Alexander: If hypocrisy was a virtue…

Democrat Protagonists Are Masters of Hypocrisy

If hypocrisy was a virtue, Democrats would be the most virtuous among us.

Mark Alexander

“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks — no form of government can render us secure.” —James Madison (1778) Group generalizations are rarely accurate, but in the case of Democrat protagonists, hypocrisy is a virtually unanimous trait. This past week provided several notable examples of how leftist hypocrites have taken their trade to new lows, as if such duplicity were virtuous. Last weekend, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was dining with family and friends at Red Hen, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. After she was recognized by one of the Hen’s gender dysphoric employees, he frantically phoned the restaurant owner to respond to this crisis. When owner Stephanie Wilkinson arrived, by her account she asked her employees, “Tell me what you want me to do. I can ask her to leave. They said ‘yes.'” According to Wilkerson, a leftist sympathizer, Sanders works for an “inhumane and unethical” administration, whose “cruelest policies could not stand.” She asked Sanders to step outside and told her to leave. She went back to the table to gather her belongings, and not wanting to create a disturbance for the rest of the customers, she and her friends walked out. According to Wilkinson, “They offered to pay. I said, ‘No. It’s on the house.'” (Isn’t that special!) Wilkinson added, “This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals.” She then followed Sanders and her party across the street to another restaurant where she heckled her from the sidewalk. Such brave and bold bigotry! Sanders confirmed: “I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS, and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.” The Red Hen is a case study of hypocrisy for two reasons. First, Wilkinson displays a quote from Martin Luther King in her front window: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” So her idea of “love” is to throw people out on the street because they don’t comport with her political views? Were he alive today, I suspect Dr. King would be deeply discouraged by the intolerance of the Left and saddened by its cynical use of his image and words. And I’m certain that he’d deplore this discrimination by mere association — which is precisely the sort of thing he spent his life peacefully protesting against. Second, after the Supreme Court recently affirmed the right of a small business owner to refuse to use his artistic talents toward a message that was at odds with his deeply held First Amendment religious beliefs, Democrats howled about the injustice. “Bake us a cake or else!” they screeched. But as Ben Shapiro notes, “The [Red Hen and Masterpiece Cakeshop] cases are easily distinguishable in that the restaurant serves the same menu to people of all political persuasions generally, and the baker was being asked to provide a special, tailored service to a special event.” In the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the owner had always served all people, regardless of their affiliations. In the Red Hen case, Sarah Sanders was denied service altogether precisely because of her affiliations. For his part, Donald Trump chastised Wilkerson: “The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!” Even Barack Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod said he was “amazed and appalled by the number of folks on the left who applauded the expulsion of [Sanders] and her family from a restaurant.” Given the avalanche of negative press her actions created for the small, historic town of Lexington, Wilkinson was asked to resign her post as executive director of Main Street Lexington, a group tasked with promoting Lexington’s economy. My recommendation would be that grassroots conservatives wearing Trump shirts and MAGA hats flood the Red Hen and ask to use the bathrooms! So what inspired this absurd confrontation? Ironically, the Red Hen incident is the result of Democrat leaders scrambling to derail support for Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. I note “ironic” because the Red Hen is undoubtedly riding the wave of economic confidence and growth that Trump administration policies have generated. Adding to his economic policy success this week, CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey reports that Trump’s economic approval rating has surged six points to 51%, and overall 54% of Americans say the economy is good or excellent — the highest recorded by CNBC since the survey began 10 years ago. I outlined the Demos’ derailment efforts last week in “Demo Party Leaders Don’t Care About Immigrant Children,” an assessment of their viral diversionary immigration charade thrust upon the nation’s conscience. They and their Leftmedia machine unleashed a massive social media campaign of lies and deceptions to create a firestorm, using viral images of children in cages, claiming they were “ripped from the arms of their parents by Donald Trump” and comparing Trump to Hitler. (The photos were taken in 2014 when Obama was setting immigration policy.) Demos then followed up with loads of other spurious viral images of crying children (one of them featured on a Time magazine cover), and even a fake Facebook fundraiser. They calculated that the emotional impact of these photos would overrule any concern for authenticity, banking on the fact that many of their constituents are emotionally incontinent dupes and are unable to exercise discretion regarding this immigration Demo-goguery. It appears that the Demos have found the hatefest that will elevate the immigration issue before the midterm elections and undermine Republican efforts to pass any meaningful immigration reform legislation. But their immigration farce is also an abject example of hypocrisy (which I explain at the end of this column). Seizing the “babies ripped from mothers’ arms by Trump” momentum, race-bait agitator Maxine Waters (D-CA) called for mob attacks on Trump administration officials who dare show their faces in public. According to Waters, “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. If you see anybody from that [administration] in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd! And you push back on them! Tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere! … Already you have [Trump people] that are being booed out of restaurants. We have protesters taking up at their house. … God is on our side!” That was a reference to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen being harassed out of a restaurant by socialists who spotted her there — before Sanders was jack-booted from the Red Hen. Members of the #Resistance then showed up at Nielsen’s home to harass her and her family. Trump responded to Waters: “The face of the Democrats is now Maxine Waters who, together with Nancy Pelosi, have established a fine leadership team. The Left is trying to bully and buy their way back into power. Not on my watch. I will always stand up for you. … Waters has just called for harm to supporters… Be careful what you wish for Max!” Rarely a voice of reason, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) knew exactly where Trump was going with his “be careful Max” warning and that Waters’s incitement was going to lead to violence. Schumer issued this rebuke: “I strongly disagree with those who advocate harassing folks if they don’t agree with you. … No one should call for the harassment of political opponents. That’s not right. That’s not American.” But Waters’s hateful rhetoric is already drawing out the unhinged fringe. As I note in this column, Democrats have unleashed a massive campaign of lies and deceptions in order to ensure victory in the upcoming midterm elections — especially to ensure that Donald Trump will have no more opportunity to nominate conservative jurists for the Supreme Court after the next Congress is seated. We are on the frontlines of the battle to undo the Democrats dezinformatsiya campaigns and are the most cost-effective means of dislodging the Leftmedia’s stranglehold on public opinion. Please support our fight to defend Liberty by supporting The Patriot Fund today. Yesterday, a Democrat activist was arrested for threatening to kill the children of Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL). And the frequency of death threats against Republican members of Congress is growing. This is the same hate-mongering that resulted in the armed assault on Republicans last year, when a Bernie Sanders supporter shot House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others. Responding to the growing chorus of hate rhetoric on the Left, Scalise said, We have a responsibility to make sure that, as we’re discussing our disagreements, we’re not trying to incite others to violence. … Nobody should be inciting harassment or violence of any sort just because we disagree with each other on issues. We’ve got a great battlefield of ideas where we can actually discuss our disagreements publicly, but we’ve got to do it in a civil way where we respect the differences of opinion. But Democratic Black Caucus chairman Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) doubled down by defending Waters, declaring, She encouraged Americans to exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly. He added, Where is the national conversation on civility in these moments? Good question. Adolescent protesters (of all ages) are now taking up residence outside key administration officials’ homes, threatening the children of DHS employees, leaving burned and beheaded animal carcasses on their doorsteps, and exposing the names and addresses of immigration agents so they can be targeted. These agitators are the effluent of last year’s antifa movement of self-proclaimed anti-fascists who are in fact an extreme manifestation of fascism. Of course, leftist cultural icons are also churning the hate against anyone who would dare not support open borders. This is pure and simple racism — that’s all this is, declared Hollywood gatekeeper Rob Reiner this week. [Trump is] hoping that the people who support him will be ginned up and running to the polls to make sure that brown people don’t come into America. … It’s a fascist playbook. … Those people who are supporting what he’s doing [on the border] are racists, period. (His wife compared Trump to Hitler.) What’s gotten very little attention amid all the immigration Demo-drama and their support of open borders is the fact that Mexico, now one of the most violent nations in the world, is about to be under a communist president, who is backed by the drug cartels. On Sunday, Mexico will elect its next president, most likely Andrés Manuel López Obrador (nicknamed AMLO), who’s a follower of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chávez. I encourage you to read more about AMLO’s socialist vision and then consider that he’s calling for mass infiltration across our southern border as an assault on the U.S. economy. According to Dick Morris, former political adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton: AMLO is as radical as they come. He is a true Fidelista or, in more modern vernacular, a Chavista (after Hugo Chávez of Venezuela) or a Sandinista (after Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua). National Review called AMLO a ‘Chávez wannabe.’ He described Fidel Castro as ‘a giant,’ who ‘knew how to steer his people and achieve authentic, true independence.’ He is a dedicated socialist who we can count on being inveterately hostile to the United States in general and Donald Trump in particular. We have never faced so clear a danger on our border as we will after July 1. It is entirely too late to avoid it. AMLO is certain to win. And, then, la deluge! Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said this week, We stop 10 terrorists every day from getting into this country. Given the volume of illegal immigrants who are not apprehended, how many are getting into the country every day? This is precisely why President Trump has signaled his intent to shut down the pipeline of illegal immigrants in order to avoid the flood. We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country, declared Trump last weekend. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. … Hiring many thousands of judges, and going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go — will always be dysfunctional. People must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally. If this is done, illegal immigration will be stopped in it’s tracks — and at very little, by comparison, cost. This is the only real answer — and we must continue to BUILD THE WALL! Of course, leftists who constantly trample Rule of Law in favor of their own rule were outraged by Trump’s proposal, even claiming that he was circumventing due process of law. Actually, no. Trump has the full legal authority to turn immigrants back under 8 U.S.C. §1182. And after Sunday’s elections in Mexico, exercising that authority will be imperative. The latest Supreme Court decision in favor of Trump’s travel ban cited the authority of 8 U.S.C. §1182, which affirms: Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate. Finally, as I promised above, allow me to point out the ultimate Democrat hypocrisy regarding immigration. The immigrants flooding across our southern border, risking their lives and those of their children to get here, are fleeing statist regimes in their Central American countries, along with the corruption and poverty generated by such regimes. The tragic hypocritical irony is that Socialist Democrat Party protagonists, who are riding a tidal wave of support created by their latest immigration charade, are relentlessly promoting the same statist policies that those immigrants are trying to escape. If hypocrisy was a virtue, Democrats would be the most virtuous among us. At the dawn of our republic, James Madison wrote, Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. To that end, the Democrats have made great strides in recent years undermining the foundation of our Republic. “The Patriot Post ( https://patriotpost.us/subscribe )”

