It was a power encounter like none the world had ever seen.

The city shook. The sun went black. The massive curtain in the temple that signified the barrier between God and man was ripped open. Eyewitnesses reported that many of the dead came out of the tombs of Jerusalem and wandered into the city.

But in the midst of the torture and agony, there was no doubt Who was in control. When the criminal hanging next to Him realized Who was being killed, he asked to be remembered. Jesus’ response, as translated by Tim Mackie, was “Later this afternoon I’ll meet you in the Garden.” (1)

When humanity’s debt for all its rebellion had utterly and completely been paid, and the One without sin had finally taken the place of everyone else, Jesus declared, “It is finished.”

As the bodies were taken down from the crosses and buried, the victory of light over darkness continued in unseen places. Peter tells us that “After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits — to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah… the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead.” (1Pet 3 and 4)

On the third day angels threw open the door and He emerged from the tomb. The now-crowned King of the universe celebrated His indescribable victory by doing the same thing you would have done. No, actually, He didn’t, because His focus was never on Himself.

Instead, He took a walk on the beach and made breakfast for His devastated followers. Always the healer, always the good shepherd, He gathered the scattered sheep and restored them, turning their intense grief into overwhelming joy.

And having paid the debt for the mess you’ve made of your life, He offers to do the same for you.

Happy Easter! He’s waiting for you.

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1 “Paradise Now”, Tim Mackie, YouTube

The King and the Beggar

Once there was a King. He owned the land, he ruled the people, he possessed and enjoyed all the privilege, prestige, pleasures and power of royalty.

A good man, he cared for his people. Loved them. Created opportunities for them to grow and learn and prosper at every turn. Gardens for their pleasure, orchards for their delight, rivers and farmland in abundance.

On the road one day, he came across a beggar. Ragged, destitute, frail, at the point of starvation, the man had clearly taken every wrong turn in life, abusing himself and all around him. Those wrong turns had finally become dead ends, and all hope for reclaiming even a reason to live was gone… and the very strength to live would soon be exhausted.

Compassion overwhelmed the King.

He clearly saw the harvest before him of seed sown wildly, carelessly, and in all the worst soil. A life ruined. Nothing escaped his clear vision and thorough understanding of the situation.

But sweeping all that away, the heart of the King overflowed with unconditional love for even this, the least of his kingdom, a man who had thrown his life away.

He understood that nothing simple would help the beggar. No amount of education, or forced discipline, or training in manners, or study of philosophy, or church attendance, or anything else would help. This man simply did not have the ability to meet any standard of behavior or achievement that would change the situation. Unless the King took the whole weight of the problem on his own shoulders, and paid the whole price that would be required, the man was finished.

The King made a radical decision. An unheard-of decision. A decision with no possible rationale except for love, except for his passion to be a source of healing and life to all in his domain.

A decision that would leave all who understood it with gaping mouths and eyes like saucers.

He offered to enter into a covenant with the beggar. A blood covenant. A covenant that would convey to the beggar full rights to all the King possessed, and – because a blood covenant is a mutual commitment – would convey to the King all the beggar possessed.

Do you know about this?

Blood Covenant

Throughout history, in every culture, men have practiced blood covenant.

It is the most binding, irreversible, and complete sharing of two lives that has been known to mankind.

If you and I were friends, I might say, “May I borrow $20?” If we were in blood covenant, I would say, “May I borrow your checkbook?”

Many of the things done through history, as people “cut blood covenant” with each other, are preserved in our wedding ceremonies today.

They would make a scar by cutting their hands, holding them together, and letting the mixed blood of their newly combined lives flow down their arms together. Then they rubbed something into the cut to make that scar large and visible.

Today, we exchange golden or silver rings.

Both serve to show the world that we are linked to another in a bond that is not to be taken lightly.

The tradition of feeding each other a covenant meal is echoed as the bride and groom feed each other pieces of wedding cake.

The drinking of wine, symbolizing each taking the other’s life into himself and herself, has become an exchanged goblet of wine or champagne.

And other practices survive, from the changing of names and the promises of blessings and curses (depending on whether the other is faithful to the promises made).

So the practice of two people making a mutual, total commitment of themselves to each other, is an ancient custom. It is historically a total, permanent, and essentially unbreakable commitment.

That’s “blood covenant.”

Now, back to our story.

An Incredible Offer

The King clearly offered the beggar an astounding array of benefits, along with some new responsibilities… after all, theKing had obligations to rule his domain well and shepherd the people.

But what could the beggar offer the King? What benefit did the King receive?

Some ragged clothes, some debt, a raging fever and … the broken pieces of a wasted life.

But now, in exchange for giving the King himself and what little he had, the beggar would enter into royalty, sharing in the pleasures and comforts of the castle life, and, of course, in its duties and obligations, for all that King had – assets and liabilities alike – were now his as well.

Clearly an unequal exchange, one to be marveled at through the ages.

Sound like an impossible story? A fairy tale that could never have happened?

You Are That Beggar

You, indeed, are the beggar. And God is the King who offers you … blood covenant.

With Him, personally. You and Him.

Incredible.

Yes, He knows you have made a mess of your life, and things are not going to get better. Knows your every thought and intention, in fact. Knows your history better than you do, and all the ways you justify and excuse your actions, and how you judge others who fail to meet your standards.

He knows you. Completely. Think about that.

And in spite of all that, He has come alongside to offer you everything He is, and everything He has.

Why? Because He loves you passionately. He made you for glory, to be his son or daughter, to rule with Him for eternity, to share in his great creation as a member of the royal family.

If you choose not to accept the offer, you have little future left, and not one to be envied… as your pride, selfishness, self-righteousness, and anger steadily grow to consume you, it will be a horrible end to a wasted life.

But He truly offers everything. Everything.

What about the mess? All you have done wrong, and the darkness lurking in your heart? (Come on, be honest.)

He has himself taken the punishment for the failures and mess of your life, and a horrible punishment it was.

But the way is now clear. The offer is on the table… for a little while. Will you accept it?

Think of it as a wedding. In fact, He has given us marriage as a shadow, a picture, of the loving intimate relationship He desires with us. And the King has promised to return for his Bride, the gathering of those who have entered into the Covenant he has offered.

He suffered torture and a brutal execution, pouring his blood out as the mingled blood of the new Covenant, the blood of God and the blood of man running together down his arms to stain the wood of a 1st century cross, paying the price to rescue you and bring home … his Bride.

What did you think the blood and bread of Christian communion was about? Now you know — it’s the meal that always follows blood covenant, each taking bread and wine that represents the life of the other.

On that cross, God “cut covenant” with man. Blood covenant. With you.

He bears the scars for eternity, and we share in the covenant meal when we “take communion.”

And He now invites you to accept his payment of the price for your life, and to accept him … as the one who knows you, loves you deeply, and wants you to spend eternity with him.

Eventually, the doors will close. Maybe tomorrow, for you. Maybe today.

Those who refuse to wear the wedding garments offered by the King will be turned away, going out into … well, you really don’t want to know.

When the story of Eternity moves into the next chapter, there will only be two places --- in the presence of the King, and … there’s not much left. It’s not a pretty sight.

Don’t go there, as the kids say.

That’s It.

Not very complicated, really.

The God who made you has paid the price for the mess and failure of your life, and wants to bring you home to live and rule all of creation with him forever (far beyond this physical life).

But it’s your choice, it really is. He loves you enough to respect your decision.

Be aware though… now that you know and understand the offer, to NOT accept it is to reject it. Leaving the offer “on the table” is a refusal. Preferring some other belief about who you are, who God is, how people “get to heaven”, etc etc etc, all boils down to a refusal of the offer.

We keep thinking we can somehow “fix it” ourselves. All those religions around the world just offer sets of rules, tell you what you should do, with the idea that if you keep the rules well enough … well, God will be OK with that.

Don’t believe it. You are the beggar. A dead man, waiting to be buried. Quit trying to be good, like an actor on the stage. God is not impressed, no matter who else you’re fooling. Nothing would be effective except him doing it for you. All of it. You can offer as much help as that beggar could offer the King. Forget it.

He did it all for you, and is offering you the whole package… righteousness, forgiveness, eternal life, intimate fellowship with him now and forever, and the role in the creation that he made you for.

And this is the offer. There’s only one. Good grief, what else would you expect him to do for you?!? Christianity is not a religion (religion is just men trying to satisfy God, to earn what cannot be earned). This offer sets all religions aside, makes them all irrelevant.

It is his offer to you of a personal, intimate, passionate relationship with the one who set the stars to dance across the universe, who created a level of complexity in all of life that we barely comprehend… and who waits for you to say, “Yes.”

For the details, go get a Bible, and do a little reading.

The book of John would be a good start … it’s the eyewitness account of when God put His seal on this invitation, written by one who was in the middle of the whole amazing thing.

And I’ll see you at the wedding! It’s going to be fun. The party is about to begin… a celebration of his glory, and his incredible love for us.

Come on in!

As her grandfather, having been there both when she was born and when her father was born, and having two sons and two daughters of his own, he knows exactly what she is. And he grieves for her as she rejects not only her own identity as a human being, but as a child of God and all that He created her to be.

What to do? How to relate to this person he loves deeply? She is his flesh and blood.

An acquaintance remarks to him, “She’ll just tell you that things have changed.”

Some things have. Some have not.

