Saturday, December 21, 2024

The Top 5 (December 21)

* "Are the Years of Madness Ending?" (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness)

From the article -- Never in U.S. history has a president-elect been welcomed as the real president before his January 20 inauguration. And never has the incumbent president so willingly surrendered his last two months in office and all but abdicated—to the relief of his nation and the rest of the world.

One reason so many are welcoming Trump’s return is the universally desperate hope that his election spelled an end to a collective madness at home and its ripples abroad during the last four years. And why not?

* "We may finally be recovering from the woke brain rot: For the first time in decades, the sane among us have the upper hand." (Lionel Shriver, spiked!)

From the article -- Whatever the more complex truth of the matter, it’s in our interest to promote the trope that woke is over. That woke has been vanquished. That woke is totally yesterday, hopelessly stale and played out. That the rest of us are all moving on to genuinely thorny questions that aren’t stupid. That we’ll no longer waste our time pushing back against petty amateur linguists who insist we call the portly ‘people living with obesity’. That, whatever our private reservations about the guy, Trump’s election marks a hard Before and After. That as Kamala would say, we’ve ‘turned the page’ and ‘we’re not going back’.

Because when you say something enough times (this is a gambit the wokesters themselves have mastered), you can make it true. Wokesters are highly suggestible. Furthermore, most of these folks don’t really care about social justice. They care about appearing to care about social justice. They care about other people’s esteem. They care about fitting in. They echo what everyone else around them says, because being a mindless copycat means other mindless copycats will like them and they’ll keep their friends and their jobs. And they care about social fashion

* "Beyond Green: Down with Al Gore once and for all! The case for a rational energy policy." (Michael Lind, Tablet)

From the article -- If progressives are to be believed, the world is facing a “climate emergency” that requires the rapid elimination of fossil fuels and massive, never-ending taxpayer subsidies for wind, solar, and related infrastructure. But despite being ceaselessly propagandized by alarmist climate change messaging, a majority of Americans do not believe that global warming will pose serious threats in their own lifetimes, by a ratio of 54-to-45.

* "The Democrats’ Anti-Israel Future: It all changed with Barack Obama." (Joshua Muravchik, Commentary)

From the article -- The 2024 election left the Democrats “considering how to navigate a dark future,” said the New York Times. Voices from the progressive wing instantly made clear that one matter at issue will be the party’s stance toward Israel.

The Democrats’ traditional friendliness to the Jewish state had resonated in the words of President Joe Biden’s immediate reaction to Hamas’s invasion and massacre of October 7, 2023. “This was an act of sheer evil,” he pronounced. “Israel has the right…in-deed has a duty to respond… . If the United States experienced [the likes of this] our response would be swift, decisive, and overwhelming.” He said that the U.S. was “surging military assistance” and had moved a carrier strike group and additional fighter aircraft to the area. “The United States has Israel’s back. It’s as simple as that…. We’re with Israel.”

Yet, over the ensuing weeks and months, it proved not as simple as that. Biden grew increasingly focused on protecting Gazan noncombatants and on restraining Israel in other ways. Vice President Kamala Harris, to whom he passed the Democratic standard in withdrawing from the 2024 election, was still more assertive in that direction, as was, to an even greater degree, her chosen running mate, Tim Walz. Their apparent predispositions, and the political currents within their party, prompted CNN political analyst Ronald Brownstein to muse, “Biden could be the last Democratic president for the foreseeable future who aligns so unreservedly with” Israel.

* "American Men and the Emerging Culture Shift" (Pedro Gonzalez, Chronicles)

From the article -- And that’s really what I’m getting at: there is a growing appetite for a new culture, for items that are both free from ideological shackles and expressive of values and virtues divergent from those that have come to dominate the mainstream under the thumb of progressive hegemony. Now is the time to create and patronize new things. In particular, I think the market for literature looks promising. 

Back in August, Alex Perez, a Cuban-American writer based in Miami, lamented the lack of masculine fiction in the literary scene—and struck back at those who criticized him for pointing out what is an obvious problem. Much of what passes for fiction today is dreck. If it features men at all, they are too often portrayed as weak, incompetent, villainous, or some combination of all three. Man is allowed to exist in the pages of today’s novels only if “he writes apologetically and shamefully” about being an American man—the worst kind imaginable. For Perez, “American man” doesn’t necessarily mean right-wing, either. 




Thursday, December 19, 2024

Politics & Christmas

From a purely logical point of view, the Advent of Christ occurred at a most inconvenient time and in a most inhospitable place. The details of this scheme certainly would not have been cleared by professional planners or modern-day management consultants. I mean the circumstances seemed so wrong.

Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the Roman world into which Jesus was born, was no friend of religious freedom. Indeed, he was a tyrant of the old school who used repression, intimidation and violence as effective controls over the populations he dominated. And his underlings in the chain of command? Just as bad. Quirinius, the governor of Syria was a thug and Herod, the Roman-acclaimed King of the Jews who controlled Palestine, was a vicious assassin.

This then was the hostile, unstable, sin-sick political situation into which God sent His Son for His plan of redemption to be acted out. It’s absolutely amazing how God’s ways are so different than ours, isn’t it? And, not only different but superior beyond measure. For salvation was secured in this alarmingly dangerous situation and God’s overcoming power was manifested all the more brilliantly because of its background. In our present political instability, this Christmas reality is a good one to remember.

