Pray for Courage

This morning after making coffee, making my morning supplication to God, and reading the Bible, I opened up the American Thinker to find J. Robert Smith's article entitled Tucker Carlson is Right: It's About Evil. Finally, someone is saying what I, and, by the comments below the article, a lot of others have been saying. But we are saying this with tiny voices. We need someone with a bullhorn to shout it loudly: "What is happening is EVIL. I have criticized Tucker Carlson for often coming up to the line, but then not saying what is clearly right in front of everybody's faces. Apparently, that is because the powers that be at Fox News would not allow it. But now the American Thinker allows Smith to write about what is, in fact, evil.

Smith talks about these things as Satanic. And clearly evil has many names, whether it is Satan, or Lucifer, or Ba'al, or Asteroth (Ishtar) or Moloch or indeed any of the other names by which evil is called. But we must recognize that mutilating our children, exposing them to pornography, claiming that boys can be girls and vice versa, is evil. Of course, abortion is pure evil. Claiming to be able to control the climate is both evil and incredible arrogant. The Conservatives and the Left no longer have the same policy goals, but differences on how to achieve them. The Left has embraced the dark side, and more than anything wishes to annihilate the Right.

Prior to being fired by Fox News, Tucker Carlson spoke to a Heritage Foundation audience. Carlson’s remarks were seminal. He identified the clash between traditional America and the Left as rising to an entirely new and ominous level.

We’ve moved beyond mere politics and policy differences, Carlson claimed. The conflict is with a Left that has increasingly embraced evil. That’s hard to accept. Most Americans don’t want to regard other Americans as evil. But the evidence is abundant and growing.

...snip...

Indeed, sexually mutilating children to “change their gender” is well beyond politics. It’s deranged, for starters, and abusive and demeaning of a child’s personhood. As Carlson pointed out, proclaiming killing babies in the womb a “positive good” is morally grotesque. Sexually indoctrinating children -- from kindergarten forward -- is a lurid act of mental and emotional molestation.

Razing the working and middle classes by choking off conventional energy production; attacking law and order; imposing reverse racist policies as retributions against nonblacks for the false charge of ongoing “systemic racism;” forcing woke in schools and businesses; dictating where citizens should live; even dictating what cars -- if any -- Americans drive; and what constitutes diets make the argument all the more persuasive that the Left is a cult with no stop built in.

There’s a cold war underway that’s unlimited in scope, initiated by a pernicious, destructive leftist cult, a war whereby society is to be consumed, spit out, and remade. Failure isn’t an option. Fanatics aren’t interested in splitting differences. They want nothing to do with peaceful coexistence. There’s no “national divorce” in the offing. They’re predatory, sanctimonious, and very willing to blow up everything rather than concede. They’re true believers, whose souls are entirely consumed.

Gentle readers will want to read the entire article, and offer a prayer as Carlson suggests:

That prayer needs to be a call for strength, resolve, and acceptance of realities, and the courage to fight to defeat the malicious forces loose among us. Our rights, our freedom, our very lives are at stake.

Tucker Carlson Has Left the Building

I was busy yesterday and missed the BIG news that Tucker Carlson left Fox News. His last show was Friday the 21st. Andrea Widburg had the news at the American Thinker entitled A Media Earthquake Has Just Hit: Tucker Carlson Has Left Fox. And over at Townhall the Town Hall staff has remarks by Tucker Carlson shortly after his last show. You will want to both read Widburg's piece - always insightful, and watch Carlson's remarks.

My own take is that Tucker Carlson, along with Glenn Beck and a few others is one of the only reliable truth tellers. Gentle readers will know that I have warned you not to fall into the trap of telling lies that you know are lies. But also attempt to find out if what people are telling you is the truth. By and large, Tucker tells the truth. I rarely watch anything on Fox any more, and since I have taken off the record list the Tucker Carlson Show, I don't know that I will be watching it much at all.

AOC was apparently thrilled that Fox had taken Carlson off the air. Foolish woman. Glenn Beck and Megyn Kelly were discussing Carlson's potential next moves. Both agreed that Fox releasing him had basically unleashed Carlson to really go after the liars stalking America. I agree with that assessment. I also feel, like Carlson, that the GOP is not fighting hard enough for the American people, that there are still too many who play the game for personal money and power and to hell with their constituents. So it will be interesting to see what comes next

AI is just a tool

 The past two weeks, there has been a lot of talk about artificial "intelligence" or AI.  Recently, CBS's Scott Pelley was interviewing Google CEO Sundar Picai, this exchange took place:

“You don’t fully understand how it works and yet you’ve turned it loose on society?” Pelley asked.

“Let me put it this way, I don’t think we fully understand how a human mind works either,” Pichai responded.

Pichai, in other words, didn't really answer Pelley's question. How our brains work is not really in question. But of course Pichai should understand how his AI works or he shouldn't put it out there. No product should be put on the market if the producer doesn't understand it.  But, it brings up a fundamental issue with AI, which is that it isn't "intelligent" at all.

Today at the American Thinker Robert Arvay has the right attitude about AI. In an article entitled Artificial Intelligence is no big deal - until it is. Everyone seems to be trying to scare us with the idea that an AI might become smarter than us and enslave us, or kill us all off. Of course if one did decide to kill us off, who would manufacture the parts needed to repair the machines?

There is a lot of hype regarding artificial intelligence, known also as A.I. That hype has been fed by old movies such as Colossus: The Forbin Project and by less fictional but still spectacular predictions of a technological singularity.

The Forbin Project is science fiction, and like the best of science fiction, it has a kernel of truth that makes it worth thinking about as a precaution. It speculates that computer networks may become a cruel master of humanity. The technological singularity is a theory, not a wild guess, that predicts that computer intelligence may suddenly, and the key word is suddenly, spring out of human control. Taking these two together, one can understand why there is so much nervous attention being paid to A.I.

...snip...

According to the Forbes article linked above, "the scale, scope and complexity of the impact of intelligence evolution in machines is unlike anything humankind has experienced before. ... [There is] no historical precedent and [it] is fundamentally disrupting everything in the human ecosystem." That may sound overly dramatic, but Forbes articles are known more for sober analysis than for hyperbole.

That said, we need to tap the brakes in our examination of A.I. I am not the first to point out that computers are not genuinely intelligent. Not only do they mimic intelligence, but they may even give the outward appearance of being alive and conscious. They are none of that. They are "stuff," wires and diodes, etc., made by people. In that sense, they are like any other tool. Yes, they are complex, too complex for most of us to understand, and getting more complex all the time. Even so, the real threat comes not from computers and A.I., but from the people who build, program, and use them.

People worry that AI is too fast. Of course, that is why we employ computers in the first place, because they are much faster than the human. Calculating things by hand is incredibly tedious.  Man has constantly invented ever more powerful ways to calculate from logarithms to slide rules to calculators and computers.  But as Arvay points out, they are not really 'intelligent." For all the gee whiz factor, computers do three things that man has always done. First is word processing, second is calculating numberical data (spread sheets) and performing database functions. Think the old phone book. I think our real problem with using AI is to weed out the biases of the system. AI may be able to assemble various facts, but it still takes a human to determine the truth.  After all, it is just a tool.  Use it wisely.

It behooves us, then, to recognize A.I. as the useful tool it is — to use it, but not depend on it for making the moral decisions that only we, not it, can make. Instead of the artificial variety, we must use our natural, God-given intelligence.

Reality Not Religion

 Back on April 15th I had a post on a review of a movie, Nefarious I had seen. My point at the time, besides that gentle readers might like this movie, was that the horror of this movie was not the typical blood, guts and special effects, but was rather in the nature of the gradual demonic takeover of a person until he no longer believes he can be forgiven. Step by step, half lies and untruths told at just the right moment to trap the victim. As I said at the time, my blood ran cold. You can read my initial review here.

