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
And I saw that all labor and achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:4
How accurately this records what is happening in human history! People really do not want things; they want to be admired for the things they have. What they want is not the new car itself but to hear their neighbors say, How lucky you are to have such a beautiful car!
I clipped from Newsweek magazine an article by a reporter on life in Washington, D.C. Here is what she says drives people in the nation’s capital: Ambition is the raving and insatiable beast that most often demands to be fed in this town. The setting is less likely to be some posh restaurant or glitzy nightclub than a wholly unremarkable glass office building, or an inner sanctum somewhere in the federal complex. The reward in the transaction is frequently not currency at all, but power, perquisites, and ego massage. For this, the whole agglomeration of psychological payoffs, there are people who will sell out almost anything, including their self-respect, if any, and the well being of thousands of others.
This quote confirms exactly what this ancient Searcher is saying. The drive to be admired is the true objective of life. But, he says, this too is meaningless, a chasing after wind.
Sometimes, however, when people become aware of this, they flip over to the opposite extreme: they drop out of society, and let the government support them. But that is not the answer either, the Searcher says: The fool folds his hands and ruins himself (Ecclesiastes 4:5). Many young people who were part of the youth revolution, the counterculture society, have found this to be true: that when you sit in idleness you ruin yourself, your resources disappear, and your self-respect vanishes. They had to learn the painful lesson that the only way to maintain themselves, even physically, let alone psychologically, was to go to work and stop ruining themselves.
It would be much better, says the Searcher, to lower your expectations and choose a less ambitious lifestyle: Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind (Ecclesiastes 4:6).
Yet so powerful is ambition and the desire to be envied that people actually keep working and toiling even when they have no one to leave their riches to: Again, I saw something meaningless under the sun: There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. ‘For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment’? This too is meaningless–a miserable business (Ecclesiastes 4:7-8)!
How true! Some people keep on toiling although they have no one to work for and nothing to do with the money they make. They even deny themselves the pleasures of life in order to keep laying up funds. What a sharp example is given to us in the story of billionaire Howard Hughes. He did not know what to do with his money. His heirs, whom nobody can even identify for certain, are left to squabble over it. Such is the folly of toiling for riches.
Lord, forgive me when the motive of my work is simply to be seen and recognized. Teach me to invest my life in that which matters.
Life Application
To what degree are admiration and ambition a driving force behind our activity in life? Do we need to redirect our motivation & resources to invest in things that matter?
1 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.
2 And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.
3 But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
4 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
5 The fool folds his hands and ruins himself.
6 Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
7 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
8 There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless— a miserable business!
If you’ve been a reader of these devotions for some time, you know there are days when the Word just penetrates my heart—often with things I’ve read many times before, but that for some reason give me pause on a given day. Today is one of those days.
In the Old Testament chapters we’ve read today, notice this recurrent theme:
“Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Lev 19:2)
“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.” (Lev 20:7)
“You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be mine.” (Lev 20:26)
Actually, the word “holy” occurs 40 times to this point in the book of Leviticus – so you’ve seen this trend before. I think what caught my attention today is the simple reminder that God chose to call His people to holiness so many times because they tended to forget it–or ignore it.
So do you and I, I suspect. Many of us can at times forget, ignore, or take for granted even the most important spiritual things. I can speak only for myself, but I, too, need this repetition.
Matthew 27:62-64 In this week’s lessons we look at various ways Christ’s enemies opposed Him, but that He rose victoriously on the first day of the week.
Theme
Plans Against the Third Day
It’s a strange fact about Christianity, but one that we can easily observe, that the Gospel is sometimes better understood by those who are not Christians than by those who are. It’s not that those who are not Christians believe it. They probably disbelieve it, but at least they understand what it’s about while those who are Christians and do believe sometimes appear vague and muddleheaded in their confession.
We certainly have an example of that in the passage which is our text. Because while those who are Christ’s disciples were confused about His death and were scattering back to their homes, those who were His enemies reflected clearly on the things that He had been teaching during the days of His earthly ministry and began to guard against any claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. It wasn’t that they believed in the resurrection—though I believe they feared it—but they did remember that He had said while He was alive that he would rise again on the third day and therefore, lest there be any accident, anything that would be destructive to them and their place in society, they determined to do everything in their power to see that nothing happened. And so they went to Pilate, who was in charge of Jesus’ execution and burial, and remind him of this particular teaching and ask that the tomb of Jesus Christ be sealed and soldiers be posted as a guard.
The next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first” (Matt. 27:62-64).
I don’t know what Pilate thought when he heard that request, but I suspect that he must have been amused. Obviously if Christ was only a man, a mere man, then it wasn’t necessary to guard Him. He was dead. On the other hand, if He was God as He claimed to be (and perhaps about which Pilate himself had some intimation because of the trial), then all the guards and all the seals in the world would never keep Him down.
He granted their request. He said, “Take a guard. Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” And that’s what they did. They went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting a guard.
I find those verses very interesting. In the first place, they show as I’ve already indicated that these enemies of our Lord understood something about His teaching—perhaps in some ways the most important thing about His teaching—because connected with this prophecy of the resurrection and the doctrine of the resurrection is involved practically all of the great truths of the Christian religion. We have to remember that this phrase “in three days” or “on the third day” was something that had been cropping up again and again throughout Christ’s ministry and which had figured prominently in the trial.
Early in the trial there had been a number of illegalities: the arrest by night, the lack of a formal charge before the trial, the conduct of the trial itself, including the intervention of the high priest, and the absence of any defense. But in spite of all of these obvious illegalities, there ran underneath the conduct of the trial a certain current of legality in the sense that on the surface at least they were concerned to conform to certain requirements of Jewish law, and one of these was that there had to be an accusation worthy of death established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. We read about it in all of the gospels that in this early stage of the trial they tried to find something about which they could accuse Him but they failed in the attempt even though many false witnesses were brought. And then something happened. The time came in the trial when two witnesses stood up and testified to something that was very serious indeed (Matt. 26:60-61).
Study Questions
Compare the reactions of Jesus’ disciples with those of the religious leaders concerning what Jesus had taught about what would happen after His death.
What illegalities occurred at Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders? Underneath the injustice of the legal proceedings, what element of Mosaic law were they at least on the surface trying to practice?
Application
Application: Can you clearly explain what the Gospel is, and what the implications and demands are of that Gospel upon those who claim to have saving faith?
For Further Study: Download for free and listen to James Boice’s message, “Watch Out for the Pharisees.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
We must lament our present corrupt dispositions to that which is evil, and our aversion to and impotency in that which is good. We must look into our own hearts and confess with holy blushing:
The blindness of our understandings and their unaptness to admit the rays of the divine light.
By nature my understanding is darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in me, due to the hardness of my heart. Ephesians 4:18(ESV)
The things of the Spirit of God are folly to the natural person; neither can I understand them, in and of myself, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14(ESV)
I am ‘wise’ – in doing evil! But how to do good I know not. Jeremiah 4:22(ESV) I have neither knowledge nor understanding, I walk about in darkness. Psalm 82:5(ESV)
God speaks in one way, and in two, though I do not perceive it; Job 33:14(ESV) I indeed hear but never understand; Matthew 13:14(ESV) and I see men, but they look like trees, walking. Mark 8:24(ESV)
The stubbornness of our wills and their unaptness to submit to the rules of the divine law.
