The Mailbag: Communion Questions | Michelle Lesley

The Mailbag: Communion Questions

Originally published June 20, 2023

Is it biblical for women to administer communion to other women in a local church or a parachurch ladies gathering? It it biblical for a couple to administer communion at a social gathering in their home?

Communion.. the Lord’s Supper… the Lord’s Table… the breaking of bread and drinking of wine (or grape juice) as a memorial to our Lord’s suffering and death is an extremely solemn and serious ordinance of the church.

I mean, in the Corinthian church, people were getting sick and dying because they weren’t handling the Lord’s Supper in a godly way.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
1 Corinthians 11:27-30

Take a moment and meditate on what that means. How seriously does God take the Lord’s Supper?

The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the gathered church, just like baptism is. You wouldn’t (I hope) baptize people at your Tupperware party or even your weekly women’s Bible study, and you shouldn’t be observing the Lord’s Supper in those sorts of venues either.

Look at the language in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and how it differentiates between eating outside the church gathering (at home) and partaking of the Lord’s Supper inside the worship gathering of the church. The language assumes that the Lord’s Supper takes place in the church gathering: “When you come together…” (17, 20), “When you come together as a church…” (18), “Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God…” (22), “when you come together to eat” (33), “if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together…” (34).

When you unbiblically remove the Lord’s Supper from the worship gathering of the church body, you immediately cheapen it. It becomes lesser. Just some little thing we do so we can feel like we’re being holy, or because we crave ritual. It’s reduced to the level of hors d’oeuvres or a party game. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is for the gathered church to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (26).

And because it is an ordinance of the church, those who shepherd the church – pastors and elders – are responsible for administering it in a biblical way. That responsibility has not been given to any Tom, Dick, and Harry (or Dawn, Pat, and Mary, if you will) who decides he or she wants to offer it at a private shindig. It is a pastoral responsibility, which includes fencing the table.

So the answer to all of your questions is no. The Lord’s Supper should not be observed at parachurch meetings or social gatherings at all. (Or weddings. You didn’t ask about that, but I’m going to throw that in there, too, for the same reasons.) And the only reason I can think of that a church would have women administering the Lord’s Supper during a worship service instead of the pastor, elders, and/or deacons is either to appear egalitarian or because they are egalitarian, so that’s a “no” too.

---

What about situations like COVID, when the church can’t gather? Is “online communion” (taking the Lord’s Supper at home with whatever elements I have on hand while watching the pastor “administer” it online) OK?

No. First of all, as we learned from COVID, while there may be very temporary emergencies, the church can gather if it is being obedient to the Lord. Sometimes obedience is costly, but it can be done. Just ask our Savior, whose obedience cost Him torture and death.

Second, there’s no requirement for how often the church must observe the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said “as often as you do this,” not “every week” or “twice a month”. Once the temporary emergency is over the church can come back together and observe the Lord’s Supper as a body, in person, as indicated by Scripture.

---

“What about homebound, hospitalized, or dying people who are Providentially hindered from gathering with the church? Can a pastor administer the Lord’s Supper to those people outside the church gathering?”

I would leave that to a pastor’s discretion, but, if I were a pastor, I would be very reluctant to do so. Personally, I would urge those people, as well as anyone else who wants to observe the Lord’s Supper outside of the gathering of the church body to consider why they want to do that. I mean, dig deep and do some serious introspection about your reasons and what you actually believe about the Lord’s Supper.

I suspect some Christians, without even realizing it, may hold some Roman Catholic-adjacent or superstitious beliefs about the Lord’s Supper.

It’s not the thing you do right before you die (or any time) to make you right with God, forgive your sins, or secure your place in Heaven. That’s what Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection were for. And if you’re placing your faith for any of those things in partaking of the Lord’s Supper instead of, or in addition to Christ’s finished work on the cross, that’s idolatry.

It’s not something you do to assuage misplaced guilt about not being physically able to attend church (or, for that matter, to assuage appropriate guilt about forsaking the assembly when you actually could be there). If you are legitimately Providentially hindered from faithful church attendance, God knows that. He’s the One who allowed or placed you in that situation in the first place. You don’t need to “make it up to Him” or try to get “back” into His good graces by performing for Him by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Rest. Rest in His grace, mercy, and divine Providence. You can partake when you’re able to go back to church, or when the whole church is one day gathered for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

It’s not something you do to somehow conjure up or invoke God’s presence into your midst. That’s a variant of necromancy or witchcraft. God is omnipresent. There’s not a millimeter of the universe in which He is not present. He’s at your social gathering. He’s at your parachurch meeting. What you want to do at those events is to pray, not observe the Lord’s Supper. In prayer, you recognize God’s presence, submit yourselves and your gathering to Him, and ask Him to guide your meeting. And, no, observing the Lord’s Supper isn’t “leveling up” on “just prayer”. Prayer and the Lord’s Supper are two different worship practices with two different purposes.

And, finally, the Lord’s Supper isn’t something you do to secure God’s blessing on whatever activity or venue you’re observing it in. It’s not a talisman. It’s not like rubbing a rabbit’s foot for luck or a baseball player going through his superstitious pre-game rituals so he’ll play well and win the game. Participating in the Lord’s Supper with your church family is a blessing – it’s the blessing of unity in Christ and the fellowship of proclaiming His death together until He comes, but you don’t do it to get God’s blessing on your marriage, your dinner party, or your pro-life meeting.

---

What would you say to a church not using unleavened bread for communion? The last time we took communion the bread was Italian bread, obviously had yeast in it. I don’t want to take the Lords supper with bread with yeast in it because yeast represents sin and Jesus has no sin in Him, and if we are to remember what He did, how can we use just regular bread. I did ask the pastor, he thought I had a good point, but I haven’t heard from him yet.

It’s great that you asked your pastor about this. That’s exactly what I would have advised you to do. I would encourage you to submit to his leadership on this issue.

Leavened bread is not a reason to abstain from the Lord’s Supper any more than grape juice instead of wine (or vice versa) is a reason to abstain. My personal opinion (not biblical mandate) is that unleavened bread and wine should be used because they are more historically accurate and truer to the details of Scripture than leavened bread and/or grape juice. That being said, I’ve never been a member of a church that didn’t use grape juice, and I have participated in observances of the Lord’s Supper that used leavened bread, and it didn’t bother me in the least.

We need to remember that the reason unleavened bread was used was not because leaven represented sin, although we do see that symbolism later, but because the Lord’s Supper began as the Last Supper, which was an observance of Passover. Unleavened bread was used for Passover because it memorialized the Israelites’ flight from Egypt. They did not have time for the dough to rise before the exodus. That’s where the unleavened bread for Passover, the Last Supper, and the Lord’s Supper came from. It had nothing to do with Jesus’ sinlessness because Jesus had not yet come at the time of the exodus.

We can also remember that Jesus used leavened bread when He fed the 5000, and in that very context of leavened bread, He Himself said, “I am the bread of life.” If leaven always represents sin, why would Jesus, who was sinless God, have referred to Himself in the context of everyday leavened bread?

If leavened bread is the only reason you’re abstaining from the Lord’s Supper, I would encourage you to stop abstaining and partake joyfully with your church family, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes.

---

We recently moved and have been attending a Southern Baptist church. They have not had communion for over two months. Isn’t it the norm to have communion at least once a month? …since we are new to this church we are still waiting and learning our place. We hesitate to make ourselves known as possibly unsubmissive or question why they do things the way they do. (From The Mailbag: Potpourri (…SBC Communion…))

These are such great questions because they help me, as a Southern Baptist, think about the way we do things and how those practices might be perceived by visitors or new members.

Every Southern Baptist church is autonomous, so each church has its own policy or practice about how often the Lord’s Supper is observed. There are some SBC churches who hold the Lord’s Supper every week and probably others who hold it only once or twice a year, although I don’t personally know of any who hold it that infrequently.

In my experience, most Southern Baptist churches observe the Lord’s Supper several times a year, usually on a schedule like the first Sunday of the month, once a quarter, or every “fifth Sunday” (in months that have five Sundays). In addition to these scheduled observances, many churches also observe the Lord’s Supper at their Christmas Eve, Good Friday, or Easter service.

I would encourage you and your husband to set up an appointment with the pastor and ask away! It is certainly not unsubmissive to sit in his office and politely say, “We’re new here and we were just wondering about…” Most pastors I know would love for potential members to do this.

---

We run into trouble when we start trying to “improve” on God’s Word and His ways. The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the church, to be observed in the gathering of the church body, and to be rightly administered by the pastor, elders, and/or deacons. Let’s leave it at that – nothing more, nothing less – right where Scripture leaves it.

Additional Resources:

The Last Supper ~ The Lord’s Supper

---

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Devotional for February 24, 2026 | Tuesday: When Unbelief Is Rewarded

Matthew 28:11-15 In this week’s studies, we note the contrast between Jesus’ enemies and friends concerning the resurrection, and the price worth paying to be a witness to Christ.