Tell your children, never mind your grandchildren, that you are older than Google, and they may be shocked. Those of us who remember when the year started with a “19” instead of “20” know many things that have changed… and many that have not.

When we are young, though, we believe that everything that existed before we were born is up for grabs, and that whatever our friends believe must be reality.

Other than life itself, and coming Himself to the cross to deal with our sin, the greatest gift God has given us may be our free will.

He occasionally shields us from the consequences when we use that freedom badly, but He will eventually allow us to bear even the consequences of rejecting Him, if that is our choice.

But our freedom to choose is not in question.

Free will offers the ability to change some things, but not others. I can change my clothes, my name, my hair color, my location, my job, my language, how I earn a living, where I live, what I believe, what I say, what I do. All those choices have consequences, including how people see me, treat me, and choose the relationships they have with me.

But free will only enables me to change what I do, not what I am.

So the young lady is perfectly free to declare that she is not a lady, but she cannot change being a woman.

How can we build and maintain healthy, reality-based relationships with those who

• have accepted the new definition of “gender,”

• believe the new deception that gender and sex can be different,

• believe that feelings determine reality, and

• therefore, looking through those very distorted glasses, they have decided to be what they are not?

It is worse than that, of course.

They may also be persuaded that:

• they can change the meaning of words as needed, including words like ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘woman’;

• they can make up new nouns and pronouns as desired;

• the rest of the world around them must use the new meanings and the new words as they demand; and

• any refusal or failure to participate in this practice must not be allowed, because it is by definition driven by disrespect or hatred — it could not possibly be a matter of simple disagreement.

Since communication depends on a common understanding of the meaning of words, this wreaks havoc on the ability of loved ones to have normal conversation with them, much less to have real discussion about these issues.

Back to the question: What to do, to love them without supporting the delusion?

For Christians, I can offer a perspective. If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, what follows will perhaps make no sense to you, and you are welcome to go on to the next article that interests you.

But for those following Jesus:

We are all magnificent ruins, as someone has put it, created to be bearers of the image of God, but completely corrupted by our idolatries — our desire to worship ourselves and any number of other things, such as power, money, influence, pleasure, etc, and those idolatries have filled our lives with anger, resentment, greed, hatred, lust, lying, unfaithfulness, etc. It’s an ugly picture.

It began in the Garden, and the poison still runs through our veins.

At the cross, God broke the power of those idolatries, which are the drivers of all the sin in our lives, and at the resurrection Jesus then broke the power of death itself. We — everyone, the whole human race — are now free to give ourselves to Him, instead of to the darkness that has enslaved us until now. The chains are broken, we are truly free to choose. We have free will, at last.

Then at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured into those who give their lives to Jesus, and that continues to this day. With that gift, we receive what Jesus called the second birth, the spiritual birth, as true children of the Father, brothers and sisters of the first-born, Jesus himself. We are born again, into a new life.

So God is the one who brings us each from darkness to life, and from being enslaved to what is false to what is true, even to Truth Himself. We could not do it ourselves, and we cannot do it for other people. The door of “free will” only has a handle on the inside, and we each open that door to God, to truth, to reality … or we don’t.

The grandfather cannot choose reality for his granddaughter. Only she can.

As Jesus-followers, then, our role is to offer everyone the invitation to “join the party,”1 help them understand the amazing gift that has been offered to them, and, for those who accept the invitation, come alongside to support and encourage them in their new life. The invitation is called “the gospel,” and the ongoing helping is called “discipleship.”

As an example, Teen Missions helps people whose lives are completely broken, and who are ready to give God a chance to save them from their own disasters. Miraculous recoveries are daily events. In truth, we are all beyond the ability to save ourselves, and need His intervention.

So all we can do for those we love, who are making terrible mistakes, is to share the invitation and encourage them to choose the light instead of running deeper into the darkness.

That’s our role in the human domain, in our physical and social relationships. But we have another weapon to use on their behalf, acting in the domain of the spiritual forces that drive all human activity. The apostle Paul explains it in the last chapter of his letter to Ephesus, in the New Testament. It is in that arena that we can most effectively stand against the seducing powers trying to destroy their lives, and provide strength to supplement their weakness.

But the choice is still theirs.

If we choose to continue wearing the reality-shattering glasses of our chosen ideologies, demanding that reality bow to our self-worshiping feelings, and refuse to say to God, “Thy will be done,” C.S. Lewis predicts that eventually God will say to us, “Thy will be done.”2 And there will be no place for us in Creation, when it is finally transformed to be what was originally designed.

So love them, and come alongside them as much as they will allow you to. Pray for them, offer counsel if it is welcome, and do battle for them in the heavenly places.

Perhaps most of all, remembering your own foolish decisions, come with complete respect and honor for their free will, which is just as sacred as yours.

One result of the recent elections is a rapid change of direction, to say the least. Many dramatic adjustments are being carried out with a sense of urgency. That is very welcome to many and infuriating to others. Both the changes of direction and the pace of those changes are intensifying emotional disruption across our political divide.

As the tsunami of change sweeps through the government and out into every aspect of our lives, disruptions will continue, and our lives will change in many ways. Hopefully individual freedoms will increase, as government is downsized, but with incremental, restored freedoms will come increased, restored, unexpected and perhaps unwanted responsibilities.

Lots of changes. And with those will often come frustration, anger, confusion, and deeper divisions among us.

We need peacemakers. Are you one?

When Jesus explained to the crowds following Him how the Kingdom of God works, 1 He said many things that must have shaken the prior assumptions of everyone listening. He focused on the heart instead of outward actions, and called us to much higher levels of righteousness than had previously been defined.

One of the principles He set forth was, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” 2

That invitation was given to thousands of listeners, including shopkeepers, soldiers, priests, fishermen, men and women, Greeks and Jews, everyone. Later, with His disciples, He leaned heavily into the theme of unity, and the writers of the New Testament stressed it as well as they taught new churches across the Mediterranean world.

Those who walk with God were especially to be united, period. Independently of all their different cultures, beliefs, habits, ideologies, nationalities, and preferences on many subjects. But as He stood on that mountain speaking to the crowds, the declaration of God’s pleasure with peacemakers was for everyone.

So for us, with our deeply divided political scene, as Christians we are called, instructed, required, to walk in our heavenly calling to be peacemakers, in addition to our earthly citizenship responsibilities. We live in both kingdoms, and have roles to play in each.

Being peacemakers is a heavenly call, across all political and ideological lines.

The current waves of change, and the reactions to them, are likely to continue impacting the world from now on. For decades at least, if the Republic endures. So this is not a temporary matter; it may be a major part of our remaining life’s work, in His eyes.

Our success can dramatically change the world. So will our failure.

Again: are you a peacemaker?

First, decide to be one, and start watching for opportunities to practice, to learn how it can work. Let the Spirit teach us. It’s a learned skill, and requires a fresh mindset, like everything else in that ‘sermon on the mount’.

Sometimes the worldviews among us will be so different that finding a bridge may seem impossible. Do what you can, and let God do the rest. His eternal strategy is clear: “… His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.”3

So we know the plan. Stay on the path. Find a way, if you can. Leave the results to Him, and keep going.

Second, assume good intent on everyone’s part. Very few are deliberately trying to do wrong. Especially in this time of “information warfare” you must assume people are working from different observations, different beliefs about what is true, different sets of information, relying on different ‘experts’, etc.

Assume good intent, until proven otherwise, realizing that we are in no position to judge another person’s heart or pain. We are experts at rationalizing our own righteousness.

“Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?” asks Paul. “It is before his own master that he stands or falls,”4 and God claims the role of being that ultimate judge for every person.

(Yes, we rightfully judge the actions of those who work for us, as part of our earthly responsibilities. Those in government work at our direction as Constitutionally structured. But judging the heart is a different matter.)

And if you insist that someone really is evil at their core, God raises the bar another notch: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven.”5 We know that He was serious about it, because He did exactly that as He suffered the most shameful, excruciating death Rome could deliver. We are required to do the same.

Third, let’s remind and encourage each other to seek and play this role, rather than dwelling on “who’s right and who’s wrong,” as the rest of the world does. God is not on anyone’s side; we need to be on His side.

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• that he is violating the ‘emoluments’ clause by creating a bitcoin; and

• that he is violating the 14th Amendment by canceling birthright citizenship.

Neither is true.

Let’s start with the financial complaint.

Did he suddenly, as president, unlawfully make fifty billion dollars appear in his bank account, in violation of Article II, Section 1, Clause 7? No.

Here’s what the Constitution says:

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for hs Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Translation:

• he will get a salary, decided ahead of time and not changed while he is in office;

• and neither the federal government nor any State will add to that salary.

It says nothing about what business interests a president may have before taking office, and the $TRUMP bitcoin endeavor was launched while he was still a private citizen. All of his business interests will be managed by others, while he is in office. 1

He has been personally stripped of many millions of dollars worth of legal fees by ongoing fraudulent political lawsuits. If he can start a new business before he is inaugurated, and have some new income to look forward to after his term of office, I certainly do not begrudge him that!

For more discussion about how to think about “bitcoin,” please see Appendix A below.

Is he violating the 14th Amendment by rejecting birthright citizenship?

Again, no.

