"Here I Stand"

 Today is Reformation Sunday, when the Lutheran church "celebrates" the date in 1517 when Martin Luther kicked off the Reformation by posting his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenburg, Germany.  I don't know if Jeff M. Lewis is a Lutheran or not, but his article today at the American Thinker today entitled Is Nothing Sacred Anymore could have been written by a devout Lutheran.

I doubt that Luther would be pleased to see his flock celebrating the breakup of the Church universal. Indeed, we call it the Reformation because Luther, a doctor of the Church, intended to bring the Church back to being Biblically based, not to split the Church. He intended the 95 Theses as talking points for a debate. The Church excommunicated Luther after all, Luther didn't run away from the Church. But once it was clear the Church had split, he wanted to call his church Evangelical Catholic, and I suspect died hoping for reconciliation with the Church at Rome.

I have been reading a book by Father Dwight Longenecker entitled Beheading The Hydra: A Radical Plan For Christians in an Atheistic Age. In his book, Fr. Longenecker takes several swipes at Luther for breaking up the church and unspecified theological errors. Unfortunately, Longenecker has some errors of his own. I would cite the whole "Mariology" thing.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Mary was a permanent virgin. Yes, before the birth of Jesus, she was a virgin. But Jesus had brothers and sisters, and all of them were not immaculately born. Then there is the idea of praying to Mary to intercede for us with Jesus. Where does this idea come from? Certainly not the Bible. In the 6th Chapter of Matthew, Jesus offers the perfect prayer, and it doesn't mention Mary. Indeed, we are to pray to God, through Jesus Christ. Christ as our intercessor. There is no need to pray to the various saints, or to have so called "priests." Priests sacrificed animals for the people of Israel. But Jesus became the Sacrifice for all mankind by dying on the Cross. He is our Priest, Prophet, and King, which is why our clergy are called "pastors."

Of course, Longenecker's book, outside of his short sightedness on Luther, is spot on.  And it is the same message as Lewis presents in the the article Is Nothing Sacred. Evil stalks the world, and too many people have succumbed. As Paul wrote, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  What Longenecker proposes is that faithful Christians might try following God's word.  What can it hurt, after all.  We've been doing our own "thing" and it hasn't been working for us.  Maybe we should try doing God's will for us instead?  Would that we had the faith of Martin Luther, who stood before the Pope and could say:

“My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other, so help me God.”

How the Democrats Rigged Our Elections

Joy Pullman has a sort of book report on Mollie Hemingway's new book Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections. Pullman's article can be found at The Federalist entitled 7 Insane Things I Just Learned About How U.S. Elections Are 'Rigged'. And what Joy Pullman read shocks even her! Here's an example:

1. The DNC Controlled All Poll Watchers for 40 Years

What?? How can this be? Pullman goes on to explain:

I had to read this section of the book two or three times to absorb what it was saying. I couldn’t believe it could possibly be true. Yet it is: “Shockingly, the 2020 contest was the first presidential election since Reagan’s first successful run in 1980 in which the Republican National Committee could play any role whatsoever in Election Day operations.”

What? Next sentence: “For nearly 40 years, the Democratic National Committee had a massive systemic advantage over its Republican counterpart: the Republican National Committee had been prohibited by law from helping out with poll watcher efforts or nearly any litigation related to how voting is being conducted.”

This section in chapter 1 goes on to explain how such an insane thing could be real. Essentially, after Democrats accused Republicans of cheating in a New Jersey race in 1981, a judge banned the RNC from poll-watching and voting litigation everywhere in the country, then kept re-upping the order until 2018, when it finally expired three years after he died.

This handicapped Republicans for almost 40 years while Democrats were free to do things Republicans couldn’t, like give boosts to their voters all along the voting process and track them extensively, challenge ballots, document irregularities, and sue over election disputes.

And how did the Republican National Committee allow something so obviously partisan to stand...for 40 years? They couldn't have appealed it? Couldn't have made a stink over it? We all know that the Democrats always accuse their opposition of what they are doing themselves. It's a way of distracting attention from their own misdeeds.  Do the Republicans like losing?

But, as they say on TV commercials, there's more!  Go read Pullman's article, and get Hemingway's book.

What To Do About Election Officials Who Ignore the Law

 Margot Cleveland of The Federalist tells us What To Do When Election Officials Keep Ingnoring Voting Laws and when the courts won't do anything about it. She has several suggestions though:

Earlier this month, Fairfax County, Virginia — a locale that broke 70-30 for President Joe Biden and Democrat Sen. Mark Warner in 2020 — previewed the attacks on election integrity likely planned for the midterm cycle of 2022 and beyond. There, election officials in the deep-blue county approved absentee and mail-in ballot applications lacking the statutorily mandated last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number, then promptly mailed these unauthenticated individuals ballots for next Tuesday’s election.

While last week the Virginia Institute for Public Policy (VIPP), a public policy organization dedicated to election integrity, filed suit against the county registrar and the three members of the Fairfax County Electoral Board responsible for flouting state election law, a hearing on the case is not scheduled until Friday. By then, the election will be only days away and a court is unlikely to order ballots returned by the deadline discarded.

Because, of course, too many judges have become partisan hacks and don't care about the law at all.  And even if the legislatures make each element of the law criminally liable for either fines or imprisonment or both if disregarded, there is no guarantee officials will be found guilty by courts willing to overlook the crimes in the first place.

State legislators have few options available to confront this scenario, making the Supreme Court’s refusal last term to address the problem in the Pennsylvania case all the more disappointing. One possible option, though, would be to remove jurisdiction, i.e., take away their power to hear cases, from state courts on challenges to “the time, place and manner” for the election of senators, representatives, or electors, established by the state legislature.