Theme

When Unbelief Is Rewarded

The soldiers had left their post, and the tomb was empty. They must have been terrified, wondering what was going to happen to them. After the religious leaders met together, they did not seek to have the soldiers punished.  Instead, the guards were told to lie about what had happened. They were to go out and say nothing about angels or a stone being rolled away, but simply to say that while they were asleep, His disciples came and stole the body. This is the way the text says it: “When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And if this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’”

Interesting, isn’t it? Instead of punishments, which they had every right to expect, these men received rewards—so determined were these enemies of Jesus Christ to suppress the truth that concerned the resurrection. Now, of course, it was a very foolish story. The soldiers themselves must have seen how foolish it was. They were to go out and say that while they were asleep the disciples came and stole the body. But if they were asleep, how did they know it was the disciples? Oh, they could have assumed that and had tried to locate the disciples and recover the stolen body. However, they did not do that, because that is not what happened.

Calvin says in one place in his commentary on this text that they would certainly have been punished if there had been an upright, judicious governor in the land. But, of course, that’s exactly the point. Pilate was not upright and judicious, nor were the scribes, Pharisees, or chief priests. None of them was.

You see, it wasn’t a case of the religious leaders failing to believe in the resurrection for a lack of evidence. On the contrary, it was quite the other way around. These men repressed the evidence because they were determined in advance not to believe in the resurrection. These men received a greater witness to the resurrection than anybody could have possibly received. They did not want to believe Jesus’ words because they hated Him.  Nor would they believe any of Jesus’ disciples. But here the testimony had been brought by the soldiers, and the soldiers had nothing to gain and everything to lose from that kind of story. Obviously, it had happened, but these men didn’t want to face what had happened. They hated the truth, and so they had the guards substitute a lie for the truth, and meted out rewards rather than punishment in exchange for a false account.

Now what I want to suggest is that it is always that way in the world. Unbelief is always rewarded, and faith is always punished. The reason for this is that men and women are not open to the truth about Jesus, but prefer a lie. If Jesus is raised from the dead, then Jesus is God, and therefore is the King and Lord of all. He has a claim on us, but because people don’t want to acknowledge this claim they assert that the resurrection never happened. And unbelievers reward anybody who can give any reason, however unreliable and unbelievable it may be, as long as they give a reason that will substantiate people’s rejection of the truth.

There was a nineteenth century French scholar by the name of Ernest Renan. He was born in Breton and was educated as a priest. He had a conservative upbringing, but he became enamored with the rationalist philosophy of Georg Friedrich Hegel and of Emmanuel Kant. Fed by their rationalism, he began to look at the Gospels, in particular, within that naturalistic framework. His whole career was one of explaining away the miraculous elements of the Gospels.

He published a book called The Life of Jesus, which gained him a great deal of fame. In it he tried to explain away the resurrection by suggesting that the idea came about because of Mary Magdalene. Renan maintained that she was unstable mentally and was also in love with Jesus. And when she was there in the garden and saw the gardener, in her grief she assumed that this was Jesus and so imagined that she heard Jesus call her name.

Renan said in another work called The Apostles, “Heroes never die.” What he meant by that is that the faith of a hero’s followers helps his memory to live on. Well, you would think, being a Catholic priest and living in the nineteenth century, that a man like Ernest Renan would have been rebuffed quite properly and his theories disregarded. But quite the opposite was the case. When he published The Life of Jesus, Renan received instant fame. Sixty thousand copies of that book were sold in just the first few months, a prodigious number for the nineteenth century. He became the darling of the Paris salons. He was appointed administrator of the prestigious College de France. He was even made a member of the French Legion of Honor, which was about the most prestigious thing that could happen to him.

Study Questions

1. How did the religious leaders decide to deal with their problem of the empty tomb and the soldiers’ testimony?
2. What does the religious authorities’ handling of the situation reveal about their spiritual condition?
3. What is the basic idea behind Renan’s The Life of Jesus?

Application

Reflection: What other examples can you give of how unbelief or unrighteousness is rewarded?

Key Point: If Jesus is raised from the dead, then Jesus is God, and therefore is the King and Lord of all.

For Further Study: Download for free and listen to James Boice’s message from Ephesians 2, “Risen with Christ.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)

https://www.thinkandactbiblically.org/tuesday-when-unbelief-is-rewarded-3/

Understand the Condemning Nature of your Sin

Matthew Henry’s “Method For Prayer”

Confession 2.18 | ESV

We must judge and condemn ourselves for our sins, and own ourselves liable to punishment.

And now, O my God, what shall I say after this, for I have forsaken your commandments? Ezra 9:10(ESV) I have sinned; what have I done to you, you watcher of mankind? Job 7:20(ESV)

I know that the law curses everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them; Galatians 3:10(ESV) that the wages of every sin is death; Romans 6:23(ESV) and that for these things’ sake the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 5:6(ESV)

And I am accountable to God; Romans 3:19(ESV) the Scripture has imprisoned me under sin; Galatians 3:22(ESV) and therefore you might justly be angry with me until you consumed me, so that I should neither be of your remnant, nor able to escape. Ezra 9:14(ESV)

If you should make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line, Isaiah 28:17(ESV) you might justly separate me to all evil, according to all the curses of the covenant, and blot out my name from under heaven. Deuteronomy 29:20(ESV)

You might justly swear in your wrath that I should never enter your rest; Psalm 95:11(ESV) might justly strip me naked and bare, Hosea 2:3(ESV) and take back my grain in its time, Hosea 2:9(ESV) and put into my hands the cup of staggering, and make me drink even to the dregs of that cup. Isaiah 51:17(ESV)

You have been righteous in all that has come upon me, for you have dealt faithfully and I have acted wickedly. Nehemiah 9:33(ESV) Indeed, my God has punished me less than my iniquities deserved. Ezra 9:13(ESV)

You therefore shall be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment; Psalm 51:4(ESV) and I will accept of the punishment of my iniquity, Leviticus 26:43(ESV) and humble myself under your mighty hand, 1 Peter 5:6(ESV) and say, “The LORD is righteous.” 2 Chronicles 12:6(ESV)

Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? Lamentations 3:39(ESV) No, I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him. Micah 7:9(ESV)

Understand the Condemning Nature of your Sin

A Little Bird Told Me — The Power of His Presence

Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

Ecclesiastes 10:20

Verse 20, I am sure, is the origin of the popular saying a little bird told me. This may also be the first recorded instance of the government’s bugging a home! It clearly reflects the modern saying even the walls have ears.

Do not complain about the government even in your bedchamber or in your innermost thoughts. This is not implying that if you do, your complaining might get back to the king and he will be angry with you and punish you. Rather, it is the idea that your constant complaining about problems in government creates a condition that spreads dissatisfaction with, and distrust of, government. We are living with a generation that, by and large, distrusts the powers and rights of government. This may be because young people who are now entering into legal adulthood have heard us older ones grumbling so much about the government that they have learned to distrust it, to feel that it is an unnecessary evil, and to react violently against it.

It is remarkable that any American president is able to serve more than one term in office. The media so focuses upon the president and criticizes so vehemently everything he does and every word he speaks: that no president is able to stand the glare of such adverse publicity. The American way is to elect a man to office, give him six months to change everything, and if he does not do it, spend the next three-and-a-half years complaining about it. There is a destructive element in complaining and griping all the time about what government does.

I was blessed and encouraged when several of our staff wrote letters to the mayor of San Francisco to commend her for her vetoing an ordinance that would be destructive to the social fabric. Against much of the popular opinion of the hour, the mayor found the courage to veto that measure. What a difference it makes in the quality of government if we show our support for those who are in office. The appeal of the Searcher is that if you want to be wise and in view of all that God provides in life as revealed in this book, then try to be supportive of the government.

Forgive me for my complaining spirit, Lord. Teach me to spread a spirit of confidence that You are at work through the leadership of our land.

https://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/ecclesiastes/a-little-bird-told-me

2 John: Do Not Run Ahead | Today in the Word

Tuesday, February 24 | 2 John 1 On the Go? Listen Now!

Brands protect their reputations vigorously. They work hard to hire the best spokesperson and generally pay that person well. But if that representative does something to tarnish their image, brands will release them from their contracts just as purposefully as they hired them. Associations matter and brands understand that association with the wrong people can hurt.In this brief second letter, John warns his readers to be on guard against people who associate with Christians but reject a core doctrine of the faith. They do not believe that Jesus Christ appeared in the flesh (v. 7). By this time, the gospel had spread widely enough, and different communities developed in different parts of the Roman world. As a result, strange teachings about Christ began to appear. One argued that Jesus Christ was not actually a flesh-and-blood human being but only appeared to be such. False teachers were spreading this doctrine as they travelled.John feared that his readers would give in to this false teaching, and he would lose what he worked for and the reward that comes with faithfulness in Christ (v. 8). These people are deceivers (v. 7)! His advice is simple: Stick with what you have been taught. Stay with Christ who leads through His teaching. Reject Christ’s teaching, and you reject God. There are many details about the Christian life that God has not fully explained. Avoid speculation!But what should we do with the false teachers who want to associate with us? Do not welcome them or even bring them into your home (v. 10). This may seem harsh, but the consequence of such friendship is clear. If you associate with them, you associate with their wickedness.