Here’s what the Amendment says:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

As explained by the Heritage Guide to the Constitution,

“The 14th Amendment was thus necessary to overturn Dred Scott and to settle the question of the citizenship of the newly freed slaves.” 2

There are two requirements for citizenship:

• place of birth

• allegiance

As the Guide explains, based on the discussions at the time of the Amendment, “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means “not owing allegiance to anybody else … subject to the complete jurisdiction of the United States.” 3

“Subject to the complete jurisdiction” does not mean subject to arrest over a traffic violation. It means primary, overriding national allegiance.

The earlier issue of the Indian tribes was considered resolved by that phrasing; tribal members, although born within the bounds of the United States, did not inherit US citizenship since their primary allegiance was to the tribe.

In 1884 Elk v. Wilkins determined that even revoking prior Indian tribal citizenship did not by itself convey US citizenship; neither American Indians individually, nor a tribe as a whole, could become US citizens “of their own will”. 4

The 1898 case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark “conferred birthright citizenship on a child of legal residents of the United States” 5, not visitors, illegal immigrants, or other non-citizens.

My sister was born on a military base in Japan. Is she a Japanese citizen? No, because neither she nor her parents were ever subject to the jurisdiction of Japan.

Is the child of a Honduran illegal immigrant a US citizen, because the mother was in the US at the time of birth? No, he is the child of a Honduran citizen, subject to the jurisdiction of that country just like his mother.

Knowing truth, always a challenge, is increasingly difficult in our current era of informational warfare. It is even more difficult for younger people who believe that reality is whatever you feel, whatever you want it to be.

As Annie Crawford pointed out in The Theology Pugcast episode entitled ‘The CS Lewis Option’,

Without being grounded in reality, we do not even know what it means to be human, so we don’t know what it means to be a man or a woman, so we don’t have any understanding of marriage, and the list goes on. … Education, or just talking about anything of consequence, may require a lot of work just to find some common ground. And if the common ground is that each person makes up their own fantasy about what is real, how can we proceed? How can civilization survive, for that matter? 1

So, what does that look like? To stay in truth, and “not live by lies,” to quote Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?

On a simple, daily basis, don’t say what you know to be false. Speak in support of the truth when it is denied. In small as well as large matters, build the habit of staying moored to reality. Be known as one whose word can be trusted. Live “in the light,” with no indulgence in things you would need to hide (and therefore lie about), and no confirmation of things that might not be true. Be who you are, say what you think when appropriate, and do not assent to lies.

As a current example, I hear a common hopeful theme being offered regarding the recent election: the country finally declared it is time to return to truth. Maybe so. The flow of nonsense over the past few years has been beyond belief, from

• the declaration that Constitutional free speech is domestic terrorism,

• to the criminal fraud of the pharmaceutical industry resulting in millions of deaths,

• to the weaponization of our government’s law enforcement agencies against a political opponent,

• to the burning of American cities being dismissed as “mostly peaceful protests,”

• to the refusal to see Hamas’ raw evil for what it is,

• to the demand that basic biology be not just ignored, but denied,

• … and on it goes.

General Michael Flynn summarized the election results with a note on X: “If you’re wondering why America voted for Trump, allow me to explain.” He then proceeded to an extensive recounting of lies that have been promoted over the last few years, and have now been summarily rejected. 2

Matt Walsh also summarized the election as the people voting for a return to truth3 — “the people have had enough”, and in a speech to The American Principles Project about protecting our children4, he demonstrated that both abortion and the transgender ideology are based in complete denial of absolute truths about who we are as human beings.

Many who have been viciously ‘cancelled’ by the woke movement have testified to the freedom and happiness that come — along with some great new friendships — from finally being willing to say what is true, to stand by what they believe, and endure the attack until the mob moves on.

It’s simple, but not easy. It can be very hard. How do you do it? As Winston Marshall replied to Marissa Streit about how he put his post-cancellation life back together,

• “First, love God.

• Then, always speak the truth.

• Play the chips where they lie.

• And work as hard as you can!” 5

How important is all of this?

As Annie Crawford suggested in that podcast, we need to stand as Gandalf did, facing the Balrog. The world’s battle against the growing darkness depended on that moment, and Gandalf said, “You cannot pass.” We need to do the same.

For Christians, the answer runs deeper.

The Christian understands truth to be a person, Jesus himself, and has found that he is immediately present and personally knowable. That is, we can know him, here and now, as well as know about him historically. In the sacrifice of his crucifixion he destroyed the barriers between God and man, opening the way for all who will receive him to enter into a personal relationship with God. The resurrection was the proof of his victory, and the subsequent infilling beginning at Pentecost enables all who accept him to know him directly.

This opening of the way “for all” is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham to give him a family beyond measure.

So the foundational answer is that Truth Himself has come on stage, introduced himself, shown his character and power, and demonstrated what God’s unrelenting, self-sacrificing love looks like in action.

The Christian who chooses to stand in the truth immediately runs into the difficulties Jesus predicted he would, because the world much prefers its own fantasies to the absolute truth that God puts on the table. As C.S. Lewis commented, “Unless we return to the crude and nursery-like belief in objective values, we perish.” Much of the world would prefer to die in the process of trying any other approach, rather than return to objective truth — that is, truth as the Creator defines it.

The only Truth that effectively addresses the evil in the world is the One who took the battle to the cross. Those who wish to participate in the healing of the world are invited to follow Him; but it requires giving up doing it “man’s way,” by brute force, and doing it God’s way, by self-sacrificing love. It requires participating in the unfolding of the Kingdom of God as Jesus leads that ongoing process. N.T. Wright’s book “The Day the Revolution Began”unpacks this subject well.

To summarize, living in truth requires continually refusing to participate in the lies and fantasies around us, and staying grounded in reality. That includes setting aside our own self-deceptions, the things we cling to that we wish were true. It requires holding our opinions and decisions with an open hand, realizing that “in many counselors there is safety” and that to refuse to consider differing inputs is dangerous. We cannot be among those who say, “I may not always be right, but I’m always sure!”

PS - If you are tempted to give yourself to an ideology by which you hope to save the world, you must give it up. Ideology always turns into tyranny over those who disagree, and may wreck the lives of those you recruit to join you in your idolatry. Give yourself to the God who loves both you and them; life is too short, and your life is too important, to waste time on dead-end Utopian fantasies.

Godspeed, as they say!

The pro-Hamas demonstrations sweeping our most elite campuses demonstrate an appalling lack of historical knowledge, never mind maturity, on the part of our most educated children. Historical truth does not guide their decisions, and they accept misleading re-definitions of crucial words to support false premises.

But if truth and facts don’t matter, then reason does not matter.  Do facts matter today?  If we cannot have open, rational, fact-based discussions about the issues driving our divisions, then ideology will triumph. And if ideology is in control, history shows that spending the lives of others to accomplish the chosen goals is not a problem.  Must we go there?

As Thomas Paine remarked, “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead…”   (1)

Coming back to truth, to reason, to facts, to reality, is crucially important for our civilization to survive.

Important for whom?

- For America, built on excellent principles that  are being rejected and on an effective Constitutional framework that is being ignored by our government. 

- For people of God, whose commitment to serve the Creator is offensive to a narcissistic, hedonistic world. 

- For universities, as their abandonment of the obligation to teach important skills and knowledge has left them hollow, impotent, and disgraced. 

- For business leaders willing to support any Marxist grifter who threatens to call them “racist.” 

- For families, whose children and grandchildren are being seduced by internet-borne delusions. 

For anyone who desires a safe, productive life and a good world for their children.

Dennis Prager summed it up this way: “Lies are the root of evil, more than any other single thing… Truth is the ultimate antidote to evil.” (2)

On the most basic level, we struggle now with simply living in truth.  As Jordan Peterson says, “Tell the truth—or at least, don’t lie.” (3) 

After having survived the Gulags, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn put it most plainly: “Live not by lies.” (4) 

Why is this so hard? Why is it even an issue?

Our struggle is often not because we don’t know what is true, but because the culture increasingly extracts an enormous penalty from those who speak it.  Doctors can now be threatened with the loss of their careers for speaking the truth to their patients, or for treating them based on their own skills and knowledge instead of following bureaucratic demands.  Teachers at every level can be fired for voicing simple truths. Companies can be denied sources of capital for not bowing to the idol of the day.

Survivors of previous tyrannies around the world say this looks incredibly familiar. They warn us to take heed, and to do so quickly. (4)     

Are enough of us willing to speak the obvious, demand the facts, believe the truth, and withstand the blow-back, in order to prevent the coming train wreck?

Are you?

———————————————————————————————

1)  Thomas Paine, “The American Crisis”

2)  Dennis Prager, PragerU.com, Fireside Chat Ep. 339

3) Jordan Peterson, “12 Rules for Life”

4)  Rod Dreher, “Live Not by Lies”

Perhaps you’ve attended a similar service recently, celebrating the life of someone who has died unexpectedly and far too soon.

This morning a friend told me of a lifelong acquaintance, again a very competitive sportsman, who died as he slid into second base on the softball field. The umpire declared him “Safe!” but he never got up. He was 50, and until that moment in great health.

From listening to those who know about such things, my assumption is that both died as adrenalin surges overcame their mRNA-damaged ventricular pathways, and their hearts stopped.  I understand that death is the immediate result in such circumstances.

Did you know that a massive tide of “unexpected deaths” of healthy young and mid-life adults emerged soon after we began injecting millions of people with the Covid mRNA shots? 1

The number of such deaths quickly grew to be in the thousands in the US,2 and over a million worldwide3 . This was not caused by the virus; it did not happen before the “vaccines” were released. Is it being investigated? It appears not to be a concern to the CDC, NIH, FDA, and our other formerly trusted institutions.

