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
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
Ecclesiastes 7:14
Prosperity and adversity both come from God’s hands; a wise Father’s heart has given them to you. In the words of the hymn,
Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
God has given all events to us, the Searcher declares. We must then learn to accept and understand that God has chosen these for us out of love and wisdom. They have a special purpose. God has designed life to be full of the unexpected so that we might realize that we do not control our future.
We are not in charge of life. The great satanic lie that subtly comes at us a thousand times a day is that we are gods, we are in charge, we can plan, we can direct, we can control. Because within the freedom of will that God has granted us there appears some truth to that, we easily believe the rest–that we are in ultimate control of everything. But the lesson of the Scripture, driven home again and again, is that that is not true. God is in charge. What He sends us is always designed to benefit. This is the clear teaching of the Scripture, both in the Old and the New Testament alike. Even though adversity may have painful aspects, we are to understand that it comes from a loving God and be grateful for it. An unknown poet has written,
When God wants to drill a man, And thrill a man, And skill a man; When God wants to mold a man To play the noblest part, When he yearns with all his heart To create so great and bold a man That all the world shall be amazed, Watch his methods, watch his ways—
How he ruthlessly perfects Whom he royally elects. How he hammers him and hurts him, And with mighty blows, converts him Into trial shapes of clay Which only God understands.
While his tortured heart is crying, And he lifts beseeching hands. How he bends but never breaks When his good he undertakes. How he uses Whom he chooses, And with every purpose, fuses him, By every act, induces him To try his splendor out. God knows what he’s about.
Father, I see that all things come from Your hand. Thank You that I can trust that even when I feel hammered and hurt, You are shaping me into a vessel of beauty and honor.
Life Application
Life is full of the adversity. Does this make us anxious or fearful? Have we discovered and trusted God’s wisdom and love or do we try to control our future?
1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.
7 Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.
11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
13 Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
Flags represent the spirit and identity of countries and serve as national rallying points both in peace and wartime. In the film The Patriot (2000), Mel Gibson’s character hoists a flag in the thick of battle to inspire his fellow soldiers to rush forward behind him. During the war of 1812, American lawyer and poet Francis Scott Keys was undertaking a prisoner exchange aboard a British ship when the British began attacking Fort McHenry, barraging it into the night with explosives. The next morning, the American flag still flying, Keys was inspired to pen the poem that would become his country’s anthem, centered on its flag as an image of the nation’s durability in conflict.
Christians have an otherworldly citizenship that transcends politics or nationality. They are adherents of a “heavenly country” (Heb 11:16). Their heavenly citizenship is from God who “is not ashamed to be called their God.” The Israelites of old were taught to trust God to fight their battles, meaning, whether they won or lost, they could trust God with the outcome (Exo 14:14). In a decisive victory over the persistently hostile Amalekites, a name for God is revealed to Moses: the-Lord-is-my-banner” (Jehovah-Nisi, Exo 17:15). This name was a token, as Moses put it, “that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Ex 17:16)
The names of God stand for his unchanging person and character. Believers under the New Covenant are called to “fight the good fight of faith”, with the caveat that “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh” and “our battles are not against flesh and blood,” (1 Tim 6:12; 2 Cor 10:4; Eph 6:12). He is the ensign around which we rally, the guarantee and embodiment of our stability, courage, and hope.
The implications for our earthly struggles are far reaching. God’s name “The Lord is my banner,” means that God will be triumphant in his unrelenting opposition to evil. Evil will ultimately be defeated because God is the victorious warrior. Christians have long adopted the Cross as their symbol. The early church was accustomed to thinking of Christ’s work on the cross primarily in terms of his triumph over the forces of darkness. “It is finished” was his victory cry. Because the Lord is our banner, Christians can have confidence and courage during this present evil age.
While we can have confidence in the Lord, the accompanying moral accountability is to examine ourselves that our loyalty is to him and not to the reasoning of the world, the desires of our flesh, or the deceptions of the devil. The world will offer us various galvanizing points, whether they be political parties, ideologies, nations, technologies, philosophies, or identities. Our challenge is to keep our eyes fixed on the Cross, that is, on the-Lord-is-my-banner.
It is a truism that we live in a polarized time, but believers in the-Lord-is-my-banner are able to rise above the fray. In the tumult of the peoples, we often find a mix of sympathetic, human concerns and distorted moral and spiritual reasonings. Christians are in danger of either dismissing valid concerns or rallying behind worldly causes. People on opposite sides of contemporary issues will warn us about being “on the wrong side of history”. The reality is that a loyalty to God and his cause is the only, singular way to be on the “right side of history”, on the side toward which history is inevitably moving: The second coming of Christ and the final judgment. Christ’s cause must be our preoccupying concern and the source of our assurance as we move through a spiritually treacherous environment. By word and example, in every way, especially through the ordinary means of Word and Sacrament, we must be making disciples from all nations (Matt 28:19-20). The reason so many churches have the Cross in a prominent place in their sanctuaries is that Calvary must be the hilltop from which we survey the battlefield. The Cross as the saving work of our Redeemer is “towering o’er the wrecks of time”. We must be about making disciples of the Lord-is-my-banner, the one who is with us unto the end of the age.
I have not had the rule which I ought to have had over my own spirit, which has therefore been like a city broken into and left without walls. Proverbs 25:28(ESV)
I have been quick in my spirit to become angry, and anger has lodged in my bosom. Ecclesiastes 7:9(ESV) And when my spirit has been made bitter, I have spoken rashly with my lips, Psalm 106:33(ESV) and have been guilty of that clamor and bitterness which should have been put far from me. Ephesians 4:31(ESV)
Who can say that he is clean from that love of money which is the root of all kinds of evil, 1 Timothy 6:10(ESV) that covetousness which is idolatry? Colossians 3:5(ESV)
I have sought great things for myself when you have said, “Seek them not.” Jeremiah 45:5(ESV)
Our sensuality and flesh-pleasing.
I have set my mind on the things of the flesh more than the things of the Spirit, Romans 8:5(ESV) and have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence, and have fattened my heart in a day of slaughter. James 5:5(ESV)
I have made provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires, Romans 13:14(ESV) even those passions which wage war against my soul; 1 Peter 2:11(ESV) and in many instances, I have acted as if I had been a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God. 2 Timothy 3:4(ESV)
When I eat and when I drink, do I not eat for myself and drink for myself? Zechariah 7:6(ESV)
For years I led trips to Israel for students. Often, we traveled in buses on tight schedules. It was important for the students to be in the bus on time, not to miss opportunities to see important sites by the end of the day. Each morning began with a gentle reminder that if they were too late, they might get left behind.In his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul addressed the issue of Christians who had perished. In his second letter Paul addressed a different problem. It seems the word went around that Jesus had already returned, and they had missed Him (v. 2)! As you might imagine this was disconcerting. To make matters worse, Paul was aware that this rumor might have been backed up by people claiming to have spoken with him and maybe bearing false letters forged in his name (v. 2).He answers by giving them prophetic insight into the future. After his conversion, Paul received direct revelation from Jesus (Gal. 1:12). Jesus revealed to Paul that certain things must come to pass before He would come back. The details were not so specific that someone could pinpoint the day when Jesus would return. However, they are specific enough to assure his readers that God had a plan. He expected his readers to be encouraged by this. They had no reason to be unsettled, because God was in control.The events of the future would not roll out haphazardly. God’s sovereign hand was on the future! First, the “man of lawlessness” must appear (v. 3). He must set himself up in the Temple as God (v. 4). But until the time was right, he was being held in check (v. 6). The Thessalonians could stand firm in the knowledge that they would not miss Christ’s return.
Go Deeper Do you look at the world around you and wonder how bad things will get before the Lord returns? Stand firm! Lawlessness will never ruin God’s plan. Extended Reading:2 Thessalonians
Pray with Us Jesus, like the Thessalonians, we eagerly await Your return! It gives us great joy to know that You hold our future in Your hands, and we are secure in You. Teach us to always walk worthy of Your kingdom.
Ver. 5. For thy Maker is thine Husband.—The Lord His people’s husband:— I. CONSIDER SOME THINGS WHICH ARE IMPLIED IN THIS RELATION WHEREIN CHRIST STANDS TO HIS PEOPLE, THAT NATURALLY TEND TO ENCOURAGE THEIR FAITH AND JOY in HIM.
This relation intimates that nearness and union which there is between Christ and His Church. Among men the marriage union is the nearest and most strict of any that can possibly be. And because there is no higher allusion whereby to express the union of believers to Christ, the Holy Ghost useth this to give us the more lively apprehension of this admirable privilege (Eph. 5:30); 1 Cor. 6:17).
In this relation is implied the greatest love and tenderest affection.
The utmost care of and concern for those who are espoused.
The utmost pity and sympathy.
The having all convenient supplies which are in the power of a tender husband to give.
The relation of a husband gives his spouse a right to share with him everything that is properly his. II. SHOW THE GROUND OR REASON WHICH HIS PEOPLE HAVE TO DEPEND UPON HIS ANSWERING TO THEM ALL THAT IS THUS INCLUDED UNDER THIS RELATION OF A HUSBAND. III. MAKE PROPER IMPROVEMENT OF THE WHOLE.
This affords us an admirable instance of the riches of Divine grace, and the wonderful condescension of the Son of God, that He should demean Himself in such a manner as not to be ashamed of being styled a husband to such sinful worms as the best of His people are.