Go Deeper Are you connected to people who question your confidence in Christ and God’s Word? Might they be in a position to influence and even deceive you? How does John suggest we respond? Expanded Reading: 2 John

Pray with Us Holy Spirit, give us discernment and wisdom to reject false teachers who reject Christ. Help us stay rooted in Christ, follow Him faithfully, and remember our first love.

todayintheword.org

February 24 Evening Verse of the Day

SALVATION IS WITH A PURPOSE

and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (2:6–7)

Salvation has a purpose, in regard to us and in regard to God. The most immediate and direct result of salvation is to be raised up with Him, and [to be] seated with Him in the heavenly places. Not only are we dead to sin and alive to righteousness through His resurrection in which we are raised, but we also enjoy His exaltation and share in His preeminent glory.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead His first instruction was, “Unbind him, and let him go” (John 11:44). A living person cannot function while wrapped in the trappings of death. Because our new citizenship through Christ is in heaven (Phil 3:20), God seats us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. We are no longer of this present world or in its sphere of sinfulness and rebellion. We have been rescued from spiritual death and given spiritual life in order to be in Christ Jesus and to be with Him in the heavenly places. Here, as in 1:3, heavenly places refers to the supernatural sphere where God rules, though in 6:12 it refers to the supernatural sphere where Satan rules.
The Greek verb behind seated is in the aorist tense and emphasizes the absoluteness of this promise by speaking of it as if it had already fully taken place. Even though we are not yet inheritors of all that God has for us in Christ, to be in the heavenly places is to be in God’s domain instead of Satan’s, to be in the sphere of spiritual life instead of the sphere of spiritual death. That is where our blessings are and where we have fellowship with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and with all the saints who have gone before us and will go after us. That is where all our commands come from and where all our praise and petitions go. And some day we will receive the “inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [us]” (1 Pet. 1:4).
The phrase in order that indicates that the purpose of our being exalted to the supernatural sphere of God’s preserve and power is that we may forever be blessed. But it is not only for our benefit and glory. God’s greater purpose in salvation is for His own sake, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. That, too, is obviously for our benefit, but it is first of all for God’s, because it displays for all eternity the surpassing riches of His grace (cf. 3:10). Through His endless kindness toward us in Christ Jesus the Father glorifies Himself even as He blesses us. From the moment of salvation throughout the ages to come we never stop receiving the grace and kindness of God. The ages to come is different from the age to come in 1:21 and refers to eternity. He glorifies Himself by eternally blessing us with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (1:3) and by bestowing on us His endless and limitless grace and kindness. The whole of heaven will glorify Him because of what He has done for us (Rev. 7:10–12).

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians (pp. 59–60). Moody Press.

---

Risen with Christ

Ephesians 2:4–7

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Have you ever coined a word because you wanted to describe something for which no existing English word seemed adequate? Some people have done this. Nearly two hundred and forty years ago, in 1754 to be exact, Horace Walpole coined the word “serendipity,” which he defined as “the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident.” I find that word in my twelve-volume Oxford English Dictionary, but even today it is not in the smaller Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
Another coined word is C. Northcote Parkinson’s “injelititis.” It means “induced inferiority,” the “disease seen in those who intentionally attempt little and achieve nothing.”
The apostle Paul also coined words from time to time. In Ephesians 2:5–6 there are three of them. Paul had been discussing the radical change in our situation brought about by the unmerited kindness of God. Before our conversion we were “dead in … transgressions and sins,” but now we have been “made … alive with Christ.” Before, we were dead; now we are alive. Before, we were enslaved by our sins and carnal nature; now we are emancipated. Before, we were objects of wrath; now we experience God’s love. What words can adequately describe this great change? What terms can express it? Since nothing like this had been known in the history of the world before Christ, it is not surprising that in Paul’s day adequate words did not yet exist to describe what happened.
So Paul invented some. He took the Greek prefix syn, meaning “together with,” and combined it with three words used elsewhere to describe what God did with Jesus after his crucifixion: (1) “make alive,” (2) “raise up,” and (3) “sit down” by him in heaven. The results were this:

1.      Synzōopoieō, which means “to make alive together with”;
2.      Synegeirō, which means “to raise up together with”;
3.      Synkathizō which means “to sit down together with.”

Taken together, these words make one of the most significant statements in the Bible of what has happened to Christians as a result of their union with Jesus Christ in God’s great work of salvation.

A Difficult Doctrine

As with most New Testament teachings, the seeds of the doctrine of the union of believers with Christ are in the recorded words of Jesus—often as metaphors. On one occasion Jesus compared our union with him to the union of branches and a vine: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 6:35). Other metaphors refer to eating Christ, as one would eat bread (Matt. 26:26–28; John 15:4–5), or drinking him, as one would drink water or wine (Matt. 26:26–28; John 4:1–14).
How Christ’s followers will be received or rejected by the world also suggests this union, for it is said to be a reception or rejection of Christ himself: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me” (Luke 10:16).
In the great prayer Jesus uttered for his followers just before his arrest and crucifixion, the Lord referred to this mystical union explicitly: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me” (John 17:22–23).
The doctrine received its greatest development and emphasis in the writings of Paul. At times, as in Ephesians 2, Paul seems to have coined words to express it. At other times he speaks merely of being “in him,” “in Christ” or “in Christ Jesus,” phrases which occur 164 times in his writings. By his use of these phrases, Paul teaches that we were chosen “in him before the creation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), redeemed “in him” (Eph. 1:7), justified “in [him]” (Gal. 2:17), sanctified “in [him]” (1 Cor. 1:2), and enriched “in every way” (1 Cor. 1:5)—all by virtue of that mystical union.
This doctrine is so important that one commentator rightly called it “the heart of Paul’s religion.” John Murray wrote, “Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation.”2 Arthur W. Pink is even more emphatic: “The subject of spiritual union is the most important, the most profound, and yet the most blessed of any that is set forth in sacred Scripture.” But he also rightly notes that “sad to say, there is hardly any which is now more generally neglected. The very expression ‘spiritual union’ is unknown in most professing Christian circles, and even where it is employed it is given such a protracted meaning as to take in only a fragment of this precious truth.”
The mere fact that this teaching is prominent throughout the New Testament does not mean that we understand it. Many cannot escape feeling that when Paul speaks of our being “made … alive with Christ” or “raised up with Christ” or “seated … in the heavenly realms in Christ” somehow this is all just word games. They ask, “What does it mean to say that we are made alive in Christ? In what sense have I actually been raised with him or seated with him in heaven?”

Two Types of Union

One way to understand it is to see our union with Christ as a federal or covenantal union. This refers to what we might call our technical position before God as a result of Christ’s work for us. It is described in detail in Romans 5:12–21, in which we are said to have been in Adam before our salvation but to be in Christ afterward. Adam had been established by God as a representative or federal head of the human race. He was to stand for us so that, if he continued in righteousness, we would also be considered as having continued in righteousness in him. But if he fell by transgressing God’s command, we would be considered as having sinned in him—and his judgment, death, would pass to us. Adam did sin, and that is what happened. Death passed upon the race. It is proof that God considered us to have been in Adam and to have fallen by his transgression.
By contrast, Jesus stood firm, not merely demonstrating a practical and perfect righteousness in his own life but also dying for those who would be united to him by faith. Thus, those judged sinners because of Adam’s sin are now judged righteous because of Christ’s righteousness. Because he is justified, we are justified. Because he is raised, we are raised. Because he is exalted to heaven, we too are exalted to heaven. As Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory, so also are we seated.
This doctrine is called “federalism,” because it is analogous to the way a citizen is involved in the actions of his country or federal government. As citizens of a country, we suffer the liabilities and enjoy the benefits of actions taken by earlier generations of citizens.
But that is only one way of explaining what the Bible means by our mystical union with Christ, and it is not always necessarily the most useful way of thinking of it—certainly not in studying Ephesians 2:4–7. A second way to describe our union with Christ is as a vital or experiential union. This refers to the actual effects in us of this relationship. The chief New Testament teaching in this respect is Christ’s illustration of the vine and branches, referred to earlier. When Jesus compared himself to a vine and us to branches, he was not thinking of a mere technical position attained as a result of his work. He was thinking of an actual difference in our lives. As a result of our union with him we are enabled to pray to God and receive the things we pray for (John 15:7) and to bear spiritual fruit to God’s glory (v. 8).

All Things New

This is the sense in which Paul’s coined words in Ephesians 2:4–7 must be taken and in which they yield their richest treasures.

