You want an idea of why we are more excited than ever about “When Swing Was King,” Vital Signs Ministries’ outstanding outreach into nursing homes and senior centers? Then, by all means, check out the clip and the article below.
And then check out this explanatory article on the Vital Signs Ministries website to find out more about “When Swing Was King.”
From the article -- Hanson points out that Donald Trump is not a 1930s “isolationist.” Rather, he is in the Jacksonian tradition, reluctant to go to war but, once aroused, fierce. This attitude, Walter Russell Mead explained some years ago, represents the normal American posture in foreign affairs, but it was replaced by containment in the post World War II years when nuclear weapons brought about a risk of mutual assured destruction, a way of saying victory in warfare was impossible, or meaningless.
The strategic doctrines that grew out of this conventional wisdom produced an almost textbook case of diminishing returns for U.S. engagement in global affairs. Observe in passing that such engagement was by no means novel, nor was it in contradiction with the Founders’ prudence. No entangling alliances, said they, no searching for dragons to destroy. Yet the early presidents kept their eyes on international affairs, alert to dangers and opportunities.
2) “Is J.D. Vance Right about Europe?” (Christopher Caldwell, Imprimus)
From the article -- Vice President J.D. Vance’s first major assignment from Donald Trump was to join a bunch of European leaders who thought of themselves as our close allies—and to read them the riot act. This happened at the Munich Security Conference on February 14. Instead of discussing armaments and armies, Vance said: “The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.” Europe, according to Vance, had become hostile to free speech. It was hostile to free speech because it was hostile to democracy. And you could measure its hostility to democracy by the fact that for 50 years European voters had kept asking for less immigration and had kept getting more of it. Vance admitted that it reminded him a bit of the United States.
Is Vance right about Europe and the West more generally?
3) “The arc of history does not simply bend toward justice” (Adrian Wooldridge, Jewish World Review)
From the article -- The illusion of history begetting justice is terrifying for two reasons. The first is it encourages a false sense of confidence that is often counterproductive. The Democrats' confidence that history was on their side led them to underestimate Trump so badly that they stuck with Joe Biden even though it was obvious that his powers were fading. This confidence also led the party to endorse a collection of unpopular causes, which might be conveniently lumped together as "wokery," on the grounds that they were the contemporary equivalent of the civil rights movement. To hell with the people who question these causes even if they happen to be the numerical majority.
Before that, the same confidence persuaded the U.S. establishment, Republican as much as Democrat, to embrace China with open arms, subcontracting much of America's manufacturing to the People's Republic, even though the Leninists who ran the regime were determined to replace the U.S. as the world's leading military and industrial power.
The second reason it's terrifying is it encourages people to subcontract their moral judgments to history. Most progressives did not treat the problem of transgender people's rights as a nuanced moral issue that involved the careful balancing of the rights of biological women against trans women or an even more careful consideration of the potential harms of powerful drugs or invasive surgery. They simply rushed to be on "the right side of history." The notion of the moral arc encourages groupthink and all the blindness and bullying that comes with it.
It is far healthier to treat history as an open-ended process that is made by individuals who have to wrestle with their own moral judgments rather than go with the supposedly progressive flow.
4) “A Failed Worldly ‘Strategy’: Shallow Entertainment And Compromise Isn’t Keeping Young People In Churches” (Ken Ham, Harbinger's Daily)
From the article – “I’ve often shared the statistic that two-thirds of young people will leave the church by the time they reach college age—and very few return. I was reminded of this recently when I saw a post someone shared on social media that said:
“Fact: 70–88% of youth born in evangelical homes leave the faith after one year in a secular college. Maybe. Just maybe. We start to focus on more doctrine, more ability to explain what and why they believe, and less performance, less trend, less show, less entertainment.”
Now, I’ve basically been saying the same thing for years—decades! There’s been such a focus in American churches on entertaining young people so they’ll want to come to church and very little emphasis on doctrine, theology, apologetics, and the gospel.