There is another review of the movie at Townhall.com entitled Nefarious: A Faith-Based Horror Film? by Roberto Orlando. Orlando seems to be somewhat afraid to come right out and say that this is in fact a faith based movie, thus the question mark at the end of the title.

The narrative of Nefarious is straightforward: A supposed sociopathic murderer named Edward Wayne Brady (Sean Patrick Flanery in prison and awaiting interrogation. We learn that he's not insane but a nefarious demon who welcomes the electric chair to flee his current host.

Our protagonist is Dr. James Martin (Jordan Belfi) professed atheist sent to judge Brady's sanity and, thus, his life or death; he learns from Nefarious and the world down under (a la The Screwtape Letters) that by the end of their session, he (Martin) will commit three murders. Therein lies the inciting incident that sparks the conflict.

...snip...

In a plot that bespeaks the arrogance of modern man, it works toward proving the moral theme: Judge not, lest ye be judged. It also cautions the audience: dismiss faith (and the devil) at your peril.

Go ahead and read Orlando's article. However, an even better review can be found at Crisis Magazine by Sheryl Collmer entitled Nefarious Is...

Nefarious is not a horror movie along the lines of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Nightmare on Elm Street, which I plan to exit this life without ever having seen (see Carrie, above.) It didn’t have shower scenes, or someone presumed dead grabbing your ankle, or gore galore. It was basically a conversation between an unbeliever and a demon. And the demon had all the muscle.

...snip...

The movie had tones of The Screwtape Letters (without the whimsy) as it drew the curtain back from the strategies and objectives of the dark angels. He tells us exactly how the demons win their game, and thus it becomes a warning for the audience. Like Screwtape, Nefarious plays the long game, waiting patiently as his subjects make tiny decisions wrong and, unexaminedly, go on to make bigger wrong decisions until the sins are so disastrous that the soul despairs and then belongs wholly to the demons.

Nefarious Is... a review by a Christian and a Catholic, and for reasons I don't understand, the Catholics seem to be the most aware of the real demons around us. Prohibitionists used to call alcohol "demon rum." But alcohol is just a substance, entirely neutral, neither good nor bad. The real demon is the living being that tempts the alcoholic to drink to excess. There is no cure for alcoholism, but by turning to Christ each and every day, the alcoholic can live a normal life. And as I read the Bible each day, I find it to be reality, as the archeologists keep finding out.  Indeed, maybe it is time to stop calling it a religion, for as I keep insisting, it is the hard Truth.

The thing is, I was never aware that it was a religious movie. The main character was a demon, yes, so by definition, it was spiritual. But it did not strike me as religious, the way God’s Not Dead did. There was theology, as the demon tells his story, and I went home and fact-checked it to my Bible, but it still struck me as reality not religion. As Frank Sheed said in Theology and Sanity, “To overlook God’s presence is not simply to be irreligious: it is a kind of insanity, like overlooking anything else that is actually there.” Or in other words, a movie that takes account of God and spirits is simply sane, not religious.

I think Sheryl Colmer's article at Crisis Magazine is the bestreview so far.

Stop Being Cowards About Restricting Abortion

 At Townhall.com today, David Harsanyi has an article saying Republicans Need To Stop Being Cowards on Abortion. Note that Harsanyi isn't a Christian Pro-Lifer, indeed he is an atheist. But even Harsanyi recognizes that the killing of innocent children is immoral. He says so. Even more, the killing of them by tearing them limb from limb is sickening. Republicans should stand proudly for the life of the unborn.  Republicans often point out that voters don't back them.  Well, it works both ways.  Christians are being targeted for pro-life stances.  Having Republicans in our corner would be nice.

Harsanyi presents several paragraphs of useful abortion information that, if voters knew these facts, might cause them to re-think their vote for Democrats.

How many voters know that the Democratic Party supports legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy on demand for virtually any reason? How many voters know this position aligns with only six other countries in the world -- three of them, not incidentally, being North Korea, Vietnam and China?

How many voters know that Democrats want to pass a federal law banning states from stopping sex-selective abortions or the dismembering of the post-viable unborn or the requirement of parental and guardian notification for minors before getting abortions? How many know that Democrats want to strip medical workers of their conscience rights by compelling them to participate in the procedure or lose their jobs? How many people know that Democrats want to eliminate the popular Hyde Amendment, which stops the federal government from funding abortions with taxpayer dollars?

Now, maybe a majority of voters aren't aware of Democrats' maximalist positions because the media endlessly lies and obfuscates them. And maybe pollsters rarely ask useful questions on the topic because the answers are a lot more complicated than they'd like. And, maybe, after the shock of Roe v. Wade being overturned -- treated by Democrats as if it had been chiseled into magical stone tablets over the past 50 years -- the energy and passion of the debate will temporarily reside on the pro-abortion side. And, maybe, if every voter knew all the facts, it still wouldn't matter. Abortion is a complex and emotional issue.

None of that excuses the inability, or aversion, of national conservatives to make a coherent and compelling pro-life case. Sometimes it feels like Republicans are more terrified by the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health decision than pro-abortionists. Even if pollsters were right about the unpopularity of abortion restrictions, there is this crazy thing that politicians occasionally engage in called "persuasion." Rather than just chasing around voters for approval, this entails convincing them with arguments.

Then Harsanyi points to a number of cases where a Republican championed the unborn and won. He speculates that these positions may be more popular than Republican politicians think. If that is true, Republicans should perhaps make restriction of abortion a plank in their candidacy.

Then again, if every Republican lost every race in the country over abortion, it still wouldn't make killing human beings for convenience any less of a moral abomination or the fight to stop it any less critical. A majority position isn't, by default, moral or decent -- quite the contrary. And meaningful political fights aren't predicated on short-term gains. Overturning Roe took 50 years. The political fight over abortion might take even longer.

The Return of the Ancient Demons

Tucker Carlson had a great broadcast a week or so ago. You can watch it right here. As Carlson points out, there is a new religion flooding the United States called "Transgenderism." Of course, there is no such thing as being "transgendered." One is born either male or female, and nobody can change those facts. Carlson points out that to believe such things is to claim to be God Himself. What Carlson didn't say is that this is in fact an ancient religion, the worship of the demon Ashteroth.

The demon Ashteroth, also called Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia, was often associated with Ba'al as his consort. Ashteroth was the goddess of prostitutes, licentiousness, homosexuality, but also transgenerism. Here priests were castrated, and dressed as women. Along with Ba'al and Moloch, Asteroth was one of the demons fought against by the ancient prophets. Like ancient Israel, America has turned away from God, and have invited these demons into our lives again. You can see the terrible things happening in America now, the chaos being spread everywhere.

Christians slowly kicked the ancient demons out of society, and it was under the banner of Christianity that the United States was founded.  When America turned its back on God and Christianity, the ancient demons returned.

The ancient prophets pleaded with the Israelites to repent and turn back to God. They usually did not, and suffered the consequences. So, I will no longer expect that anyone will repent. Our nation is doomed, and I am glad that I won't be around too much longer to see it. After all, asking people to repent just hardens peoples' hearts. So, don't repent, but know that God will find another country to take down the United States and do his will.

The Return of the Ancient Gods

Today at the American Thinker Civis Americanus has an article entitled The Democrat Left Welcomes Antisemites, Cop Haters, and Terrorist Supporters. As always you should go read it.

No really, go read it. I'll wait.

Read it? Good. Did you notice that the article mentioned exclusively BLM? Not of course that these are the only antisemites, cop haters, and terrorists that find a political home in the Democrat party. But it does point out that there is a profound problem with identity politics in general, and groups like BLM in particluar. That problem is that God created man in his own image. It doesn't say that God created black man, asian man, and white man. He created man.  To identify oneself as a race or other immutable characteristic is wrong.  It is sinful.  We are to identify ourselves as what we are: images of God.  Thinking about just that will blow your mind.

