Heidelberg Catechism: ‘But why cannot our good works be the whole or part of our righteousness before God?’ |Morning Studies

LORD’S DAY 24

62. But why cannot our good works be the whole or part of our righteousness before God?

Because the righteousness which can stand before the judgment-seat of God must be perfect throughout and wholly conformable to the Law of God;1 whereas even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin.2

1 Deut 27:26; Gal 3:10; 2 Isa 64:6

63. How is it that our good works merit nothing, while yet it is God’s will to reward them in this life and in that which is to come?

The reward comes not of merit,1 but of grace.2

1 Mt 5:12; Heb 11:6; 2 Lk 17:10; 2 Tim 4:7-8

64. But does not this doctrine make men careless and wicked?

No, for it is impossible that those who are grafted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness.1

1 Mt 7:18; Lk 6:43-45; Jn 15:5

Source: Heidelberg Catechism – Westminster Seminary California

https://rchstudies.christian-heritage-news.com/2026/02/heidelberg-catechism-but-why-cannot-our.html

The Wisdom That Frees — The Power of His Presence

There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siegeworks against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembers the poor man.

Ecclesiastes 9:14-15

There is no record of this event elsewhere in Scripture. Perhaps Solomon, the greatest king of his day, heard of this from a delegation from some other country. It may be that he was slightly confused about an incident recorded in 2 Samuel 20 that did happen, probably when he was a boy. King David sent his general, Joab, to capture a traitor named Sheba who had taken refuge in a small city in northern Israel. Joab set his army around the city, built siegeworks against it, and was ready to knock down its walls and capture it when a wise woman called out to him from the walls and suggested that the leaders of the city throw the traitor’s head out to Joab. They did so and thus saved the city. Perhaps that is what Solomon is referring to here. Regardless of Solomon’s source, he presents an important lesson here.

God’s wisdom can turn what looks like sure defeat into victory, although His wisdom may not even be remembered; it may even be popularly rejected. That is what verse 16 implies: So I said, ‘Wisdom is better than strength.’ But popular rejection is no sign that something is wrong or ineffective. We have to remember today that the world will never applaud the basic truth of the Christian faith because Christianity judges the world, points out its error, and exposes its illusions; it humbles it. The world cannot take that. So we can expect that the wisdom that we are learning from God will not necessarily be popular. Nevertheless, it is that which can deliver, that which can free.

What is this wisdom we are talking about? All through this book we have been looking at wisdom versus foolishness, and in this section there is a great contrast drawn between them. Wisdom is to act upon the revelation of reality that the Scriptures give us; wisdom refers to actions that are controlled by the revelation of God. In Romans 12:2 Paul says, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world [do not run after all the attractive, illusive dreams shouted at you constantly by the world], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Think Christianly about life! Look at what you are going through, not from the standpoint of what seems right but upon what is right according to the Word of God. Here is true wisdom: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Lord, You provide me with the wisdom that frees, though many reject it because it does not always make sense by the world’s standards. Renew my mind each day by the wisdom found in your word, through Your Spirit.

https://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/ecclesiastes/the-wisdom-that-frees

Consider your Evil Sins in Light of the Mercies and Warnings of God

Matthew Henry’s “Method For Prayer”

Confession 2.16 | ESV

The more mercies we have received from God, the greater has been our sin.

You have reared and brought me up as a child, but I have rebelled against you. Isaiah 1:2(ESV)

I have ill repaid you, O LORD, as a foolish and senseless person: You are my Father who created me, who made me and established me, yet my mark has not been the mark of one of your children. Deuteronomy 32:5-6(KJV)

I have not made return according to the benefit done to me. 2 Chronicles 32:25(ESV)

The fairer warning we have had from the word of God and from our own consciences concerning our danger of sin and danger by sin, the greater is the sin if we go on in it.

I have been often reproved, and yet have stiffened my neck, Proverbs 29:1(ESV) and have gone on backsliding in the way of my own heart. Isaiah 57:17(ESV)

You have sent to me, saying, “Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!” But I have not listened or inclined my ear. Jeremiah 44:4-5(ESV)

The word of God has been to me precept upon precept and line upon line; Isaiah 28:13(ESV) and though I have looked intently at my natural face in a mirror, yet I have gone away and at once forgotten what I was like. James 1:23-24(ESV)

https://www.matthewhenry.org/2-16-esv/

2 Peter: All Inclusive | Today in the Word

Sunday, February 22 | 2 Peter 1:1–11 On the Go? Listen Now!

For ten years I led trips to Israel for students. Since I was serving young people, it was important for them to understand the cost of the program. I wanted no confusion about how much they had to pay and how much cash was needed for expenses. Everything was included up front. Once they paid that price, they didn’t need to bring any money with them.Knowing his readers were facing the pain of persecution, Peter reminded them that God “has given us everything we need for a godly life” (v. 3). In the face of difficulty, it is easy for Christians to assume we are missing something…that we need more. We may even come to doubt God’s goodness and believe He is withholding something from us.Peter reminds us that we know God’s character! This knowledge should enable us to understand how to live (v. 3). God is gloriously good and His call on our lives, even if it means difficulty, is a good thing. When we cling to His promises, our desire is for Him rather than the world (v. 4). He has forgiven our sins and cleansed them (v. 9). We will be with Him one day! Clinging to these promises takes faith. We don’t have all the benefits now, but we will, for they have already been paid for.With faith in God and His promises established, Peter calls us to press on by growing in a series of behaviors which will make our knowledge of God productive. It’s not enough to have knowledge if it doesn’t work itself out in life. Like a person who pays for an all-inclusive trip but forgets that all their meals have been paid for, we might forget that God cleansed us from sin. We need to remember what He has promised, paid for and provided!

Go Deeper What do these promises described by Peter mean to you? How will they change your outlook when facing difficulty? Extended Reading: 2 Peter

Pray with Us Merciful God, we are thankful for Peter’s exhortations and advice in his letter to the churches. Thank You for this wise disciple! May we cling to Your promises and Your divine power.

todayintheword.org

February 22 Evening Verse of the Day

THE CELEBRATION

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” (12:10–12)

The defeat of Satan and his demon hosts and the cleansing of their foul presence from heaven forever will trigger an outburst of praise there. Such sudden outbursts frequently punctuate the prophetic narrative of Revelation (e.g., 4:8–11; 5:9–10, 11–14; 7:9–12; 11:15–18; 15:3–4; 19:1–8). The identity of those whom John heard crying out with a loud voice in heaven is not stated. This collective voice (as the use of the plural pronoun our indicates) cannot be angels, since angels could not refer to humans as their brethren. The Bible describes angels as believers’ fellow servants (19:10; 22:8–9), but never as their brethren. These worshipers, then, are most likely the redeemed, glorified saints in heaven.
The saints began by rejoicing that the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. Salvation is to be understood in its broadest sense. It encompasses not only the redemption of individual believers, but also the deliverance of all creation from the ravages of sin’s curse and the power of Satan (cf. Rom. 8:19–22). Power speaks of God’s omnipotence, His triumphant, sovereign power that crushes all opposition and will establish His kingdom (cf. 11:15). They rejoiced further that the authority of … Christ has come (cf. 11:15). The rule of Christ is by authority from God (Ps. 2:8; Matt. 28:18; John 17:2). So certain is the establishing of the kingdom and the rule of Christ that, though yet future, they are spoken of in the past tense. The heavenly worshipers rejoice that the first step, Satan’s defeat and final ejection from heaven, has already taken place. They know that, having been expelled from heaven to earth, he will shortly be cast from the earth into the abyss (20:1–3), and then from the abyss into his ultimate destination—the lake of fire (20:10).
The event that will cause the kingdom and authority of Christ to be established is the expulsion of Satan from heaven. So the saints offer praise that the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. As redeemed and glorified individuals, there was nothing Satan could legitimately accuse them of. Still, it must have grieved them that their suffering brethren on earth were subject to the devil’s slanderous accusations. Satan’s defeat will put an end to those relentless accusations (cf. Job 1:11; 2:5; Zech. 3:1; 1 Pet. 5:8).
The heavenly worshipers also offer praise because of events on earth, where their brethren overcame Satan. Ejected from heaven, Satan and his hellish hosts will vent their full fury on God’s people on earth (cf. 12:6, 13–17). There too, however, they will suffer defeat. Again speaking of a future event in the past tense because of its certainty, the inspired apostle John sees the victory already won and notes that the believers alive on earth overcame Satan, though it is yet to happen. How they did so is most instructive. They did not defeat him by means of incantations, exorcisms, ritual formulas, or by “binding” or rebuking him. Satan, being far more powerful than any human, is impervious to such fleshly tricks and gimmicks. Nor was it through their own personal power that the Tribulation believers defeated Satan. To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3–5).
The apostle John gave the only basis for victory over Satan when he wrote, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). It is only through God’s power that any believer in any age can defeat Satan. Accordingly, the Tribulation believers overcame Satan first of all because of the blood of the Lamb. Like their martyred brethren already in heaven, they “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,” wrote Peter, “but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18–19). These suffering believers knew the forgiveness that Paul wrote of in Romans 4:7–8: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” The truth that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1) applied to them. No accusation against the suffering saints of the Great Tribulation will stand, just as no accusation against any believer in any age will stand, because the Lamb’s blood was shed for all their sins. The first and most important key to defeating Satan’s assaults is to “take the helmet of salvation” (Eph. 6:17; cf. 1 Thess. 5:8). The unshakable foundation of all spiritual victory is Christ’s purchase of redemption at Calvary.
A second way these Tribulation saints overcame Satan’s assaults was through the word of their testimony. Despite all the persecution (and even martyrdom) they suffered, they will remain faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ; their testimony will never waver.
The suffering Tribulation saints also were able to fend off Satan’s onslaught because they did not love their life even when faced with death. Their faithfulness extended all the way to death; they willingly paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to Christ. They knew that all martyrdom could do to them was usher them into the eternal bliss of Christ’s presence (Phil. 1:21, 23; cf. Matt. 10:38–39; Acts 20:24; Rom. 8:38–39). Because their faith was genuine, it not only justified and sanctified them, but also enabled them to persevere all the way to glorification. A sure mark of true believers is that they continue in the faith even to death (cf. 1 John 2:19). In the words of Jesus, “The one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matt. 24:13).
The passage concludes with a final note of praise: For this reason, because of the defeat of Satan and the triumph of the saints, the heavenly chorus calls on the heavens and all who dwell in them to rejoice. That joyous note is followed by the sobering warning “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” Thumos (wrath) refers to a violent outburst of rage. The word depicts a turbulent, emotional fury rather than a rational anger. John Phillips wrote, “Satan is now like a caged lion, enraged beyond words by the limitations now placed upon his freedom. He picks himself up from the dust of the earth, shakes his fist at the sky, and glares around, choking with fury for ways to vent his hatred and his spite upon humankind” (Exploring Revelation, rev. ed. [Chicago: Moody, 1987; reprint, Neptune, N.J.: Loizeaux, 1991], 160). Satan’s rage is all the more violent because he knows that he has only a short time—the remainder of the Tribulation—for his final assault on God’s people. His actual time will be the three and a half years of the reign of Antichrist (13:5), whom Satan places in power immediately after being cast down from heaven. It is the same period referred to in 12:6, 14. It is a short time because Jesus Christ will return to establish His earthly millennial kingdom.
No matter how desperate their situation looks, no matter how furiously Satan rages against them, believers can take comfort in knowing that his ultimate defeat is certain. In the words of Martin Luther’s magnificent hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,”

         The Prince of Darkness grim,
         We tremble not for him;
         His rage we can endure,
         For lo, his doom is sure;
         One little word shall fell him.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2000). Revelation 12–22 (pp. 20–23). Moody Press.

