What About China?    

   About every 10 hours, we need to take a nap, unless it's already bedtime.

   About every 10 hours, the FBI opens a new investigation into China. They already have more than 2,000 active investigations (economic espionage) involving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Who Lost the Debate? 

   We scrapped the rest of our China remarks to remark instead about the remarks both men made in Tuesday night's so-called debate. Note our disgust as our fingers pound the keyboard. 

   Who knows what the next two moderators are thinking. But if the debatable debates occur as planned, we will skip them in favor of getting better nights' sleep. 

   Surprise! Where has well prepared Joe Biden been all year? Why was he confined to his home if he can speak without misspeaking? 

   He goaded President Trump, and the two of them ended up in a high-schoolish tit for tat. Moderator Chris Wallace tried bringing order to the court, only to become the third person all talking at once.

   Our foreign enemies must have been thrilled. 

   Biden smirked at each Trump statement. That was planned. He lied about Trump - who works maybe 18 hours a day - being on the golf course while fires burn, the economy tanks and the virus kills. (It was Obama on the golf course quite often.) 

   Mr. Biden, why didn't you answer questions about law and order, packing the court and killing filibusters? Oh, you ("I am the Democrat Party") didn't want to anger the socialist left. 

   Give him credit for looking into the camera and speaking to the viewers. The president never did. 

   Who lost? Both men, and we the people. We concluded a few years ago that debates as now conducted are not helpful.

          Jimmy

 A Poem for Young Men   

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but allow for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about but don't lie,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters the same,

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and build 'em up; 

If you can force your heart and nerve to serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you, except the Will which says 'Hold On!' 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 

Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Some words omited for space 

 Supreme Court

Why Not a Sub?      

   When a player comes out of a game - due to injury or grievous foul - the team uses a substitute to keep the sides evenly matched. The National Hockey League is the exception. With a penalty, they play short-handed for a few minutes.

   Why can't the world's greatest democracy substitute for a supreme court justice who dies or becomes too ill even to work from the hospital, as did Justice Ginsberg? 

   We are in a pickle weeks before a critical election with eight on the court. Democrats complain that the president dares to nominate a ninth justice. They would do the same thing if the "robe" was on the other...oh you know the thing...as forgetful Joe Biden would say. 

   Our founders thought hard, producing a constitution that limits governmental power and provides for rights most of us hold dear. But, they didn't know Justice Ginsburg was going to leave us at an inconvenient time. 

   If the election is inconclusive, and there are scads of lawsuits that need supreme attention, any 4-4 tie will defer to lower courts. Whatever your ideology, do you want unknown (to you and me) judges making critical decisions? 

   We think this could win constitutional approval: How about a law that when a president takes office, first term, he nominates a substitute for the court.  

   The Senate vets the nominee as usual. If confirmed - and later needed - he or she would sit on the court until the president and Senate works on a permanent replacement. Could be the substitute.

   If the sub is never needed, he or she is reconfirmed or replaced, at minimum, on a new president's entry to the White House. Our leaders do have time for this important duty. You can supply other necessary details, send it to Congress and take credit. It would eliminate endless, unnecessary griping and lying. 

   It's crazy that the sports world - we don't like tie games - is more efficient than federal government.

       Jimmy

  

   A Soldier's Prayer       

Found in the pocket of a dead Confederate soldier:

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;

   I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey.

I asked for health, that I might do greater things;

   I was given infirmity that I might do better things. 

I asked for riches, that I might be happy;

   I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;

   I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;

   I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. 

I got nothing I asked for, but everything I hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. 

I am, among all men, most richly blessed. 

author? 

 Voter Rights or Voter Fraud    

   Since 2016, California permits a voter to mark the ballot at home, mail it back, drop it off, or - designate any person to return the ballot. Democrats go door to door offering to pick up ballots and help voters fill them out. All this in the name of "rights." 

   It's all about political power. Tragically, millions of Americans don't seem to care, Christians among them. About 60 percent of eligible voters participate in presidential years, 40 percent in congressional elections. 

   Sen. Kamala Harris warns about violence. Hillary (bitter) Clinton advises Joe (come on, man) Biden not to concede..."ever!" The Washington Post warned (threatened?) possible violence and a constitutional crisis if their candidate loses. 

   Walsh, our source, says, "Democrats will abide by their real slogan - 'by any means necessary' - to rid themselves" of President Trump. 