A similar divine irony is in play in Matthew 2:6 where Jesus is presented as not only the ruler of Israel but her shepherd too. Now the Jews knew all too well how earthly rulers conducted themselves. After all, they had been dominated by ruthless potentates during much of their history and were now oppressed by Rome’s insanely vicious tyrant, Herod. But the rule of the Messiah was to be radically different. And with the image of the Shepherd, the Holy Spirit through Matthew was emphasizing the tenderness, the devotion, the sacrificial love that would mark the Messiah’s reign. And by this compassion, Jesus Christ would rule not over territory alone but over the human heart as well.

Later, in Jesus’ teaching ministry, He graciously offered Israel this radically different kingdom, a kingdom marked by love and holiness and peace. But Israel rejected it. The price -- a whole-hearted submission to God -- was just too high for self-righteous, self-satisfied people to pay. The sheep disdained their Shepherd, preferring even the tyranny of Rome to God’s loving deliverer.

What a cataclysmic tragedy this was. And yet, despite this, God went on to make a way for Israel (and the entire world) to yet enter the peace of His kingdom. How? The ruler would serve as the Good Shepherd, even to the willing surrender of His own life for the sheep. Right here, in the very beginning of the Christmas story, is a dramatic foreshadowing of that great present that would be offered the whole world; namely, the sacrifice of Jesus as payment for the sins of the world.

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

“Far As the Curse Is Found”

The striking phrase above comes from the third verse of Isaac Watts’ 1719 hymn, “Joy to the World.” “No more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He [Jesus] comes to make His blessings known far as the curse is found.” This song, long beloved as a Christmas season carol is better understood as a hymn of hope (and yes, joy) at the prospect of Jesus’ Second Coming -- when our Lord enters the earthly realm not as a baby, but as the victorious King of Kings returning to judge the world in righteousness. Yes, the exciting promise of intense and abiding joy (for both believers and the physical world we live in) refers to the Faithful and True riding through the heavens on a white horse Who will wage war and execute holy judgment on the nations arrayed against Him. 

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He Who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)

Isaac Watts was inspired to write “Joy to the World” from his appreciation of Psalm 98 which eloquently speaks of Messiah’s ministry as Supreme Judge at the end of the age. It is a most dramatic prospect, to be sure. Our divine brother, He Who humbled Himself in the incarnation by becoming a preborn child, then through an earthly ministry as a prophet and teacher, and then into the humiliating suffering of crucifixion and death, now breaks forth from heaven for service as Almighty Judge and Restorer. And the divine judgment will not only be pure, but thorough and complete. Thus, the psalmist’s exhortation to the sea, the rivers, the mountains, and the whole world to shout joyfully to the Lord. 

But the line “far as the curse is found” suggests that Watts was also well aware of the Bible’s teaching on curses. Adam’s sin resulted not only in a curse on he and Eve and the whole human race extending from them, but also on the earth itself which had been given Adam as his stewardship. (Genesis 3:17) That is also emphasized in Isaiah 24:5-6.

“The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.”

Furthermore, we are told that all who inhabit the earth are under God’s curse because of our sins and transgressions and rebellion. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” (Galatians 3:10) Of course, we are all under the law. Though we have an inexcusable obligation to keep the law in every point, we have utterly failed to do so. We are therefore under its curse. But the apostle Paul isn’t done with this subject.

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13,14)

Jesus Christ endured the curse -- our curse -- when, in our stead, He died on the cross. Yes, God’s holiness required perfection, but we were infinitely far off His standard of righteousness. Yet God made a way. Jesus Christ came to bring us close, to eliminate the gap, to transform us from rebels to friends, to adopt us into His forever family when we trusted in the sacrifice offered for us; namely, Jesus’ atoning death at Calvary.

And it is our great High Priest Jesus Who will (very soon, I pray) make His return to the earth in order to display His glorious and full triumph in judgment, cleansing, and restoration. He will make all things new. He will make all things right. He will bring all things in His creation into a harmonious perfection. I join the psalmist, the apostle, and the hymnwriter in heartily recommending that all Christians -- in all seasons -- shout gratefully and confidently, “Joy to the world; the Lord is come; let Earth receive her King!”

Saturday, December 14, 2024

The Top 5 (December 14)

Okay, it’s an unusual Top 5 post for today because 1) I’m actually providing links to 6 articles; 2) 3 of those articles are mine from Vital Signs Blog; and 3) there is a “popcorn” list of news items that you may well have missed from the last week or so. Let’s get to ‘em.

* “Stranded at La Veta Pass: A Rescue Story” (A Personal Testimony) (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

From the article -- A hitchhiker’s lot is a lonely one. And not only lonely but anxious, exasperating, humbling, and occasionally dangerous. Believe me, I know. And as the cold, snowy weather of winter whirls around this December night, I am remembering one particularly miserable and frightening experience from my long ago days of thumbing a ride. 

It was the winter of 1969. I was a student at Trinidad State Junior College, some 200 miles from my home…

* “For the Watchmen on the Walls: Prayer and Advocacy Priorities for 2025” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

From the article -- It is hoped that this list of 10 priorities will help motivate and provide some direction for your own intercession and advocacy efforts. We encourage you to use them as stimulants to fervent prayers, conversations, social media, letters to political officials and others, and bringing these critical issues before your pastors as you encourage them to best enlighten, inspire, and protect their flock.