If it be the happiness of all God’s people that their Maker is their Husband; how much does it stand us in stead to examine whether we are of this number?
Does Christ stand in this relation to His people? This may administer matter of great comfort and joy to them at all times, and under all circumstances.
If believers are Christ’s spouse, how heinous and aggravated must their wilful trangressions be?
From the relation believers stand in to Christ we learn that the most ardent affection is due to Him from all His chosen.
This also teaches us how highly it concerns every Christian to pay a just regard to all the ordinances of our glorious Redeemer, and to take great satisfaction in yielding obedience to Him therein. How pleasant is it to a loving and an affectionate wife to wait in those paths in which her kind and absent spouse had appointed to meet her.
This relation Christ stands in to His people calls for their cheerful and constant dependence upon Him. (E. Walker.) The Divine Husband:— I. THE DOCTRINE THESE WORDS CONTAIN.
“Husband” means house-band—the head and band of the family. Hence the word denotes unison, community of interests, and special affection.
We learn that the Maker of all things, who fainteth not, condescends to bear to His creatures the closest and most sacred relationship. In Hosea 2:19, 20, He says—“I will betroth thee unto Me for ever.” And the Christian in reply says, “My Beloved is mine and I am His.” The parallel is carried on in the New Testament (Matt. 9:14, 15). St. Paul refers to it—“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church.”
Observe that in the original the word is in the plural—“Thy Makers are thy Husband,” evidently alluding to the Trinity. We learn, then, that the love of the Father, the atonement of the Son, and the comfort of the Holy Ghost, all pertain to saving, blessing, and comforting those who love God. II. THE APPLICATION OF THE TRUTHS TO OURSELVES.
The wonderful sympathy of our God. He feels for our woes. We see a picture of widowhood, orphanage, a woman bereaved, forsaken in spirit. What volumes of suffering are depicted in the words mourning, solitude, and woe! So with orphanage, want of protection, and love. To them our Redeemer speaks, and Christ repeats the promises, for He says to His disciples, “I will not leave you orphans.” The Divine Being cannot see His children suffer. He will be their Husband, Friend, and Protector.
The wonderful efficacy of our God’s assistance. He will be the Husband of His people. This indicates nearness of relationship. It also indicates His right to help. The husband is the natural protector, stay, and support of his wife. It is he who makes all things conduce to the safety and happiness of his household.
The wonderful efficiency of our God’s protection. “Thy Maker is Thy Husband.” It is as if He said, He who is able to create thee is also able to preserve. And, oh, what is implied in that word “Maker!” What power, what skill, what marvellous foresight! And all is concentrated also in human preservation. Here is a word to the bereaved, the sorrowing, the tried, the longing. Here is a fulness for him that craves for sympathy and yearns for love. Here is blessedness for him that desires peace and protection. (Homilist.) Christ the Husband of His Church:— I. THE DIGNIFIED CHARACTER OF THE BRIDEGROOM.
His creating power. “Thy Maker.”
His glorious sway. “The Lord of hosts is His name.”
His redeeming love. “Thy Redeemer.”
His spotless holiness. “The Holy One of Israel.”
His universal dominion. “The God of the whole earth.” II. THE INTERESTING NATURE OF THE UNION.
Its qualities. (1) It is gracious in its origin. (2) Powerful in its accomplishment. (3) Spiritual in its nature. (4) Permanent in its duration.
Its privileges. (1) Communion. (2) Riches. (3) Protection.
Its terms. (1) Undivided affection. (2) Mutual consent. Conclusion:
I hail those who are married to the Lord.
I would address such as are wedded to sin. What profit? etc. (E. Temple.) God as Husband:— If I marry the Merchant, the old Puritans said in their quaint and homely fashion, all His wares shall be mine. The God of the whole earth.—The mission of the Jewish nation:— A candle does not belong to the candlestick that holds it, but to every one in the room where it shines; and the knowledge of God, the preciousness of the Divine revelation, does not belong to the nation in which it is first and most clearly disclosed. They hold it as a torch; but it is that all may have the benefit of its shining. (H. W. Beecher.) The God of the whole earth:— If God is the God of the whole earth, He must be the God of the whole earth just as it is; and I remark that while believers in the true God were tribal and national, the natural mistake which was made, and which should put us on our guard lest we fall into it again in substance, was that of supposing that God was in a special manner the God of a particular class. So let us not forget that if He is the God of the whole earth He is the God of all those physical conditions under which men are born. He is the God of those laws of descent which make the character of the parent go down to the children through many generations. He is the God of those decrees by which the drunkard’s children inherit the drunkard’s proclivities; by which deceit propagates deceit; by which honour breeds honour; by which motives brought to bear upon parents have an effect on the welfare of their children reaching down to the depths of futurity. He is the God of the climate in which every person lives—of that climate which drives the Esquimaux under ground during most of the months of the year, and that climate which brings the swarthy African all the year into the open air, without clothes and without a dwelling. If He is the God of all the earth, then He is the God that establishes those laws which determine the occupations of men, and their characters, in a large degree. He is the God of the physical globe, in this sense: that whatever affects men by its nature, by its unconscious and continuous influence upon them, is of His ordination. Being the God of the whole earth, He is the God of the mountains and of the valleys; of the winter and of the summer; of industry and of commerce; of all the arrangements of life by which men are influenced. Men’s places of abode, and their nature, are largely determined by their circumstances; and these circumstances are God’s decrees. (Ibid.) An unchristian patriotism:— God is the God of all nations. The Bible says that He is the God of all the earth, and I suppose there are people enough in other nations besides our own to occupy a considerable part of His sympathy and heart and attention. Well, patriotism is a good thing, but when patriotism is the influence that separates us from the other nations of the earth, it is a very narrow, mean thing, it is only another name for selfishness. (Ibid.) All nations and all classes belong to God, the superior and the inferior; the men of knowledge belong to God’s sympathy and care, the men of virtue, the men of great acquisitions, the men of great capacity to acquire, the active, the popular, the administrative, the successful men; they are all the Lord’s because they are men. And the poor, and the lower classes, the lowest, the very slaves are all God’s. I have sometimes thought that He reveals more of Himself to them than He does to their superiors. In other words, their utter helplessness, the necessity of leaning upon something to support them in their weakness, has brought them into such moods of mind, that God has shown some elements and attributes of His character to them, to true Christian slave mothers and fathers, that other men have not had. There are things that happen among them that look as much like miracles as those in the Gospels. There are things that happen among them that look almost as if God had opened the heavens and had personally spoken to them. It agrees with the exhibition of the sympathy of God, to give ourselves to the lower rather than to the higher, because they need it most. (Ibid.) God’s fourfold relationship:— There are four great names by which Almighty God is most commonly called in Christendom—Creator, King, Judge, Father. The first and last, Creator and Father, are probably absolute and literal descriptions of Him; there is no other Creator but He, and all parentage but shadows the great fact of His Fatherhood. The other two names, King and Judge, are figurative and illustrative only. But all four are revealed names; authorized names; names given by God Himself to the yearning, importunate inquiries of men who, like wrestling Jacob, cry to Him, “Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name.” We must know God by more than His names if we are in any true sense to know Him; we must realize His presence; be quickened by His life; the presence everywhere revealed; the life everywhere felt. Yet on a consideration of each of His names we may find some interpretation of what is meant by the declaration that He is “the God of the whole earth.” I. He is the God as being the Creator of the whole earth. The earth would not have come into existence, and would not be to-day, but for the will, the power, the goodness of God. In the architecture of the whole earth there is God’s design; in the structure there is God’s might; in both there is God’s love. II. He is the God as being the King of the whole earth. Kingship is often a very conventional conception; royalty often a very conventional idea. Back of it all, in essential reality, is intended, not pomp and splendour, not rank and arbitrary authority, but genuine supremacy, the supremacy that must govern, that ought to control, and the glory that is inherent in such supremacy. We do not find much help to understanding the government of God in the kings and queens whose empire is but as an inch, whose reign an hour. Christ’s kingship, and not Cæsar’s, nor Alexander’s, nor Solomon’s, nor Pharaoh’s, is the true specimen of monarchy, of Divine sovereignty. He is Lord of a moral dominion, King of a spiritual empire, and yet, when He willed it, His sceptre controlled material nature, multiplying the handful of loaves and fishes into a sudden harvest by a touch, and calming the tempestuous winds and waves by a word. III. He is the God as being the JUDGE of the whole earth. A world in which there is iniquity demands a Judge. Nay, the necessities of God’s own righteous nature compel Him to be a Judge. The whole earth’s God must be a universal Judge; between nations like France and Madagascar, between man and man, and between man and law, the God of all must be the supreme Judge. Unerring in His all-pervading knowledge, righteous in His infinite inspiration, infallible in His verdicts, “shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” IV. He is the God as being the FATHER of the whole earth. The heart of humanity cries, “Show us the Father and it sufficeth us,” and Jesus, by the words of His lips and by the works of His hands—yet more exceedingly by His Cross, by His character, and by His Spirit is ever revealing the Father. (U. R. Thomas, B.A.)
Exell, J. S. (n.d.). Isaiah (Vol. 3, pp. 166–169). Fleming H. Revell Company.