What to do?   

   Win. Beyond the margin of cheating. GOP lawyers should watch every swing state precinct and challenge ballots that just "fell off the truck." 

   Republicans, Walsh adds, "also need to keep an eye on Biden's mental health. Democrats could remove him at any point and substitute Harris."

   New Jersey 2002: Democrats illegally forced corrupt Sen. Torricelli off the ballot and replaced him with former Sen. Lautenberg, who wasn't a declared candidate. 

   As for the future, Walsh believes, "Election Day doesn't sneak up on people. Absentee ballots should be allowed only for active-duty military and diplomats and their families overseas. Retirees in Costa Rica have effectively renounced their right to vote." 

   Stop with the shenanigans. Who are we, Belarus? 

       Jimmy

 

   

Delegates of Demons          

   Foreigners interfere in our elections? That devilish effort is child's play compared to the influence demons have on unsuspecting American political operatives. 

   Cheating, gaming the system - is a form of lying. The devil is the "father of lies." His gang troubles the world's prime democracy, and the freedom enjoyed by Christians, Jews and others.

   We know this because we know what the Bible says about the dark underworld.

   Election night 2018: Democrats gained 24 seats in the House. Then came late votes - absentee ballots, provisional ballots and ballot harvesting. What a coincidence ... the Dems picked up 17 more seats. 

   In conservative Orange County, California, all seven GOP seats flipped as sacks of votes were dropped off at precincts, or appeared days later with Nov. 6 postmarks. 

   In the 2004 Washington state gubernatorial race, the Republican was declared the winner. He won a recount. Then a second recount, done by hand, went to his opponent. 

   Some 723 ballots were miraculously discovered during the second recount. 

   Connecticut, 2010: A Republican had an 8,000 vote lead statewide, until a court order kept polls open in Bridgeport two hours longer. Newly printed ballots appeared in selected precincts. 

   Michael Walsh, editor of The Pipeline.org, and an author, says elections have been "rigged since the middle of the 19th century - voter intimidation, voters voting multiple times, and ballots appearing out of thin air." 

   Add to cheating, elections now are weeks-long events, and some locations don't require proof of residence or identity. 

   We think it was John Adams who said our Constitution was written for "a moral people." It's only as good as we the people. 

        Jimmy

 

  Summing it Up  

Follow Jesus

Love your neighbor and your enemies

Forgive others

Serve God, not money

Seek first his kingdom and righteousness

Lose your life to find it

Love the Lord more than anyone

Ask (according to his will), believe and receive

This is our Father's world...not ours

 Neglected Virtue        

    Has it been a half-century since Peter, Paul and Mary sang, Where have all the flowers gone? The Kingston Trio also sang this somber song, one of its lines, Where have all the young men gone? It was a lament over the tragedy of war.

   We wonder, where have all the adult men gone? Is manliness limited to combat soldiers, football players, farmers and construction crews? Do financial giants and male politicians have it? 

   Oh, there are many who know what it means to raise a family, to take responsibility at home and at work. But not all. 

   Role models. Athletes, rock stars and actors replace those who fought and sacrificed on grounds far more important than stages and football fields. 

   A code for men isn't etched in cement, but "a man with a code cannot break it without compromising his soul," writes Jeff Minick, a teacher. 

   Professor Waller Newell offers a Western code: Honor tempered by prudence, ambition tempered by compassion, love restrained by delicacy, and honor toward the beloved. He says men need honor, courage and virtue, and that power and money mean nothing, that good triumphs over evil, and true love never dies.  

   Soldiers, athletes and others can have these traits. But not all. Men in many professions, including Mr. Moms, may live by a code. But not all. 

   Can a guy who tapped typewriter or keyboard keys be manly? 

   As a Boy Scout, we may have repeated the Scout Law more than 100 times. 

   A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent. That's my code...though imperfectly followed. 

   Now, Scouting has been bankrupted by immoral leaders, men not manly. 

   We wonder, where have all the old scoutmasters gone? 

        Jimmy

 Wrong on Human Rights   

   One valid opinion by Sen. Bernie Sanders, reform of the criminal justice system, went out the window when former AG Eric Holder wrote the legal section of the Biden-Sanders Unity Agreement. 

