospel message from evangelist Franklin Graham. The historic event came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth began conducting monthly Christian prayer services in May of this year—one of which was hosted by Edward Graham.
Justice Department Quietly Reverses Clinton-Era Rule On Immigrant Welfare Benefits Earlier this week, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel quietly reversed a Clinton-era legal opinion that had sharply limited when immigrants could be denied federal welfare benefits. The earlier interpretation narrowed the law so much, critics say, that it allowed many immigrants – including some who were not lawfully eligible – to continue receiving benefits Congress intended to restrict. The new DOJ opinion restores a broader reading of the law, potentially expanding waiting periods for benefits, strengthening sponsor repayment requirements, and closing loopholes that have existed since the late 1990s.
Trump Halts Diversity Green Card Lottery After Brown, MIT Shootings Trace To Non-Citizen President Trump ordered the suspension of the U.S. green card diversity lottery after federal investigators said the suspect in the Brown University shooting and the killing of an MIT nuclear scientist was a non-citizen who entered the country through the program. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in an X post late Thursday that, at Trump’s direction, she had ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program. “In 2017, President Trump fought to end this program, following the devastating NYC truck ramming by an ISIS terrorist, who entered under the DV1 program, and murdered eight people,” Noem noted.
Coast-to-coast storm with 232 km/h (144 mph) gusts leaves 1 dead, 2 injured across Northwest and Rockies A powerful windstorm with gusts reaching 232 km/h (144 mph) battered parts of the Pacific Northwest and Rockies this week, leaving one dead, two injured, and hundreds of thousands without power by December 18, 2025. The deep low-pressure system continues moving east toward the northern Plains and Midwest, sustaining severe winds and wildfire risks.
The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Pummeled by Trillions of Gallons of Rain, Wind Speeds of up to 144 Mph, and Flooding That Will Close Roads for Months The slow-motion disaster that we are witnessing on the west coast is unlike anything we have ever seen before. A series of atmospheric rivers has already dumped trillions of gallons of water on the region, and trillions of gallons of additional water will fall before the end of the year. This has caused some rivers to rise to the highest levels that we have ever seen. Meanwhile, some areas in the Northwest have been repeatedly pummeled by extremely high winds. As you will see below, some of the wind speeds that have been recorded are difficult to believe. For a long time I have been warning my readers that weather patterns have been going nuts all over the globe, but of course many people will never be convinced until it actually happens where they live. For tens of millions of Americans that live along the west coast, a wake up call has finally arrived.
TWO MORE Islamic Terror Attacks Against Christmas Markets Foiled In Europe Authorities across Europe have thwarted two more Islamist-inspired terror plots targeting Christmas markets in as many days, with arrests in Germany and Poland adding to a relentless wave of threats that has placed the West under daily assault from radical extremists intent on exploiting open borders and soft security measures.
Zohran Mamdani Appointee Resigns After Antisemitic Social Media Posts Emerge Wow, New York City, you sure did elect a winner to be your next mayor. As The New York Post reported earlier this week, Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani had tapped “a controversial lawyer who defended an al Qaeda terrorist and a radical anti-Israel campus leader at Columbia for a ‘high-ranking’ position at City Hall.” Now, we’re hearing that another Mamdani appointee has already resigned after antisemitic social media posts were unearthed.
Franklin Graham Delivers Message At Pentagon’s First-Ever ‘Christmas Worship Service’ The Department of War hosted the Pentagon’s first “Christmas Worship Service” on Wednesday, with both military and civilians gathering in the center courtyard to sing songs of praise to God and hear a presentation of the Gospel message from evangelist Franklin Graham.
Tennessee Christmas Parade Blocks Participation Of Gay Pride Group …The movement has not limited itself to fake churches with “gay pastors”, they have also been targeting Christmas events and symbolism. By saturating every aspect of American life LGBT groups hope to normalize their ideology, but they are really just pissing people off. The public, no longer fearing reprisals from the cancel culture mob, are finally saying no.
DOJ Releases Epstein Files, More to Come on “Rolling Basis” – The New American The Justice Dept released to the public and posted hundreds of thousands of Epstein File documents to the agency website today. But the release doesn’t comply with the law Congress passed — and President Trump signed — requiring their release by Dec. 19. In a letter to Congress, Deputy Attorney General Blanche explained that DOJ will release more documents on a “rolling” basis, and that collating and vetting all the documents that can legally be released with respect to privilege or classification wasn’t possible within the law’s 30-day time frame.