* “John Stossel Blows the Lid Off the Scam That Is Recycling” (An eye-opening 7-minute video)

About the video -- John Stossel is back to ruin your preconceived notions of things with some very inconvenient truths. In this case, these truths are going to be very inconvenient to the environmentalist crowd who thinks recycling is actually benefiting us as much as they think.

* “The American university is rotting from within: The modern academy is a threat to reason, liberty and Western civilisation." (Joel Catkin, spiked!)

From the article -- The Western world has many enemies – China, Russia, Iran, North Korea – but none is more potentially lethal than its own education system. From the very institutions once renowned for spreading literacy, the Enlightenment and the means of mastering nature, we now see a deep-seated denial of our common past, pervasive illiteracy and enforced orthodoxy.

The decay of higher education threatens both the civic health and long-term economic prospects of Western liberal civilisation. Once a font of dispassionate research and reasoned discussion, the academy in recent years has more resembled that of the medieval University of Paris, where witch trials were once conducted, except there is now less exposure to the canon.

* “Denny's Letter to Santa Gets an Interesting Response” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

From the article -- Dear Santa,

Season’s greetings, my old friend. Please know that you remain in my highest regards for your ongoing generosity to mankind. While others may forget your good and noble work, I never shall. Anyhow, here is my “Santa letter” for this year. What I most want for Christmas this year, dear sir, may be beyond even your North Pole magic but I’ve pared down my requests to just three things. And they aren’t entirely self-centered items. Indeed, they are things that are certainly directed for the common good. Here we go.

* “The Anti-Woke King of Hollywood Lets Loose: Taylor Sheridan’s shows explain how and why we got Trump again.” ( Rick Marin, Commentary)

From the article -- Such is the 54-year-old writer-director-producer’s Midas touch with “flyover country”—as New York and Hollywood have long dismissed their red-state viewership. Even more remarkable is how this unfettered clout is manifesting itself in his writing. He offered confusingly mixed political messages in the first couple of years of Yellowstone—though not so mixed that its audience didn’t immediately understand what he was trying to say and make the show the biggest hit on television, despite airing on the Paramount Network, which you had to search high and low for in your cable package. Now his mix of cultural conservatism, libertarian/Jeffersonian objection to federal overreach, and muscular foreign policy is fully out of the closet.

And now...in the recent news -- news that you’re probably not hearing much about if you’re only plugged into the Democrat Party channels.

* In both England and Wales, the most popular name for baby boys is Muhammad... 

* Key scientific evidence about the dangers of covid “vaccinations” is still being carefully and comprehensively censored by the Biden administration, the governments of Europe, and the liberal press.

* Chinese Communist Party officials have used a climate nonprofit to funnel millions of dollars to U.S. universities and left-wing groups to promote replacing fossil fuels with “green energy.”

* The latest Democrat outrage? 77 House Democrats called for an arms embargo on Israel. 

* It turns out that “climate scientists” have all along been completely ignoring the effects of isoprene in the atmosphere, making all of their climate models remarkably out of whack.

* The “nonbinary” spokesperson from Google’s latest ads is screaming about women who dare complain about having to share bathrooms with “untraditional sexes.”

* One of the new words for 3rd grade spelling bees? Womyn.

* One of the columnists from the L.A. Times has resigned after moves by that newspaper to be a bit less politically one-sided. Said the columnist, “Now is not the time to be balanced.”

* The ProPublica smear against Pete Hegseth (completely invented and knowingly so) just missed being successful. And rather than apologize, ProPublica is trying to cast themselves as journalistic heroes.

* Elton John is speaking out against the legalization of marijuana. “I maintain that it’s addictive,” he said. “It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned -- and I’ve been stoned -- you don’t think normally.” The singer-songwriter added, “Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.”

* Among those pardoned by Joe Biden? Michael Conahan, one of the infamous “kids for cash” judges who took wads of money under the table from for-profit detention centers in exchange for wrongly sending juveniles to their facilities. The case was widely considered to be one of the worst judicial scandals in Pennsylvania history. And then there was Democrat Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller of Dixon, Illinois who was found guilty of a $54 million embezzlement scheme, believed to be the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history. 

* Remember how Senate Democrats buried Mayorkas' impeachment? It gets worse. The Biden-Harris administration spent over $1.6 million in taxpayer money on the defense of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during his impeachment proceedings.

* The Democrats and the Democrat media who are complaining about Donald Trump buying the election? The Kamala Harris campaign raised 1.5 billion dollars. That was about 3 times what the Trump campaign managed to raise. 

* The stripper who accused those Duke lacrosse players of raping her 18 years ago finally confessed to the fact that she made it all up. 

* University of Michigan DEI administrator Rachel Dawson claimed the university was “controlled by wealthy Jews,” and that Jewish students were “wealthy and privileged” and not in need of the university’s diversity services. (She was fired.) The university has experienced countless antisemitic incidents in the past year.

* You don’t think Big Pharma is piping the tune America is foolishly dancing to? The CDC announced that there are 200 “routine vaccines” for 2025. The number of “routine vaccines” in 1985? 7; that’s right, seven. And for adults and pregnant women in 1985? Zero.

* Europe is in free fall. Mass immigration woes. Rapes of white women perpetrated by young Muslim males that goes without redress (even reporting). Censorship. Increasing anti-Semitism and anti-Christian actions. Economic collapse.