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12. “Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and they who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is very angry, because he knows that his time is short.”
    a. Rejoice! The voice calls the heavens in general and the dwellers in particular to express their joy in the victory Jesus has achieved. The adverb therefore links the preceding verses (vv. 10–11) to the injunction to be glad in the triumph of the Lord. Delivered from the accuser’s constant intrusion into God’s presence, the heavens now rejoice. Numerous times the heavens are exhorted to express their joy. The twenty-four elders, the four living beings, and all the angels experienced Satan’s intrusions that have now come to an end. Thus, neither the heavens nor the saints dwelling there will hear Satan’s slanderous accusations any longer. Through Christ’s victory heaven itself has been cleansed.
    b. Lament! Here is the dividing line between the triumphant church in heaven and the militant church on earth that resists sin and evil. Now that Satan and his cohorts have been denied entrance into heaven and have been cast down to the earth, the devil is filled with wrath against God’s people. He realizes that he has been defeated, that he has been given a limited time here on earth, and that in the short period allotted to him he must unleash his fury. On both land and sea he seeks to deceive and destroy the saints.
    The “woe” addressed to the dwellers on earth should not be considered the third woe that is mentioned in 11:14. This woe stands by itself and lacks the differentiation of the definite article (see 9:12 and 11:14). It is used in a general sense, much the same as the double woes uttered by kings, merchants, and seafarers (18:10, 16, 19). The heavenly voice warns the earth and the sea that anguish and distress are coming upon them because of the devil’s defeat in heaven. Defeated by the victorious Christ, he now vents his rage against the Christians (compare v. 17).
    Satan knows that the opportunity God has given him is of short duration. It is the same as the three and a half years, the forty-two months, or the 1,260 days mentioned elsewhere (11:2–3; 12:6, 14; 13:5); these indications of time are not to be taken literally but figuratively. The Apocalypse features time not in terms of chronology but as an ideal. This book presents time as an idea in summary form without quantifying it in terms of years or centuries. Not Satan but God controls time and place. Therefore the saints on earth know the limitations of the devil as they rely on God’s protective care.

Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, pp. 365–366). Baker Book House.

This Video Shreds Evolution To Pieces Using Science | Harbingers Daily » Feed by Answers In Genesis

Dr. Terry Mortenson provides a definitive biblical response to the theory of evolution and secular claims regarding the origin of life. By dismantling common atheist arguments point by point, this presentation equips believers with the scientific and theological evidence needed to stand firm in their faith.

Source: This Video Shreds Evolution To Pieces Using Science

Setting the Stage for the Four Gospels | Crossway

Eyewitness Accounts

The four Gospels contain eyewitness accounts (and first-hand reports) of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus was born of a young virgin in the town of Bethlehem, perhaps in October of 6 or 5 BC.¹ After his mother, Mary, and his adoptive father, Joseph, fled to Egypt on account of the murderous designs of Herod the Great, the family relocated to the town of Nazareth in lower Galilee, where Joseph served as a carpenter. Apart from a brief account of Jesus’s interaction with the rulers of Jerusalem when he was twelve years old (probably in AD 7 or 8), we hear no further details about the life of Jesus until the beginning of his public ministry, which likely began in late AD 29 and continued until his death on Friday, April 3, AD 33.²

Jesus’s relatively brief public ministry began with his baptism and wilderness temptations, continued with his authoritative teaching and miracle-working power, and culminated in his atoning death at the hands of the Romans and Jews, followed by his resurrection and ascension.

Scripture gives us eyewitness accounts of what the most important person who ever lived said and did during the most important week of his life. It may be helpful to review some of the basics in order to set the stage and to remember the context of the four Gospels.

Who Wrote the Gospels?

Though the information has been doubted, there is good reason to believe that the Gospels were written by four men who were in the best possible position to recount what Jesus said and did.

Matthew and John, the authors of the first and fourth biblical Gospels, respectively, were members of the Twelve; John was even part of Jesus’s inner circle (together with Peter and James).

Mark, the church fathers tell us, wrote his Gospel in close association with the apostle Peter, also one of the Twelve and a member of Jesus’s inner circle as well as the preeminent spokesman of the Twelve.

Luke, finally, while not himself an eyewitness, sought to conduct a careful investigation of these events and acknowledges his dependence on “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” (Luke 1:2). (The word he uses for “eyewitnesses” is autoptēs, a composite of two Greek words meaning “to see for oneself.”)

As John writes in his first epistle,

That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we looked upon
and have touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life . . .
that which we have seen and heard
we proclaim also to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us. . . .
And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (1 John 1:1–4)

The result is that those of us today—reading the accounts two thousand years later—share an experience expressed by Peter:

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Pet. 1:8–9)

Why Were the Gospels Written?

As eyewitness accounts of the events surrounding Jesus’s first coming, the four canonical Gospels demand our utmost attention. Why were they written? John says it most clearly:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31)

Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God—he is the promised, longawaited Servant of the Lord who came to save us from our sin so that by believing we may have “life in his name.”

Underneath this united, overarching purpose, we can recognize that the four Gospel authors wrote four complementary accounts designed for four distinct audiences. They used theological and literary selection in order to highlight certain aspects of Jesus’s ministry, each painting a true and faithful portrait of the one Messiah.³

The tax-collector-turned-disciple Matthew (Levi), writing to a Jewish audience in the 50s or 60s, emphasizes Jesus as the Jewish Messiah predicted in the Old Testament, the son of David who comes to establish the kingdom of heaven.⁴

Peter’s “interpreter” John Mark, writing to Gentiles in Rome in the mid- to late 50s, shows Jesus as the authoritative, suffering son of God who gives his life as a ransom for many.

Luke, a Gentile physician and travel companion to Paul, was writing a two-volume work around 58–60 to give an account of the truth of the faith to a man named Theophilus (who may also have paid for the publication of Luke–Acts), showing that Jesus is the savior of the world who seeks and saves the lost in fulfillment of the Old Testament promises to Israel.⁵

John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, was probably an old man when he composed his account in the mid- or late 80s or early 90s, written to the church in Ephesus to demonstrate that Jesus is the messiah who demands belief and the lamb of God who dies for the sins of the world and gives those who believe eternal life.

One of the more interesting differences between the Gospels is the strategy used to begin their biographies of Jesus’s life and work. The Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) begin in history, first recounting either the announcement of the birth of Jesus or the announcement of his prophetic forerunner John the Baptist. John, on the other hand, begins before history, in heaven, emphasizing the eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son before the Son took on human nature. This is one of the reasons that the Synoptics are marked by greater similarity and overlap, whereas John often highlights other aspects of Jesus’s ministry as part of his overall strategy.

But the question still remains: Would it not have been easier simply to provide one authoritative account of Jesus’s life rather than four versions that at times don’t harmonize very easily?

The answer is, first of all, that the early church did not consider our four Gospels as four separate Gospels but as one Gospel according to four different witnesses—the Gospel (singular) according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The early church had it right: there is only one gospel message (not four!), but for reasons of his own God chose to provide us with four (rather than just one) eyewitness accounts of this one gospel.

Second, remember what we said earlier about the nature of the Gospels as eyewitness testimony. Like witnesses in the courtroom each recounting what they saw, using their own words and recalling events and statements from their unique perspective, the Gospel writers each tell us how they witnessed the unfolding story of Jesus (or in Mark’s and Luke’s case, how their firsthand sources did). This should in fact enhance our appreciation for the four biblical Gospels, not diminish it! Demonstrably, the four evangelists did not sanitize their accounts or somehow streamline them so as to make them artificially cohere; they were unafraid to tell the story of Jesus each in his own way, without fear of contradiction— because they were all witnessing to the one story of Jesus, the one gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember also that when the Gospels were written and published, there were still plenty of eyewitnesses around who could easily have disputed the veracity of the Gospel accounts—but we are not aware of any such challenges. For this reason we have every confidence that the one Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is reliable.

As eyewitness accounts of the events surrounding Jesus’s first coming, the four canonical Gospels demand our utmost attention.

Did It Really Happen?

Our primary response to the Gospels is not to criticize or to find fault but to believe. As we celebrate Easter, we can do so with a grateful heart and with the assurance that the Easter story is true— historically and theologically. Even though the primary design of the Gospels is for us to believe in this Messiah and to become his disciples, this does not mean it is illegitimate to explore the Gospel accounts intelligently. As Augustine and others after him have rightly asserted, faith of necessity seeks greater understanding. Our faith and our intellect should never be separated, as if (as some detractors allege) we were called to throw away our minds at conversion and blindly believe contrary to the evidence.

Critical scholars, with limited success, have sought to establish criteria for assessing the historicity of various teachings and events in the Gospels. One such criterion is the criterion of multiple attestation, according to which Gospel material is likely authentic if it is found in two or more Gospels or other ancient sources that are not dependent on each other. While it is widely held that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are in some way interrelated, John’s account may classify as an independent witness to many of the same events as those recorded in the so-called Synoptic Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke). This would underscore the likely historicity of these events using the criterion of multiple attestation.