Evangelicalism and the Sickness of Western Culture Part 1 — Where Healing Begins

Contemporary Western culture is critically ill.

This is the frequent lament of many evangelical Christians—including myself.

But it’s time to face a hard fact: What’s wrong with American (and Western) culture results from what’s wrong with many churches and Christian movements within it.

The focus here is on evangelicalism for three reasons: we are often the most outspoken regarding the ills of culture; we seek to base our worldview on the Bible, and have passion for the application of biblical values in society; we have enough influence remaining to have tilted the voting balance in a presidential election.

But what if we are actually contributing to the problem?

Christopher Dawson wrote that Christianity is the soul of Western civilization. In a human, the “soul” is the psuche, or “psyche,” according to the Greek New Testament. It is the organ of self-awareness and identity, thought, emotion, and volition.

In a living person, if the mind gets confused, emotional instability takes over, and erratic, destructive choices become the pattern. Such symptoms suggest the individual is having a nervous breakdown, or going insane.

Western culture is having a breakdown because the Western “soul” is losing its equilibrium. Consider just three symptoms of many currently evident among churches, Christian organizations and movements in one big chunk of the West, the United States:

• Schizophrenia—A strange coalition ranging from dispensational Southern Baptists to health-wealth Pentecostals and Charismatics gathers periodically in the Oval Office—viewed by some as almost a civil “holy of holies”—while another group of evangelicals assembles at one of the monumental institutions of evangelicalism—Wheaton—to discuss their distress about “evangelicals in the age of Trump.” When a president becomes the point of definition for what a true evangelical—or any biblical Christian—is or is not, the diagnosis is grim indeed.
• Paranoia—Some liberal churches seem to view Donald Trump as the “Beast” of Revelation. Meanwhile, some conservative Christians appear to equate Hillary Clinton with Revelation’s “Scarlet Woman.” Many Christians walk in constant dread when God has called us to be givers of light and hope midst the gloom.
• Irrationality—Even the Catholics are showing signs of soul-sickness with the scandal of clergy sexual abuse, and now the emergent pope leading the Catholic Church into postmodern theological ambiguity. Irish voters celebrate their new-found right to deprive their unborn children of their right-to-life in a country once called “staunchly Catholic.”

But before we evangelical Christians judge the culture and other parts of the Body of Christ, we must first assess ourselves. The Bible we take as our infallible authority is in-our-face blunt: “it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.” (1 Peter 4:17)

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Jarrett and Obama are Behind Spygate — American Thinker

If Obama ran every decision past Jarrett, the decision to plant spies in the Trump campaign certainly was among the most important.

Unless we assume the FBI went completely rogue, it is inconceivable that the deployments of personnel to spy on the Trump campaign and make provocative contact with its lesser members could have occurred without the full knowledge and control of the occupants of the Oval Office.

Obama may claim a scandal-free administration, but after Fast and Furious, the targeting of the Tea Party by the IRS, the Benghazi cover-up, Hillary’s emails, to name a few, Spygate is just the latest.  I use the plural “occupants” because while Barack Hussein Obama many have been nominally the president of the United States, at the heart of very one of these scandals and virtually every administration move was Valerie Jarrett, who arguably could be considered our first female president.

Jarrett, born in Iran to American parents, has been with the Obamas since her days as deputy chief of staff in the office of Chicago mayor Richard Daley, the elder.  She hired Michelle Obama, then Michelle Robinson, to fill an opening in the mayor’s office.  As WikiLeaks describes the beginning of a long relationship (citations omitted):

In 1991, as deputy chief of staff to Mayor Richard Daley, Jarrett interviewed Michelle Robinson for an opening in the mayor’s office, after which she immediately offered Robinson the job.  Michelle Robinson asked for time to think and also asked Jarrett to meet Robinson’s fiancé, Barack Obama.  The three ended up meeting for dinner.  After the dinner, Michelle took the job with the mayor’s office, and Valerie Jarrett reportedly took the couple under her wing and “introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own.”  Jarrett later took Michelle with her when Jarrett left the mayor’s office to head Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development.

The rest, as they say, is history.  Not only did Valerie Jarrett  become a mentor to the young Barack Obama, but she soon became what some have called Obama’s Rasputin, someone who had more security than our personnel did in Benghazi.

She receives more protection than our Libyan ambassador, calls the president by his first name, dines and vacations with the First Family and had the power to call off three strikes against Osama bin Laden.

Ambassador Chris Stevens did not have a Marine detail in Benghazi, Libya.  But White House senior adviser and Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett reportedly had a full Secret Service detail on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

“Jarrett seems to have a 24-hour, around-the-clock detail, with five or six agents full time,” Democratic pollster Pat Caddell said in an interview recently with Breitbart news.  If Stevens had a similar escort, he’d probably be alive today.  Such protection isn’t usually available to senior advisers, but Jarrett is no ordinary adviser[.]

Indeed, she is not. She arguably has had more influence over Obama than anyone with the possible exception of Michelle Obama herself:

Her influence is shown by an account in Richard Miniter’s book “Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him.”

It relates that at the urging of Jarrett, Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden on three occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011, Navy SEAL mission.  Seems she was concerned about the possible political harm to Obama if the mission failed[.] …

Edward Klein, author of the best-selling book about Obama, “The Amateur,” once asked Obama if he ran every decision by Jarrett, and the president responded, “Absolutely.”  A former foreign editor of Newsweek and editor of the New York Times Magazine, Klein describes Jarrett as “ground zero in the Obama operation, the first couple’s friend and consigliere.”

If Obama ran every decision past Jarrett, the decision to plant spies in the Trump campaign certainly was among the most important.  Obama’s legacy was important to Jarrett, perhaps even more important than to Obama himself.  She had to preserve it and ensure that the fundamental transformation of America continued.  If Hillary could not win, Trump must be destroyed.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich also finds it inconceivable that the spying operation was launched without Jarrett signing off on it:

In a Tuesday appearance on Fox News, Newt Gingrich said that he believed former President Barack Obama and some of his top officials – including Valerie Jarrett – were involved in spying on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign[.] …

“Presently, someone will figure out to ask what did Valerie Jarrett know and when did she know it?” Gingrich said.  “What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it?  Because what you’re seeing happen is, on every single level – and this is what happens with really big scandals – they keep on folding and they keep on folding and they keep on folding.”