5 The confidence that the people can have is founded on the fact that the one making the promises and fulfilling them is none other than the ‘husband’. The Hebrew text actually uses plural forms for both ‘maker’ and ‘husband’. This may be compared to the use of the plural ‘our’ in Genesis 1:26 or of ‘us’ in Isaiah 6:8. It is possible that they are assimilations to the word ’elôhîm for God, which looks like a Hebrew masculine plural form. Another possibility is that there is deliberate avoidance of the singular form ba‘al (meaning ‘lord’ or ‘husband’) so that there is no association with the Canaanite god of that name. The ‘husband’ is none other than ‘the LORD of Hosts’, ‘your redeemer’, ‘the holy of Israel’. The accumulation of titles points to the majesty of Israel’s God who is also the God of the whole earth. Isaiah’s understanding of Israel’s God is that he is the one with universal authority.
Harman, A. (2005). Isaiah: A Covenant to Be Kept for the Sake of the Church (p. 370). Christian Focus Publications.
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. (Psalm 34:7)
We cannot see the angels, but it is enough that they can see us. There is one great Angel of the Covenant, whom not having seen we love, and His eye is always upon us both day and night. He has a host of holy ones under Him, and He causes these to be watchers over His saints and to guard them from all ill. If devils do us mischief, shining ones do us service.
Note that the Lord of angels does not come and go and pay us transient visits, but He and His armies encamp around us. The headquarters of the army of salvation is where those live whose trust is in the living God. This camp surrounds the faithful so that they cannot be attacked from any quarter unless the adversary can break through the entrenchments of the Lord of angels. We have a fixed protection, a permanent watch. Sentineled by the messengers of God, we shall not be surprised by sudden assaults nor swallowed up by overwhelming forces. Deliverance is promised in this verse—deliverance by the great Captain of our salvation, and that deliverance we shall obtain again and again until our warfare is accomplished and we exchange the field of conflict for the home of rest.
“Have you ever thought that in every action of grace in your heart you have the whole omnipotence of God engaged to bless you?” – Andrew Murray1
“God bestows His blessings without discrimination. The followers of Jesus are children of God, and they should manifest the family likeness by doing good to all, even to those who deserve the opposite.” – F. F. Bruce
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” – Eric Hoffer
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” – Camille Pissarro
“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” – C. S. Lewis
“It’s a fact of earthly life that when God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the devil opens the doors of hell to blast us. When God begins moving, the devil fires up all his artillery.” – Adrian Rogers
“Some of your greatest blessings come with patience.” – Warren Wiersbe
“God will either give you what you ask or something far better.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
“Concentrate on counting your blessings and you’ll have little time to count anything else.” – Woodrow Kroll
“What we count the ills of life are often blessings in disguise, resulting in good to us in the end. Though for the present not joyous but grievous, yet, if received in a right spirit, they work out fruits of righteousness for us at last.”– Matthew Henry
“I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God’s help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can’t expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.” – Ronald Reagan
“Lord, if You bless me, I’ll thank You; but if You don’t, I’ll be thankful for what I have.” – Phil Robertson
“Christ frequently gives us the desires of our heart, though not at the peculiar time we desired, but a better time.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
“To deny that God seeks to bless his people is to envision a God who ignores his own recorded words.” – R M Harrington
“All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.” – John Calvin
“Anything is a blessing which makes us pray.” – Charles Spurgeon
“But there is no greater blessing than to be shaped, molded, and crafted by the gentle working of Christ.” – R. C. Sproul
1 All of these quotes are from the websites below:
It is hard to deny the fact that you and I live in a world that desperately needs to be restored. Just look at your media feed, or recall the sad things that have happened in your lifetime. The apostle Paul writes that we live in a world that is groaning, waiting for redemption (Rom. 8:22–23). You groan when you’re in pain; you groan when you’re tired; you groan when you’re disappointed; you groan when things around you seem irreparably broken. Such is the state of the world in which we live. The violence around us takes your breath away. The moral degradation of the culture seems to go on unabated. The witness of the church often seems compromised. Marriages break apart, and parents throw up their hands in frustration at their children. Entertainment media have ceased to be a safe place of escape. Even the physical world around us groans. The world today is not as God created it, and it does not function as God intended.
We sometimes cry out, “God, are you there? Do you see what is happening? Do you hear our cries for help? Have you abandoned what you have made?” We feel weak and powerless, unable to bring about the massive change that is needed. And so we pray and hope. But prayer is not a final act of desperation by people who don’t know what else to do. The Bible is punctuated with promises of restoration. These promises should remind you that God hasn’t abandoned his creation. They have been recorded and preserved so that you would know that your prayers are not in vain. They assure you that restoration is written into God’s unshakable redemptive plan.
We find such a promise in Jeremiah 50. It comes at a time when it looks as though things couldn’t get any worse for the children of God. It is a shining light of hope in the darkest of times, sent by a God of love to comfort his children down through the ages:
Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria. I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. (Jer. 50:17–20)
God will crush evil and restore and purify his people. Evil will not win. Renewal is on the way. There’s reason for hope.
Paul David Tripp (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a pastor, an award-winning author, and an international conference speaker. He has written numerous books, including Lead; Parenting; and the bestselling devotional New Morning Mercies. His not-for-profit ministry exists to connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Tripp lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Luella, and they have four grown children.
Paul Tripp talks about his new book Everyday Gospel, compares it to his book New Morning Mercies, and shares how he’s praying for God to use it in the hearts of those who read it.
“He that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about” – Psalm 32:10
O fair reward of trust! My LORD, grant it me to the full! The truster above all men feels himself to be a sinner; and lo, mercy is prepared for him: he knows himself to have no deservings, but mercy comes in and keeps house for him on a liberal scale. O LORD, give me this mercy, even as I trust in Thee! Observe, my soul, what a bodyguard thou hast! As a prince is compassed about with soldiery, so art thou compassed about with mercy. Before and behind, and on all sides, ride these mounted guards of grace. We dwell in the center of the system of mercy, for we dwell in Christ Jesus. O my soul, what an atmosphere dost thou breathe! As the air surrounds thee, even so does the mercy of thy LORD. To the wicked there are many sorrows, but to thee there are so many mercies that thy sorrows are not worth mentioning. David says, “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” In obedience to this precept my heart shall triumph in God, and I will tell out my gladness. As Thou hast compassed me with mercy, I will also compass Thine altars, O my God, with songs of thanksgiving!
40:31 wait for the LORD. See 8:17; 49:23. There is a general principle here that patient, praying believers are blessed by God with strength in their trials (cf. 2Co 12:8–10). The Lord also expected His people to be patient and await His coming in glory at the end to fulfill the promises of national deliverance, when believing Israel would become stronger than they had ever been.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Is 40:31). Thomas Nelson Publishers.
40:31 To wait entails confident expectation and active hope in the Lord—never passive resignation (Ps. 40:1). Mount up … run … walk depicts the spiritual transformation that faith brings to a person. The Lord gives power to those who trust in Him. eagles: The eagle depicts the strength that comes from the Lord. The Lord describes His deliverance of the Israelites in Ex. 19:4 as similar to being lifted up on an eagle’s strong wings. In Ps. 103:5 the strength of people who are nourished by God is compared to the strength of the eagle.
Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (p. 847). T. Nelson Publishers.
31 Not all human beings experience the same desolation of weakness. There are some who are characterised by their confident trust in the LORD and the drawing of strength from him. The verb used here for ‘waiting’ (qâvâh) always denotes hopeful waiting, resting trustfully. It is a word that the psalmists use frequently to describe the character of God’s faithful people (Pss. 25:5, 21; 27:14; 130:5). They find that they are able to exchange their weakness for God’s strength (the verb is Heb. châlaf, ‘to change’ or ‘exchange’; cf. the English ‘caliph’ that comes from Arabic). They are thus enabled to do things they earlier would have found either impossible (flying) or completely debilitating (running and walking). For those in exile the message is going to be that their frail condition can be overcome by divine power.
Harman, A. (2005). Isaiah: A Covenant to Be Kept for the Sake of the Church (pp. 274–275). Christian Focus Publications.
Inflation Improves in January, Beating Forecasts with a 2.4% Gain Inflation softened in January, coming in slightly below expectations and continuing a downtrend, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday. The monthly consumer priced index increased by 0.2% for the period, registering an annual gain of 2.4%, below the 2.5% predicted by economists and down from 2.7% in December.
A Political Trend Goes Truly Global Almost every week brings news of another conservative victory in a national election. This past week, it was the surprise landslide victory for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party … Last week also brought news of a conservative win in the Costa Rican elections, continuing a streak of similar contests in South and Central America resulting in conservative victories, including in Paraguay, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Honduras. … In Europe, the number of conservative governments is growing, and includes Italy, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Switzerland, Greece, Sweden, Slovakia, and Croatia. India, has been ruled by a conservative leader and party since 2014. Exceptions to this conservative trend have been the defeat of governments on the right in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and Australia. South Korea has also turned leftward. More…
SAVE TEXAS UPDATE: Leaders Gather as Fight Against Sharia Law Intensifies Texas Republicans have placed a primary ballot proposition before voters on March 3 asking whether Sharia law and any foreign religious legal code should be banned in Texas. As speakers at the event made clear, March 3 is only the first step in a fight that has implications far beyond Texas. Among those in attendance were Steve Bannon, Lt. Col. Allen West, historian Bill Federer, numerous Texas state representatives, grassroots leaders, and policy experts. The clear takeaway was that banning sharia law is more than just a call-to-action – it is a line in the sand to defend the U.S. legal system and protect religious liberty for Americans of all faiths.