Another criterion is the criterion of dissimilarity, according to which Gospel material is likely authentic if Jesus’s teachings or actions differed from first-century Judaism or the practice of the early church. The early church, so the argument goes, would hardly have fabricated material that embarrassed the first Christians or weakened their stance in interaction with Christianity’s detractors. Instead, embarrassing facts would likely have been omitted from the Gospel accounts. The fact, however, is that the Gospels include many such data that did not present Christianity in a favorable light—the apostles’ rivalry and jockeying for position in Jesus’s kingdom, their desertion of Jesus at his arrest, Peter’s denials, and particularly the crucifixion itself, all at first glance seem to constitute embarrassing information that the church would likely have suppressed—unless these data are historical and the evangelists were honest enough to preserve them despite the fact that they were less than complimentary and do not present their own actions or people’s response to Jesus in a positive light.

However, while these and other criteria are of some value in establishing positively the historicity of certain events recounted in the Gospels, they fall short in many ways, especially when critical scholars are trying to use these criteria negatively in order to disprove the authenticity of these accounts.

Two Ways to Read the Gospels

This, of course, does not remove the need for careful harmonization, that is, reading the four Gospels in tandem and trying to explain any apparent differences in detail of their presentation of individual statements or events. There are two—complementary and equally legitimate—ways of reading the Gospels.

The first is to read the Gospels vertically, that is, to read each account from beginning to end as a self-contained story in its own right. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each told their own story, and we must respect the literary and theological integrity of their work. This has been increasingly realized in recent years and underscores the importance of using (initially) Matthew to explain Matthew, Mark to explain Mark, and so forth.

The other way to read the Gospels is horizontally, that is, how each relates to the others, as complementary accounts and witnesses to the same historical reality and set of statements and events. Refusing to supplement our vertical reading of the individual Gospels with a horizontal reading is tantamount to the ostrich policy of refusing to acknowledge that while the Gospels tell the same story, they don’t do so in exactly the same way.

As John writes at the conclusion of his Gospel, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). This speaks to the inevitable selectivity at work in the Gospels. For this reason we must not assume that just because an evangelist does not mention a given detail, he was necessarily unaware of it or would have disputed its accuracy. Furthermore, we must be careful not to read these accounts anachronistically, imposing artificial limitations or requiring unreasonable precision upon eyewitness testimony and the genre of ancient theological biography.

A charitable rather than critical reading clearly demonstrates that the evangelists are each accurately referring to the same thing rather than contradicting one another. This is consistent with the way that true (rather than artificial or deceptive) eyewitness testimony takes place: different observers remember and choose to highlight different aspects of the one event.

So we ought to read the Gospels sympathetically, giving them the benefit of the doubt, rather than reading between the lines critically, looking for problems. The burden of proof lies on those who would convict the Gospels of incoherence, not on the Gospels to prove their integrity!

Notes:

1. Scholars usually suggest a date of 7–5 BC for Jesus’s birth.
2. Most scholars believe that Jesus was crucified in AD 30. We are persuaded that the evidence strongly points to a date of AD 33. For an introductory discussion of the issues, see Andreas J. Köstenberger, “The Date of Jesus’ Crucifixion,” ESV Study Bible, ed. Wayne Grudem (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 1809–10. See also Colin J. Humphreys and W. G. Waddington, “The Jewish Calendar, A Lunar Eclipse and the Date of Christ’s Crucifixion,” Tyndale Bulletin 43.2 (1992): 331–51.
3. The following dates are approximations, and other scholars may date Matthew, Mark, and Luke later than is proposed here. Very few would date John earlier.
4. The date for Matthew depends in part on whether one takes the position that Matthew wrote his Gospel first (Matthean priority) or that Mark was the first Gospel to be written (Markan priority).
5. The New Testament writers refer to the Old Testament in a variety of ways. Most widely known is the pattern of fulfillment-prediction, which highlights the fulfillment of messianic prophecy in Christ (e.g., Matt. 1:22–23 citing Isa. 7:14). But there are other ways the New Testament refers to the Old Testament as well, most notably typology. Typology involves an escalating salvationhistorical pattern culminating in Christ (e.g., the serpent in the wilderness: John 3:14 citing Num. 21:9). In addition, the New Testament authors refer to the Old Testament by way of analogy, illustration, and commentary (midrash or pesher).

This article is adapted from The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Justin Taylor.

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Andreas J. Köstenberger (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the theologian in residence at Fellowship Raleigh, a cofounder of Biblical Foundations, a host at Oak Tree Cottage, and the author, editor, or translator of over sixty books. He and his wife, Marny, have four grown children and live in North Carolina.

Justin Taylor (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the executive vice president of book publishing and book publisher at Crossway. He has edited and contributed to several books, and he blogs at Between Two Worlds—hosted by the Gospel Coalition.

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The Law of Liberty (Romans 14:1–13) — A Sermon by R.C. Sproul

Even when Christians come to differing convictions about nonessential matters, we are still to accept one another in love. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul urges us to use our Christian liberty to lift one another up, not push each other down.

Study Reformed theology with a free resource bundle from Ligonier Ministries: https://grow.ligonier.org/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=get-started

R.C. Sproul preached this sermon at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, FL. Hear more from his series in the book of Romans: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30acyfm60fU0o-CjiA2T6Lh9imnZYCjt

#sermon #sermons #rcsproul #reformedtheology #theology

Source: The Law of Liberty (Romans 14:1–13) — A Sermon by R.C. Sproul

Sunday Hymn: Come, Ye That Love the Lord | Rebecca Writes

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet ac­cord,
Join in a song with sweet ac­cord
And thus sur­round the throne,
And thus sur­round the throne.

The sor­rows of the mind
Be ban­ished from the place;
Religion nev­er was de­signed
Religion nev­er was de­signed,
To make our plea­sures less,
To make our plea­sures less.

Let those re­fuse to sing,
Who nev­er knew our God;
But fa­vo­rites of the heav’n­ly King,
But fa­vo­rites of the heav’n­ly King
May speak their joys abroad,
May speak their joys abroad.

The God that rules on high,
And thun­ders when He please,
Who rides up­on the stor­my sky,
Who rides up­on the stor­my sky,
And man­ages the seas,
And man­ages the seas.

This aw­ful God is ours,
Our Fa­ther and our Love;
He will send down His heav’n­ly pow­ers,
He will send down His heav’n­ly pow­ers,
To car­ry us ab­ove,
To car­ry us ab­ove.

There we shall see His face,
And nev­er, nev­er sin!
There, from the riv­ers of His grace,
There, from the riv­ers of His grace,
Drink end­less plea­sures in,
Drink end­less plea­sures in.

Yea, and be­fore we rise,
To that im­mor­tal state,
The thoughts of such amaz­ing bliss,
The thoughts of such amaz­ing bliss,
Should con­stant joys cre­ate,
Should con­stant joys create.

The men of grace have found,
Glory be­gun be­low.
Celestial fruits on earth­ly ground
Celestial fruits on earth­ly ground
From faith and hope may grow,
From faith and hope may grow.

The hill of Zi­on yields
A thou­sand sac­red sweets
Before we reach the heav’n­ly fields,
Before we reach the heav’n­ly fields,
Or walk the gold­en streets,
Or walk the gold­en streets.

Then let our songs abound,
And ev­ery tear be dry;
We’re march­ing through Im­ma­nu­el’s ground,
We’re march­ing through Im­ma­nu­el’s ground,
To fair­er worlds on high,
To fair­er worlds on high.

—Isaac Watts

http://rebecca-writes.com/rebeccawrites/2026/2/22/sunday-hymn-come-ye-that-love-the-lord.html

The True Jesus vs The New Thought Jesus | Servants of Grace

By Doreen Virtue

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

I was born and raised in the New Thought belief system, and spent 33 years as a member of the three main New Thought church denominations: Christian Science, Unity, and Religious Science. For the Christian Science and Religious Science church, I had to take membership catechism classes to become a member. So, I know New Thought from decades of real-world experience, and not just research.

New Thought teaches a sugar-coated false version of Jesus. He’s portrayed as a created human who studied spiritual laws that anyone can use to manifest miracles. In that system, Jesus is revered but not worshiped. He’s seen as a highly evolved role model and teacher and not as the crucified and risen Lord.

At first glance, New Thought seems harmless, since it uses Christian words, speaks about love, and encourages kindness. Yet underneath that pleasant surface lies a deadly heresy that replaces God’s sovereignty with human control. The true Jesus saves while the New Thought Jesus merely teaches.

New Thought began in the late nineteenth century, influenced by metaphysical idealism and occult philosophy. Like Egyptian Hermeticism, its founders believed the mind could shape physical reality. They taught that Jesus’ chief purpose was to teach us to perform healing miracles like He did. They believe the Bible offers us formulas to heal like Jesus.

They took Jesus’ words out of context and reinterpreted them as metaphysical formulas. For example, when Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24), New Thought teachers twisted that verse into a technique for manifesting desires rather than a call to faithful prayer in submission to God’s will.

When Jesus exhorted us to “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you,” New Thought twisted His words into a manifestation formula. We used to sing these words in the New Thought Unity Church where I was a member, as if it was a positive affirmation to memorize to manifest physical rewards.

New Thought theology permanently camps upon Genesis 1:26 which says that we humans were made in God’s image and likeness. While it’s true that we are Imago Dei image bearers, the New Thought churches teach that this means we cannot be sinful since God isn’t sinful. They overlook Genesis 3 and the crucifixion as a myth or a misunderstanding, and they insist that since God is eternally sinless so are we.

This is the basis for the New Thought false gospel and false Christ. Instead of acknowledging that we’re all sinners as proclaimed in Romans 3:23, the New Thought Church overlooks the topic of sin altogether.

The true Gospel is that humanity’s sin has disrupted our relationship with our holy God. Jesus came to earth as fully God and fully man to take the punishment for the sins that we’ve all committed. Through Jesus’ shed blood upon the cross and His bodily resurrection from the dead, He conquered sin and death on our behalf.