NY Times Declares War on Homeschooling The December 14 New York Times piece, headlined Home-Schooled Kids Are Not All Right, calls for massive new government controls over homeschool families. It comes just weeks after the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a report demanding such regulation worldwide under the guise of “human rights.”
Democrat Rep Seth Moulton Admits His Party Is ‘Out Of Touch.’ Moulton said Democrats largely ignored many issues facing the country throughout former President Biden’s administration, including immigration, which led Americans to largely have negative views of the party. A national survey from Quinnipiac University found that a record-low 18% of voters approved of how congressional Democrats were handling their jobs.
Liberty: The Gift of Christmas Mark Alexander With a heart of gratitude for the eternal Hand of Providence, for the Light of the world!
The President Vigorously Defends His First Year Nate Jackson Donald Trump has had a pretty successful 11 months on many fronts, but reality doesn’t quite match his hyperbole. Can he convince voters?
The ‘Jesus Is a Refugee’ Heresy Emmy Griffin Leftists are attempting to hijack the miracle of Christ’s birth for the purposes of creating distractions and spiritually manipulating the ignorant.
Ford EVs Found on Road Dead Brian Mark Weber The auto giant has decided to cut its (huge) losses on electric vehicles after the Trump administration cut regulations and Congress dumped subsidies.
Incentivized Entitlement Fraud Thomas Gallatin Minnesota’s massive and growing welfare fraud scandal demonstrates the reality that the entitlement state has gotten too big and unaccountable.
The Sordid Tale of Ilhan Omar Continues Michael Swartz You can take the Minneapolis representative out of Somalia, but you can’t take the Somalia out of the Minneapolis representative.
Mogadishu on the Mississippi Michael Smith The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and flows south for 2,552 miles until it reaches the Gulf of America. Water isn’t the only thing flowing down from Minnesota.
Trump Repositions Pot Douglas Andrews The president’s executive order seeks to reclassify marijuana as less dangerous while at the same time ramping up our efforts toward medical research.
Violence — ‘Gun’ and Other Jack DeVine Some people are finding ever more creative ways to harm one another. It’s time to confront the underlying problem.
What’s Up With Susie Wiles and Vanity Fair? Thomas Gallatin A predictable hit piece may be another opportunity for Trump to hit the Leftmedia with the latest in a string of lawsuits.
Europe Is Our DEW Line Douglas Andrews We should all be paying attention to a scathing national-security report from the Trump administration, which puts Europe on notice for its civilizational decline.
Parenting Adult Children Can Be Heartbreaking Emmy Griffin Parents, particularly moms, on the receiving end of “no contact” from their adult children have had it. But the only solution that will lead to reconciliation is God’s grace.
QUOTES You Can’t Make This Stuff Up “The director general of ASIO [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] has warned about a range of threats, be it … the rise of right-wing extremist groups…” —Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after innocent Jewish civilians were attacked by Islamists Tone-Deaf “Of course, I’m going to say a few words about the terrible shooting in Sydney, Australia. Okay? So — and first, of course, as I always say, no matter what, go Bills! They beat the Patriots today. It’s a big deal.” —Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste “Donald Trump has been engaged in a deliberate and dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country.” —Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) blaming Trump for the Brown University shooting Fact-Check: False “I don’t want to hear, ‘How do you define assault weapon?’ I d**n sure can assign what it is and describe what it is and tell you what it does.” —Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Spin Doctor “If this bill becomes law, doctors, pharmacists, and — in some circumstances — the parents of young trans people, would face time in prison for choosing to prioritize their child’s health.” —Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) describing a bill to punish those who mutilate children in the name of “gender-affirming care” Foot in Mouth Syndrome “We should call this obsession with your kids and what treatment they’re getting in a pediatrician’s office what it is: it’s creepy.” —Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) inadvertently admitting that she doesn’t think your kid’s medical treatment is your business Fearmongering “We may not have a fair and free election in this country — I mean that — if we’re not successful in 2026 getting back the House of Representatives.” —California Gov. Gavin Newsom Non Compos Mentis “These boats carry not fentanyl. I mean, they carry cocaine … and these routes mostly take drugs to Europe and western Africa. These operations are not making us more safe.” —Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) World’s Smallest Violin “This is a very cruel, inhumane immigration policy that he is putting in place.” —Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on President Trump extending his travel ban Dumb & Dumber “[ICE is] arresting people simply for the offense of being in the country illegally.” —Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) “We do not move to America because we think it’s a better country. We move here because it’s a little