So many young people grow up with a shallow faith, no answers to the skeptical questions of our day, and a worldview foundation that says man determines truth (the same foundation our culture has). But what’s ironic is that when I speak to young people, I find they are so hungry for answers! They love the rich and authoritative teaching from God’s Word. They’re tired of the shallow entertainment they’ve been fed—they want “meat”!
5) “Zionism Has Been Vindicated” (John Podhoretz, Commentary Magazine)
From the article -- The Zionist “experiment” is no longer an experiment. Israel is now a reality. It will endure, as the Jewish people have endured. The meaning of the attack on Iran is unmistakable. Israel will not allow itself to be wiped off the earth, and it will not allow the Jewish people to cower in terror at their future. And it will thrive, as successful nations that defend themselves from evil and prevail in the wake of it always thrive.
Consider: Israel has gone from being one of the poorest countries on this earth to one of the richest over the course of its nearly 80 years of existence. It is all but alone among the advanced societies to be replenishing and reproducing itself with a birthrate more than double that of Western Europe. Israel sees a future and is building that future, and one of the ways it is ensuring that future is by eliminating the threats to its future.
From the article -- Students who miss at least 10% of the school year, or roughly 18 days, are considered chronically absent. Malkus goes on to explain that in 2018 and 2019, about 15% of K–12 public school students in the U.S. were chronically absent—a number so high that numerous observers and the U.S. Department of Education are labeling it a “crisis.” In total, nearly one in twelve public schools in the United States has experienced a “substantial” enrollment decline over the last five years.
The problem is especially egregious in our big cities. In Los Angeles, more than 32% of students were chronically absent in the 2023-2024 school year. In Chicago, dwindling enrollment has left about 150 schools half-empty, while 47 operate at less than one-third capacity. Additionally, schools identified by their states as chronically low-performing were more than twice as likely to experience sizable enrollment declines as other public schools.
In February 2025, FutureEd disclosed that data from 22 states and the District of Columbia for the 2023-24 school year show significant differences across grade levels, with absenteeism particularly severe in high school.
Other important reads:
* “The SAT’s Trust Fall: Legacy standardized-testing firms are cutting rigor to please students.” (Michael Torres, James G. Martin Center)
* “The Persistent Presence of Absence: The public school exodus continues unabated.” (Larry Sand, American Greatness)
* “Battle for Free Speech: EU -- Europe Deploys Its Artillery: Mainstream media and European elites collude to silence dissent.” (Thomas Kolbe
* “Britain has fallen to the technocratic death cult. In backing ‘assisted dying’, MPs have given the state a licence to kill.” (Brendan O'Neill, spiked!)
* “Green Energy: Terrible For the Environment” (John Hinderaker, Power Line)
I was glad he asked because I had done a bit of research into the matter, including details on the lady who has (to date) been America’s most famous seer. “Well,” I began, “the late Jeane Dixon was certainly the most celebrated fortune teller of my time, mainly because of her syndicated newspaper column. But there were her books too, astrological guides that included charts for dogs, cats, your daily meals and so on. But I’m afraid I’ve got to disappoint you. Mrs. Dixon couldn't tell the future better than anyone else. Just check her record. In reality, she wasn’t a fortune-teller; she was only a fortune-guesser. And not a particularly good one at that.”
My friend seemed skeptical. “How then did she become so famous?”
I replied, “How did Tiny Tim become famous? Because he was talented? Of course not. Johnny Carson, the National Enquirer, and the rest of the media make people celebrities for all kinds of goofy reasons. But in Jeane Dixon’s case, I can assure you, her star status wasn’t something she earned. She simply gave away a huge amount of predictions and then conveniently remembered only the 10 or 15% that could be liberally interpreted as coming true."
“No kidding?”
I gave him a few examples. “When Mrs. Dixon just started to cash in on the popularity of horoscopes and fortune-telling in the early 50’s, she made a pretty famous prediction. She said that World War III was going to begin in 1958. That error cooled her jets until the tabloids of the 60’s were looking for wild attractions. They hauled Mrs. Dixon out again. She promptly assured Americans that the Vietnam conflict would be over by 1966. She was only nine years off, poor thing. Must have been a short in her crystal ball.”