Those who believe in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and put their trust and faith in Him and turn away from sin, are saved. This means their relationship with God is reconciled, their sins are forgiven, and they’re cloaked in Jesus’ righteousness.

Yet the false Jesus of New Thought is nonjudgmental and inclusive in a woke sense. He doesn’t confront sin, since they only believe in “errors in thinking” and holding onto Neo-Gnostic “spiritual truths” about the unreality of physical matter.

The New Thought false Jesus doesn’t die for the ungodly, because the cross is seen as symbolic rather than redemptive. He doesn’t return in glory to judge the world, because judgment would violate the New Thought ideal of universal harmony.

This false Jesus can’t save anyone’s souls or forgive their sins, but according to New Thought that’s okay because there’s no need for salvation or forgiveness. They instead chant the mantra that they’re “perfect, whole, and complete.” When you go to a Unity Church and they sing “Amazing Grace,” they won’t sing the lyric, “to save a wretch like me” as that’s considered to be a negative affirmation.

Jesus is blasphemously presented as a created mortal human who discovered hidden spiritual laws that anyone can use, rather than as the eternal Son of God who created all things. The biblical Jesus calls people to die to self; the New Thought Jesus tells them to glorify self.

My Early Exposure to the False New Thought Jesus

I grew up in the Christian Science church, which is one of the four New Thought denominations (the others are Unity, Religious Science, and Divine Science). Sometimes people confuse the word “Science” with Scientology, but that’s a completely different system. The word “Science” in New Thought refers to their belief that they’ve cracked the code on the formula in the Bible which empowers us to be just like Jesus while we’re here on earth.

My mother, brother and I attended the Christian Science church twice a week. We read daily the “Mother Church’s” assigned Bible verses from their weekly lessons. We were taught to put just as much faith in Mary Baker Eddy’s heretical book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as we did to the Bible itself. The denomination is King James onlyist, so that’s the only translation I read until I was an adult and finally read the New King James Bible. It felt like I’d donned a pair of reading glasses, as I could finally understand the Bible’s words. A few years later, as I read from the New Living Translation Bible, God opened my eyes to my sins and false beliefs and led me to repentance and salvation. These days, I prefer reading the New King James translation for my daily Bible reading.

New Thought is Neo-Gnostic, which means a modernized version of the ancient heresy of Gnosticism based upon the belief that there’s hidden secret knowledge people can attain through mystical means. In the Christian Science Church, the Gnosticism is based upon Mary Baker Eddy’s “Scientific Statement of Being” which we all recited together at church. This statement proclaims that physical matter is unreal and temporal, and that only spirit is real and eternal.

Whenever we got hurt or injured, we weren’t allowed to state that we were hurt or injured because proclaiming that you had a body that could get sick or injured would go against the Scientific Statement of Being. This wasn’t about “positive” or “negative” thinking. New Thought is about denying that anything negative even exists!

Even though we read the Bible daily and went to church twice a week and I went through church membership classes, we never learned about Jesus’ humanity, suffering, or anguish on the cross. Everything was homogenized and santized so that we’d never have to think about material issues. We weren’t allowed to take classes about health, anatomy, or biology in school because the church forbade us from learning about physical matter. Instead, the school excused us from those classes on a religious basis and we took extra art classes instead.

Our Christian Science family didn’t go to doctors except for extreme cases such as when I shredded my knee in a skateboard accident, or when in adulthood during my pregnancies. New Thought denies the reality of sickness and injury, because it denies the reality of the physical body. The New Age channeled book, A Course in Miracles, also holds this Neo-Gnostic belief.

I memorized Bible verses, yet each verse was reinterpreted to fit the idea that matter wasn’t real and that everything physical was merely a projection of the mind.

At the time, I didn’t realize this was heresy. I didn’t even know what “heresy” meant! It sounded spiritual and uplifting and my mother and grandmother fully endorsed, followed, believed, and practiced Christian Science. Yet, it was the same lie that the serpent told Eve: “You will be like God.”

The Self-Deification Deception

The foundational core of New Thought is the idea that humanity shares the same divine nature as Christ. They quote verses like “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) to support their claim, ignoring the context. But mostly, they would quote the New Thought human authors such as Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science), The Fillmores (Unity), and Ernest Holmes (Religious Science) as if they were divinely-inspired idols and not human heretics.

However, the Bible doesn’t teach that humans are divine. It teaches that we’re created in God’s image but have inherited Adam’s sin nature. There’s a vast difference between being made in God’s image and being God. Only Jesus is “God manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16).

New Thought turns the Creator-creature distinction upside down. Instead of worshiping God, it takes the attributes of God such as infinite wisdom and claims that humans as Imago Dei have these same attributes.

The Biblical Jesus

The real Jesus isn’t a created human metaphysical life coach as New Thought portrays Him. He’s the eternal Son of God, and the co-equal co-eternal second Person of the Trinity, who came in the flesh to redeem sinners.

The real Jesus performed miracles to reveal His divine identity as God, not to model what we humans are capable of doing. When He said that believers will do greater works (John 14:12), He was referring to the Great Commission with our increased ability to share the Gospel worldwide.

New Thought teaches that Jesus tapped into a universal principle available to all. In contrast, Scripture teaches that Jesus is the Living Word through whom all things were made.

So, you can see that New Thought principles are a variation of the Serpent’s lie that “you will be like God” in Genesis 3:5. New Thought teaches that we just need to adopt the “infinite mind of God” and then we will be like God in our abilities to heal and manifest. This isn’t simply “positive thinking” as some superficially portray the New Thought movement. This is actual conjuring like witchcraft, using twisted Bible verses and prayers with Christian language.

New Thought gains followers because it uses Biblical language while mixing in truth with error. It talks about love, peace, and forgiveness which are Biblical concepts, yet it twists their meaning to describe humanity as the locus of control instead of our sovereign God.

So, when New Thought teachers speak about “Christ,” they don’t mean the historical Jesus of Nazareth. They take the word “Christ” which means “the Anointed One” and broad brush it to mean an anointing that any human can potentially have. They elevate humans and try to demote Jesus Christ from His divinity, which is impossible yet what New Thought teaches. This blending of terms makes the deception difficult to spot because it sounds plausible to those who don’t know the Bible.

Studying the Bible, particularly the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John help us to know the real Jesus Christ. These books were written by faithful companions and eyewitness accounts of those who lived and traveled alongside Jesus during His earthly ministry. Instead of a superficial New Thought caricature of Jesus, we meet the true Jesus in God’s Word and learn about His attributes and responses to the trails that He faced. We also read His encouraging and inspiring words within the pages of Scripture.

The False Gospel and Denial of the Cross

Perhaps the greatest heresy of New Thought is its rejection of the cross. It claims Jesus didn’t die as an atonement for sin, because sin doesn’t exist. Instead, His crucifixion is skipped over and dismissed. Mary Baker Eddy of the New Thought Christian Science shockingly taught that we can’t trust the Bible since it was written by illiterate fishermen. So she, like everyone in New Thought, disregarded the Bible and instead listened to their feelings and experiences.

Yet without Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross, there’s no forgiveness, no reconciliation, and no salvation. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). The cross exposes humanity’s depravity and God’s mercy.

To deny the cross is to deny Christianity itself. You can’t remove the blood of Christ and still have the Gospel. You’re left with a moral human teacher but no Savior.

When I segued from New Thought to New Age in the 1990’s, I carried my New Thought beliefs about Jesus with me. I really believed that I was a Christian who followed Jesus, yet I rejected the Gospel because New Thought had brainwashed me to believe that it was a “negative myth.” In my New Age books and seminars, I discussed Jesus. Yet, it was the false Jesus of New Thought. As time went on, I also blended in some of the New Age teachings about Jesus that we’ll look at in the next chapter.

As much as the New Thought Jesus seems to be so “positive” and “loving,” there is no peace nor salvation from following the false Jesus. When I was saved in 2017 and following the real Jesus Christ, I experienced true and lasting peace for the first time. Even though I went through some deeply painful trials after becoming a Christian, I was in the calm eye of the hurricane while the storm swirled around me.

The real Jesus doesn’t promise to make our lives a sugar-coated fairytale, but He does promise to be with us through our trials. He offers us wisdom, comfort, guidance and peace no matter how much we’re suffering.

Christian women need discernment because New Thought versions of the laid-back anything-goes Jesus have infiltrated devotionals, church conferences, and worship songs. Teachings about Jesus being our buddy instead of our Lord and Savior have replaced the language of repentance and dependence. Yet the Gospel never changes since salvation is found in Christ alone, not in the power of your mind.

For more from Doreen and to support her please visit her page at Servants of Grace or at our YouTube.

Doreen Virtue

Doreen Virtue holds a Master’s degree in Biblical & Theological Studies with highest honors from Western Seminary (56 units / 2021), and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Chapman University. Prior to being saved by God‘s grace and mercy in 2017, Doreen was a psychotherapist specializing in women’s issues, rated in the top 15 most influential living spiritual teachers by Watkins, and the top selling new age author in the world. She was born and raised in new thought churches which she attended for 33 years, before segueing to new age and Wicca in 1991 while touring with a mind-body-spirit conference organization. Before her salvation, Doreen frequently appeared on Oprah, CNN, The View, Coast to Coast and other liberal secular media. After the Holy Spirit convicted her of her sins, while she read Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Doreen repented and gave her life to Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Doreen has been helping professing Christians to identify and avoid new age and new thought deception. Doreen volunteers in discipling women who’ve been saved out of New Age in a private Facebook group. Doreen was a speaker at the Answers in Genesis 2025 women’s conference at the Ark Encounter. She has been featured on American Gospel 3, American Gospel TV, Daily Wire, Moody Radio, Spillover, Christianity Today, Cultish, New York Magazine, Spiritual Counterfeits Project, Servants of Grace, and other Christian media.

Source: The True Jesus vs The New Thought Jesus

February 22 Afternoon Verse of the Day

THE BENEDICTORY INTERCESSION

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (15:13)

Paul closes this passage with a beautiful benediction of intercession for all the people of God, not mentioning Jew or Gentile, but addressing the entire, unified Body of Jesus Christ. He petitions the God of hope to graciously fill His people with His divine joy and peace and hope. It expresses the apostle’s deep desire for all believers to have total spiritual satisfaction in their beloved Savior and Lord.
It is essentially the same benediction with which Paul blessed the church at Philippi: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7; cf. 1 Pet. 1:3, 8). It is a prayer for satisfied souls in Christ to know and experience the peace, the hope, the love, the victory, the joy, and the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, who makes them one in Jesus Christ their Lord.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1991). Romans (Vol. 2, p. 324). Moody Press.