less worse than our other countries. … We have better vibes, music, food, culture, history.” —social media influencer Montse Lewin Clown World “I, for one, am a firm supporter in any legislation that increases tribal sovereignty for the indigenous population here in Maine. I also am a firm supporter of any legislation on the federal level that begins to give more, frankly, land back to the indigenous peoples that was taken from them.” —Senate candidate Graham Platner (D-ME) The BIG Lies “I don’t know anyone who justified his death.” —Don Lemon on Charlie Kirk “The person that I heard that justified his death was him.” —podcaster Jennifer Welch on Charlie Kirk Shot/Chaser “I’ve never been for a shutdown in terms of just getting our way.” —Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) “Let’s be clear: You voted to keep the government shut down.” —Fox News host Maria Bartiromo Pearl-Clutching “You want something to investigate as a legislature? Investigate how many times they called me the N-word.” —Fulton County DA Fani Willis trying to distract from the investigation of her corruption Stranger Than Fiction “What’s the point of food stamps if it’s just for real food?” —a Missouri food-stamp recipient Belly Laughs of the Week “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat.” —former Special Counsel Jack Smith on his political persecution of Donald Trump “We strongly and rightly believed that there should be an absolute separation between what we wanted as an administration and what the Department of Justice did.” —former VP Kamala Harris on the Biden DOJ not releasing the Epstein files For more insightful quotes, see our Short Cuts.
Here’s a selection of stories Jim presented during the first half-hour of this edition of the News Round-Up & Comment program:
–Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, released a video on Tuesday evening announcing immediate changes to directives given to military chaplains. He described the original intent of chaplains, that they are to be the spiritual and the moral backbone of our nation’s forces. Jim provided audio from the secretary.
–This past Wednesday, Pete Hegseth hosted the first ever Pentagon Christmas worship service. Jim provided audio from U.S. Navy Admiral and Chaplain, Carey Cash.
–Authorities have identified the suspect in Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine injured during a finals week review session as the same man believed to have carried out the murder of a renowned nuclear scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
–Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan was found guilty of a felony charge of obstruction by a jury yesterday in a case involving the judge’s actions related to the defendant in her court that ICE officials were attempting to arrest outside the courtroom.
–House Republicans successfully passed a premium-slashing health care package on Wednesday, overcoming a late breaking revolt from House GOP moderates.
–Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declined Tuesday to rule out triggering another government shutdown as Democrats press Republicans to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.
–President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act yesterday authoring some 901 billion dollars in military and national security programs for fiscal year 2026.
–The fifth person arrested in a foiled plot for a New Year’s Eve bombing is a transgender Marine veteran and former cop who wanted to recreate WACO against ICE agents.
–Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is taking steps to push back against what he described as “sex rejecting” transgender procedures for minors.
–The House of Representatives passed legislation late Wednesday evening that would criminalize gender transition procedures for minors, making a significant victory for conservatives who argue that the federal government must step in to protect children from irreversible medical procedures.
–San Diego Unified School District is justifying lessons about dozens of novel sexual orientations as age appropriate.
–The Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a California Christian baker who was prosecuted for refusing on religious grounds to create a custom wedding cake celebrating a same-sex marriage.
–Teachers unions are using schools as breeding grounds for social justice activism.
–Thanks to a lawsuit from a pro-life organization, the liberal state of Massachusetts has been forced to allow Christian couples to do foster care.
–6th grade students at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland, were exposed to a slide show commemorating Transgender Awareness Week.
Nonsensical Science The current mode of thinking in our world is materialism. The word has two definitions. One is the obvious “I always want more.” The other is the existential meaning that all things are a product of matter, not … spiritual or especially not God. I’m talking about the latter. So the news item about polar bears is bizarre. The story says that “new research suggests polar bears are rapidly rewiring their own genetics in a bid to survive.” It’s about how their genetics are changing to survive climate change. It’s fascinating that the story is framed to suggest polar bears are consciously altering their own genes (“rewiring their own genetics”). But it happens all the time. Watch a nature documentary about seemingly miraculous things in life and they can’t avoid saying how this or that is “designed” for such and such … all the while denying design. As if “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them” (Rom 1:19).