Former press secretary Ari Fleischer agrees that such an operation could have been authorized only with the full knowledge of Jarrett and Obama:

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Thursday he believes it’s highly unlikely that President Obama did not know an FBI informant was in the Trump campaign.

“We need to know why did it begin, who authorized it and what role did Barack Obama have.  Did he know the FBI had informants there?  I’ll guarantee you the answer is yes.  No FBI would put informants in another presidential campaign without permission from the White House, including the president,” he said on “Outnumbered.”

Can it be believed that, as key players in the Obama administration like Strzok and Page, as well as FBI director James Comey, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, number four at Justice Bruce Ohr, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and many others were linked in a vast criminal conspiracy to keep Hillary Clinton out of prison and Donald Trump out of the White House, Barack Obama was blissfully unaware of all this?  Rather, it can be plausibly argued that he was orchestrating it – perhaps not directly or by explicit orders, but rather by discussing the threat to his legacy Trump represented with his progressive minions and then simply saying, as crime bosses throughout history have done, “You know what needs to be done.  Do it.”

This scandal did not occur in a vacuum any more than did the weaponizing of the IRS to target the Tea Party and other conservative groups before Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign occurred in a vacuum.  The agencies under Obama’s control have been politicized before and used to intimidate and destroy his political opponents

This fish is also rotting from the head.  Back in April 2016, President Obama gave an interview in which he seemed to have foreknowledge that Hillary Clinton would be exonerated for her “carelessness” and did not “intentionally” mishandle classified emails, words that Comey would use just a few months later:

President Obama said Sunday that Hillary Clinton showed “carelessness” by using a private email server, but he also strongly defended his former secretary of state, saying she did not endanger national security, while also vowing that an ongoing FBI investigation into the matter will not be tainted by politics.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Obama seemed to prejudge the outcome of the ongoing inquiry into Mrs. Clinton’s email scandal, and he disputed the notion that any of the emails contained classified information of true importance.

“She would never intentionally put America in any kind of jeopardy,” he said.  “What I also know is that there’s classified and then there’s classified.  There’s stuff that is really top secret top secret, and then there’s stuff that is being presented to the president, the secretary of state, you may not want going out over the wire.”

National Review contributing editor Andrew McCarthy has long argued that Obama was the ringleader in obstructing justice in the Hillary email investigation:

From the first, these columns have argued that the whitewash of the Hillary Clinton-emails caper was President Barack Obama’s call – not the FBI’s, and not the Justice Department’s[.] … The decision was inevitable.  Obama, using a pseudonymous email account, had repeatedly communicated with Secretary Clinton over her private, non-secure email account.

Why would Obama use a fake email account to communicate with Hillary Clinton?  Granted, classified communications between a president and a secretary of state are normal, but not via a fake email account.  Were they discussing the fix that was in during her email investigation?  McCarthy suggests just such a reason:

If Clinton had been charged, Obama’s culpable involvement would have been patent.  In any prosecution of Clinton, the Clinton-Obama emails would have been in the spotlight.  For the prosecution, they would be more proof of willful (or, if you prefer, grossly negligent) mishandling of intelligence.  More significantly, for Clinton’s defense, they would show that Obama was complicit in Clinton’s conduct yet faced no criminal charges.

After Trump’s victory, Jarrett moved in with Obama and Michelle in their new Washington-area home with the express purpose of organizing the “resistance.”  Obama’s D.C. home was to serve as the nerve center to the resistance to the presidency of Donald Trump.  As the Daily Mail reported:

Read more: Jarrett and Obama are Behind Spygate

This ‘n’ That for 05/25/2018

• So, this has happened. The Washington Post has a report on the same. Seems to me like that’s a pretty cushy package considering the circumstances.

• In light of the above, let’s remember how to approach scandal in the church biblically.

• I shared this sermon on the believer’s assurance of salvation with a follower this week, and thought I’d post it as encouragement for others as well.

• On discerning well.

• Did you join in on the Royal Wedding buzz last weekend? It was a beautiful sight! And in case you were wondering, here’s the reason for that empty seat next to Prince William.

• This was a good article critiquing the sermon that was delivered at the wedding.

• Here’s your weekly dose of adorable.

• Free!

• Glad to hear this movie has been pulled from theaters.

• Yikes!

• The glory of God in Isaiah.

• Yep, this is what happens when you unhitch the Old Testament from the rest of the Bible.

• Oh, brother. I guess Driscoll still has clout. How utterly unsurprising.

• You guys, Phil’s back.

We must run with patience, or we shall never obtain. There may be many things we cannot understand, much that the flesh could perhaps wish otherwise, but let us endure unto the end, and all shall be made clear, and God’s arrangements shall be proved best. Think not to have your reward on earth, do not draw back because your good things are all yet to come. 

—J.C. Ryle

Source: This ‘n’ That

Weekly Watchman for 05/25/2018

Listener Comments and Questions – TGIF!

The Bible is clear: God created man in His own image, but as absolute truth and morality continue to be attacked, we see this truth being denied as more and more professing Christians see God as they would like to see Him. We should rather surrender to Him and acknowledge His eternal nature and character. This is one of the subjects a listener sent in which we will address today. Other topics people want to touch on include:

What does Calvinism teach regarding salvation and evangelism?
The ongoing controversy and potential schism within the Southern Baptist Convention.
Why is it so hard to focus and why is prayer so difficult at times?
Jehovah’s Witnesses concept of the 144,000 “chosen ones” – the only ones who will be saved?
How pastors and teachers can reach both the unsaved and teach holiness to dedicated disciples in the same message.
Why don’t pastors and youth group leaders discuss the lies young believers are facing today about creation, sexuality and gender confusion.
Anti-Christian Senator Cory Booker and the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.
Several comments on an article about this generation “building their own god.”

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Taking Church Security Seriously

The first century church faced the constant persecution and even death if they were caught gathering to worship Jesus Christ.  Every time they got together they were risking their lives.  In countries like North Korea, Iran and China, that threat is still real as every year, thousands of our Christian brothers and sisters are beaten, imprisoned, tortured and some killed for the sake of the gospel.

Here in America we take our historic religious freedom for granted, but there has been a clear increase in violence against churches in our nation and some are warning this is just the beginning.  Safety concerns within Christian Churches have become an important issue and today, Tim Miller of Lionheart International Services Group joins us for a discussion on how churches of every size can protect their families worshiping together.

In our final segment, we talk about spreading the gospel in the poorest of nations as we are joined by Micah McElveen, founder of VAPOR Ministries.  Meeting the poverty needs of the poor is a great way to share the gospel and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Micah tells us how VAPOR is doing that, and about an event in Green Bay June 16 where we can get involved in spreading the gospel in Haiti.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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When Church Loses its Biblical Focus

It is interesting and often sad to compare what many of our modern churches look like to the gathering of the saints in the Book of Acts.  The early church had commitment, focus, passion and a deep desire to learn the Apostles’ teachings. They were thankful for every blessing and even trials and challenges God allowed in their lives.  They pursued holiness in a world where their very lives were in danger for following Jesus Christ.  Today in America, the pursuit seems to be geared toward self, comfort, and convenience where we try to fit God into our schedules and our worship. We have divided hearts that want the blessings of salvation but not the responsibilities of holy living.

Pastor Mike Abendroth joins us this morning to look at what lessons and principles we can glean from the book of Acts and the early church. We also touch on Britain’s “royal wedding” last week and discuss marriage, idolatry, secular humanism, multiculturalism.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Christianity Expelled, Islam Explored in Schools

I am not suggesting the Christian faith should be the only one allowed in public schools – although that is what took place for over a hundred years in America when our country was very different morally and spiritually. I am asking for fairness and justice.