Leftists Are Filing Free Speech Lawsuits over Fallout from Celebrating Charlie Kirk Assassination Free speech lawsuits have been filed by multiple leftists fired from their jobs after revealing their pro-assassin sentiments in the aftermath of Turning Point USA founder and conservative icon Charlie Kirk’s horrific assassination. In one of the more intense examples, Larry Bushart — a retired police officer from Tennessee and self-proclaimed leftist “keyboard warrior” — was visited by police after posting memes mocking Republicans for mourning Kirk,
Geert Wilders For Breitbart: Europe May Once Again Need America to Liberate it From a Tyranny of Its Own Making Guess what the main topic of debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week is. It is what the Euro-elites consider the most concerning issue of the moment: “State violence in Minneapolis and the rule of law in the United States.” This is a typical example of seeing the speck in your brother’s eye while ignoring the beam in your own. The European Union is criticizing the rule of law in America,
Vatican Bids for Global Authority For centuries, the papacy has claimed authority over rulers, nations, and consciences. The Vatican has claimed a position as a global authority, A fragmented Christianity, he argued, lacks the capacity to contribute meaningfully to global stability. In other words? Everyone should follow the Catholic organization and toss little things like doctrinal truths aside. the Holy See … maintains formal relations with nearly every nation, participates in international forums, and convenes political and religious leaders who otherwise do not cooperate. This presence has cultivated the Vatican’s image as the world’s moral conscience. Speaking at the United Nations, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer, … emphasized the need for shared language, agreed definitions, and constructive dialogue as foundations for global cooperation. Naturally, he presented the Vatican as an ethical steward that can operate within institutions such as the United Nations. The Vatican, he encouraged, should bear responsibility for shaping outcomes by uniting nations, uniting religions, and crafting policy at the global level.
Leavitt unloads on Obama over voter ID push, accuses Dems of ‘panic’ “You know how badly the Democrats are panicking when they bring out Obama to spread lies about voter ID,” Leavitt posted to X Thursday. “The fact is that nearly 90% of voters support” voter ID laws, she continued before posting two screenshots showing two polls reflecting that Americans support such laws at around 83% support to 84% support.
Trump admin rips Mamdani, local Dems as activists override gov’t move at NYC monument: ‘Focused on theatrics’ Earlier this week, the Trump administration removed a Pride flag from the national monument outside the Stonewall Inn, the site of a clash between police and patrons of a gay bar seen by many as the start of the gay rights movement in the 1960s, in a move it says is in accordance with decades-old federal code. The administration says that only the American flag, Department of the Interior flag, or POW flags are permitted to fly on national monuments rather than political flags,
Israel expands naval readiness with large-scale drill to defend gas platforms, ports, regional maritime threats The Israeli Navy has completed a large-scale exercise involving hundreds of personnel, aimed at strengthening defenses around Israel’s strategic maritime assets, including offshore natural gas platforms in the Mediterranean Sea and major ports. The drill also simulated a range of infiltration scenarios and potential clashes with Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
At the Jordan’s Edge: Site of Covenant Crossing and Christian Baptism Reopens The Jordan River ran quietly on Tuesday morning as buses rolled back into Qasr al-Yahud for the first time since a sweeping renovation project transformed the historic baptismal site. Pilgrims in white robes stepped onto a newly built wooden deck, descending toward the same waters where, according to Christian tradition, John the Baptist immersed Jesus nearly two thousand years ago. After years of delays, mines, and military closures, one of Christianity’s most revered sites is fully open again.
‘Trading blood for steel’: Army’s new combat philosophy puts autonomous robots on front lines The Army is investing heavily in a strategy that will team soldiers with autonomous drones on the battlefield, with the goal of leveraging next-generation technology to save American lives, the U.S. Army’s chief technology officer said in The service is searching for ways to fundamentally change how soldiers fight and win future wars. At the heart of that is a push for replaceable, smart technology — such as autonomous robots — to move ahead of human soldiers in the most dangerous situations.
IDF Chief of Staff: Full Gaza demilitarization and Hamas disarmament still the goal The Chief of the General Staff toured the Rafah area following the events of the past week and instructed troops to continue operating to remove threats in the area, with an emphasis on dismantling underground terror infrastructure. “During the war, we achieved an unprecedented accomplishment – all Hamas front-line battalions were dismantled. Hamas has been militarily defeated and all of the hostages have returned to their homes,” said Zamir. “We are not relinquishing the objectives of the war – the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the disarmament of Hamas,” the Chief of Staff stressed. “
European Countries Join France in Demanding Anti-Israel UN Special Rapporteur Albanese’s Resignation Top diplomats from Austria, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic have joined France in calling for the resignation of the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who has an extensive history of using her role to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize the terrorist group Hamas’s attacks against the Jewish state. Earlier this week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot accused Albanese of being “a political activist who stirs up hate” after she delivered yet another inflammatory tirade against Israel, this time at an Al Jazeera forum in Doha, prompting renewed calls for her resignation.
World’s largest warship en route to Middle East The redeployment of the USS “Gerald R. Ford” underscores U.S. pressure on Iran as talks continue and military options loom. …the USS “Gerald R. Ford,” has been ordered to sail from the Caribbean Sea to join the USS “Abraham Lincoln” strike group in the Middle East, U.S. media outlets reported Friday, underscoring a significant bolstering of American naval power amid heightened tensions with Iran. The redeployment of the “Ford,” first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by other sources, will extend its mission and place two U.S. carrier strike groups in the region simultaneously. The “Lincoln” has been operating in the Arabian Sea since late January
‘They will fire every missile’: Israel braces for worst-case Iran scenario With Arrow and David’s Sling batteries, a large air and naval deployment and US interceptor systems, Israel is preparing to defend its home front if Iran talks collapse — including a scenario in which Tehran launches a massive missile barrage as a last resort, with possible international backing
Agenda-Driven Handling Of The Bible: Scripture Does Not Mandate Lawlessness And Open Borders For centuries, Christians have wrestled with the tension between mercy and order, compassion and responsibility. That tension is at the heart of today’s immigration debate, where some in the church insist that Biblical commands to “welcome the stranger” (Leviticus 19:34) require support for open borders and tolerance of illegal immigration. This reading, however sincere, reflects a misuse of Scripture, Christian benevolence, and the God-ordained role of civil government. House Speaker Mike Johnson is to be commended for articulating this balance in a recent press conference on Capitol Hill. Drawing openly from his Christian faith, Johnson stated that Scripture does not call governments to abdicate their responsibilities. On the contrary, the Bible affirms that maintaining order, enforcing laws, and protecting citizens are moral duties.
Somali Fallout: US Treasury Will Pay Snitches Up To 30% On Fraud, Money Laundering Prosecutions On the heels of all that Somali fraud in Minnesota, the US Treasury Department on Friday launched a new portal where people can report suspected fraud, money laundering and sanctions violations. I ndividuals who voluntarily provide information about such violations or conspiracies to commit violations may be eligible for awards if the information they provide leads to a successful enforcement action by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) or the Department of Justice (DOJ) that results in monetary penalties exceeding $1,000,000, and the requirements in 31 U.S.C. § 5323 and its implementing regulation are otherwise met. A copy of the statute is available here. -FINCEN How much are we talking about? Between 10-30% “of what has been collected of the monetary sanctions imposed in the action or related actions,” and it’s got to be north of $1 million.
The Bigger Problem That The Tim Walz NGO Scandal Has Exposed The Minnesota nonprofit fraud scandal, now expected to cost taxpayers more than $9 billion, is being dismissed by many as an isolated failure. However, this is far from the case, and writing it off as such would be a colossal mistake. What it actually revealed is a broader problem in the Swamp—that institutions claiming to represent others often operate with little accountability and then quietly drift away from the very people who are footing the bill. In Minnesota, nonprofit organizations became the perfect vehicle for abuse—shielded from scrutiny, politically protected, and flush with public money.
Matryoshka Satellites, Robotic Arms: Former US Space Force Commander Warns Of Russian, Chinese Threats When a Russian “nesting-doll” satellite maneuvered into close proximity to a US satellite last June, it was the latest move in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in space. Cosmos 2558 had been observed shadowing USA 326 ever since being launched in 2022. But now it had hatched a surprise by releasing a smaller module that started moving even closer to the US satellite. “This is the second one we’ve seen do this from the Russian side,” “What you’re seeing in the development here, all of these are tests building up to capability…hypothetically, if I were going to launch a counter space capability, first I’d want to make sure I can acquire targets before I could then strike targets.”
AI toy maker exposed snippets of thousands of conversations its toys had with children A company that makes toys powered by artificial intelligence exposed snippets of thousands of conversations its toys had with children, according to Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. The exposed database, which was viewed by NBC News, appeared to contain thousands of Miko toys’ daily responses to children’s questions or instructions going back to December 2025.
Donald Trump ‘authorises access to UFO bases and non-human bodies’, US congressman claims The Trump administration has allegedly authorised access to classified UFO facilities to one of Congress’s leading voices on disclosure. Missouri congressman Eric Burlison, who sits on the Congressional Oversight Committee investigating Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), revealed the development during an appearance on the ALN Podcast. The Republican lawmaker said his request to the President and White House officials covers visits to military sites where unidentified craft, recovered materials, biological remains and archival records are rumoured to be held. “The White House has told the Department of Defence (DoD) to make it happen,” Mr Burlison said.