* The Biden administration’s F.B.I. is crazy, still holding that conservative Christians (especially pro-life advocates) are a major terrorist threat.

* The left is applauding political violence. From restaurant workers in Washington D.C. saying they can’t wait to throw food in the faces of Trump administration people who try to eat at their establishments to leftist political officials excusing (even applauding) the murder of a health company executive, “progressives” are proving to be the real fascists.

* Communist China now controls half the world’s catch of fish with thousands upon thousands of fishing ships taking over waters as far away as Argentina.

* It turns out that almost 20% of the $200 billion that the Biden administration gave away under the banner of “covid relief” ended up being given to fraudulent recipients, including criminal gangs.


“Stranded at La Veta Pass: A Rescue Story”

A hitchhiker’s lot is a lonely one. And not only lonely but anxious, exasperating, humbling, and occasionally dangerous. Believe me, I know. And as the cold, snowy weather of winter whirls around this December night, I am remembering one particularly miserable and frightening experience from my long ago days of thumbing a ride. 

It was the winter of 1969. I was a student at Trinidad State Junior College, some 200 miles from my home in Lakewood, a western suburb of Denver. I had not, at that time, become an authentic Christian, though brought up in a God-fearing home by believing parents who lovingly gave me every encouragement and assistance to do so. And yet God’s mercies were poured out upon me even in my Trinidad days. I was on the college newspaper staff, living in a comfortable rooming house in town, and having every opportunity to finally change from the lazy, reckless course of life I had been following the past two years. 

But I was badly squandering these latest favors and was instead pursuing my carnal desires all the further and faster. I had started, as they say, living for the weekend, hitchhiking back to Denver every Friday afternoon and returning, after dates and parties, back to Trinidad on Sunday nights. However, on this particular weekend, I had gone over to Alamosa (just 110 miles away) where a couple of my skaggy friends were attending Adams State. Though a shorter trip, it meant heading through the mountains and over La Veta Pass. And with winter coming on, that was not a pleasure trip...especially when you’re hitchhiking.

Now it’s true that my thumb was already experienced in this mode of travel. In fact, just 3 months earlier (and all on my lonesome) I had hitchhiked the full thousand miles from Los Angeles, California back to Denver. Still, even that adventurous cross-country trek failed to prepare me for what was to come on this trip; namely, being stranded in the Colorado mountains, in the winter, in the wee hours of the morning. 

The trip had already started off badly. I had stayed way too long in Alamosa and left for Trinidad long after the sun had disappeared behind the San Juan Mountains. It was a stupid decision but I was initially encouraged by hitching a ride almost immediately from a couple of fellows in an old pickup truck. Better still, these guys were also drinkers and were generous enough to share their bottle. But it didn’t take long for things to go sour. 

Just after we had passed Ft. Garland and started up into the mountains, I began to realize that these men had particularly nasty plans for me. They started with hints, then taunts when I rebuffed their advances, then they turned to direct threats. I responded by feigning sickness, acting like I badly needed to vomit. It worked. They stopped the truck and let me squeeze out from between them in order to get to the side of the road. Once free from the truck, I was determined to be free from these goons. I grabbed a large rock, turned back, and did a bit of threatening of my own, letting them know that the price for messing with me was going to be a lot more than they wanted to pay. And, after a couple of minutes of angry cursing and promises that they’d be back with help, they got back in the truck, turned all the way round, and started back the way we had just come.  

There was, of course intense relief when they drove away but I found myself physically shaking -- shaking with adrenaline at the close call, shaking with trepidation at the prospect that my assailants might indeed return, and shaking with the shocking cold of a Colorado mountain night. It was, I guessed, sometime between 10 or 11 and I wasn’t at all dressed for the below-freezing temperatures. 
I had only a light jacket, no gloves, no hat. Good grief, I had escaped one danger only to be enveloped by another.

Well, the two thugs never came back. But I kept hold of that rock just in case and, at every appearance of headlights coming east down the highway, I was ready to use it. Not that I saw very many vehicles on Highway 160 that night. No more than a half dozen passed me in the whole 2 hours or so that I was walking east. But I was beset by more than loneliness -- I was frighteningly cold! My shivering had only gotten worse and I was becoming a bit crazy with desperation. Therefore, when I finally came across a building set off a bit from the highway, I was determined to find shelter there. 

It wasn’t anybody’s home; at least, I didn’t think anyone was living there. There were a couple of heavy equipment machines in the yard but no cars and no tracks in the snow, making me pretty sure that no one was on the premises. There was one yard light was on the large, rectangular building that lit things up for 30-40 yards around it. And so I could see there were a few windows that looked big enough to crawl through after, of course, I had busted out the glass. I guess, my rock was going to come in handy after all! 

To be sure, I wasn’t happy about the “breaking and entering” option. I was pretty sure there was no night watchman around  but, then again, there could easily be some kind of alarm. And that could mean the police, an arrest, more shame for my family, and yet one more crime added to my already ugly list of tawdry offenses. However, I didn’t really have a choice...and I preferred even a warm jail cell over freezing to death.  

