Monthly Archives: June 2022

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A Biblical Approach to Politics | Part IV

I) Intro

In “A Biblical Approach to Politics | Part I,” we looked how God cares about Politics and He expects us to be engaged. To not be informed makes knowing what to pray for virtually impossible and to ignore the character of those who govern is to invite the kind of corruption that makes the “people groan. (Prov 29:2, 4)”

In Part II we’re looking at the challenge we face when attempting to discern the character of those who aspire to leadership positions as well as the seemingly illusive bottom lines when it comes to current events. Bottom line: The Bible says to “test the spirits” and we need to apply that to what it is we allow into our inbox by popping the hood, keeping your balance and kicking the tires.

II) Pop the Hood

A) Wisdom vs Intelligence

Proverbs 9:13-18 says:

Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. 14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, 15 calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way, 16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, 17 “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” 18 But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead. (Prov 9:13-18)

Compare that to Proverbs 1:20-23, 3:13-18:

Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; 21 on top of the wall[a] she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: 22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? 23 Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings… Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. (Proverbs 1:20-23, 3:13-18)

What’s the difference between being wise and being smart?

What Do You Mean, “I Prosper…?”
The dollar amount on your paycheck is but one indicator of “prosperity.” Few people believe that they’re making “enough” money (Ecc 5:10), so from that standpoint, that’s a glass that is never completely full.
But when you’re being obedient and you’re walking in lock step with your King, your sense of purpose and fulfillment is now based on a scale that isn’t defined by dollar signs alone (Job 23:12; Prov 27:11; Matt 4:4; Jn 4:32:6:27; Phil 4:13) and the lasting peace and enduring happiness that can’t be achieved through any financial transaction or significant achievement is now yours in ever increasing measure (Matt 6:19-20; 2 Cor 3:18)

The dictionary defines wisdom as “…knowledge, and the capacity to make due use of it.”1 The Bible takes it a step further by saying that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Prov 9:10)

How does that work? How does an appropriate reverence for God translate to wisdom?

B) Give Thought to Your Ways

Apart from the way a fool will ultimately deny the Reality of God (Ps 14:1) and the need for God’s grace (Rev 20:15), you also have the practical side of wisdom to consider in that you’re like the tree referenced by David in Psalm 1 as far as how everything they do prospers (see sidebar).

And part of why they prosper is because they’re prudent and they give careful thought to their ways.

Proverbs 14:15 says:

The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps. (Prov 14:15 [see also Prov 6:6-11; Matt 25:16])

Fact is, in light of our struggle always being defined in the context of a spiritual contest (Eph 6:12), “testing the spirits” like what Paul says in First Thessalonians is going to apply not only to points of doctrine, but to everything that we encounter as human beings (2 Cor 9:8):

20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. (1 Thess 5:21-22)

Finally, in 1 John 4:1 we hear John saying the same thing we just heard Paul mention:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 Jn 4:1)

C) Every Bit of It

While listening to a cable news broadcast may seem like it falls under a different category than what John is referring to as far as “false prophets,” remember that however innocent or nondescript something may appear to be, consider what it says in Proverbs 24:

I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; 31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—34 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. (Prov 24:30-34)

You wouldn’t think Solomon, as wise and as powerful as he was, would’ve ever even considered betraying the One Who was the Source of his grandeur, but incremental compromises ultimately culminated in what you read in 1 Kings 11:5, as far as how his wives convinced him to worship Ashtoreth (ASH-toh-rith)  and Molech (MOH-lek) – Molech being the god who demanded that you burn your children alive in order to appease him.

It’s not something obsess over, but it is a healthy reminder to be diligent – not just in personal matters but even in the way you process the things that are going on around you.

Little compromises, incomplete information, a biased perspective – you want to pop the hood on every bit of it in order to ensure your convictions are sound and your steps are appropriately “ordered.” (Ps 37:23)

So, how does one “test the spirits?”

We’ll figure that one out tomorrow…!

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A Biblical Approach to Politics | Part III

Welcome to Part III of a “Biblical Approach to Politics!”