   Conrad Black, Canadian financier and former newspaper publisher, writes in The Epoch Times that the plea-bargaining system is responsible for 6 to 12 times as many incarcerated people per capita as comparable prosperous democracies. The U.S. has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of its incarcerated people. 

   Our system of justice bypasses: "due process, no seizure of property without compensation, a speedy trial and impartial jury, counsel of choice, reasonable bail, and avoidance of cruel and unusual punishment." 

   Black writes, "The VP nomination of Kamala Harris has dashed any hopes ... for over-prosecuted millions who have been ground to powder among the 40 million ostensible felons in the  U.S. ... including failed breathalyzer tests, years-old disorderly conduct," etc. 

   "Harris was a maximum-sentence prosecutor in California who condoned and herself engaged in dubious practices to secure convictions ... more than 1,000 sentences for the use of marijuana." This is "indicative of the low priority of human rights in ... the American left."

   Sanders, he writes, "is more concerned with Marxist economics than with human rights." Rather, he "won approval for ludicrous tax increases, unaffordable medical care, the Green Terror, the monopoly of teachers unions, the dumbing down of the youth, academic ignorance, open borders, wealth, health and education for illegal migrants, a green light for nuclear-armed Iran, and the appeasement of 'peaceful protesters' who burn and pillage U.S. cities."

    Courtesy of a Canadian

   The Sacrifices   

...but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too.

1 Corinthians 10:21

Commentary: 

   Idolatry involves the worship of demons (Deuteronomy 32:17), and is associated with greed or covetousness. Demonic powers stand behind love for worldly possessions, honor or position.

   The error of some at Corinth was failing to distinguish between that which is holy and that which is defiled, between that which is of Christ and that which is of the devil. They did not understand God's holy jealousy (Exodus 20:5) and the seriousness of compromising with the world. 

   Commentary on Revelation 9:20: Even God's judgment doesn't bring people to repentance. The last days will involve the worship of demons, spiritism, the occult, violence and murder, magic arts (drugs, witchcraft), sexual immorality, lust and pornography. 

It seems we are halfway there already,

even in our country founded on freedom

to worship our Creator.

    

 Beware the Lanternfly     

   What next?  

   They may find a vaccine for COVID-19, but there's no optimism, yet, for conquering the lanternfly.

   They found the first Asian lanternfly in 2014 in Eastern Pennsylvania. A Smithsonian writer says it is "ruinous and beautiful, the size of your thumb and a destroyer of worlds."

   It has spotted wings, usually silvery blue-gray, and a bright red-orange petticoat. They drain nutrients from plants or trees and excrete sugar water. 

   A lanternfly can kill a tree outright, or stress it for eventual death. Same for grapevines and fruit trees. Billion-dollar cash crops are threatened here and in other nations. There are concerns from Georgia to Tennessee to Wisconsin, along with Pennsylvania.  

   The spread of various pests and pathogens could cost global agriculture $540 billion a year, for mitigation and repair of damage. 

   There's a world-wide battle being fought in silence. A short list of trees a lanternfly might feed upon: almonds, apples, apricots, cherries, maple, oak, pine, nectarines, peaches, plums, poplar, sycamore, walnut, willow and more.  

   The writer says "they'll lay waste to a whole sector of your economy, then lay eggs in your Christmas tree. They can be killed with pesticides, but you have to find them first. 

   Did we take your mind off the China virus for a few minutes?

          Jimmy

Some Hurricane      

   Not Sally. We mean Crossfire Hurricane, the two year, $32 million attempt to destroy President Trump by a committee of leftists in the FBI and beyond. When the storm was over - much damage to presumption of innocence, but Trump survived. 

   At least 22 of the 92 iPhones used by Mueller's crew were wiped clean before they could be properly reviewed for federal records. Imagine how similar cheaters will behave if given the full reigns of our government. 

   Their excuses: "The phones wiped themselves ... It was by accident ... We forgot the passwords."             Honest, Mom. 

Some Fires  

   Smoke from West Coast fires has been seen in Europe. In Oregon, eight are dead and four towns are destroyed. Some who fled are being housed in our nephew's church near Portland. 

   In California, 25 are dead and 4,200 buildings were destroyed, so far.  

Some Re-enactment 

   A Mayflower Autonomous Ship, powered by wind and solar, left Europe on Wednesday, following the same course the original Mayflower took 400 years ago, September 16. The cylindrical ship, 50 ft. long, is not manned. The original ship was 100 ft. long, carrying 125, mostly pilgrims in search of religious freedom. 