But before I hiked over to the building, I decided to say one more prayer. Oh, make no mistake, I had been praying hard and constantly during this whole ordeal. But, not being a Christian, my prayers were, though plaintive, were something more like wishing or crossing your fingers. But now, faced with the awful cold, the fear of arrest, and a desperation of greater intensity than any I could remember, I was bold enough to lift up a much different kind of prayer. I looked into the night sky, profusely adorned with glittering stars, but I prayed to the God I knew intuitively was beyond that dazzling sky. And although I was all-too-aware that I didn’t know the Almighty personally and that He was under no obligation to intervene in my predicament, I was certain that my Grandma Ellsworth and my parents and at least a couple of my siblings did know Him personally. And so, my fledgling faith being inspired by theirs, I made my appeal to God. 

I do not remember it being a bargaining prayer -- you know, the infamous “foxhole” kind of prayer where one offers God his life if God will only get them out of the jam they’re in. And I don’t think my prayer involved a lot of apologies for my sins or for the lousy decisions which had landed me in this spot. The only two things I remember about that prayer is its urgency and that all I could hope for was God perhaps showing me unwarranted, undeserved, unexpected mercy. I stood there on the shoulder of the road for a couple of minutes more, figuring that I should give God a little time to do something. The snow had started again. It was, I realized, a lovely and peaceful night. How ironic would it...

And then I heard the truck! No, not the dreaded pickup returning for retribution, but a long hauler coming out of the west and down the highway towards me. I dropped the rock, moved back to the southern side of the highway, and assumed the traditional position. And though I understood how unlikely it was that this trucker would stop on a night like this, in weather like this, on a mountain highway like this, all to offer a ride to a suspicious hitchhiker, I also had a remarkable confidence God was kindly answering my prayer.

 And that’s exactly what happened. The old 18-wheeler day cab slowed down and stopped right in front of me. The passenger door creaked opened and I looked up at the driver (somewhat past middle-age) who simply asked, “You okay?” I was kinda’ choked up but I nodded and told him yes, I was fine, just really cold. “Then climb on up.” The difference in temperature was astounding and so was the difference in my mood. I expressed my thanks, explained that he was an answer to a prayer, and then, with a bit of embarrassment, I realized I was wiping tears away. He politely seemed not to notice, said he was happy to be of help, and offered me a cup of coffee from his thermos. And that wasn’t all. My good fortune continued in that the trucker, traveling empty, was headed down into New Mexico for a load. And that meant I had a warm, comfortable journey with him all the way down 160 to Walsenburg and then south on I-25 to Trinidad. When I alighted with the trucker’s good wishes, the dawn was just starting to break on a brand new day. 

Now the ending to this story should be that, having experienced (and in a very dramatic way) the loving grace of God, I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ that very night. I’m sorry to say, that wasn’t the case. No, there remained an ungrateful, foolish, hardheartedness in me and, in the months to come, I would actually write even darker chapters in my story. But despite my rebellious running away from God, He kept His merciful hand on me. There were some divine judgements meted out to me that winter and spring, but the Lord measured the punishment in ways that emphasized His kindness and His desire for me to receive His offers of salvation, purpose, and power. And, all along the way, one of the things He used was the vivid, unforgettable memory of that 18-wheeler coming down out of heaven to save me. Well, out of heaven via La Veta Pass.

Fast forward to a bright spring morning several months later when I finally did give in to God’s long suffering love and trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. That, by the way, also occurred in the Colorado mountains. I was on a weekend retreat with some Christians who had recently befriended me and I was alone in the pines considering the historicity of the Bible -- which I had by then trusted to be accurate and trustworthy -- and then dealing with the paramount question of whether I would acknowledge the Person of Christ as God. For if I decided that proposition to be true, the natural next step was to believe that His death and resurrection were the means whereby God paid the penalty of my sins. 

I had been close to surrendering my pride and sophomoric arguments all weekend long but it was on this clear Sunday morning that I knew my decision couldn’t be delayed any longer. And whether it was my own imagining or an intuition kindled in my heart by the Lord Himself, I sensed that God was inviting me to come to the cross with a stirring allusion to that freezing night the previous December. Come out of the cold, Denny. Leave your degradation, deceptions, ands danger behind. Believe in Me and let’s travel a different highway together. C’mon, climb up in the cab. And I did. Thank God, I did. How about you?

Postscript. There was yet another dramatic hitchhiking story still to come in my future, one that would take this young convert to Christianity, toting a duffel bag and with $12 in his pocket, to a place he had never been before -- Omaha, Nebraska. It would be a place where God would give him a home, a job, the most unusual and effective discipleship training imaginable, and eventually an exceptionally noble and loving woman who would become his wife. 

But that story...is for another time.


Friday, December 13, 2024

For the Watchmen on the Walls: Prayer and Advocacy Priorities for 2025

Believers in Christ are called on to occupy until Jesus comes, to strengthen the things that remain, to shine their light into the darkness, to stand and courageously defend “the least of these,” to speak the truth in love, to stand against the wicked schemes of the devil, to do justice, to rebuke evildoers, to deliver those being dragged away to death, to be “doers of the Word,” -- you get the idea. Indeed, the biblical responsibilities of Christ’s ambassadors require purposeful, persistent action in every part of private and public life. 

It is hoped that this list of 10 priorities will help motivate and provide some direction for your own intercession and advocacy efforts. We encourage you to use them as stimulants to fervent prayers, conversations, social media, letters to political officials and others, and bringing these critical issues before your pastors as you encourage them to best enlighten, inspire, and protect their flock. 

1) Pastoral Leadership

We desperately need masculinity to make a comeback in our clergy. In fact, a warrior mentality is sorely needed for our shepherds (many, not all) to do a much better job of protecting their flocks from the lies and manipulations of the ravenous wolves who are everywhere in our world. And that includes the wolves using entertainment, Big Tech, and the establishment media. 

