The Top 5 Plus (February 7)

1) “Apocalyptic Islamic Ideology: The Most Important Factor In Iran’s Motivation Is Being Overlooked” (Mark Hitchcock, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- Iran’s government is an Islamic theocracy built on the foundational principle of Velāyat-e Faqīh, or the “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist.” This doctrine was developed by Ayatollah Khomeini as part of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran’s constitution places a “Guardian Jurist”—a religious cleric—at the head of the state. Currently, that is the Ayatollah Khamanei.

Behind all of this is the belief that clerics have to pave the way for the return of their Mahdi, the 12th Imam. They believe that preservation of the regime is the existential imperative for the Mahdi to return.

According to their view, the 12th Imam was born in 868 AD. He communicated with his followers through four deputies until 941 AD, after which he went into total seclusion and hiding. This Imam is expected to reappear in the end times to “usher in justice” and “put down tyranny”—an ironic premise considering the fact that Iran today is the most tyrannical regime in the world.

2) “Always Ready: Speaker Johnson Gives Biblical Defense of Borders” (Joshua Arnold, Washington Stand)

From the article -- “Borders and walls are biblical — from the Old Testament to the New, God has allowed us to set up our civil societies and have separate nations,” Johnson began. Fact check: this is true. As Paul put it to the pluralistic skeptics of Athens, God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26).

At the same time, “We are to welcome the sojourner and love our neighbor as ourselves,” Johnson allowed. “But what’s also important in the Bible is that assimilation is expected, and anticipated, and proper. When someone comes into your country, comes into your nation, they do not have the right to change its laws or to change its society. They’re expected to assimilate. We haven’t had a lot of that going on.”

Indeed, the same law that taught Israel to welcome the sojourner anticipated both political and religious assimilation. The Lord commanded Moses, “Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 31:12).

On this point, it’s worth noting how Johnson was able to affirm two separate biblical teachings that could be held in tension with one another. Those who misuse the Bible often take one verse or teaching and over-extrapolate it through human reason, to the point that they make it contradict other biblical teachings. The way to protect ourselves against such misuse of Scripture to know and understand the whole counsel of God, so that we affirm everything the Bible affirms — even if it includes ideas that are, or seem to be, in tension. Johnson modeled this well.

3) “The Loss of Trust in Legacy Media” (John Kass)

From the article -- So, how did the Legacy media lose the public trust? Simple: By mocking the people who bought the newspapers and supported the advertising, by opening the newsroom wide to the snobs of the American left, by adopting the language of the left. And by manufacturing demigods like Barack Obama to lead the country where it did not want to go.

Journalism lost something irreplaceable as corporate legacy media created Obama as something of a plaster saint. What they lost, or abandoned, was the one thing a journalist needs to do the job: Curiosity.

And he, Obama, led American journalism into a special hell, having his shadowy Deep State operatives like the CIA’s John Brennan and the FBI’s James Comey manufacturing phony evidence to cast Donald Trump as the tool of Putin’s Russia—even though they knew that was totally untrue. But that didn’t stop Deep State, establishement newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post to push these notions into Pulitzer Prizes, and American journalism sealed itself into the vault of horror.

4) “The National Miseducation Association. In addition to being consumed with left-wing politicking, the teachers’ unions inflict significant harm on the nation’s children.” (Larry Sand, American Greatness)

From the article -- So, what do we do to counter the destructive power wielded by teachers’ unions? Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hardly a right-winger and a champion of private-sector unions, wrote in an August 1937 letter to the National Federation of Federal Employees that “All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.”

But trying to outlaw them now is a nonstarter. The best way to defang the unions is for teachers to stop supporting them.

5) “In Nations Across The Globe, Technology Is Becoming A Dangerous Tool To Target Freedoms” (Mark Henry, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- As with any technological device, it’s not the instrument itself that poses a threat, it’s how and for what purpose the technology is used by those having access to it.