1. Made alive together with Christ. Of the three words, this term most clearly requires an experiential rather than a federal interpretation. The point is that we were once dead and that we now live, as a result of our union with Christ. A dead person is unconscious of what is around him, inactive, and in a process of bodily decay. This was true of us spiritually. We were unconscious of God, inactive in God’s service, and decaying morally. Now we are alive to God, working for God, and growing in practical righteousness. This is the most profound transformation imaginable, and it is true of all Christians. If this change has not taken place, the person involved is not a real Christian.
   D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes this change as God’s giving us a new disposition, not new faculties: “The difference between the sinner and the Christian, the unbeliever and the believer, is not that the believer, the Christian, has certain faculties which the other man lacks. No, what happens is that this new disposition given to the Christian directs his faculties in an entirely different way. He is not given a new brain; he is not given a new intelligence, or anything else. He has always had these; they are his servants, his instruments, his ‘members,’ as Paul calls them in the sixth chapter of Romans; what is new is a new bent, a new disposition. He has turned in a different direction; there is a new power working in him and guiding his faculties. This is the thing that makes a man a Christian.”
   We cannot explain this other than to say that it happens by our union with Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
2. Raised up together with Christ. The words “raised up” are sometimes used of the resurrection, and quite properly. But here the words apply not to the resurrection but to what we more normally call the ascension. Having been raised from the dead, Jesus was taken up into heaven, and we are said to have been raised up to heavenly places in him.
   How so? This concept is a bit more difficult to grasp, but we can explain it this way. Our being raised from the dead with Christ means that we have been given new life or, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, a “new disposition.” Our being taken up into heaven with Christ, our ascension, means that we have been given a new environment. We are no longer creatures only of this world, bound by what we can see and touch and smell and hear and taste. We are now creatures of the greater, heavenly realm who now, because of our union with Christ, think and work and speak in spiritual categories. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that the Christian “is lifted up into an entirely new ‘thought realm.’ And he judges everything now in the light of it. He has a new standard of values; he assesses things in an entirely different way. What he wants to know about anything now is, not what sort of a ‘kick’ he will get out of it, not what sort of pleasure will it bring him; but rather, what is its value to his soul?”
   More than that, the Christian recognizes that he belongs more to heaven than he does to earth. Charles Hodge derives this from the key phrase “in the heavenly realms,” which he rightly says relates to “the kingdom of heaven” as opposed to “the kingdoms of this world” or “the kingdom of Satan.” “We are within the pale of God’s kingdom; we are under its law; we have in Christ a title to its privileges and blessings and possess—alas! in what humble measure—its spirit.” He says, somewhat whimsically, that “though we occupy the lowest place of this kingdom, the mere suburbs of the heavenly city, still we are in it.”
   Again, this is by union with Christ. Apart from that union we would not even be aware of God’s kingdom, let alone be a part of it. We would adjust our thoughts of heaven (such as they might be) to our worldly orientation, rather than the other way around.
3. Seated with God in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. The last of these three coined words carries the thought of what it means to be united with Christ to the highest peak, showing that we are not only raised in him but that we have also been seated with him in heaven next to God the Father. The verb is in an aorist or past tense. It means that we have already been made to sit with God in Christ. That is our position now. That is where we have arrived, and we are to live accordingly.
   There are many aspects of this. The seat next to God in which we have been seated with Christ is a throne, which means that we reign with him. We are extensions of Christ’s presence and authority in the world. This is the seat described in Psalm 110:1, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” ’ (cf. Matt. 22:44; Acts 2:34–35; Heb. 1:13; 10:13). This seat speaks of victory. It involves security, privilege, rejoicing, accomplishment.
   Still, I do not think this is what Paul chiefly had in mind. Let me explain what I think he meant. Do you remember that beautiful account of the Last Supper included by the apostle John in his Gospel? Do you remember how he describes himself as reclining next to Jesus? As John describes it, Jesus had announced that one of the Twelve would betray him, and Peter, disturbed at this revelation, motioned to John to ask Jesus which of the disciples he was speaking about. John then wrote of himself, “Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ ” (John 13:25). Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish” (v. 26). He then dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot. John was seated by Jesus and was therefore the one who received the revelation.
   Now read Ephesians. “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (vv. 6–7). That place, in Christ at the right hand of God the Father, is the place of intimacy and revelation. It is where God opens up his heart. And notice: It is where we are now. We are seated with God in Christ in the heavenly realms now. Now God is speaking to us intimately.
   This is the great privilege Paul had chiefly in mind as he composed this portion of Ephesians.

Are You in Christ?

I close with these questions. First, have you been made alive with Christ? Has God put his new principle of life within you? Do you sense a new spiritual disposition in what you do? Are you born again? If you cannot answer these questions affirmatively, by all means seek after God until you can. For that is Christianity. Christianity is not mere doctrine or a sense of having been forgiven or even believing that God will forgive you. Christianity is Christ—Christ alive in his people, Christ in us. No one who has been made alive with Christ can ever be the same afterward. No one who has been united to Christ can ever again die to God or take up with old sins as before.
Second, have you been raised with Christ so that your orientation is now heavenly, rather than being only earthbound? If you are a Christian, you must think of things in relationship to God. You must know yourself to be a member of his kingdom and responsible to his laws. You must live for him and represent him wherever he sends you.
Finally, have you been seated with God in Christ in the heavenly realms? That is, have you made your true, blessed, and intimate home with God? Do you talk to him there? Does he talk to you? That is a far more intimate place than “the garden” described in C. Austin Miles’s hymn, though the sentiments are the same:

He walks with me, and he talks with me,
And he tells me I am his own;
And the joys we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

If you have enjoyed that intimacy, you will no longer set your affections on things on this earth but on God’s glory.

Boice, J. M. (1988). Ephesians: an expositional commentary (pp. 57–62). Ministry Resources Library.

---

6. This is true because vivification does not stand by itself, for the apostle continues: and raised us up with him and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Christ’s resurrection and exaltation to the Father’s right hand in “the heavenly places” (here and in 1:3 the heaven of the redeemed is meant; contrast 6:12) not only foreshadows and guarantees our glorious bodily resurrection and all the consequent glory that will be our portion at the great consummation, but is also the basis of present blessings. Whatever happens to the Bridegroom has an immediate effect upon the Bride. This effect has reference not only to the church’s state or legal standing before God’s law, but also to its condition, the latter because from the place of his heavenly glory and majesty Christ sends forth the Spirit into the hearts of believers, so that they die to sin and are raised to newness of life. Therefore, both as to state and as to condition we can say that with Christ Jesus we ourselves were tried, condemned, crucified, buried (Rom. 6:4–8; 8:17; Col. 2:12; 2 Tim. 2:11), but also, made alive, raised, and set in heavenly places (Rom. 6:5; 8:17; Col. 2:13; 3:1–3: 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4). To be sure, there is a time factor. Not at once do we receive this glory in full measure. But the right to receive it fully has been secured, and the new life has already begun. Even now our life “is hid with Christ in God.” Our names are inscribed in heaven’s register. Our interests are being promoted there. We are being governed by heavenly standards and motivated by heavenly impulses. The blessings of heaven constantly descend upon us. Heaven’s grace fills our hearts. Its power enables us to be more than conquerors. And to heaven our thoughts aspire and our prayers ascend.
7. What now was the purpose which God had in mind when he bestowed on us this great salvation? Paul answers: in order that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace (expressed) in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Therefore, God’s purpose in saving his people reaches beyond man. His own glory is his own chief aim. It is for that reason that he displays his grace in all its matchless beauty and transforming power. To some this may seem somewhat cold or even “selfish.” Yet, on rereading the passage one will soon discover that God’s overshadowing majesty and his condescending tenderness combine here, for the glory of his attributes is placed on exhibition as it reflects itself “in kindness toward us!” We are his sparkling jewels. Illustration: A Roman matron when asked, “Where are your jewels?” calls her two sons, and, pointing to them, says, “These are my jewels.” So also, throughout eternity the redeemed will be exhibited as the monuments of “the marvelous grace of our loving Lord,” who drew us from destruction’s pit and raised us to heights of heavenly bliss, and did all this at such a cost to himself that he spared not his own Son, and in such a manner that not a single one of his attributes, not even his justice, was eclipsed.
   In Christ Jesus this divine kindness was displayed in various ways, mostly, of course, in the death on the cross. It was displayed also in such sayings as are recorded in Matt. 5:7; 9:13; 11:28–30; 12:7; 23:37; Mark 10:14; Luke 10:25–37, to mention only a few; and in such attitudes and actions, among many others, as are commemorated in Matt. 9:36; 14:14; 15:21–28; 20:34; Luke 7:11–17, 36–50; 8:40–42, 49–56; 23:34; John 19:27; 21:15–17.
   Paul does not say “God’s grace,” nor even “the riches of his grace,” but “the sur- (super) passing riches of his grace.” This is characteristic Pauline language. Earlier he had written to the Romans, “Where sin abounded, grace super-overflowed” (Rom. 5:20). During the present imprisonment he was going to tell the Philippians about the peace of God which “sur- (super) passes all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). And, during his brief period of freedom between the first and second Roman imprisonments he would write to Timothy, “And it super-abounded (namely) the grace of our Lord, with faith and love in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1:14). See also 2 Cor. 7:4; 1 Thess. 3:10; 5:13; 2 Thess. 1:3. As Paul sees it, there is nothing narrow about this grace of God, nothing stingy. Its loving arms embrace both Gentile and Jew. It reaches even to “the chief of sinners” (Paul himself), and so “rich” is it that it enriches every heart and life which it touches, filling it with marvelous love, joy, peace, etc.
   God will display the surpassing riches of his grace “in the ages to come.” But what is meant by these ages? In the main, there are three opinions:
   (1) The ages that will precede Christ’s Parousia. The expression ages to come “must not be understood to refer to ‘the future’ world. Paul is speaking about the earthly dispensation which has not yet run its course” (Grosheide; cf. Barry). A possible objection to this view would be that in that case Paul would probably have spoken about “the fulness of the times” (as in 1:10) or about “this age” (as in 1:21). Though not even in his early epistles did he proceed from the assumption that the second coming was the very next item on God’s program for the history of the world (see 2 Thess. 2:1–12), nevertheless, it was not his custom to posit continuing lengths of time that would intervene between his own day and Christ’s return.
   (2) The ages that will follow Christ’s Parousia. With variations as to detail this view is held by Abbott, Greijdanus, Lenski, Salmond, Van Leeuwen, and many others. In its defense an appeal is made to 1:21: “the coming age.” However, it is debatable whether this argument is valid, for in 1:21 a contrast is drawn between “this age” and “the coming one.” That is not the case in 2:7. Also 1:21 has the singular aeon; 2:7, the plural aeons. And when, with one commentator, these post-Parousia ages, as they affect us, turn out to be “the timeless [?] aeons of eternity,” while another—perhaps forgetting that in that glorious life there will be no more sin and misery?—in his comments on the grace that will then be expressed “in kindness toward us,” interprets this to mean personal pity shown to those in need, one begins to wonder whether, after all, the restriction of “the ages to come” to the post-Parousia era is legitimate.
   (3) All future time. In commenting on this passage John Calvin says, “It was the design of God to hallow in all ages the remembrance of so great a goodness.” Scott expresses the same idea in these words, “The new life now begun will endure forever, so that the manifestation of God’s grace will be always renewing itself. To bring out more forcibly this idea of goodness that will extend through all eternity Paul speaks not of the ‘age’ but the ages yet to come.” And Hodge states, “It is better therefore to take it [the phrase “in the ages to come”] without limitation, for all future time.”
   Since nothing in the context limits the application of the phrase to any one period either before or after Christ’s return, and since the apostle himself when he dwells more fully on the church’s lofty goal (chapter 3) speaks about both the gathering in of the Gentiles in the present pre-Parousia age, and of the ultimate perfection of the church in the coming age, I regard explanation (3) as the best. The purpose, then, which God had in mind when he bestowed on us this great salvation described in verses 4–6, was that “in Christ Jesus” (see on 1:1, 3, 4) throughout this entire new dispensation and forever afterward he might place us, Jew and Gentile alike, on exhibition as monuments of the surpassing riches of his grace expressed in kindness of which we are and forever will be the recipients.

Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Ephesians (Vol. 7, pp. 118–120). Baker Book House.

Nothing to Alarm Us | VCY

But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:13)

We cannot understand all the prophecies, but yet we regard them with pleasure and not with dismay. There can be nothing in the Father’s decree which should justly alarm His child. Though the abomination of desolation be set up, yet the true believer shall not be defiled; rather shall he be purified, and made white, and tried. Though the earth be burned up, no smell of fire shall come upon the chosen. Amid the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds, the Lord Jehovah will preserve His own.

Calmly resolute in duty, brave in conflict, patient in suffering, let us go our way, keeping to our road, and neither swerving from it nor loitering in it. The end will come; let us go our way till it does.

Rest will be ours, All other things swing to and fro, but our foundation standeth sure. God rests in His love, and, therefore, we rest in it. Our peace is, and ever shall be, like a river. A lot in the heavenly Canaan is ours, and we shall stand in it, come what may. The God of Daniel will give a worthy portion to all who dare to be decided for truth and holiness as Daniel was. No den of lions shall deprive us of our sure inheritance.

https://www.vcy.org/charles-spurgeon/2026/02/24/nothing-to-alarm-us/

“IF:One Night” and Jennie Allen’s “voice from the sky” | Elizabeth Prata

“IF:One Night” and Jennie Allen’s “voice from the sky”

By Elizabeth Prata

In 2007, Jennie Allen heard a “voice from the sky”. Or it was a whisper. It spoke to her that day. Or it was the middle of the night. Anyway, the whisper told her things. It said, “Gather and equip this generation”. So she obeyed and founded IF:Gathering in 2014.

Ahem, you can see from the dates that there was a delayed reaction to her obedience…

Quote from Jennie Allen’s first IF:Gathering. I have the video of her saying it. It’s real.

This non-profit organization’s stated main mission is: “TO GATHER, EQUIP AND UNLEASH THE NEXT GENERATION OF PEOPLE TO LIVE OUT THEIR PURPOSE.”

Revenue last year was 11.3 million, expenses were 7.6 million, for a total take of 3.7 million dollars and 6.8 million in assets. (Source).

Their stated three-fold sub-mission is stated as the following:

If Lead: equipping women to share and learn through Christ-centered discussions

If Gather: a two-day gathering that brought thousands of women together in Fort Worth and at local gatherings across the globe. The gathering is a fresh, deep, honest space for a new generation of women to wrestle with the essential question: If God is real… Then what?

If Equip: a holistic, strategic, deep way to connect online with a like-hearted community and relevant resources. We hope to prepare women around the world to know God more deeply and to live out their purposes by sharing comments and feelings about daily passages posted online.

---

On Friday, February 26, Founder Jennie Allen will host this year’s big event: IF:One Night. On their website it’s stated that IF is not only an event, “but a discipleship ministry focused on putting tools and resources in the hands of women in the church. Through these, IF is able to empower women to reclaim discipleship as God’s means to change the world.”

Before you decide to attend (digitally only, the real life event being held at what I believe is Jennie’s church, Watermark Church in Dallas, is sold out) or before you decide to host a local gathering to stream along the event happening at Watermark Church, think on these things.

-Do you want to trust a founder who listens to voices from the sky? The Lord has ceased speaking directly to individuals. That voice from the sky cold have been anything from bad quesadilla rumblings in the night to demons whispering to her ear.

-Do you want to align with an organization that is based on doubt? “IF” God exists? He does. The entire organization, besides the whispery issue, is founded on doubt and promotes women gathering to obsess over them and their ‘feelings’.

-Do you want to trust an organization who presents to you “Bible” teachers who are apostate, false, and otherwise unhealthy? Slated to teach you at IF:One Night are Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Lauren Chandler (who loves & partners with false teacher Beth Moore), Jennie Allen, Christine Caine, and others who are proven to be unreliable Bible teachers.

-Do you want to compete with and be drawn away from your own local church? Talk about feelings with strangers with whom you do not connect on a weekly basis over the preached word of God in your own assembly? This is a para-church organization whose intent is to multiply groups away from your local church and to whom you are not accountable as you are to your own elders. Please consider discussing any doubts or fears you have with your own church members. It is what they are there for and how the church grows through the word, fellowship, and discipling.

I’ve written about IF:Gathering negatively since the beginning of their foray into Christianity and women’s minds and hearts. I give you an earnest plea: Avoid IF.

See video clip here where Jennie admitted her impetus for founding IF was a voice from the sky:

John Haller: We Do NOT Play by the Same Rules

Bible prophecy expert, John Haller and David talk about recent events related to planned chaos and demonic activity in these last days. 

How holy does a church member have to be? | Morning Studies

Posted at Reformation Scotland:

It’s the state of our hearts that tells whether we are saved or not. But only God knows for sure what our hearts are like. When someone is being assessed for whether or not they should be accepted as a church member, it is essential that they know it’s their heart that counts. But the church can’t make a decision on membership based on investigating their heart — only by looking at humanly observable information. Pastors and elders have the responsibility of maintaining the highest standards in belief and practice among church members, but they are not required to pass judgment on people’s hearts for the purpose of granting or withholding church membership. When a popular English preacher published a piece arguing the opposite, the Covenanter James Wood (d.1664), Professor of Theology at St Andrews University responded with his own pamphlet. In the following updated extract, Wood explains the careful distinctions we must make in order that those with responsibility for overseeing church membership will be able to carry out their work with integrity.

What is required for someone to meet the qualifications to be a member of the visible church? There is a difference of opinion between us and the independent brethren. They say that people must be truly converted in God’s eyes, as far as others who are converted are able to discern.