The Passing of a Director Rob Reiner, actor, director, activist, philanthropist, and more, and his wife were found dead Sunday from stab wounds in their home in Los Angeles. Police have arrested and charged Nick Reiner, their son. (It seems as if no one can escape being excoriated at death.)
Unhappy Hannukah The “religion of peace” strikes again. At Bondi Beach in Australia a Hannukah party was attacked by a gunman associated with ISIS killing nearly two dozen people. Related, at least in terms of terrorism and Islamic leanings, the FBI foiled a New Year’s Eve terror plot planned across southern California by a pro-Palestinian,, anti-government group to bomb at least five locations. Remember, people — ideologies, hearts, intents — are the problem, not the particular weapons they use.
Your Best Source for Fake News The Bee reports on a groundbreaking study that finds that it’s remotely possible that some Islamophobia may be caused by … Muslims killing people a lot. I’m just sayin’. To those parents who are struggling to figure out what to get their kids for Christmas, President Trump has suggested that … maybe … bad kids don’t deserve presents. Expect a run on coal. And the Bee apparently copied a story I did myself.
Jesus is kind of bummed at being born on December 25th, since His birthday will be overshadowed by Christmas every year.
(My daughter was actually born on Christmas. I gave her a card like this on her birthday one year.)
The Department of Justice released a trove of files after The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by President Trump on Nov. 19, 2025, required Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all unclassified records, communications and investigative materials related to Epstein within 30 days.
The agency posted thousands of pages on a government website Friday related to Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking cases. The files were released as the result of a deadline imposed by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Many celebrities appear in photos from the Department of Justice’s file release; inclusion in the photos does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Motown legend, Diana Ross, is seen in one of the photos released by the Department of Justice on Friday.
Former president, Bill Clinton, is also pictured standing with his arm around Michael Jackson.
Per Sky News, newly released photos by the Department of Justice also show Jackson posing for a photo with Epstein in front of a painting.
Inclusion in the files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Jackson’s estate and Ross’s rep for comment.
A representative for Clinton referred People magazine to a statement posted to X by Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Ureña.
“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,” the post read. “This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be. Even Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton.”
The statement continues: “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that. Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.”
Mick Jagger was additionally seen in photos released on Friday.
One of the photos shows the Rolling Stones frontman sitting between Epstein and Clinton. Another photo sees Jagger posing with Clinton and an unknown woman whose face was blacked out.
Another photo features him sitting next to Maxwell.
Inclusion in the files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Jagger’s rep for comment.
“Rush Hour” star, Chris Tucker, can be seen in one of the photographs released on Friday, with Maxwell, per Sky News.
Inclusion in the files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Tucker’s rep for comment.
Two of the pictures found in the newly released photos feature Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York.
In one of the photos, Ferguson is standing next to an unknown woman on the street, and the other shows her sitting in a room next to a woman whose face has been blacked out.
Inclusion in the files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Ferguson’s rep for comment.
A photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor standing next to Bill Gates was already included in pictures released earlier this month.
The latest drop of photos features another picture of the former prince. In this black and white photo, Andrew is lying down on the laps of five people, whose faces have all been blacked out, while Maxwell and a sixth unknown person with their face blacked out stand behind them.
Inclusion in the files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at 41 years old, was one of the most prominent accusers of the alleged sex trafficker Epstein, along with his convicted accomplice Maxwell, and their friend, former Prince Andrew.
Giuffre notably accused Andrew of sexual exploitation in 2021. He settled a lawsuit with her in 2022 while denying the allegation.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Andrew’s rep for comment.
Actor Kevin Spacey can also be seen in one of the photos, which features him walking in a suit with Clinton behind him.
A second photo shows Spacey and Clinton standing next to each other, with a few other unidentified men.
Inclusion in the files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Spacey’s rep for comment.
I joined Del Bigtree in studio on The HighWire to discuss what the data now make unavoidable: the CDC’s 81-dose hyper-vaccination schedule is driving the modern epidemics of chronic disease and autism.
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This was not a philosophical debate or a clash of opinions. We walked through irrefutable, peer-reviewed evidence showing that whenever vaccinated and unvaccinated children are compared directly, the unvaccinated group is far healthier—every single time.