In the hands of individuals, organizations, or political bodies whose intentions are noble, morals are honorable, and values are righteous, innovations and advancements in differing scientific fields can prove to be tremendous blessings. Productivity can be increased, burdens of daily life can be eased, hinderances that limit one’s ability to thrive can be removed, and hope can be kindled for those suffering from various disabilities.

However, in the hands of those who are selfish, those who strive for power and control, and those driven by wicked ambitions, technology can quickly become weaponized against those that are ignorant, unsuspecting, gullible, or powerless to stop it. Freedom of speech and expression can be censored, access to different locations and establishments can be restricted, and ability to purchase certain products can be limited, all because of something said, done, or believed that contradicts the “established” or “approved” policies and positions of those in power.

Related articles: “Developers Design AI To Talk To Each Other -- And They Immediately Made Their Own Religion (Answers In Genesis, Harbinger’s Daily)... "AI And The Antichrist: As Artificial Intelligence Becomes More Powerful, Serious Spiritual Questions Arise" (Greg Laurie, Harbinger's Daily)

Other excellent articles from the week:

* “Shaping Young Minds: UAE Cuts Scholarships To Study In The UK, Citing Radical Islamic Ideologies In British Universities” (Thomas Fretwell, Harbinger’s Daily)

* “The West’s pragmatic fallacy: Qatar represents the Jeffrey Epstein of world politics.” (Melanie Phillips, JNS)

* “It’s Time For Trump To Win The West’s Civil War” (Bradley A. Thayer, Federalist)

* “The British state treats its adults like children: From smoking bans to arrests over tweets, the UK is being run like an oversized kindergarten.” (Sheila Lewis, spiked!)

* “On Remigration and the Question of Belonging in Europe” (Alexandros Dolgov, The European Conservative)

What's This About Work in Heaven?

I am really enjoying David Jeremiah’s new book, Heaven. Yes, I’m a big fan of the heaven-oriented books written by Randy Alcorn and Joni Eareckson Tada, but this one is also an impressive work. Enlightening. Inspiring. Full of exciting hope and joyful expectation. 

Let me give you an example from Chapter 20 of the book,“Won’t Heaven Be Boring?” After citing such key verses from Revelation as 7:15, 19:5, and 22:3, David comments, “When we enter heaven, we won’t be put on some kind of divine Social Security list. No, listen to this welcoming speech (and promise) from the Lord himself: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:23)

That verse surely doesn’t sound to me like we’re going to be sitting around doing nothing forever and ever in heaven. It doesn’t sound like retirement but a promotion! In other words, eternal life is not a break from work, it is a breakthrough to better work. It is purpose without pressure, service without fatigue, and joy without end.

There are two things against which we all revolt. One is work that is tedious and meaningless or encumbered by a difficult working environment. The other is idleness and the lack of occupation. But the work that awaits us in heaven will be a delight to the soul.

(David Jeremiah, Heaven, Chapter 20, pages 177-78)

Hallelujah!

The Top 5 Plus (January 31)

My apologies for skipping last weekend's edition of The Top 5 Plus but with several pressing tasks (including being in Washington D.C. for the March for Life), we just couldn't get to it. Let's get back on track with this weekend's selections...

1) “‘Medical Malpractice’: DOJ Asks Court to Stall Federal Case on Abortion Drug” (S.A. McCarthy, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Last year, the DOJ similarly asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the FDA by Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas. That case also challenged the weakening of safeguards around mifepristone, but the DOJ argued that the states had brought their challenge in the improper venue and lacked standing.

Louisiana and other states with pro-life laws in place have filed lawsuits, issued arrest warrants, and requested extraditions in an effort to bring blue state abortionists to justice for violating state pro-life laws, killing children, and harming women, but “shield laws” in states like California and New York block the pro-life states’ efforts. In a recent bid to circumvent “shield laws,” Florida legislators introduced a bill empowering women and their families to sue out-of-state abortionists directly, rather than pitting two states against each other in court.