I have within me a mind that is set on the flesh, which is hostile to God and does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Romans 8:7(ESV)
Were you to write for me your laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded by me as a strange thing; Hosea 8:12(ESV) and my corrupt heart has been sometimes ready to say, “What is the Almighty, that I should serve him?” Job 21:15(ESV) And, “I will do everything that I have vowed.” Jeremiah 44:17(ESV) For I have walked in the ways of my own heart and in the sight of my eyes, Ecclesiastes 11:9(ESV) carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind. Ephesians 2:3(ESV)
My neck has been an iron sinew, Isaiah 48:4(ESV) and I have made my heart diamond-hard; I have refused to pay attention, have turned a stubborn shoulder, Zechariah 7:11-12(ESV) and stopped my ears like the deaf adder that will not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter. Psalm 58:4-5(ESV)
How I have hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. Proverbs 5:12-13(ESV)
The sound of a siren is meant to evoke a strong and immediate response. The powerful wail means one thing: There is an emergency, so be ready to act. You may need to stop, you may need to pull over—pay attention!In his letter to the Galatians, Paul sounds a warning siren for a theological emergency. He had received a report that the Galatians had begun to change their minds about the gospel. He taught them that Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to secure their salvation (v. 1) but now they had begun to believe that this was insufficient. They wanted to earn their salvation. “Are you so foolish?” asks Paul (v. 3).The Galatians had a stunning change of mind. Paul points out that they received the Holy Spirit at salvation by believing (v. 2). The Spirit was the sign of their salvation, and they received that as a gift. He sounds the alarm even louder by pointing out that God had been working among them, and this was not because they earned it by doing good works (v. 5). No, they had believed, and God saved them, so why would they try to earn those gifts now? Abraham serves as the perfect example. When confronted by God, he believed, and God made him righteous (v. 6).The Galatians needed to pay attention and act. They needed to think differently about their situation. They needed to accept the grace of God’s gift and stop trying to work for it. Their very salvation was at risk. If they tried to earn it, they would surely fail. No one can be righteous enough to overcome their sin problem! Thankfully, there is One who has taken care of it for us.
Go Deeper Do you wrestle with earning your favor with God? Remember, Christ’s sacrifice paid the full debt of your sins. Rejoice! Salvation has come to you as a free gift. If you do not know Jesus as your Savior, accept Him today! Learn MoreExtended Reading:Galatians 3-6
Pray with Us Lord God, the false theology Paul addresses in his letter to “foolish” Galatians still plagues our churches today. We pray for Your wisdom to lead us in exposing false teachings and to follow the truth of Your Word.
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (5:1)
The “eternal weight of glory” Paul described in 4:17 includes a new body. That truth was of great comfort to the apostle, whose physical body had been so mercilessly battered by the effects of the Fall, personal sin, hardships, illness, the rigors of life, and persecution that he longed for his incorruptible, immortal resurrection body. Paul’s confident assertion for we know indicates that believers’ glorified bodies are not a remote possibility or a vague wish. They are a fixed reality, a settled fact based on the promise of God (Rom. 8:18, 23; 1 Cor. 15:35–49; Phil. 3:21), not philosophical speculation or mystical fantasy. Paul wrote if instead of “when” because, though he was ready to die, he did not see his death as inevitable. He viewed the return of Jesus Christ as imminent and believed it was possible for him to live until the Lord returned. That was his deepest desire, as his use of the plural pronoun “we”in passages describing the Rapture indicates. In 1 Corinthians 15:51 he wrote, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” To the Thessalonians he wrote,
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:15–17)
If he could not live until the Rapture, Paul preferred “to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). He expressed that same truth to the Philippians when he wrote of his “desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Phil. 1:23). Remaining on in the flesh was only his third choice. The phrase if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down refers metaphorically to death (cf. Isa. 38:12). As a tentmaker himself (Acts 18:3), Paul chose to use the analogy of an earthly tent (the physical body) to describe the soul’s temporary house in this world (cf. 2 Peter 1:13–14). Speaking of the incarnation of Christ, the apostle John used the verb skēnoō, (lit., “to live in a tent”) to depict the eternal God coming into the world and taking a human body (John 1:14). A tent is an apt metaphor for the human body, which is a temporary home for the eternal souls of those whose real home is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) and who are aliens and strangers in this world (Gen. 47:9; 1 Chron. 29:15; Ps. 119:19; Heb. 11:13; 1 Peter 1:1, 17; 2:11). Just as the tabernacle of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness was replaced with a permanent building when Israel entered the Promised Land, so the temporary tent in which believers now dwell will be replaced one day in heaven with an eternal, imperishable body (1 Cor. 15:42, 53–54). After death dismantles believers’ earthly tent, they have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. A building suggests something on a solid foundation that is fixed, secure, and permanent. Since it replaced his earthly tent (his physical body), the building from God Paul referred to must be his glorified body, which he would receive after “He who raised the Lord Jesus … raise[d him] also with Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:14). In Romans, written shortly after 2 Corinthians, Paul expressed the same longing for his glorified resurrection body:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? (Rom. 8:18–24)
The entire created universe, subjected to futility by the Fall, will one day “be set free from its slavery to corruption” (v. 21). In that glorious and longed-for day, writes Paul, believers will experience “the redemption of our body” (v. 23). Paul longed for his glorified body not primarily because it would be free of physical weakness, blemishes, and defects, but because it would be free of sin. The tent of the body is sin’s home, causing Paul to lament, “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin” (Rom. 7:14); “sin … dwells in me” (Rom. 7:17, 20); “evil is present in me” (Rom. 7:21); and “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). The apostle longed to serve, worship, and praise God in absolute purity, freed from the restrictions of his fallen, sinful flesh. That is the best feature of resurrection reality. Paul further described the glorified, resurrection body as a house not made with hands. It is not a procreated, physical body. Referring to Jesus’ words in John 2:19, the false witnesses at His trial said, “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands’ ” (Mark 14:58). They misconstrued those words as a reference to Herod’s temple, but in reality Jesus “was speaking of the temple of His body” (John 2:21)—that is, His resurrection body. Paul used the same phrase in Colossians 2:11 when he wrote, “you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” But perhaps the most definitive use of the phrase not made with hands is in Hebrews 9:11: “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation.” That verse equates not made with hands with “not of this creation.” It therefore refers to what is spiritual, transcendent, and eternal, not to what is earthly, physical, and temporal. Paul gave the most detailed description of believers’ resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15:36–49. He wrote that section of his epistle in reply to those who asked, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” (v. 35). Paul answered that question in four ways. First, he gave an illustration from nature in verses 36–38:
You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
There is no way to extrapolate from the plain, simple, ugly appearance of a seed the magnificent glory of the flower, tree, or plant that will grow out of its death. So also the glory of believers’ immortal, resurrection bodies cannot be imagined from our perishing, physical bodies. Second, Paul gave a series of comparisons in verses 39–42a:
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.
Just as the bodies of men, beasts, birds, fish, heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies differ from each other, so also will the resurrection body differ radically from the physical body. Third, Paul listed a series of contrasts in verses 42b–44:
It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
The physical body is perishable, sinful, and weak. In contrast, the resurrection body is imperishable, free of sin, and powerful. Finally, Paul gave the prototype of believers’ resurrection bodies in verses 45–49:
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
Just as they have physical bodies like Adam’s, so believers will one day have glorified bodies like Christ’s. To the Philippians Paul wrote, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20–21). The apostle John wrote, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2003). 2 Corinthians (pp. 161–165). Moody Publishers.