This seems resolve the matter into ‘the judgement of charity.’ Yet this does not sufficiently to salvage the situation, for technically it expresses only the means by which persons with the necessary qualification (i.e., they are truly converted) are to be identified, rather than expressing anything about the objective qualification of the matter of a visible church.

Different senses of “required”

For membership of a visible church, the term “required” has a double sense. It could either mean (a) what is incumbent on an individual himself by way of duty before God, or it could mean (b) what is requisite in him by way of qualification in the outward church court (i.e., the basis on which the church may and ought to admit him to the external communion of the church).

In the first sense, I confess that none are qualified for membership of a visible church except those who are (not only so far as the most spiritual people can discern or judge, but also in reality) true converts and believers. It is every individual’s duty, in professing Christianity and adjoining himself to the church of Christ, to believe with his heart as he professes with his mouth. Otherwise he is not approved, not allowed, by God.

But I believe it’s another thing to enquire what is required in the second sense.

Continue here…

https://rchstudies.christian-heritage-news.com/2026/02/how-holy-does-church-member-have-to-be.html

‘Change My Mind’ LIVE Q&A Northern Michigan Univ. (Marquette, MI)

LET’S GO WILDCATS! Join Dr. Frank Turek on the 2026 ‘Change My Mind’ college tour on WED. 2/24 at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI as we continue Charlie Kirk’s mission to make heaven crowded! Grab your seat at 7:00 PM ET in the NC Ballroom I & II as we continue honest, open conversations about truth, God, Jesus, morality, identity, justice, science, current events, and so much more. Skeptics, Christians, and everyone in between are invited to the mic to ask Frank questions, examine the evidence for Christianity, and join discussions that truly matter.
This event is FREE and open to the public, but if you can’t make it in-person, be sure to watch online!

Source: ‘Change My Mind’ LIVE Q&A Northern Michigan Univ. (Marquette, MI)

February 24 Afternoon Verse of the Day

40:31 wait for the LORD. Savoring God’s promise by faith until the time of fulfillment. renew. Find endless supplies of fresh strength.

Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1312). Crossway Bibles.

---

40:31 wait for the LORD. See 8:17; 49:23. There is a general principle here that patient, praying believers are blessed by God with strength in their trials (cf. 2Co 12:8–10). The Lord also expected His people to be patient and await His coming in glory at the end to fulfill the promises of national deliverance, when believing Israel would become stronger than they had ever been.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Is 40:31). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

---

40:31 To wait entails confident expectation and active hope in the Lord—never passive resignation (Ps. 40:1). Mount up … run … walk depicts the spiritual transformation that faith brings to a person. The Lord gives power to those who trust in Him. eagles: The eagle depicts the strength that comes from the Lord. The Lord describes His deliverance of the Israelites in Ex. 19:4 as similar to being lifted up on an eagle’s strong wings. In Ps. 103:5 the strength of people who are nourished by God is compared to the strength of the eagle.

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (p. 847). T. Nelson Publishers.

Mid-Day Digest · February 24, 2026

 “From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.

THE FOUNDATION

“There is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust.” —James Madison (1788)

IN TODAY’S DIGEST

• Executive News Summary
• Featured Analysis: Was Mar-a-Lago Intruder Motivated by Epstein Obsession?
• More Analysis
• Reader Comments
• Best of Right Opinion
• Best of Videos
• Short Cuts
• Today’s Meme

EXECUTIVE NEWS SUMMARY

The Editors

• State of the Union preview: Donald Trump will give his first State of the Union Address of his second term tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. (The speech the newly inaugurated president gave at this time last year was a “Joint Address to Congress.”) Trump has promised that the speech will be a long one because “we have so much to talk about.” Many Democrat members of congress will not attend or plan to walk out during the speech to stage counterprogramming. The president invited the triumphant men’s and women’s hockey teams to celebrate their Olympic victories. The men’s team told the president “We’re in,” while the women’s team respectfully declined due supposedly to scheduling conflicts.
• First tariff refund lawsuit: As anticipated, following the Supreme Court’s ruling that President Trump exceeded his authority to levy tariffs via the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the first of what is sure to be a litany of lawsuits was raised on Monday. FedEx is suing the Trump administration for a “full refund” of the tariffs it paid over the past year, plus interest, though it did not specify an amount. Trump responded to the Court’s decision with his intention to impose 15% global tariffs under the Trade Act of 1974, which would be a temporary measure to maintain the tariffs, but it does not address the restitution that companies will pursue from the tariffs they paid thus far. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats introduced legislation requiring the Trump administration to refund $175 billion in tariffs collected within 180 days of the law’s enactment, should it be passed.
• SCOTUS takes up Colorado climate change law: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, a case that challenges holding oil companies liable for climate change. Boulder County, Colorado, raised a case against fossil fuel companies, claiming they were responsible for causing damaging climate change. Colorado’s Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ rejection of the fossil fuel companies’ attempts to dismiss, on the grounds that the Clean Air Act regulates interstate air pollution. The Justice Department is siding with the oil companies. This is now the second case the Court has taken up involving claims that blame fossil fuel companies for climate change.
• Gavin Newsom’s implied racism: Which party is the party with a long, notorious history of racism? It’s not the Republicans, no matter how incessantly Leftmedia outlets and Democrats claim otherwise. Democrats have long plied identity politics as their primary electoral strategy, relying on stereotyping to sell their brand. This political dynamic was blatantly displayed when California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat presidential hopeful, recently told a crowd of mostly blacks in Georgia the following: “I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you [that] I’m like you. I’m no better than you. You know? I’m a 960 SAT guy. … I cannot — you’ve never seen me read a speech. Because I cannot read a speech.” Does Newsom believe blacks are dumb and near-illiterate? Recall that Joe Biden appeared to hold a similar view when he opined, “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”
• Jack Smith’s report blocked: Former legal hitman special prosecutor Jack Smith is desperate to fulfill his mandate to smear Donald Trump, but U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has seemingly put an end to his attempts once and for all. In July 2024, Cannon ruled that Smith had been unlawfully appointed as special counsel and dismissed the charges against President Trump. Smith was undeterred and compiled a report intended for circulation among members of congress. That final report was sent to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and was set to become public on Tuesday, except for Cannon’s action. “The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt,” said Judge Cannon.
• Biden did have prior knowledge of the Mar-a-Lago raid: Former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre lied. That’s not news. What is news is that there is now proof that she was specifically lying when she told the press that President Joe Biden was not briefed about the 2022 FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago and learned about it “just like the American people did.” FBI communications from August 3, 2022 — days before the raid — say the “event is dependent upon the timeline of President Biden’s brief, decision, and coordination between [White House] Counsel and DOJ.” It sure seems that if the timing of the raid was dependent on Biden’s decision, he must’ve been aware it was going to happen. Biden may have protested innocence, but he was the one weaponizing the government against his political opponent, and now we have the receipts.
• Newsom pardons a savage illegal alien convict: In 1996, Somboon Phaymany, then a green-card holder, was a member of the Oriental Boy Soldiers gang. He was in deep enough to participate in a drive-by shooting, even bringing along a weapon as he sat in the passenger seat. He was convicted of 10 counts of attempted murder and 18 counts of assault with a firearm, among other charges. He was sentenced to two life sentences. California Gov. Gavin Newsom now says that Somboon has “demonstrated his fitness for restoration of civic rights and responsibilities,” and he granted this illegal immigrant gang member a full pardon, which removes the criminal offense for which he would be immediately subject to deportation. Newsom’s office insists that the pardon “does not minimize or forgive his conduct or the harm it caused,” except, of course, it does exactly that.
• GOP infighting may squander any chance for a Republican victory in California: Thanks to California’s ridiculous jungle primary system and a crowded field of Democrat candidates, voters in the deep-blue state could find themselves choosing between two Republican candidates for governor. Thus far, two Republicans, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, have risen to the top in recent polling, setting up the possibility of just such a scenario. In order for a Republican to have any real shot at winning the gubernatorial election, both of them must end up being the top two in a runoff election. In large part, they have avoided attacking each other. Unfortunately, though, they have begun to do just that as they vie for the top Republican spot. They may want to rethink that strategy.
• Anniversary of Russia’s Ukraine invasion: Ukraine is entering its fifth year of defending itself from the predations of Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky is frustrated, and Vladimir Putin is obstinate. No progress toward peace has been made after months of U.S.-led negotiations. Following four war-torn years, Russia now occupies 20% of Ukrainian territory, but Putin does not view this as the completion of his goal and will press on with his historical justification for the war. Zelensky continues to reject Putin’s assertion that all of Ukraine belongs to Russia — even just the Donbas — saying, “He has not broken Ukrainians.” The war has taken its toll on both countries, with nearly half a million dead and 1.5 million either wounded or missing. Civilian casualties increased in Ukraine last year, which was the deadliest for civilians since the invasion. Six million Ukrainians are living outside the country as refugees.