In July, the FDA launched a review of the safety standards surrounding mifepristone, following numerous studies and reports demonstrating the damage that the drug does to pregnant women — in addition to the unborn children killed by the drug. However, the agency quickly outraged pro-life Americans when it moved to expand mifepristone, approving a generic version of the abortion drug in September 2025.

Related article: “FDA Wants Pause On Landmark Abortion Pill Suit. Pro-Lifers Say It Will Cost” (Jordan Boyd, Federalist)

2) “Slouching Towards Fort Sumter? Minnesota’s defiance of federal immigration law echoes pre–Fort Sumter nullification, forcing Trump to choose between enforcement and letting blue states slide toward open rebellion.” (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness) 

From the article -- But after Fort Sumter, Lincoln—who was hated as much by the Confederates as Trump is by the woke and socialist left—gained a consensus that the Constitution had no clauses about any lawful departure from the union. But it did operate under a clear supremacy clause that made state obstruction of federal law and occupation of federal property veritable sedition.

Lincoln and the preservationists felt that they easily had the moral high ground of abolition versus the continuance of slavery. Nor did they want a North America of fragmenting, warring nations in the manner of Europe.

Something similar is emerging over Minnesota, the South Carolina of our age.

Once sanctuary states, cities, and counties had established the precedent that, with impunity, they could nullify federal immigration law, then what followed was a logical and mounting descent into the current open defiance of the federal government. How odd that self-described progressives are now acting out the visions of prior kindred nullificationists and neo-Confederates from John C. Calhoun to George Wallace.

Related articles: “The Rise of the New Confederacy: Democrat insurrectionists have a poor track record.” (Josh Hammer, American Spectator) “Like Their Southern Secessionist Ancestors, Today’s Democrats Push New ‘Massive Resistance’ to Federal Law Enforcement” (Mark Tapscott, Washington Stand)

3) “From Classroom to Clash: The Long March to Disorder -- As cities descend into repeated cycles of chaos and lives are lost in Minnesota, Americans are asking a simple question: how did we get here?” (Tony Perkins, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Minnesota is not an outlier; it is a case study of what happens when institutions that once fostered moral restraint abandon that role. The real cause is less obvious because it is far removed from the tragic events we see today in the headlines. It can be traced back decades to what was called the long march through the institutions — a phrase coined in the late 1960s by Marxist student leader Rudi Dutschke. The phrase deliberately echoed Mao Zedong’s Long March, but Dutschke’s was not a military campaign. It was a cultural and ideological one, measured in decades rather than battles.

The strategy was to transform society not by overthrowing government outright, but by infiltrating its core institutions: universities, primary and secondary education, the media, the courts, and even churches. The objective was to shape what people were taught — what would be considered normal, respectable, and acceptable — so that political outcomes would eventually become inevitable.

4) “Congressional Republicans Launch ‘Sharia Free America Caucus,’ Shining A Light On The Dangers Of Rising Islamic Ideology” (Harbinger’s Press)

From the article -- With twenty-six members from seventeen different states, the newly launched “Sharia Free America Caucus” in the US House of Representatives is working to reveal the dangers and safeguard America from freedom-trampling Islamic ideology.

The caucus, chaired by Texas Congressmen Keith Self and Chip Roy, underscores that Sharia Law poses a direct threat to the United States and Western civilization, noting that both members of Congress and American citizens must be educated to understand the danger.

“Sharia is a direct threat to our Constitution and Western values and seeks to replace our legal system and erode our basic freedoms,” Roy stated. “Our immigration system must be prepared to confront this challenge and defend our Judeo-Christian values.”

Congressman Self, in an interview with CBN, drew a “direct connection between a growing Muslim population in his home state to a gradual infiltration of Islamic control.”

5) “The emergence of Holocaust erasure: The world hasn’t learned the key point -- that it was a uniquely monstrous crime aimed specifically at the extermination of the Jewish people.” (Melanie Phillips, JNS)

From the article -- The United Nations chose Jan. 27—the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration/death camp—to commemorate the Holocaust, the term that developed specifically to describe the Nazi genocide of the Jews.