This is the last part of the first section of our discussion. In Parts 1-3, we’re talking about whether or not God cares about Politics and how our success and tenure as a nation is possible because of the Scriptural foundation upon which our approach to government is built.

Still, some would like to suggest that our Founders were not especially godly men – that they were only token Christians. And then others want to say that because many were slave owners, that their perspective is therefore suspect and the system they created should therefore be discarded.

Today we address the issue of Slavery and to what extent that should influence our view of the things they accomplished.

Here we go!

E) Slave Owners

While it is not difficult to believe that the Founders based their approach to government on Christian principles, given their verbiage both public and private, it is nevertheless challenging to reconcile their perspective with the fact that many owned slaves.

While Slavery is by no means an American institution, the fact that it’s contrary to Scripture (Ex 21:16) and an inhumane practice in general, makes it easy to question the mindset of those delegates from the South that comprised the Second Continental Congress.

How do you process a document written and agreed upon by men, many of whom maintained a mindset that allowed for the enslavement of human beings? 

First of all, from a purely practical standpoint, we don’t evaluate the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence according to the character flaws of the men who wrote them. Rather, we evaluate them according to the substance of the documents themselves.

Secondly, many of those that owned slaves were the same ones who sacrificed their homes, their fortunes and, in some cases, their lives, to ensure a system of government that possessed the necessary tenants that would ultimately translate to the end of the slave trade.

Third, to align yourself with the Revolution, whether as a statesman or a soldier, you were committing treason against the crown. The punishment for that included:

  • That the offender be drawn to the gallows, and not be carried or walk: though usually (by connivance length ripened by humanity into law) a sledge or hurdle is allowed, to preserve the offender from the extreme torment of being dragged on the ground or pavement
  • That he be hanged by the neck and then cut down alive
  • That his entrails be taken out and burned, while he is yet alive
  • That his head be cut off
  • That his body be divided in four parts
  • That his head and quarters be at the king’s disposal7

This was the fate that loomed over the progress of the Revolution. Those that fought and served to win America’s independence did so risking everything. However flawed they were in the way they processed the sin of slavery doesn’t change the substance of their work. It’s that work that we honor, not just because of the sacrifices that were made which made it possible, but also because of how the biblically based freedoms those efforts established would go on to secure the liberties that timeframe denied to others.

The Signers of the Declaration:
What Did They Lose?

There’s a popular essay that is sometimes published during the fourth of July timeframe that details the sacrifices made by those who signed the Declaration of Independence. It’s inspiring to see what they risked and sobering to see what some actually lost. What’s both frustrating and disconcerting is the way some “fact checkers” seize upon some details of the essay and advance the impression that it’s more of a romantic exaggeration than it is anything else.

Anytime you exaggerate, you risk sacrificing the credibility of whatever point you’re trying to make. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were all remarkable men and displayed incredible courage by fixing their signatures to a document they knew could bring about their deaths. You don’t need to embellish the truth.

Click here to read more…

Historian Stephen E. Ambrose sums it beautifully in an article featured in “Smithsonian Magazine:”

Slavery and discrimination cloud our minds in the most extraordinary ways, including a blanket judgment today against American slave owners in the 18th and 19th centuries. That the masters should be judged as lacking in the scope of their minds and hearts is fair, indeed must be insisted upon, but that doesn’t mean we should judge the whole of them only by this part.8

F) Sin

Some of the most accomplished characters in Scripture were guilty of some truly despicable sins: David and his affair with Bathsheba and his subsequent murder of Uriah (1 Sam 11) and Paul, one of the more prolific writers of the New Testament, condoned the murder of Stephen and was an accessory to the persecution and imprisonment of perhaps hundreds of Christians (Acts 22:17-20).

While it’s tempting to place yourself in a category distinct from that kind of wrongdoing and be able to feel as though you appear more righteous in the sight of your Heavenly Father, you have to remember that all sin requires an attitude that is as heinous as it is universal.