Headlines

• Millions dig out from deadly blizzard (Fox Weather)
• Adam Schiff says he’ll skip the State of the Union (Fox News)
• Maryland sues Trump administration to stop construction of ICE detention facility (Washington Examiner)
• Ex-British Ambassador to U.S. Peter Mandelson arrested in Epstein probe (NY Post)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.

Comment | Share

FEATURED ANALYSIS

Was Mar-a-Lago Intruder Motivated by Epstein Obsession?

Nate Jackson

“You used to have to have facts before you said stuff,” complained Whoopi Goldberg on “The View” last week. Notwithstanding Goldberg’s extensive experience spouting off about things without the facts, her gripe was a response to reports that her name showed up in Jeffrey Epstein’s emails.

“Well, Trump is on this list 38,000 times,” retorted her cohost, Joy Behar. “I mean, come on.”

Goldberg replied, “Well, I can’t speak to him, but I’m speaking about me because I’m getting dragged.”

Like every American, I’ll await with bated breath to hear what Whoopi and the gang have to say about the man who was killed by Secret Service agents on Sunday because he showed up at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate with a shotgun and a gas can due to the president’s name being in the Epstein files. Goldberg is “getting dragged”? Well, Trump’s life is on the line. Again.

“The View” didn’t discuss it yesterday, so I guess I’ll keep waiting. Much of the rest of the media downplayed it.

To be sure, this wasn’t a near-miss like Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, when 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired eight shots with his rifle and came within an inch of taking Trump’s life. He did kill Corey Comperatore, a former local fire chief, and critically wounded two other men.

This wasn’t even a replay of West Palm Beach, Florida. While Trump was playing a round of golf in September 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, hid in the bushes with a rifle, ready to take a shot before Secret Service agents spotted and arrested him.

On Sunday, 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin of Moore County, North Carolina, didn’t get close to Trump, who wasn’t even at his Florida estate at the time. But despite his Trump-loving family background, Martin was likely motivated by the same kind of hateful and deranged rhetoric that has become the stock in trade of Democrats these days.

There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of “there” there with the Epstein files, but many Americans — maybe especially young, disaffected men — are obsessed with the rampant criminal corruption they believe has overrun our institutions of power, including Donald Trump’s White House. Martin seems to have been “fixated” on the files.

“I don’t know if you read up on the Epstein Files, but evil is real and unmistakable,” he wrote in a text thread with a coworker a week ago. “The best people like you and I can do is use what little influence we have. Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it. Raise awareness.”

He was deeply concerned about a concerted government cover-up intended to help elites keep “getting away with it.” Congressional Democrats have encouraged that exact sentiment about Trump because his Justice Department hemmed and hawed and foot-dragged about releasing the files.

So did Joe Biden’s Justice Department, but never mind that.

Also, never mind that if Trump had even a whiff of criminal behavior alleged in the files, Democrats would have been trumpeting and prosecuting it years ago.

Still, the New York Post reported an unintentionally hilarious line: “Authorities haven’t revealed a motive for the potential thwarted attack.”

Sure. Maybe Martin just wanted to go through Melania Trump’s underwear drawer like the FBI did in 2022. Yeah, that’s it.

“Got a lot of people gunning for me, don’t I?” Trump whimsically responded on Monday. “You read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents,” he added. “They don’t go after non-consequential presidents.”

His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was much more circumspect. “Whenever you just casually throw around terms like Nazi, like fascist, like Hitler, and racist, what do you think the consequences of that ultimately will be?” she asked rhetorically. “And I’ll tell you as a family member, I keep wondering how many chances does one man get? He’s not gonna be lucky enough at some point,” she continued. “You don’t get lucky every single time.”

No, you don’t. Charlie Kirk wasn’t lucky.

In any case, with tonight’s State of the Union Address, Democrats and their Leftmedia propagandists will return to their regularly scheduled Trump derangement.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

Comment | Share

MORE ANALYSIS

• Douglas Andrews: Trump Hosts Angel Families — The Democrats no doubt wish that these devastated families would just go away, but Donald Trump is committed to making sure we never forget.
• Michael Swartz: Taking the Offensive Against Cartels — The drug kingpin known as “El Mencho” was killed by Mexican authorities, opening a new chapter in the war on cartels.
• Emmy Griffin: The Inspirational Ben Sasse and Nearing Glory — We are all going to die one day. The question is, how are we going to live?
• Jack DeVine: The Peanut Gallery Pipes Up — Their message every week: everything President Donald Trump does is awful, and democracy will be gone by next Tuesday.
• Caleb Nunes: America at 250 — America’s uniqueness lies in its foundation on republicanism: the rule of a people through law and representation, rather than the rule of a ruler, a caste, or a permanent managerial class.

Reader Comments

Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

• Daniel McCarthyHow a Party Offends Its Voters
• Victor JoecksJudicial Tyranny Is a Threat to the Rule of Law
• Cal ThomasInsulter in Chief
• Rich LowryJack Hughes or Eileen Gu?
• The Babylon BeeGavin Newsom Wows Black Audience by Putting Some Hot Sauce in His Purple Drank

For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.

BEST OF VIDEOS

• I’m Not Falling for Gavin Newsom — Governor Newsom tried to relate to his audience in Atlanta by saying “I’m just like you” after boasting of his low SAT score. Does he think black people are stupid?

SHORT CUTS

Lawfare, Continued…

“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, ‘Oh, never mind. We’ll forgive you for all the people you fired, all the policies and principles you’ve violated, all, you know, the laws you’ve skirted,’ I think they’ve got another thing coming.” —former UN Ambassador and Netflix board member Susan Rice threatening corporations with retaliation for not maintaining the leftist line

The BIG Lie

“The Republicans, you know, they’re setting up these internment camps.” —Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) on ICE detention centers

Defamation

“They thought Trump was the one to take down the secret pedophile ring. … He’s right in the middle of it.” —Senate candidate James Talarico (D-TX)

Hollyweirdo

“[Donald Trump] will never leave. We have to make him leave. … It’s up to us to get rid of him. … Like Vietnam, you got to get out there and protest.” —actor Robert De Niro

Dumb & Dumber

“The followers of President Donald Trump are at a crossroads of repentance. The choices, as ever, are stark: to continue to belong to a cult of personality that has led to blood in the streets, or to choose change, and all the sacrifices that might entail.” —UC Berkeley professor Kaya Oakes

“If waving the American flag or chanting ‘USA!’ turns you off right now, you’re not alone.” —the subtitle to HuffPost senior reporter Monica Torres’s piece, “There’s A Name For The Discomfort You’re Feeling Watching The Olympics Right Now”

Faux Pas

“I’m not trying to impress you. I’m just trying to impress upon you [that] I’m like you. I’m no better than you. You know? I’m a 960 SAT guy. … You’ve never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech.” —California Gov. Gavin Newsom to black southerners

Clapbacks:

“His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read. This means my first read on him was correct. He’s been handed so many things & put in high positions he never earned or deserved.” —singer-songwriter Nicki Minaj

“Why does Gavin Newsom think cussing will distract us from the fact that he equated blackness with being a dumbass?” —podcaster CJ Pearson

Stranger Than Fiction

“New York’s Communist Mayor demands 3 forms of identification to be an Official Volunteer Snow Shoveler during a blizzard. He will also have you know that these are extremely racist criteria if you want to vote.” —Guy Benson

Upright

“This is all about our country right now. I love the USA. I love my teammates. … I’m so proud to be American today.” —Olympian Jack Hughes after his gold medal-winning overtime score in hockey

Comment | Share

TODAY’S MEME

Share

For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union.

ON THIS DAY in 1803, the Supreme Court issued its famed Marbury v. Madison ruling, which ensconced the Court’s power of constitutional review.

 “From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.

Fox News Highlights – February 23rd, 2026

Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld bring Fox News viewers their fresh takes on the top news of the day. #fox #foxnews #media #us #usa #new #news #politics #political #politicalnews #government #gutfeld #greggutfeld #newyork #newyorkcity #nyc #bureaucracy #mayor #zohranmamdani #snow #policy #citygovernment #breakingnews #breaking #jessewattersprimetime #jessewatters #gavinnewsom #newsom #california #democrats #democraticparty #democrat #sat #education #campaign #leadership #debate #controversyvideo

Source: Fox News Highlights – February 23rd, 2026

‘Black Swan’ author Nassim Taleb says brace for software bankruptcies and for recent stock gains to be ‘eradicated’ | Business Insider

Mohd Zakir/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

• Author Nassim Taleb says AI will lead to bankruptcies among software firms.
• He predicted that stock gains among the market leaders of the last few years with be “eradicated.”
• Taleb said that pioneering companies are not usually the most successful and are often overtaken.

A top statistician and markets commentator thinks more pain is coming from the AI-fueled wave of panic that’s shaken the tech sector.

Nassim Taleb, the author of “The Black Swan” and an advisor at Universa Investments, said he believes the disruption will materially affect software firms and will “definitely” lead to bankruptcies in the space.

Moreover, Taleb predicts that the gains among the market leaders of the last few years will be erased as the next crop of winners emerge.