Of course, such challenges could still be brought in the federal court system, but this approach would limit the mischief being done by state court judges.

The truth is that while Democrats keep harping on "our democracy," they don't care about either "our democracy" or our democratically elected representative Republic. What they care about is power, by any means necessary.

The Fires of Moloch

 J. B. Shurk asked How Many People Must Be Thrown into the Volcano Before the Left is Happy?

It's been my experience that modern leftists have the disposition of Stalin, the demeanor of a middle school bully, and the temperament of a two-year-old. When they're not outright trying to kill you, they're either calling you names or crying about not getting their way. It's deeply disappointing to realize how effective these bad behaviors have been in bringing the West to heel. It has to be my way!-red-diaper babies deserved a good spanking this last century; instead, they learned that when you whine and stomp your feet long enough, you can poke someone else in the eyes, steal their lunch money, and call yourself the victim.

They preached "tolerance." We "tolerated" their bad ideas. Those bad ideas germinated into the evil we see today. And evil repaid our "tolerance" by setting to work slitting our throats. What's the lesson? Evil will always use good people's virtue against them, and truly good people must find the courage to slam the door on evil before it weasels inside and destroys everything.

Shurk answers his own question. There are never enough victims of Leftist hatred. Witness the hundreds of millions of people fed into the furnaces of Moloch in the twentieth century Please go read the whole article.

You mustn't demoralize yourself

 Vasko Kohlmayer has an article that claims that Male Pregnancy: The Greatest Miracle of All

By now you may have heard of the left’s latest insistence that we drop the expression “pregnant women” in favor of “pregnant people.” By using this phrase, they wish to emphasize that it is not only women who can conceive and carry children. According to the woke, men can now also partake in the joys of pregnancy.

This is surely a remarkable position to take by those who routinely mock the virgin birth of Jesus as narrated by the New Testament.

As you may know, most of our science-oriented woksters think the notion of a woman conceiving by divine intervention is a completely ridiculous idea that could only be believed by a backward ancient culture. And yet, these very same people have apparently no problem believing that a biological male can become pregnant.

If you ask this writer, the latter is a much greater miracle.

Of course, we all know that men can not become "pregnant" because they simply do not the requisite equipment. This is simply part of the Left's strategy to demoralize people, quite literally. By forcing you to speak a lie, they cause you to lose your moral authority, literally "demoralize" you.  This is why you must not participate in demoralizing yourself.  

Who's not paying their fair share again?

 Eric Utter points out that 61% Of Americans paid no taxes in 2020. Who's greedy.

Incredibly, in 2020, approximately 61% of Americans paid no federal income taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center. Therefore, approximately 39% of Americans paid all federal income taxes. They are rewarded for this staggering largess by being told they need to "pay their fair share." Their "fair share," one might logically surmise, would be around 39% of the federal income taxes paid, not 100%. The top 20% of income earners pay about 67% of federal taxes. "Progressive," you know. They should be lauded as pillars of the community, as not only the most productive, but the most charitable folks in society. (Whether they wanted to be or not.) Instead, they are called "greedy" by the self-same people who receive the benefits of this mass income redistribution.

Literally stupefying.

Alec Baldwin Doesn't Deserve The Benefit Of The Doubt

J. R. Dunn has a post at the American Thinker in which he says that No, let's not be kind to Alec Baldwin, not least because the incident is looking more like a crime instead of an "accident." I have to agree with Dunn. Baldwin doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt or our pity.  He has been an arrogant loud mouth on a subject about which he knows next to nothing.

Sorry.

Defund The FBI

 Time to Defund The FBI? Kurt Schlichter thinks so, and you should read his article to find out why. Meanwhile, I am out of pocket for a few days.

Sinister is the word for it

 I recently visited the doctor for one of my two visits a year.  During his examination he asked me whether I had gotten the third shot, meaning the booster.  I said that I did see any point to a booster, since the need for a booster indicated the vaccine didn't work in the first place, and thus I questioned the effectiveness of the booster.  I also indicated that the insistence that everyone get the shot suggested to me some possible sinister motives.  As it turns out, I may have been right.

Andrea Widburg has a post at the American Thinker entitled Did the World Economic Forum admit something very unnerving? I have repeatedly asked what is driving the vehement insistence that everyone must get vaccinated, despite the loss of Americans' constitutional rights, and at the cost of so many people being forced out of important jobs.

There’s a saying that even paranoid people have enemies. Sometimes, you’re right to be suspicious—and when it comes to the vaccines, a lot of people have been very suspicious. Some of these concerns have been about the vaccine’s efficacy, some of them have been about the side effects and risks, and some have been about the specific risks of forcing vaccines on people who are already immune because they’ve had COVID. Then there is a much deeper concern that the vaccines are injecting permanent substances in the body that support a “transhumanist” agenda. The newest video from the World Economic Forum (“WEF”) isn’t going to put that last concern to rest.

Say, what? Transhumanism? So, as it turns out there IS an unspoken sinister agenda.

As for that last point, those who worry about the vaccines may be on to something. At The Conservative Treehouse, Sundance reports on a new WEF video celebrating a universal COVID pass that would allow people to travel anywhere around the globe and go into any facility anywhere with this single pass proving their vaccination status.

Never mind, for now, the fact that the vaccines’ efficacy is proving to be minimal, at best. (The J&J vaccine is now down to 3% efficacy.) The point is that, in this brave new world, unless you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be allowed to go anywhere or do anything. You won’t just be a second-class citizen. You’ll have no life at all—something that’s already started here in America, with leftist policies leading to thousands of firings across the country.

...snip...