“She also predicted there would be a cure for cancer in 1967. She predicted Fidel Castro would be overthrown and tossed out of Cuba in disgrace before the year 1970 was out. Of course, Cubans were waiting for that fulfillment 50 years later. She predicted there would be universal peace by the year 2000. And how about her confident assertion that Russia would be the first nation to put men on the moon?”
“But hey; I can't forget my favorite,” I finally added. “On October 19th, 1968, Mrs. Dixon predicted that the last thing on Jackie Kennedy’s mind was any possibility of remarriage. And then, bingo, the very next day, headlines announced to the world the wedding of Jackie and Aristotle Onassis.”
No, I assured my friend, I would feel no pressure from a prediction contest with even a “pro psychic” like Jeane Dixon. “We would all be in the guessing game together. The fact is that there is only one source of accurate, dependable information about the future.”
“I know, I know,” my friend said laughingly. “Forget the psychic hotlines and read the Bible instead.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
How incomparably sweet then that the revelation of Holy Scripture corresponds to the overwhelming evidence of the world, the moral conscience, and the universal longing of the human heart in acknowledging that God is there…and He is not silent.
From the article -- One would have thought that once baby Chance was born and was lying in an (actual) incubator in a NICU, such disgustingly evil talk would cease. Usually, once a baby has a birth certificate and a Social Security number, pro-abortionists are content to admit that a child has a right to life.
Well, no. Since news of Chance’s birth broke earlier this week, many abortion supporters have responded by wishing for the little baby’s death. The amount of traction this opinion has gotten online is truly sickening.
2) “Israel, Iran, and the Trump Doctrine: President Trump is already engaged in an old war -- and he wants to make sure the U.S. wins it.” (Brian T. Kennedy, American Mind)
From the article -- There is a disagreement now over what America’s role should be, if any, in supporting Israel after its preemptive strike on Iran. President Trump has authorized the use of American air defenses to stop Iranian attacks on American assets and citizens: our military bases in the region, our consulate in Tel Aviv, and the Americans living in the surrounding area. This is not an endorsement of the Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and personnel. It is designed to protect the lives of Americans; the U.S. is well within its right to do so. It should be noted that we do not have an embassy in Iran, and for good reason.
Responses by the American Left to condemn Israel were not unexpected, as the Left has long sympathized with the anti-Western, anti-American hatred propagated by the Islamic world. More surprising is the reaction of some in the America First/MAGA movement, who seem to perceive President Trump’s policy as a betrayal of his promise to keep us out of new wars...President Trump, therefore, has not endorsed the start of a new war. He is engaged in an old war—one that may well be seen, in retrospect, as World War III. He wants to make sure it is won by the United States.
FYI -- Two other excellent articles related to this critical matter is “The Return of the Neocon Canard: Israel’s war with Iran has given an ancient blood libel a new lease of life” (Melanie Phillips, Jewish News Service) and “Trump’s Careful, America First Approach to Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program: Trump’s MAGA base trusts his judgment—even if stopping Iran’s nuclear threat means a one-time strike, not a new war.” (Fred Fleitz, American Greatness)
3) “Politics of the Cradle” (John O. McGinnis, Law & Liberty)
From the article -- Few debates matter more to the West’s future than the widening divide between left and right over the simple act of having children. Inside an April pronatalism conference in Austin, the roster stretched from the more traditionalist Catherine Pakaluk to libertarian Bryan Caplan. Outside, left-wing protesters branded the gathering “neo-Nazi.” The answer to the question of whether children are worth having will shape everything from fiscal policy to cultural identity. The roots of the quarrel are worth tracing.
That even childbirth now falls under the old slogan “the personal is the political” may shock. Yet it follows naturally from each camp’s bundle of larger ideological commitments. For conservatives, increasing fertility in the West is part of the defense of its civilization. Europeans and other groups that were at its heart are no longer reproducing themselves. Across the OECD, the total-fertility rate has slid to 1.5 children per woman; in Italy and Spain, it hovers near 1.2, and even in the United States, the latest CDC release puts the rate at just 1.63—far below the 2.1 replacement benchmark. For many conservatives, every newborn is a vote that the West remains worth inheriting.