“The previous rally we had was driven by a very small number of names. And now we’ll probably have some broadening effects and redistribution, but a lot of the gains in the stock market are going to be eradicated by that,” he said in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

The AI scare trade has been in full focus lately as new AI products and updates pummel software stocks. The sell-off in recent weeks has also spilled over to sectors ike trucking, wealth management, and insurers.

Taleb used a historical analogy to further illustrate his take on the tech sector, noting that pioneering companies are not necessarily the most successful in the long run. He cited the automotive and airline industries as examples, as well as the original PC makers.

“I’m sure someone’s going to make a lot of money in both software and hardware related to AI, but [that] doesn’t necessarily have to be these companies because you have a lot of instability,” Taleb added.

As Black Swan events are, by definition, phenomena that no one sees coming, Taleb could not speculate on what the next one will be. However, that doesn’t mean he believes the US market isn’t facing major risk as AI disruption continues.

Taleb said that while the market may be behaving as if extreme crashes are unlikely, this isn’t the case, and investors shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security.

“I would say the tail risks across all sectors are underpriced,” he said. “So it’s not the risk of drawdown in the stock market, it’s a risk of large drawdown.”

Read the original article on Business Insider

Source: ‘Black Swan’ author Nassim Taleb says brace for software bankruptcies and for recent stock gains to be ‘eradicated’

HUGE: Per Rasmussen, Nearly Two-Thirds of All Americans Concerned Election Machines Change Votes | The Gateway Pundit

HUGE: Per Rasmussen, Nearly Two-Thirds of All Americans Concerned Election Machines Change Votes

Nearly two-thirds of Americans are concerned about the electronic voting machines used in US elections. They aren’t getting this from the corrupt and dishonest MSM.  Rasmussen released poll results on … Read more

The post HUGE: Per Rasmussen, Nearly Two-Thirds of All Americans Concerned Election Machines Change Votes appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Moscow Claims NATO Nuke Smuggling Plot Into Ukraine – UK Denounces ‘Heinous’ Charge | ZeroHedge

It’s hard to know what’s true amid the fog of war, but when Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) comes out with whatever new accusation it lodges against Ukraine it usually ‘goes big’.

That’s true of the latest statement Tuesday, which happens to mark the fourth anniversary of the full-scale Ukraine invasion of 2022. The SVR is newly alleging that France and the UK are plotting to secretly arm Ukraine with a nuclear weapon.

According to the agency, British and French officials are considering the “covert transfer of relevant European-made components, equipment, and technologies to Ukraine” – and are in parallel laying the groundwork for an information campaign that would misrepresent the nuclear capacity as domestically developed.

Russian sources and state media strongly suggest their belief that this is still just in planning stages, and that several options are being considered, including that Ukraine could be provided with a French TN 75 warhead, currently in the the French Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

There’s also the option of Western assistance to help Kiev build a ‘dirty bomb’ – which has long been a feared weapon in the context of the grinding Ukraine conflict, given it spreads radioactive material far and wide, among urban areas.

TASS and others have cited the SVR in framing this as an act of desperation given Ukrainian forces are being rolled back piecemeal on the battlefield:

According to its information, the British and French elites are unwilling to accept defeat. “It is believed that Ukraine should be supplied with a ‘Wunderwaffe’ (German for ‘miracle weapon’ – TASS). Kiev would be able to aspire to more advantageous terms of ceasing the hostilities if it possesses a nuclear or at least a so-called ‘dirty’ bomb,” the statement said.

The suggestion is that the Western allies supporting Ukraine would do anything rather than admit defeat, even the unthinkable.

Here’s more from an official state media translation from the SVR’s media office:

“At present, according to the information available to the Russian SVR, London and Paris are actively working over the issue of providing Kiev with a weapon of this kind, as well as with means of its delivery. This involves a covert transfer of relevant European-made components, equipment and technologies to Ukraine. As an option, the French small-size TN-75 warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile is being considered,” the press bureau pointed out. At the same time, “Berlin has prudently refused to take part in this dangerous venture.”

According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, the British and the French realize that their plot is “a gross violation of the international law, first of all the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and carries the risk of destroying the global non-proliferation system.” “Consequently, the Westerners’ main efforts are focused on making Kiev’s possession of nuclear weapon look like it was developed by the Ukrainians themselves,” the statement said. “Great Britain and France are aware that the situation developing in Ukraine leaves no chances for them to achieve the ardently desired victory over Russia with the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces,” the SVR noted.

The statement concludes by an allegation that NATO countries are “losing touch with reality” their reckless efforts to impose defeat on Russia in Ukraine, and so are willing to seriously contemplate a ‘dirty bomb’ – as losses mount.

The Kremlin has meanwhile not been forthcoming with any specific evidence, and the SVR has not revealed the types of sourcing underlying its serious allegations.

That’s it. For the first time since 1972, Russia (the former USSR) and the US have no treaty limiting strategic nuclear forces. SALT 1, SALT 2, START I, START II, SORT, New START – all in the past. pic.twitter.com/D3TBZM9ffC

— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) February 4, 2026

But according to RIA, the Russian government is taking all of this seriously enough for Putin’s office to say it plans to inform the United States about these potential nuclear aspirations of Ukraine and its European backers.

Downing Street has so far been among the first to dismiss the allegation, with the UK Prime Minister’s official spokesman saying: “This is a clear attempt by Vladimir Putin to distract from his heinous actions in Ukraine” and that “there is no truth to this.”

Source: Moscow Claims NATO Nuke Smuggling Plot Into Ukraine – UK Denounces ‘Heinous’ Charge

Dems Pick a Communist to Give Response to the State of the Union

The Democrats have tabbed Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger to give their response from the dark side, and the choice is highly significant. Spanberger has been Virginia’s governor for just over a month, and in that time she has hit the ground running with a raft of far-left, authoritarian policies that will make the people of Virginia more unsafe, poorer, and less able to do anything about it by voting her and her henchmen out of office. 

Read article

Moscow will respond if NATO gives nukes to ‘Nazi regime in Kiev’ – Medvedev | RT

France and the UK are considering covertly handing nuclear capabilities or a ‘dirty bomb’ to Kiev, Russian intel has claimed

Dmitry Medvedev © Sputnik / Ekaterina Shtukina

Russia would launch a nuclear response if NATO countries supplied atomic weapons to Ukraine, former President Dmitry Medvedev has warned.

Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, was commenting to RT on Tuesday on claims by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that London and Paris are considering ways to provide nuclear weaponry or related components to Kiev.

“I will be blunt and state the obvious,” Medvedev said, adding that the reported intention by the UK and France to hand over nuclear capabilities to the “Nazi regime in Kiev” would change the situation entirely.

“This is a direct transfer of nuclear weapons to a country at war,” he stated.

According to the SVR, British and French officials are weighing the “covert transfer of relevant European-made components, equipment, and technologies to Ukraine,” and preparing an information campaign to portray any resulting capability as domestically developed.

“There should be no doubt whatsoever that in such a scenario Russia would be forced to use any means at its disposal, including non-strategic nuclear weapons, against targets in Ukraine that threaten our country,” Medvedev stated. “And if necessary, against the supplier nations now implicated in a nuclear conflict with Russia. This is the kind of symmetrical response that the Russian Federation would be entitled to,” he added.

Read more

NATO nations plotting to smuggle nuke into Ukraine – Russian intel

The SVR also alleged that another option under discussion was the provision of a complete French TN 75 nuclear warhead used on submarine launched ballistic missiles, or assistance in building a radioactive “dirty bomb” using conventional explosives and nuclear materials. Kiev could seek “more advantageous terms” in any negotiations if it possessed such weapons, the SVR suggested, adding that Germany had “prudently refused” to participate.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the reported plans as “potentially very dangerous,” saying they would threaten the global non-proliferation regime.

Ukraine has argued that it gave up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees that later proved worthless. While a significant portion of Soviet nuclear forces were stationed in Ukraine, Kiev never controlled the missiles.

READ MORE: Dmitry Trenin: Why the next world order will be armed with nukes

The 1994 Budapest Memorandums provided assurances – but not legally binding guarantees – to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan that their territorial integrity would be respected after transferring Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia. At the 2022 Munich Security Conference, shortly before the Ukraine conflict escalated, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky suggested Kiev could reconsider its non-nuclear status.

Moscow maintains that after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, Ukraine’s new authorities breached the neutrality pledge underpinning its post-Soviet independence by making NATO membership a key foreign policy goal.

Source: Moscow will respond if NATO gives nukes to ‘Nazi regime in Kiev’ – Medvedev

70% of the food that we eat is ultra-processed. It’s not really food – it’s poison.

02-24-2026 • Twitter – Secretary Kennedy

70% of the food that we eat is ultra-processed. It's not really food — it's poison. We're going to change that. We are laser focused on making REAL whole food available for every American family at prices they can afford. pic.twitter.com/dbRG9r18tN

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) February 24, 2026

Read Full Story