In the first chapter of Genesis it says:

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [g]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that [h]moves on the earth.”

Note also that God created mankind in only two varieties, to wit: male and female. That is each one of us is born in one of two genders, not 57 or whatever the current count is. More specifically, there are no "transgender," let alone trans-anything else. There is no nonbinary either. And God expects that men will dress as men and fulfill the role of men, while women should dress as women and fulfill the role of women. And yes, of course I feel compassion for people who feel that they were, as they say, born in the wrong body. But realizing that this is not reality is the first step toward helping these confused people adjust to reality.

I don't know when the Lutheran churches began downplaying the role the the devil in the lives of men, but I was taught that the ancient gods, Ba'al and his Ashteroth and Moloch were not real. Supposedly they were mere myth, nothing to worry about.  Of course one understands that the idols representing these gods were made by men, and worshiping a clay image seemed stupid. But what if they used the images much as say, Catholics use icons?

As it turns out, these ancient gods are in fact real and are the main manifestation of Lucifer in the lives of men. Jonathon Cahn has a book out now entitled Return of the Gods that shows how, as we kicked God out of our public life, we didn't, as one might predict, just have a godless country. Unfortunately, it is our fate to either serve God, or serve the Devil.  There is no other choice.  I don't know about you, but I would prefer to serve God.  

Ba'al is the god of gain and greed. Man needs certain things to survive: food, water, shelter. And of course he needs a mate. Ba'al works on men's needs to convince him he doesn't ever have enough. The sense that a man doesn't have enough causes him to chase after more and more, and to not trust the God of creation.  You see all the time advertisements playing on the idea that you must save enough, invest enough rather than just trust God.

Then there is his consort Asteroth, the goddess of prostitutes, of licentiousness, of fornication but also of transgenderism and cross dressing. Feminism, the idea of the strong, independent woman is part of the influence of Ashteroth because it denies a woman's role.

Finally, Moloch is the god of human sacrifice. In ancient times parents actually fed their children to Moloch's fires seeking the favor of the god. Today Moloch is the one to whom abortionists sacrifice our chidren. Ever wonder why so many abortionists fight so viciously to keep abortion available? It is not simply the money abortion brings in. It is an actual religious reaction, whether they acknowledge it or not.

We must kick these demons out of our lives, and out of America.  We must trust our Creator implicitly in all things. Heis our only hope.

Undate: Watch a message from Jonathon Cahn.

Do not fall for the lie

I have two today that are loosely related by two different authors at two different sites.  First up will be J. B. Shuk at the American Thinker in a piece entitled They Fear You. The whole article is worth reading, and makes perfectly explicit what I have meant by the "the government that doesn't trust you, particluarly with guns, can not be trusted." In particular, though, I wanted to point out what Shurk says about the "Restrict Act" currently being debated in the Senate:

As the American Uniparty's collaboration with Schwab's Marxist globalists continues to grow, expect these serious violations of the First Amendment's protections for free speech to proliferate. After all, in a remarkable display of political and bureaucratic goose-stepping, the District of Corruption's occupying workforce has been nearly unanimous in its enthusiastic support for and adoration of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his "new Western democracy." No matter how many jackboots Zelensky sends to shut down churches, crush opposing political parties, or silence dissenting citizens, the bombastic Washington despots who endlessly chirp about "Western virtues" are the same ones proclaiming their full-throated support for the worst kinds of tyranny. Welcome to the "new America," where ruling-class contempt for freedom is no longer disguised.

Right now State-aligned corporate news firms are breathlessly reporting about Pentagon leaks that might have come from a twenty-one-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman. While the revelations contained in those documents demonstrate that the Department of Defense has perpetuated outright lies regarding Ukraine's likelihood of success against Russia, State-aligned propagandists posing as journalists have used the leaks not to hold government actors accountable, but rather to justify the expansion of government powers. Almost gleefully supporting the Uniparty's calls for the urgent passage of The Restrict Act — legislation ostensibly drafted to combat China's TikTok but in actuality a statutory vehicle designed to provide the federal government with broad authority to confront internet "danger" — the American press play along while the Legislative and Executive Branches use this present "crisis" as an excuse to swing the sledgehammer down on Americans' free speech. As those with eyes to see and sufficient backbone to speak uncomfortable truths have noted, The Restrict Act is an "online PATRIOT Act" meant not to protect, but rather to silence Americans.

Make no bones about it: the federal government's number-one worry is you.

It is the bolded part I want to talk about here. No doubt you have heard that it is supposed to be the tik tok ban act. But there is no mention of tik tok in the bill. And while tik tok is irritating, I would not ban it, becuase its users would just find another medium on which to express their crude and vulgar selves. And really, the Chinese are only using their platform the way domestic companies use their own platform to spy on Americans. Frankly, if I banned tik tok, I would ban them all.

But the Restrict Act is so much broader and so much more vague. I am pretty sure I have violated the Restrict Act already. Indeed, I suspect this post violates the Restrict Act even though it is not yet law. That of course would be an ex post facto law which is Un-Constitutional, but our so called "leaders" don't care about such things. This shows you how much they fear you, that they will violate the Constitution to intimidate you and shut you up.

The second article is one by Mark Lewis at Townhall.com entitled Bud Lite, Lenin and Marx, Part Three in which Lewis posts quotes from Lenin and Marx illustrating the diabolical nature of socialism, and the fact that the socialists are playing for all the marbles and will use any means to get them. Marbles is played where the shooter attempts to knock marbles out of the circle from a position outside the circle. But socialists will violate the circle to position themselves to best advantage to win. What this means is that they don't care how many people must be killed and destroyed, so long as they win.

6. “We have no compassion, and we ask no compassion from you. When our turn comes, we shall not make excuses for the terror.” Yes, that is precisely what communism is and does. No compassion. Terror. No excuses for utter inhumanity. Lenin said “terror” must come. It is obvious who he got that from. That’s the Left. Do you think they are/will be different in America?

7. “The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.” There will be no peace until everyone accepts socialism. This is a war to the death for these people. It is what they believe in; they believe in nothing else, and they demand you believe it, too. And if you don’t, they will kill you. As long as you oppose socialism—or until they are crushed—you can expect increased violence, aggression, and societal conflict in America. The Democrats are committed socialists, and there will be only war until you are, too. That’s what Marx said. And then, when socialism wins, as evidenced by the 20th century and current socialist states, there will be no freedom, only oppression, and death. No peace until you submit and obey. Do you want freedom? Forget it. Communism destroys freedom and demands total submission. And the government will always be necessary to achieve that. The idea that the government will someday “disappear” is the biggest lie in Marxism.

...snip...

10. “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it, therefore, acts in contradiction to all past historical experience.” Yep, exactly. Atheism means no eternal truths and believes all religions should be abolished. And wherever they’ve gotten power, that is precisely what they tried to do (and are trying to do in China). All morality is subjective, defined by the Communist Party, and subject to change as circumstances dictate. Whatever is suitable for the Party, for the ultimate advancement to “true communism”—lying, murder, theft, etc.—is “moral.” That is the standard of morality in communism. And in the Democratic Party. Indeed, as Marx said, this is a rejection of all historical precedent and wisdom.

...snip...

Marx and Lenin told us precisely what they believed and exactly what they intended to do. Leftist organizations like Anheuser-Busch, Disney, Nike, and the Democratic Party are simply following Marxism’s marching orders. The war is on. We are smack in the middle of it right now. The sad thing is so many Americans are still sleeping through it.

Please also read Mark Lewis's article. If you are not familiar with Marx and Lenin, it will be an eye opener. Communism and socialism are not as they advertise themselves. Indeed, if they told the truth about themselves, no one would ever want such a system. But these political ideologies sneak in with soft words, or change the meaning of words to sound somehow better. Do not fall for it. It is all lies.