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The First Benediction

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a sense in which the Book of Romans ends with the thirteenth verse of chapter fifteen, because what follows is essentially personal in nature. Paul did not always end his letters with such remarks, and this one would have been complete without them. Besides, Romans 15:13 would have been a great ending.
I have called this study “The First Benediction” because there will be two more benedictions before we end—Romans 15:33 and Romans 16:20—followed by a doxology in Romans 16:25–27. Each benediction is important, but this is a particularly important and comprehensive one.
Donald Grey Barnhouse devoted six studies to this verse in his radio series on Romans. (They were reduced to one in book form.) He says, “This verse is a great summary of the blessed life in the brotherhood formed by our oneness in Jesus Christ. The source of that life is the God of hope. The measure of that life is that we shall be filled ‘with all joy and peace.’ The quality of that life is joy and peace which he desires for us. The condition of that life is faith—we enter it by believing. The purpose of that life is that we might abound. The enabling of that life is divine power. And the director of that life is the Holy Spirit.” So clearly, this is a very practical verse.
Romans 15:13 is a prayer, which leads Leon Morris to say, “We should not think of Paul primarily as a controversialist; he was a deeply pious man and it is characteristic that he finishes not with some equivalent of Q.E.D. [quod erat demonstrandum, meaning ‘which was to be demonstrated’] nor a shout of triumph over the antagonists he has confronted but with a prayer.”

The God of Hope

The obvious place to begin this study is with the word hope, because it is the first key word and occurs twice, once at the beginning and once at the end.
What is striking here is that Paul links hope to God, speaking of “the God of hope.” This can point to God as the source of hope (a subjective genitive), or it can point to God as the object of hope (an objective genitive). Both are true. God is the source of hope because he is the source of every good thing. But he is also the object of hope, since we have hope in him and not in the weak things advanced as objects of hope by our secular sinful world.
Paul is not saying to “keep a stiff upper lip” or “look for the silver lining” or “never, never, never give up” when he speaks of the Christian’s hope. To be hopeful is a human characteristic possessed in large measure by great men and women, and we admire it. But if that is all we are talking about in terms of our spiritual state, it would be utter deception and delusion. This is because without God our condition is literally, thoroughly, unmistakably, and unalterably hopeless. We are indeed “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12).
As soon as we bring God into the picture the situation is reversed. Now we have hope through the work of Jesus Christ, because God himself is our hope and has given hope to us.
Nothing else can be that or do that. If you put your hope in other people, they will let you down. If you trust your stocks or bonds or bank accounts, you will find that they can disappear overnight. In any case, they are not ultimately satisfying. Health will fail. Houses can burn. Jobs can be lost. Even great nations enter periods of economic and moral decline. But the one who has his or her hope from God and trusts God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ can stand firm in anything. Edward Mots expressed it in one of our best-known hymns:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
His oath, his covenant, his blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives away,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Paul spoke of this hope when he wrote to the Christians at Corinth, describing himself as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Cor. 6:10).

Abounding in Joy

Joy is one of Paul’s great concepts since, as Leon Morris points out, “the term occurs in his writings twenty-one times and no other New Testament writing has it more than John’s nine times.” He links it to faith in Philippians 1:25 (“I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith”) and with the other fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23 (“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”).
Yet Paul didn’t invent the idea. He received it from Jesus, who spoke of it, along with peace, as his gift to his disciples before his departure. Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). Speaking of his death he added, “Now is your time for grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (John 16:22). Later in his high priestly prayer, recorded in John 17, Jesus said to his Father, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them” (v. 13).
This joy has its source in God, since “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).
This means that the Christian’s joy is not a matter of natural human endowments or nice circumstances. It is supernatural in origin and in the way it expresses itself in spite of circumstances. Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, “It is not a question of being an extrovert or an introvert. Some people are by nature gloomy and morose. In the days of superstition it was thought that such had been born under the influence of Saturn, and so they were called saturnine. Other people are buoyant and outgoing, and this was attributed to their being born under the influence of the planet Jupiter, so they were called jovial. But jovial people are sometimes plunged into the deepest despair and gloom when something goes contrary to their selfish desires. And contrariwise, some who are naturally despondent learn to settle upon the eternal Rock, and are filled with a deep and steadfast joy, which does not have its spring in this natural life.”
In the prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus indicated that we should have “the full measure” of this divine joy within. But we don’t always; that is why he prayed for it on our behalf.
We find much the same thing in our text in Romans, for Paul is praying that God might fill the Roman believers with “all joy and peace as you trust in him.” This teaches that there are degrees of these blessings for Christians; and this must mean that although many have them, not all are filled with them. Instead of being mostly empty of blessings, you should be filled to the brim.

Two Kinds of Peace

Two kinds of peace are spoken of in the Bible: peace with God and the peace of God. Thus far in Romans the first meaning has dominated, because Paul has been trying to show how sinners, who are naturally at war with God, might find peace with God through the cross of Christ. Here, however, he is talking about personal peace, the peace of heart and mind that God gives.
William Barclay in his commentary on Romans writes about how people naturally want peace but lose it due to inner tensions or disturbing circumstances:

The ancient philosophers sought for what they called ataraxia, the untroubled life. They wanted above all serenity, that serenity which is proof alike against the shattering blows and the petty pinpricks of human existence. One would almost say that today serenity is a lost possession.
There are two things which make serenity impossible. (a) There is the inner tension. Men live a distracted life, for the word distract literally means to pull apart. So long as a man is a walking civil war, so long as he himself is a battleground, so long as he is a split personality, there can obviously be no such thing as serenity. There is only one way out of this, and that is for self to abdicate to Christ. When Christ controls the tension is gone. (b) There is worry about external things. There are many who are haunted by the chances and the changes of life. H. G. Wells tells how in New York harbor he was once on a liner. It was foggy, and suddenly out of the fog there loomed another liner, and the two ships slid past each other with only yards to spare. He was suddenly face to face with what he called the general large dangerousness of life. It is hard not to worry, for man is characteristically a creature who looks forward to guess and fear. The only end to that worry is the utter conviction that, whatever happens, God’s hand will never cause his child a needless tear. Things will happen that we cannot understand, but if we are sure enough of love, we can accept with serenity even those things which wound the heart and baffle the mind.

What that is all about, if we speak in theological terms, is faith in the sovereignty of God—that God is in control and that he never lets anything come into the lives of one of his children that he has not ordained for that person for his or her ultimate good. A person who really trusts in God’s sovereignty will have a peace that others cannot even comprehend.

Trust in Him

The fourth of the key terms Paul puts together in this verse is faith, or trust as the New International Version has it. Faith is the indispensable channel for blessings, as they come from God but become ours only as we trust in him.
This is not so mysterious. It is simply a matter of believing God when he tells us who he is and what he has done and will continue to do for his people. I am convinced that the most important of all differences between people is precisely at this point, not whether they are intelligent or unintelligent, kind or unkind, joyful or taciturn, people-oriented or loners, but whether or not they will trust God. Christians by very definition are believers; non-Christians are unbelievers. But I mean more than this. I mean that even professing Christians differ fundamentally in regard either to trusting or not trusting God, either believing him or questioning what he says.
In his study of this verse Donald Grey Barnhouse illustrates this by citing the way some Bible critics reacted when so-called errors they believed they had found in the Bible were explained. They began by creating a series of arguments for why intelligent people could no longer trust the Bible—call them arguments A, B, C, and D. These stood for a while because biblical scholarship is slow. Yet as the years went by arguments A and B were refuted by a better knowledge of the Bible and of the times of the writing of the biblical documents. By this time these same unbelieving critics had developed arguments E, F, G, and H. Scholarship crawled on and eventually explained these problems. But now the critics had arguments I, J, K, L, and M. And so it has gone. Eventually they ran out of letters and had to start again!
We might expect that such people would learn from what has happened, but they do not. In the meantime, however, as Barnhouse writes, “While this parade of doubt passes by, there is the quiet march of men of faith who are filled with all joy and peace in believing, because they have been filled by the God of hope who establishes, strengthens and settles them.”
I have often called attention to Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s remark that he was willing to be thought a fool today, knowing that in twenty or thirty years his faith in the Word of God would be vindicated, and chiding those who aspired to seem wise now by attacking the Scriptures but who would look foolish in a decade or so’s time.
Learn to trust God. You will find that as you trust him you will grow stronger in your faith and that you will become ever more firmly settled in the wonderful doctrines taught us in the Bible. Moreover, you will discover something of the perfect joy and peace of believing God. Hymn writer Thomas Kelly (1769–1855) wrote this:

Trust in him, ye saints, forever;
He is faithful, changing never;
Neither force nor guile can sever
Those he loves from him.

Powered by the Holy Spirit

The fifth and last of the great biblical words found in Romans 15:13 is power, in the phrase “by the power of the Holy Spirit.” In the Greek it is the word dynamis, not exousia (which is sometimes also translated as power but actually means authority). It is a power that gets things done.
This phrase reminds us that nothing of any spiritual value is possible in and of ourselves since, as Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We cannot believe unless we are enabled to believe by God (Eph. 2:8). We cannot find peace unless we submit our requests to God by prayer and earnest petition (Phil. 4:6–7). Joy comes only from God and is a fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work within (Gal. 5:22). Hope is impossible (Eph. 2:12). But while these blessings are impossible for any of us to achieve by ourselves, everything is possible for God who makes them possible for us and in us by his Spirit’s power. In fact, God promises to bless us in all these ways if we will trust him, and it is for this that Paul is praying in Romans 15.
By ending with a reference to “the power of the Holy Spirit,” the prayer that is our text both begins and ends with God. This is an important point, and it is one that should be familiar to us by now since it is exactly what we found in Romans 11:36, which closed the long doctrinal section of the epistle. It ended with a doxology, the final words of which were:

For from him and through him and to him are all things.
  To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Everything in this whole universe begins with God, is accomplished by God’s agency, and exists for God’s glory. But if that is true of the inanimate universe—the world of plants and trees, of suns and planets, of quasars, quarks, and black holes—it is certainly true of salvation. It is true of you, if you are a Christian. You exist because God created you. You believe because he worked faith in you and sustains it in you by the power of his Holy Spirit. He does this that you might live to his glory now and indeed forever.
Left to ourselves we can do nothing. Even as saved people we would fall at the first wisp of temptation or the first blast of Satan’s death-dealing blows. But because God is for us we can stand firm and triumph. That is why Thomas Kelly continues, in the hymn from which I quoted earlier:

Keep us Lord, O keep us cleaving
To thyself and still believing,
Till the hour of our receiving
Promised joys from thee.