For we know that if our earthly tent in which we live is taken down, we have a house from God, an eternal house not made with hands, in heaven. a. “For we know.” Paul introduces this verse with the words for we know (see also 1:7; 4:14; 5:11). In light of the preceding verses (4:16–18) that speak of the outward and the inward person and of looking at that which is unseen, Paul reminds his readers of his former teachings on the resurrection. He can say “we know” to remind the Corinthians of the doctrine he taught them in person and later through his correspondence. His instruction is neither at variance with nor different from that which he taught in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15. Nothing in Paul’s earlier writings conflicts with his present discourse, nor are we able to detect a gradual development of the resurrection doctrine. This chapter provides no evidence that he had to correct or change his initial teaching. Knowledge of the life hereafter does not originate in our human minds. Through the Holy Spirit, God reveals the assurance of our own immortality to us, so that we meet death cheerfully. But what do we know? Paul confidently answers, “We have a house from God, an eternal house not made with hands, in heaven.” Before we look closely at his answer, we must consider the conditional clause that qualifies it. b. “That if our earthly tent in which we live is taken down.” Some scholars stress that Paul had to oppose Gnosticism, a religious and philosophical system that taught that matter is evil and the soul good. As such, the soul sheds its outer covering at the time of death and is set free. The question, however, is not whether Paul was opposing incipient Gnosticism and thus used Gnostic terminology to be effective in his dispute. Although Greek philosophy taught that this earthly life is comparable to living in a tent, Paul exhibits an Old Testament background. A tent, as the tentmaker well knew, is a temporary dwelling that is readily taken down. He alludes to Moses’ tent of meeting outside the camp of Israel; in this tent, God spoke to Moses face to face (Exod. 33:7–11). This earthly tent that subsequently became the tabernacle was a reflection of God’s presence among his people as his glory covered the tabernacle. Further, even Aaron’s high-priestly garments reflected God’s holiness and glory. Yet both the tabernacle and the garments revealed transitoriness. The tabernacle was taken down when the Israelites moved to another place, and the garments were removed whenever Aaron’s priestly duties ended. In the first eight verses, Paul uses a series of three metaphors (tent [vv. 1, 4], clothing [vv. 2–4], and home [vv. 6, 8]). The first illustration that Paul, the tentmaker, uses is that of a tent. He compares our physical body with a temporary dwelling place. And he may have thought of the Feast of Tabernacles, during which the Jews lived in temporary shelters for seven days to celebrate the end of the harvest and to commemorate the forty-year wilderness journey of the Israelites. The metaphor of taking down a tent points to the approaching end of not only our physical body but also our entire earthly existence. Indeed, Peter mentions living “in the tent of this body” that would soon be put aside (2 Peter 1:13–14; compare Isa. 38:12; Wisd. of Sol. 9:15). The word earthly is used as a contrast to heavenly, as a reminder of the first man taken from the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:47), and ethically as a place of sin. Paul literally writes, “if our earthly house of the tent is taken down.” He describes the house in terms of a tent to stress its transience. The probability that this tent will be destroyed in a single action is real, for death marks the end of a person’s earthly body and life. But Paul does not know when the dismantling will occur. If Jesus should return during his lifetime, Paul would not have to think about death. Earlier Paul wrote that he had endured a near-death affliction (1:8). This incident reminded him of life’s brevity and the possibility of dying before Christ’s return. But we cannot deduce from this event that in the interval between writing I Corinthians and II Corinthians Paul changed his mind and no longer expected the return of Christ in his lifetime. Paul had survived a number of near-death experiences; the stoning in Lystra (Acts 14:19) serves as an example. And in his list of sufferings, he writes that he had been repeatedly exposed to death (11:23). Knowing firsthand the brevity life, Paul realized that the gospel had to be preached to all nations before the Lord would return. He also knew that his missionary task had just begun and would remain unfinished at his death (compare Rom. 15:20, 24, 28). c. “We have a house from God, an eternal house not made with hands, in heaven.” The second part of this verse is a source of constant debate, because Paul’s words are enigmatic and at places hard to reconcile with the entire context. If there is a contrast between the earthly tent and the house in heaven, why does Paul write the present tense (“we have”)? The answer is that New Testament writers frequently penned a present tense with a future meaning that is determined by the context. One example is in the Gethsemane narrative, where prior to his arrest Jesus says, “The Son of Man is betrayed in the hands of sinners” (Matt. 26:45). Just as Jesus knew the nearness of his betrayal, so Paul knew with certainty that a heavenly home was waiting for him (see John 14:2–3). Is a house from God a resurrection body that believers receive at the time of death? If so, we must think in terms of three successive bodies: an earthly, an intermediate, and a resurrected or a transformed body. But why would the dead have to be raised at Jesus’ return if they already have a resurrection body? Scripture speaks only of our physical body that either dies and is raised at Jesus’ coming or that meets the Lord at his return and is transformed (1 Cor. 15:42, 51; Phil. 3:20–21; 1 Thess. 4:15–17). The Bible fails to provide details on our house in heaven. We admit that Scripture portrays people of the hereafter in terms of the physical form in which they left this earth. Samuel is described as an old man (1 Sam. 28:14); Lazarus in heaven has a finger, and the rich man in hell has eyes and a tongue (Luke 16:23–24); the saints in heaven are dressed in white robes and hold palm branches in their hands (Rev. 6:11; 7:9). But the writers of Scripture use anthropomorphic language. That is, they depict the dead as human beings with flesh and blood, for they know of no other way to portray the departed. Scripture states unequivocally that the departed saints are spirits; their bodies rest in the dust of the ground and their spirits have returned to God (Eccles. 12:7; Heb. 12:23). What is the meaning of the word house? This noun is qualified as being from God, eternal, not made by human hands, in heaven. Some scholars interpret the word to signify the corporate body of Christ, that is, the church. They point out that in the Greek, the term oikodomē (house) refers to the church and not to an individual body. To support their interpretation, they rely on a few passages from the Pauline epistles, especially 1 Corinthians 3:9 (God’s building); Ephesians 2:21 (the building or holy temple; by extension, the body of Christ); Ephesians 4:12, 16 (the body of Christ). However, the context in which an expression is used always determines its meaning. Here the context for the word house differs from that of the passages that speak of the church. Furthermore, whenever Paul refers to the church as the body of Christ, he puts it not in a future context but in a present setting. In verse 2, Paul notes our longing to be clothed with a heavenly tent in the future. This interpretation proves to be incongruous if we already belong to Christ’s body (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27). Other scholars think that the house in heaven is the temple of God that is awaiting the believer at the time of death. When Christians enter this building, they in effect enter God’s presence. Supporting this interpretation is the fact that the concept not made with human hands appears also in the description of the greater and more perfect tabernacle in heaven. That place is the very presence of God (Heb. 9:11). An objection to this interpretation is that the symmetry of verse 1 suffers, because an earthly tent and a heavenly house represent not a physical body and God’s temple but a physical body and a spiritual body. Perhaps we should think of this heavenly house as a place that supplies a covering in the form of divine glory (4:17; Rom. 8:18), a glory of immeasurable worth. Even though we enter God’s presence, where we are clothed with glory, we eagerly await the redemption of our bodies, namely, the resurrection of our bodies (Rom. 8:23). The link between the preceding paragraph (4:16–18) and this verse is undeniable. Earlier Paul spoke of the outer and inner person, temporary troubles and lasting glory, the visible and the invisible things. In verse 1, he speaks of an earthly tent, that is, our physical bodies brought into the world through human effort. He contrasts this temporary tent with a permanent house that originates with God and belongs to an entirely different order. The house is God’s very presence that at the portals of heaven envelops the believer with eternal glory. Paul teaches that if he should die before Jesus’ return, then his soul would enter and be in heaven without his body until its resurrection at the consummation.
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Vol. 19, pp. 166–170). Baker Book House.
Ours is not a life of anxious care but of happy faith. Our heavenly Father will supply the wants of His own children, and He knoweth what we have need of before we ask Him. We may therefore go to our beds at the proper hour and not wear ourselves out by sitting up late to plot, and plan, and contrive. If we have learned to rely upon our God, we shall not lie awake with fear gnawing at our hearts; but we shall leave our care with the Lord, our meditation of Him shall be sweet, and He will give us refreshing sleep.
To be the Lord’s beloved is the highest possible honor, and he who has it may feel that ambition itself could desire no more, and therefore every selfish wish may go to sleep. What more is there even in heaven than the love of God? Rest, then, O soul, for thou hast all things. Yet we toss to and fro unless the Lord Himself gives us not only the reasons for rest but rest itself. Yea, He doth this. Jesus Himself is our peace, our rest, our all, On His bosom we sleep in perfect security, both in life and in death.