Fewer than a third of churchgoers read the Bible daily and it’s obvious According to a Christian Post report citing the latest Lifeway Research State of Discipleship study, fewer than one in three Protestant churchgoers in the United States read the Bible on a daily basis. The report, published on The Christian Post website on February 13, 2026, highlights data from an online survey of 2,130 Protestant churchgoers conducted March 19–26, 2025. It reveals that only 31% of these churchgoers said they read Scripture every day, while another 30% engage with it a few times a week.
Gezani destroys 18,800 homes, claims 40 lives in Madagascar At least 40 fatalities have been confirmed, and over 18,800 homes have been destroyed as of February 13, 2026, since Tropical Cyclone Gezani made landfall over Madagascar. The storm remains active and is forecast to continue intensifying through February 13 while remaining in open waters.
Florida enters worst drought in 25 years as extreme conditions expand Florida has entered its worst drought in 25 years, with 100% of the state classified in drought categories D0–D4, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Severe to extreme drought now covers 85.46% of the state, marking the most extensive spatial coverage since the 2000–2001 drought event.
Amazon’s Ring and Google’s Nest Unwittingly Reveal the Severity of The U.S. Surveillance State That the U.S. Surveillance State is rapidly growing to the point of ubiquity has been demonstrated over the past week by seemingly benign events. While the picture that emerges is grim, to put it mildly, at least Americans are again confronted with crystal clarity over how severe this has become.
Disney World ‘Pride’ event ‘GayDays’ on ‘pause’ for 2026 after loss of sponsorship support Orlando “GayDays,” which has been a long-running LGBTQ-themed tourism event at Disney World, has been paused for 2026. The pause comes as there has been mounting pressure related to the LGBTQ activism event that usually takes place on an annual basis in and around Disney World to mark Pride month.
Islamic Terror Attack Near Arc de Triomphe: Knife-Wielding Man on Terror Watchlist Shot by Police in Paris In a jihadist attack on Feb 13, Brahim Bahrir, a radical Muslim with a 2012 conviction for stabbing two Belgian police officers, stabbed and seriously wounded a gendarme during the Unknown Soldier flame ceremony before being shot multiple times by another gendarme and hospitalized in critical condition after vowing revenge for “our women and children.”
Europe Faces a Strategic Reckoning This Weekend Leaders gather this weekend at the Munich Security Conference. With Russia’s war grinding on, US political uncertainty looming, and China repositioning itself on the global stage, the conference will force European leaders to answer how independent is Europe in a world dominated by rival great powers?
State Department Says Far Left Group ‘Code Pink’ is Linked to the Chinese Communist Party The State Dept reported to Congress that the far-left group ‘Code Pink’ is linked to the Chinese Communist Party. This should come as a surprise to no one. Now that Trump, a Republican, is president again, they are back to their old tactics of showing up in places where they were not invited and being annoying. This move by the State Dept has the potential to change the game.
RAIR Foundation USA Storms Congress with Explosive Testimony – Islamic Conquest Exposed in the Lone Star State Krista Schild, Texas Director at RAIR, delivered a gut-wrenching testimony that laid bare the stealth jihad ravaging Texas. This wasn’t just a hearing; it was a declaration of war against the radical networks infiltrating our communities, schools, and government. America, Texas is ground zero – and if we don’t act, the rest of the nation falls next.
US Dept of Education reveals extent of Qatari and Saudi funding in higher education US Colleges and universities have received over $1.1 billion in funding from Qatar and over $285 million from Saudi Arabia, according to data for 2025 released by the U.S. Dept of Education. China and Qatar have, in recent years, drawn scrutiny over claims that they use funding and donations to higher education institutions to influence public perceptions of their countries.
Abbas publishes Palestinian Authority draft constitution The Palestinian Authority (PA) drafts a constitution, omits Jewish ties to Jerusalem, and calls for a Sharia legal system. The draft constitution also called for the “right of return” for refugees, caring for families of “martyrs, prisoners, and exiles,” and reaffirming the PLO’s position as representing Palestinians.
Florida’s Wake-Up Call: Islamic Center of Orlando’s Expansion Marches On Months after exposure, Islamic Center of Orlando is doubling down – expanding its footprint, erecting minarets, & accelerating a long-term strategy to entrench its influence in Central Florida. Don’t be fooled…. The video isn’t just a construction progress report; it’s a victory lap for the ongoing “civilization jihad” we’ve warned about.
Clash of Cultures at Super Bowl LX Nate Jackson While making much of America’s 250th birthday, the game’s Halftime Show sought to utterly redefine “America” to mean the entire Western Hemisphere.
Lack of Patriotism at the Olympics Emmy Griffin Some athletes are displaying a lack of unity and stirring up media firestorms instead of pointing people to the beauty of the sport they love.
Democrats Fumble Photo ID Douglas Andrews 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.
Deadly Immigrant ‘Chameleon Carriers’ Michael Swartz Fraud is rampant for commercial driver’s licenses, and illegal aliens are causing increasingly frequent traffic accidents and deaths.
EPA Upends the Endangerment Finding Nate Jackson A supposedly science-based decision by Barack Obama’s administration led to years of burdensome, colossally expensive regulations.
The Minneapolis Mess Unpacked Jack DeVine Deep-seated contempt for federal agents who are following lawful orders, on our behalf and for our own protection? Is that who we are?
CBS Plays Semantics Game on ICE Arrests Thomas Gallatin In an effort to vilify the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, the legacy media outlet asserts that few of the illegal aliens ICE has arrested are dangerous criminals.
Climate Conjecture and Rising Insurance Premiums Brian Mark Weber Companies have been pushed into a state of fear over a climate that’s not producing any more fires, floods, or hurricanes than it has in the past.
A Parting Gift for Pelosi Mark Alexander Memo to Pam Bondi: DoJ Criminal Complaint to Indict Rep. Nancy Pelosi for Destruction of Public Property
A Civilization Losing Its Moral Compass Michael Smith From Nietzsche to Kant to MacIntyre, the warning signs were always there. We just chose not to listen.
Another CCP Biolab in America Thomas Gallatin 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.
Missing Migrant Minors Found in Minnesota Emmy Griffin Tom Homan says ICE has recovered thousands of Joe Biden’s missing unaccompanied minors, which his PR team should be bellowing ad nauseam.
Judge Greenlights Demo Sedition Douglas Andrews A district judge sided with Sen. Mark Kelly in his lawsuit against the DOD for having infringed on his apparent First Amendment right to undermine the commander-in-chief.
The New York Times Has a Pot Epiphany Nate Jackson Legalizing marijuana had far more undesirable consequences than proponents — including the Times — admitted years ago.
Profiles of Valor: CAPT Williams and SSG Ollis Mark Alexander Ordinary men faced with extraordinary circumstances, they summoned the greatest measure of courage to place their lives in imminent peril to save others.
QUOTES The BIG Lies “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) “The SAVE Act would put 1 in 4 women at risk of losing the right to vote.” —Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) Non Compos Mentis “We’re talking about Sharia law? … There’s so much we could be dealing with concerning the Constitution and protecting America. White Christian nationalist ideology has been put forward.” —Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) “When I’ve taken actions, like vetoing the nastiest piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation that ever came through my state … I said my faith teaches me that all children are children of God.” —Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) regarding child bodily mutilation “Let me ask you some questions that you may be able to answer. … How do you think judgment day will work for you with so much blood on your hands? … Do you think you’re going to hell, Mr. Lyons?” —Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) insulting ICE Director Todd Lyons Lawfare 2.0 “Let me remind you, you will not always be in power. One day you will be held accountable for your role in this dark moment in America and our nation’s history. I guarantee it.” —Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) threatening to punish Trump administration officials for enforcing the law Demagogues “Ending this operation is not enough. We need justice and accountability. That starts with independent investigations into the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, economic restitution for businesses impacted, abolishing ICE, and the impeachment of Kristi Noem.” —Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) celebrating the end of immigration enforcement operations in her state “No American, regardless of party, supports having their taxpayer dollars fund a secret police force.” —Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling ICE secret police Braying Jenny “Will you turn to [the Epstein survivors] now and apologize for what your Department of Justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information?” —Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) complaining that the DOJ released the Epstein files pursuant to a law passed by Congress Pot Calling the Kettle Black “The leader of the Pedophile Protection Party is trying to deflect attention from his name being all over the Epstein files. At least in Somalia they execute pedophiles not elect them.” —Ilhan Omar, a practicing follower of the known pedophile Muhammed, regarding Donald Trump 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 Hot Air “Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.” —Barack Obama Phew, Glad That’s Cleared Up! “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 Delusions of Grandeur “I’ve always been someone who has been intellectual.” —Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) Non Sequitur “Just voted NO on the Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance Bill in the Florida Legislature. It’s a slap in the face to Black Women that this bill was even brought forth in our committee. This body has consistently shown that it is ok to be anti-Black Women in this state. Disrespectful!” —Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon (D) 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 Oof Q: “This was not where I was anticipating getting stuck. Are you aware of how many branches of government there are?” —North Carolina State Rep. Allen Chesser (R) A: “No.” —Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Sheriff Garry McFadden Dezinformatsiya “The person who carried out a school massacre is an 18-year-old woman with mental health issues, but she did not give a motive for one of the worst mass shootings in Canada’s history.” —Australia’s ABC News (“The shooter is a biological male who allegedly self-identifies as a transgender woman.” —Community Note on X) Persona Non Grata “Erika [Kirk] should be dragged into a police precinct.” —lunatic podcaster Candace Owens Village Idiot “They hate to see … woke b****es winning. If ‘Woke’ means people who use their platforms to advocate for marginalized communities in the country that they are actively representing …… Then yeah sure?” —Olympian Amber Glenn For more insightful quotes, see our Short Cuts.