If schools discuss one religion, then others should be allowed as well. But the left won’t go for that because they believe in the total separation of Christianity and state. Keep Jesus out, and anything else goes.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Demanding Justice From An Unjust World

God is eternally and flawlessly just. Human beings are not. But something in every man wants to make sure we are treated justly and to see justice, particularly as Christians. Is it illogical to expect a fallen world to treat us justly? Does the Bible teach us to demand justice or accept that one day God’s justice will prevail? A combination perhaps? How do we react when we are treated unjustly by others? By the world?

Dave Wager of Silver Birch Ranch joins us to discuss justice and our role in God’s plan. We also look at how young people are forming their own version of God based on their individual beliefs and moral code. It’s called creating a god in their own image.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Do You Understand How To Use Your Most Powerful Weapon In The Christian Arsenal?

In our final segment this morning, we look at the Trump Administration’s efforts within the Department of Education to reverse some of the horrible damage done by President Obama’s radical pro-LGBTQ and anti-Christian mandates.

But first we look at the most powerful weapon in the Christian arsenal: prayer. An all-powerful, just and righteous God actually invites us to come to Him with our hopes, concerns, requests, and fears.  But do we fully understand the power of prayer and even how to pray?  Do we sometimes pray as a last resort when our human efforts have been exhausted and proven ineffective?  Are there restrictions or obligations God puts on our prayers?  And how do we respond when God does not answer our prayers exactly as we think they should be answered?

Elijah Abraham of Living Oasis Ministries joins us to take a biblical look at the power and privilege of prayer in our lives as born-again believers in Jesus Christ. This includes three major categories of prayer.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Alexander: Now It’s Op “Backfire Tornado”

Op ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ Is Now Op ‘Backfire Tornado’

The next chapter in how Obama’s Deep State principals have endeavored to take down Donald Trump.

Mark Alexander

“In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend.” —Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 31 (1788) In the Rolling Stones’ hit song Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Mick Jagger wails, I was born in a crossfire hurricane. And I howled at the morning driving rain. I have no idea what that means, but a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign under the codename Crossfire Hurricane certainly justifies a lot of howling. Let’s review. Last week marked the one-year anniversary of independent counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the fake Trump/Putin collusion delusion, sponsored by ludicrous and unverified opposition research provided to the CIA and FBI by operatives of the Clinton-Putin-Fusion farce. Clinton’s charade prompted months of FBI and CIA investigations into the Trump campaign, followed by the appointment of Mueller to widen the investigation. Despite having stacked his investigative team with 13 Democrats (some overt donors to Hillary Clinton’s campaign) and zero Republicans, and having burned through 10 million taxpayer dollars (and as much in legal defense fees from those they’ve targeted), what Trump/Putin collusion has Mueller uncovered? According to The New York Times — yes, The New York Times — A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting Mr. Trump’s advisers … or linking Mr. Trump himself, to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts. Let that sink in. Instead, Mueller’s big fish indictment was Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort — with unrelated business practice violations that occurred years before Trump was even a candidate. He also obtained a couple of guilty pleas from others who were only remotely connected to the Trump campaign and a bogus perjury plea from former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (even disgraced Trump-hating former FBI Director James Comey told Congress he didn’t think Flynn had lied), also unrelated to Mueller’s mandate. Mueller has issued indictments for 13 Russians who plotted to disrupt the U.S. election in 2016 — not by swinging votes to one candidate or the other but by undermining confidence in the American electoral system. For the record, the Russians have been trying to disrupt U.S. political stability since 1917, because that’s what socialists do. Putin’s plotters have succeeded in their disruption goal beyond their wildest ambitions, thanks to a few rotten apples — most notably Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan, the Deep State boss who’s at the root of the Trump collusion setup, the aforementioned James Comey, their enablers within the Clinton campaign, and of course Mueller himself. Currently, according to Mueller, Trump is not a target of his investigation, but he most certainly has been the target of Brennan and Comey. Despite the fact that the collusion narrative has collapsed, there will likely come other charges and indictments for infractions unrelated to Mueller’s investigative mandate in the months and potentially years ahead, as Mueller can keep his investigation open until he decides to close it — or is fired. Mueller has veered so far out of his lane that earlier this month during the Manafort hearing, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis blasted Mueller’s investigation, charging, If I look at the indictment [against Manafort], none of that information has anything to do with links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Donald Trump. So I don’t see what relation this indictment has with anything the special prosecutor is authorized to investigate. C’mon, man! the judge added, dismissing the special counsel’s argument. This week there are two more confirmations of Obama/Clinton political weaponization of the FBI and CIA. First comes evidence of Obama administration collaboration with several corrupt FBI officials, who were protecting Clinton while using her campaign’s fake dossier to set Trump up. In a text message between fired key FBI investigator Peter Strzok to his paramour FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Strzok declared that the Obama administration was orchestrating the investigation into Trump. The White House is running this, wrote Strzok. Obama’s fingerprints were all over the Trump setup. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz has already issued a scathing report regarding the FBI’s former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, a corrupt Clinton supporter who, along with Comey, helped her avoid criminal prosecution for her lawless email communication subterfuge and subsequent destruction of evidence while she was secretary of state. Horowitz is scheduled to release his second report this week, focusing more on how a few Clinton supporters in key FBI positions mishandled the aforementioned investigation to her campaign’s benefit. And a third report due this summer will provide some insight into another area of the Clinton Crime Syndicate, the corrupt Clinton Foundation and its pay-for-play fundraising schemes. But Horowitz is about to have another significant investigation on his hands. The second revelation confirming the Obama/Clinton political weaponization of the FBI and CIA this week came in the form of disclosures regarding a CIA and FBI secret counterintelligence operation investigating the Trump campaign. In July of 2016, operation Crossfire Hurricane was activated to investigate whether the Russians were attempting to infiltrate and influence the Trump campaign. In effect, the FBI and CIA, using FISA surveillance, covert operatives and allied intelligence services, infiltrated the Trump campaign. The rationale was, ostensibly, to protect the Trump campaign from Russian operatives. The CIA and FBI should have warned Trump about these threats, but the collusion fix was already set, despite no evidence of such collusion — none. The first of the Crossfire Hurricane operatives to be outed was British professor Stefan Halper, who was paid more than $400,000 to contact and obtain information from at least three individuals associated with Trump’s campaign: Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos. Based on what we know about the events used to justify Crossfire Hurricane, when cross-referenced with the Trump/Putin collusion timeline, I predict that some of Obama’s corrupt CIA and FBI principals who seeded and manured the collusion investigation will also be key players in the counterintelligence operation. Just a reminder — Richard Nixon’s Watergate coverup most egregiously involved the use of operatives within the CIA and FBI to obtain information on Democrats. Nixon had the decency to resign rather than put the nation through impeachment proceedings. No small irony that the Democrats are now talking about impeaching Trump, when it was the leaders in their own party who were coopting the CIA and FBI to do much more than just obtain opposition research. Once Crossfire Hurricane became public, Trump protested: I hereby demand … that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration! And in a New York second, operation Crossfire Hurricane became operation Backfire Tornado! But according to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (who lied to Congress in 2013 about whether the Obama administration was collecting data on all Americans), Trump’s concern about the counterintelligence campaign targeting his campaign is hyperbole. Clapper claims: They may have had someone who was talking to them in the campaign, but, you know, the focus here, and as it was with the intelligence community, is not on the campaign, per se, but what the Russians were doing to try to instantiate themselves in the campaign or influence or leverage it. So if there was someone that was observing that sort of thing, that’s a good thing. Now, for certain, Russian efforts to undermine the integrity of U.S. elections should be thoroughly investigated — as has always been the case. And objectively, there’s a very thin argument in favor of Clapper’s assertion that the investigation was justified, though highly irregular. However, with Brennan, Comey and some of their key investigative gatekeepers, objectivity was AWOL. They were heavily biased for a Hillary Clinton victory over Trump and were colluding to use the power of their agencies to ensure she would defeat Trump, and in the unlikely event he was elected, ensure to ensnare him in the collusion trap they set. Thus, President Trump’s concerns are fully justified, as was his call for a full investigation into the campaign probes. Regarding Brennan’s politicization of the CIA, Trump’s social media staff summed it up: John Brennan … has disgraced himself, he has disgraced the Country, he has disgraced the entire Intelligence Community. He is the one man who is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community and with some people at the top of the FBI, Brennan started this entire debacle about President Trump. We now know that Brennan had detailed knowledge of the (phony) dossier. … He briefs the Gang of 8 on the Hill about the dossier, which they then used to start an investigation about Trump. It is that simple. This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job… Georgetown law professor Jonathan Turley (a Democrat) observed that, no matter how the Left and Leftmedia try to spin this operation, You can tell a victim that this isn’t a mugging, it’s a forced divestiture, but this is a mugging. … I know of no precedent to support this. Not about to be content with this mugging, President Trump called Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray and ordered an investigation into the campaign probes with a full report due to congressional investigators. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was assigned to ensure that Congress gets the information it needs to fully investigate the probe. According to Trump Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, the administration believes the DoJ’s inspector general should expand its current investigation to include any irregularities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s or the Department of Justice’s tactics concerning the Trump Campaign. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has referred the case to IG Horowitz, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has appointed a federal prosecutor, John Huber, to work with Horowitz to review the case. And House Republicans have introduced a resolution calling for a special counsel to investigate the FBI/DOJ investigators involved in the Trump/Russia probe. Game on. However, I would caution Republicans to choose their words carefully when casting condemnations, because most of those personnel within the FBI and CIA honor their oaths to support and defend our Constitution, not their preferential candidate, and serve our nation likewise. According to confidential sources within the FBI, there are special agents who are appealing for subpoenas to testify about the extent of the Deep State corruption in the agency in order to clean it up. Former District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, who is well connected with rank-and-file FBI agents in Washington, says, There are agents all over this country who love the Bureau and are sickened by Comey’s behavior and McCabe and Holder and Lynch, and the thugs like [John] Brennan. They despise the fact that the Bureau was used as a tool of political intelligence by the Obama administration thugs. DiGenova places the FBI politicization plot squarely at the feet of Comey and McCabe on the inside, and Holder and Lynch over at the DoJ. One well-placed FBI agent declared: Every special agent I have spoken to in the Washington Field Office wants to see McCabe prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They feel the same way about Comey. They know that it wasn’t just Comey and McCabe in this case. That’s too narrow a net to cast over these guys. There’s a much broader corruption that seeped into the seventh floor at the Bureau. They ruined the credibility of the Bureau… Indeed, there are critical questions yet to be answered about the politicization of the FBI under Obama. As I have previously noted, the corruption of FBI leadership has cast a long shadow on the 12,484 special agents and 2,950 intelligence analysts in the FBI, most of whom steadfastly abide by their constitutional oaths and live up to the FBI motto: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity. Indeed, most FBI agents, whose reputations are being sullied by the corrupt actions of a few high-ranking officials, are deeply offended both personally and professionally by that corruption. Finally, allow me to share an award-winning example of Democrat obfuscation in rebuttal to Trump’s demand for an additional investigation. Senate Minority schmoozer Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did a masterful job of turning this situation inside out: That he would issue such an absurd and abusive demand based on no evidence shows just how little regard the president has for the rule of law. Seriously, he referenced Rule of Law, claiming there was no evidence, which is precisely the amount of evidence that led to the Mueller investigation. Schumer then added, President Trump seems to have the terribly misguided view that the Department of Justice is there to protect his political interests and prosecute his enemies. Ironically, it was Democrat Party leaders who weaponized the Department of Justice to take down Trump. Schumer finally ran out of hot air with this summary: The president’s behavior is the kind of grossly autocratic behavior we’d expect in a banana republic, not a mature democracy. Actually, the FBI/CIA probe is what one would expect when banana republic autocrats are attempting to take down their opposition. As Mick Jagger’s song ends, It’s a gas, gas, gas, and more Obama/Clinton FBI/CIA operatives just got doused. Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