Reanalyzing the Largest Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Birth-Cohort Study Ever Conducted
At the center of our discussion was our peer-reviewed reanalysis of the Henry Ford Health System vaccinated vs. unvaccinated birth-cohort study (Lamerato et al.)—the largest and most rigorous comparison of its kind ever conducted.
The original authors relied heavily on Cox proportional hazards models, a time-adjusted approach that can soften absolute disease burden. Even so, nearly all chronic disease outcomes were higher in vaccinated children.
Our reanalysis used direct proportional comparisons, stripping away the smoothing and revealing the full magnitude of the signal.
All 22 chronic disease categories favored the unvaccinated cohort when proportional disease burden was examined
Cancer incidence was 54% higher in vaccinated children (0.0102 vs. 0.0066)
When autism-associated conditions were grouped appropriately—including autism, ADHD, developmental delay, learning disability, speech disorder, neurologic impairment, seizures, and related diagnoses—the vaccinated cohort showed a 549% higher odds of autism-spectrum–associated clinical outcomes
The findings are internally consistent, biologically coherent, and concordant with every prior vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study, all of which show drastically poorer health outcomes among vaccinated children
The 12 Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Studies Regulators Ignore
Every single one reports the same overall pattern. Across all 12 studies, unvaccinated children consistently exhibit substantially lower rates of chronic disease, including:
Autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders
ADHD, tics, learning and speech disorders
Asthma, allergies, eczema, and autoimmune conditions
Chronic ear infections, skin disorders, and gastrointestinal illness
This level of consistency across independent datasets is precisely what epidemiology looks for when assessing causality. It also explains why no federal agency has ever conducted—or endorsed—a fully vaccinated vs. fully unvaccinated safety study.
Flu Shot Failure
We also addressed the persistent failure of seasonal influenza vaccination.
82.1% of employees were vaccinated against influenza
Vaccinated individuals had a 27% higher adjusted risk of influenza compared with the unvaccinated state (HR 1.27; 95% CI 1.07–1.51; p = 0.007)
This corresponded to a negative vaccine effectiveness of −26.9% (95% CI −55.0 to −6.6%), meaning vaccination was associated with increased—not reduced—risk of influenza
When vaccination exposure increases, chronic disease, neurodevelopmental disorders, and inflammatory illness increase with it. When children are unvaccinated, they are measurably healthier across virtually every outcome that matters.
The science needed to confront the chronic disease and autism epidemics already exists. What remains is the willingness to acknowledge it.
The following is a transcript of Fox News commentator Mark Levin’s opening statement from the Dec. 14 episode of “Life, Liberty & Levin.”
The shooting at Brown, two dead students, others wounded. Terrible, terrible, terrible, and our soldiers murdered in Syria. I mean this is serious stuff, and I know our president will deal with what took place in Syria.
We are going to have to figure out how to deal with these colleges and universities. I am not sure but that we do need to figure out. And also this slaughter that took place in Australia.
You know, ladies and gentlemen, people have written books, Hitler’s American Friends, The Abandonment of the Jews, Beyond Belief, Buried by the Times, Stalin’s Apologist. People say that history repeats itself. Is that going to happen now? I fear it damn well might. You have two men slaughtering Jews on Chanukah. You know what it reminded me of? When I watch Schindler’s List, and that colonel goes on the balcony with a rifle. There are Jews in the field and they are working in the camp and he takes his riffle and he starts picking them off one by one as if he is shooting at deer or hogs or something like that.
With a United Nations that is nothing but a cesspool of Jew-hatred, the vast majority of European governments, left-wing governments, are appeasers of Islamists. You have Communist regimes such as China that arm our enemies and arm the enemies of Israel, stoking antisemitism in our own country. You have fascist regimes that are doing exactly the same thing. Monarchies in the Middle East. We have a Western press that is essentially a voice for Marxists and sympathetic toward Islamism, spreading blood libels, accusing Israel of committing genocide knowing they are using false information that Israel is creating famines, executing innocent civilians blowing up hospitals, schools and mosques.
Everybody knows exactly what is going on. Israel is not going in and doing these things. Israel is defending itself for the zillionth time against enemies that surround her trying to obliterate her and destroy all of its people. The Marxist paradigm of Israel the oppressor and its enemies the oppressed. A lie that Israel is occupying lands that are in fact the ancient, indigenous lands of the Jewish people. Do you have a Bible on your night table? If you read it, it will tell you right there, as will the rest of history.