Yet the message the United Nations posted on X on Tuesday omitted any mention of the Jews. It said: “The genocide started with apathy & silence in the face of injustice, and with the corrosive dehumanization of the other. Today and always, we need to remember this. And we must stand up for our shared humanity.”

The post was quoting from a statement issued by the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who also said that “a group of deluded killers inflicted unspeakable atrocities on millions of Jews and members of other minorities.”

As reflected in the U.N.’s abbreviated version of this statement on X, Türk universalized the Holocaust and thus blurred its real significance. But at least he mentioned the Jews. Others, shockingly, did not.

Other excellent articles from this week:

* “Iran’s Slaughter Of Civillians Reaches Unprecedented Heights As Fiery Warnings Sound From America And Israel” (Amir Tsarfati, Harbinger’s Daily)

* “The EU Just Murdered Western Civilization” (Bradley A. Thayer, American Greatness)

* “Two Decades Of Inconvenient Inaccuracies” (I & I Editorial Board)

* “Twenty Years of Justice Alito: Supreme Court Justices must be smart, wise, and steadfast, too, especially when under pressure. Alito checks all of the boxes and more.” (Aaron L. Nielson, Civitas Institute)

* “The Truth About Malaysian Flight 370 Is Scarier Than The Conspiracy Theories” (Hans Mahncke, Federalist)

You Get Rid of Religion...and You Can't Hire Enough Police

I believe it important to share Clay Christensen's profound video clip every once in awhile. It's only 90 seconds but its ever-relevant, ever-challenging. Watch it; reflect on it; share it.

The Top 5 Plus (January 17)

1) “GOP Turns Up the Heat on Trump to Clamp Down on Wildly Unsafe Abortion Drug” (Suzanne Bowdey, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Rodriguez’s testimony is part of a powerful new video released in December by Stop Coerced Abortions. Like so many former abortion center workers, Marya finally had a crisis of conscience about what she was doing, and the testimonies she remembers from helpless, hurting women still haunt her. “The phone calls that strike me the most were the clients with the abortion pills that will call me in the middle of the night and said, ‘So you guys told me to push a blood clot on the toilet, and I tried to do that, but I didn’t make it, and it’s not a blood clot, it’s actually a baby. So what do I do?’” she recalls. 

She says, “You’re instructed to tell them to go ahead and grab it and throw it in the toilet, flush, and don’t look.” The moms would almost always reply with panic. “‘But, you told me it was just a blood clot. But I can actually see the hands, the feet, the face.’ And they will be crying.” 

2) “Parents Must Actively Opt Out Of Turning Their Kids Into Digital Age Zombies. The highest civic skill in the digital age is not coding or content creation, but the ability to look away.” (Julianna Frieman, Federalist)

From the article -- Do you remember when television was the technology we were warned about? When parents fretted over too many hours glued to the screen after school, teachers rolled in a TV on a metal cart like contraband, and cultural critics cautioned that the glowing box in our living rooms might rot our brains. Television was the villain of its age, and just like social media today, it existed as a passive, mind-numbing force that threatened attention spans and civic life. Neil Postman took that fear seriously, and in 1985 he declared that we Americans are Amusing Ourselves to Death.

What feels almost quaint now is not Postman’s alarm, but his target. Television was merely the prototype for the power that cellphones and tablets have over the population. The danger was never the screen itself, but what happens when a society allows its dominant media to define how truth is presented, how politics is understood, and how meaning is measured. Postman was not arguing against technology; he was warning that every medium carries a philosophy, and that some philosophies are incompatible with serious thought.

3) “The Jewish Test: History has already run the experiment that Tucker Carlson and his friends are urging upon us. The results are not favorable for America.” (Michael Doran, Tablet)

From the article -- Two thousand years ago, a Roman emperor built an arch to commemorate the defeat of the Jews. Today, Rome is a museum. The Jews survive. Israel has been reborn in its ancestral land.