Currently, proof of vaccine status is dependent on paperwork and registration in computer systems. If for some reason you got the shot on the sly without that paper proof or being entered in the system, it would be as if you never got the vaccine. Sure, a blood test may prove that you’re immune, but it’s impossible to tell if that’s from natural immunity (which Joe Biden and everyone on his side of the aisle says doesn’t count) or from getting a vaccine (which is the cattle chute into which we’re being herded, whether we’re on our way to a glorious future or the abattoir.)

If a blood test cannot prove whether we’ve been vaccinated, what the heck is the WEF? talking about?

The suspicion is that the vaccine may place a permanent marker of sorts in the blood. And if the vaccines place a marker in the blood, what else may they be placing in the blood, and what do these other things actually do? Certainly no one who has gotten the jab has been informed about this, if true.  But given the WEF globalist goals, sinister seems to be an appropriate word.

Gaslighting The American Public

 Vasko Kohlmayer has an article today at the American Thinker that points out that the The Great Struggle Of Our Time: The Battle For Reality. Vasko makes the point that the Left is unashamedly gaslighting us at every turn. As an example, he takes the issue of so called "transgenderism." As Vasko writes:

The great battle of our time is a battle about the very nature of reality. More precisely, what the two sides war over on the most fundamental level is what constitutes truth and how it should be determined.

To shed light on this dynamic, let us take one of the heated controversies of the present time. For this we choose transgenderism. This is an especially suitable example for two reasons: this issue is highly divisive and polarizing, and it delineates the opposing camps sharply and clearly.

As you may know, transgender advocates claim that biological males can become women and vice versa.

Understandably, many people find this claim rather far-fetched. For one thing, it does not feel true, given that the evidence of our senses seems to refute it. When, for example, people look at transgender “women” – i.e., biological men who say that they are women – most people immediately recognize that these are not real females. What most people see is men who pretend to be girls. This is how the human mind – in the vast majority of instances – interprets sensory input that it receives upon encountering such persons.

And, of course, Vasko goes on to prove that in fact there really are no "transgender" people. Men can not in fact become women and vice versa. In fact, these people are simply confused men and women. But what to make of the Left's vehement insistence that transgenderism is a thing?

If this flagrant subversion of fact was confined only to the transgender movement, that by itself would be reason enough for serious concern.

But here is something truly alarming: This kind of wholesale denial of reality is emblematic of the whole of the American political left as it stands in 2021. Whereas before such levels of absurdity were mostly the domain of the left’s fringes, today they permeate the whole of it. This, of course, includes the mainstream of the Democrat party.

...snip...

Gaslighting is now an integral part of the left’s every move, and it is sowing confusion and wreaking havoc everywhere. The gaslighters have already managed to disorient many people and weaken their hold on reality. They correctly sense that if they can press sufficiently hard, they will be able to take advantage of the disarray and implement their godless, nihilistic, inhuman, love-deprived and freedom-negating agenda.

Can the Blue States Peacefully Separate from the Red States?

 J. Robert Smith has an article at the American Thinker entitled The Prospect Of A National Divorce. Kurt Schlichter has made of side hustle out of writing 6 novels showing what would happen if we did indeed have a "national divorce." As Schlicter says in the foreward to each novel, these books are a warning, not a how to manual.

After laying out the many reasons why people on both sides think a national divorce might just be a better than the alternative, Smith tells us that in fact conservatives should not, under any circumstances, give in to this thinking.

By all means, an amicable divorce is better than violent separation. Better if sober minds on both sides negotiated equitable terms. Better to say, “Goodbye” with handshakes than bayonets and bullets.

...snip...

Perhaps we should be bolder in our vision of America? Perhaps we should proclaim our commitment to the outright defeat of this leftist scourge and a restoration of liberty, a moral society, and honest government across this land -- a restoration that will astound a watching world.

In fact, this sort of talk reflects a profound lack of faith. The Left will never be satisfied to control just the blue states. Oh sure, they will take it for now, but understand that the Left will look at this "national divorce" as just a good first step. For proof, just look at the war they have waged on guns. We have an absolute right to keep and bear arms. Period. But we have given up little bits of our right to appease the Left, who looks at each gun control effort as a "good first step." We need to take the words of our own Senator Jesse Helms:

“Compromise, hell! That's what has happened to us all down the line -- and that's the very cause of our woes. If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?”

For those of us who claim faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, it behooves us to stay the course, and begin pushing back on the entire project of the Left. This is our country, not theirs.

A Lutheran Explication Of The Religious Exception to the Vaccine Mandates

 It is always exciting when I discover another Lutheran writing on the topics of the day from a Lutheran perspective.  Such is the case with the Armed Lutheran. Today, though, I cite another Lutheran writer, Matthew Cochran, who writes that Christian Leaders Need to Stand for the Consciences of Their Flocks Against Vaccine Coercion. 

The proximate cause of Cochran's article is the evident cowardice of the President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. I had previously thought that some of what I experienced at congregation was due to the pastor. But now I see that the pastor may have felt that the Synod did not have his back, thus he was left swinging in the wind.

Naturally, we can’t all expect a signature from the heads of our denominations. We have to rely on our local churches. But many of our congregations are likewise scared to offer such things because our leaders have set an example of cowardice.

They look to our overseers for guidance, then embrace the counsel that “no position” is the best position. When their faithful members ask for support, many echo the position of their president: “This is a personal decision. Go in peace. Be warm and well fed, but don’t expect any help from us.“

If any of this fine talk about personal decisions proceeded from true conviction or leadership, it would not studiously avoid taking a position. It would instead take the position of affirming the God-given authority from which our decisions proceed and discard the duplicitous fiction that “no position” is an option.

Cochran points out that there is a religious basis for opposing vaccines, namely the use of aborted fetus stem cells. But he also makes a case that the decision as to whether or not a vaccine is to be given not only to himself, but to his family lies with the head of the household, and not with the civil authorities. Moreover, he must be convinced, not coerced.