Servants of Satan

 At Crisis Magazine Archbishop Vigano has an opinion piece entitled Our Elites Adherence to Lies and Falsehoods Show Them to be Servants of Satan.

The psychopandemic emergency is a lie, all on account of a virus created in a laboratory for the sake of a mass vaccination that is as ineffective as it is harmful to health. Gender theory is a lie, which denies the distinction of the sexes willed by the Creator, and which seeks to cancel the image and likeness of God in man. Climate change is a lie, based as it is on the false premise of man-made climate crisis and on the even more false chimera that the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in certain countries can even minimally change the earth’s temperature.

The Ukrainian crisis is a lie, which was provoked in order to destroy the social and economic fabric of European nations through unreasonable sanctions against the Russian Federation. The Agenda 2030 is a lie, which is being imposed by a gang of subversives in order to enslave humanity. Woke ideology is a lie, which causes the cancellation of our identity, our history, and our faith in order to impose the infernal religion of the New World Order and the barbarism of the Great Reset.

What is most disconcerting is that this fraud against the peoples – perpetuated by those in authority who ought instead to be protecting and defending them – has also infected the ecclesial body, where other no less serious falsehoods corrupt the purity of the faith, offending the Divine Majesty and causing the damnation of many souls, whom the Lord has paid for dearly, redeeming them with His Most Precious Blood.

Ecumenism is a lie, which abases the living and true God to the level of the idols of the nations. The Synodal Way is a lie, which subverts the divine constitution of the Church intended by Christ under the false pretext of listening to the people of God. The liturgical reform is a lie, introduced with the excuse of making the Mass understandable to the faithful, with the sole intention of taking honor from God and pleasing the heretics.

The feminine diaconate is a lie, which with the alibi of giving a role to women attacks the Mass and the sacraments and tampers with the Holy Orders instituted by Our Lord. The possibility of divorced and cohabitating couples receiving Holy Communion is a lie, the blessing of homosexual unions is a lie, the entrance of transsexuals into the seminary is a lie: morality does not follow the fashions of the day, whatever Bergoglio may say.

The acceptance of sodomy is a lie, which too often seems to want to legitimize the conduct of many prelates and clergy rather than saving the souls of poor sinners.

These lies have the effrontery to manifest themselves as obvious falsehoods, deprived of any rational or credible arguments. They are not the lies with which one clumsily tries to hide something: they are the arrogant affirmation of falsification, of the subversion of logic, of the negation of the truth.

The last quoted paragraph tells the story. These lies are so bold, everyone with any common sense can see that they are lies, yet the lies are told as the truth by people who tell us these lies with a straight face. Clearly our elites and their lapdogs are in the thrall of Satan, the father of lies, who lied to our first parents. This is why I have repeatedly said that we as Christians, must not lie, even if others say it is compassionate to do so. We can not lie if we want to be on the side of God. We can not lie about any of the things mentioned above. Most of all, we can not lie to ourselves.

Please read vigano's opinion piece.

Review of Movie Entitled Nefarious

I haven't been to see a movie at the theater in years, at least since the start of the pandemic. However, Mrs. PolyKahr and I went to see a movie Thursday entitled Nefarious that was recommended by Glenn Beck. It was based on a book by Blaze personality Steave Deace. Today, at The Federalist Samuel Mangold-Lennett has a review of Nefarious that gives you a good idea of what it is about and its impact on the viewer.

To say that it is a psychological thriller is not really accurate, though if you are looking for the sort of cheap theatrics of a movie like The Exorcist you may find this movie boring. It is mostly an interview between Brady/Nefarious and Dr. James Martin, the atheistic psychiatrist send to determine if Brady was sane before executing him.

Dr. James Martin, the highly accredited psychiatrist tasked with providing Brady with an “impartial review,” approaches the evaluation with the requisite hubris of a highly credentialed millennial. But his preconceived understanding of the situation and his secular worldview prevent him from engaging with the true nature of the reality presented before him. And seeing as how Brady is very explicitly possessed by a demon named “Nefarious,” this makes a dominant theme of the film readily apparent: Evil is all around us, in both the often unnoticed ignorance of modern banality and in glaringly obvious manifestations.

As a believer, I found myself growing cold at the things Nefarious said, in part because I recognized the process the demons use to trap us. Moreover, the absolute hatred Nefarious desribes of he and his master for God and for His creation made my blood run cold. And it can feel like there is no hope, that no one could ever forgive you. And here is where Nefarious mentions "the Carpenter" who died to save all mankind. Nefarious hates Him more that the Father or us. Jesus snuck into the world by being born to a lowly virgin, growing up in of all places, Nazareth. He had to keep His true self a secret until His crucifiction. Nefarious describes how surprised and disgusted they all felt at being tricked.

But of course, we can repent, unlike the demons. We can call upon the Lord and repent and serve Him. For the truth is that we all must serve. We are caught between two warring factions: God and the devil. We either serve one or the other. But serving one side means Life and Truth. The other means lies and an eternity of pain. 

Spoiler alert: Unfortunately for him, Dr. James Martin doesn't take advantage of this incredibly gracious gift, offered to everyone...at least not during the movie.

Don't Let The Wild Animals Win

 Today, at the American Thinker someone going by the nom de guerre of AOF for American On Fire, has a timely article entitled The Wild Wild United States. In his opening argument, he reminds that the citizen is always the very first responder to any situation, and that we should all be prepared. It is a message I have carried from time to time, and it is well to bring it up every so often.

When was the last time you watched an old Hollywood Western movie? Most of the plots centered around a small town or farm with the characters living lives that were not easy and did not have modern conveniences. Their lives were full of hard work, challenge, and danger from wild animals and “bad guys” looking to take something by any means necessary. These characters only responded to violence or threat of violence. The local sheriff supported the community and ensured that the short list of laws was observed and assisted when necessary. There weren’t 150 sheriffs in a town with tactical gear. The citizens policed themselves and defended themselves against threats to their homes, family and property. There was no 911 to call.

Somewhere along the line, we forgot that we were responsible to defending ourselves and loved ones. We abdicated that responsibility to our local and state governments. In turning the responsibility of our safety and security to our local law enforcement, we are now dependent on their process and response times. We consciously or unconsciously agreed to firearm restrictions and gun-free zones. These laws made soft targets of banks, schools, churches, shopping malls and concert venues, to name a few. A “bad guy” shows up with a firearm regardless of magazine capacity or firearm type, and proceeds to do whatever he wants until the police show up. This response time could be five minutes or one and a half hours. A great amount of damage and loss of life can happen within a short time frame. These shooters know this. They know that they will not face immediate resistance to their plan. Shooters do not charge into a biker bar or hunting club to take life. Why not? Because they know the people inside the establishment are armed and their evil mission will be over before it started.

As our culture changes and accompanied by increases in crimes, we have no other option but to defend ourselves and our communities. We cannot rely on our local law enforcement to be everywhere all at once. The crime trajectory is not going to improve due to the state of the economy and culture. How many public shootings could have been stopped and lives saved by a law-abiding citizen? No school should ever have a shooting. It is pure negligence on the leadership’s part that has enabled these murders. There is no other excuse. Ask yourself when the last time there was a shooting at the Capitol building? Why? It is heavily protected to keep our politicians safe. Why not our children? Ask your local school board, principal, and superintendent that question.

Now, I do not mean to denigrate the police and the sheriffs. The hiring of a police force does much to tamp down and discourage crime, when coupled with swift prosecution of the laws. But as pointed out, even when the police and prosecutors are working smoothly and efficiently, they can not be everywhere at once, and you would not want them to be either. So in the end, it is up to you and me. We are our own first responders. And one of the tools you and I need in our "every day carry" is a reliable firearm. Not, of course because it is used the most. Far from it. But on those once in a lifetime occasions, when it is needed, no other tool will do.