Empires rise and fall. The Jews alone among peoples are eternal. Their survival is one of history’s great mysteries. Conquered, dispersed, and persecuted, a small tribe endured across millennia. From antiquity to the modern age, Jews moved from empire to empire, barred from land ownership, excluded from politics, and confined to narrow professions while pressured to convert. In times of eased repression, many assimilated, while others adapted and flourished. With repression’s return, survival again took precedence. A faithful remnant preserved communal cohesion and carried tradition forward without territory, army, or state.

To explain the mystery of Jewish survival, European observers have repeatedly reached for supernatural causes. Their accounts tend to fall into two camps. The first interprets Jewish endurance as demonic. Its most influential exponent was Martin Luther, who insisted that “the devil … has taken possession of this people,” leading them to worship not God but “their gifts, their deeds, their works.” Accusing them of usury, deception, and moral corruption, Luther concluded that “no heathen has done such things and none would do so except the Devil himself and those whom he possesses, like he possesses the Jews.”

The second camp retained the supernatural frame but reversed its moral valence. Instead of demonic possession, it discerned divine design...

4) “Iran And The Red-Green Alliance: A Warning For The West” (Thomas Fretwell, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- The enduring hostility of the Iranian regime towards Israel and the United States must be understood within this historical framework. Both nations symbolise the Western political and moral order that the alliance defines as its enemy. The real target is Judeo-Christian civilisation. This pattern is now evident in many Western cities. In the UK, it is common to see Islamist activists and far-left progressive students uniting in demonstrations, carrying slogans and placards calling for the elimination of Israel and the “Zionists.”

With the full collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Red side of the alliance lost its primary state sponsor. The Green Islamist side, however, did not disappear; it quickly found a new generation ready to partner. Marxist-derived ideologies continued to flourish within Western universities, media institutions, and leftist student activist movements. As a result, this new generation of the Red-Green Alliance marches in support of causes that ultimately oppose the cultural, political and religious freedoms they themselves enjoy. Ironically, they are marching for their own destruction.

Iran serves as a warning to us in the West. History shows that when Islamist ideologues seize power by exploiting leftist progressive allies, those allies are often discarded once they have served their purpose. It is abundantly clear that the Red-Green Alliance is controlling much of the political landscape in the UK right now. This is why the same protestors who so loudly yelled “free Palestine” have very little to say when a real freedom revolution begins. Its existence undoes their entire narrative. The crucial question facing the UK and the West right now is whether they will recognise this pattern before it is repeated.

Related article: “Iran Is Not Simply A Political Talking Point, Its A Major Player In End Times Prophecy” (Greg Laurie, Harbinger’s Daily)

5) “When We All Get to Heaven” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

From the article -- “When We All Get to Heaven” was written in 1898 by Eliza Hewitt, a teacher and poet from Philadelphia whose life, though deeply affected by pain caused from a spinal injury, was a profound blessing to family, friends, and the untold numbers of Christians around the world who glorified God by singing such hymns of Eliza’s as “More About Jesus, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place,” “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today,” and yes, “When We All Get to Heaven.” I myself have been encouraged by these songs (most of which were set to the music of Mrs. Emily Wilson) and I am looking forward to meeting these faithful saints in what undoubtedly will not be all that far away. 

But what is it about the song that so lifts our spirits and sparks our imagination? Well, several things actually...

Other recent entries from Vital Signs Blog that you may find of interest?