Some Voters?

   Nearly 350,000 deceased voters remain on the rolls from coast to coast. North Carolina is the worst case. With 100 million (more than half of all voters) receiving ballots by mail, requested or not, what's up? 

   And what about voters who have moved but not been removed? Lots of opportunity for undemocratic democracy, we think. 

         Jimmy

  

Who's Privileged? 

   Liberals continue their bunk about "white privilege." 

   Here's evidence from the Census Bureau that whites aren't taking full advantage of their supposed privileges. In 2018, per capita income of white Americans was $36,962. 

   Also in 2018, per capita:

   Asian Indians in the U.S. - $53,298

   Japanese Americans - $50,617 

   Chinese Americans - $43,583 

   Korean Americans - $41,385   

    Filipino Americans - $36,183 (not far below whites) 

   Maybe dedication, study, delayed gratification, family structure etc. matters more than race. 

Who's Worthy? 

   My evaluation of myself depends on my performance and others' opinions.

   God's evaluation of me is based on His truth about me.

   I do have great worth, apart from my performance, because Jesus Christ gave His life for me. I am deeply loved, forgiven and accepted in Christ.

   Now, He wants me to grow in His likeness, discarding my old nature brick by brick. 

BLM

   Planned Parenthood kills an estimated 360 black lives every day. 

   Where's the outrage? 

           Jimmy

   

The Unseen Enemy - part 2

   "The actions of these protesters can only be described as demonic. They are burning Bibles, torching buildings with police officers inside, brutally assaulting innocent civilians and shooting to death passersby." - William Marshall, book reviewer. 

   Those who reject the claim that "all lives matter" are behaving like demonic people. 

   Author Paul Kengor didn't find evidence that Marx was a practicing satanist, but other Marx biographers suggest he was. In a poem, Marx wrote, "Thus Heaven I've forfeited, I know it full well. My soul, once true to God, is chosen for Hell." 

   In another poem: "See the sword - the Prince of Darkness sold it to me. For he beats the time and gives the signs. Ever more boldly I play the dance of death." 

   Marshall wrote, "His own family members and friends believed him to be possessed or influenced by the devil. His collaborator, Friedrich Engels, called Marx a 'monster of ten thousand devils.'" 

   In The Devil and Karl Marx, Kengor wrote that Marxists, communists and socialists have a similar affinity for the devil, with their hellish philosophy." Marshall, the reviewer: "Marx's ideology as a governing system has led to more human death and suffering by far than any other political system. 

   Marx became an atheist in college. Sound familiar? Kengor found Marxist history to be of, "consistent efforts to destroy traditional religions and to infiltrate and undermine the Church." 

 Remove the divine; control the man.

   Marshall concludes: "As our country grapples with Antifa and Black Lives Matter, whose founders proudly declare themselves to be 'Marxist-trained" ... we must understand what's driving them - which is truly demonic, whether they realize it or not." 

        Jimmy

 

 Our Unseen Enemy         

   Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers in this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

   Does anyone doubt that Hitler's holocaust could be traced to Satan? What about Stalin and Mao? Were they influenced by an earlier German, Karl Marx (1818-1863)? 

   The Devil and Karl Marx is written by professor Paul Kengor of Grove City College, in my home county. Frustrated by years of failure to convince leftists of the error of their ways, Kengor lets it rip as he connects communism, socialism and democratic socialism with evil. 

   His book won't change leftist hearts, but the author illuminates what the rest of us need to consider. Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union "evil" for starving, murdering and brutalizing its own people. Marxism has accounted for up to 140 million deaths, maybe more. And where Marxism is, religion is banned. 

   With the demise of the USSR, we assumed Marxism-Leninism was finished as a governing socioeconomic system, Kengor writes. (Instead, while we were sleeping) "satanic influence fermented in American society in academe, newsrooms of Big Media, Hollywood, corporate offices of tech giants and political suites across the country." 

   How can this be?

   "For those who laugh at the notion of a spiritual dimension to radical Marxist policies by the (current) Democratic Party, Kengor's book will open their eyes," writes book reviewer, William Marshall. He adds, "As we watch Antifa and Black Lives Matter riot, and the incredible embrace of them by political figures and corporate America ... what on earth is going on?