4) “Can the Left Ever Stop Its Craziness? The more the left rages, the more Trump rises -- while Democrats trade policy for tantrums and canonize chaos in place of compromise.” (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness)
From the article -- Instead, why do Democrats throw two-year-old temper tantrums to howl nihilistically at everything Trump says and does? One, exasperated Democrats lack all levers of political power—the Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. So, they take to the media and the streets.
Two, Democrats are permanently frustrated that the more they scream and stomp, the more polls show radical declines in public support for their party.
Three, their nemesis, 79-year-old Donald Trump, seems impervious to Democratic lawfare, threats, and smears. Despite the hysterical attacks, he is still polling now about where prior presidents like George Bush and Barack Obama were at similar junctures in their second terms. The more Trump is smeared as a fascist or dictator, the more polls—like the latest liberal Economist/YouGov survey—show him gaining public support for securing the border and deportation.
And the more the left damns Trump as a racist, the more he wins unprecedented Black and Hispanic support. In recent Rasmussen tracking polls, Trump garnered 54 percent approval from Black voters and 53 percent from Hispanics.
Four, Trump proves a hard-to-hit, moving target for the frustrated left. He cannot quite be pigeonholed as a predictable right-wing bogeyman.
5) In the fifth spot this week are a trio of very illuminating (and troubling) pro-life articles.
* “We Found Out How Easy It Is To Order An Abortion Pill. The Results Are Shocking.” (Katelynn Richardson, Daily Caller)
* “UK Vote for Abortions Up to Birth is Sparking Massive Pro-Life Backlash” (Elise DeGeeter, LifeNews.com)
* “Planned Parenthood Kills the Babies of 97% of Pregnant Women Who Go There” (Brad Mattes, LifeNews.com)
* “Did Planned Parenthood Commit Yet Another Felony?” (Ben Johnson, Washington Stand)
Now I’ll also explain that it isn’t the only online news and commentary source I appreciate. Oh no. There are many others, the most important of which are Power Line, Lucianne, the Federalist, Breitbart, City Journal, The Stream, LifeNews, Newsmax, Insta Pundit, American Spectator, Daily Signal, Fox News, Hot Air, Washington Stand, and Decision
But now...on to this weekend’s Top 5.
1) “In The Midst Of Los Angeles Chaos, Biblically Understanding Immigration and Borders Is Critically Important” (Greg Laurie, Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article -- We are all alarmed by the rioting, looting, and destruction happening in Los Angeles and other cities across the country. This violence is tearing apart communities, hurting the innocent -- and is just flat out wrong.
In the midst of this chaos, some of us Christians might be wondering: What does the Bible say about immigrants? It’s important for us to align our worldview with the Bible, and Scripture has a lot to say about the many issues we’re facing right now in culture. That includes immigration, border policies, and order.
So, what does the Bible say about immigrants? It’s true we find talk about welcoming a stranger in the Old Testament, but that’s only half of it. It doesn’t mean that our nation cannot have order in the process of doing so. In fact, the expectation communicated in Scripture is that the stranger abides by the law of the land and assimilates. There is a right way to come into our nation...
2) “God’s Word vs Man’s Opinion: Why the Church Can and Should Speak Authoritatively on Abortion” (Ken Ham, Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article -- Dr. Wright was asked a question about abortion on his Ask NT Wright Anything podcast (I wrote last year about the terrible answer he gave on that program to a question about science and the Bible). And his answer was biblically and theologically atrocious! But that’s not surprising because I find that when a person compromises Genesis with outside beliefs (like evolution/millions of years), it has a detrimental effect on other areas such as we see here regarding his answer on abortion...
Dr. Wright took about 10 minutes to answer to question—and never once quoted the Bible. That’s right, this young lady asked for “Christian reasoning” on this issue and got nothing more than N. T. Wright’s opinion with no reference to God’s Word and only a passing comment of starting with a “sense of respect for God’s creation in all its rich variety.”
