More Than Ever 

     A few more thoughts from Franklin Graham: "Christians should steward their vote faithfully, as Paul told the church at Corinth, 'For the weapons of our warfare and not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" - 2 Cor. 10:4-5. 

     "When King Jehoshaphat sought peace and social progress, he went back to the World of God. He demanded that his people learn the Word of God, that they live by it and humble themselves before God. Obedience to the Word of God brought peace then and it can bring peace not if God's people - by His mercy and power - lead our nation back to Him. 

Healthy Churches, Healthy Nation? 

     "Consider Joseph in Egypt, preventing famine. Or David, ruling with wisdom. And Daniel, advising the pagan king. What does a healthy church today have to do with the community around it?" Mark Dever, pastor in Washington D.C., wrote, "Our founders taught that our government of laws required that honesty and care for others be widespread, and the religion of the Bible was the source of our values." He quotes John Adams: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions. Our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people." 

     Dever says, "In order for Christians to influence others, we must be different; we must be distinct. That basically is what Jesus is teaching. The salt of the earth shows how essential our distinction is from the world. How useless would we be without it. Jesus made it clear that ethnicity (belonging to a group of like-minded) was insufficient to define God's people." 

     "God calls his people to be gloriously different from this world. If we aren't distinct, our witness may have little meaning to others. Jesus prayed in John 17:16, we are 'not of this world.'" 

                                              To be continued 

     

     

Critical Moment in Our History 

    "From coast to coast, candidates are running on a radical political platform that praises the bankrupt ideology of socialism. It's no secret how a socialist agenda has wrecked the economies of nations, such as Venezuela. Closer home, Cuba is impoverished by socialism for more than six decades," writes Franklin Graham. 

     "Communism - like socialism - is godless, even anti-God. Socialists have always been the enemy of the church. They hate God because they want to be the authority. Allegiance to the atheistic state is commanded. Religion is a clear and present danger to the all-powerful state. Churches are marginalized." 

     "Look no further than New York City and Seattle, cities being led by self-identified socialist mayors. Years ago, Winston Churchill said: 'Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy.' Socialism isn't our only fight."  

     "The rising threat of Islam in the West should concern us all. We just marked the anniversary of the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks. Yet we see too many Americans staying silent when Muslim leaders exert greater control. As voters cast their ballots, remember Paul's instructions for the Colossians: 'Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ' - v. 2:8."

     "Christians must base their vote on Biblical values, supporting candidates who know the sanctity of human life, Biblical marriage, national borders and law enforcement, and the value of work and productivity. Socialism seeks to undermine all this." 

                                     To be continued; not easy   

 
Is History Dead? 

     Janie Cheaney writes, "Historian Naill Ferguson pronounced 'The Death of History' in The Free Press. His autopsy exposed the cause of death as AI generated bots on the internet, spreading poison faster than any antidote could remedy. The specific poison is anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial. If one of the starkest, best documented, still within-living-memory events of the past can be plowed under outright lies, what room is left for history?" 

     "We face, in short, the gravest AI powered assault on historical truth. Philosophers, artists, and spiritual leaders may yet call us back to virtue, but historians have failed. Omar Mohammed, whose secret blog began when ISIS took control of his Iraqi city in 2014, concludes:

     "'A society that turns on its Jews has announced what it will eventually permit against everyone.' Jews are found at critical turning points, 'outsized influence on history inspires outsized hatred." 

     "Cheaney writes, 'I feel their weight, a people born of promise, divinely shaped into a nation, established around a holy city, scattered and restored more than once. Their existence testifies to Yahweh's faithfulness in His wrestling with mankind." 

Views: This is not something new. It's an ongoing battle the devil wages on Christians and especially Jews. He will not cease his war on God who created him until God comes to earth and imprisons him for a thousand years. 

 

.:  

 Vote!  

     Please vote, if you are registered. The era in which many Republicans were satisfied to skip the midterms is over! Done! History! 

     If you are a Democrat, you can vote for people who have taken over the party. Their interest is not the world's greatest constitution. It is a complete uprooting of all America has valued for 250 years. Democratic politicians not favoring Marxism and communism are standing down, rather than oppose them. 

     Sen. Bernie Sanders, age 85, who spent his honeymoon in the communist Soviet Union, may be close to a victory of some sort. He does not love the Democratic Party, but like many communists he - an independent - uses the Dems to get what he really wants. 