Tomorrow: Marx's own writings

       Jimmy

   

Conclusion: Lady Liberty   

   Following up on Saturday's discussion about elites in the land of opportunity, Prof. Bottums says:

   Americans "believe political, financial and cultural elites seek only their own interests. And so we get Donald Trump (himself an elite) as a corrective to this. And so we get rioters torching police stations. Trump voters and Antifa activists differ widely, but have a set of shared characteristics:"

   Both mistrust the old ruling class.

   They both believe the common good isn't being served.

   They both have anger from a long-building sense of betrayal. 

   We paraphrase: "How does a person become wealthy in a lifetime of elected office? They belong to a class that lost its moral authority to rule - but kept on ruling, often in the name of claimed moral stature. 

   "Trump was elected as a symbol of our national mistrust. Washington is viewed as a swamp, as intrusive busybodies, an unelected deep-state bureaucracy for the benefit of its own class. 

   "This is born from a disbelief in the authority figures who seem to have taken their power as a lifetime pass to an easy-money machine. 

   "Trump is a placeholder for conservative anger. 

   "As for anger on the left, Joe Biden - a man who may be the most placeholderish of placeholders ever to receive a major party's nomination. He operates almost entirely in symbolic space: the empty vessel with which Democrats seek to carry their causes into the White House."

   The professor asks, "What have the nation's elite done to make us trust them?" 

       Jimmy

Memo to Lady Liberty    

   We gave you our elites. The overclass.  

   The promise of America generally works for the middle class, and lately there is a top-down effort - Enterprise Zones - to lift the underclass. But, as for trust in leadership, as patriots once trusted George Washington, what sometimes comes to mind: dishonest / deceitful / duplicitous / dishonorable / unprincipled / corrupt / hypocrisy.

   In a word: untrustworthy 

   Elites, successful in terms of wealth and power, and those who misbehave, are found among entertainers, politicians, military, healthcare, news media, activist organizations, corporations, charities, education and sometimes religious bodies. 

   Some, when caught or exposed, try to salvage reputation by vowing to fight for a liberal cause. That keeps them in "good standing," if not free. Jerry Falwell, Jr., at least, was honest: "I'm not a minister." 

   Not all elites are "evil." But, power and political friends have a way of calling. Who knows if our leaders - any of them - follow the rules when no one is looking? You don't know what a blogger does when he or she isn't writing. 

   Joseph Bottum, Ph.D., Dakota State University, writes, "We have a terrible overclass. What's the point of gaining influence? Far too often it appears nothing but personal gain and/or indulgence that would have raised eyebrows in ancient Rome." 

   The professor thinks hypocrisy is inevitable. "People are people, from the old Babylon to the new Babylon of America." 

   He adds, "Always some will take advantage. Some will use their power for coercion. Some will mount sanctimonious cliches while their hand reaches under the table to take a bribe..." (or worse.) 

Monday: Elites conclusion. 

Trump voters and Antifa activists - opposites, but shared characteristics

       Jimmy

Did Trump Read Views?     

   😀 Ha, ha. 

   You may recall our Views on August 26, when we wrote of government types encouraging employees to think in terms of "white privilege." We experienced one of those "training" sessions years ago.

   Pleasant surprise: The president has ordered agencies to stop spending tied to "critical race theory" and other content presuming "any race as racist or evil." Trump called the "divisive propaganda anti-American." 

   Press reports: Federal employees in training sessions have had to say they benefit that virtually all white people contribute to racism. "This leads to resentment," Trump said. "The theory is a sickness that cannot be allowed to continue." 

Great Expectations 

A city on a hill. The last best hope of Earth. 

Give me your tired, your poor ... with liberty and justice for all.

   "Do the world's other people expect so much?" asks Janie B. Cheaney. "High ideals make for high expectations," she writes, "leading to rage when they're not met. A nation promising liberty and justice can never square with competing visions." 

   Our beginning was less idealistic, Cheaney claims, with "ordinary people finding room to make a decent life for themselves. Founding Fathers set ideals just high enough to strive for, with limits on power." 

   "Humanity being what it is," she writes, "we'll never quite get there. The right pushes for liberty, the left for justice."

   She refers to Jesus, who "knew that neither perfect justice nor perfect liberty will happen on earth. But as justice was satisfied in heaven, and liberty secured, so will be our greatest expectations." 

 🙏 Yes!