We know now that many damaging side effects were known to Pfizer before the shots were released, and among them was serious, permanent heart damage to young men. But the drug was aggressively promoted to youthful audiences for months before that information was revealed - “do it for Grandma!”

The medical establishment actively prevented the early care for Covid patients that would have saved thousands of lives. When I asked my doctor for some hydroxychloroquine to have on hand while traveling, his nurse assured me, “He’ll never give you that!” But he gladly looked it up and wrote the script as requested, as a doctor who cared deeply for his patients and perhaps resisted bureaucratic interference in his practice of medicine.

Surely this is one of the most egregious evidences of the corruption of our central government. They committed billions of dollars to buy millions of doses of an experimental genetic-modification drug from a company with zero liability for any damage caused, a company that had already paid billions in criminal fines for prior malfeasance. Then they applied every possible form of propaganda and pressure to force the population to accept these poorly-tested, fraudulently advertised injections without question. Doctors who raised concerns or treated their patients differently could be silenced and even stripped of their licenses. 

What could go wrong?

The answer is all around us. An epidemic of “excess deaths” and every imaginable form of disability, a tide of tragedy and grief which continues to this day and may extend generations into the future.

And no one will be held accountable.

Postscript:

For an emerging, extensive list of what Pfizer and Moderna knew and did not admit, browse the analysis of the “Pfizer papers” being carried out at DailyClout4 and order their upcoming book5.  Support that work, if you can.

• Our health institutions are now controlled by the profit-driven pharmaceutical companies they are supposed to oversee, and the medical journals are critically dependent on income from those same companies.

• Our national law enforcement agencies have been weaponized against the President’s political opponents. 

• The press, protected by the First Amendment, has enlisted as the public relations department of one political party. 

• Our Constitutional limits on the federal government are being aggressively violated, and those in power are destroying our national sovereignty.

As protectors of a free people, those national institutions we trusted have betrayed us, and the emerging evidence indicates that the betrayal is long-standing and runs deep. 

The good news: all this is being revealed, as those with broad power have used such things as the fear of Covid, the insanity of mass lockdowns, and the gold rush of the Covid “vaccines” to move boldly … and thereby show their true intentions.  

The bad news: we have been naïve.  As Jeffrey A. Tucker wrote so eloquently a year ago:

 “The institutions on which we used to depend to defend our liberties and rights—nonprofits, courts, intellectuals, academia, tech, and media—have failed spectacularly.  … When the intellectuals and nonprofits went silent when lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccine mandates came along, we thought that they were merely afraid to speak. We hadn’t considered that their silence was evidence of a much deeper corruption…”   (1)

Our difficulties are much broader than the institutional ones, of course. A recent episode of the “Theology Pugcast” (2) outlined four major causes that have brought down entire civilizations in the past, and the list graphically describes America today:

1. Mass migration combined with corrupt and ineffectual government;

2. Sexual license;

3. Loss of belief in society and its values; and

4. Massive deficit spending.

I would add one more: an epidemic of cowardice. There are many examples.

• The “Covid papers” being released under court order show that Pfizer knew many awful things before the “vaccines” were released, but no one ever spoke up. (3)

• Dr. Fauci’s agency briefed 15 government agencies in 2018 about their plans to create a virus in the Wuhan lab that sounds just like Covid-19, but we only know that because of one brave man now coming forth. No one else ever spoke up. (4)

• We first learned about the rapid, unexplained, worldwide rise in “excess deaths” and disabilities from an investment analyst reading insurance company data (5), not the medical industry; now, years into an ongoing epidemic of unexplained deaths, no one at the CDC will yet discuss, release, or analyze the needed data, and the drug apparently causing all that damage is still on the market.

• As thousands were dying from the lack of early treatment for Covid and the ineffectiveness of the required hospital protocols, doctors and pharmacies were bullied into not using the known, proven, and widely used antivirals that saved many lives in the third-world countries who used them. (6)

The framers of our nation understood well how the accumulation of power leads to moral failure and governmental corruption. One strength of the Constitution is that it distributes power in multiple directions. Our fundamental political failure is that in ignoring that principle we have allowed immense power, and therefore immense amounts of money, to accumulate in one place. To quote Thomas Jefferson,

"In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”  (7) 

President James Garfield, looking forward to our time, offered a precise diagnosis:

“Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.… If the next centennial does not find us a great nation … it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.” (8)

As our country has rejected both the safeguards provided by the Constitution and the guiding Judeo-Christian principles of our founding, we are reaping the harvest of that negligence. We have become a culture determined to “call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…” (9)

When Paul wrote to the early Roman church, “All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one,”(10) he was quoting King David’s Psalm 14, in which David lamented the lack of righteousness in his world. It appears to be a long-standing indictment of mankind throughout history! Why are we surprised, when it blossoms in our place and time? And why have we let the guardrails be dismantled? 

What is the solution? How do we restore those guardrails? The answer is simple, but difficult to achieve. It’s a long trip home, but the alternative is worse.

To quote James Garfield again,

"Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master of all industry and commerce...when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate."(11)

By allowing the functions of the federal government to expand far beyond its Constitutional bounds, we have invited so much money to flow through Washington that it has become the center of corruption as well as governance. A brief review of that document will make it clear that the new “general” government was given absolutely no authority to be involved in manufacturing, healthcare, technology (other than issuing patents), education, energy, or a thousand other things they “regulate” today. All of those things belong to you and your state, not to Washington DC.

As we passively watch the federal tentacles reach deeper into our lives, new extra-Constitutional bureaucracies emerge to manage them, since the Congress - the representative of the people - cannot directly deal with so much. So Congress delegates authority they do not have — to bodies that are not accountable to the people, as they are — and the violations multiply. And with those bureaucracies come the money, as all the parties affected try to influence all the decision-makers and expand their own increasing power.

The solution? “Leviathan must be stopped,” as Mr. Tucker concluded. (1)

How?

Just what Jefferson said. The framers knew that men will be corrupted, and they created protection against that problem … which we have ignored. But if we don’t know what those “chains of the Constitution” are, how can we enforce them?

The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay, spelled out the discipline that we as a free people must have:

“Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country, and teach the rising generation to be free. By knowing  their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated, and be the better prepared to defend and assert them.”(12)

Whether America as we know it survives the current attack on its very foundations, or some other entity emerges to take its place, the principles embedded in that Constitution under God’s guidance are still the best model for the government of a free people that the world has ever seen. They are very much worth learning and defending.

What can you do?

As a patriot, ie, someone who loves your country and wants her freedoms and benefits to the world to continue for your children and their children:

• Get in touch with Patriot Academy (13), register as a Constitution Coach, and begin teaching your family and those in your circles of influence, using excellent material already provided by Patriot Academy and Wallbuilders. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3: invite people to come, push “Play”, and discuss with the group.

• Put your support behind the move to rein in Congress and the Judiciary using Article V of the Constitution — a “Constitutional solution big enough for our Constitutional problem.” (14)

• Do everything you can to insist that your representatives, whether political or law enforcement, whether in local, state, or national roles, live up to their oath to “protect and defend the Constitution.”

• And insist on truth, in every arena. We must challenge the foolishness and the lies. Assertions of unreality are all around us, and we must speak — or truth will die. Heather Mac Donald eloquently dismantles one of those lies in a recent Imprimis article, “Disparate Impact Thinking is Destroying Our Civilization” (15).

As a Christian:

• Give up stewing in anger, “because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” (16) Those perpetrating the fraud, abuse, and unlawful actions are in need of meeting the King, just as you were. He gave His life for them, as He did for you. As John said, "God so loved the world …” (17), not just those who behave the way you wish they would.

• Realize that none of this is new, and none of it surprises God. “In the world you will have trouble” … remember? … “but I have overcome the world.” So what do we do? Did He provide instructions? Yes. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” We call it the “Great Commission,” and it is still one of the primary keys to setting the captives free, seeing lives changed, and impacting the world for good. (18)

—————————————

Footnotes:

1)  Jeffrey A. Tucker, “Leviathan Must Be Stopped”, February 3, 2023.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/leviathan-must-be-stopped-5032634

2) “How Civilizations Collapse”,

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pugcast/id1523781227

3) https://behindthefdacurtain.substack.com/p/what-is-medical-truth-worth-in-2024; the opening summarizes well what has been revealed so far.

4) https://www.foxnews.com/video/6350579731112

5) https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/good-morning-chd/ed-dowd-they-cant-run-from-this-data/

6) Dr. Pierre Kory, “War on Ivermectin: The Medicine that Saved Millions and Could Have Ended the Pandemic”

7) Thomas Jefferson, fair copy of the drafts of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798

8) President James Garfield, https://www.azquotes.com/quote/606290

9) Isaiah 5:20, Revised Standard Version

10)  Romans 3:12, Revised Standard Version

11) President James Garfield, https://www.azquotes.com/quote/417896

12) Chief Justice John Jay, quoted by Patriot Academy, https://www.patriotacademy.com/dyk-032/

13) https://www.patriotacademy.com/constitution-coach

14) https://conventionofstates.com/

15)  Heather Mac Donald, “Disparate Impact Thinking is Destroying Our Civilization”, Imprimis, February 2024, Volume 53, Number 2, Hillsdale College.