In order to sin in any capacity, you have to walk up to God as He’s sitting on His Throne and tell Him to get out of your chair. Granted, some sins are unintentional (Num 15:27-31), but the vast majority of them are deliberate and all of it requires grace including everything from speeding (Rom 13:1-7) to overeating (Prov 23:20-21; 1 Cor 6:19-20).

The fact of the matter is anytime you’re looking at a believer, you’re looking at two worlds that are operating side by side simultaneously. While the power of sin has been destroyed (Rom 6:6), our capacity to sin remains (Rom 7:14-25). And the thing is, in the words of Paul, “…there is nothing good in me.” (Rom 7:18) Whatever good I’m able to do, it’s more because of God working in and through me (Ezr 1:5; 1 Cor 12:6; Phil 2:13) than it is me functioning according to a morally pure mindset.

This is why we can embrace the accomplishments of certain individuals despite them having significant sin in their lives. We can applaud the Activity of God in and through an individual without endorsing the depravity of that same person.

You don’t overlook wrongdoing (1 Cor 5:13), but you never want to become so preoccupied with the sin in others that you forget the way in which God uses both brand new gloves and filthy mitts to catch fly balls. We give God the credit because it’s Him doing the work and the fact that He uses sinners like you and me is a testament to His Grace and not our goodness.

And the same thing applies to unbelievers as well. However distant that person may be from God doesn’t change the fact that God can, and often does, use people who don’t honor Him to do His Work.

King Cyrus didn’t know or acknowledge God. For an orthodox Jew, that must’ve been a hard pill to swallow given the fact that Cyrus was not only a Gentile, but he was an idolater. Yet, God referred to him as “my shepherd” and it was through Cyrus’ administration that the Hebrews were able to rebuild their capital city (Ezr 1:2-4; Is 44:28; 45:5).

The example of Cyrus demonstrates that a leader can be a heathen and still be worthy of your support because of the way their platform promotes and protects the work of God. So the question isn’t, “How can I support someone who doesn’t acknowledge God?” The question is, “Whose platform is most aligned with that which promotes and protects our nation’s spiritual wellbeing?” Or, another question which better accommodates the whole of Scripture as opposed to those passages that restrict God’s usage of individuals to those that honor Him would be, “Would you have voted for King Cyrus?”

III) Conclusion (Part I)

God cares about Politics.

He facilitates governments and He uses our involvement and prayers to accomplish His Purposes.

Our nation is founded on Christian Principles that come from the Word of God. Our Founders were not masquerading as pious human beings when they cited Divine Absolutes as the basis for their declaration to King George. Anything less than the Substance of Scripture would’ve reduced our cause to nothing more than a complaint and it’s those same Truths that guarantee our continued success and serve as the basis for the way in which we choose our elected officials.

The thing is, God does care about Politics because it’s not just “politics.” It’s either His Purposes or man’s rebellion being played out in the context of legislation and foreign policy.

God cares about Politics.

To read “A Biblical Approach to Politics | Part II,” click here…

1. “John Adams to Thomas Jefferson 28 June 1813”, “Founders Online”, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0208#:~:text=The%20general%20Principles%2C%20on%20which,by%20me%20in%20my%20Answer, accessed February 2, 2022
2. “The Writings of Samuel Adams”, Harry Alonzo Cushing, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, London, 1908, p189
3. “From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798”, “Founders Online”, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102, accessed February 2, 2022
4. “Transcript of President George Washington’s Farewell Address (1796)”, ourdocuments.gov, https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=15&page=transcript, accessed January 31, 2022
5. Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), p. 170
6. Douglass Adair and John A. Schutz, eds., Peter Oliver’s Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961), p. 41; Paul Johnson, A History of the American People (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), p. 173; John Leach, “A Journal Kept by John Leach, During His Confinement by the British, In Boston Gaol, in 1775,” The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol.19 (1865), p. 256
7. Blackstone, Wm., Knight. Chase, George, ed. Chase’s Blackstone Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Co., 1936, p891
8. “Founding Fathers and Slaveholders”, Stephen E. Ambrose, “Smithsonian Magazine”, November 2002, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/founding-fathers-and-slaveholders-72262393/, accessed February 2, 2022

Excellent Reading: “Did America Have a Christian Founding” Mark David Hall

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A Biblical Approach to Politics | Part II

Yesterday in Part I we concluded by saying that there’s only two religions in the world: Either God is God or man is.