      Jimmy

We'll Never Know 

   A certain youngster grew up in Houston's Third Ward, a housing project known for tough times, rats and roaches. It was another place where black lives didn't matter.

   This young guy was arrested many times, and went to prison for armed robbery.

   He left prison in 2013, apparently a changed man. He volunteered with Resurrection Houston church, setting up chairs, and a bathtub on the basketball court for baptisms. 

   While going door to door with the pastor, he let residents know about Bible studies and grocery deliveries. 

   He became involved in a Christian program in Minnesota. 

  Another young man did drugs, committed crimes and spent three years in prison. After release, he founded Texas Reach Out Ministries, and as CEO for 30 years was God's servant to alcoholics, drug addicts, and former inmates. 

   The ministry provides homes for men and others for women, along with employment assistance and spiritual guidance. He died in July from COVID-19. 

   We don't know if George Floyd in Minnesota was destined for a similar future. At age 46, he had drugs in his system when arrested. Police officers ended his story.

   Marvin Olasky, whose column we summarized here, says a tough environment doesn't justify crime, "but maybe a person who grew up in one should get a second chance." 

       Jimmy

   

Who Defines Good?  

You've read of: 

Good character...good deeds...good fruit...good fish...good fight

No one is good but God alone. Luke 18:19

Good gifts...good law...good lives...good man...good medicine 

There is only One who is good. Matt. 19:17

Good name...good news...good pasture...good purpose...good reputation

There is no one who does good. Ps. 14:1; 53:3; Rom. 3:12

Good soil...good seed...good servant...good shepherd...good things 

Everything God created is good. 1 Timothy 4:4

Good tidings...good trees...good will...good way...good works

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Ps. 34:8

   So, what are we to think? Timothy writes: Godliness has value for all things. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Peter writes: You ought to live holy and godly lives. 

   If none of us are righteous, how can we Turn from evil and do good? Ps. 34:14 

   Jesus (only One is good) refers to the "good" in us: He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. Matt. 5:45  The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him. Matt. 12:35 

   Language, human definitions - not especially perfect. As early believers began to practice goodness, as the Bible teaches, there has been good in the world. Yet, atheists are capable of heroism, generosity and sacrifice. And what may be evil to us could be "good" to others. Woe to those who call evil good. Isa. 5:20 

   "I can't honestly address good and evil without first dealing with my self-centeredness, rationalization and petty resentments." - Janie B. Cheaney. 

   "Real goodness," she writes, "is for God to define and God's to judge." 

        Jimmy

The God of Peace  

   Worried about our culture, politics, COVID-19?

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer

and petition, with thanksgiving, present your  requests

to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all  understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

 Fear God and keep His commandments. 

    Eccl. 12:13

   His commands teach us wisdom. 

   The security of knowing we  are His allows us to risk failure, 

risk rejection, risk loss, release control.

   We can go first inloving, forgiving, forgoing worldly pleasures 

for better ones in heaven. 

   That's what freedom feels like. 

                      Andree Sue Peterson

 Mailbag   

   Our desktop operating system went bye-bye. Call it a crash. So we stumble along with reader comments (not our blog) for your interest. This tablet leaves much to be desired for blogging.

   "Young black men are often treated with suspicioon because a few commit so many crimes. Now the police are the enemy because a few are bad."

   "In a government by decree, bureaucrats rule through pure power. People don't know the reasons for decrees, supposedly accessible only to "experts," and so there remains only one thing that counts, the brutal naked event itself." 

   "Legislating an ever-increasing minimum wage is a virtue signaling of  the worst kind. Entry level jobs that produce training and experience are lost to the lust to stay in office.'

   "All of us are searching for hope and security and that is the only true source of such hope and security is Christ."

   "Not long ago, the NFL told Tim Tebow that the field was not a place to kneel. Relativism is a funny thing." 

UNPRECEDENTED TIMES    
    
   Our desktop computer was so angered by an all night update Windows 10, it refused to reboot. Until we can coaks it back to life, we'll fumble along with our tablet. Any typos are not the fault of your blogger.

   Truth, we have no problem compared to the people of Beirut, Lebanon. As you know, the once stable city in the Middle East suffered horribly when a storage of weapons material taken from a Russian cargo ship years ago blew up like a bomb.

   About 500 injured found their way to a hospital without power and with walls of broken glass. Its beds already were filled with COVID-19 patients.  Lebanon's financial crisis had forced the layoff of 850 medical workers.