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/disparate-impact-thinking-is-destroying-our-civilization/

16) James 1:20, New International Version

17) John 3:16, Revised Standard Version

18) John 16:3, Matthew 28:19-20, Revised Standard Version

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash.

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If you need to catch up:

The price of freedom is active diligence and self-education; unfortunately, with our mostly comfortable lives, the temptation is  always to ignore what’s unpleasant. We must remember … the ostrich’s normal defense against danger never ends well for the ostrich. Here are a few background reading and viewing recommendations, for those unfamiliar with the level of malfeasance currently being revealed particularly in our medical institutions:

• Ed Dowd,

  • “Cause Unknown": The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022”

  • CHD TV interview when the death statistics began emerging:  

    https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/good-morning-chd/ed-dowd-they-cant-run-from-this-data/

• Steve Kirsch,  A summary of the evidence against the COVID vaccines, Jan 07, 2024

  • https://kirschsubstack.com/p/a-summary-of-the-evidence-against

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr, 

  • “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health”

  • “The Wuhan Cover-Up: And the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race”

• Dr. Pierre Kory, “War on Ivermectin: The Medicine that Saved Millions and Could Have Ended the Pandemic”

• Dr. Robert W. Malone, “Lies My Government Told Me”

• Naomi Wolf, 

  • “Facing the Beast: Courage, Faith, and Resistance in a New Dark Age”

  •  “The Bodies of Others: The New Authoritarians, COVID-19 and the War Against the Human”

• Jessica Rose, Analyzing the 1.6 Million Adverse Event Reports Regarding the Covid Vaccines

  • https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/jessica-rose-breaks-down-1-6-million-adverse-event-reports-in-vaers-definitive-evidence-of-causality-5603019

• Brownstone Institute: What We Knew in the Early Days

  • https://brownstone.org/articles/what-we-knew-in-the-early-days/

• Substack sites — among many others:

  • Illusion of Concensus

  • Brownstone Insights

  • Courageous Discourse

  • Meryl’s Covid Newsletter

  • Unacceptable Jessica

  • Steve Kirsch’s Newsletter

  • Unreported Truths

  • Human Flourishing

  • Who is Robert Malone

  • Pierre Kory’s Medical Musings

  • Outspoken with Dr Naomi Wolf

  • The Vigilant Fox

  • Welcome to Absurdistan

This, of course, is not a surprise, since it is the driving goal of the Marxist philosophy that undergirds many of the today’s ascendant ideologies, including Critical Race Theory, the BLM movement (whose founder proudly declared she was schooled in Marxism), the DEI philosophy, the “one world” move to eliminate national borders and give global power to the WHO, and others.

The unique durability of the American experiment depended on distributing political power in every way possible, putting government at the service of the people and declaring that human rights come from God. The framers thereby minimized the opportunity for one faction to seize control of everything, allowing room for the competition of ideas and for human creativity to flourish. Those protections are now being ignored or removed, opening the way for the incredible blessings of western civilization (reliable power, clean water, antibiotics, air conditioning, flight, safe communities, personal freedom, etc) to be seriously threatened.

But hard times are not new, in the history of the world. Those blessings have been a rare gift to mankind. Things may get much more difficult very soon.

Given that reality, the relevant question for God’s people, to echo Francis Shaeffer, is “How should we then live?”

Can an old fisherman help us?

When the apostle Peter wrote to the new believers scattered through what we now call the middle East, his readers were learning to follow Jesus in the midst of substantial opposition.  Years earlier Peter had left his fisherman’s nets to follow the Messiah, and now he was writing a couple of letters to “young” Christians in a hostile environment.

Many “gods” were worshipped around them, and the common religious practices were often highly sexualized and worse.  Moreover, their sometimes-brutal Roman overlords were not favorable to having anyone called “Lord” other than Caesar.  Peter, himself expecting to die soon, acknowledges the pressures with calm understatement: 

“For a little while you may have to suffer various trials,” and “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you…” (1)

 As we consider the world around us, his recommendations are as relevant to us today as they were 2000 years ago. What did this fisherman-turned-shepherd say to his  scattered flock?  

He did not encourage them to rage against the storm and condemn the people involved, as I hear some doing today.  The evil in the world does not surprise God; in fact, He paid the unthinkable price to deal with that, and He has had a plan to wrap things up since the beginning of time. That’s His role, not ours.  

But do we stand against the darkness pressing upon us?  Yes, absolutely, in the roles God gives us each to play. Wonderful men and women are battling it in the courts, in legislatures, in the media, even fighting to reclaim the practice of medicine from tyrannical bureaucracy. Some are focused on defending the rights to free speech and personal autonomy, lest those disappear from the earth again. Many are finding and proclaiming truth, and being severely attacked for daring to do so.  God bless them all.  Certainly find the roles you can play, and as the poster says, “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”  

For the Christian, Peter’s advice is to begin by knowing where all this is coming from.

“Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (2) 

We all know people who have been devoured by this destroyer, trapped in addiction, depression, anger, or worse.  The famous prayer Jesus taught was not to be delivered “from evil,” but “from the evil one.”  Various writers in both the Old and New Testament give us details about the spiritual warfare that drives human events and even who the participants are. Paul wrote to the Ephesian church specifically about how Christians are to conduct that warfare (3) in addition to the other, more visible parts we play in fighting for what is right on the world stage. 

Often this spiritual darkness manifests in driving individuals and groups to do horrible things, manipulating them through the use of pride, greed, addictions, ideologies, mass movements, etc. The point is that the ones being driven are not the primary cause, and seeing behind the curtain helps us be more effective in the places where we each stand.

Peter instructs us about our attitude in all this:

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.” (4)

 Every man stands before God for judgment not only of his actions, but for the thoughts and intentions of his heart, and though extraordinarily patient, God is not mocked. It is not our role to be hateful, judgmental, condemning, or abusive of those causing so much damage.  God says through Paul, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?”(5)   Have they lied?  Yes, but so have you.  Have they abused others, yes, but so have you.  “But not so much,” we exclaim in self-justification.

As Paul explains to the believers at Rome who may have been feeling particularly righteous,

“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things…” (6)

So, first, says Peter, recognize the true enemy.  Second, keep yourself humble, realizing that there is a God, and you are not Him.

Third, because that very God is exceedingly capable and loving, and because He alone can work through this mess we have made of planet Earth, and because He has already personally paid the price for the sin we see unfolding around us….  we can let Him bear the awful emotional weight of that evil.  He can, and we cannot. It is too much for us.

“Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” (7)  

That may seem to be a trivial, casual statement.  It is not.  There is power and truth in that simple instruction.  If you have given your life to Him, and therefore have begun to know Him in the intimate relationship He calls us each to experience, you know it is true.

Fully realize His depth of love for you, and for all those you care about. Give your life to Him, the one who took the nails in His hands and suffered so much in your place.  Then actively place your very real, gut-wrenching concerns in His care.  This will set you free from a host of evils — bitterness, anger, frustration, hatred, vengeance, despair, insomnia, on and on.  And then you will be emotionally free to make good decisions, see through the smokescreens, effectively minister to the victims, engage the battle on every level, and play the part He calls you to.

The rest of the fisherman’s advice is worth reading, as well. He speaks at length about where this is all going, emphasizing the great and glorious reasons for which we are able to endure the “various trials” of our day.  I refer you to his letters at the end of the New Testament.

1)  1 Peter 1:6 and 4:12, Revised Standard Version

2) 1 Peter 5:8, Revised Standard Version

3)  Ephesians 6:10-18, Revised Standard Version

4)  1 Peter 5:6, Revised Standard Version

5)   Romans 14:4, Revised Standard Version

6)  Romans 2:1-11, Revised Standard Version

7) 1 Peter 5:7, Revised Standard Version

Are you a Christian? 

Have you decided not to vote in the next election, because you “don’t like either candidate”?

What you like and dislike about the presidential candidates can be almost irrelevant; in contrast, the underlying battle for the survival of civilization is crucial. Voting is just the beginning of where we need to be involved.  When Christians decide not to vote because all the candidates for President have major flaws, it is almost assured that tyranny will result.  The opposing worldview craves that.

The scarcity of “perfect” candidates in any significant party is completely understandable.

Democratic party candidates are forced into lockstep submission to the party’s agenda, and are rarely held accountable for reprehensible behavior, even to the level of treason.  They pay no personal cost for political involvement, and power without accountability is seductive. They’re glad to run for office.

But those who honor functional families, limited government, Judeo-Christian principles, and the “consent of the governed” face blistering attacks by their own party and by a media fully supportive of the opposing Marxist agenda.  They and their families pay dearly for their political involvement.  We desperately need those few heroes who are willing and able to survive that political bloodbath and go on to accomplish worthy goals, whether they can recite Scripture or not.

The personal flaws of the presidential candidates barely influence the country’s direction;  but when we give a governing majority to one party or the other, it can have massive impact. If none of the candidates are acceptable to us, for whatever reasons of morality, appearance, manners, or whatever else matters to us, then it is our fault for not being involved early enough in the political process to ensure there ARE acceptable candidates to choose from!

As I write this, many sat out the last election because of such personality preferences. The country is seriously damaged as a result. An invasion by millions of people pours through our southern border, an attack completely controlled by and benefitting the Mexican drug cartels, and which our anti-Constitution administration has directly caused. Another ongoing crime by those who won, a corruption that might last for generations, is the ongoing weaponization of the federal law enforcement agencies to destroy their political opponents in classic tyrannical style.  