Finally, we note that according to our text, all this is so Christians “might overflow with hope.” That is Paul’s emphasis, his conclusion. To put it in temporal sequence: God, who is the source of hope, is asked to fill believers with joy and peace through their learning to trust in him, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit’s working they might overflow with the hope of which God the Father is the source.
This is the fourth mention of hope in this chapter (vv. 4, 12, 13 twice) and the third since verse 12. So obviously it is Paul’s main concern and should be ours also, especially since we live in an age that is so lacking in hope. As I look around me today I sense that people have lost hope in nearly everything. They have no faith in politicians or the economy or justice from the courts or even safety from those authorized to provide it. They do not even have faith in themselves. And they are without God, and therefore there is no hope for them in this world.
What an opportunity for God’s people! Robert Haldane says, “The people of God have high hopes.” Indeed we do. We have divine, uplifting, great, overwhelming, and overpowering hopes. So let’s be hopeful. Abound in hope—and let the world know why.

Boice, J. M. (1991–). Romans: The New Humanity (Vol. 4, pp. 1835–1841). Baker Book House.

---

13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, in the exercise of (your) faith, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may overflow with hope.
    Note the following:
    a. Another earnest and impressive prayer-wish. Cf. verse 5.
    b. “the God of hope.”
    This “hope” does not indicate a weak aspiration but a firmly rooted expectation. See Heb. 6:19, 20. The phrase “the God of hope” means: the God who is the Source of hope and imparts it to those who trust him.
    c. The object of this hope is God Triune as revealed in the Shoot springing up from the Root of Jesse; in other words, as disclosed in the Lord Jesus Christ. See also above, on verse 12.
    d. “joy and peace.” This is the “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (A.V. 1 Peter 1:8), and the “peace of God that surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). See pp. 169, 249.
    Paul was well aware of the fact that in the presence of such joy and peace no room would be left for quarrels between “the weak” and “the strong.”
    e. “in the exercise of your faith.”
    Faith is God’s gift, indeed, but that does not cancel the fact that man must exercise it. See Luke 8:50; Phil. 2:12, 13; 2 Thess. 2:13.
    f. Though it is man who must exercise faith, he cannot do so by his own power but “by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
    g. “you may overflow with hope.”
    In Paul’s writings we find a constant emphasis on the overflowing or “super” character of redemption in Christ. See Rom. 5:20, p. 184; further also 2 Cor. 7:4; Phil. 4:7; 1 Thess. 3:10; 2 Thess. 1:3; 1 Tim. 1:14; etc. In our present passage note
    “fill … all … overflow.”
    h. “with hope.” See above, under b.
    And will Christian hope “be emptied in delight”? Will it vanish at the moment when the soul enters heaven? The answer is found in 1 Cor. 13: “Now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three …”
    What a marvelous prayer-wish!

Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Vols. 12–13, pp. 477–478). Baker Book House.

22 Feb 2026 News Briefing

Iran says will not ‘bow’ to pressure amid US nuclear talks as anti-govt protests reported in Tehran
​Masoud Pezeshkian said on ​Saturday that Iran “will not ​bow” ‌to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the US. Meanwhile, Iranian students chanted anti-government slogans at rallies for the thousands killed during last month’s demonstrations, local and diaspora media reported. “World ​powers are lining ‌up to force us to ‌bow our heads… but ​we will not bow our heads despite ​all the ​problems that ​they are creating for ​us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by ⁠state TV.

Hezbollah preparing for war with Israel
The report follows assessments that Iran is pressuring the terror group to join the fighting if the US strikes Iran. Sources who spoke with the Al-Arabiya claimed that the Friday airstrikes carried out in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley were a “prelude” to an Israeli military operation – one that appears likely to be conducted in parallel with strikes on Iran.

Thousands march in Lyon for murdered right-wing activist Quentin Deranque
Thousands of … protesters demonstrated in Lyon, France, on Saturday in support of slain activist Quentin Deranque. French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm amid tensions.

Sen. John Kennedy says ‘grizzly’ Trump secured trade wins despite SCOTUS tariff blow
“My Democratic peeps better be careful what they ask for, because if he gives back $300 billion worth of tariff money to the business community in America, this economy’s [going to] roar, man, and the midterms are only a few months off,” Kennedy added.

In a new Cold War, Japan-U.S. ties grow in importance
For years, Japanese strategists have quietly feared a United States distracted by Eastern Europe and internally divided by culture wars. But the message delivered by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) last week, should be welcomed not only as reassurance, but as vindication. As Rubio made clear in his address, “We can no longer place the so-called global order above the vital interests of our people and our nations.

Weaponizing Wikipedia: Hamas-linked group trains young Palestinians in Gaza to edit pages 
Twelve young men and women from Gaza are reportedly being trained to edit Wikipedia pages and disseminate the facts about the conflict with Israel from their perspective. The Geneva-based NGO, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med), which has been linked with Hamas … announced the launch of the third round of their “WikiRights” project in the Gaza Strip, which trains cohorts of young Gazan residents to shape what appears on the pages of the crowd-sourced encyclopedia.

Israeli, US, European and Gulf officials agree military conflict between US and Iran may be inevitable
Iran and the United States are moving closer to possible military confrontation as diplomatic efforts over Tehran’s nuclear program stall and Washington expands its military presence in the Middle East, according to officials and diplomats cited by Reuters. Officials from Iran, the United States, Gulf countries, Europe and Israel told Reuters that expectations for a negotiated settlement are fading, with regional actors now viewing conflict as more likely than compromise.

Hezbollah now managed by IRGC officers as it prepares for US, Israeli strike
Hezbollah is currently being overseen by officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), rather than its traditional Lebanese leadership, according to Saturday reports from Arab media outlets. In anticipation of a possible Israeli or American strike, Hezbollah has significantly intensified its military and security preparations under the close supervision of IRGC personnel who have recently arrived in Lebanon, sources close to the group told Al Arabiya and Al Hadath.

Gazans call for force independent of political factions, claim it ‘won’t succeed without Israel’ 
Interest is running high among young people in Gaza as the National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip (NCAG) has begun recruiting members for a new police force. The force is expected to consist of thousands of Palestinian officers who will be trained in Egypt and Jordan before being deployed in the Gaza Strip, with the task of maintaining order. One Palestinian told The Jerusalem Post that both his sons applied for positions in the new force, describing their excitement.

Houthi mobilize troops in Yemen with unclear target, as possible strike on Iran looms in
The Houthis may be mobilizing forces for an offensive, a report at Al-Ain media in the UAE said on February 21. The Houthis’ objectives are unclear. However, the report of mobilization is important because it comes amid heightened tensions with Iran. What does the Al-Ain report say? According to the report, the Houthis have mobilized on various fronts within Yemen. It may be an attempt to “ignite a new round of war.”

Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.

Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Kill at Least 10, Including Senior Hezbollah Official
At least 10 people were killed and 50 wounded in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, … after the Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah sites in the Baalbek area. Hezbollah said on Saturday that eight of its fighters, including a commander, Hussein Mohammad Yaghi, were killed in Friday’s strikes in the Bekaa area.

China Signals Increased Support for Iran as US Prepares Potential Strike
a symbolic move by China has fueled speculation that Beijing could arm Tehran with cutting-edge stealth aircraft, potentially challenging the US and Israel’s regional dominance.

Bennett: 70% of Palestinians in Gaza, PA want to murder all Israelis 
Bennett asserted that seven out of 10 Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority want to murder all Israelis. He based that figure on the latest opinion polls in those areas, which showed 70% of the public support the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. He noted that in the only democratic elections which took place in the P.A., in 2006, Hamas won 76 out of 132 parliamentary seats.

DHS Wants a Single Search Engine to Flag Faces and Fingerprints Across Agencies
Homeland Security aims to combine its face and fingerprint systems into one big biometric platform—after dismantling centralized privacy reviews and key limits on face recognition.

Blizzard Warnings issued for Delaware, New Jersey, New York and southern Connecticut February 22-23
Heavy snow and wind gusts up to 90 km/h (55 mph) are forecast from February 22 through February 23. Snow accumulations of 15–50 cm (6-20 inches) are expected, with visibility potentially dropping below 0.4 km (0.25 miles) in blowing snow, producing whiteout conditions and dangerous travel.

Winter storm warning in 8 states as 15 inches of snow to hit
Several states have been issued winter weather-related alerts from the National Weather Service as of early Saturday. Among the states with either winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories are New York, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oregon, Washington, California, and Alaska.

UK Puberty Blocker Trial Finally Halted Over Significant Safety Concerns
A shocking NHS-supported trial has now been suspended following officials’ warnings of “significant” long-term harms to young people. The controversial plans aimed to give puberty blockers to children as young as eight-years-old, but the UK’s medicines regulator has finally stepped in to stop it, citing major safety fears.

Islamization of NYC: The Dark Truth Behind the ‘Largest Dawah Event’ That Shut Down Times Square
A radical influencer used the so-called “largest Dawah event in the world” to transform Times Square into a platform for Islamic supremacy messaging. Sohail, known as WAYOFLIFESQ, has millions of YouTube subscribers and over 700 thousand Instagram followers. His real game is spreading hostility toward the West, using young kids as props for his propaganda.

Mosque Mass-Converts Families & Teens –Videos Reveal Sharia Takeover in San Antonio
Sharia Creep Accelerates in Texas Heartland — San Antonio’s Islamic Center is mass-converting entire families and vulnerable teens at up to 3 per week, with their own public videos showing Shahada recitations, school tours pressuring girls into hijabs under “diversity” cover, and the relentless drive to expand Islamic influence in the Lone Star State.