I urge gentle visitors to this blog to go and read Cochran's article, as it provides one of the best explanations for the conscientious objection to the vaccine.

I would also point to the illogic of the administrations claim that the vaccinated need to be protected from the unvaccinated.  Why?  And why do the vaccinated have to wear masks?  These things point to the use of the so called 'pandemic' as a tool for political control.  Because these things have no basis in public health.

Someone Will Have To Pay For Vaccine Mandates

 Scott Morefield today has an excellent article that should be considered by all who are disturbed by vaccine mandates, entitled Covid Vaccine Mandaters Should Be Criminally Culpable For All Vaccine-Related Injuries. Yes, Trump, unwisely I think, gave the pharmaceutical companies immunity, he didn't give anyone the ability to force others to take the vaccine.  I personally decided to take the Phizer vaccine after studying the issue.  But I did not know that the protective value of the vaccine would wear off within 6 months.  Will I take the booster?  I am not likely to do so.

But Morefield's point is that when one's job, and livelihood, or his ability to go about life in general is threatened, is it really a matter of personal choice? This doesn't just go on the head of Biden and administration officials. Certainly governors, and CEOs and heads of companies are equally at fault here for requiring people who understandably don't want to risk the vaccine over a virus with a 99.875% survival rate, to get one anyway.  This virus is no more deadly than the flu, and should be treated like the flu. We can never get rid of it, sorry to say.

As I’ve stated many times, it would be one thing if this were a super deadly disease, if the vaccines produced far significantly fewer side effects than these do, and if they actually were sterile, eliminating contraction and transmission. If there were another smallpox-like disease, for example, with a 30% fatality rate and a readily available vaccine that eliminated it, I suspect Congress and the president would have zero trouble passing a nationwide vaccine mandate instantly, and that it would hold up in court. You know, a real law rather than color of law and obscure regulations and leaning on private businesses to do their dirty work for them. What’s more, they probably wouldn’t have to, because 99% of Americans would probably be lining up and begging for the shot.

But sadly, none of that is the case here, is it? Instead, we’re stuck with a product that is showing itself to be increasingly inferior week by week. Already, the fact that Pfizer’s vaccine wanes significantly after just 6 months has made national news, and I suspect that’s just the tip of the coming iceberg. Given this shoddy performance, nobody in their right mind has any business forcing or coercing anyone else to get a potentially dangerous jab that only provides limited protection for the individual receiving it for a few months at best. It’s absolutely insane, yet it’s where we are right now. And please, don't insult my intelligence by saying people aren't technically being "forced" into taking the vaccine. When you threaten people's livelihoods, their ability to travel, and even their right to function normally in society, you are for all intents and purposes "forcing" them to acquiesce to your demands.

Should employees who suffer adverse side effects after being coerced into taking the shot by their employer claim worker’s compensation? Absolutely they should, and they generally will be on solid ground. But it’s deeper than that. In a just world, someone who causes someone else’s death, even indirectly, would face serious civil and even criminal penalties. In a just world, people forcing this shot on others who are then seriously harmed or killed would face a Nuremberg-style trial followed by swift justice after a guilty verdict. Am I saying that Covid vaccine mandaters should face prison time for their nefarious acts, which also include willingly and maliciously denying early treatment and cheap and easily obtainable medications to Covid sufferers until they are literally in a hospital bed on death’s door? Absolutely and unequivocally, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.

CEOs who are doing the governments dirty work should be concerned, because someone eventually will bring a suit. That suit will land in a court that observes the Constitution, and will find the CEO guitly. Someone will have to pay.

Mark Robinson Strikes Again

Andrea Widburg at the American Thinker today highlights North Carolina's own Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson in a post entitled Lt. Governor Mark Robinson Refuses To Back Down Before the LGBTQ Crowd. I have liked Mark Robinson since I first heard him speak. He says exactly what the rest of us are thinking and minces no words.

Teaching them [children] a bunch of stuff about how to hate America, teach them a bunch of stuff about why they’re racist, teach them a bunch of stuff about transgenderism and homosexuality. I’m saying this now and I’ve been saying it, and I don’t care who watches. Those issues have no place in a school. There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. And yes, I called it filth. And if you don’t like it that I called it filth, come see me and I’ll explain it to you. It’s time for us to step letting these children be abused at these schools. And it’s not going until the people of God stand up and demand differently.

Besides listening to him speak at the church, you should also watch the video where he shows you exactly the kind of "literature" he is talking about. This sort of pornography doesn't belong in any school, much less in elementary schools. What adults do in private is their own business.

But let's be real here, for a moment. The purpose of schooling is to teach certain very specific types of knowledge and skills necessary for students to function in society. It is not to teach things students will learn anyway. Schools do not teach, for example, how to walk. Students learn how to walk on their own. Schools really shouldn't teach students computer usage, because this can also be learned without the aid of a teacher. I did. And certainly pornography should not be in the school library. Students can find that sort of filth without the help of the state. Indeed, the human species has figured out what to do to be fruitful and multiply pretty much without the helpful aid of teachers, so that should be dropped as well. 

I don't know Mark Robinson's political ambitions, but the more I see of him, the more I like.