Those now running the federal government appear completely committed to Marxist beliefs and objectives.  As a result, any vote for a member of today’s Democratic party in any local or national race adds support to that national agenda, which is intent on destroying family, church, personal freedoms, and the Constitutional rule of law.

So the real issue is not a choice between flawed presidential candidates, but rather the ongoing attack on western civilization and our Constitutional republic, and the urgent need to defend both of those.  If you do not actively vote in favor of preserving a law-abiding civilization, you abandon the field to the party that eagerly seeks to destroy it.

We have been reminded of that for centuries.

John Adams, writing in 1798: 

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”1 

A society that cannot govern itself will be governed by force, and the rejection of our core Biblically-based principles sends us hurtling down that path.

President James Garfield, looking forward to our time today, spelled it out clearly: 

“Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.… If the next centennial does not find us a great nation … it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”2

For the people of God, the command to take a stand is clear and insistent.  The Psalms and Proverbs clearly guide our position towards those who, like our spiritual enemy, come “to steal, kill, and destroy.”

Proverbs 8:13 (NLT):  “All who fear the LORD will hate evil.” 

Psalm 97:10 (RSV):     “The LORD loves those who hate evil.”

Christians in particular have a moral obligation to participate as fully as possible in politics in America.  The evangelist Charles Finney declared that

“The church must take right ground in regard to politics. Politics are part of a religion in a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to their country as a part of their duty to God. God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.”3

In Paul’s letter to the Roman church, he confirmed to them that “the one in authority is God’s servant for your good … to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13, NIV).  Those familiar with the Constitution will recognize that uniquely in America “we the people” are the ones He put in authority, and all civil leaders, all levels of government, are accountable to us for carrying out those responsibilities, for dealing with lawlessness. If we abandon our role as shepherds for the people, the wolves will triumph.

Moreover, Christians should be better equipped than any other group to effectively support national righteousness.  The Judeo-Christian worldview identifies clearly the supernatural forces driving us towards chaos, and Paul directs us to where the real battle must be fought: 

As that battle rages “in the heavenly places,” our active participation in the struggle “on the ground” is simply an extension, a continuation of that commitment to fight supernaturally for the preservation of righteousness.

It is not just for America that we must engage. As George Washington said, “Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind.”4 To abandon the field of combat does a massive injustice to those who delivered our freedom to us through great suffering and loss, and to those who depend on us to bring it forward for them and their descendants.

In summary, please reject the inclination to not vote simply for lack of a perfect presidential candidate on the ballot. Focus instead on the real, ongoing battle for the survival of liberty and the knowledge of God. Let us not abandon what He has given us to those working to destroy all the foundations of the best civilization the world has ever seen. 

In summary, a small group within CDC seized the moment in January of 2020 to gather support for a discredited idea, throw away our accumulated wisdom and experience in dealing with epidemics, and push their plan to become the CDC recommendation.  Essentially, they ignored settled science in favor of shoddy computer modeling creating terrible projections based on lots of assumptions and no data. The media then demanded we “follow the science,” ironically, right off the cliff.

Here’s the longer version of what happened, as detailed in the articles referenced.  This is worth reviewing, because there will be more viruses, and memory is short. 

In 2006, Robert Glass used his daughter’s science fair project to experiment with “social distancing” to limit the spread of infection.  He created a graph and sent it to the CDC, suggesting they consider the approach.  In 2007, the Glass proposal was formally written up (3), but it was not implemented in the subsequent opportunities.  Until 2020.

When Glass presented his ideas, the most successful epidemiologist of the time, Dr. Donald Henderson, warned that following all those ideas (which we then followed) would “move towards catastrophe”.  

In January of 2020 Dr. Carter Mecher apparently saw the opportunity in the emerging crisis to pump up interest in the 2007 plan; he gathered a bunch of supporters and pressed it forward (5).  For whatever reasons, Dr. Henderson’s thorough evaluation was ignored, and the time-tested wisdom of building immunities until vaccines were available was discarded. True science went out the window, along with centuries of accumulated wisdom.  The group of “experts” prevailed, with disastrous results.

Dr. Henderson’s analysis, written in 2006, was detailed, thorough, and completely ignored by the CDC when it mattered. Dr. Henderson worked at the CDC, then led teams of epidemiologists at the W.H.O. and Johns Hopkins, and is credited with leading the elimination of smallpox.   He explained in gracious, careful, and thorough detail why our subsequently adopted strategy was a mistake. He discussed isolation, quarantine, masks, therapeutic drugs, vaccines, multiple waves, social distancing, computer models, hand washing, school closures, alternative care sites, unintended consequences … all of the “lockdown” topics.

A summary commentary by Dr. Edward Peter Stringham on how we got into this situation (including a relevant perspective on the “freedom and rights” issue) and a brief introduction to Dr. Henderson are here (6), followed by Dr. Henderson’s entire paper and footnotes.  I suggest to you that his evaluation is worth your time and consideration.  It is quite readable.

That’s the story. (1) Thank you, Jeffrey Tucker, Dr. Stringham, and the American Institute for Economic Research.

As the lockdown began, many doctors warned immediately that if we continued this strategy, “millions of casualties of a continued shutdown will be hiding in plain sight, but they will be called alcoholism, homelessness, suicide, heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. In youth it will be called financial instability, unemployment, despair, drug addiction, unplanned pregnancies, poverty, and abuse.”(8)   Exactly right.

Michael Levitt, Nobel Laureate, spelled it out:  “…the damage done by lockdowns will exceed any saving of lives by a huge factor.”(9)

After immediately destroying 36 million jobs (just in America) and pushing perhaps hundreds of millions around the world towards starvation, we continued hiding from a virus that barely affects those under 65, waiting for a miracle vaccine.   Why?  If we had been following the science, as Dr. Fauci insisted we must do, we would have let the virus “wash through the population”, in Dr. Knut Wittkowski ’s words (7), and build the herd immunity that would have let the quarantined ‘vulnerables’ get out of jail and return to whatever was left of their lives.  

Some “lessons learned” come to mind, partly from experience as a computer programmer and partly from loving this country and the unique opportunity God has given us here to practice self-governance as a free people:

a)  To paraphrase Dr. Thomas Sowell, decisions made by people who pay no price for being  wrong can be the worst kind.  No one at the CDC would expect to be held accountable for the damage they have done, and all actions downstream of them were just “following the science.”   

b)  Computer models are always wrong, for good reason. Examples of this abound.  As they say about anesthesia, don’t make any serious decisions while under the effect of computer models.

c)  Computer models built with un-reviewed code, wild assumptions, and no data … should not even be discussed, let alone presented as news and used to stoke panic.  Shame on the media.

d)  The mass media have a vested interest in panic. Fear drives attention, which drives ratings and inflates egos.  Refuse the “fear porn.” 

e)   Your common sense is worth more in managing your own life than anything any expert says.  Expertise is very narrow, by  necessity, but your decisions about your own life consider ALL the factors, including their opinions but also all the possible side effects, historical context, impact on relationships, possible ‘collateral damage,’ costs, etc, all the things the “experts” cannot begin to know or understand, even if they were to care about them.  Make your own decisions.  Ask every expert, “Why do you believe that?”

f)  When things don’t make sense, look for hidden agendas, and do not comply with tyranny.

Final notes on maintaining freedom:

The ‘freedom and rights’ side of the pandemic and vaccine discussions has never been trivial; please do not dismiss it as irrelevant or selfish.  It was never a choice of “claiming your rights vs. loving your neighbor,” as a friend said.   

And when the government began insisting that millions of us inject a quickly-developed, poorly-tested, liability-free, genetic manipulation experiment labeled as a “vaccine,” and an avalanche of damage and death reports flowed into the VAERS database, the importance of medical freedom became vividly apparent.

 “Emergencies have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded — and once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist.”

— F. A. Hayek

Moving towards governmental tyranny is a one-way ratchet.  To stay free, we must aggressively defend that freedom.  One of our founders pointed the way:

“Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country and teach the rising generation to be free.  By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated, and be the better prepared to defend and assert them.” 

— John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. (10)  

To learn and teach the Constitution, go to Patriot Academy, find a class, learn what they never taught you in school, then become a Constitution Coach to help teach our rising generations to be free!

Here’s a test:  What authority does the federal government have to manage our healthcare industry and choices?

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1.  https://www.aier.org/article/the-2007-origins-of-forced-school-closings-and-mandatory-human-separation

2.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-deaths-mount-trump-tries-to-convince-americans-its-safe-to-inch-back-to-normal/2020/05/09/bf024fe6-9149-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html

3.  https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/pdf/community_mitigation-sm.pdf

4.  “Disease mitigation measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza, February 2006, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science 4(4):366-75 DOI:10.1089/bsp.2006.4.366”

Now at     https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/bsp.2006.4.366

        Reprinted in full as part of this article.  

5.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-red-dawn-emails-trump.html

6.  https://www.aier.org/article/how-a-free-society-deals-with-pandemics-according-to-legendary-epidemiologist-and-smallpox-eradicator-donald-henderson

7.  https://kfyi.iheart.com/content/2020-04-04-dr-fauci-vs-this-guy-professor-knut-wittkowski-on-the-coronavirus/

8.  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doctors-raise-alarm-about-health-effects-of-continued-coronavirus-shutdown

9. https://www.aier.org/article/nobel-laureate-michael-levitt-on-the-lockdowns-i-think-it-is-a-huge-mistake/

10.  John Jay, The Correspondence And Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, editor (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890), Vol I, pp 163-164.