Israeli officials believe US & Iran are at an unbridgeable impasse as they near open conflict
Israel and Iran’s Gulf neighbors now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, with Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, though no decision has been made yet on whether to carry out such an operation, said a source familiar with the planning.

Is It Time To Reopen The Franklin Child Prostitution Case After Epstein Revelations?
Revelations of “Lolita Express” and flights to Little St. James Island are nothing compared to what we now find in millions of documents released: Hints of rape, torture, possible murder, even cannibalism in coded (and not so coded) language of Epstein’s emails. If revelations of “Pizzagate” & the John Podesta emails are correct, then many of the horrors committed on Epstein’s Island involved young children.

OpenAI Knew About Transgender Mass Shooter, Didn’t Report It Ahead of Time
A report from the Wall Street Journal reveals that OpenAI knew about the transgender who opened fire at a residence and Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia. The transgender shooter, while using ChatGBT in June, “described scenarios involving gun violence over the course of several days, according to people familiar with the matter.”

22 Feb 2026

Headlines – 02/22/2026

Arab and Muslim states fume after Huckabee says Israel has biblical right to much of Mideast – Saudis, Jordan, PA, Arab League slam US envoy for saying it ‘would be fine’ if Israel took over lands promised in Bible during Carlson interview; he then clarified ‘hyperbolic’ statement

Huckabee’s Israel land remarks condemned as ‘dangerous’ as controversy rumbles on – Arab and Islamic governments issue joint statement denouncing the comments made on Tucker Carlson podcast

‘Absurd and provocative’: Huckabee faces firestorm for Israel border stance – Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, denounce US ambassador’s remarks suggesting Israel has right to much of the Middle East

Combative Carlson-Huckabee interview reveals US right’s chasm over Israel – Parts of Maga view Israel with suspicion, but US ambassador continues to believe in its divine right to much of the Middle East

Tucker Carlson accuses Huckabee of ‘prioritizing Israel’ in combative Ben-Gurion Airport interview

Tucker Carlson claims Israel targeted his family, Netanyahu ‘believes in blood guilt’

Huckabee fires back at Tucker Carlson after interview descends into Israel-smearing: “If Tucker was really a ‘journalist’ he could have found out what I easily did later”

Democratic candidate running for US Senate in Illinois says Israel committed ‘genocide’: Congresswoman Robin Kelly – who previously received AIPAC donation – slams her primary opponents for not adopting similar stance, underscoring shift on Israel among Democrats

Italian broadcaster apologizes after commentator calls to ‘avoid’ Israeli bobsleigh team

Top aide to ex-PMs Bennett, Lapid: Unlike Netanyahu, they would’ve never denied Oct. 7 responsibility

Gazans call for force independent of political factions, claim it ‘won’t succeed without Israel’

Family of Palestinian-American man killed in West Bank demand accountability

Trump administration avoids condemning settler killing of US citizen, says it’s monitoring situation

Report: IRGC running Hezbollah, preparing it for war with Israel if US strikes Iran

Report: Hezbollah preparing for war with Israel – Hezbollah is no longer run by Lebanese personnel but by Iranian IRGC officers present in Lebanon, report reveals

Israeli airstrikes in eastern Lebanon kill 8 Hezbollah members, officials say

Amb. Huckabee: War May Be Iran’s Only Language

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago could be targeted if US attacks Iran, says Iranian MP – report

Israeli officials believe US, Iran at unbridgeable impasse as they near open conflict

Report: Trump’s options on Iran: US weighs ‘token’ Iran enrichment in narrow nuclear compromise – The potential concession would test the limits of longstanding US demands that Iran’s nuclear program not leave any possible path to a bomb

‘Descending like Dante’s Inferno: admiral describes U.S. war readiness

Iran university students hold anti-regime rallies at campuses in Tehran, Mashhad – Head of top Tehran engineering school calls for criminals to be ‘dealt with’ after Basij officers reportedly clash with students, who greet them with calls of ‘death’ to Khamenei

Why Arab states are terrified of US war with Iran – They see the military build-up and know that bombing and regime change can have consequences, especially geopolitical ones

Iranian Spies Busted: Three Silicon Valley Engineers Charged with Stealing Google Trade Secrets and Funneling Data to Tehran

Iran: Children among 30 people at risk of the death penalty amid expedited grossly unfair trials connected to uprising

Islamic State begins new phase of operations against Syrian regime with two terror attacks

Some 15,000 at large after security collapses at Syrian detention camp holding ISIS family members

US Forces Deployed to Nigeria in Response to Christians Being Slaughtered and Abducted by Islamic Extremists

Thousands of Christians return to churches in north-east Nigeria despite years of terror

Pakistan strikes Afghanistan targets after blaming attacks on Afghan terrorists

Dozens Killed As Pakistan Carries Out Cross-Border Strikes In Afghanistan

One in Five Europeans Would Prefer Dictatorship over Democracy: Poll

From 1.5B to 5B Euros: Did Romania’s Globalist Government Conceal the Real Cost of Supporting Zelensky’s War Effort?

Orban Fights Back: Hungary Blocks $106 Billion EU Loan to Ukraine Until Zelensky Allows Flow of Russian Oil Through Druzhba Pipeline To Resume

Hungary’s foreign minister says country will block key EU loan to Ukraine until Russian oil shipments resume

Ukraine accuses Hungary, Slovakia of ‘blackmail’ over threats to cut electricity

Jesse Kelly and John Solomon on the Reality of Drone Warfare – “Missiles are Expensive. Drones are Cheap”

Cuban security forces exit Venezuela as US pressure mounts

Trump’s response to Supreme Court tariff ruling opens new era of uncertainty

President Trump Defies ‘Anti-American’ Supreme Court, Raises Global Tariffs to 15% Effective Immediately

Steven Spielberg Fleeing California Ahead of Proposed Wealth Tax

US DHS to pause TSA PreCheck and Global Entry as shutdown continues

Is Mamdani’s socialist push for rent controls about to wreck the New York City housing market?

JPMorgan Chase for the first time confirms it closed Trump’s accounts after Jan. 6th Capitol attack

Gavin Newsom Says We Can’t Have Voter ID Because No One Will be Able to Find Their Birth Certificate

Trump demands Netflix fire ex-Obama adviser Susan Rice or ‘pay the consequences’ after she says conservatives will be punished when Dems retake power

Nearly Half of Jury Pool Dismissed in Elon Musk Trial After Prospective Jurors Openly Admit They ‘Hate’ Him

College Student Sues OpenAI Claiming ChatGPT Caused a Psychological Break

Strong and shallow M6.0 earthquake hits Solomon Islands

5.6 magnitude earthquake hits the Balleny Islands region

5.1 magnitude earthquake hits near Luganville, Vanuatu

5.0 magnitude earthquake hits near Barranca, Peru

Sabancaya volcano in Peru erupts to 25,000ft

Sangay volcano in Ecuador erupts to 23,000ft

Popocateptl volcano in Mexico erupts to 21,000ft

Sheveluch volcano on Kamchatka, Russia erupts to 20,000ft

Klyuchevskoy volcano on Kamchatka, Russia erupts to 15,000ft

Reventador volcano in Ecuador erupts to 15,000ft

Semeru volcano in Indonesia erupts to 15,000ft

Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupts to 14,000ft

Ambae volcano on Vanuatu erupts to 10,000ft

‘Winter’s Fury’: 40 Million Americans Brace for Major East Coast Storm

New York Governor declares a state of emergency as blizzard warnings issued

NYC seeks emergency snow shovelers for blizzard, requires IDs not needed to vote

Revealed: LA Fire Dept worked to ‘protect Mayor Bass’ from PR crisis after Palisades fire – “It’s our goal to prepare and protect Mayor Bass, the City, and the LAFD from reputational harm.”

75% of global coffee supply faces rising extreme heat, analysis says – Its researchers found that heat threatens coffee harvests and coincides with recent record highs in prices

Trump-Kennedy Center Ice Rink Hit with Toxic Chemical Vandalism in ‘Calculated’ Attack

‘Defund the Police’ Advocate Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s Official SUV Stolen in Brazen City Hall Break-In

Italy: Beheaded German Woman Found Outside Florence, North African Suspect Taken Into Custody

Horror: 11-Year-Old Boy Accused of Murdering Adopted Father Over Nintendo Switch – Will Be Tried As an Adult

‘Red Line Crossed’: Bardella Warns French Democracy at a ‘Tipping Point’ After Alleged Antifa Killing of Conservative Student

Thousands Protest Against ‘Antifa Murderers’ in France Following Killing of Conservative Student

Texas DPS Drone Detects Illegal Border Crossing, Migrants Tagged with Cartel ‘Cargo Tags’

ICE Lodges Arrest Detainer Against Criminal Illegal Alien Monsters for Beating, Sodomizing, and Ripping Fingernails Off Victim During Brutal Home Invasion in North Carolina

Top German Soccer Team Cancels Trip to Minneapolis in Protest at Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

Upstate NY teacher removed after she helped students start a TPUSA club at school

What Former Prince Andrew’s Arrest Says About the Royal Family: ‘It’s the Stuff of Nightmares’ – Prince William has been instrumental in distancing the royal family from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the wake of the Epstein scandal

Dem Minnesota trans lawmaker claims ‘queer kids’ need to access porn for ‘education’

High school senior facing more than 300 felony charges in alleged sextortion scheme targeting minors: reports

OpenAI failed to disclose Canadian trans shooter’s ChatGPT history in meeting with officials day after shooting

Funeral for 12-year-old victim of trans Tumbler Ridge shooter canceled over threats against family

Tennessee House Passes Bill Protecting Right to Decline Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage

Judge forces CA hospital to keep trans treatments for minors despite Trump funding threat

DOJ probes three Michigan schools over gender instruction, bathroom policies

BC Human Rights Tribunal orders ex-school trustee to pay $750,000 over hate speech for saying there are two genders

Lyndsey Sikes: Why Are States Like New York and California Controlling Abortion Drug Policy in Louisiana?