Christianity Is Based In Reality

 Today, at the American Thinker Anthony J. DeBlasi has an especially good read entitled Why Christianity Is Here To Stay. I urge you to read it. He starts with a quote from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano:

Daily we sense the attacks multiplying of those who want to destroy the very basis of society: the natural family, respect for human life, love of country, freedom of education and business. We see heads of nations and religious leaders pandering to this suicide of Western culture and its Christian soul, while the fundamental rights of citizens and believers are denied in the name of a health emergency that is revealing itself more and more fully as instrumental to the establishment of an inhuman faceless tyranny. − Archbishop Viganò (2021)

It may seem strange to see a Catholic Archbishop arguing for the rights and liberties of men and women. But I think what he is getting at is that if people are forced into doing things against their will, you can not blame them. Martin Luther made this pretty clear when responding to a soldier who was concerned about his soul. The decisions to go to war, and what actions to take were not in the control of this individual, but in the hands of those above him. The King and his Generals would have to answer for this war, but the soldier, according to Luther, was absolved. 

You can read more of Archbishop Vigano's ideas here. DeBlasi explains the nature of Christianity, which is unlike any other religion. Islam, for instance, requires that you submit to its god, Allah's will...or else. Literally you will either become a Muslim or you will be killed. In contrast, the God of creation doesn't want to impose Himself on those who don't want Him. But for those who do, He may make incredible demands on a person. The good news is that He has led by example, up to and including accepting death on a cross. Can we who follow do anything less?

It’s been clear to me since early adulthood that theology never really “explains” the Faith. It is in fact a possible way to distort the Faith so as to make Christianity follow the times instead of leading them. In any such deviant “mission,” falsified Christianity amends Gospel truth that “interferes” with desired agendas, calling the amendments to holy scripture “progress” and compounding this subversion of truth in temporal courts of justice. A prime example of such Orwellian “justice” is how the Constitution was made to “live” by letting it die.

This is systemic insensitivity and blindness to the reality that “change” and “progress” that harm people have no business in human affairs. Change and progress that in fact benefit people must be in harmony with the unchanging nature of being human, a nature that connects the biologic and cultural aspects of people with former and future humans and, ultimately, with human origins and destinations. These transgenerational ties are not valid subjects of private opinion or corporate tampering. Yet some (many in government), lacking such basic insight and believing the lie that morality is a “private matter,” aid and abet sociopaths and wannabe tyrants.

Living a full life in an uncertain world, for which the religion of Christ is especially well suited, involves much more than having fun on a ticket provided by God or sold by those who think they are God. It is a job calling each man, woman, girl and boy to flower into one’s best self, based on a unique design from the Mind of the Creator.

Philosophies of life that dismiss the Source of Life from their considerations − that replace Almighty God with Almighty State or Almighty Machine or Almighty Me – are aberrations of reason that disqualify them as platforms for action that seriously affects people. Those based on a “science” of people and society tend to reduce human beings to “data” and ignore what has never been improved upon: a vertical family-community-God relation and a horizontal generation-to-generation relation, with power structures that respect and support those relations. Prescriptions of “social science” or of think tanks may dismiss the centrality of those relations to the wellbeing of people but “progress” that disregards them is ultimately a way to tragedy.

Such traditional wisdom has been called “rigid” by “liberals.” They who object to such “rigidity” ought also to object to the “rigidity” of breathing, the “rigidity” of eating, of sleeping, loving . . . of every vital function of life. Alert senses and a working mind allow anyone to see that every vital function of life is (thankfully) unchanging.

Christianity is the ideal religion for human beings. As God, Jesus explains the true meaning of his laws, which if we could adhere to the spirit of each of them, we would all live happy prosperous lives.  But because of the hardness of our hearts, he extends His Grace to us, who deserve none of it. 

But back to His laws: they are based on reality.  He knows reality because He created our world.  His law tells us there are only two sexes, and we are born either male or female.  We can not change that.  Women have babies, men do not.  Oh, and the 10 Commandments tell us that private property is a thing, which puts the World Economic Forum and the Great Reset is on the other side.  And that Commandment against murder applies to the unborn as well as those living, so those who are for abortion are on the other side.  I could go on, but you get the idea.

Here I must say that I defend the religion of Christ against any that lords over people or ties them to Big Brother government, and against any whose “ethos” mandates brutality and terror. I defend it against any, such as the religion of “political correctness” that dims the power of reason and rejects everything that stands in the way of a political agenda.

The question answers itself

 Patricia McCarthy asks What is it about healthcare workers refusing the vaccine tha the administration fails to grasp? When I heard that New York was going to fire a bunch of nurses and doctors, and replace them with National Guard people, I was stunned. After all, no one without a great deal of training can perform the functions of these healthcare workers. Thus New York would be taking people from other parts of the state to fill those roles in New York. Seems like a zero sum game.

Then there is this:

If there is any group of people who know about Covid, it is these healthcare workers in hospitals, ERs, and ICUs. So, what explains their vaccine hesitancy, their resistance to being vaxxed with an untested gene therapy jab that has so far had hundreds of thousands of adverse consequences, disabilities, and deaths? How dare these people reject the directives of Fauci and his NIAID, the CDC, NHS, the WHO?

I was convinced that the vaccines were "safe" because they weren't a gen therapy. But McCarthy raises the concern that a "gene therapy" is exactly what they are. One has to wonder what these vaccines REALLY do:

>The mainstream media and the administration are equally corrupt, hopelessly politicized. The Covid pandemic farce has brought out the worst in the left; they embraced it, and possibly orchestrated it, as their chance to implement their Marxist vision for America. Covid would be their means of destroying America as founded.

...snip...

Most of us were ignorant of these sociopaths dying to experiment on human beings, soulless scientists working to make existing viruses more lethal, the more lethal the better. Gates has been clear about his goal, reducing population. What was/is Fauci’s motivation? Fame and fortune? A will to control people? Who knows? The man is a cipher, a dangerous one. According to VAERS, there have been 1,600,218 adverse events from the vaccines. The vax for the 1976 Swine Flu was banned after just a few deaths. VAERS currently reports that there have been at least 16,000 vaccine-caused deaths from the covid jabs.