(Look … it’s not my fault Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday. It’s my “News Weakly” day and I’m going to pass on a “Valentine’s Day” post. Try to bear up under the disappointment.)
Not Just “Them”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn is a Republican from Tennessee. She wants Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson investigated for attending the Grammy Awards. Why? “When a Justice participates in such a highly politicized event, it raises ethical questions.” Like we don’t live in a highly politicized nation where everything from entertainment to legislatures are highly politicized? Like Marsha Blackburn doesn’t attend “highly politicized events”? Mind you, Jackson was nominated in the Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording category, so she had a perfectly good reason to be there. Sometimes it’s abundantly clear that insanity runs in the country, not just the Democrats.
We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
In a definitive ruling, a judge has ordered that certain humans do not have the right to life thanks to a 2024 voter-approved constitutional amendment in Arizona. The original state constitution believed in the right to life for all humans, but we’ve moved on from that, fortunately. We’ve come a long way, baby … well … let’s not say “baby” because they’re the ones that will die more frequently, but … hey … that’s progress, right? I am curious when we’ll get advanced enough to allow women “autonomous decision making” regarding the lives of the rest of those around them. Can you say “postpartum abortion”? (In a similar story, the governor of New York has authorized euthenasia in the state. I’m not nearly as concerned about that one. I mean, I think youth should visit Asia … and Europe and lots of places.)
Blah Blah Blah
Big news … the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. As if it’s significant in life. Like the wondrous events of the Winter Olympics. Moving on …
Call Me “Baffled”
Here’s an odd news item. Apparently the FTC is warning Apple CEO Tim Cook that his Apple News is using “political bias” in boosting left-wing sources and suppressing right-wing sources. Really? That’s a “violation”? I thought it was “business as usual.” From the printed and broadcast news media to the online stuff, it seems obvious that all sources provide a political bias. Gone are the days of the Walter Cronkites of yesteryear who just … presented the news. Go ahead … try to find an unbiased source today. Don’t be ridiculous, FTC.
Forget Democracy; Let’s Do Anarchy
As the dust up over actually enforcing immigration laws continues, two stories lit up this problem this week. In New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed an executive order Wednesday barring federal immigration agents from carrying out operations on state property. That is, the governor of New Jersey is banning the government from enforcing immigration on state property. Not only that, but the calls for defunding DHS are coming to fruition, too. The Senate failed to fund the Department of Homeland Security, leaving them to run out of funding this week, and it looks like a prolonged event. They required 60% to pass it. The Dems successfully blocked the funding effort. Don’t expect immigration enforcement in the near future, and don’t complain that Trump has failed to provide it. This is on the legislative branch.
Your Best Source for Fake News
After the success of Turning Point USA’s alternative halftime show, churches are adding Kid Rock’s hit, Bawitdaba, to their hymnals. (As a point of fact, something like 12 million viewers watched the alternative show. A YouGov poll said 35% of Americans preferred Bad Bunny while 28% preferred the alternative. The percentages of preference don’t match the percentages of viewership.) However, since more people actually watched Bad Bunny’s show performed entirely in a language most Americans don’t speak, the next Super Bowl halftime show will be performed entirely in Sindarin Elvish in an effort to be inclusive of Middle-earthers. “Expanding the market” as usual. Finally, after a genuinely shocking shooting at a school in Canada, a Canadian reporterperson announced policepersons have identified the gunperson thanks to a tip from a mailperson.
Must be true; I read it on the internet.
{We now return you to your regularly scheduled Valentine’s Day activities.)
The Crosstalk news desk had much to offer this week, taking listeners across the nation and around the world as Jim reported on these and other stories:
–Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump met Wednesday evening at the White House. Instead of a post meeting press conference, President Trump posted on social media his hopes that a deal can still be consummated with Iran.
–Some residents of Tehran chanted slogans on Tuesday against the Islamic republic and its supreme leader on the eve of the most significant annual commemoration of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
–The Pentagon is sending the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford from the Caribbean to the Middle East.
–Italy and Poland are among the latest European allies to snub President Trump’s newly formed “Board of Peace,” joining a list of growing nations refusing or hesitating to participate.
–The Trump administration smuggled roughly 6,000 Starlink satellite internet terminals into Iran after the regime’s crackdown on protests last month as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
–Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has received a 70 page draft, “Interim Constitution” aimed at laying the legal groundwork for a future Palestinian state.
–U.S. military forces have completed their mission in Syria to transfer Islamic state detainees to Iraq according to U.S. Central Command.
–Venezuela has sent its first crude oil shipment in years to Israel.
–As of this past Monday, Cuba’s government says international airlines cannot refuel on the island nation.
–Counterterrorism police in Great Britain are reportedly conducting an investigation into the stabbing of two young boys at a London school on Tuesday. The alleged attacker was a 13 year old boy who reportedly cried, “Allahu Akbar!” while he stabbed the two classmates, ages 12 and 13.
–The U.S. will reportedly send some 200 troops to Nigeria in an effort to train Nigeria’s armed forces to combat Islamic terrorists.
–The Supreme Court of Panama blocked a Chinese company from operating ports on either end of the Panama canal.
–Lawmakers are leaving Washington for a break with no deal set to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
–Former CNN host Don Lemon, and others charged in connection to a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, are being arraigned today.
–White House border czar Tom Homan said he will be wrapping up the immigration surge operation in Minnesota and that 3,364 missing, unaccompanied alien children were found by ICE in Minneapolis.
Tim Challies on how male sexuality – often portrayed as purely problem by the world and even Christians – was originally made good by God, and does indeed have a powerful good purpose.
When a killer murdered 8 people, injured 25 more, and then murdered himself in the small northern BC town of Tumbler Ridge this past week, the media was quick to make points about guns, but not about the elephant in the room – that the killer was a man who claimed to be a woman. We can call it mentally ill, but we shouldn’t lose sight of it simply being wicked, and it is a wicked society that reinforces this. As Samuel Sey noted, “A society that encourages trans people to not value the bodies that God gave them shouldn’t expect them to value the bodies that God gave to others.” There is something going on here with trans-identifying shooters becoming increasingly common, and again, Samuel Sey says what few others are willing to notice:
“A 2022 Quebec study reveals that transgender youth are the most likely group to support violent radicalization. When we encourage people to identify as victims, vengeance and violence are inevitable.”
Rev. Jim Witteveen is another who is noticing. He has noticed that the evolution of transvestism from pathology to a lifestyle that must be always honored (even when you’ve murdered 9) shows “the entire worldview of modern psychiatry is built on shifting sand. There is no stability to it. It has no foundation in reality.”
The author writes as someone who is wheelchair bound, struggling with his dependence on others, but realizing that all of us are, always and forever, entirely dependent on God. And we are, even in our dependence, still used by Him to help others.
At the 2026 Munich Security Conference in Germany, Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a thunderous rebuke of the failed globalist order — calling out international institutions like the United Nations for their stunning impotence in the face of war, terrorism, and global instability.
Standing before America’s European allies at one of the most consequential geopolitical forums in the world, Rubio made it clear: the era of outsourcing sovereignty to unelected global bureaucracies is over.
Rubio laid out a brutal reality check for the internationalist class that has spent decades pushing a so-called “rules-based global order” while America and Europe hollowed out their industrial base and surrendered control of critical supply chains.
According to Rubio:
The U.N. failed to stop the war in Gaza
The U.N. failed to end the war in Ukraine
The U.N. failed to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions
The U.N. failed to confront narcoterrorist regimes like Venezuela
Instead, Rubio emphasized, it was American leadership — not international resolutions — that produced results.
“We can no longer place the so-called global order above the vital interests of our people and our nations. We do not need to abandon the system of international cooperation we authored, and we don’t need to dismantle the global institutions of the old order that together we built. But these must be reformed. These must be rebuilt.
For example, the United Nations still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world. But we cannot ignore that today, on the most pressing matters before us, it has no answers and has played virtually no role. It could not solve the war in Gaza. Instead, it was American leadership that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce. It had not solved the war in Ukraine. It took American leadership and partnership with many of the countries here today just to bring the two sides to the table in search of a still-elusive peace.
It was powerless to constrain the nuclear program of radical Shia clerics in Tehran. That required 14 bombs dropped with precision from American B-2 bombers. And it was unable to address the threat to our security from a narcoterrorist dictator in Venezuela. Instead, it took American Special Forces to bring this fugitive to justice.”
‼️‼️‼️🇺🇲🇪🇺 Putin's dream, which involves the collapse of the transatlantic unity between the US and Europe and the sowing of alienation between them, was shattered by the US Secretary of State a few hours ago during his historic speech at the Munich conference.
Rubio also blasted the ideological foundations of post-Cold War globalism, warning that the West had embraced a dangerous delusion following the fall of the Soviet Union — believing nationhood would be replaced by trade agreements and transnational governance.
“Armies do not fight for abstractions,” Rubio said. “Armies fight for a people. Armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life.”
Armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people.
Outsourcing of sovereignty to international institutions
…as policy failures driven by globalist thinking that left Western nations economically dependent and militarily vulnerable.
Invoking the leadership of Donald Trump, Rubio told allies that the United States is embarking on a path of national renewal — one focused on:
Reindustrialization
Border control
Supply chain independence
Defense readiness
Western technological dominance
“Controlling who and how many people enter our countries… is not hate. It is a fundamental act of national sovereignty.”