Every religion, with the exception of Christianity, empowers the individual with the ability to facilitate his own salvation. Christianity is the only religion that says the only thing you contribute to your salvation is the sin that made it necessary.

When you pull back the curtain on this one central idea, you see the subtle supernatural dynamic being bestowed upon the individual. The fact that you can do something or abstain from something to merit heaven qualifies you, to a certain extent, as being divine…

Sound familiar?

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:4-5)

 Kind of makes sense now, doesn’t it.

When you pull back the curtain and see how Christianity is the only authentic religion in that it’s based solely on the grace of God rather than a human being attempting to be a god, you can understand why it resonates as a stronger option in the mind of the person who recognizes the frailty of his human condition and the veiled attempt on the part of other creeds to position man as his own deity.

Moving on to Part II…!

C) The General Principles of Christianity

You can also see why from a purely logical point of view that only the Absolute Power and Perspective represented by the Word of God would suffice in providing the philosophical strength the Founders needed in order to refute a monarchy and create a republic.

John Adams said it best:

The general Principles, on which the Fathers Atchieved Independence, were the only Principles in which, that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their Address, or by me in my Answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all those Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty, in which all those young Men United, and which had United all Parties in America, in Majorities Sufficient to assert and maintain her Independence.1

This is why the best option, when reviewing different candidates for office, is going to be the one whose policies are most consistent with Scripture.

However you may personally disagree with that premise, the verbiage of the Declaration as well as the documented comments of the early patriots demonstrates conclusively that the novel political ideas they dared to assert were not based on human preferences as much as they were Divine Guidance (see “Divine Guidance” on sidebar). And while they celebrated the Goodness of God’s Providence in the context of our nation’s initial declaration and the creation of the new Constitution, they were just as vocal in declaring that our future welfare was a certainty only if it was based on the same Resource.

Samuel Adams had this to say:

May every citizen in the army and in the country have a proper sense of the Deity upon his mind and an impression of that declaration recorded in the Bible: “Him that honoreth Me I will honor, but he that despiseth Me shall be lightly esteemed” [1 Samuel 2:30]. 2

John Adams mirrors his cousin, Samuel Adams:

…We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (John Adams)3

George Washington leaves no doubt as to his perspective on religious piety and political prosperity:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.4

Christianity or Deism?

Regardless of the volumes of correspondence and documentation that demonstrates the Founders had  a decidedly Christian approach to themselves and the world around them, there is a determined effort on the part of some historians to either eliminate a Biblical influence on the minds of those who crafted our country’s governments entirely, or dilute it with the claim that many of our forefathers were Deists.

Deism rejects the Resurrection of Christ. So, from that standpoint, Deism is nothing more than a human philosophy because if Christ is not revered as God Incarnate, then you’re not accepting God’s Word as Absolute Truth and you’re positioning human reason over Divine Revelation.

By reducing the Founders’ regard for the Son of God to a noble teacher, the resulting perspective on the Founders’ view of Christ…

Click here to read more…

“In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.” Washington’s words capture the spiritual and political direction that needs to be central to the platform of anyone who aspires to public office because it’s that foundation alone that guarantees a successful administration.

D) They Weren’t Really Christians…

Some will want to insist that a Christian worldview is a needless and ignorant basis for the selection of our national leaders. They will assert the 18th popularity of Deism as a means to minimize the way in which Scripture served both as a Resource and as a Guide in the formulation of our government (see “Christianity or Deism” on sidebar).  In other instances, they’ll take statements made by those like John Adams out of context and attempt to turn them into comments that prove he didn’t perceive Christianity as the fundamental foundation for our country’s government that it is (see “The God Delusion vs The God Conclusion | Part One – FIT“).