Whoever is scripting Biden’s pathetic speeches seems to think that firing thousands of healthcare workers throughout the nation is somehow going to bring an end to the virus. They are slow learners.

Lockdowns and masks have not prevented the transmission of covid, not one bit. The vaccines have clearly aided the virus’s mutations, their durability is being downgraded by the week; Pfizer antibodies now last just two months. Firing our most essential workers, along with law enforcement personnel and truckers is going to be even more catastrophic than what we’ve experienced the last year and a half. Biden’s ill-advised policies have already created massive inflation. What will happen when our hospitals are severely understaffed, when there are even fewer police on the job, not enough pilots to fly for the airlines and the shelves in our grocery stores are empty because there are too few truckers to bring stock and supplies?

McCarthy's question seems to answer itself. The fact that healthcare workers are refusing the vaccine causes doubt in the general public. The more the general public doubts, the less certain the globalist socialists are that they can transform the United States into a socialist dictatorship. that is why healthcare workers who refuse the vaccine are treated as enemies of the state.

Socialism, of course, will be great for whoever is at the top. But it means misery and death for everyone else. We most recently saw its effects in Venezuela. Store selves are empty. People scrounge for food in garbage cans. They have emptied out the zoo for crying out loud. Venezuela was once incredibly prosperous. Now they are one of the poorest. We can not let that fate overtake us.

Texas 'Heartbeat' Law Temporarily Reinstated

Madeline Leesman has an article at Townhall.com telling us how Pro-Abortion Advocates React As Texas 'Heartbeat' Law Is Reinstated By Federal Appeals Court.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay, halting U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s ruling on Wednesday which granted a temporary injunction over the law, S.B. 8. S.B. 8, which took effect on Sept. 1, bans abortions statewide once fetal heartbeat is detected.

Following Pitman’s ruling, at least six clinics in Texas resumed providing abortion services past the six-week threshold, which is around the time a fetal heartbeat is detected, as I reported. Now, clinics in Texas that provide abortions will be prohibited to do so pending further legal actions.

On Twitter, one Texas-based abortion provider, Whole Women’s Health, said that every abortion performed during the temporary injunction was a “win” and that “Texans deserve better.”

Clearly the Left is going to fight like...well...hell to save abortion. First, it is the major sacrament of the Left, which should tell you one whose side they fight. But let's face it, abortion is big business. It will be interesting watch where this goes, but you have to understand that God is in control, and eventually this has to end in the end of abortions.

A Christian Education As An Antidote To CRT

 Paul Krause has an today at the American Thinker entitled Christian Education and the Future of Western Culture that urges renewed emphasis on Christian education as a way to fight critical race theory and other academic nonsense.

The war over education will be a defining issue for the next decade. Unfortunately, defeating Critical Hate Theory isn’t going to stop the poison that already infects our educational system. Beneath the veil of diversity, inclusion, and tolerance is the acidic educational philosophy that America is evil, that its values need destroyed, and that Western culture is irredeemable. That is what actually motivates progressive education: hatred of their culture and homeland.

...snip...

At the heart of our educational culture war are two visions for culture and education. One believes education is a training in virtue and excellence, an engagement with a living tradition of 3,000 years of wisdom, goodness, and beauty that has the power to enlighten and transform our lives for the better.

The other educational outlook is premised on hatred, division, and destruction. The goal here is not a training in virtue or excellence but an indoctrination into revolutionary ideals that will overthrow the supposedly oppressive and tyrannical present and wipe away all the vestiges of an evil and irredeemable past. The purpose of education is to create storm troopers of cultural vandalism and demolition. To hide this reality the proponents of educational desecration call it all the names we are accustomed to hearing and assert to be against such progressive inclusion is to be inhumane and racist.

At least half of the parents, and it is probably and even larger percentage, do not want Critical Race Theory, or any of the many "gender" relate issues taught in our schools. They are not in favor of having drag queens reading sexually suggestive stories to their children at library story hour.  Talk about not being age appropriate!  There is no reason to bring such filth to elementary or middle school students. Instead, what should be taught are the three "Rs;" Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. I would argue that they don't even need to be taught so called "computer skills" since these can be learned fairly easily and likely will be.

Rather, teaching proper research skills, critical thinking skills, expository writing, history and logic. In addition, as students mature, Krause encourages the teaching of the canon of Western Culture. This would include teaching the Bible as literature. One of the things that makes reading not only the Bible, but even early English literature difficult is that students are not taught to read it from the perspective of people living at the time, who are the author's audience. Instead, students seem to be encouraged to read into literature a modern viewpoint. 

Please go read Krause's article, and contemplate what you can do. 

We Must Put On The 'Armor of God'

 Joy Pullman has an excellent article up at The Federalist entitled As The Christian Cold War Heats Up, The Faithful Are Equipping For Battle. I urge gentle readers to take the article to heart. And while this blog has always been a gun blog, understand that the battle we are facing is a spiritual battle. As St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Pullman points out that church leaders are split along some of the same lines as our political split. The high places of the culture are held by Leftists, and this culture affects the people.  But when the Church accommodates the surrounding culture, the Church loses its authority. It becomes just another voice among many, and even begins to sound like a kind of business. And of course, that was one of the issues Martin Luther had with the Church in 1517. At the time, the Church was engaged in the selling of indulgences to have to pope forgive the sins of those who paid.  But as Luther points out, forgiveness comes to anyone by faith in Christ.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the United States’ largest Protestant denomination, is one key example of this dynamic affecting American Christianity as a whole. On Oct. 1 in The American Conservative, Jackson Waters and Emma Posey reported on new developments in that denomination’s growing identity crisis. They contrast the Russell Moore, Beth Moore, and David French wing with the Voddie Baucham, Douglas Wilson, and I’d add Thomas Ascol wing.