Description:Dr Clark continues the series Have This Mind on the book of Philippians. In this episode, he concludes his discussion on Paul’s introduction to his letter: chapter 1, verses 1–11.
J. Warner presents evidence for the fine-tuning of the universe, showing that the precise conditions required for life—from universal constants to planetary specifics—make it highly improbable that our existence is the result of chance or physical necessity. He demonstrates how these layers of fine-tuning point toward an intentional Creator outside of space, time, and matter, rather than any naturalistic or multiverse explanation.
To see more training videos with J. Warner Wallace, visit the YouTube playlist.
You probably know people who profess Christ but don’t act like Christ, so here is the eternal danger of having a faith that is dead and not even knowing it.
Fruit Inspection
Every Christian should be bearing fruit of the Spirit…
You probably know people who profess Christ but don’t act like Christ, so here is the eternal danger of having a faith that is dead, and not even knowing it. James writes that if there are no works, then that faith is not going to save them because it’s not genuine faith. James asks, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him” (James 2:14)? Clearly the answer is no! Saving faith always produces fruit (John 15:1-10). Jesus said you would know them by their fruits (Matt 7:15-20). We certainly can’t produce any fruit on our own apart from Christ, for without Him, we’d be fruitless and bound for the burn pile (John 15:5). The only fruit humans can produce apart from Christ is bad fruit, llike anger, lust, rage, hate, and adulteries. Jesus is clear that the “Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Bearing fruit (love, peace, joy, kindness, longsuffering, etc.) proves to ourselves and to others that we are truly Jesus’ disciples. Many, and I mean many, think they are saved, but those same “many” (not a few) will face eternal judgment and the shock of their lives (Dan 12:1-3; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 20:12-15).
Human Fruit
The Apostle Paul gives us a great description of the only fruit humans are capable of producing on their own, and it’s not pretty because “the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:19-21). If a person has more fruits like these, then they have deceived themselves into thinking they are saved, but clearly, “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:21). Regardless of what a person claims (a believer), their fruit reveals their true root.
Godly Fruit
Now the huge difference is that humans naturally produce their own fruit and it’s all carnal or fleshly, but only the Holy Spirit can produce godly fruit through Jesus Christ. That’s because it’s a supernatural fruit; a supernatural work of God because this fruit comes as a direct result of God, not us. Paul shows us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). Which fruit does a person’s life display the most of? Then that’s the “alpha male” or the dominant works. If of the Spirit, that person shows by their works (their life of obedience) that they are truly saved, but even those who say they believe but bear no godly fruit are no better than the demons. James would tell them, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19)! Intellectual belief with no obedience (works) will never save them. Jesus tells us over and over, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31b).
Warn Them
There should be no “fruitless” Christians. That is not possible because the Bible says we will absolutely produce fruit (Gal 5:22-23). This is so because “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Every believer will produce fruit or they’re simply not a believer at all. Jesus said if they had any works, it was to be seen of men, and they may have thought their works would save them, but we know works can’t save us (Eph 2:8-9). Works cannot save…but the saved do works. We were not saved by works but for works (Eph 2:10). Listen to the most fearful warning Jesus ever gave about false converts. Our Lord said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 7:21). If He’s not your Lord overall, He’s not your Lord at all! By “doing” and not saying, we show we are His.
At the final judgment, Jesus said that “many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name” (Matt 7:22)? Notice there are “many” who are saying this, so it appears that the majority will claim to know Christ. There will be many, and not the few. We know many are called but only a few are chosen (Matt 22:14). Finally and tragically, Jesus says “I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt 7:23). People often say, “I know Christ,” but the most important question you will ever ask is, “Does Christ know you? And know you by name” (John 15:1-10)?
Summary
Can you see why we have to wake up those who are deceived and still dead in their sins (Eph 2:1-5) and still think they’re going to heaven? They profess faith but don’t possess faith. If they professed faith they would produce works of faith and they would not still be lying, stealing, gossiping, never attending church or attending to the Lord’s Supper (both imperatively commanded). They have no works of the Holy Spirit, thus showing they are not God’s children but children of the Devil. You cannot be saved and have no fruits or good works, otherwise what you think you have faith in, can’t save you. It’s not faith in your faith, but faith in Christ which always produces obedience (good works). Otherwise, their professing of faith is a faith that cannot save them from the wrath of God after death (Heb 9:27) or at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:12-15).
Conclusion
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The LORD is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” (13:5–6)
C. H. Spurgeon said, “I’ve been in a lot of testimony meetings, and I’ve heard a lot of people share how they’ve sinned, and I’ve had people come to me and make confession of sin. But in all my life I’ve never had one person confess the sin of covetousness to me.” I have rarely had anyone confess covetousness to me, either. A man once came into my office asking to confess a sin. He was obviously serious and quite broken up. He said his sin was gluttony. When I remarked that he did not look overweight, he replied, “I know. It is not that I eat too much but that I want to. I continually crave food. It’s an obsession.” Covetousness is much like this man’s gluttony. You do not have to acquire a lot of things to be covetous. In fact you do not have to acquire anything at all. Covetousness is an attitude; it is wanting to acquire things, longing for them, setting our thoughts and attention on them—whether we ever possess them or not. When John D. Rockefeller was a young man, a friend reportedly asked him how much money he wanted. “A million dollars,” he replied. After he had earned a million dollars, the friend asked him again how much money he wanted. The answer this time was, “Another million.” Covetousness and greed follow a principle of increasing desire and decreasing satisfaction, a form of the law of diminishing returns. “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity” (Eccles. 5:10). The more you get the more you want. When we focus on material things, our having will never catch up with our wanting. It is one of God’s unbreakable laws. Love of money is one of the most common forms of covetousness, partly because money can be used to secure so many other things that we want. Loving money is lusting after material riches, whatever the form is. A Christian should be free from such love of material things. Love of money is sin against God, a form of distrust. For He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” Among other things, loving money is trusting in uncertain riches rather than the living God (1 Tim. 6:17), looking for security in material things instead of in our heavenly Father. “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed,” Jesus warned, “for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Achan’s love of money cost Israel a defeat at Ai, the lives of at least thirty-six of his fellow countrymen, his own life, and the lives of his family and flocks (Josh. 7:1, 5, 25). After Naaman was cleansed of leprosy, following Elisha’s instruction to wash seven times in the Jordan, the prophet refused any payment. But Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, later ran back to Naaman and deceived him in order to profit from the grateful captain. After lying again, he was cursed by Elisha with Naaman’s leprosy (2 Kings 5:15–27). His greed led to lying, deceit, and leprosy. Judas was greedy as well as traitorous, willing to betray the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver. Ananias and Sapphira paid for their greed and attempted deceit with their lives (Acts 5:1–10). Greed is not a trifling sin before God. It has kept many unbelievers out of the kingdom, and it has caused many believers to lose the joy of the kingdom, or worse. It is not wrong, of course, to earn or to have wealth. Abraham and Job were extremely wealthy. The New Testament mentions a number of faithful