The fact is, when you consider the spiritual fabric of our nation’s initial colonization and the way in which Christianity was such a prominent cultural fixture during the time of the Revolution, any effort to try and dismiss or qualify the fact that our country is based on Christian principles borders on the absurd.

Perhaps one of the more compelling proofs of our country’s collective regard for the application of Scripture to the cause of liberty comes from the battlefield (read the story of Major General Peter Muhlenberg by clicking here).

The “Black Robe Regiment” was the name the British troops gave the clergy who supported the Revolution from behind their pulpits with their Bibles and in combat with their rifles.

Historians have commented that:

There is not a right asserted in the Declaration of Independence which had not been discussed by the New England clergy before 1763.5

British soldiers went as far as saying blaming Christianity for the Revolution:

The influence of the Reformed political tradition in the Founding era is manifested in a variety of ways, but particularly noteworthy is the almost unanimous support Calvinist clergy offered to American patriots. This was noticed by the other side, as suggested by the Loyalist Peter Oliver, who railed against the “black Regiment, the dissenting Clergy, who took so active a part in the Rebellion.” King George himself reportedly referred to the War for Independence as “a Presbyterian Rebellion.” From the English perspective, British Major Harry Rooke was largely correct when he confiscated a presumably Calvinist book from an American prisoner and remarked that “[i]t is your G-d Damned Religion of this Country that ruins the Country; Damn your religion.”6

Tomorrow we hit Part III!

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A Biblical Approach to Politics | Part I

Being a guest on daveolsson.com is always a treat and I’m always flattered when Dave asks! Having a chance to converse with like-minded people and hopefully provide some biblically based food for thought is always a motivating prospect so, thank you, Dave!

For the next several days we’re going to be looking at a “Biblical Approach to Politics.” There’s a convention out there that says you risk compromising the needed rapport with a person to talk about spiritual matters when you introduce the topic of Politics.

But to say that “God doesn’t care about Politics” is a short-sighted perspective when you consider some of the verses we’re about to explore. Granted, God cares far more about your relationship with Him than the way you vote. But He’s the One Who facilitates governments (Dan 2:21) and He expects us to be aware and to be engaged ((1 Chron 12:32; 1 Tim 2:2). So in light of those Truths, we can base our approach to Politics and Current Events on more than a casual / hesitant demeanor and instead meet it head on with confidence and the boldness that comes from knowing that there is a Truth that can be relied on and therefore a bottom line that justifies a bold contribution to the dialogue that can and will make a difference.

Are you ready?

Buckle up!

Despite the fact that Donald Trump was defeated in the 2020 Election, his opponents continue to attack his character, minimize his accomplishments and question the sanity / morality of anyone who would support him. To some extent, you can’t help but wonder why? If he’s no longer in office, than there’s no reason to be concerned that his policies will make their way into the public sphere given the fact that he’s no longer in a position of authority.

But there’s more to Trump than just him being a political figure. He represents a different approach to politics that makes some very uneasy because of the way it reveals the lack of ethics and efficiency typical of big government and the Liberal perspective in general.

Ultimately, Trump’s platform translates to a result that’s very difficult to argue with, given the way it serves our country’s best interests. But that doesn’t change the fact that those who dislike him are especially passionate in their disdain and an intelligent conversation can be a real challenge because of the way they’re conditioned to perceive Trump as evil along with anyone who would come to his defense.

And it’s not just Liberals.

You’ve got Conservative Christians who either refuse to vote or assert a different name on the ballot because they’re so convinced Trump represents the kind of immorality that they simply can’t support.

So, why Trump?

Why would anyone support Donald J. Trump?

 Executive Summary

We’re going to break this down into several sections because there’s more to this than just an affinity for a particular political party.

 I) God & Politics

To say that God doesn’t care about Politics is to ignore the fact that He’s the One Who facilitates all governments to begin with. And while that’s obviously a nonsensical disposition, you also have the false premise that says that God doesn’t care about the laws of a nation and how they either promote what strengthens an individual or tears them down (Prov 28:2-3, 28; 29:2, 4). He does care and He expects His people to be engaged (1 Chron 12:32; 1 Tim 2:2).