American Christians need their leaders to start calling things by their right names. The ministers need to fulfill their duties as prophets (as well as teachers and counselors) by waking up their congregation and then enlightening and equipping them to fight back against the world’s enveloping clouds of false teaching. Evolution. Hedonism. Abortion. Sexual immodesty and impurity. The socialist threats of globalism. The constant attacks on manliness, femininity, marriage, parental responsibilities, and a healthy family life. Government’s strong arm tactics against the freedoms of religion and speech. Wasted time. Materialism. 

Our pastors need to be men of vision and courage -- not timidly compromising the truth or settling for a safe and comfortable and popular job. They should fear God alone -- not the “snowflakes” politically-correct progressives in their congregation, not the government, not the high cost of courageous, Spirit-empowered leadership.

2) Religious freedom, conscience, speech, assembly

A Christian’s ultimate duty is to the Almighty God.  Believers are, first and foremost, citizens of a heavenly Kingdom, a better country, a city to come. They must, therefore, always obey God rather than men when those spheres come into conflict.  But we are to be wise, sacrificial, strategic, and circumspect stewards of all God has given to us and, for an American Christian, that includes the obligations and privileges of our citizenship in the here and now. We are to use our examples of holiness and altruism; we are to use our voices as we speak forth the divine truths of the Word (including its teachings on culture, economics, and law); and we are to use the opportunities offered by political action -- all in the pursuit of as just and free a society as possible. 

Therefore, we stand up for those religious ideals of the American experiment which were introduced to the New Land by our spiritual forefathers. We defend the original intent of their masterwork, the U.S. Constitution which thus requires us to be champions for the freedom of speech against the left’s desire to censor all things it opposes, most especially the historic precepts and virtues of Christianity.

 Christians should also be in firm opposition to Big Tech’s wicked schemes to reign over “the flow of thought.” Google, the establishment press, Wikipedia, Facebook, government agencies, and others have been alarmingly guilty of hiding, distorting, denying, and obliterating altogether those truths that liberate individuals, ennoble and protect civilized culture, and urge men to seek for God. Still other dangers to these freedoms are such things as the criminalization of ideas that disagree with the “thought police;” “bubble zones” that deny pro-life advocates from peaceful, winsome sidewalk counseling (even silent prayers!) outside abortion businesses; the use of State powers to limit (even prohibit altogether) church services and prayer meetings; and denials of an individual’s efforts to raise the American flag, wear a 2nd Amendment T-shirt, or share the gospel of Jesus Christ in a public park. 

Such issues are to be the targets of our fervent prayers and Christ-honoring action.

3) Issues of the Sanctity of Life 

There are two primary battlefronts here. One is the effort to protect moms and preborn boys and girls through legislation and law enforcement.  That is most naturally noble and right to pursue for it is an important application of “rescuing those being dragged to slaughter.” So, whatever actions that might uphold the sanctity of all human life -- and that can realistically be undertaken to that end -- should be given our best efforts. 

Key examples? Stopping government funding of the mega-abortion profiteer that is Planned Parenthood. Reinstating the Mexico City policy. Strengthening and enforcing laws that would protect women from the most egregious crimes against their health and safety. Defending the rights of pro-life advocates and pro-life pregnancy aids centers. Upholding such God-given rights as parental authority. Reversing the easy access to poisonous abortion drugs. Appointing judges who understand and vow to protect the right to life. Elimination of government funding of abortion propaganda -- through the schools, through foreign aid policies, through any channel whatsoever.

But the second battlefield is of at least equal importance. And that is for Christians to enthusiastically and consistently pray for and actively promote the sanctity of human life in the church and in the general culture. We must be cheerleaders for all kids (born and as-yet-unborn), families, foster parents, adoptive parents, and those pregnant women under stress who lovingly relinquish their newborn children into the best homes possible, for people with disabilities and special needs, for the aged and ill and marginalized.  We need to educate people about the scientific (as well as the theological) case for the humanity of preborn children. We need to tell the truth about what happens in an abortion and the terrible effects on moms, dads, and the society as a whole. (This, of course, includes abortions that are caused by chemical poisons, including the tragically misnamed “birth control” pill.) 

And never forget, that in this area as well as all others, both the Christian’s precepts and practice must always be Christ-centered. We do God’s work in God’s ways, depending on the Holy Spirit’s power and direction, and keeping the good news of Christ’s gospel central to our agenda. God gave His Son as a sacrifice for sinners, that all who would simply trust in that awesome Gift as payment for their sins might find forgiveness, new life, a forever family, and an eternal home in heaven. That message must itself be a priority and permeate our other duties. 

We must speak confidently, joyfully, and frequently of the immediate availability of the pardon Jesus paid for us all -- those who have participated in abortion decisions, thieves and robbers, bullies, liars and cheats, murderers, cowards, drunk drivers, manipulators and tempters, traitors, and all those who knew what should have been done but failed to do it. That list goes on -- a list that includes you and me -- and yet there is not one single sinner in the whole world who is excluded from the merciful invitation of Jesus Christ to be saved. 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NASB)

4) Sexual Morality

Once again, we must call things by their right names without fear of being attacked or ridiculed for being out of step with the spirit of the age. We must boldly, wisely, humbly, and with a sincere desire for people’s repentance speak the truth in love of what God’s Word has to say on matters of modesty, promiscuity, marriage, children, parenting, divorce, gender denial and the freakish attempts to manipulate biological realities (“male and female He created them”), and the tragic and dangerous abomination which is homosexual activity. 