believers who had considerable wealth. It is love of money that “is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang” (1 Tim. 6:10). It is longing after it and trusting in it that is sinful. “If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them,” David counsels (Ps. 62:10). Job puts the principle clearly: “If I have put my confidence in gold, and called fine gold my trust, if I have gloated because my wealth was great, and because my hand had secured so much; … That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, for I would have denied God above” (Job 31:24–25, 28). Trust in money is distrust in God. Some persons love money but never acquire it. Other persons’ love of money is in acquiring it. They live for the thrill of adding to their bank accounts, stock holdings, or conglomerates. For others, loving money is hoarding it. Misers are not so much interested in increasing their possessions as in simply holding on to them. They love money for its own sake. Still others are more interested in the things they can buy and display with their wealth. The conspicuous consumer is the big spender who flaunts his wealth. Whatever form love of money may take, the spiritual result is the same. It displeases God and separates us from Him. Nicer clothes, a bigger house, another car, a better vacation tempt all of us. But God tells us to be satisfied. Be content with what you have. Many of those addressed in the book of Hebrews had lost most, or all, of their material possessions, because they knew they had “a better possession and an abiding one” (10:34). Some of them might have been longing to get back what they lost, thinking the cost was too high. They are told not to return to trust in material things. We confidently say, “The LORD is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” If we have the Lord, we have it all. Loss of anything else can be no worse than a bad inconvenience, an inconvenience that, surrendered to the Lord, will always be for our good. Material possessions are temporary, anyway. We are going to lose them sooner or later. If the Lord decides we should lose them sooner, we should not worry. Proverbs 23:5 says “wealth certainly makes itself wings.” Among the scriptural requirements for overseers, or bishops (also referred to as elders, Titus 1:5–7), is that of being “free from the love of money” (1 Tim. 3:3). No Christian can live effectively, much less lead effectively, who is longing after money. Love of money weakens our faith, weakens our testimony, and weakens our leadership. When we love money, our eye is on the wrong kind of gain. “Godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content” (1 Tim. 6:6–8). Discontentment is one of man’s greatest sins. Contentment is one of God’s greatest blessings. How do we enjoy contentment? How do we become satisfied with what we have? First, we must realize God’s goodness. If we really believe that God is good, we know He will take care of us, His children. We know with Paul that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Second, we should realize—not just acknowledge, but truly realize—that God is omniscient. He knows what we need long before we have a need or ask Him to meet it. Jesus assures us, “Your Father knows that you need these things” (Luke 12:30). Third, we should think about what we deserve. What we want, or even need, is one thing; what we deserve is another. We should confess with Jacob, “I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which Thou hast shown to Thy servant” (Gen. 32:10). The smallest good thing we have is more than we deserve. The least-blessed of God’s saints are rich (see Matt. 19:27–29). Fourth, we should recognize God’s supremacy, his sovereignty. God does not have the same plan for all of His children. What He lovingly gives to one, He just as lovingly may withhold from another. The Holy Spirit gives varieties of gifts, ministries, and effects, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills” (1 Cor. 12:4–11). In regard to material blessings, we should listen to Hannah’s wisdom, “The LORD makes poor and rich” (1 Sam. 2:7). If He were to make us rich, we might be of outstanding service to Him. On the other hand, our becoming rich might be our spiritual undoing. The Lord knows what we need, and will provide us with no less. Fifth, we should continually remind ourselves what true riches are. It is the worldly, including the wealthy worldly, who are poor, and it is believers, including poor ones, who are rich. Our treasure is in our homeland, in heaven, and we should set our minds “on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). Supremely, however, contentment comes from communion with God. The more we focus on Him the less we will be concerned about anything material. When you are near Jesus Christ, you are overwhelmed with the riches that you have in Him, and earthly possessions simply will not matter. Contentment is having confidence that the LORD is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1983). Hebrews (pp. 432–435). Moody Press.
Ver. 6. The Lord is my helper.
A cheerful confidence in God:— I. THE CHEERFUL PROFESSION OF CONFIDENCE IN GOD AGAINST ALL OPPOSITION, AND IN THE MIDST OF ALL DISTRESSES, IS THAT WHICH BELIEVERS HAVE A WARRANT FOR IN THE PROMISES THAT ARE MADE UNTO THEM. II. AS THE USE OF THIS CONFIDENCE IS OUR DUTY, SO IT IS A DUTY HIGHLY HONOURABLE UNTO THE PROFESSION OF THE GOSPEL. III. BELIEVERS MAY USE THE SAME CONFIDENCE THAT DAVID USED, SEEING THEY HAVE THE SAME GROUNDS OF IT THAT DAVID HAD. For outward circumstances alter not the state of things as unto faith or duty. IV. THAT ALL BELIEVERS, IN THEIR SUFFERINGS, AND UNDER THEIR PERSECUTIONS, HAVE A REFRESHING SUPPORTING INTEREST IN DIVINE AID AND ASSISTANCE. For the promises hereof are made unto them all equally in their suffering state, even as they were unto the prophets and apostles of old. V. IT IS THEIR DUTY TO EXPRESS WITH CONFIDENCE AND BOLDNESS, AT ALL TIMES, THEIR ASSURANCE OF THE DIVINE ASSISTANCE DECLARED IN THE PROMISES, TO THEIR OWN ENCOURAGEMENT, THE EDIFICATION OF THE CHURCH, AND THE TERROR OF THEIR ADVERSARIES (Phil. 1:28). VI. FAITH DULY FIXED ON THE POWER OF GOD, AS ENGAGED FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF BELIEVERS IN THEIR SUFFERINGS, WILL GIVE THEM A CONTEMPT OF ALL THAT MEN CAN DO UNTO THEM. VII. THE MOST EFFECTUAL MEANS TO ENCOURAGE OUR SOULS IN ALL OUR SUFFERINGS, IS TO COMPARE THE POWER OF GOD WHO WILL ASSIST US, AND THAT OF MAN WHO DOTH OPPRESS US (Matt. 10:28). VIII. THAT WHICH IN OUR SUFFERINGS DELIVERETH US FROM THE FEAR OF MEN, TAKES OUT ALL THAT IS EVIL IN THEM, AND SECURES OUR SUCCESS. (John Owen, D.D.)
God’s people protected from enemies:—1. These have their enemies, signified by the word Man, “what man may do against me.” 2. These men being enemies do much against them, or at least attempt to do much; for wicked men together with the devil are great enemies to Christ’s kingdom and His subjects. The devil designs their spiritual, the wicked their temporal ruin; and the design of the one is subservient to the other. The devil makes use of temporal persecutions to shake their faith; both hate the Church and thrust sore at it. 3. Yet God is with them, stands for them, helps them, strengthens and protects them, and gives them safety in the midst of danger, joy in the midst of sorrow, bread in the midst of famine. 4. If God be with them, for them, and their help, they need not fear anything, no, not the worst that man can do unto them, but may be confident of safety and deliverance; they need not much desire the best things of the world, nor fear the worst. 5. They may think, believe, say, and be assured, that God is their help. And so much the rather, because God hath promised that He will not leave or forsake them at any time, and why should they be covetous or fearful, there is no cause of either. (G. Lawson.)
Man not to be feared:—When Dr. Rowland Taylor was brought before Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, the bishop asked him how he durst look him in the face, and if he knew who he was. “Yes,” replied the doctor, “I know who you are—Dr. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor, and yet but a mortal man, I trow. But if I should be afraid of your lordly looks, why fear you not God, the Lord of us all? How dare you look any Christian man in the face, since you have forsaken the truth, denied Christ, and done contrary to your oath and writing? With what face will you appear before Christ’s judgment-seat and answer to your oath against popery in King Henry VIII.’s time and in the reign of King Edward VI., when you both spoke and wrote against it?” (W. Whitecross.)
A right to the promises of God cleared up:—Let it be thy chief concern to have thy interest in and right to the promises cleared up. This is the hinge on which the great dispute between thee and Satan will move in the day of trouble. Oh, it is sad for a poor Christian to stand at the door of the promise, in the dark night of affliction, afraid to lift the latch, whereas he should then come as boldly for shelter as a child into his father’s house. (W. Gurnall.)
Exell, J. S. (n.d.). The Biblical Illustrator: Hebrews (Vol. 2, pp. 616–617). James Nisbet & Co.