 II) Your Best Option

The candidate that represents the most qualified to lead is the one who champions the approach that is most consistent with the foundation laid by the ones who defeated the most powerful empire in the world and established a system of government that, up to that point, was completely unheard of in the way it established the individual as the one who had the right to choose how they wanted to be governed and the extent to which they wanted to succeed (Ps 33:12).

 III) Who is Your Source?

Over the course of the last several decades, Journalism has become more of thermostat than a thermometer and you need to be wise in the way you process information coming from those who are vying for a position in your inbox.

 IV) Trees and Policies

Christ said you’ll know a tree by it’s fruit (Lk 6:44). However Trump is made to appear in the headlines, it is his policies that need to be evaluated in order to determine the substance of his platform and not just the commentary crafted by those who have a problem with his personality or his past.

I) God and Politics

A) God Cares

Some will insist that God doesn’t care about Politics. Because it doesn’t directly impact a person’s soul and the fact that it can be a very divisive issue to the point where a conversation about Christ becomes difficult due to the way in which political topics can poison a dialogue, the tendency is to avoid it altogether and believe that God is basically indifferent to who gets elected and what goes on in the halls of government. That’s absurd. First of all, it’s God Who establishes kings and those who are in positions of authority (Dan 2:21; Rom 13:1-2; 1 Pet 2:13). So, to say that He’s not concerned is to ignore the fact that He’s the One Who facilitates governments to begin with.

B) God’s Side

Some Christian communicators cite the answer given to Joshua by an imposing figure standing near Jericho just prior to the Israelites marching around the city as evidence that God does not take sides…

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[a] have for his servant?”

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Josh 5:13-15)

God’s Sovereignty & Man’s Responsibility

If God is Sovereign, what’s the point of voting? If He’s the One Who, “…removes kings and establishes kings” (Dan 2:21), what part, if any, does the Electoral College play in legitimately “selecting” a President if God’s already made His Choice? The world is not a runaway train travelling out of control with nothing other than the forces of chance acting upon it. God is in control and you see that it in Isaiah:

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ (Is 46:10)

You, yourself, are designed with a Purpose and a Plan that was put in place before you were born…

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Ps 139:16)

Click here to read more…

The fact that the man replied by saying that he was neither on the side of the Israelites nor the Canaanites was not indicative of God being neutral and detached from the situation. The fact that it was God working through the Israelites that resulted in the successful siege of Jericho demonstrates that God was obviously invested in seeing the city destroyed. The point that was being made is that we don’t need to be asking whether or not God is on our side as much as we need to ensure that we are on God’s side and operating according to His Instructions and overall Purpose.

C) Why Bother?

But even if you’re on God’s side, do we need to be concerned about voting or even paying attention to the news if God’s Purpose is going to be accomplished regardless of our involvement? You could ask the same question about salvation, given the fact that those who are born again were predestined to be saved (Rom 8:29), yet we are to witness and Paul makes the Divinely inspired observation that you can’t expect someone to hear and understand the gospel unless someone preaches to them (Rom 10:14-15). The fact is, God has set things up in such a way where His Sovereignty exists alongside our responsibility – both are true simultaneously (see “God’s Sovereignty & Man’s Responsibility” on sidebar). Emphasizing one over the other invariably leads to disobedience and we are commanded to pray for those who are in positions of authority (1 Tim 2:1-3). The fact that our prayers are referenced as an act that makes a difference reinforces the idea that our involvement is both mandated and effective.