Now, as to who carries a firearm, it is composed of the army of the willing. Some may not feel comfortable carrying a firearm. And that is okay. Each one must examine himself and his or her motives.  Some may feel it is not Christian. My personal study of Christ's teachings and the Old Testament lead me to believe that God wants us to defend our lives, but I do not commend the carrying of a firearm to those whose conscience forbids it. But if you have been hesitant, and are on the fence about it, I invite you, brothers and sisters, to take up the gun. Of course, you like me will want to pray on it, and most of all pray that you never have to use it. Your life will be turned upside down if you do. But you will be doing necessary work for us all.

The turning point for me was the events of September 11, 2001. I wanted to be ready should terrorist attack me or my family. AOF concludes with this:

It is very simple. Firearms are not scary. They are the great equalizers when you or your family is assaulted. If you can swing a golf club, tennis racket, or do virtually anything, you can get training and protect yourself and your loved ones. If you don’t believe in protection with firearms, don’t do it for yourself. Do it for your friends, family, and the innocents around you.

Don’t let the wild animals and bad guys have their way.

Don't Muck Things Up By Doing Something

 As a child, I wondered why Jesus had to die?  Jesus seemed from Sunday school stories to be a kindly man, who magically healed the sick, the crippled, even raised the dead.  Who but the most wicked could possibly want to execute Him.  But, as a child, I did not understand sin.  Oh, I knew about the 10 Commandments, but understanding that I was a sinner, from birth, the child of sinners: that the God who created us could not bear to look at us as we were, such understanding would come later.

Trevor Thomas has an article today entitled To Rightly Understand The Resurrection, One Must First Understand Sin. From time immemorial, the Hebrews, later the Israelites had sacrificed a lamb in atonement for their sins. For only the death of one without blemish, which is what sin is on our souls, can atone for our sins. Clearly, no body can do this necessary act if we are to be reconciled to God.

The late-great Oswald Chambers provides one of the best descriptions of why Jesus went to the cross:

The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin…There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God. The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating ‘God was manifested in the flesh…’ from ‘…He made Him…to be sin for us…’ (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.

One of my favorite Scriptures that explains the death of Jesus is near the end of the first chapter of the book of Colossians. Colossians 1:19-20 reads:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

So, once one understands why Jesus had to die, indeed wanted to do this for us, one has to ponder why would the God who created everything that is and everything that is not, care so much? And the answer is that He loved us that much. He loved us such that He entered the world as a child, born to a poor carpenter and a young virgin who laid him in a manger. He grew up as do the rest of us. He was tempted with the things that we are all tempted. He led a sinless life, thus without blemish. In dieing on the cross, He became the sacrifical lamb to reconcile everyone to God

Jesus last words on the cross were "It is finished." Everthing that needed to be done to reconcle us to our God was done. We don't have to do anything, God has done it all for us. And this is what many people who claim Christianity have the most trouble with. They want to do something to deserve salvation. I can't tell you the number of books I have seen that purport to tell a person how to be a saint. In these books, you must pray the rosary every day, three times for more merit. You must say Holy Offices each day, fast, pray often, perhaps scourge yourself. One wonders when a person is supposed to work to take care of his family.

Jesus tells us there will be many who say "Lord, Lord. I cast out demons in your name." I will say I never knew you. Why? Because of the claim to do something in hopes of doing enough, when in fact He has done everything.  We must only acknowledge that fact.  We must surrender.

As I noted several years ago, the greatest lie ever told is that there is no God. The second greatest lie ever told is that the devil does not exist. The third greatest lie ever told is that your (and my) sin is not really sin. One of the greatest debates within the church today surrounds the question of what is sin. If we can’t answer that question well and accurately, then we will fall short of understanding and appreciating all that Jesus did for us.

As Oswald Chambers reveals above, Jesus came for no other reason than to redeem us, to save us. Save us from what? From the sin that leads to death, hell, and eternal separation from God. We don’t get to come to God and accept Jesus on our own terms. It must be unconditional surrender. We must be willing to lay down everything that is an affront to God. He created us, He sustains us, and He alone can save us.

Jesus says that unless we become as babes, we can not enter the Kindom of God. And in truth, we are as babes. Babies must be fed, burped, have their butts cleaned, comforted and...well...everything. They can do nothing for themselves.  So it is with us and God.

So, the message this Easter is: don't muck it up by trying to do something. Stop doing and let God be God.

Self Defense

 So the Tennessee Legislature showed the Washington GOP just how they should be handling Deocrats who don't obey the rules.  And our DC Democrats have been breaking all kinds of rules. David Zukerman has a post at the American Thinker entitled Let The House Hearings on the False 'Insurrection' of Jan. 6 Begin

It is not that House Republicans are merely lukewarm in their support of former President Trump and his MAGA program, and therefore, according to the instruction of Machiavelli, in The Prince, will fail in helping this innovator overcome the fierce opposition of the Deep State. House Republicans are pathetic in their flabby pretense to help Mr. Trump drain the swamp.

The latest instance of likely House Republican ineptitude is revealed from the concatenation of two developments, in Washington, DC., and at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville. In Washington, a defense attorney for the Proud Boys has charged that undercover operatives, perhaps as many as 40, were involved in the Jan. 6 commotion at the Capitol, and likely served as agents provocateur. (No wonder, the Capitol doors were opened to admit a part of the throng.)

Meanwhile, in Nashville, the Tennessee State House expelled two members for disruptive behavior on the House floor during an unruly gun protest. The operative part of the account in The New York Times on the ouster of the two legislators -- an account sympathetic to the legislators -- appeared twelve paragraphs into the story:

"The lawmakers who were expelled readily agreed that [their] outburst violated the House's rules of conduct...."

See, now tbe Tennessee Legislature shows the correect way of doing things. There must be consequences if you expect them to behave like civilized people.  It's self defense.

Tomorrow is Easter

 Gentle readers may have noticed that I have lately referred to the demonic origin of many Leftist ideologies. Now, you may think I have gone off the rails.  After all, as in the words of Rush Limbaugh, I consider myself, if not the mayor, certainly a citizen of Realville.  But I also claim Christ, and him crucified, and resurrected on the third day, and that He lives forever.  So did Rush, by the way.  Interestingly, the more delusional things get in society, the more I fall back on real data.  And it was while doing so that I dicovered that Realville includes an unseen spiritual side that includes the Heavenly Hosts, but also Lucifer and the demons.  

Now, at the American Thinker Nancy Van Deest tells it "like it is" in an article entitled Leftism and the Minions of Satan.

As more Americans abandon God, evil gains a greater foothold in the U.S., working nonstop to demolish our constitutional republic. While many people sense a hidden malignancy choreographing what's taking place, they can't identify it. Make no mistake: ultimately, Satan is behind these efforts, using his deluded followers, both in and outside government, to lure Americans away from Christian values to fundamentally transform their hearts, minds, souls and ultimately the nation.

Whether it is abortion, or participating in various sexual perversions such as gay and lesbian sex, pornography, cross dressing, or the latest: transgenderism, these things are ultimately demonic. Each of these things were common in the ancient world. Each of these things had its own demon whether Moloch, Ba'al, or Ishtar. We think we 'evolved' moderns have just come up with this stuff. But no, we have not. The Bible warns us against all these perversions, not because God says they are wrong, but because these things take our attention away from Him and His will for us. And then there is Gaia, which proposes that a lifeless rock can be a goddess.  How ridiculous is that?

God created man in His image. Male and female he made them. Thus the "identity politics" is wrong.You and I are not our race, our sexual proclivities, or anything else about us is unimportant. Only our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. This is all, and always has been because of Lucifer tempted our first parents in the Garden of Eden.