The Bible’s teaching also calls Christians to be defenders of biblical standards of both masculinity and femininity, of chivalry and fairness. For instance, Christians should not only stand against sex trafficking and child abuse, but also against drag queens leading children’s story hours at the public library, and against biological men invading women’s sports and such “safe spaces” as bathrooms, showers, and and dorm rooms.

5) Lawlessness

America must get tougher in fighting crime -- a lot tougher! After all, this is a key reason God allowed for earthly government in the first place. Our nation is reeling from lawlessness -- from the blood pollution of abortion, to rape and robberies without number, to sex trafficking and stolen elections, to a brutally broken criminal justice system. There must be change if the nation is to survive.  

Among the most important and immediate targets? We must renew a respect for the law and law enforcement by making the punishment truly fit the crime. Away with the corrupt and counter-productive mess that is our current court system: plea bargaining, easy bail (even for murderers), early parole, erasure of prison time for “good behavior,” the “revolving door” pattern of our jails and prisons, the extremely expensive luxuries awarded to criminals living in “country club” prisons, the refusal to enforce “three strike” rules, progressive and soft-headed judges, etc.  

Build more prisons and keep the grossest criminals there and away from the public. Stiffer penalties are needed for crimes of violence and for crimes that exploit the most vulnerable. And never forget the common sense lesson of the “broken windows” maxim; that is, a society’s disrespect for the rule of law doesn’t begin with bank robbery but rather with the “start-up crimes” of vandalism, trespass, panhandling, shoplifting, looting, “petty” robbery, motor vehicle crimes (including a shameful liberality in dealing with drunk drivers), etc. If our political leaders continue to “sow the wind” by neglecting the enforcement of ALL just laws, the whirlwind our nation will reap will soon be beyond any control whatsoever.

And, it should certainly go without saying, that we need a dramatic improvement of U.S. border security! 

6) Education

Out of dire concern for kids -- and the nation -- Christians should advocate an end to the monopoly held by the fiasco that is the modern government school system. Indeed, the government school system has become a worst case scenario of education failure, crime, bullying, grade inflation, historical revisionism, anti-American passions (and yes, anti-Semitism and anti-Christian attitudes too), socialist propaganda, and a blind dedication to evolution and such other silly, ideologically-motivated “science” as gender realignment and climate change.

In so doing, there has been an enormity of wasted taxpayer funds that stinks to high heaven...because Johnny still can’t read! Oh yes; revolutionary reform of the “public schools” is way past due but it will never happen unless American citizens a) begin to hold school administrators, the teachers’ unions, and the Democrat Party responsible for the ongoing “dumbing down” of America’s youth, and b) provide such incentives for schools to improve as school choice, vouchers, education tax credits, vocational training options, decreases in funding when certain basic levels of education are not met. (P.S. This all applies to the scandal of our nation’s universities too.)

7) National unity, patriotism, civility

How’s this for a world-shaking, world-improving project? Let Americans begin to teach and honor the ideals of the American experiment. Expect from the outset, of course, that we cannot depend on the media or the schools to do this. Nor will we get help from Hollywood, Big Tech, or the local library. But you and I (and our churches) can include in our worldview a joyful thanksgiving for the historic virtues in the American dream -- justice, freedom, hard work, fair play, civility, altruism, sportsmanship, authentic principles of natural conservation, gratitude, courage, respect for the rule of law, looking out for the innocent and needy, honoring genuine public servants, respect for our elders, respect for the cop on the beat and the soldier on the field, and faith in an Almighty, yet personal God. Christians must be role models in these areas and thus teach and inspire our neighbors and the next generations.

8) Election Integrity

It’s way past time to purge registration roles of illegal voters, fake voters, and dead voters! Let’s return to an election DAY with early voting and absentee voting restricted to exceptional, truly necessary situations. No vote harvesting. Paper ballots. Fair and efficient counting with appropriate quality checks as in trained, vetted, third party evaluators of the vote counts. Let us please look to Florida’s procedures instead of the clowns (if not actually, the crooks who are in charge of the counts in California and Arizona.) Strict punishment for election tampering of any sort. And drastic actions taken against foreign countries who try to influence our elections, as did Russia, China, Great Britain, Ukraine, Iran, and the United Nations tried to do this last election.

9) Globalism

It can no longer be dismissed as a “tin hat” conspiracy theory. There are, quite openly now, a cadre of extremely rich elitists who are working for a trans-national world, a world governed by the enlightened caste to which they few belong. And they want to control everything. Human rights are no longer important; it’s all about the State -- humanity in the collective, not in the individual. Thus we see the United Nations passing laws that they insist on being obeyed by every citizen in every country. We see the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu.  And we see these “beyond-border oligarchs” glean ever more power to themselves as they control greater swathes of information outlets, corporations and financial markets, entertainment, manufacturing, commerce, pharmaceuticals, education, and more. 

Therefore, whatever American Christians can do to persuade their own countrymen to honor America’s past, her borders, her just laws, and her defense, they should, by all legitimate  means, do. Specific changes would include America’s getting out of the United Nations, strictly observing her commitments to her allies, and refusing to play the patsy as we have so badly in recent years with nations like Iran and Communist China.  