“The Patriot Post ( https://patriotpost.us/subscribe )”

Tucker: Real Lesson From Russia Probe Is Our Ruling Class Is ‘Completely Out of Control’

05-23-2018 • http://www.dcclothesline.com

Monday during his show’s opening monologue, Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson said the “real lesson” from the ongoing Russia investigation was that the ruling class was “completely out of control.”

The “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host criticized the media for framing revelations that the Obama administration used an informant to spy on Trump’s campaign as doing so for Trump’s own good, as was done by The Washington Post and The New York Times.

“The people who wrote this crap should be ashamed,” Carlson said. “It’s not journalism. It’s partisan cheerleading. It’s also embarrassing credulous. Just transcribe whatever spin you got from your FBI source and call it a news story. How would these idiot reporters feel if the Trump administration read their emails or tapped their cell phones or sent a spy to spy on them and then claimed it was all for their own good? Obviously, they would be outraged, and so would we because we are not hacks.”

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This ‘n’ That for 05/18/2018

• Having never been someone who really got into journaling, I found these thoughts from my friend, DebbieLynne, really insightful. Be mindful of your motives!

• Yes! Get a cat!

• This happened this week, which I think is very cool.

• Three guesses as to where we find the first promise of the Messiah!

• Um…this is creepy. Remind me not to move to Canada.

• The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin.

• Oh yeah, we’re definitely dumber than our grandparents.

• I think archaeology is fascinating, and I love that discoveries consistently demonstrate the truth of the Bible.

• Christian, or Christianish?

• Since Jesus affirmed the Old Testament, we probably shouldn’t “unhitch” ourselves from it, but unfortunately, Marcionism is alive and well.

If by excessive labor we die before reaching the average age of man, worn out in the Master’s service, then glory be to God. We shall have so much less of earth and so much more of heaven. It is our duty and our privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus. — Charles Spurgeon

Source: This ‘n’ That

Let’s Stop Calling It Liberalism — American Thinker

 “…if we are to move forward during the Trump presidency and when it comes to its close, men and women of dignity across the land must abandon the words “liberal,” “progressive,” and “Democrat.”  Yes, a linguistic turn is that important.  To continue with misleading propaganda is to carry forth in darkness, when we have been given one last chance at the light.”

America is being made great again in the wake of Obama’s failed presidency, which in hindsight already appears as nothing more than the absurd climax of affirmative action gone off the rails.  Trump has wiped the floor with his legacy while building an incredible one of his own.

Now, I propose, is the perfect time for the American people to seal their own deal: let’s make a campaign ourselves to expire terms such as “Democrat,” “liberal,” “leftist,” and “progressive,” and let’s call it what it is: totalitarianism.

Early in the campaign that resulted in Trump’s election to the presidency, the general public formed its television-inspired consensus: “he’s too extreme” morphed into “I like him, but he goes too far,” which in turn morphed into a myriad of secondhand critiques centering in on a wariness regarding Trump’s zero tolerance for liberal double standards, the roots of which are totalitarianism.

Now that Trump is midway through his second year as president, I believe we can now announce without fear of the Post-Orwellian Thought Police: the enemies of President Trump are the enemies of the family, the Constitution, morality, and sanity.  They are collectively the enemies of our nation’s future, who actively seek to flood the nation with third-world refugees while disarming the native population.  In a word, President Trump’s enemies are barbarians within the gates, and they have gotten this far because they do a good job of weeping when retaliation looms.  We now must update our terminology if we are consciously to move ahead: the words “liberal,” “progressive,” “Democrat” are what “National Socialist” are to “Nazi.”  They are a lot of misleading verbiage.

The success of the totalitarian party has nothing to do with being morally superior, but being eternal victims.  The key to destroying eternal victimhood is to recognize it.View article →

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Weekly Watchman for 05/18/2018

Is the Christian Church in America becoming Confused and Worldly?

Every Friday we answer your questions and read your comments on air. Some of your questions and comments this week allude to a church in America that seems to have lost its focus and moral compass There is confusion about Islam, an ineffectiveness in addressing the social and cultural issues of our times, and the melding of seemingly contradictory philosophies like Universalism, Calvinism, and Social Justice.

Here are some of the topics we cover today:

When is it biblical and necessary to divide over doctrines and break fellowship with professing Christians?
A Christian who formerly supported the LGBTQ, even to the point of pushing others into those lifestyles, admits she was wrong and has repented. Why are people like her in the minority of believers today?
How do pastors avoid watering down their sermon/message knowing there are new believers in the congregation as well as mature disciples of Christ?
Why do the media seem to despise Israel and the heritage of the Jewish people? Is the Left that sold out to progressive ideology to report the truth?
Should we not invite people to church if our pastor does not preach the gospel and the whole counsel of God?
The hypocrisy of Democrat Christians toward other Christians who support or voted for President Trump
How do you prevent yourself from becoming legalistic when studying God’s law in the Old Testament?
Should Christians be concerned about Sharia Law and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in our government and on our fading religious freedoms?
Does the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem have any prophetic implications?
Is Islam the one world religion we are warned about in Revelation?