II) Your Best Option

A) The Template That Works

The key to political success is to model our approach according to the template used by our Founding Fathers who were able to defeat the world’s most powerful empire and to establish a system of government that, at the time, was completely unheard of. It’s that template that has allowed our country to flourish and it’s more than just political theory as much as it’s an ideological paradigm that serves as our legislative foundation. Those ideals go beyond human preferences or sensible philosophical options and it’s because they’re rooted in a transcendent Absolute that they can be asserted as functional bottom lines. The best qualified candidates for political office are those that possess the talent and the mindset that best facilitate those bottom lines – not just because they’re consistent with a successful history, but because of the way they’re based on Something that transcends human opinion and therefore avoids all of the corruption that characterizes the human condition. You can see that transcendent Absolute clearly defined in the Declaration of Independence. When we submitted that document to King George, we were saying that it’s because that God has created all men to be equal (Gal 3:28) that the individual has the right to choose how they want to be governed and the extent to which they want to succeed. It’s because it was a Divine Truth that we could logically point to as that which substantiated our claim, we weren’t just filing a complaint, we were making a point. Yes, there were other brilliant political philosophers, such as John Locke, that had contributed to the collective mindset represented by the Second Continental Congress, but ultimately it was a collection of references to God that was cited as the basis for our reasoning and not the names of several respected thinkers. This is why a candidate’s platform is so important. However noble or approachable they may appear, if their goal is to implement a worldview that runs contrary to our spiritual foundation, they invoke a doctrine that inevitably positions man as his own moral authority and the state as its own religion.

B) There’s Only Two Religions

While that may sound overly simplistic, the fact is there are only two religions in the world: Either God is God or man is God. Every religion save Christianity provides a way in which you can merit the favor of your preferred deity. With Islam you’ve got Jihad, as a Buddhist you’ve got Nirvana. Jehovah’s Witnesses strive to be among the 144,000 referenced in Revelation 7:4, Hindus pursue Moksha (MOKE-shah) in order to be liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth. Mormons believe that they themselves can attain the status of gods in the afterlife through their works here on earth (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345–354). In each scenario, while you have a supernatural element, you have the ability as a human being to tip the scales in your favor through some kind of action or mindset. Christianity, on the other hand, says that you are a spiritual corpse (Eph 2:1). You are dead in your sin and you have no option available to you that can offset your default status as a sinner that is permanently and irretrievably separated from God (Ps 14:3; Is 64:6). That’s what makes Christianity distinct from every other religious school of thought – you are utterly destitute apart from some kind of miracle that can somehow transform you in the eyes of God from being sinful to sinless. And that miracle is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

See you tomorrow for Part II!

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Daily Broadside | Something, Somewhere, Sometime, Will Have to Give

Daily Verse | Psalm 73:2-3
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
    I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Friday’s Reading: Psalms 78-83
Saturday’s Reading: Psalms 84-89

It’s Friday and the end of another week in the Brandon Archipelago from where there is no escape. There aren’t any more undiscovered continents to which we can flee the developing tyranny here. The only options are to submit or to join the battle when it comes.

The American cultural and political landscape has been bulldozed and fundamentally reshaped over the last half century. A one-party oligarchy tied to the radical ideology of identity politics controls our major institutions as populist resistance rises. Digital technology continues to reshape human behavior and institutions, causing an escalating war over its control.

The views of roughly half the population of America are increasingly suppressed and delegitimized by most major institutions and media outlets. This difference in opinion is not a mere matter of policy preferences. Americans are divided about what men and women, the family, citizenship, and nation-states are and ought to be, as well as when human life begins.

Few want to admit the reality of the situation, but Americans are now divided over the building blocks and the purpose of human civilization. Many do not consider what underlies all the factionalism amidst the noise, but this does not change the sordid reality. There is no possibility of reconciling this fundamental opposition unless one side or the other wins.

I’m not advocating an insurrection, although I believe that the elites are pressing to provoke one every day. I wouldn’t be surprised if one eventually broke out. A real insurrection, I mean, not a group of unarmed patriotic Americans walking through the halls of Congress as if on a tour.

We’ve already withstood more tyranny and the erosion of our rights than those suffered by the colonists who took up arms at Lexington and Concord and threw tea into Boston harbor. There are so many, we could write a new declaration of independence and a list of grievances similar to what Thomas Jefferson penned some 246 years ago.