Although God warns against pride, leftists wear it as a badge of honor and even set aside Pride Month to flaunt their debauchery. Since God is the author of all creation, he knows each one of us from the depths of our mothers' wombs and calls us His beloved and worthy of life. They respond that unborn babies are just clumps of cells and a constitutional right exists to kill them, regardless of gestation period. Furthermore, they encourage the murder of anyone who stands in the way of their child sacrifices. Therefore, in their delusions, abortion is health care. Yet at the same time, they push gun control on legal gun-owners, justifying their power grab with false concern that if it saves just one person, then it is worthy! Finally, they want to remove parents' God-given stewardship of His children and give that authority over to the government to mold children into like-minded freaks partaking in their abnormal behaviors.

As an outward sign of Biden's faithfulness to Satan's idolatry, he filled government positions with deluded perverts. To ensure that Satan's collaborators remain unchallenged, the Biden administration coordinated with outside groups to label opposition voices as disinformation and aggressively silenced them. With the justice system under the same influence, the Biden administration attacks and persecutes with gusto its political enemies and unyielding citizens, including Christians, who won't bow down to their dangerous idolatry. The continued unequal application of the law to further Satan's agenda without much resistance is a direct result of the effectiveness of the Biden administration's coordinated messaging with other Satan disciples. It is further aided by the failure of Congress and the Judicial Branch to uphold their constitutional duties, either because they desire identical results as Biden's satanic followers or they are afraid of retribution if they resist. As a consequence, the Biden administration has been emboldened to continue its persecution and expand its surveillance system against Americans it dislikes.

Ever wonder how the conspiracy to destroy the United States has proceeded generation after generation? What drives people who will never participate in any meaningful way in the supposed prize to keep pushing it forward? And it always marched forward through the institutions, through the churches, through the government. It has been guided by an intelligence. That intelligence is Lucifer, whose pride can not let him submit to his Creator. Indeed he wants to destroy God's most beloved creation. He has most of the world, and now he has most of us.

But it may not be too late.  God only allows the Devil to go so far, to bring us back to Him.  Tomorrow is Easter....

The Only Way

I really like Kurt Schlichter and his commentary. It is at once acerbic and so on target. Today's article entitled The Only Way To Restore The Norms Is To Finish Them Off is one of those things that, if you don't think about it for a minute, seems counter intuitive. But just as the old saying "If you want peace, prepare for war" is true and "A bully won't stop until you punch him in the nose," is true, so is Schlichter's assertion. We must inflict the same pain on the Left as the Left is inflicting on us, to make them stop. Right now, there are no consequences to their behavior, so of course it will continue to get worse and worse.

Conservatives whose reaction to the banana republic shenanigans of a leftist DA in a leftist city using a ridiculous perversion of the law to take out an enemy of the leftists is anything less than a desire to deal the pain right back are worse than useless. They are a menace. Their channeling of Kevin Bacon in “Animal House” empowers our enemies to ruin our country – and us. If you love the rule of law, if you want to bring back our precious norms and hold to our precious principles, then it’s time to go Full Truman and nuke ‘em ‘til they glow.

I note that Japan hasn’t gotten uppity since we tossed them a couple of hot rocks.And that’s what we need to do to the left.

Mutually assured destruction works. But the “mutual” part is just as important as the “destruction” part. When you don’t make it mutual, when your sissy rectitude reacts to them wrecking you by whimpering about how hypocritical they are, then it’s only us who get destroyed. And that does not work for me.

This is not to say that every red state functionary and Republican federal official needs to start lying and cheating like the Democrats do. That is what the Democrats are doing. I keep wondering why I get all these calls to be the law talking guy on media panels about this New Yor judicial clusterfark because it has nothing to do with law – this is essentially framing Trump. But we don’t need to do that. We do not need to frame them. They are already guilty. The Democrats are a disorganized crime family. They are all corrupt, really corrupt, not “Some money to settle a dizzy tramp’s sex claims got mischaracterized in the books” corrupt. And that makes them vulnerable.

The principle that Schlichter lays down here is one of self defense. Please note that the aggressor in the culture wars has always been the Left. They use words to claim to be the victim, but they are not. They are the aggressors. And while using lawfare against their lawfare may seem like taking vengence, in fact it is actually using force against force. We don't have to make stuff up, either. Their many crimes are on display for all to see. We just need to screw up enough spine to go after them. And no, it won't be easy. The odds are against us because the law profession is overwhelmingly Leftist. Or, as Chesty Puller put it: “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time” – Lewis B. Chesty Puller, USMC.

Some may also object on the basis that it is not nice to return evil for evil; that it is somehow not Christian. First of all, we are not saying to return evil for evil. These guys have committed actual crimes, and deserve to have themselves brought up on charges. Indeed, to fail to do so denies their dignity as people.  As to not being Christian, note that Christ was often "not nice." Look at how He treated the Chief Priests and Sadducees and the Pharisees, the Leftists of His day. He was not nice, calling them "vipers." His Father hates evil, and so does Christ because the Son and the Father are one.

Our side is always talking about law and order, but we keep getting judicially assaulted and these weakhearts are all about no bail and dismissing the charges. We need to punish our enemies so they learn that if they screw with us, they are getting it back twice as hard. And not just in criminal cases but in all aspects of our political struggle. We have to stop with this ridiculous idea that making your enemy pay is not a viable way of encouraging good behavior. It is the only way.

Do not let the Left make you lie

I don't know what the future holds, of course, and neither does anyone else. Only the Father knows the place and time of the Second coming of Christ. Nevertheless, one can see certain things coming that seem catastrophic for our way of life, short of a miracle. J. Robert Smith has an article at the American Thinker entitled Ready Yourself For The 2024 Storms that attempts to outline what we can expect.

The end of the Marxist-infiltrated Progressive Era isn’t happening with a whimper, but with bangs. In 2024, it’ll happen with convulsions, likely violent. What follows is up for grabs.

The foreshadowing occurred again in Nashville last week. Will the leftist-stoked and Democrat/establishment sanctioned 2020 riots prove merely a preview to a calamitous and pivotal 2024 presidential election year?

The so-called transexual community scheduled a "day of vengence" for the Saturday following the Nashville shooters rampage. But vengence for what? Nobody is actually preventing adults from living out their delusions. What all normal people object to is grooming our children. Don't. Mess. With. Our. Kids.  Normal people know that there is no such thing as trans-anything.  But if an adult wants to indulge is such fantasies, have at it.

Tucker Carlson was quite right in his monologue last week: Christianity and transgenderism are wildly incompatible. Forget gobbledygook Christianity practiced by congregation-bleeding churches. Christianity and transgenderism never will reconcile. True science dictates, too, bolstering Christian teaching.

Humans aren’t gods with dominion to “transform” themselves from man to woman or woman to man. Any more than humans can cause the sun to rise in the west and set in the east, any more than man can destroy the earth’s climate. Any more than humans can create intelligent machines that rule the world. All are vanities, conceits, delusions, fantasies. All are Towers of Babel.

Please go read Smith's article. Do what you can to prepare. But understand that the Left will do everything they can to force you fall in line with their nonsense. Do not fall for it. They want to make you to tell things you know are untrue to demoralize you and make it easier to take over. the woke wackos are a minority of the American public. Even most teachers don't believe most of this crap, though their unions seem to be all in. But Smith points out that the woke wackos and the Communists are alied with the Uniparty establishment. The establishment doesn't believe these things, but they want power, control, and of course, wealth and status.

Conceits rule and are ruining America. Marxism, wokism, Left reverse racism, and conceits of a more usual stripe: those driven by lusts for power and control. Greed is ancient. If you ever wonder why the establishment and Left are allied, it’s more than the Left’s infiltration of institutions. Both are allied because they share an insatiable appetite for power.