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Don’t You Dare Bring God into This!

As secular culture turns more hostile toward God and His Word every day, secular humanists are doing all they can to make certain God’s perfect truth is no longer a part of helping people trapped in sin. Instead, the left is encouraging people to not only agree with them, but to insist that others accept their sin as righteous. Isaiah 5:20 warns us about calling evil good.

The city of Milwaukee recently passed an ordinance that bans so-called “conversion therapy” for minors struggling with homosexuality or gender issues, but many pastors in the community are uniting to fight the proposed ordinance. We also discuss a California Supreme Court decision that actually reverses a CA law that approved assisted suicide, and the Supreme Court decision regarding sports betting (gambling) leaving it up to each state whether or not to legalize betting on sports.

Julaine Appling of Wisconsin Family Action is in studio today to discuss these issues along with why so many people are ignorant or uninformed about the Christian faith and what the Bible actually teaches.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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A Potential Schism Within Southern Baptists

While Southern Baptists comprise less than 10% of professing Christians in America, it has historically been a strongly evangelistic denomination, rejecting the Calvinistic view of predestination.  Over the past decade or two however, the denomination has seen the rise of what are called the “New Calvinists,” along with what many see as an infiltration of the Social Justice Movement.  And in a few short weeks Southern Baptists will elect their new president, giving a strong indication of the direction of the denomination.

We are seeing similar theological battles brewing in virtually every denomination of Christianity and today we look at this particular controversy against the background of an increasingly divided Christian Church in America.

In our final segment we look at an interesting article by Dale Hudson about how so many young people today are “building their own god” by selectively choosing scriptures that [seem to] support their individual values and beliefs.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Can’t We All Just Coexist in Peace?

In our final segment, we look at the rioting by Hamas against Israel – as well as the response of the IDF – as the Trump administration officially recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city and location of the U.S. embassy. We’ll look at the facts versus how the news is being reported in the mainstream media. Is Hamas manipulating the West?

First, we catch up with Jay Seegert of The Starting Point Project to discuss the following:

How do we start a conversation with friends or neighbors that have a COEXIST bumper sticker on their car? Don’t start by telling them to “get that stupid Coexist sticker off your car!”

Does the Bible really say Christians should not judge others?

What are your plans for the summer and whatever happened to reading books? Also, what worthwhile projects can you and your family undertake that will glorify God and help you grow as Christians?

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Courageously Standing With Israel

Today Israel marks the seventieth anniversary of its rebirth as a nation, a biblical prophecy from thousands of years ago fulfilled in 1948. The United States is marking the anniversary by officially moving its embassy to Jerusalem, the long-standing capital of Israel, against opposition from almost the entire world.

Many believe this will incite Muslim nations to attack Israel with the greatest severity since the 1973 war, and that it could quickly spread to a major regional or even world war. Iran’s growing influence, the rise of Turkey as a radical Muslim power, and the strong presence of Russia in the Middle East all point to a potentially serious conflict.

Jan Markell of Olive Tree Views and host of Understanding the Times Radio joins us this morning to discuss this significant anniversary in Israel’s history and discuss what might lie ahead.

In our final segment we talk with Wisconsin State Representative Andre Jacque and ask if the groundbreaking pro-life legislation recently signed into law in Iowa could also happen here in Wisconsin.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Barna Update | Sharing Faith Is Increasingly Optional to Christians

In 1993, Barna partnered with Lutheran Hour Ministries to understand why people did and did not engage in intentional outreach. We asked follow-up questions 25 years later to see if faith-sharing is changing in a more digital, secular and contested culture—and found that spiritual conversations are increasingly rare.

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When Your Leaders Are Your Enemies

It is important for readers to understand the genesis of China’s “miraculous” growth from a poor, backward Third World communist country up through the 1960s to the second most powerful country in the world in 2017 – in less than 50 years. It didn’t happen by accident – the “miracle” was made in America by the same global socialist Establishment that helped to finance the rise to power of Soviet Russia and the rise of the Nazi Third Reich. It was about money, power, setting the stage for major wars like WWI and II (and some day WWIII), and eventually ushering in their one-world government.

In the early 1970s, the Establishment in America (with leaders like the Rockefellers, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Bush family, and many more) came up with the “Convergence Theory,” which formulated the strategy for moving the world toward their one-world government (which Bush Sr. and Gorbachev later labeled as the New World Order). They concluded that it would be difficult to merge the nations of the world into one giant world government with one nation (America) more powerful than all the others put together. America had to be brought down and several other nations or blocs of nations raised up to approximate equality with the US.

How would they do this? They would reach out to, build up, modernize, industrialize, and finance the rise to power of the most populous nation in the world – China. Up until the early 1970s when Nixon and Kissinger went to the PRC and launched rapprochement with that backward communist giant, China was as much a pariah state as North Korea is today. But all of that was to change as the American Establishment began to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the country to build infrastructure and thousands (and later tens of thousands) of factories.

The Establishment goals in their buildup of China were fourfold: 1. To build China into a superpower over three or four decades – a power that could rival America; 2. To intentionally transfer tens of millions of US factory jobs to China – thus greatly weakening America, dramatically downsizing the American middle class, and moving the world’s only superpower at that time down much closer to the other power blocs; 3. To weaken America’s heretofore massively overwhelming industrial power – which enabled us to rearm and go on to defeat the Axis powers during World War Two; and 4. To put hundreds of billions in profits into the pockets of Establishment insiders.

They have used this strategy of building up our competition (or enemies) with variations over the past hundred years. We have already alluded to their buildup of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. But another classic example of this globalist strategy is the “miraculous” rise of Islam (from Medieval obscurity) from 1979 right up through the present. The modern fundamentalist Islamic revolution (like the Chinese “miracle”) has stamped on its underside – Made in America.

(Excerpt from McAlvany Intelligence Advisor, September 2017)

Fake scientist Bill Nye went from educating children to advocating their murder:… — Natural News

05-14-2018 • https://www.naturalnews.com

(Natural News) Former PBS “Science Guy” Bill Nye recently spoke at a fundraising event in San Antonio for Planned Parenthood of South Texas, a regional chapter of Planned Parenthood of America that he openly praised for its continued murder of unborn babies as part of a larger population reduction agenda, which he says is also helping to combat “climate change.”

After congratulating Planned Parenthood for its “accomplishments” in ending the lives of some 330,000 unborn babies annually, Nye called for even more abortions to be performed in the coming years as a way to tackle the “explosive population growth” that he claims is “a major factor driving” the mythical phenomenon known as “climate change” – which liberals like himself seem to worship as some kind of religion.

In Nye’s view, the more unborn babies that are murdered, the greater the “quality of life” for women everywhere, who instead of having to rear their offspring as mothers can instead enter the workforce and become fruitless and maniacal feminists. Having “fewer kids,” in Nye’s view, is also a great way to help stop global warming from occurring.

During his speech, Nye also took the opportunity to mock abstinence-based sex education, which he dubbed as “ineffective.” Women who are taught to simply not have sex as a way of avoiding pregnancy, rather than being advised to murder their unborn children whenever they irresponsibly get pregnant, are better known as “parents,” he scoffed, to the laughing and applause of his pro-abortion audience.

Get more news like this without being censored: Get the Natural News app for your mobile devices. Enjoy uncensored news, lab test results, videos, podcasts and more. Bypass all the unfair censorship by Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Get your daily news and videos directly from the source! Download here.

Nye further took aim at both coal-burning and the Second Amendment, which he implied will soon be eliminated once “the students in Parkland, Florida, at Stoneman Douglas [High School] … become voters.”

“The young people are coming, look out,” Nye joked, adding that, unlike their parents, these pre-adult individuals are not in denial about climate change and “women’s health issues.”