*  “Is Reading Among Your Resolutions? -- Including 10 Reasons to Read More” (90-second video -- Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog) 

*“The Reading Year in Review” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

Other excellent reads from this week:

* “Persecution of Christians Has Expanded across the Globe, Report Reveals” (Dan Hart, Washington Stand)

* “Resisting Law Enforcement Is Violence And This Administration’s Job Is To Stop It At All Costs” (Eddie Scarry, Federalist)

* “Anatomy of an Insurrection” (Mark Pulliam, Misrule of Law)

* “The Decline and Fall of Republican Government in America” (Paul A. Rahe, The American Mind)

* “The world without Europe: This is the sad fate of a continent that has bet on its own demise. It wanted to be the great regulator and beacon of the world but is instead committing suicide homeopathically.” (Rafael Bardají, VOZ)

“When We All Get to Heaven”

“When We All Get to Heaven” 

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus;

Sing His mercy and His grace.

In the mansions bright and blessed

He’ll prepare for us a place.

Chorus: When we all get to heaven,

What a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus,

We’ll sing and shout the victory.

While we walk the pilgrim pathway

Clouds will overspread the sky.

But when travelin’ days are over,

Not a shadow, not a sigh.

Onward to the prize before us.

Soon His beauty we’ll behold.

Soon the pearly gates will open;

We shall tread the streets of gold.

What a comforting, joyful, exhilarating prospect this song presents!  For though we are certainly walking “pilgrim pathways” these days with “clouds” of lawlessness, lies, and the lunacy of the cancel culture all around us, reminders of our coming redemption are of the utmost value.

“When We All Get to Heaven” was written in 1898 by Eliza Hewitt, a teacher and poet from Philadelphia whose life, though deeply affected by pain caused from a spinal injury, was a profound blessing to family, friends, and the untold numbers of Christians around the world who glorified God by singing such hymns of Eliza’s as “More About Jesus, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place,” “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today,” and yes, “When We All Get to Heaven.” I myself have been encouraged by these songs (most of which were set to the music of Mrs. Emily Wilson) and I am looking forward to meeting these faithful saints in what undoubtedly will not be all that far away.

But what is it about the song that so lifts our spirits and sparks our imagination? Well, several things actually:

1) The fact that the only way I can be allowed into God’s holy heaven in the first place is the “wondrous love” of Jesus that is hailed at the very beginning of the hymn.  Jesus demonstrated that love through “His mercy and His grace” as He endured the cross to pay the penalty of my sin.  Thank You, Lord!

2) Jesus is preparing for His people a place amid His heavenly mansions -- a place that will be free of any stain of sin or rebellion.  Instead, there will be purity, peace, righteousness, happiness, and a complete harmony between the believer and himself, with all the saints, with all of redeemed creation, and with the Triune God. Wow.

3) No wonder we will be rejoicing!  No wonder we will “sing and shout the victory” when finally we see our Savior face to face.  No more sighing.  No sorrow or shame.  No excuses or promises to try harder.  The redemption that Jesus purchased with His death will be enjoyed by His adopted children in our glorified bodies and our undivided hearts.

4) That “day of rejoicing” will, of course, be a never-ending one. And though I have no doubt we will have adventures aplenty on the New Earth where God will dwell with men, the “travelin’ days” on this fallen planet where we are beset with continual temptations from the world, our own flesh, and the devil will be forever over.

5) And finally, I love the line from the final stanza: “Onward to the prize before us” for that phrase underscores the glories that will be awarded us by our gracious, generous God as well as the charge to actively pursue our sanctification until that upward call comes. As we relish the reality of those prizes, we find renewed and deepened resolve to endure the tests presently before us.

Today the clouds and sighs. But tomorrow the unveiled face of the Lord, the mansion, the shouts of victory, the prize, the oh-so-real-glories of heaven! That is absolutely wonderful news. And so today, with fresh resolve, I’m going to “sing the wondrous love of Jesus” indeed. Thank you, Eliza.

The January LifeSharer Is up!

Wow -- December was one of our busiest, most delightful, and most Christmassy ever!

 Read (and see) the action right here.

Is Reading Among Your Resolutions?

Is an increase in reading among your resolutions for 2026? If not, consider making that the plan.

And to help stimulate that resolve, check out this 90-second "public service" announcement, True, I recorded it several years ago but the 10 Reasons to Read More are as sound and relevant as ever.