America is a generous nation -- a remarkably and rightfully generous nation. But America must be safe and prosperous in order to help others. So, make tariffs and trade policies work for America and her people. Stop China’s spying and land grabbing. Bring creativity and manufacturing back to American workers. And build up America’s military might. Make the Armed Forces strong and able with their sole purpose being on appropriate military aims rather than the racist, “woke” absurdities they have chased under Presidents Obama and Biden.   

10) Cleaning the Deep State Stables

American patriots should be praying that President Trump and his team dig out, clean up, and widely disinfect the American federal government agencies that have become so smelly with the “progressive” ideologies of DEI, sexual perversion, socialism, abortion zealotry, and Trump Derangement Syndrome. Begin with the State Department, the FBI, the DOJ, the IRS, and the Education Department...at least until it is abolished! And then, don’t stop! Keep cleaning house! 

Shrink the whole arrogant, bloated thing with its nepotism, sheer laziness, mountain high piles of waste and fraud, and inefficiency caused by no-talent government employees who feel no compunction to work hard, work smart, or even work in the national interest. For so terribly many government workers realize that quality control has long been a foreign concept to Washington, D.C., and so they never fear having to face the consequences of lousy job performance. Let’s explain reality to them -- start passing out the pink slips.

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Denny's Letter to Santa Gets an Interesting Response


Today I pass along two documents for you to peruse. One is a copy of the letter I sent to Santa a couple of weeks ago. The second document is Santa’s response, being a brief note he wrote to several political officials to which he attached my original letter.  Check ‘em out.

Dear Santa,

Season’s greetings, my old friend. Please know that you remain in my highest regards for your ongoing generosity to mankind. While others may forget your good and noble work, I never shall. Anyhow, here is my “Santa letter” for this year. What I most want for Christmas this year, dear sir, may be beyond even your North Pole magic but I’ve pared down my requests to just three things. And they aren’t entirely self-centered items. Indeed, they are things that are certainly directed for the common good. Here we go.

1) I would like government funds to the mega-abortion corporation Planned Parenthood to be completely eliminated.  Yes, de-fund the ravenous beast altogether. For crying out loud, Santa, this is a multi-million dollar profiteer that brazenly kills preborn boys and girls, zealously promotes and enables promiscuity and, in a dozen other ways, contributes to the decadence of American culture. 

2) I would like serious actions taken to protect America’s democracy from voter fraud. Mr. Claus, America desperately needs to purge the voter registration rolls of the illegal, the fake, and the dead. We need voter I.D. laws, fair and effective voting machines, non-partisan oversight, harsh penalties for vote fraud crooks, and tough enforcement of all of these.

3) I’m also writing you, Santa, with a request for an American renaissance in which America’s lawmakers and opinion leaders will once again be proud of the U.S. Constitution, proud and grateful enough that they will teach it, defend it, and promote it. I am especially desirous that our representatives implement the Constitution’s protection of the freedoms of religion, speech, and association.

Please Santa, I’m deeply appreciative of all the wonderful presents you’ve given me over the years (I especially remember the Willie Mays fielder’s glove in 1960!), but this year I’m asking for you to please concentrate on these three wishes.

Sincerely,

Denny

P.S. Of course, Santa, if you do have a little extra time -- and know that these “extras” I'll now mention are, like the others, not just for myself, but for the good of the whole Western world -- see what you and the elves can do about getting the U.S. borders secure, removing us from the U.N., shutting down the outlandishly bloated and counter-productive Education Department, and cleaning out the fetid Augean Stables which make up the Deep State.

And about that second document? Here’s Santa’s note to the political representatives which he attached to mine before sending it along to President-elect Trump, several of his nominees to Cabinet positions, Governor Pillen, Senators Fischer and Ricketts, Congressmen Bacon, and a few others.

Dear -----------,

I am redirecting this letter to you as it is more in line with your responsibilities than mine.  However, I pass it along with two personal notations.

First, I can vouch for the character of the letter’s author -- at least to the extent that he has maintained a firm place on my “Nice” list ever since his conversion to Christianity way back in 1970.

And second, I personally (and most wholeheartedly) agree with his requests. 
I especially urge you to act quickly upon his first request. As someone who you know has a well-established history as a friend of children, I consider Planned Parenthood one of the most savage and blasphemous villains in history.  So anything and everything you do to de-fund this business would be dearly appreciated up here too.

Thank you for your consideration of Denny’s very important matters,

Sincerely,

S. Claus

(Editor’s note. The above were adapted from a post I wrote at Christmastime 2012.)

Saturday, December 07, 2024

The Top 5 (December 7)

It's a very busy Saturday for us -- prayers at the abortion mill, a celebratory lunch down in Lincoln, sermon prep for tomorrow, and more. So, I'm afraid I'm leaving out the article excerpts this morning. But you can handle it! Later...

* "Vital Signs’ Christmas Card Party Is a Wrap. (Now It’s Your Turn!)" (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

* "Is World War III Already Here?" (Jay Solomon, The Free Press)

* "A Top 10 Pro-life Priority List" (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

* "The terrifying thoughtlessness of Britain’s assisted-dying debate" (Kevin Yuill, spiked!)

* "The Mainstream Media Death Rattle Has Begun. It's Going to Be a Long One, However." (Stephen Kruiser, PJ Media)