As this information continues to develop, and as a volunteer team of credentialed doctors, nurses, etc (1) continues to analyze and report on what the 450,000 Pfizer documents reveal, the news just gets worse and worse.

For example, it is now obvious from the Pfizer documents that many people in both Pfizer and the FDA, and by implication the NIH and CDC, knew the mRNA vaccines did not work, and that they were likely to do serious harm to millions of people, as early as December of 2020. By the end of February, 2021, reports had already been received of 158,000 adverse vaccine reactions producing damage in every possible human system, including 1,200 deaths.

And yet they pushed these “vaccines” out with a focused, intense, global propaganda campaign through 2021 and 2022, and injected them into millions of people, publicly saying “safe and effective” even for pregnant and nursing mothers, although the Pfizer trials had already shown that was false.

As all this becomes more widely known, the injections are still being promoted by the pharmacies where you shop, and the ongoing, increasing tide of deaths and disabilities is catastrophic (2, 3).

The data is emerging, the culpability is obvious, the betrayal of our trust by the institutions is wide and deep. Hopefully there will be a reckoning and an end to the madness. Unfortunately, as we have seen in recent scandals, you can say “I don’t remember” hundreds of times under oath to escape punishment. Let us pray that God’s high-wattage searchlight will reveal what is hidden, and ’what was whispered in the house will be shouted from the rooftops.’

From a Judeo-Christian perspective, let’s focus on the larger question: how do we as followers of Jesus, and more broadly those who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, walk through this?

First, we acknowledge that none of this is a surprise to Him, and should not be a surprise to us. Corruption, greed, deception, betrayal, brutality, fear, murder … these are common to the human story, and as Jesus so elegantly understated it,

“In this world you will have trouble.”

Second, as you become more aware that there is a real, global, deadly war going on, remember Paul’s admonition to the church at Ephesus:

No matter how you feel about the individuals in the current situation who schemed, deceived, benefited, or just went along with blatant evil, remember that they also — like everyone else — are being used and abused by anti-human spiritual powers, and that’s where the global warfare needs to be waged while the doctors and lawyers try to deal with the human side of the crisis.

Paul goes on in his letter to describe how we participate in that battle, and the seriousness of our plight in the world today - going far beyond the vaccine horrors - is in part due to our total neglect of his urgent plea that God’s people get involved in exactly that way.

Third, keep an eternal perspective, based on what we perceive of God’s character, faithfulness, and complete control of the situation, as demonstrated by His orchestration of events through the millennia to further His plans, dealing frequently with our failure as human beings to accept His love and guidance.

For example, during the 400 years of “silence” before God sent John into action on the banks of the Jordan, what did the people of Israel think? Their God had not “spoken” for centuries. We know that at least a few were patiently, faithfully waiting for His promises to be fulfilled; Elizabeth and Zechariah come to mind.

But did anyone think, “He must be preparing a language that the whole Mediterranean region will speak, and roads that will facilitate the spread of His good news throughout the land, in preparation for His next big move?” If they had, they would have been right, and that eternal perspective would have served them well.

Jesus continually directs us to an eternal perspective, as we endure, as we fight, as we stand. He told His disciples just before the crucifixion,

“You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish.” (5)

Though we may be “put to death …not a hair of your head will perish!” Think about that!

And in His encouragement to the thief on the next cross, Jesus answered him, 

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”(6)

What comes next may be a breath away for any one of us, and that should be our real orientation as we do the work He has prepared for us to do. Though we dimly glimpse our role, we each have a part to play in our daily participation in His plans, His priorities — the work “prepared beforehand” for each of us.

“For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (9)

What are those, for you? Go ask, go find out, so the part you are to play does not go missing.

In particular, He has made it clear throughout the Scriptures: He who loves God must hate evil.

“To fear the LORD is to hate evil,” declares the writer of Proverbs. (7)

“Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts,” God instructs the prophet Amos. (8)

In every opportunity, we must fight as we can, which includes not allowing ourselves to be “cancelled” by fear of consequences, self-censorship, etc, whatever keeps us silent. And when we are not the ones on the human battlefield, in the courts or the press or the hospitals trying to repair this damage, we can aggressively support and intercede for those who are in that physical battle. Take your place in the spiritual conflict surrounding them and, on their behalf, resist the forces working against them.

As we stand against the darkness, we must not let it control us. We know the God who loves us, we know He is “greater than he who is in the world.” We know He is managing the entire chessboard, across the millennia, while we glimpse one small moment in one small square.

For the joy set before us, as He directs, we take our place in the battle. As John Quincy Adams said about the struggle of his day,

“Duty is ours. The result is God’s.”

——————————

(1) Pfizer Documents Investigation Team, project director Amy Kelly, “WarRoom / DailyClout Pfizer Documents Analysis Reports: Find Out What Pfizer, FDA Tried to Conceal (Millerton, NY: Daily Clout, 2023).

Source: Naomi Wolf, “Facing the Beast: Courage, Faith, and Resistance in a New Dark Age”, Chelsea Green Publishing, Chapter 10.

(2)https://phinancetechnologies.com/HumanityProjects/Yearly%20Excess%20Death%20Rate%20Analysis%20-%20US.htm

(3) Closing in on the Covid Conspirators, Elizabeth Nickson,

Welcome to Absurdistan

Closing in on the Covid Conspirators

When I was (very) junior at Time, the editors in New York would assign a ‘take-out’ on a subject preoccupying their readership. Ten reporters, five researchers, three fact checkers, two or three writers and a couple of editors would go to work for a couple of months and produce fifteen or twenty thousand definitive words. That was when the magazine had six million subscribers, thirty million readers and…

Read more

2 years ago · 184 likes · 144 comments · elizabeth nickson

(4) Ephesians 6:10-13 (NET) Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 Dec, 2023. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/net/eph/6/11/s_1103011>

(5) Luke 21 (NIV) - https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/luk/21/18/s_994018

(6) Luke 23 (NIV) - https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/luk/23/26/s_996026

(7) Proverbs 8 (NIV) - https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/pro/8/13/s_636013

(8) Amos 5 (NIV) - https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/amo/5/15/s_884015

(9) Ephesians 2 (NIV) https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/eph/2/10/s_1099010

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This circumstance is happening so often, and the non-explanation is so commonly accepted at face value, that I will do my share in providing context and likely explanations for those who are simply not informed.

Judging by their normal pattern, it may be another 2-4 years before NYT, CNN, MSNBC, etc, admit and investigate the problem. So most people, perhaps including the doctors you rely on, may not know what’s happening for a while.

You may now call me a conspiracy theorist! But at least you will have heard the concern, and you can apologize later.

The data is public and overwhelming, so it’s no secret, but for billions of obvious reasons it is not widely reported, and therefore not widely discussed. But as Ed Dowd declared a year ago, “They can’t hide from this data forever.” (1) He believes the data we are seeing so far is the tip of an iceberg, and the results are going to be cataclysmic.

Here’s the bottom line. The data is so bad it is hard to comprehend.

According to the detailed research and analysis by Phinance Technologies (2), about 82% of the 148 million who were healthy young and mid-life employed people in America during late 2021 and through 2022 are fine. But 18% are not, 1.4 million of them were suddenly disabled, and the number of Americans who died in that most healthy of age groups, during that short time, is estimated at 300,000 ABOVE THE NORMAL RATE.

Additional deaths. “Excess mortality.” About five times the number we lost in the entire Vietnam war, in addition to the number of deaths we normally see. The data is stunning, impossible, inexplicable … but beyond debate, as it comes from actual death claims paid by publicly-held insurance companies.

A worldwide analysis based on 17 countries places that estimate at 1.7 million “excess deaths” since the fourth quarter of 2021 for those countries. (3)

What’s going on? Is it the virus? Fentanyl? Missed screenings? Suicides?

No.

This began a year and a half after the coronavirus arrived, with no such phenomenon occurring in the meantime. And coronaviruses do not cause thousands of young, healthy, asymptomatic people, many of them prime athletes, to suddenly fall down dead, or die in their sleep.

What happened in early 2021 and rapidly spread, that would have affected people all around the world?

We created an experimental genetic manipulation device using mRNA, called it a “vaccine,” and injected it into hundreds of millions of people, sometimes under duress.

And as time passes, we have learned several things about that shot that incriminate it. Things that were untested, unexpected, and fraudulently undisclosed. The evidence is mounting, to say the least, that the shot itself is the problem and we have committed an enormous “medical crime against humanity.” Lawsuits have now begun (4) over the allegedly deceptive promotions used to market it, and may soon arise over the manufacturing processes and lack of quality control. (5)(6)(7)

Multiple underlying mechanisms are known and proposed at this point, regarding how the shots are damaging people. I’ll let the experts referenced below lay it out for you. But here’s the conclusion:

If it’s been a while since you had a Covid shot, and you’re doing well, great. Thank God and go on with your life. But please, don’t roll the dice again.

Eventually the whole story will come out. The manufacturers have only released safety data when forced to do so, and the federal agencies — who have the data needed for analysis but are deeply involved in creating and benefiting from the experiment — are completely silent, while billions of dollars flow in.