6. So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
Once again the author places himself on the same level with his readers, for together they confess their confidence and trust in God. They recite the words from Psalm 118:6 and do so courageously. For them the quotation is a confession of faith. If we look at the passages liturgically, we notice that in the Old Testament text in the preceding verse, God is the speaker. The testimony of faith in the lines from Psalm 118:6 is the response of the people. Apparently this psalm citation belonged to the liturgy of synagogue and church. The New Testament writers frequently quote from this psalm, interpret it christologically, and indicate that it served as a source of joy and happiness for God’s people. “What can man do to me?” Nothing, because the Lord is my helper. The forces of unbelief cannot do anything unless the Lord gives them permission. The believer, however, need not be afraid when God is on his side. The Scottish reformer John Knox fearlessly stood his ground against formidable opposition and said, “A man with God is always in the majority.”
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of Hebrews (Vol. 15, pp. 411–412). Baker Book House.
“Every man who loves peace, every man who loves his country, every man who loves liberty ought to have it ever before his eyes that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the Union of America and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it.” —James Madison (1788)
Team Trump’s Obama faux pas: Someone on Team Trump posted a video on Donald Trump’s official Truth Social account that contained a brief AI-generated portrayal of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The clip was immediately condemned as racist by both Democrat and Republican lawmakers. South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott said he was “praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” The main video in question detailed a voting-machine report on the 2020 election. Near the end, a two-second clip of the Obamas as apes suddenly appears, then the content returns to the original topic. Trump insisted that he did not see the whole video: “I didn’t see it. I looked at the first part. … I guess somebody didn’t, and they posted and we took it down.”
Benghazi conspirator extradited: Nearly 14 years after a terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya left four Americans dead, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, one of the conspirators has been apprehended. Zubayr Al-Bakoush’s arrest was announced by FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Friday. Al-Bakoush will stand trial in Washington, DC, and says he has “complete trust in the court and jury.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said that this apprehension demonstrates the long arm of the U.S. justice system: “It might not happen overnight, but it will happen. You can run, but you cannot hide.” Al-Bakoush faces counts of terrorism, murder, and arson. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
More WaPo upheaval: It seems Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who announced major changes to the paper in 2025, was not satisfied with the pace of change. Last week, 300 WaPo employees, almost a third of its total staff, were cut. The cuts eliminated the sports and international reporting departments entirely, with some aspects being folded into other departments. CEO Will Lewis was notably absent from coverage of the cuts last week, apparently because he too was being offboarded. Lewis announced his resignation on Saturday. Lewis was brought on two years ago, and at his first all-staff meeting in 2024, he announced that WaPo’s annual losses had reached $100 million. Perhaps he hoped to turn those numbers around, but if so, he ran out of time. The paper’s chief financial officer, Jeff D’Onofrio, will serve as the acting CEO for the time being.
Virginia’s 10-1 Dem map: Virginia Democrats, who have been pushing a gerrymandered redistricting map for the commonwealth in response to redistricting in several Republican-led states, released their map last week. The new map effectively turns the state’s current 11 congressional districts, which currently favor Democrats 6-5, into a 10-1 Democrat advantage. Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas ridiculously asserted that the new map fulfills “a promise to level the playing field.” Far from ensuring a level playing field in Virginia, a state with roughly a 50% split between Republican and Democrat voters, this action is an effort to turn it into a single-party state. Thankfully, a Virginia judge has blocked the Democrats’ efforts to realize their gerrymandering dream.
Trump admin gets immigration win in Fifth Circuit: The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that the Trump administration is correct to regard illegal immigrants as “applicants for admission” even if they crossed the border years before. As a result, the Trump administration may continue with mandatory detention for apprehended illegals. The 2-1 decision came from Reagan-appointed Judge Edith Jones and Trump-appointed Judge Kyle Duncan. Biden-appointed Judge Dana Douglas argued that her colleagues were twisting the law by suggesting “that ‘seeking admission’ is like being an ‘applicant for admission.’” Douglas further argued that the majority decision is based on a conviction that “Congress must have wanted these noncitizens detained.” This issue is likely to be escalated to the Supreme Court.
Massie calls for Lutnick’s resignation over Epstein revelations: More revelations from the recently released Epstein documents have generated a call from Rep. Thomas Massie for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s resignation. Massie took issue with Lutnick’s claim that he had cut off all contact with Jeffrey Epstein back in 2005, years before the financier was convicted as a sex offender. However, the documents indicate that Lutnick continued to have correspondence with Epstein through 2018. A spokesman for the Commerce Department responded, “Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.” Meanwhile, Massie argued, “Howard Lutnick clearly went to the Island if we believe what’s in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein, and this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted for sexual crimes.”
Mamdani’s warmth of collectivism: It turns out that being a nepo-baby communist activist raised in a compound in Uganda does not properly equip someone to run The Big Apple. In January, a record 80,000 calls to 311 reporting heat and hot water outages were made. Some residents report going nine or more days without hot water. Others say the heat regularly goes out in the middle of the night, leaving residents no choice but to bundle up and wait out the freezing temperatures. Mayor Zohran Mamdani can’t take all the blame, although residents do say he has failed to act. Since October 1, 2025, some 215,045 heat complaints have been made, far outstripping the 187,775 in the previous year. Former Mayor Eric Adams argued in 2023 that a flood of immigrants had already overwhelmed his city, saying, “We are past our breaking point.”
Global warming stops global warming: A recently released report out of the University of California, Irvine, has found that climate change is breaking down nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, faster than was previously believed. Using satellite observations, the scientists found that N2O “is decreasing at a rate of 1.4 percent per decade,” a marked decline. These researchers have determined that climate change itself is what’s behind the significant drop in human-produced N2O emissions. They noted that this new revelation must now be factored into climate projections. As one expert noted, this “highlights a gap in current Earth system models.” It appears that the science on climate change is far from settled.
Trump ends Obama’s commercial fishing restriction off New England coast: President Trump strengthened the U.S. fishing industry by signing an executive order on Friday to reopen a large protected area of the Atlantic to commercial fishing. Barack Obama established the 5,000-square-mile Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Cape Cod to protect undersea corals and ecosystems. These heavy federal regulations burdened the fishing industry and are something commercial fishing groups have long sought to reverse. Bob Vanasse, executive director of Washington, DC-based Saving Seafood, commented, “By reopening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts to commercial fishing, fairness, transparency, and science-based governance has been restored to the affected fisheries.” Of course, environmental groups vow to challenge the EO in court. Trump called the monument an “unfair penalty on commercial fishermen,” adding that “appropriately managed commercial fishing” would not endanger what the monument sought to protect.
Headlines
TPUSA’s “All-American” alternative halftime show draws millions of viewers (NY Post)
DOT crackdown pulls hundreds of English-illiterate truckers off roads (Fox News)
Luigi Mangione’s state trial set for June in surprise ruling (NewsNation)
Russian military intelligence official shot in Moscow (Fox News)
The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.
Unity is not quite the word leftists think it is. When they use it, they mean that the rest of us must acquiesce to their agenda. And if it means getting a Puerto Rican, America-hating, Trump-deranged, pro-illegal-immigration, “gender fluid” activist to rap in Spanish for the American Super Bowl Halftime Show, then the rest of us need to either get on board or sit down and shut up for the humiliation ritual.
Unity!
Of course, I don’t believe unity is a prime virtue in any case. For example, I believe division from evil is far better than unity with it. Besides, we’ve been criticizing this phony “unity” push at the Super Bowl for years.
Full disclosure: I’ve been an NFL fan since the ‘80s, but I haven’t watched a Super Bowl Halftime Show since U2 in 2002. And I have no regrets.
Obviously, then, my commentary is not replete with my thoughts about the particular corporeal gyrations on display last night, but about the spirit of the decisions that led to the divide I wrote about last week between Christian players and those making league decisions.
Heck, Christian or not, even many NFL players didn’t know who Halftime headliner Bad Bunny is. One player said, “I don’t listen to Bad Bunny like that, but she got some good stuff.”