“The direction Moore, French, and Moore are walking is not simply traditional evangelicalism, but a form of cultural accommodation dressed as convictional religion,” Waters and Posey write, after describing how the three have theologically shifted in recent years and months. “The result is a religious respectability that promotes national unity, liberalism, and wokeism under the rhetorical guise of love for neighbor. While Moore and his guest [Beth Moore] try to straddle the fence, there is little doubt that their biggest support is now coming from those significantly to their left politically.”

In modern times, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has made accomodation with the abortion culture, and the LGBTQxyz community by ordaining gays and lesbians, as well as electing a "transgender" bishop. Interestingly, ELCA congregations are losing congregants. By contrast, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) adheres to traditional Christianity and has growing congregations, with young families joining the Church.

While examples of leadership failures in the church are legion, one seems front and center today. In the face of mass government persecution of religious exercise over the past year and a half, Christian leaders overwhelmingly cowered and canceled services.

Shutdowns violate the theology of all Christians, both non-sacramentarians to sacramentarians. Those who don’t believe Christ’s statement, “This is my Body,” do heavily lean on his command called the Great Commission. In it, Christ tells the apostles to “Go and make disciples of all nations,” then tells them exactly how: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” You can’t baptize or make disciples via Zoom.

...snip...

For Christians who do believe in Christ’s real presence in Holy Communion, forbidding in-person worship is an even greater blasphemy. It means denying the Christ-mandated distribution of his physical Body and Blood to heal and preserve the souls of the redeemed for all eternity, the very reason for which Christ came to earth, was crucified, and resurrected.

While in other states, and in Canadian provinces, shutdowns of services continues, we here in North Carolina can attend church services relatively freely. But even our governor early on attempted to restrict services. This is wrong. People should always be allowed to decide for themselves.

While it is true that the Christian faith and the Church is under assault even here in the United States, I want to point out that it is far worse in other countries.  I recently had a link to the atrocities committed against the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.  The Taliban is no doubt hunting down Christians and killing many.  And of course, earlier the Chaldean Christian community in Iraq was under attack as are Christians in Nigeria under Boko Haram.  And these are but a few of the many cases of Christians being hunted and persecuted.

But because we are not being hunted and killed yet, doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention and call out each attack.  We, as Christians, must put on the "Armor of God," seek His Will for us through prayer, and courageously confront the evil facing us.

The Tyrants Can't Win if We Don't Surrender

An excellent article, which I encourage gentle readers to read, by John Green at the American Thinker is They Can't Win if We Won't Surrender. The American Revolution was won for a number of reasons. One of them was that the British Empire was distracted by war with France. Another was that France saw a chance to push the thorn in deeper by supporting the Americans. But the fact that General Washington kept a fighting force together, in the field, and wouldn't give up was the final nail in the coffin of the British colonies. Winston Churchill held the same view, when he gave his famous speech "Never, never never, give up."

Green is worried that too many conservatives are too ready to surrender. But in Green's view, we have the stronger position, and we should press the advantage.

Next to the Vichy RINOs, the “America is finished” crowd are the Left’s favorite conservatives. They have tired of the fight and bought the propaganda. They’re ready to give up.

But the reality is very different than the narrative that’s being peddled. Via their propaganda ministry they’ve used deception to win a couple of elections. Obama was supposed to heal our racial wounds -- he poured salt in them. Biden was supposed to return us to normalcy -- he burned down everything that was working. They’ve been lying to us, and now we know it. Propaganda only works as long as it’s credible, and theirs no longer is.

The Left is at its weakest position of the past 15 years. The Democrats have only tenuous control of the legislative branch and they’re spending more time fighting with themselves than actually passing any legislation. Let’s not forget the leadership of their party. President Asterisk is perhaps the most corrupt, inept occupant of the White House we’ve ever had -- and we’ve had a few real losers. Under his leadership, the Democrat party looks like the final scene of Thelma and Louise -- with Gropey Joe at the wheel. They seem determined to drive off the cliff with enthusiasm.

Green even has an interesting take on the Covid virus. He think it is a gift from God. In our current Lectionary, we are reading Jeremiah. Jeremiah could have used an editor, but looking at the events of his day, I can't help but think that indeed Green may be right.

God gives us many gifts which are not immediately recognized as such. I believe COVID-19 was one such gift. The pandemic was the alarm that wakes us up before the building burns down around us. It gave us a glimpse of a future without liberty.

Autocratic orders

Draconian restrictions

Unequal treatment under the law

Fraudulent elections

Blatant disregard of the Constitution

Thankfully, COVID gave us a taste of tyranny on the cheap. America didn’t become a Cuba or Venezuela to experience it. The pandemic has shown us how important and fragile liberty is. I’ll never take it for granted again. I suspect a great number of patriots feel the same way. We’re seeing an awakening all across America. It’s starting to go beyond CRT protests and anti-Biden chants. BLM is even protesting the vaccine mandate! I’ll bet the Left didn’t see that coming.

John Green doesn't say it quite as explicitly, so I will. What those ready to surrender to the left lack is faith in God and His power to act in the world around us, and in spite of us. Some clearly don't believe in God.  Some have no faith that He will act to bring about His purposes. In any case, perhaps Green has been given the same advise I was; that one should not be so...religious...if one wanted to influence more people. I have concluded that that advise was hogwash.

But an author who writes even more explicitly than I do is Austin Ruse, in his new book Under Siege: No Finer Time To Be A Faithful Catholic. Ruse points out that the situation today has parallels throughout the history of the Church. We have been persecuted before, and with more vigor than we are experiencing in America. How would you like to be thrown to the lions as the Roman Christians were? Or to be crucified as many Armenians were by the Ottoman Turks. The fact is that the so called atheistic Left is not atheistic at all. They have their own pagan religion: the State. But the State is human and therefore fallible. Our God, the God of Creation, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are eternal and infallible. Ruse is like a prophetic voice that says if we remain steadfast, we can not lose.