Rubio emphasized that while the U.S. prefers to work alongside Europe, America is prepared to move forward alone if necessary to restore its economic strength and defend its civilization.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you very much. We gather here today as members of a historic alliance, an alliance that saved and changed the world. When this conference began in 1963, it was in a nation – actually, it was on a continent – that was divided against itself. The line between communism and freedom ran through the heart of Germany. The first barbed fences of the Berlin Wall had gone up just two years prior.
And just months before that first conference, before our predecessors first met here, here in Munich, the Cuban Missile Crisis had brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction. Even as World War II still burned fresh in the memory of Americans and Europeans alike, we found ourselves staring down the barrel of a new global catastrophe – one with the potential for a new kind of destruction, more apocalyptic and final than anything before in the history of mankind.
At the time of that first gathering, Soviet communism was on the march. Thousands of years of Western civilization hung in the balance. At that time, victory was far from certain. But we were driven by a common purpose. We were unified not just by what we were fighting against; we were unified by what we were fighting for. And together, Europe and America prevailed and a continent was rebuilt. Our people prospered. In time, the East and West blocs were reunited. A civilization was once again made whole.
That infamous wall that had cleaved this nation into two came down, and with it an evil empire, and the East and West became one again. But the euphoria of this triumph led us to a dangerous delusion: that we had entered, quote, “the end of history;” that every nation would now be a liberal democracy; that the ties formed by trade and by commerce alone would now replace nationhood; that the rules-based global order – an overused term – would now replace the national interest; and that we would now live in a world without borders where everyone became a citizen of the world.
This was a foolish idea that ignored both human nature and it ignored the lessons of over 5,000 years of recorded human history. And it has cost us dearly. In this delusion, we embraced a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade, even as some nations protected their economies and subsidized their companies to systematically undercut ours – shuttering our plants, resulting in large parts of our societies being deindustrialized, shipping millions of working and middle-class jobs overseas, and handing control of our critical supply chains to both adversaries and rivals.
We increasingly outsourced our sovereignty to international institutions while many nations invested in massive welfare states at the cost of maintaining the ability to defend themselves. This, even as other countries have invested in the most rapid military buildup in all of human history and have not hesitated to use hard power to pursue their own interests. To appease a climate cult, we have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people, even as our competitors exploit oil and coal and natural gas and anything else – not just to power their economies, but to use as leverage against our own.
And in a pursuit of a world without borders, we opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people. We made these mistakes together, and now, together, we owe it to our people to face those facts and to move forward, to rebuild.
Under President Trump, the United States of America will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration, driven by a vision of a future as proud, as sovereign, and as vital as our civilization’s past. And while we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe.
For the United States and Europe, we belong together. America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here on this continent long before. The man who settled and built the nation of my birth arrived on our shores carrying the memories and the traditions and the Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable link between the old world and the new.
We are part of one civilization – Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.
And so this is why we Americans may sometimes come off as a little direct and urgent in our counsel. This is why President Trump demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe. The reason why, my friends, is because we care deeply. We care deeply about your future and ours. And if at times we disagree, our disagreements come from our profound sense of concern about a Europe with which we are connected – not just economically, not just militarily. We are connected spiritually and we are connected culturally. We want Europe to be strong. We believe that Europe must survive, because the two great wars of the last century serve for us as history’s constant reminder that ultimately, our destiny is and will always be intertwined with yours, because we know – (applause) – because we know that the fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own.
National security, which this conference is largely about, is not merely series of technical questions – how much we spend on defense or where, how we deploy it, these are important questions. They are. But they are not the fundamental one. The fundamental question we must answer at the outset is what exactly are we defending, because armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people; armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life. And that is what we are defending: a great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history, confident of its future, and aims to always be the master of its own economic and political destiny.
It was here in Europe where the ideas that planted the seeds of liberty that changed the world were born. It was here in Europe where the world – which gave the world the rule of law, the universities, and the scientific revolution. It was this continent that produced the genius of Mozart and Beethoven, of Dante and Shakespeare, of Michelangelo and Da Vinci, of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And this is the place where the vaulted ceilings of the Sistine Chapel and the towering spires of the great cathedral in Cologne, they testify not just to the greatness of our past or to a faith in God that inspired these marvels. They foreshadow the wonders that await us in our future. But only if we are unapologetic in our heritage and proud of this common inheritance can we together begin the work of envisioning and shaping our economic and our political future.
Deindustrialization was not inevitable. It was a conscious policy choice, a decades-long economic undertaking that stripped our nations of their wealth, of their productive capacity, and of their independence. And the loss of our supply chain sovereignty was not a function of a prosperous and healthy system of global trade. It was foolish. It was a foolish but voluntary transformation of our economy that left us dependent on others for our needs and dangerously vulnerable to crisis.
Mass migration is not, was not, isn’t some fringe concern of little consequence. It was and continues to be a crisis which is transforming and destabilizing societies all across the West. Together we can reindustrialize our economies and rebuild our capacity to defend our people. But the work of this new alliance should not be focused just on military cooperation and reclaiming the industries of the past. It should also be focused on, together, advancing our mutual interests and new frontiers, unshackling our ingenuity, our creativity, and the dynamic spirit to build a new Western century. Commercial space travel and cutting-edge artificial intelligence; industrial automation and flex manufacturing; creating a Western supply chain for critical minerals not vulnerable to extortion from other powers; and a unified effort to compete for market share in the economies of the Global South. Together we can not only take back control of our own industries and supply chains – we can prosper in the areas that will define the 21st century.
But we must also gain control of our national borders. Controlling who and how many people enter our countries, this is not an expression of xenophobia. It is not hate. It is a fundamental act of national sovereignty. And the failure to do so is not just an abdication of one of our most basic duties owed to our people. It is an urgent threat to the fabric of our societies and the survival of our civilization itself.
And finally, we can no longer place the so-called global order above the vital interests of our people and our nations. We do not need to abandon the system of international cooperation we authored, and we don’t need to dismantle the global institutions of the old order that together we built. But these must be reformed. These must be rebuilt.
For example, the United Nations still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world. But we cannot ignore that today, on the most pressing matters before us, it has no answers and has played virtually no role. It could not solve the war in Gaza. Instead, it was American leadership that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce. It had not solved the war in Ukraine. It took American leadership and partnership with many of the countries here today just to bring the two sides to the table in search of a still-elusive peace.
It was powerless to constrain the nuclear program of radical Shia clerics in Tehran. That required 14 bombs dropped with precision from American B-2 bombers. And it was unable to address the threat to our security from a narcoterrorist dictator in Venezuela. Instead, it took American Special Forces to bring this fugitive to justice.
In a perfect world, all of these problems and more would be solved by diplomats and strongly worded resolutions. But we do not live in a perfect world, and we cannot continue to allow those who blatantly and openly threaten our citizens and endanger our global stability to shield themselves behind abstractions of international law which they themselves routinely violate.
This is the path that President Trump and the United States has embarked upon. It is the path we ask you here in Europe to join us on. It is a path we have walked together before and hope to walk together again. For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding – its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.
But in 1945, for the first time since the age of Columbus, it was contracting. Europe was in ruins. Half of it lived behind an Iron Curtain and the rest looked like it would soon follow. The great Western empires had entered into terminal decline, accelerated by godless communist revolutions and by anti-colonial uprisings that would transform the world and drape the red hammer and sickle across vast swaths of the map in the years to come.
Against that backdrop, then, as now, many came to believe that the West’s age of dominance had come to an end and that our future was destined to be a faint and feeble echo of our past. But together, our predecessors recognized that decline was a choice, and it was a choice they refused to make. This is what we did together once before, and this is what President Trump and the United States want to do again now, together with you.
And this is why we do not want our allies to be weak, because that makes us weaker. We want allies who can defend themselves so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength. This is why we do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame. We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.
And this is why we do not want allies to rationalize the broken status quo rather than reckon with what is necessary to fix it, for we in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline. We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history. What we want is a reinvigorated alliance that recognizes that what has ailed our societies is not just a set of bad policies but a malaise of hopelessness and complacency. An alliance – the alliance that we want is one that is not paralyzed into inaction by fear – fear of climate change, fear of war, fear of technology. Instead, we want an alliance that boldly races into the future. And the only fear we have is the fear of the shame of not leaving our nations prouder, stronger, and wealthier for our children.
An alliance ready to defend our people, to safeguard our interests, and to preserve the freedom of action that allows us to shape our own destiny – not one that exists to operate a global welfare state and atone for the purported sins of past generations. An alliance that does not allow its power to be outsourced, constrained, or subordinated to systems beyond its control; one that does not depend on others for the critical necessities of its national life; and one that does not maintain the polite pretense that our way of life is just one among many and that asks for permission before it acts. And above all, an alliance based on the recognition that we, the West, have inherited together – what we have inherited together is something that is unique and distinctive and irreplaceable, because this, after all, is the very foundation of the transatlantic bond.
Acting together in this way, we will not just help recover a sane foreign policy. It will restore to us a clearer sense of ourselves. It will restore a place in the world, and in so doing, it will rebuke and deter the forces of civilizational erasure that today menace both America and Europe alike.
So in a time of headlines heralding the end of the transatlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish – because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe. (Applause.)
Our story began with an Italian explorer whose adventure into the great unknown to discover a new world brought Christianity to the Americas – and became the legend that defined the imagination of a our pioneer nation.