Because he refused to stand on the authority of God’s Word and apply biblical principles, Dr. Wright and his cohost just danced around the issue. Over and over, they made sure to point out that abortion is a “hugely sensitive” and “difficult issue.” The cohost even said at one point, “We can’t assume this is a black-and-white answer when every case is going to be somehow different.” In his introduction, Wright said, “When [abortion is] presented as ‘you are killing, you are murdering, an unborn child, I think we do have to be very, very careful.” In other words, you can’t call abortion what it really is because “it’s sensitive” and “difficult.”
3) “Bible Prophecy and the Days of Noah: Is the Earth Once Again ‘Filled With Violence’”? (Breanna Claussen, Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article -- When Jesus’ disciples asked Him what the signs of His return would be, the Savior of the World gave a detailed list. Recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, Jesus stated that there would be wars and rumors of wars, distress of nations, and lawlessness. These days, Jesus described, would also be like “the days of Noah.” In Genesis 6:5, 11, we read that in the time before the flood: “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
Is the earth once again being “filled with violence,” just as Jesus forewarned? A brief look at the recent events leads to a sad and unmistakable answer.
In the arena of antisemitism, it was Hamas’ barbaric massacre of over 1,200 Israelis that served as the catalyst for the normalization and acceptance of violence against Jews. Equipped with GoPro cameras, the terrorists gleefully committed unimaginably brutal executions; October 7th has rightly been called “the most well-documented massacre in history.” What followed shortly after was perhaps even more startling. Despite the ease with which people could witness the scale of Hamas’ crimes, individuals across the globe began to justify and celebrate the terrorists.
4) “Spiritual Warfare is the Driving Force Behind The Headlines of Our Day, But Most of the Church is Unaware” (Jonathan Brentner, Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article -- The Lord’s warning reveals at least a couple of truths that pertain to our day:
The current epidemic of unawareness should not surprise us; it fulfills Jesus’ prediction for the last days.
Most people will remain in this state of blissful ignorance until the Rapture occurs and another extended time of God’s judgment begins. Even then, the majority will refuse to repent and put their trust in Jesus.
Sadly, many believers fail to recognize that they live in biblical times despite the myriad of signs pointing to the rapidly approaching seven-year Tribulation. I believe a primary cause for such unawareness stems from a lack of understanding regarding the nature of the spiritual warfare that’s driving world events toward an inevitable conclusion. Jesus’ words in John 10:10 certainly concern our walk with Him, but do they not also include Satan’s behavior throughout our world? “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
The rest of the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that redeemed New Testament saints have an enemy, Satan, whose sole objective is to “steal and kill and destroy.” The Apostle Peter describes our adversary as a “roaring lion” who is constantly seeking victims to “devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
The devil continually strives to disguise the existence of the warfare that rages around us, which not only makes believers vulnerable to our enemy’s devices and attacks against them personally, but also accounts for their inability to identify the same driving force behind the headlines of our day.
5) “Unwavering Faith in God’s Sovereignty: Astronaut Barry Wilmore Recounts Test of Faith 250 Miles Above the Earth” (Reprinted from Decision Magazine by Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article -- The spaceflight was going as planned until moments before the capsule was supposed to dock onto the ISS some 250 miles above the Earth. That’s when the first thruster failed. As the Starliner got closer to the space station, the second thruster was lost. Then the third and fourth thrusters died.
Wilmore says that before NASA Mission Control commandeered the spacecraft for its final approach to the space station, at 17,500 miles per hour, he briefly contemplated whether aborting the mission and returning to Earth was even possible.
Yet in the midst of an extremely precarious situation, Wilmore was at peace.
“I completely understand God’s sovereignty,” he tells Decision. “That He is in control of all things at all times. And I felt that. I thought that very thing as we were losing those thrusters. The Lord’s got this, and if it means He takes me today, so be it.’ And that’s the way—even before we launched, my wife and I, our daughters, we understand that and we’re OK with that because, if the Lord doesn’t return first, we’re all going to go one day. And if He chooses to take us in certain scenarios, that’s OK.
“He’s working out His plan and His purpose, and how we fit into that is wonderful. Because ‘eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him,’ and we do” (See 1 Corinthians 2:9).