   Off-duty nurses and citizens rushed to help, holding their cell phones to shine light on doctors sowing up patients. Some of the injured appeared the next day to help clean up streets. A man with stitches in his swollen forehead brought buckets and a broom to clear spaces for strangers.

   Meanwhile, Lebanon's currency has lost 90 percent of value recently, and economists warn of another Venezuela. Some 600 health care workers have COVID-19. In all of this, there is opportuity for ministries to address not only outer needs, but inner wants as well.

       Jimmy 

It's 1984 in 2021    

The White House. January 21:  President Joe Biden steps to the mic. He reads: "Today, I impose a national mandate for everyone to wear a mask when outdoors. Second, as advised by scientists, I will shut down the economy for at least six weeks. Finally, after listening to the experts, I impose a national mandate that everyone be vaccinated for COVID-19."   

A White House correspondent asks, "Mr. President,

what about people who don't want vaccinations

for religious, philosophical or personal reasons?"

   The president looks to his aide, who thumbs through his folder and gives him a sheet. He reads: "To win the war against the coronavirus, the only answer is compulsory vaccination. We do not honor religious objections. We do not allow objections for personal preference, violating the social contract."

Another correspondent asks, "Mr. President,

how will you enforce these mandates, because

there will be deplorables who refuse to cooperate?"

   The aide pulls another sheet, which he gives to the president. He reads:

"*Those who refuse will lose tax credits and be denied nonessential government benefits. *Health insurers will levy higher premiums. *Private employers will refuse unvaccinated individuals employment or services. *Public and commercial transit companies will not accept refusers. *Public and private auditoriums will require evidence of immunization. *Every immunized person - including undocumented individuals - will be given a certification card with the expiration date-stamped. *A national registry of immunizations will be created. I'll take one more question."

"Mr. President, who will head up this program?"

   "Ezekiel Emanual, my secretary of Health and Human Services. He was the architect of Obamacare and he will do a fine job. Thank you very much." 

Dems proposals above: THE EPOCH TIMES

        Jimmy

Heart of the Matter    
    
   Are we discontented? Disillusioned? Anxious? 

   Follow your heart, our friends tell us.

   Not so fast. David asked God to test him, to "try my heart." 
That's self examination. "Follow your heart" is self-sovereignty.  

   The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 

Jeremiah 17:9

   A wiser man than me wrote: 

   The heart is our inner being, desires, feelings and thoughts. It is evil, corrupt and selfish. Only God's grace can change it. 

   A source of wisdom it is not. It is confused, it will betray us, it has mixed desires, and it is easily manipulated by others. 

   We already have what we want.

   We already are what God made us to be. 

   We have within us the identity we desire.

   If only we let God be sovereign while we trust and obey.

         Jimmy


   

Worst Case Scenario      
 

   This isn't a topic we want to write about. For one day maybe it's useful...but not for young readers. 

     In our world there is a constant whirl of: 
 

belief and unbelief

truth and lies

light and darkness

love and hate

obedience and rebellion

peace and violence

wheat and weeds

   There is an assault on our semi-democracy and we the people who benefit by its fruits ... an attack funded by others who also benefit. For what purpose? 

   This summer, commentators on the left already are posing that if the president loses the election, he will refuse to vacate. We note that the accusers themselves never accepted the results of 2016. There is a dark plan afoot...

   ...including, the issue of millions of vote-by-mail ballots, without voter requests. Dozens of lawyers are set to challenge election results, pro bono. (If there is no confirmed winner by January 20, Nancy Pelosi becomes president.) 

   Mobs in cities create havoc on private and even federal property, with approval of politicians who assumed chaos was good for their own prospects. How sad.  

   Cowardly wearing face masks, mobs with bullhorns target homes of the "privileged," demanding they vacate to allow others to occupy. If power swings totally to the left, we can see our neighborhoods and jobs being given over to strangers. It happens in countries gone socialist.

   Then we the "privileged" can relate to the forced relocation of some 60,000 Native Americans, and freed slaves who fled the South only to populate inner cities, remaining disadvantaged while suburbs grew and prospered. 

   The dark plan may succeed somewhat, but it will fail most, if not all of us. 

   
   Cheer up. Light may overcome darkness. We have hope for all Americans. 

          Jimmy