At this point, doctors, scientists, and even journalists who do know, and speak up, may lose their friends, their licenses, their incomes, their careers. So they mostly don’t, and the silence continues.(6) Dr. Ryan Cole speaks with other pathologists around the world about this, and reports that those who see it don’t want to say it, and the required diagnostic tissue tests are simply not done when someone dies.

And the cause is “unknown.”

For now, pray for those who have healthy family members or friends suddenly disabled or “suddenly die, for no apparent cause.” Pray that God’s light will shine, and please … encourage those you love … don’t get another mRNA shot.

(1) “Excess Mortality Doubled for Americans Aged 35 to 44: Edward Dowd on New Society of Actuaries Data,” Epoch Times, American Thought Leaders, Sept 6, 2022 https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/84-percent-rise-in-excess-deaths-among-millennials-edward-dowd-on-new-society-of-actuaries-data-4710431

(2) Phinance Technologies: “The Vaccine Damage Project - Human Cost” 
https://phinancetechnologies.com/HumanityProjects/The%20VDamage%20Project%20-%20Human%20%20Cost.htm 

(3) “Researchers Find COVID Vaccines Linked to Increased Mortality”, Epoch Times, American Thought leaders, September 28, 2023 https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/health/covid-vaccines-causally-linked-to-increased-mortality-resulting-in-17-million-deaths-scientific-report-5499001

(4) Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Sues Pfizer for Mis­rep­re­sent­ing COVID-19 Vac­cine Effi­ca­cy and Con­spir­ing to Cen­sor Pub­lic Discourse https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-pfizer-misrepresenting-covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-and-conspiring

(5) “DNA Contamination in Vaccines”, Epoch Times, American Thought Leaders, November 9, 2023

https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/dna-contamination-in-vaccines-a-potential-cancer-risk-dr-jessica-rose-5525215

(6) America’s Frontline Doctors: “Unethical ‘Vaccine’ Mandates” 
https://americasfrontlinedoctors.org/about-us/issue-briefs/unethical-vaccine-mandates

(7) Microbiologist Criticizes mRNA COFID19 Vaccines in German Parliament, Epoch Times, American Thought Leaders, June 3, 2023 https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/health/gigantic-medical-crime-microbiologist-criticizes-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-in-german-parliament-5537973

More references:

Ed Dowd, “Cause Unknown”: the Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022 
https://www.amazon.com/Cause-Epidemic-Sudden-Deaths-2021/dp/B0C6VMQJQD/ref=sr_1_1

Dr. Ryan Cole: “How DNA Contamination May Explain Post-Vaccination Rise in Cancers, Autoimmune Diseases, and Clots” 
https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/epochtv/dr-ryan-cole-how-dna-contamination-may-explain-post-vaccination-rise-in-cancers-autoimmune-diseases-and-clots-5535467

“How Humans Were Used as ‘Lab Rats’ in the COVID Pandemic,” Epoch Times, American Thought Leaders, June 3, 2023 https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/how-humans-were-used-as-lab-rats-in-the-covid-pandemic-dr-ryan-cole-on-fragmented-mrna-spike-messages-and-the-vaccine-ego-5300734

Reprinted from The AmericanThinker, August 25, 2013, and lightly edited.

Except for a brief interlude, very little about our trajectory has changed since 2013. Our betrayal of the Constitution and the corruption of our institutions both run unchecked, along with the accelerating costs of those failures in both money and lives; and we continue “Slouching Towards Gomorrah,” as the late Robert Bork so well described it.

What has happened to our Constitutional republic? Where is the rule of law? What about "the consent of the governed"? National and state leaders pick and choose which laws they will enforce. Unaccountable bureaucracies and nine unelected men and women in black robes dictate how we must behave and what we must believe, controlling every aspect of our national life. A screaming mob storms the state legislature, injecting chaos to prevent a vote until after the midnight deadline closes the session. A single district judge annuls the overwhelming majority decision of the state’s voters. This can't be right.

You're a Christian and a patriot, frustrated and angry that America's leaders reject God, support radicalism, and are moving towards criminalizing Christianity. You love your country and its heritage, but see it being driven towards Marxism and economic collapse. The people doing that damage are breaking all the rules of our political system, so you don't see how you can "play fair" and have any effect opposing them. They seem determined to steal any remaining freedoms and smash the few remnants of Judeo-Christian morality, trampling on our Constitutional rights with abandon.

But didn't Jesus say to "turn the other cheek" and "love your enemies"? Do you let them walk all over you? That can't be right either.

How do you walk as a Christian and a patriot, doing all you can to preserve the America you love for your children and grandchildren, while leaving it all in God's hands and "being anxious about nothing"?

First, the Christian part.

Get serious about being a Christian. You are a sojourner; this is not your home. God's priorities are not the same as yours, and when you pray for Him to fix things you may not like how He does it. He scraped Jerusalem to the ground and sent them into 70 years of exile when His people ignored His commands; what will He do if His people today -- the church -- will not "humble themselves and pray and seek [His] face and turn from their wicked ways"? It won't be pretty, but He will do whatever is required to get our attention and obedience.

Yes, He has blessed America, and blessed the world through her. But He's much more focused on your character than America's survival; nations rise and fall, but He's training you for eternity. "Love your enemies" and complete, unconditional forgiveness of everyone are commands, not requests; do you not understand what He accomplished on the cross?

His love, however, is not soft, weak, gullible, naive, or pandering. It was love that whipped the moneychangers at their tables in the temple and called the Pharisees a den of vipers. It was love that submitted to torture and brutal murder, buying the forgiveness of every sin on earth, and it was love that walked into Hell and brought out the captives. That's the love you're called to.

Next, give up anger, entitlement, and caring what people think, so you can deal effectively with the treachery of the world without being controlled and driven by it. The maker of Heaven holds you in His hand; why do you care what others say about you? Get over it.

When you are no longer reacting in anger and hurt feelings, you can think clearly and see what's happening. When you give up being offended, give up protecting your rights, you can focus on His priorities instead; and when you aren't protecting your reputation you are free to do and say what's needed in every situation.

Now you're ready to be a patriot.

You believe that our Constitution created the best form of government ever devised by man, enabling the prosperity and personal freedom that act as magnets drawing millions here from all over the world. But you also see it being aggressively, continually violated, and you see the inevitable result of that national unfaithfulness to the founding principles unfolding in our society and economy. Disaster is coming over us in waves.

You depend on elections to be your opportunity for change; but when your beliefs and priorities succeed in an election, the opponents run to friendly federal judges and leverage judicial tyranny to overturn the results. If that fails, they turn to violence in the streets. Throughout this whole process the mass media distorts the truth and encourages the poorly-informed population to believe lies, and your opponents even use the power of federal agencies to frighten and discourage those who would stand with you.

Why are you upset that others cheat and lie? Did you not expect it? In fact, they probably think you cheat and lie. But you've given up anger, remember? And you don't care what people think of you. So you are able to talk about any of your concerns with anyone, anytime, calmly and with love and forgiveness in your heart towards them.

OK, you're still working on that part.

Think of it as a chess game; expect to be attacked, think long term, and don't take it personally. More importantly, remember that our warfare is not with flesh and blood, but with the forces that drive and deceive those opposing us. Seek the wisdom that is wiser than the foolishness of men.

Let's go a level deeper. What if your assessment of their actions is correct, and their actions will in fact result in more damage to things you hold dear? And further, what if your assessment of their motives is correct, that they are acting from an intentional desire to grab personal power and wealth at the expense of people, traditions, and what's left of our freedoms? In short, what if they are truly acting from evil motives to accomplish destructive ends?

Jesus requires us to love our enemies. Roll that around in your mind, let it sink in, plumb the thought until you realize what He is saying: we are to love even those who seek our destruction.

How can this be? It is because they are made in God's image, just as you are, and He honors everyone's free will. Everyone.

We are required, as Christians, to extend to them the same freedom to choose that God does, and the same forgiveness that God extends to us. They are as free to choose their motives as you are. They are as free to choose their actions, and suffer the consequences, as you are. The cross paid for their sin just as fully as it paid for yours; their sin is no worse than yours, in the eyes of God.

Does that mean we are doormats? Do we not deal with criminal actions?

Of course we do. There's no conflict between true Christianity and self-defense, criminal prosecution, the death penalty, and other means of providing necessary consequences for evil actions. God gave government the power of the sword for a reason, and in America, "we the people" are the source of sovereignty for all branches of government. We delegate some of that sovereignty as "police power" to our cities and states so that evil actions will incur appropriate consequences.

So we deal firmly with wrongdoing, passionately opposing destructive actions in the political arena, in the schools, in the media; but we do it with grace, realizing that we are dealing with spiritual forces more than human ones, and without condemnation, hate, or condescension for our opponents. They have as much freedom to be wrong as we do!

Now you're ready to walk as a Christian and a patriot: passionately loving America, but not clinging to it; extending forgiveness and respect to those who, like yourself, don't deserve it; and looking for the part God has for you to play in the unfolding of our part of history, the part we call "today."

It is crucial to leave results in His hands, realizing that He is working on many levels and in many hearts, and that the specific, local outcome we desire may not be in His plans at all.

We may see an extension of the American blessing, and we may not. Nations rise and fall, and He has them all in His hands. This is just a small part of a much longer story called Eternity, in which all men get to make their choices, and in which -- at some point we cannot imagine -- every knee will bow, every heart will be judged, and every tear will be wiped away.