China, Russia, Iran, that axis funding and supporting the terrorist regimes and groups secreting themselves into the internet, social media like TikTok. Qatar, the greatest funder and supporter of terrorism and antisemitic propaganda on the planet, funding Western colleges and universities—our colleges and universities—with tens of billions of dollars, targeting our K-12 students, buying off corporate CEOs, buying off politicians and law firms, media podcasters, NGOs, the entertainment industry, sports leagues and platforms with hundreds of billions of dollars.
Lenin never said this, but he is said to have said that “We will hang the West and the capitalists. We will sell them the rope by which they do it.” That’s what they are doing: Representing one face to the West, the Qataris present another face to their jihadi allies in Iran, in Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, giving Hamas terror bosses protection, Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban. All the rest. Funding Al Jazeera, which spreads poison about Israel to hundreds of millions of Muslims and others including in our country.
Communist China, the second-biggest funder of antisemitism around the world, has footholds in our colleges and universities with their Confucius Institutes also spending tens of billions of dollars to brainwash our youth.
Left-wing movements and political parties all throughout the West have joined with the Islamists, what I have been calling and writing about for a long time now, that is the fusion between the Marxists and the Islamists with the goal of destroying Western society, the Judeo-Christian value system and our belief system that undergirds our nation, first by destroying the Judeo part, then by destroying the Christian part. Europe’s left-wing parties, so-called Labor and Liberal parties, kowtow to the Islamists, as does our left-wing party, the Democrat Party.
But it is worse. In addition to the Marxist-Islamic radicals, we have a neo-Fascist force in our country and in other countries that has sprung up that preaches the same Jew-hatred, Christian-hatred, American-hatred and Western-hatred, as the Marxist-Islamists. They all share the same viewpoint and together what they seek is the deconstruction of Western society.
Our culture—the Western culture—is being destroyed. The civil society, tolerance, moderation, rational discourse, the competition of ideas are being smothered. The Marxists attack our founding principles, our Constitution, our economic system, our free will, our liberty, our property rights, and everything necessary for a civil society to thrive as they promise a utopia, a workers’ paradise, free healthcare, housing, food, education. How many people have to die by Marxist promises? Stalin’s 1936 Constitution was absolutely beautiful. It meant nothing. Nothing.
The Islamists claim compliance with their fundamentalism whether you be Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or atheist. Even Muslims who reject fundamentalism and who have been slaughtered because they oppose these Islamists—slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands, by killers who claim the same faith. Jews are slaughtered in Israel and around the world, slaughtered in Australia. Christians are slaughtered in Africa and around the world. Muslims are slaughtered in Africa, in parts of the Middle East. And most of the West is weak. Politically incorrect. Look around.
There are a few voices. Not enough, not enough. So, what’s going on? Appeasing with phony agreements an enemy from within and worse. Embracing the fundamentalists and promoting them in hopes of buying some kind of peace. The ruling class in the West is weak and incompetent. In fact, despite the public and open writings and speeches of Islamists leaders encouraging revolution by immigration that is conquering the West through mass migration and using the freedoms and laws of the West against the freedom of laws in the West, using the political system and media against the political system and free speech.
The Western countries—our country in the past—eliminates immigration barriers and actually contorts the rules to ensure that virtually anyone who wishes to migrate to the United States—before Trump—or a Western country is free to do so. No longer is immigration based on what is best for the existing citizenry, no, no, no, that is racist, that is bigotry. As I have explained for years, there is no assimilation into Western society, into our country, values, beliefs, norms and traditions of our country.
Immigration has become tribal. Tribal. The West we are told most accommodate other cultures. Oh yes. By tolerating if not accepting their cultures.
But the jihadist, Islamist culture and our culture are utterly incompatible. Completely. We embrace the Judeo-Christian value-and-belief system and the enlightenment. They embrace none of it. It is interesting that Indonesia, the largest Muslim country on the face of the Earth with a quarter of a billion Muslims, that’s not a terror state. Terrorist groups are not headquartered there. They don’t put up with it. Yet Qatar with 330,000 citizens is the hub of it all, with the regimes in Iran and Turkey among other places. Again, the reason is simple: Indonesia actively and successfully counters terrorism and is a stable, democratic nation that does not use terrorism as a tool of the state or for its policy. In fact, it is a key international partner in counter-terrorism efforts.