Our first colonies were built by English settlers, to whom we owe not just the language we speak but the whole of our political and legal system. Our frontiers were shaped by Scots-Irish – that proud, hearty clan from the hills of Ulster that gave us Davy Crockett and Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevelt and Neil Armonstrong.
Our great midwestern heartland was built by German farmers and craftsmen who transformed empty plains into a global agricultural powerhouse – and by the way, dramatically upgraded the quality of American beer. (Laughter.)
Our expansion into the interior followed the footsteps of French fur traders and explorers whose names, by the way, still adorn the street signs and towns’ names all across the Mississippi Valley. Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos – the entire romance of the cowboy archetype that became synonymous with the American West – these were born in Spain. And our largest and most iconic city was named New Amsterdam before it was named New York.
And do you know that in the year that my country was founded, Lorenzo and Catalina Geroldi lived in Casale Monferrato in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. And Jose and Manuela Reina lived in Sevilla, Spain. I don’t know what, if anything, they knew about the 13 colonies which had gained their independence from the British empire, but here’s what I am certain of: They could have never imagined that 250 years later, one of their direct descendants would be back here today on this continent as the chief diplomat of that infant nation. And yet here I am, reminded by my own story that both our histories and our fates will always be linked.
Together we rebuilt a shattered continent in the wake of two devastating world wars. When we found ourselves divided once again by the Iron Curtain, the free West linked arms with the courageous dissidents struggling against tyranny in the East to defeat Soviet communism. We have fought against each other, then reconciled, then fought, then reconciled again. And we have bled and died side by side on battlefields from Kapyong to Kandahar.
And I am here today to leave it clear that America is charting the path for a new century of prosperity, and that once again we want to do it together with you, our cherished allies and our oldest friends. (Applause.)
We want to do it together with you, with a Europe that is proud of its heritage and of its history; with a Europe that has the spirit of creation of liberty that sent ships out into uncharted seas and birthed our civilization; with a Europe that has the means to defend itself and the will to survive. We should be proud of what we achieved together in the last century, but now we must confront and embrace the opportunities of a new one – because yesterday is over, the future is inevitable, and our destiny together awaits. Thank you. (Applause.)
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I’m not sure you heard the sigh of relief through this hall when we were just listening to what I would interpret as a message of reassurance, of partnership. You spoke of intertwined relations between the United States and Europe – reminds me of statements made decades ago by your predecessors when the discussion was: is actually America a European power? Is America a power in Europe? Thank you for offering this message of reassurance about our partnership.
This is actually not the first time that Marco Rubio is here at the Munich Security Conference – been here before a couple of times, but it’s the first time he has been and he is the speaker as Secretary of State. So thank you again. We have only a couple of minutes now for just a few questions, and if I may, we collected questions from the audience.
One of the key issues here yesterday, today, is, of course – continues to be the question of how to deal with the war in Ukraine. Many of us in the discussions over the last day, the last 24 hours, have voiced their impression that the Russians – let me put it colloquially – the Russians are playing for time, they’re not really interested in a meaningful settlement. There is no indication that they’re willing to compromise on any of their maximalist objectives. Offer to us, if you could, your assessment of where we are and where you think we can go.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think where we are at this point is that the issues at play that have to be – here’s the good news. The good news is that the issues that need to be confronted to end this war have been narrowed. That’s the good news. The bad news is they’ve been narrowed to the hardest questions to answer, and work remains to be done in that front. I hear your point about – the answer is we don’t know. We don’t know the Russians are serious about ending the war; they say they are – and under what terms they were willing to do it and whether we can find terms that are acceptable to Ukraine that Russia will always agree to. But we’re going to continue to test it.
In the meantime, everything else continues to happen. The United States has imposed additional sanctions on Russia’s oil. In our conversations with India, we’ve gotten their commitment to stop buying additional Russian oil. Europe has taken its set of steps moving forward. The Pearl Program continues in which American weaponry is being sold for the Ukrainian war effort. So all these things continue. Nothing has stopped in the interim. So there’s no buying of time here in that regard.
What we can’t answer – but we’re going to continue to test – is whether there is an outcome that Ukraine can live with and that Russia will accept. And I would say it’s been elusive up to this point. We’ve made progress in the sense that for the first time, I think in years, at least at the technical level, there were military officials from both sides that met together last week, and there’ll be – and there’ll be meetings again on Tuesday, although it may not be the same group of people.
Look, we’re going to continue to do everything we can to play this role of bringing this war to an end. I don’t think anybody in this room would be against a negotiated settlement to this war so long as the conditions are just and sustainable. And that’s what we aim to achieve, and we’re going to continue to try to achieve it, even as all these other things continue to happen on the sanctions front and so forth.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. I’m sure if we had more time there were many questions on Ukraine. But let me conclude by asking a question about something entirely different. The next speaker here in just a couple of minutes will be the foreign minister of China. When you served in the Senate, sir, people considered you a kind of a China hawk.
SECRETARY RUBIO: So did they.
QUESTION: So did they?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.
QUESTION: The – we know that there will be, in about two months’ time, a summit meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping. Give us your expectation. Are you optimistic? Can there be a, quote/unquote, “deal” with China? What do you expect?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I would say this. The two largest economies in the world, two of the big powers on the planet, we have an obligation to communicate with them and talk, and so do many of you on a bilateral basis as well. I mean, it would be geopolitical malpractice to not be in conversations with China. I would say this: because we’re two large countries with huge global interests, our national interests will often not align. Their national interests and ours will not align, and we owe it to the world to try to manage those as best we can, obviously avoiding conflict, both economic and worse. And that – so it’s important for us to have communications with them in that regard.
On areas in which our interests are aligned, I think we can work together to make positive impact on the world, and we seek opportunities to do that with them. So – but we have to have a relationship with China. And any of the countries represented here today are going to have to have a relationship with China, always understanding that nothing that we agree to could come at the expense of our national interest. And frankly, we expect China to act in their national interest, as we expect every nation-state to act in their national interest. And the goal of diplomacy is to try to navigate those times in which our national interests come into conflict with one another, always hoping to do it peacefully.
I think we also have a special obligation because whatever happens between the U.S. and China on trade has a global implication. So there are long-term challenges that we face that we’re going to have to confront that are going to be irritants in our relationship with China. That’s not just true for the United States; that’s true for the broader West. But I do think we need to try to manage those the best we can to avoid unnecessary friction if it’s possible. But no one is under any illusions. There are some fundamental challenges between our countries and between the West and China that will continue for the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons, and it’s some of the things we hope to work together with you on.
Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett just went there.
In an explosive interview with Benny Johnson, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) didn’t hold back, tearing into Barack Obama’s sudden political rise and his administration’s alarming proximity to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
While the mainstream media continues to run cover for the Democrat elite, Burchett is asking the questions they refuse to touch: How did Jeffrey Epstein operate so freely while Obama was in the White House?
The conversation kicked off with breaking news regarding Kathryn Ruemmler, Obama’s former White House Counsel, who recently resigned from Goldman Sachs.
Ruemmler’s name has surfaced repeatedly in connection to Epstein, raising serious questions about the access the disgraced financier had to the highest levels of the Obama administration.
“The vast majority of Epstein’s most heinous crimes took place while Barack Obama was President,” Johnson noted. “Jeffrey Epstein got out of jail right as Barack Obama was being put into office… And it’s his lawyer, the White House Counsel, who’s communicating with this pedophile.”
Johnson pointed out the glaring double standard in how the media treats Obama compared to anyone else. “Obama is the one who’s skated on this, and nobody’s really brought up his name,” Johnson said. “Why is nobody asking Obama, ‘Why didn’t you do something about Jeffrey Epstein?’”
Burchett’s response was nothing short of a MOAB.
According to the Tennessee Republican, Obama’s presidency wasn’t a natural political phenomenon—it was a calculated move by powerful shadow figures.
“Because President Obama was created. He’s not organic,” Burchett said. “I mean, you pick this obscure guy from college who has zero records. You have college professors that don’t remember him ever being there.”
Burchett described a pattern of mysterious dropouts and unopposed races that paved the way for Obama’s meteoric rise from a state senator to the Presidency.
“He goes from a state senator to a US senator to an unknown to being President of the United States because he was created,” Burchett explained. “They found somebody that fit their mold.”
Burchett compared Obama to “Johnny Bravo” from the Brady Bunch—a character chosen solely because he “fit the suit.”
“That’s the way Obama was. He fit the suit,” Burchett said. “He was a good-looking, articulate guy… and came up through the corrupt Chicago machine.”
The Congressman warned that this wasn’t a one-time event, pointing to members of “The Squad” like AOC as other examples of candidates manufactured by billionaire donors to push a radical agenda.
“You had billionaires putting money behind probably 30 or 40 different candidates across the country, and they hit on a half dozen… that’s how they got there.”
Burchett also expressed frustration with the media’s refusal to cover the Oversight Committee’s work on the Epstein files and other corruption investigations, noting that despite having “20 or 30,000 pages” of evidence, the legacy press ignores it to protect their own.
Watch the clip below:
🚨 Rep. Tim Burchett just WENT THERE on Barack Obama:
“Obama was CREATED by the Deep State… and they let Jeffrey Epstein operate FREELY while he was in the White House.”
And now? Obama’s own White House Counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, the one who ran his ethics office and vetted… pic.twitter.com/EXXI1347ad
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