     Republicans seldom win the midterms, but Judicial Watch says: "It's clear that if the Left makes big gains in power, they will mount even more schemes to make it easier for illegal aliens and other ineligible voters to vote in our elections. Even if the balance of power doesn't change, the Left will continue its litigation in courts making it harder to stop illegal aliens from voting." 

     Judicial Watch says there are 28 states with liberal laws that register voters either apply for or renew their drivers' licenses. There are 873,092 ineligible California voters, and many "dirty voting rolls" in Illinois. Some left-wing lawyers are funded by the Soros network. 

     To summarize, America is no longer a simple two-party government. We've read that Republican voter rolls now outnumber Democrats. But that means little if we don't exercise our right to vote. So, you're tired of President Trump. And you don't like the Iran affair dragging on. Okay. But let's not allow the socialists to return to their antics - including open borders - of the Biden administration. 

         Jimmy

 

  

American Families?

     We don't recommend the book Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance in 2016. But we came across a couple pages, 228-229, that might interest you. 

     "By almost any measure, American working-class families experience a level of instability unseen else anywhere elsewhere in the world. Consider, for instance, Mom's revolving door of father figures. No other country experiences anything like this. In France (troubled in 2026) the percentage of children exposed to three or more maternal partners is 0.5 percent - about one in two hundred. 

     "The second highest share is 2.6 percent, in Sweden. In the United States, the figure is a shocking 8.2 percent - about one in twelve - and the figure is even higher in the working class. The most depressing part is that relationship instability, like home chaos, is a vicious cycle. As socialists found, a 'growing body of literature suggests that children who experience multiple transitions in family structure may fare worse developmentally than children raised in stable two-parent families, and perhaps even than children raised in stable, single-parent families.' 

     "For many kids, the first impulse is to escape, but people who lurch toward the exit rarely choose the right door. Out of the frying pan into the fire. Chaos begets chaos. Instability begets instability. Welcome to family life for the American hillbilly. 

     "For me, understanding my past and knowing that I wasn't doomed gave me the hope and fortitude to deal with the demons of my youth." 

     Yours truly received an Ohio State degree in five years. Vance did it in two years, extra courses, all A's, while working two jobs and wearing his military boots. I admit he is better qualified to be our Vice President. 

     Many notable people - 50 in all - wrote praise of Vance's book. I can't recommend the foul language of the first half of the book, the Hillbellies, so we'll leave it there.  

        Jimmy

The Future of Our Past 

     We were going to set aside an article by Lynn Vincent...until we came to her conclusion. 

     "While paper can survive for centuries, digital records last only a decade or two at best. Archivists must wage a rolling battle against 'bit rot' ... file corruption and physical failure and software obsolescence, even as they preserve new material. 

     "Personal archives are also become far less discoverable. Seventy years from now, who will stumble upon important letters in great grandma's attic? She will likely have used email, her missives lost forever to the digital grave. Who will stumble upon our records, imprisoned as most are on laptops, smartphones, cloud services and lapsed subscription appts? 

     "I fear most of us are irrationally optimistic that what matters will somehow survive. I also fear human history could turn increasingly sterile as archivists preserve records of what happened while neglecting records of what it was like to be there when it did." 

The Days After 9/11

     "I didn't want us to lose our soul. I wanted, as we defended our freedoms, I wanted people to remember how precious they are."    

     - Former President George W. Bush 

     

 

Ready for the Gospel

Believe it or not. 

     For nearly 50 years, an oppressive Islamic regime has tried to restrict efforts to spread the gospel. Christian ministries have developed strategies to circumvent the regime's policies. Through satellite TV and internet platforms, ministries engage the population of more than 92 million people, of whom less than 2% are Christian. 

     One person has organized and trained 50 Farsi-speaking pastors who disciple more than 4,000 online. Every participant in the program has studied the Bible and taken online courses. The ministry supports more than 250 underground churches and their courageous leaders. 

     Even as the government cut the internet and tried to jam satellite broadcasts, Christian satellite TV was still viewable in most areas. Coming to Christ and making him known have been costly for new believers. Being a Christian is dangerous. Witnessing is dangerous. Being in a home church is dangerous. A mother of a newborn recently was sent to prison for 17 years for attending a house church. 

     Amid the regional instability and uncertainty, these leaders continue to equip the church, regardless of what Iran's oppressive regime intends. 

PS. In America, we have those who wish to establish an oppressive regime. It's a world conquest in the hearts of (not all) many Muslims.