For the Democrat Party, immigration is about power, it’s that simple. It’s about adding congressional districts, the Electoral College, birthright citizenship, chain migration. The party comes before the country. They will fight to the bitter end to ensure that illegal aliens remain in our country no matter the cost. They will never do what must be done to stem the flow of immigration and its impact. Never.
Australia is very similar, so are most of the liberal Western countries. The left-wing parties in England, France, Canada, Australia, they are of the same mindset politically and otherwise. The left-wing government of Australia has been warned over and over again that it is fueling Jew- hatred. That its statements and policies toward Israel are encouraging terrorism against Jews. About its support for a Palestinian state when the Palestinians are fighting a war against Israel. Like most of these Western countries, as a matter of fact it is sending exactly the wrong message to terrorists.
And most of the Australian media, like our media and Europe’s media, kept promoting these blood libels against the Jews and the nation of Israel. The lies about October 7 and the subsequent war pushed by Qatar, Hamas, Iran, Russia, China and a huge network of well-funded NGOs and other media outlets, podcasters, were leading to threats, intimidation and violence by large mobs against Jews. We’ve seen it on TV; we’ve seen it in our own communities. There is not another minority group in which this takes place, relentlessly and repeatedly. Like one Kristallnacht after another after another.
And now this: This massacre of Jews on Chanukah, on the first night of Chanukah, picked off with high-powered rifles. You would think that the West would be much on alert about this. Just two years and two months after Jews were slaughtered and butchered and raped and kidnapped on October 7; death by torture, starvation and execution of the hostages all filmed and celebrated. The dehumanization, the inhumanity, the unspeakable.
You would think that the West would have learned a lesson. But no. The slaughter of Black Christians by Black Muslims in Africa with nary a word. The slaughter of Uyghur Muslims by Communist China. Muslims in Syria and Yemen slaughtered by hundreds of thousands by the Islamists, the world mostly sleeps or worse, appeases. What will it take to awaken us? Our politicians, our so-called leaders.
This is a battle between civilization and barbarism. Unfortunately, history tells us that the West will eventually awaken but too late. That is not until so much horror has been inflicted on humanity by this evil. I am deeply troubled by the lack of outrage in our country, by leaders in every walk of life, against these dark forces that are among us in our own country, these political movements, politicians, business leaders, union leaders, academics, so cowardly they will not speak out forcefully and repeatedly against the poison that we all hear that we all see. This evil has become in our country ubiquitous. Apart from a relative few, I must ask where are they? Why do they cower? Why are they silent?
Our generation has the benefit of knowing what took place in the 1930s. We know what took place in China, Mao’s China, we know what took place in Stalin’s Russia. We are witnesses to 9/11 and other terrorist attacks against our people. We saw what happened to the Israelis on October 7.
Why do so-called leaders refuse to speak out and condemn those who spread Jew-hatred in our country right now when it is all around us, the so-called influencers, podcasters, students’ groups, imams, commentators and hosts. They trash evangelical Christians too. Who identify as Christians Zionists. They are Righteous Gentiles but they are attacked. Why are people silent when they deny the Holocaust, sympathize with the Third Reich and demonize the Greatest Generation. Look at the murders of these two young people in Washington who worked at the Israeli embassy or the setting on fire of Jews in Colorado or the slaughter of Jews at a synagogue in Pittsburgh or the chasing of Jews on college campuses. That’s not America and it spreads to other groups to other people.
We are Americans. We must stand for Americanism, for our principles, for our values, for our future, we must protect ourselves, our children and future generations from the enemy outside and the enemy within. If our leaders, whether in politics or culture, cannot, then we must replace them. Shame on the prime minster of Australia who was warned time and again, shame on the other prime ministers and presidents or whatever they are in these other countries. They learned nothing from what went on 80 short years ago. How do they think this is going to end if they don’t stand up and fight it?
And I am proud to say that we have a president of the United States who is standing up and fighting it. He is fighting it in the culture, he is fighting it in politics, he is fighting it in the border. He is fighting it. If we only had more Donald Trumps in these countries. A lot of people died today. We pray for them and all their families. But we must be resolute we must be strong. We must demand that the ruling class do more.
From Fox News’ “Life Liberty & Levin,” Dec. 14, 2025.
“Too many of these children were exploited, trafficked and abused. We will continue to ramp up efforts and will not stop until every last child is found,” Noem says
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