Ruse, at the end of his book gives us some things we can do, depending on our calling. Some people are called to be the spear point, but not all, or even most. There are many things you can do to resist. Some of them are like sticking a pointing stick in the eye of the Left, such as flying the flag. You know the sight of the flag causes their blood to boil. And while you may not be able to stand in front of an abortion clinic and protest, you can send a check to those that do.

(As an aside, Students For Life of America is one such group.)

We are in a war for the soul of America. Make no mistake about it. It is, for now a cold civil war. But there can be no doubt that as events have shaken out, there are now two opposing sides. One side desires Tyranny. The other side desires liberty and freedom. It has, sadly, ever been thus. But the tyrants can't win if we won't surrender.

The Left Is Preparing the Battleground

 I have said it hear before, but it is not new, and I don't take credit for it: Guns don't kill people, people kill people, as reported at the American Thinker by Andrea Widburg. Widburg tells the tale of a man with prior criminal history who after a fight with his boss, killed several colleagues with a bat and a knife.

When someone is coming at you with a knife, it’s almost impossible to defend yourself. As an experiment, put on old clothes, hand your friend a marker, and try to defend yourself as he “attacks” you with the “marker” in lieu of a knife. A frenzied knife attack will leave you covered with marker slashes. And if you’re interested in trying to defend against an equally frenzied baseball attack, have your friend arm himself with a pool noodle. Good luck avoiding “deadly” strikes.

In the hands of a person determined to kill, any and all weapons other than guns are devastating. That is, not everyone has to be a Timothy McVeigh to commit mass murder without a gun.

...snip...

The thing about the Second Amendment is that it’s premised on the belief—which still holds true in America—that there are more good people than there are bad people. That means that an armed population is disproportionately likely to use guns to save, not take, lives.

The reality is that the world is an imperfect place and there will always be bad people who use whatever weapons are available—guns, knives, fists, bats, poison, cars, rocks, broken bottles, teeth, acid—to attack their enemies. We are never safer than in a moral community with trained, armed citizens. (Obviously, this doesn’t apply to Democrat-run communities, which have substituted gun control for morality, and managed to end up with uncontrolled guns in the hands of an immoral, sociopathic population.)

Well said.

But while we are on the topic, the Democrats have been on a tear to take guns away from private citizens since I can remember.  The strategy has been to use Rules for Radicals RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Years ago it was the supposed "Saturday Night Special." Saturday Night Specials were small, snub nosed and cheap revolvers supposedly used by blacks to kill others on, of course, Saturday nights. This picking and freezing of the target lead to the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Recently the gun grabbers have been attempting to pick and freeze the AR-15 by calling it a military style "assault rifle." I have been puzzled by this, because rifles of any sort are so infrequently used in crimes. But as war with China has become more of a probability, I have come to the conclusion that the fact that the AR-15 shares its ammunition with the Army's M-16, M4 and other variations suggests the Left's reason for going after it. There are a lot of AR-15s scattered among us, and the fact that we can share ammunition with the military suggests the possibility of once again defending the homeland with militias.

An apocraphal quote of Admiral Yamamoto during WWII was that Japan could never invade the American continent because they would find a rifle behind every blade of grass. The Left is attempting to prepare the battle ground for foreign invasion. This makes them our enemies, sad to say.

Turns Out Dogs Prefer Meat. Who Knew?

It isn't often that the problem with Leftists and their crazy ideas becomes quite so obvious.  They believe things that we know are not true.  They believe, and act on the belief that men can become women, and women can become men just saying it is so (and of course whacking off a few body parts.)  Lately that have brought up that old idea that all society's problems can be solved by taxing the rich.  But if they confiscated all the money of every rich person, it would only last a few months.

Yesterday, at the American Thinker Thomas Lifson had a must see post entitled Saturday Schademfreude: Prog things she can change nature, suddenly (and hilariously) discovers she can't.

Progressives are by their very nature contemptuous of the natural order of things. Everything can be improved by their superior intellects. By virtue of the purity of their motives and the advanced understanding we have these days, they can impose policies that violate human nature and, they think, prevail. The Marxists are explicit in their promise that communism will create a "new man" (now updated to read "new person"). Self-interest would no longer operate in the communist utopia that would follow the supposedly transitory period of "dictatorship of the proletariat." "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Never mind who chose to lay about and who chose to work hard...

...snip...

Voluntary vegetarianism is not necessarily disastrous or even contrary to human nature (if you just ignore those specialized canine teeth that we come equipped with for ripping animal flesh prior to grinding it up farther back in the mouth). But it does require great care to supply all the essential nutrients and, in my observation, often leads to unfavorable outcomes. A highly educated young woman very close to me found a cure for many physical and psychological ailments when she gave up the vegetarianism that she had picked up from her environment of educated, affluent school and workplace associates.

But if you want to practice it, I have no objection and wish you all the best in maintaining your health. But the problem with progressive zealots anxious to impose their superior understanding on others is that "voluntary" means nothing to them. Those who oppose them stand in the way of progress, and that's a sin, especially to people who don't believe in God or Natural Law.

So, you may be wondering, where is Lifson going with this. Well, it seems that a woman of the Progressive variety in Britain, thinks that she can train a dog against that dogs nature. She wants to show as a dog that prefers to eat a pile of broccoli rather than meat.  The results are hilarious.  As has been noted since Biblical days, the real world doesn't answer to human will.  It is what it is.  But you can see for yourself.  Watch