Crazy pervert Bill Nye claims that he’s a “true” expert, and that anyone who opposes him is a “fake” expert

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Recognizing Jerusalem is in America’s National Interest | Roman at The Jerusalem Post

by Gregg Roman
Jerusalem Post
May 13, 2018

https://www.meforum.org/articles/2018/recognizing-jerusalem-is-in-america-s-national-int

When US President Donald Trump vowed during his election campaign to put ‘America First,’ many commentators mocked him for what was a very reasonable policy. Moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem isn’t putting Israel first, it’s putting America first.

For a number of years, especially under former president Barack Obama, American foreign policy had been subservient to internationalism, and on many occasions trying to work through crises through compromise and multilateralism. Israel always played second fiddle to America’s outreach to Iran; embracing of Islamist parties in Egypt and Tunisia, and bending over backwards to Turkey. America’s friends were left in the dust under Obama, and under Trump, America’s allies in the region received a welcome come back into its strategic umbrella.

However, we can see the failure of this policy most clearly in the Iran nuclear deal, the nuclear agreement with Iran. It was a bad agreement because it allowed Iran to divide and conquer those it ostensibly negotiated with and the terms were set according to the lowest common denominator, the least resistant like the EU, China and Russia. Nonetheless, Trump is changing all that in the short amount of time he has spent in the White House.

We have also witnessed how many leftovers of the Obama Administration, who still oppose their successors, have consistently warned the president over his stance and got it wrong in almost every instance.

Perhaps the most glaring error was when Trump was warned that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and stating his official policy to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would bring about mass violence and fires around the Middle East that could not be easily extinguished.

We now know that these were simply myths.

These threats were eerily reminiscent of earlier threats against another American president who bucked the trend on Israel and was proven correct.

When former Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion read aloud the Declaration of Independence 70 years ago, there was a tremendous debate surrounding whether President Harry S. Truman should recognize the fledgling Jewish State.

The opposing officials in the State Department argued that if Truman recognized Israel then there would be massive bloodshed in the Middle East, the Jewish State would never survive and the Americans would pay for it dearly in its relations with the Arab world.

Truman’s policy of recognizing Israel and standing against his opposition rested on the realities of the situation in the region, on America’s moral, ethical, and humanitarian values, and on America’s national interests. So too with Trump.

 

Trump is following in Truman’s footsteps.

He is not moving the US Embassy necessarily because of his affection for the Jewish State, but because it is in America’s national interest.

It sends a strong message to the region and beyond that it will no longer have its foreign policy dictated by others, whether through diplomatic maneuvers or threats.

It will stand by its allies and stand against its foes. The Palestinians have made it clear that there was nothing to be gained in delaying the decision as they have demonstrated on numerous occasions that they have no interest in negotiations with Israel and have constantly thumbed their nose at the Americans, mistaking this administration for the previous.

Trump is not bucking the trend in placing American interests first; he is merely undoing years of aberrant US policy which placed American interests further down the list of priorities in deciding foreign policy issues.

The opening of the US Embassy is not so much a win for Israel as it is a win for those who seek a return to America’s moral and ethical role in the world, and above all, what is good for it regardless of fake protestations.

Gregg Roman is director of the Middle East Forum

Beware Of The Coming Economic Debt Bomb – Zero Hedge

05-12-2018 • https://www.zerohedge.com, by Peter Tanous

 

Sorry for the drama, but I need to get your attention.

We know that the Fed has kept interest rates low for many years until recently. Why did it do so? Here are some of the reasons we have been told:

The Fed wanted to stimulate the economy.

The Fed wanted to make it easier for Americans to borrow.

The Fed wanted to create a “wealth effect” to encourage spending.

Which of these statements do you think explains the primary reason for the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates low? Don’t bother. It is none of the above.

The primary reason the Fed kept interest rates low was to avert an economic catastrophe. Today, that catastrophe can no longer be avoided.

The trigger for the economic explosion is the rising interest payments on the federal debt.

Let’s go through the numbers.

During the eight years of the Obama administration, our total national debt rose from $12.3 trillion to $20 trillion while interest rates sank to a new all-time low. (The national debt figure includes money owed by the government to itself. The debt held by the public is what interests us since the government must pay out the interest to those bond holders.)

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Black Sportscaster Defends Kanye: “We’ve Made a Mistake” By Accepting “Liberalism

05-10-2018 • https://www.thelibertyconservative.com

 

Kanye West’s recent pro-Trump comments have sparked a national discussion about race and politics that is threatening the Democratic stranglehold on the African-American vote. One media voice, African-American sportscaster Jason Whitlock empathizes with West’s sentiments and echoed many of his key points.

“I think what Kanye is trying to do open black America’s mind to the fact that perhaps we have chosen a bad strategy by swallowing all of the Democratic party and liberalism whole,” Whitlock told Tucker Carlson during an interview on his FOX News program.

Whitlock noted that the African-American community has not gotten a great return on investment for their generations of fealty to the Democratic Party.

“Our families have been destroyed. Our children lost and confused. Our black men incarcerated and emasculated and we’ve moved away from the traditional values that have always defined us. I think we’ve made a mistake,” Whitlock said.

Whitlock also took aim at Ta-Nehisi Coates, who called West every name in the book in an op/ed in The Atlantic written for a predominantly white audience for having the audacity to express an independent point of view. Whitlock claims that people like Coates are around “to keep everyone in line with the groupthink that the only solution is liberalism for black America’s problems.”

“If that were the case our problems would be being solved much faster because 90, 95% of us are afraid to even admit that we have conservative values and we have been sold — we’ve moved away from our church. We’ve been the most religious people in America for years, hundreds of years and we’re moving more secular. We’re moving away from the church. Our religion now is liberalism and the Democratic party is our church and it’s just not working for us,” Whitlock said.

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Weekly Watchman for 05/11/2018

Listener Questions & Comments – Lots of Them!

Today is Q&A Friday when we hear from so many brothers and sisters in Christ regarding many diverse topics. We love hearing from you and appreciate every question and comment, even if you do not always agree with us. Thank you so much for the opportunity to tackle so many important issues!

Here are some of the things we discuss today:

Should Christians read the book Jesus Calling?
Unconstitutional SOGI laws and “non-discrimination” policies increasing
The hostile environment Christians face in the public school system
Charismatics, and spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues
Benny Hinn and the ‘prosperity’ non-gospel; name it, claim it
What is biblical submission?
Does the parable of the wheat and the tares apply to the church or the world?
What is the proper meaning or description of ‘meditation’ for a Christian?
Good and bad about discernment ministries
The apostasy of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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The Dilemma of Islam to the Disciple of Jesus Christ

According to 1 John Chapter 4, Islam is clearly a religion of Antichrist since Islam denies that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. The holy books of Islam also call for world-wide domination through Shariah law which contradicts the U.S. Constitution and has often been imposed by extremely violent methods throughout history.

We must remember however, that Muslims are people made in the image of God, but they have been deceived by the father of lies. They need the gospel of salvation by knowing the true Jesus Christ, not the fictitious “Issa” taught in the Quran. This leaves Christians in a challenging position. Some Muslims are being radicalized to destroy our way of life and attack when called to do so and yet, we are faced with the command of Jesus to share the gospel and make disciples of all people and nations.

It’s important we have an accurate understanding of Islam. The media, government, and public education paint Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance, but few ask what do you mean by “peace”? A historically factual view of world events often paints a very different picture. Our guest this morning, an expert on the topic, is Tony Gurule of Ratio Christi Ministries. Tony has studied Islam, Sharia Law, and the Muslim Brotherhood extensively, and hosts weekly shows on the Aramaic Broadcast Network, “Colliding Worldviews” and “Islam & The News,” and “Truth Matters” on the NRB network.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Our Mother Who Art In Heaven, Hallowed Be Beyonce?

Many have detailed Beyoncé’s occult influences, offensive and often graphic song lyrics, her sexually charged, R-Rated performances, and past blasphemy. She also admits to being possessed by a demonic spirit she affectionately refers to as “Sasha Fierce.”

The spirituality behind contemporary feminism often comes in the form of goddess worship, and the fact many have a desire to overthrow the patriarchal structure in society. It is rebellion against God as “Father.”

During the actual Beyoncé mass, an alternate, feminist perversion of the Lord’s Prayer was printed in the program for attendees to read out loud.