Both will eventually turn on the other, so overwhelming is their hunger for absolute power -- but only if this phase of their war on America succeeds, which is far from certain. Yet today, these allies are putting a wrecking ball to the country, thanks to fatal misbeliefs -- thanks to the Marxist imperative for destruction -- which guide their governance, policies, and cultural standards. Destruction, a form of power, precedes ruling power.

A Revolutionary Act

 As the World Economic Forum (WEF) continues to exhort us to eat bugs. I continue to note that properly raised on grass, rotating pasture lands, cows are good for the environment and provide food for people.  We can not eat grass...er...we can, but can not derive nutrition therefrom.  Unglulates, like cows, on the other hand, can create nutrition for us, while storing carbon in the soil.  Here in North Carolina, much of the land in the piedmont and foothills is not really suitable for raising crops.  The soil is poor and rocky, and the only thing we easily raise is grass and weeds.  But it is good, if not great, for raising cows.

John Klar has an article at the American Thinker today entitled The Case for Cows that discusses why we should change the way we raise cows to provide food for humans, improve the soil, and use fewer chemicals from Big Agribusiness, and get the WEF out of our lives.

Climate cultists have strayed far from science in their crusade to "save the world." The latest speculation is that wolves and beavers, and the "rewilding" of parts of the planet, will sequester carbon dioxide. Common sense demonstrates that exponentially more carbon would be sequestered — and water and soil preserved — by releasing cows from Concentrated Animal Feed Operations and "rewilding" them to managed rotational grazing.

Lately there has been a media push to convince people that cows are somehow "not natural." Yet modern cattle are merely the decendants of a now extinct species wild oxen known as aurocks. There has also been a media push, including diet doctors, to convince us that eating beef is somehow "bad." But grass feed beef is good food. The "bad" beef is industrial meat fed with corn. But the truth is that corn is not healthy food for people nor cows. Feeding meat from unhealthy cows results in unhealthy people. Just as corn fattens cows, it also fattens people and the results can be seen on our streets every day. But grass fed beef is quite healthy, and statisfying, and provides plenty of energy.

Rotationally grazed, grass-fed cows convert sunlight to food through grasses humans don't eat. Their manure feeds the soil biome, increasing plant growth without tilling:

The amount of carbon in an acre of grassland versus an acre of cropland depends on soil type, topography and other factors, but based on numerous studies researchers have determined that converting grassland to cropland results in a 30 to 40 percent loss of carbon stored in the ground.

Those who seek to replace beef with beets propose to release huge amounts of carbon!

John Klar has a few cows on 7 acres in Vermont. He does it for food security and for his community. But he also points out that raising cows has become a revolutionary act.

Throwing Ourselves On The Mercy of a Gracious God

I have, and have read the The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. It is serious, yet written in a humorous and entertaining way. Today, at The Federalist J. Antonio Juarez has an article entitled To Better Avoid Temptation This Lent, Revisit 'The Screwtape Letters' Or Its Many Spin-offs. In it, Juarez shows that the Devil sneaks in with what we consider small sins, and when you give in, he has you for bigger sins. What the Devil tries to get you to believe is that men can't repent. What Christ tells us, however, is that men can always repent, unlike the angels.

Combating our selfish desires and staving off temptations to vice is a cross to bear and crown to wear for those pining after virtue or holiness at any time of the year, but more so now as we enter Holy Week. While remaining steadfast in prayer and fasting is still the best route to take, taking some time for spiritual reading is a great way to stay focused and boost one’s morale.

On the topic of temptation, there is one work that shines above the others: C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters.” Written in 1942, the book is a fictional series of 31 letters from a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, who is still learning the ropes on doing what demons do best — tempting souls away from God. Throughout the letters, Screwtape offers Wormwood ample and well-thought-out advice on how best to damn the soul of an unnamed British man who is simply referred to as “the patient.” The letters cover a range of topics dealing with all the normal vices we are tempted with in life, such as pride, lust, gluttony, and moral laxity. But they are always explained in a way that condenses Lewis’ extensive literary and theological erudition into a very readable book.

While straightforward, Lewis’ prose contains deep psychological insights into the human condition and a rather diabolical cunning that turns the most mundane events in the life of the “patient” into a path away from virtue and toward vice. In fact, the genius of“The Screwtape Letters” is how it shows temptation as not being a single “big ask” by the devil, but a gradual process of rationalizing or moral laziness whereby we walk ourselves into damnation one step at a time.

As we enter Holy Week, leading up to Easter, please read Juarez's piece, and if you don't have it, get a copy of The Screwtape Letters and read it. You will be amazed at the subtle ways the Devil insinuates himself to tempt you to sin. When you recognize your sin, of course throw yourself on the mercy of a gracious God.

Naming The Enemy

 Anthony J. DiBlasi, at the American Thinker asks Why Are Traditional Christians Under Attack?DiBlasi further defines his question:

The assault on traditional Christians by the pope, of all leaders, and lately by the FBI, of all agencies, calls for an honest explanation.

Why is the pope turning his back on his own Church? Why is the FBI violating the guaranteed right of Americans to religious freedom?

DiBlasi reveals much about himself from his early years in the Catholic Church in pre-Vatican II days through being an organist for several protestant congregations, to today, with so many people leaving the Church. He does this, I think, to set the stage for the real theme of this piece: answering why?

After explaining his journey he starts to explain the problems that plague the Church, and what they might mean:

As organist in a Protestant church, I witnessed changes to Christian doctrine that were clearly at variance with the Gospel and with my earlier experiences with Protestant worship. (I will keep a long story short.)

It began with guest speakers coming to announce that changes were coming to the church and it was necessary for the congregation to be prepared for it. Soon hymnals were purged of pronouns referring to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Talk on “social justice” sounded more like it came from Marxist “liberation theology” than from the Gospel. Masculinity was smeared with toxicity in church literature. Feminist and Marxist principles had obviously found their way into the service.

In the basement where Sunday school was held and where the choir assembled before the service began, I could overhear the children being told that Jesus was an especially nice person, “like you and me,” with not a word about his divinity or relationship to God.

Such “improvements” to Christian doctrine were for me red-flag alerts that Christians were being turned away from their faith and in time away from their best interests. This fed my resolve to join a brewing culture war.

The introduction of Marxist ideas to Christian worship values tracks with Bella Dodd's claim to have placed 1000 men in seminaries during her carrier as a Communist organizer. The claim comes in Paul Kangor's book The Devil and Bella Dodd. DiBlasi, like so many others alludes to the source of the problem, without directly naming him:

Is it because Thou shall have no other gods before me [Exodus 20:1-3] is a commandment that requires loyalty to a higher authority than all others? Is that an existential threat to the power of today’s Herods, currently identifying as Masters of the Universe? Are the attacks against the faithful driven by fear that “the Great Reset” might become “the Great Reject?” Is Christianity so great an obstacle to “world progress” that it was necessary to “update it,” “improve it,” make it ready to support, not impede, the establishment of a Godless world order?

Sanity of mind and heart instructs that there is no better type of world order than one based on loving care of human life. This is a given of Christian doctrine. It is why Jesus Christ established a Church for the spiritual nourishment of people, informing all that “I am the way, the truth, and the life” [John 14:6]. This divine heritage will never be surrendered by faithful Christians.

And so we come to it. The source of our problems, as always, is that people are all to willing to follow not Jesus, the Son of God, through whom all things were made that were made, but Lucifer, the fallen angel whose pride would not allow him to do God's will. Of course, Lucifer has been our problem since he first convinced our first parents that they too could be as gods. He is still convincing people that they can be as gods. Gods can change their genders, we can not. Gods can change the climate, we can not.

Marx was notorious for being a prideful atheist convinced that he could change human nature, that he was smarter than all those who came before. In Marx, the Devil found the perfect disciple to turn millions against Christ.

Faithful Christians need to stand fast against the onslaught. We must pray for our enemies, of course, but the Devil and all his works remain our enemies. Those people who follow the Devil also remain our enemies, sad to say.  But who knows, there may be a few Bella Dodds still out there.