Source: http://trackingbibleprophecy.org/birthpangs.php

LIVE : Providence Baptist Church on RSBN- Sunday Morning Worship 2/22/26

Pastor Dr Rusty Sowell live from Providence Baptist Church in Beauregard, AL 2/22/26

Source: LIVE : Providence Baptist Church on RSBN- Sunday Morning Worship 2/22/26

John Kennedy Roasts AOC Like Only He Can for a Full Minute [WATCH] | LifeZette

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana delivered a sharp critique of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during recent remarks, comparing the New York congresswoman to Vice President Kamala Harris and questioning her policy credentials while outlining what he described as a Republican strategy for handling her public statements.

 

 

Kennedy began by drawing a comparison between Ocasio-Cortez and Harris, framing it as a commentary on experience and policy depth.

“The Congresswoman is kind of like vice president Kamala Harris, but with more bartending experience, she has never, she has never been accused of being a policy Maven,” Kennedy said.

He went on to suggest that Ocasio-Cortez would struggle in a national Democratic primary contest against more seasoned figures in her party.

“You put her in a presidential primary with Elizabeth Warren or Rahm Emanuel, they will devour her like a light snack,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy then relayed a joke he said someone had shared with him, referencing a recent comment by Ocasio-Cortez.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but she can, she can get me back. Somebody told me a joke today, they said, Congresswoman Ocasio Cortez announced today categorically that she is not a moron, and she went on to say she hasn’t even been to Utah, much less embrace their religion. Now she can get me back,” Kennedy said.

Despite the pointed remarks, Kennedy clarified that his criticism was not personal.

“I don’t. I don’t dislike the congresswoman, but our plan for dealing with her, as I’ve said before, has always been operation let her speak. And so far, it’s working,” Kennedy said.

He concluded his comments with a parting message directed at Ocasio-Cortez.

“And my my message to to my friend the congresswoman, is, you go girl, you just keep it up,” Kennedy said.

WATCH:

 

Kennedy’s remarks reflect a broader pattern of rhetorical sparring between Republican lawmakers and progressive members of Congress, particularly Ocasio-Cortez, who has emerged as one of the most prominent voices on the left.

The Louisiana senator has frequently used humor and pointed commentary in public appearances and interviews, often targeting Democratic lawmakers and their policy positions.

Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, has been a central figure in progressive policy debates on issues ranging from climate change to economic reform.

Kennedy’s comments focused less on specific legislation and more on her public persona and political positioning within the Democratic Party.

The reference to a potential presidential primary matchup with figures such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared aimed at contrasting Ocasio-Cortez’s national profile with Democrats viewed as having longer resumes in federal or executive leadership roles.

Kennedy’s description of the Republican approach — “operation let her speak” — has been a line he has used previously when discussing how his party responds to high-profile progressive lawmakers.

In his remarks, he suggested that allowing Ocasio-Cortez to continue making public statements benefits Republicans politically.

Source: John Kennedy Roasts AOC Like Only He Can for a Full Minute [WATCH]

Military buildup around Iran has the region ‘ON THE BRINK OF WAR’

Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports on growing international pressure against Iran amid President Donald Trump’s push to end its nuclear program.

Source: Military buildup around Iran has the region ‘ON THE BRINK OF WAR’

2026 02 22 John Haller’s Prophecy Update “Days of Duh-lusion”

Misgav Inst. Iran regional war. https://x.com/yossi_mansharof/status/2023144757153640917?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Mike Benz Cyber. Control. Spain PM at 2026 WGS. EU. https://x.com/brettwooldridge/status/2023112256670884330?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Response to Carrie Prejean. https://x.com/wellsjorda89710/status/2023022049095041344?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Palestinianism. https://x.com/chayasclan/status/2023350073388634607?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Palestinian Authority Draft Constitution. https://allisraelnews.com/the-palestinian-draft-constitution-what-does-it-say-and-is-it-a-path-to-peace-or-a-continuation-of-conflict.

https://allisraelnews.com/the-palestinian-draft-constitution-what-does-it-say-and-is-it-a-path-to-peace-or-a-continuation-of-conflict

Collapse? https://x.com/intuitmachine/status/2023058040363135228?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Iran race for reconstruction of missile and nuclear. https://x.com/Israel_Alma_org/status/2023716863268536445?s=20

ISW khamenei speech 02.17. https://x.com/thestudyofwar/status/2023952837395226908?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Raylan Givens on Iran regime collapse. Day after. https://x.com/jewishwarrior13/status/2023874834007052682?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Turkey conquest of Jerusalem. AI. https://x.com/siyasetekrani/status/2023890509740265474?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Nigeria. https://x.com/dpatrikarakos/status/2022613099312824355?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Weinstein. https://x.com/r0ck3t23/status/2025061223700562354?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Kushner Board of Peace. https://x.com/dumisanitemsgen/status/2024851088541639012?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

WSJ Canada shooter. https://x.com/wsjtech/status/2024960405915787751?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Anthropic blog post affects market. https://x.com/thegeorgepu/status/2024931213329240239?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

New war. https://x.com/clashreport/status/2025216960141680989?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

ALMA: ran – Situation Assessment (February 2026): The Race to Rebuild the Nuclear and Missile Array, Casual Terror and the CRINK. https://israel-alma.org/iran-situation-assessment-february-2026-the-race-to-rebuild-the-nuclear-and-missile-array-casual-terror-and-the-crink/

Gurardian: . https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/feb/20/a-war-foretold-cia-mi6-putin-ukraine-plans-russia

Hezbollah missile wing commanders eliminated. https://x.com/osint613/status/2025283430301204989?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

OIC/ GCC condemn Huckabee. https://x.com/ksamofaen/status/2025327792506667392?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

https://x.com/ksamofa/status/2025326621293518883?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Impact-SE.

Monitor Iran.

Iran Monitor: https://www.iranmonitor.org/
IntelSky on X:

https://x.com/professorpape/status/2025214568050446627?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

https://x.com/bujokmr/status/2025419105562431931?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

AI impact. https://x.com/r0ck3t23/status/2025509780769341822?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

https://x.com/osint613/status/2025491095262552385?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Tucker interview of Huckabee. https://www.jns.org/mike-huckabee-handles-tucker-carlsons-gish-gallop-with-grace/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAQH2fVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe-nA3mtWfikXZtnwKv83jV9gUjb9G0V0qodKSbxoeNuziQcKlkN5SFFTN7jc_aem_f33YzPYfnx9I_agwlBwYow

Tucker edits. https://x.com/govmikehuckabee/status/2025429413127483653?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Saudi response. https://x.com/hahussain/status/2025291951679922320?s=46&t=zRJLrFjebqfFb5-kN4chug

Atlantic Council Predicttons. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/ten-predictions-for-the-potential-us-strikes-on-iran/

Tucker lies. https://x.com/yhazony/status/2025349132768915677?s=20

Travis Snow oh DNA: https://x.com/travismsnow/status/2025320895854625245?s=20

Source: 2026 02 22 Joh Haller’s Prophecy Update “Days of Duh-lusion”

Levin: Dems ‘HAVE THE GALL’ to do this?

Fox News host Mark Levin criticizes Democrats’ tax policies and how they destroy whatever areas they govern on ‘Life, Liberty & Levin.’ #fox #media #us #usa #new #news #foxnews #marklevin #democrats #democraticparty #democrat #politics #political #politicalnews #government #taxes #economy #policy #liferlibertyandlevin #congress

Source: Levin: Dems ‘HAVE THE GALL’ to do this?

Khamenei takes steps to ensure succession amid rising fears of US strikes, assassination – NYT

Iran’s supreme leader has appointed his close ally, Ali Larijani, as the country’s de facto leader, sidelining the elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Source: Khamenei takes steps to ensure succession amid rising fears of US strikes, assassination – NYT

President Trump DEMANDS Netflix FIRE Deep State Hack Susan Rice From Board IMMEDIATELY or “PAY THE CONSEQUENCES” | The Gateway Pundit

President Trump DEMANDS Netflix FIRE Deep State Hack Susan Rice From Board IMMEDIATELY or “PAY THE CONSEQUENCES”

Susan Rice loses her cool after she is drop-kicked from the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board.

President Donald Trump urged Netflix to remove board member Susan Rice after she threatened a retribution agenda against his supporters.

Rice is best known for her roles as national security adviser and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President Barack Obama, and later held a senior role in the Biden White House.

Posting on Truth Social, Trump warned the company to get rid of Rice or “pay the consequences.”

“Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences,” he wrote.

”She’s got no talent or skills – Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK. How much is she being paid, and for what???“

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/116111073840858395/embed

Rice made the remarks during a recent podcast appearance that companies, media outlets, and law firms that aligned themselves with Trump must face retribution:

When it comes to the elites, you know, the corporate interests, the law firms, the universities, the media … it’s not going to end well for them, for those that decided that they would act in their perceived very narrow self-interest, which I would underscore, is very short-term self-interest, and, you know, take a knee to Trump.

They’re now starting to realize, wait a minute, no, this is not popular. Trump is not popular. What he is doing, whether on the economy and affordability or on immigration now, is not popular, and there is likely to be a swing in the other direction, and they are going to be caught with more than their pants down.

…

If these corporations think that the Democrats when they come back in power are going to, you know, play by the old rules and [say] ‘Never mind, we’ll forgive you for all the people you fired, all the policies and principles you violated, all the laws you’ve skirted.

I think they’ve got another thing coming … they’re going to be surprised. Democrats have had a bellyful, and we’re not going to play by, you know, the old set of rules.

Watch the clip below:

Democrat Party member Susan Rice says conservatives need to be “rounded up and sent to reeducation camps or prison..”

WTF. pic.twitter.com/UOHAubLQQS

— American AF 🇺🇸 (@iAnonPatriot) February 20, 2026

Rice returned to Netflix’s board in 2023 after departing her role as the director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Biden administration.

The streaming company is currently competing with Paramount Skydance Corp. to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., a deal that Trump has the power to stall or block altogether.

The post President Trump DEMANDS Netflix FIRE Deep State Hack Susan Rice From Board IMMEDIATELY or “PAY THE CONSEQUENCES” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Susan Rice’s Shadow Government: Bongino Reveals How Democrats Will Rig the System Forever [WATCH]

Dan Bongino issued a stark warning about the future of American politics, arguing that if Democrats return to power, they will dismantle key institutional safeguards, grant broad amnesty to illegal immigrants, and move the country toward one-party rule.

Source: Susan Rice’s Shadow Government: Bongino Reveals How Democrats Will Rig the System Forever [WATCH]