Other Recommendations This Week?
* “Rape Gangs and Liberal Silence” (B. Duncan Munch, Tablet)
* “The Ten Warning Signs: A huge change is coming” (Ted Gioia, The Honest Broker)
* “Summer of Love 2.0: Democrats Unmask Themselves at Riots” (John Kass)
* “Pope Leo XIV Drops Papal Supremacy, Urging ‘Full Communion’ with ‘All Christians’” (The Stream)
* “Trump’s Words -- and the Silence of Others -- on the Persecution of Christians” (Raymond Ibrahim, The Stream)
From the article -- The left is in its usual sanctimonious but schizophrenic mood.
The media claims daily that the Trump administration has usurped power. It is supposedly destroying democracy. It tramples on the rule of law and thus has created a virtual dictatorship. Yet at the same time, Democrats high-five the most recent district court judge who has put a stop to the current Trump executive orders—which the Trump administration abides by as it files appeals.
There are two clear conclusions from the flurry of the lower-court liberal justices’ orders: 1) Trump has obeyed their record number of interventions as the appeals go forward; and 2) rarely in the history of the republic has a pool of some 300-400 left-wing district judges exercised such nationwide control over the executive branch and indeed the entire nation. Yet consider the array of double standards.
2) “‘Unethical And Dangerous’: Over 80% of Abortion Pill Emergency Room Visits Were ‘Miscoded As Miscarriages’” (Harbinger's Daily)
From the article -- Women have been told lies about the reality of life in the womb. While left-leaning groups claimed that unborn babies are merely “clumps of cells,” they also advocated for women not to be shown ultrasound images of their children prior to abortions.
Abortion pills—especially with safeguards removed—offered a perfect scenario to block women from coming to realize the human life they would be destroying. In the cases where women reconsidered their decision, Democrats also worked overtime to demonize Pro-Life groups offering women the chance to reverse the process after taking the first of the two-pill regimen. While simultaneously convincing women that the pro-life reversal drugs were medically questionable, the FDA used corrupt means to shield the public from the dangers of abortion drugs.
Like so many other issues in our culture, this is a spiritual battle. Jesus warned that Satan is “the father of lies” and a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
3) “How the Pride war was won” (Don Surber)
From the article -- LGBT has gone from a darling to coyote ugly this year as corporations gnaw their legs to escape the trap. Newsweek asked, “What Happened to All the Corporate Pride Logos?” It said, “In a notable shift from recent years, a number of blue-chip corporations and sports organizations are quietly scaling back their public-facing support for LGBTQ+ Pride Month in 2025.
“About 39% of corporate executives say their companies are reducing public Pride efforts this year, according to a recent survey from Gravity Research. That includes less frequent use of rainbow-themed logos, fewer social media posts and scaled-back sponsorships of Pride events.”
4) “Taking Advantage of Our Rare Status: Culture Is Downstream From Politics... For Now” (J.D. Rucker, America First Report)
From the article -- When one thing is downstream from another, it’s a one-way relationship. This is true in the real world and it’s generally true in the philosophical world.
The late and great Andrew Breitbart said, “politics is downstream from culture.” He was and still is absolutely correct. If you want to make political changes that can stick, you must change the hearts and minds of enough Americans from a cultural perspective.
But here’s the thing. “Culture” is no longer a transparent characteristic. Thanks in large part to a combination of wide political gaps, ultra-biased legacy media, polarized social media, and the rise of cancel culture, we can no longer look to perceived public opinion to get a sense for what is real. Opinions are changing very quickly. We need to take advantage of it before they have political reasons to change back.
5) “The ‘Merwede’ Climate Nightmare: The EU/Europe builds its green comfort Gulag.” (Thomas Kolbe, American Spectator)
From the article -- When we look at the civilizational development of societies, two basic patterns emerge. On one side is the free society — decentralized, subsidiarily organized, and sustained by individual responsibility. Opposite stands its antagonist: a centralized power structure built on control, planning, and regulation. Despite lip service to freedom, the EU/Europe has firmly embraced centralized control.