Here I Stand. I Can Do No Other

I hadn't quite looked at the situation today, with Leftist refusing to debate conservatives on the merits of the issues, as being comparable to the Catholic Church versus Martin Luther. But Scott Hogenson makes a strong case at Townhall.com in a piece entitled Our Message To the Left: Here I Stand.  I do not intend to say that the Catholic Church is evil, nor that the Lutheran Church is holy.  What I am sying is that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church at that time sought power over faith.  In truth, the faithful of whatever denomination have been the body of Christ in every age and place.  Those who follow Biblical Truth are Christ's body, the true Church.

Totalitarians loathe debate. They sometimes discuss a particular issue, but too often, the conversation devolves into fits of emotion, false premises, and outright lies. Most of us know people like this, and there are several reasons why calm, forensic debate with them is nearly impossible.

...snip...

Militant Leftists take a hard-line approach. They’re adept at tearing down whatever institutions underpin the subject matter. Sometimes, this is done rhetorically, but militants are not shy about engaging in violence, up to and including mass murder.

At the core of this hatred of debate, and the questions that shape it, is the Left’s innate knowledge, however slight, that their positions are entirely indefensible. There is no truth and little logic to support any policy they want to inflict on Americans. When their inability to defend their ideas occurs to them, things get ugly and civil debate ends.

Luther started the debate by publishing 95 theses where he felt that the Church's practices diverged from Biblical truth. In particular, he believed that the sale of indulgences was not within the power of the Church. Indulgences were pieces of paper that purported to get a sinner out of purgatory (another Catholic dogma that isn't in the Bible.) Luther intended to debate these ideas to bring Catholic practice back in line with Biblical truth. Alas, the Church hierarchy was having none of it. As a result, Luther was sentenced to death, saved by Frederick the Wise of Saxony, and ex-communicated.  Thus the founding of the Lutheran Church, though Luther himself wanted to call it Evangelical Catholic.

Civic debate in America today parallels the theocratic response to Luther, whose sin was seeking discussion and asking questions. Like medieval theocrats, the modern Left is keenly aware they cannot prevail in the civil debate. Hence, they slander, intimidate and seek to wreck whatever and whomever they must to prevent debate.

May each one of us stick to the truth as Luther did.

The Mark Of The Beast?

Also at the American Thinker today is Mike Konrad's piece entitled Will Economic Freedom End this July? What Konrad is talking about is the new digital currency being run out by the Federal Reserve. Certainly it is just for banks at first. But how long with it be before digital currency is what everyone must trade with. Konrad paints a fairly bleek picture when everything you do can be tracked and traced. Even more scary, if you don't obey government dictates, you may be denied. "Sir, you are not authorized to purchase that steak. You must go with the soylant green."

The scene is as old as history. An individual fleeing persecution wants to cross a border. His or her life depends on being able to bribe a border guard, with some fungible valuable item: whether gold, cash, silver, diamonds, etc. Life depends on it.

If the trade is prevented, then all hope is lost.

From the dawn of time, currency was the one thing that governments had difficulty tracking. I am not considering checks, bills of credit, something written. Those are easy to trace. I am talking about real currency. Currency in one’s hand, cash pressed in the flesh.

Bribery was always the province of the dishonest, but it often became the last resort of the honest: a war refugee wanted to cross a border before an invading army swoops in, a Jew wanted to evade a Nazi patrol, an Irishman wanted to get out of Ireland one step ahead of the Crown’s authorities.

Cash became the vehicle of freedom.

So what happens when that option is removed… by digital currency? What happens when fungible cash is made null and void?

Long-awaited Fed digital payment system to launch in July -- CNBC

Yes, the Fed is finally converting to digital currency with the FedNow Service. We are told it is only for banks… now. But how soon after that will America go totally cashless?

And we are told that this is long awaited, as if there was a public clamor for it -- didn’t you know -- so it must be good. No need to worry, right?!

Of course, some types of street crime may disappear...we shall see. After all, if criminals can steal your house out from under you, what will they not be able to steal? Just go in and digially steal your entire bank account. More concerning, for Bible readers, we have always wondered what form the "mark of the beast" in Revelation that prevents you from buying or selling without it would take. Is this it?

Is This Why We Are So Fat, Redux?

 From Viv Forbes, in Australia, comes a report at the American Thinker entitled The green time bomb. Australia is suffering from unreliable energy due to too much wind and solar, and not enough steady power from fossil fuels. Forbes points out that unreliable energy results in spoiled food at all levels of the food chain from farms to producers to grocery stores, to home kitchens.

We have already written about the unreliability of so called "green" energy. It simply will not support 7 billion of us, and the people promoting it know that. That leads to the suspicion that part of the push for green energy is a push as well to kill off as many of us as possible. Some have even proposed that our planet can support no more than a few hundred million world wide. That's quite a die off.

Of more interest, however, is the journey that Forbes describes toward a carnivore diet. It is one that I have been on also. Grass fed beef, free range chickens and their eggs, sheep, goats, shrimp, and a bunch of other  creatures, (Forbes describes them in detail), these and fruits and vegetables in season are what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate.  Oh, and they didn't just eat the meat, they ate the organs too.

As far back as we have recorded history, humans have been hunter-gatherers. They hunted, cooked, ate, and sometimes farmed cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, turkeys, swans, antelope, buffalo, caribou, mammoths, deer, bears, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, seals, herrings, prawns, oysters, crabs, clams, cod, whales, sharks, salmon, kangaroos, possums, rabbits, hares, rats, mice, dogs, cougars, eels, snakes and even other humans (aboriginal cannibals on the Palmer River gold field in early Australia preferred to eat better-tasting Chinese people who ate lots of rice than oversalted Britishers who ate lots of salt beef.)

When the hunters were successful, the tribe rejoiced and feasted mightily before the meats spoiled. But when the hunters failed, they relied on the gatherers for ripening fruits, honey, tubers, wild onions, nuts and laboriously harvested grains. They learned that some plant foods were toxic unless treated in special ways by grinding, roasting, fermenting and cooking. Meats were the favored food but some tribes also consumed raw milk, butter, cheese and blood from their animals. Some ate fish and water fowl. Fruits were seasonal foods and tubers, onions and grains were survival foods. Party foods like sugar and alcohol were more recent inventions.

...snip...

Men have always battled over hunting, fishing and farming territory, but now greens are trying to lock all humans out with national parks, world heritage declarations, and bans and quotas on farming, fishing and hunting. They subsidize the sterilization of farms and grasslands with wind and solar “farms,” access roads, and spider webs of power lines. They also promote the conversion of farmland to bush and encourage offshore bird choppers whose sonic noise upsets neighbours and seems to addle the navigating abilities of some sea creatures.

Now greens are attacking our carnivore diet and promoting a granivore-vegetarian diet for humans. Politicians should be free to choose their own diet but they should not force meat lovers to pretend they are granivores with crops and gizzards, or plant-eating ruminants with extra stomachs and who spend ages re-chewing their vegetarian cuds.

Men are not meant to eat the garbage the greens are pushing on us. Think about it; real grass raised beef and wild caught sea food contains all the vitmins and minerals a body needs. The egg is in fact a little kit for building a complete chicken. It contains all the proteins, vitamins, minerals and fats need to build bone and sinew to form a chick.  Can we survive on the soylant green crap they want us to eat? Maybe, with a bunch of supplements. But it is not natural.

Forbes concludes with:

We can see the obese results of this green food revolution waddling down the aisles of supermarkets and ordering green smoothies and muffins in the food courts.

Green energy will prove a disaster for our economy, and green foods will be a deadly choice for many humans.

Future footpaths will be crowded with mobility scooters and hospitals and care homes will be overwhelmed by unhealthy aging vegans.