Take that, gender fluidity.
I will concede that at least there was an actual wedding during the Halftime Show. Marriage is the building block of society, and for a man and woman to actually tie the knot during the show is better than a lot of alternative entertainment.
Speaking of alternative entertainment, Turning Point USA hosted a separate show timed to go live at the same time. It featured Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, Gabby Barrett, and Kid Rock. The main event dwarfed it in viewership, but the TPUSA show had five or six million live viewers and was approaching 20 million as of this morning. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and it speaks volumes about what millions of Americans think of the message sent at the Super Bowl.
During the official show, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, a.k.a. Bad Bunny, was joined by fellow Rainbow Mafia players like Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Yes, it was a straight wedding, but the gender pathology message was clear.
Mr. Bunny also sent another message of “unity” — the word “America” means everyone in the Western Hemisphere. In fact, he “led a parade of flags, listing off the countries of Latin America and North America,” noted National Review’s Luther Ray Abel. “His last act was to spike a football with the words ‘We Are All America’ written on the pigskin, seemingly a protest against U.S. immigration enforcement and American exceptionalism.”
That plays well with the open-borders messaging, though it pretty well undermines the “God bless America” bromide he threw out there in English. He didn’t mean The United States of America.
There’s a reason why many of us considered his announced performance last fall as a middle finger.
It wasn’t just the Halftime Show, either. It was the pregame entertainment, too. That featured the left-wing loons of Green Day singing “American Idiot.” Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong made it political, too. “This goes out to all the ICE agents out wherever you are,” he said. “Quit your s**tty a** job. Quit that s**tty job you have.”
(Notably, during the game, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aired an ad portraying their agents as regular people who “love this country” and want “to make America a safer place to live.”)
Brandi Carlile sang “America the Beautiful.” More than anything, Carlile is interested in letting us all know her LGBT identity, so she had explained earlier in the week that Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote the song in 1893, was “totally gay.” That’s false, but these folks crave validation so desperately that they’ll say and do anything to get it. It’s sad.
But hey, Carlile says, “I have my own moral code, my own moral imperative, that I have to answer to at the end of the day.” No higher authority than herself.
To sum it all up, many of the NFL’s top players are devoted Christians who submit to the Highest Authority, and America is celebrating 250 years of Liberty grounded in Judeo-Christian morals and values. Yet the league’s bigwigs chose to celebrate by elevating people who hate what our country stands for and to erase its borders to a meaningless “Americas” globalism. In fact, the main attraction was a guy who breaks gender norms and sang about Puerto Rican culture in Spanish.
American football has replaced baseball as America’s Pastime, at least in terms of popularity, but this isn’t quite what fans bargained for.
Douglas Andrews: Democrats Fumble Photo ID — When asked whether they can support an election reform measure that enjoys overwhelming support from voters across the political spectrum, the Democrats can only dodge.
Thomas Gallatin: Another CCP Biolab in America — Las Vegas authorities uncover an illegal biolab operating in the city that appears to be directly tied to a Chinese national who operated another illegal lab in California.
Roger Helle: Be Angry but Do Not Sin? — There’s a spiritual battle, but it won’t be resolved and can’t be resolved in the flesh. Instead, God has provided us with spiritual armor.
“You will no longer sell handguns that can be converted into semiautomatic machines able to fire 1,200 rounds a minute.” —New York Gov. Kathy Hochul
The BIG Lie
“What’s wrong with the SAVE Act? What’s wrong with it is that it might violate the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote, because you’ve got to show that all of your different IDs match.” —Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD)
Race Bait
“I always tell people the day the Latino, African-American, Asian, and other communities realize that they share the same oppressor is the day we start winning. Because we are the majority in this country now. We have the ability to take over this country and to do what is needed.” —Texas State Rep. Gene Wu (D), who was born in China (“If he said this about black people, Jews, or literally any other group, it would be the biggest story in the country and he’d be forced to resign by the end of the week. And we all know it. Anti-whiteism is the most prevalent and destructive bigotry in America and it’s not close.” —Matt Walsh)
That’s One Way to Put It
“I consider my own faith, Islam, a religion built upon a narrative of migration.” —New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani leaving out the war, conquest, slaughter, and rape that went with the migration
Re: The Left
“When you look at their entire agenda, it is clear that Democrats are trying to cancel the results of the 2024 elections by making it impossible for Donald Trump to fulfill his number one promise — the enforcement of our immigration laws. Their demands, if accepted, would be a de facto mass amnesty.” —Gary Bauer
“The more violence, Nazi-invective, and sheer craziness the left can instill — storming church services, ramming ICE vehicles, taking over the streets, or boasting of armed resistance — the more they believe that voters will blame not them, the instigators, but Trump.” —Victor Davis Hanson
“In the elitist media’s groupthink, the left-wing extremists never go too far, no matter how violent or destructive their tactics. Their goal isn’t keeping the streets safe. Their goal is destroying Trump and the Republicans.” —Tim Graham
For the Record
“If you spit on us, you’re going to the hospital and in jail. If you hit one of us, you’re going to the hospital and jail and most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs that we have here. If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at because we will kill you, graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.” —Brevard County (Florida) Sheriff Wayne Ivey
Re: The Leftmedia
“[Last] week, The Washington Post laid off a third of its entire staff, 300 people. Judging from the reaction of media elites, you may have thought democracy had actually died.” —David Harsanyi
Re: The Gender Cult
“The message out of Westchester County is clear: Doctors and psychologists are now potentially on the hook for irrevocable mutilation of patients in the name of gender ideology.” —Josh Hammer
Insight
“The world’s hopes rest with America’s future; America’s hopes rest with us.” —Ronald Reagan (1911-2024)
ON THIS DAY in 1942, the U.S. government implemented “Daylight Saving Time,” which saves no daylight and messes up the time, but Americans were told it would conserve fuel during World War II. Our Nate Jackson has, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, argued forcefully for keeping Daylight time all year and for instead sticking with Standard Time.
Federal immigration officials are warning that tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens could be released back into California communities as the state continues refusing to honor ICE detainers.
The Department of Homeland Security said there are currently 33,179 illegal aliens in the custody of California jurisdictions with active ICE detainers. According to DHS, those individuals include suspects and convicts tied to 399 homicides, more than 3,300 assaults, over 3,100 burglaries, 1,011 robberies, and 1,293 sexual predatory offenses, along with thousands of drug and weapons crimes.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons formally raised the alarm in a letter sent to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, urging the state to cooperate with federal authorities and prioritize public safety. Lyons warned that California’s sanctuary policies are directly leading to the release of dangerous offenders.
Since January 20, ICE says California agencies have already released 4,561 criminal illegal aliens after refusing to honor detainers. Those releases included individuals linked to 31 homicides, 661 assaults, 574 burglaries, 184 robberies, 1,489 drug offenses, and 234 sexual predatory crimes.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused state leaders of knowingly putting residents at risk. “Governor Newsom and his fellow California sanctuary politicians are releasing murderers, pedophiles, and drug traffickers back into our neighborhoods and putting American lives at risk,” she said. “Criminal illegal aliens should not be released from jails back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans.”
DHS highlighted multiple caseswhere ICE detainers were ignored, including individuals convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, child sex crimes, gang activity, and violent assaults. In several cases, ICE later re-arrested the suspects after they had already been released by local authorities. Some were eventually removed from the United States, others remain in custody pending court proceedings.
One case involved a Mexican national convicted of first-degree murder and robbery who was released despite an ICE detainer, and later apprehended by federal agents. Another involved a Chinese national arrested for sexual assault who was released before ICE later re-arrested him.
DHS noted that jurisdictions cooperating with ICE consistently report lower violent crime rates, adding that seven of the ten safest cities in the US work directly with federal immigration enforcement.