Centralized statist powers have a limited half-life. The rise and fall of tyrannical regimes are best understood through examples like the Soviet Empire, the Third Reich, or the many socialist projects of the 20th century. Faced with their inherent economic decline, the elites of these decaying bodies respond aggressively with increasing control, interventionism, and an unraveling media apparatus tasked with stabilizing the falling regime narratively.
Other Quality Reads:
* “Intifada Here! Intifada Now! The evil consequences of appeasement and enabling calls for violence” (John A. Lucas, Bravo Blue)
* “Depo-Provera’s Alleged Link To Brain Tumors Should Make You Wonder What’s In Your Birth Control” (Jordan Boyd, Federalist)
* “DOGE’s Next Chore: Time to end funding for government social programs that don’t work” (Steven Malanga, City Journal)
* “Antisemitic Words Have Morphed Into Violent Actions… And It May Only Be The Beginning” (Olivier Melnick, Harbinger's Daily)
* “Taking Sides: Wikipedia Advances Anti-Israel Narratives” (Aaron Bandler, RealClearInvestigations)
Just a quick word from your old friends in the States. It is first of all, a word of thanks for your ongoing testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ -- a testimony of faith, integrity, and wise investment in His everlasting Kingdom which has stimulated so many to “love and good deeds” in Christ’s Name. We are grateful to be among that company.
Secondly, we send a word of encouragement regarding the increased lawlessness and speech restrictions you have been encountering. I would love to join in the optimism that believes such conditions will be only temporary. After all, such policies are so blatantly unjust and reveal such remarkable hypocrisy and irrationality that one might expect them to collapse from their own weight of folly. But alas, as we know all too well, such assessments often clash with the realities of a modern culture that is immersed in what our dear brother Francis Schaefer would have called “stupid-wicked.” Furthermore, the Scriptures describe the earth’s “last days” to be full of disdain for Christian doctrine and values, and we may be seeing these prophetic Scriptures coming to pass in our day.
Therefore, though we are fervently praying that the UK (and Europe) may yet come out of this tailspin, the encouragement we send you is of a deeper, stronger quality. It is simply this: Jesus is the Lord of our salvation; He is the conquering King Who sustains His children in all troubles; and He is the Lord of hosts who defeats evil and death even as He ushers the redeemed souls (with their glorified bodies, of course) to the paradise He has carefully prepared for them. It’s a paradise where they will live victoriously, harmoniously, and amid peace and beauty and marvelous splendor forevermore! Hallelujah!
Appreciating these grand promises are of the utmost importance for us if we desire to withstand the attacks launched at us from this polluted and pernicious culture. And we need to embrace those promises in order to effectively, consistently hold high our Lord’s banner as the standard of hope for all who have yet to bow the knee and receive Christ as Savior. And as the darkness deepens, our light shines all the more brilliantly.
No, I’m afraid that these closing days of our spiritual pilgrimage will not be very easy or comfortable. After all, the challenges posed by aging and marginalization, the sadness resulting from disappointments and bereavement, and the grievous changing of the world we once knew into one that is more crude, corrupt, and cruel must undoubtedly make for some difficult days. Yet, in the Lord’s noble plans and by the Spirit’s empowerment, they can yet be our very best days as we intensify our relationship with our returning King -- and as we seek to share wisely and winsomely His glorious, liberating light to others.
We are stepping up our prayers for our brethren across the globe (including those tempted by timidity and carnality here in the United States) but Claire and I wanted to write our pals in the UK to let you know we have a special interest in your well-being and your ministries. We have been asking God 1) to protect you from the evil one, 2) to lift burdens from your hearts and strengthen your faith, 3) to answer the prayers of your hearts concerning your family, and 4) to grant you peace and health and triumphant joy.
Finally, we want to remind you that if you’re ever looking for a little respite, a little re-charging of your spiritual batteries, we have a guest room here that is all ready for you! And with it comes a well-stocked kitchen and even a dependable vehicle by which you could “tool around” the lovely city of Omaha, Nebraska! Indeed, we would love to have you visit.
Stay the course, dear friends. Our redemption most truly does draw nigh.