Our Mother, who is in heaven and within us, We call upon your names. Your wisdom come. Your will be done. In all the spaces in which you dwell… These are not bad people; they’re just wrong. And this is another gospel.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Women Won’t Have Sex With Me So I’ll Murder Innocent People!

We first check in with Tina Marie Griffin, Counter-Culture Mom to discuss ways to protect our children from poisonous movies, games, and social media, as well as the graphic sexualization of public school children. We also touch on Boy Scout & Girl Scout Alternatives: Trail Life USA, “a Christ-centered outdoor adventure, leadership, and character development ministry.” And a parallel organization for girls, American Heritage Girls, good to know given the ideologies (such as Planned Parenthood) driving the Girl Scouts these days.

The disturbing subject of segment 2 sounds like some twisted plot in some Hollywood movie, but there is actually a movement (on-line community) that seems to justify senseless killing of innocent people because they have been rejected in their sexual advances toward women. It is known as “INCEL Movement” which stands for “involuntarily celibate,” and there have been at least 32 deaths linked to them so far. This rotten fruit is a result of pornography and the sexual revolution.

We wrap up with some good news on the pro-life front: Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds just passed the strongest pro-life bill in the country. What can we expect from the opposition regarding protests and legal challenges?

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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A Freedom That Leads To Slavery

Freedom is a precious gift; a gift that must be cherished and protected against those who would seek to enslave us. While Christians around the world suffer from increased persecution, and we here in America see our freedoms being threatened, there is an even more precious freedom we must guard and protect: The freedoms given to born-again Christians by the grace and Spirit of God.

Twice in his first letter to the Corinthian Church Paul warned about the importance of tempering freedoms with responsibility. He said regarding what we consume that all things were lawful, but not necessarily beneficial and warned against the things we consume becoming our masters. Today in America there is much that vies for our attention and affection. How do we enjoy the freedoms of this life as disciples of Jesus without allowing ourselves to be led into bondage to them?

Dave Wager of Nicolet Bible Institute and Silver Birch Ranch has written and taught extensively on how we find the correct biblical balance between enjoying good things God has given us while not elevating them to a place of ‘worship” in our lives.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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What is Cruciform Theology?

Universal Salvation, the false teaching that a loving God would never allow a single person to suffer in Hell, is sadly alive and well and being used by the father of lies to deceive and to lull people to sleep, thinking they will live for eternity in the presence of God. This dangerous doctrine has infiltrated Christian circles as it appeals to our flesh and especially to younger people who have not been taught the biblical truth about God’s judgment including His wrath against sin and those who reject Jesus Christ.

This false teaching comes in many names, and in our final segment we look at what is called “Cruciform Theology”.

We first visit with Pastor Carl Gallups and look at how recent events in Iran, Israel and the Middle East are pointing to the imminent rapture of the Church and the return of Jesus Christ to establish His everlasting Kingdom.

Daily podcast, relevant articles on issues pertaining to Christians and more can be found on Stand Up For The Truth.

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Tucker Carlson: ‘Modern Liberalism Is a Religious Movement’ to Replace Christianity – Breitbart

Liberals are speaking the language of faith, albeit a faith without god. This is the main reason that right and left talk past each other. The reason our public debates are so weird and unsatisfying.

One side arrives with facts and stats and arguments. The other brags about its decency. One side is trying to convince; the other is trying to convert.

Wednesday night on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson declared “modern liberalism” a religious movement.

Partial transcript as follows:

CARLSON: In the wake of Eric Schneiderman’s resignation as attorney general of New York, some of his long-time friends on the left are professing shock.

You’ve heard them. We just can’t believe it, they say. How can a man so publicly committed to feminism beat women? It just doesn’t make sense.

But, of course, it makes perfect sense. Self-righteousness is always a marker for secret creepiness. The people yelling the loudest are usually hiding the most.

Keep that in mind the next time you hear some Democratic politician lecturing you about your moral inferiority. That’s the guy you need to watch carefully. Chances are he’s up to something awful behind closed doors.

Hypocrisy isn’t just a feature of modern liberalism. It’s the heart of modern liberalism. Ever wonder how people who advocate for abortion can say they stand for children? How a movement that demonizes an entire race can claim to oppose racism? The same way Al Gore can travel by private jet while trying to ban your SUV.

Because consistency does not matter to the left. Only virtue matters. We’re good people; therefore, we must rule. You are not; therefore, you must obey.

Al Gore doesn’t believe he’s a hypocrite. Eric Schneiderman probably doesn’t think he is either. You can’t commit sin if your intentions are pure. And liberals believe their intentions are the purest.

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“Real Socialism” Has Indeed Been Tried… And It’s Been A Disaster

Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

May 5th marked the 200th Anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth, and in spite of inspiring a wide variety of political movements that have caused countless human rights disasters, Marx continues to be an object of admiration among many intellectuals and artists. One such example can be seen in Raoul Peck’s new film The Young Karl Marx which portrays Marx is a principled radical with a laudable thirst for justice.

Fortunately for Marx the man and his reputation, he never personally gained control of the machinery of any state. Thus, the dirty work of actually implementing the necessary “dictatorship of the proletariat” was left up to others. And those who attempted to bring Marxism into the light of practical reality, quickly found that applied Marxism brings impoverishment and the destruction of human freedom. 

Read more: “Real Socialism” Has Indeed Been Tried… And It’s Been A Disaster

KJV Only Movement? Is the King James Version the Only Bible We Should Use?

Many people have strong and serious objections to the translation methods and textual basis for the new translations and therefore take a strong stance in favor of the King James Version. Others are equally convinced that the newer translations are an improvement over the KJV in their textual basis and translation methodology. GotQuestions.org does not want to limit its ministry to those of the “KJV Only” persuasion. Nor do we want to limit ourselves to those who prefer the NIV, NAS, NKJV, etc. Note—the purpose of this article is not to argue against the use of the King James Version. Rather, the focus of this article is to contend with the idea that the King James Version is the only Bible English speakers should use.

The KJV Only movement claims its loyalty to be to the Textus Receptus, a Greek New Testament manuscript compilation completed in the 1500s. To varying degrees, KJV Only advocates argue that God guided Erasmus (the compiler of the Textus Receptus) to come up with a Greek text that is perfectly identical to what was originally written by the biblical authors. However, upon further examination, it can be seen that KJV Only advocates are not loyal to the Textus Receptus, but rather only to the KJV itself. The New Testament of the New King James Version is based on the Textus Receptus, just as the KJV is. Yet, KJV Only advocates label the NKJV just as heretical as they do the NIV, NAS, etc.

Beyond the NKJV, other attempts have been made to make minimal updates to the KJV, only “modernizing” the archaic language, while using the exact same Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. These attempts are rejected nearly as strongly as the NKJV and the other newer Bible translations. This proves that KJV Only advocates are loyal to the King James Version itself, not to the Textus Receptus. KJV Only advocates have no desire or plan to update the KJV in any way. The KJV certainly contains English that is outdated, archaic, and sometimes confusing to modern English speakers and readers. It would be fairly simple to publish an updated KJV with the archaic words and phrases updated into modern 21st century English. However, any attempt to edit the KJV in any way results in accusations from KJV Only advocates of heresy and perversion of the Word of God.

When the Bible is translated for the first time into a new language today, it is translated into the language that culture speaks and writes today, not the way they spoke and wrote 400 years ago. The same should be true in English. The Bible was written in the common, ordinary language of the people at that time. Bible translations today should be the same. That is why Bible translations must be updated and revised as languages develop and change. The KJV Only movement is very English-focused in its thinking. Why should people who read English be forced to read the Bible in outdated/archaic English, while people of all other languages can read the Bible in modern/current forms of their languages?

Our loyalties are to the original manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments, written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Only the original languages are the Word of God as He inspired it. A translation is only an attempt to take what is said in one language and communicate it in another. The modern translations are superb in taking the meaning of the original languages and communicating it in a way that we can understand in English. However, none of the modern translations are perfect. Every one contains verses that are at least somewhat mistranslated. By comparing and contrasting several different translations, it is often easier to get a good grasp on what the verse is saying than by only using one translation. Our loyalty should not be to any one English translation, but to the inspired, inerrant Word of God that is communicated by the Holy Spirit through the translations (2 Timothy 3:16–17).^[1]

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^[1] Got Questions Ministries. (2002–2013). Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.