Federal officials say they are continuing to press California to reverse course, warning that without cooperation, releases will continue and the risks to public safety will only grow.
Charlie KirkNews Desk is operated by Turning Point USA and is dedicated to informing Conservatives and Christians and advocating for principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.
SANTA CLARA, CA – Following this year’s Super Bowl halftime show featuring the musical stylings of Bad Bunny, surveys show support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement skyrocketed 99 percent overnight.
Numbers show the support came immediately following Bad Bunny’s performance, which featured strong references to Latino and Puerto Rican culture.
“I don’t know what that was, but I don’t like it,” one survey respondent said. “I love America, but that performance had zero apple pie, no cheerleaders, and a shocking lack of bald eagles. Disgusting.”
Many who answered the survey say they were put off by the performance’s lewd lyrics and gyrating pop stars. One person who answered the survey said, “I looked up the Spanish translation on the songs that guy was singing…um…can we just deport them all right now?”
Support for ICE operations has sunk over the past few months, as Democrats ratchet up their rhetoric and push for open borders and unfettered immigration. Following the halftime performance, ICE operations appear to now have almost complete support of the entire country.
“I’ve had it. Deport them all,” one Democrat told a reporter.
At publishing time, America was still trying to figure out what was going on before and after the halftime show, and admitted they thought there was supposed to be a football game.
Coming soon to a Democrat-controlled city near you!
Tensions are rising across the Middle East and all eyes are on U.S. President Donald Trump as he decides whether or not to strike Iran. The issue has prompted sharp criticism and deep divisions among political analysts and commentators. Some warn of escalating regional conflict, while others argue limited force may be necessary to deter Tehran and protect Americans and U.S. allies, which include Israel, among others.
During a recent debate, ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg sat down with Mario Nawfal, who hosts the largest show on 𝕏 (formerly known as Twitter), and Prof. Glenn Diesen to debate Trump’s next move. To strike or not to strike, that really is the question – and people around the globe are awaiting the answer.
The debate highlighted three potential options facing Trump: pursuing diplomacy without military action, launching a large but limited strike aimed at punishing the Iranian regime, or escalating toward sustained attacks designed to trigger regime change.
Rosenberg predicted that a limited strike is the most likely outcome, arguing that Trump’s credibility could be at stake after strong rhetoric toward Iran and promises of support for anti-regime protesters.
“He has three choices,” Rosenberg said. “He could do nothing… he could do a large but limited strike… or he could go all in for regime change,” he added, “I think he’s going to pick most likely number two.”
Supporters of military action have framed Iran as a long-standing threat to U.S. interests and regional allies, arguing that a targeted strike could degrade missile capabilities and deter further aggression. While some have acknowledged that regime change might be desirable, they have cautioned that such an objective would be difficult to achieve through air power alone.
Prof. Diesen, however, opposes military action, warning that even a limited strike “would escalate the conflict, push Iran toward nuclear deterrence, and risk a regional war driven by security competition.”
Critics have argued that Iran would likely retaliate forcefully against U.S. assets and shipping lanes, potentially shutting down the Strait of Hormuz – a key global energy route with the majority of oil from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and Iran moving through this route.. “No, I don’t think Trump should attack. I think it’s very likely that he will,” Diesen said, adding that Iran could “go all out” in response.
The debate also reflected deep disagreements over whether Iran represents an inherently hostile adversary or a regional power responding to security pressures. Some have argued that U.S. and Israeli policies have fueled tensions and that greater diplomatic engagement could ease hostilities. “If we stop threatening them, perhaps we can get something in return,” Diesen said.
Rosenberg disagreed, arguing the Iranian regime has made itself an enemy through decades of anti-American rhetoric, proxy warfare and regional destabilization. “They don’t have to be an enemy, but the Iranian regime has decided they’re the enemy,” he replied.
There are some concerns from Gulf states, which fear being drawn into a wider conflict even as some regional leaders privately support strong action against Iran. Some political analysts have warned that internal divisions within Iran could make regime collapse unpredictable and potentially destabilizing for the broader region.
At the end of the debate, Nawfal asked whether Trump would strike Iran, and both Rosenberg and Diesen predicted he would, in fact, ultimately “pull the trigger.”
The world now waits to see if that unified prediction will come true.
One regional watcher and pundit commented in response: “112 C-17s are in or on their way to the Middle East. Guys, that’s a lot. Like Desert Storm a lot. Stay tuned.”
This as on Friday the prominent open source account Armchair Admiral and others used public flight tracking data to tally that the huge armada of US Air Force C-17s and counting are en route – a trend since mid-January.
“A total of 112 U.S. Air Force C-17’s have now either arrived or are en route to the Middle East with a further 17-18 in-progress flights, a number of Royal Air Force logistics flights from RAF Marham to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and movement on U.S. Air Force CORONETs,” the source said.
C-17s are massive, and can deliver huge amounts of equipment or large numbers of troops in a single go. The US military lists some of the following key capabilities:
Payload capacity of over 170,000 pounds
Ability to operate on short, austere runways as small as 3,500 feet
Intercontinental range, with in-flight refueling extending reach even further
Rapid load/unload design to keep missions moving under pressure
Iran and the US just concluded an initial round of indirect talks mediated by Oman, but despite some hopeful statements issued by either side, it is very clear Iran is not willing to negotiate its ballistic missile program – a sticking point being demanded by Washington. A second round is expected in the coming days, unless military action ensues first.
Iran’s foreign minister has newly questioned whether Washington is taking these talks seriously, or if they are merely a pretext for more time to allow for a US force build-up in the region.
FM Abbas Araghchi asserted Tehran is not intimidated but that this raises “doubts about the other party’s seriousness and readiness to engage in genuine negotiations.” He added: “We are closely monitoring the situation, assessing all the signals, and will decide whether to continue the negotiations.”
Prior to these weekend comments, the Iranian top diplomat stated, “If the United States launches an attack against us, we do not have the capability to attack its territory, so we would target American bases in the region. This would draw the entire region into war. We do not attack neighboring countries; we target American bases.”
Chad Davidson of Good Fight Ministries talks with David about the continual onslaught of demonic music and entertainment as well as those who are pushing it.
Last night was the biggest television event of the year: the Super Bowl.
Yet the NFL decided that Puerto Rican native “Bad Bunny” was the best fit for the halftime show, performing his entire set in Spanish and leaving tens of millions of English-speaking Americans in the dark. Some even tuned into an alternative halftime show produced by Turning Point USA.
The big question is why the NFL forced Americans to watch the entire Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show in Spanish when English is the official language.
But as the Latin trap artist performed, some viewers reached for translator apps on their phones to understand the lyrics, while others switched to Turning Point USA’s halftime show, which featured Kid Rock, Lee Brice, Bradley Gilbert, and Gabby Barrett. The broadcast appeared to be popular, drawing an estimated 10 million viewers.
🚨 BREAKING: TPUSA’s All-American Halftime Show just got over 10 MILLION live viewers and 25 MILLION social media views, in a huge victory for the culture
Bad Bunny was criticized by Americans on Sunday night. Even President Trump chimed in:
The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World.
This “Show” is just a “slap in the face” to our Country, which is setting new standards and records every single day — including the Best Stock Market and 401(k)s in History! There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show and watch, it will get great reviews from the Fake News Media, because they haven’t got a clue of what is going on in the REAL WORLD — And, by the way, the NFL should immediately replace its ridiculous new Kickoff Rule. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Immediately after the Super Bowl performance, Bad Bunny deleted his entire Instagram feed …
Political partisanship is a clear fault line in this controversy: Democrats are strongly favorable to the Puerto Rican artist’s participation (52 percent satisfied, 8 percent dissatisfied), while Republicans are overwhelmingly negative about it (12 percent satisfied, 53 percent dissatisfied). For their part, Independents are characterized by a certain detachment on this matter (43 percent don’t care).
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