Victor Davis Hanson is an accomplished historian and author, and one of my favorite columnists. He’s sounding the alarm, too.

“I hesitate to say this, we’re not in a society ruled by law,” Hanson, a senior fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” referring to attacks on pro-life groups which he argued have largely gone unpunished. “We’re in a revolutionary period like 18th century France or 1920s Russia where the law is fluid and it’s whatever the power to be says it is.”

Our life together is being intentionally battered by cultural Marxists, who are destroying the foundations of an ordered society. We’re up against a triumvirate of institutions working together to create chaos and deprive us of our freedoms: politics, journalism and business.

While the politicians have to maintain the appearance of respecting the Bill of Rights, they are working hand-in-glove with “the press” to suppress news that contradicts the Leftist narrative. How much have you heard about the assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh? How about the Hunter Biden story that every outlet dismissed as Russian propaganda?

Big business is on board with the Marxist agenda. Most have embraced LGBTQWERTY+ and gladly implemented Covid policies. Workers who object or refuse to cooperate with their (unconstitutional) demands find themselves at risk of losing their jobs.

In the past, the American Right set out to conserve American institutions and an American way of life through partisan political action and advocacy. The “culture war” was always real, but for the most part it was fought within explicitly political spaces via explicitly political means. Businesses and the economy were considered “neutral” spaces, subject to discipline from shareholders and market demand.

Today, however, few elite professions or corporations allow their members to safely dissent from woke dogma; everyone knows they risk their job and career if they do so publicly. The woke agenda has been grafted into most major corporations. And since culture is made in large part by corporations, mainstream media and culture have largely turned into tools to support one side of the divide.

There’s only so much that rational people will endure. Something, somewhere, sometime, will have to give.

Today is my last post for a couple of weeks as I take some time away to a favorite spot on the east coast. My childhood friend, Bruce Gust, will be filling in for me while I’m gone like he did last year. He’s a solid Christian, a former Marine, a conservative, a husband and father, blogs at Muscular Christianity, and knows what a woman is.

You’re in good hands.

Have a great weekend couple of weeks.

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Daily Broadside | The Pain at the Pump is the Point

Daily Verse | Psalm 68:19
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
    who daily bears our burdens.

Thursday’s Reading: Psalms 73-77

It’s Thursday and Brandon is floating the idea of a 3-month gas tax holiday. Of all the options the guy has to pull us out of the economic spiral we’re in, letting me keep $0.184/gal will give me what — $3.12 every time I fill up? Great, that means I can afford a dozen eggs once a week.

Well, but see, he’s going to do that for 3 whole months! I’m no math wiz, but it seems like he’s offering me, tops, $37.44 to ease the pain at the pump.

Thanks Joe!

Never forget that Brandon told us that he was going to kill our use of fossil fuels and in that, at least, he’s been a screaming success.

He wasn’t kidding. The day after he was inaugurated, he signed an executive order banning the fourth phase of development of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have delivered oil from Canada to refineries in the United States. The move was the final battle in the years-long war environmentalists had waged against the project; TC Energy, the operator of the pipeline, abandoned it less than six months later.

Read more here, but wear a shower cap so you can’t pull your hair out.

Brandon blames Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for skyrocketing gas prices. Maybe a little, but here’s what he’s contributed.

American oil production has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels as Presidentish Joe Biden has used his executive powers to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, canceled offshore oil leases in Alaska, and halted new gas and oil drilling permits.

It’s a crisis of his own making.

It’s intentional.

All to fight some fake “climate crisis” that always threatens but never materializes.

It’s all being done to kill our individual and corporate independence, making a mobile society immobile, all to satisfy environmental weenies who start with false premises.

Modern extreme environmentalism assumes mankind to somehow be apart from nature and acting upon it independently.  Yet, mankind is a part of nature and our actions are, therefore, also a part of nature …

The modern environmental movement is built on false philosophical premises – that mankind is apart from nature, that nature is static, and many others.

What I find most fascinating about all this, is the adoption of such false philosophical premises is rooted in a presumption of god-like status for mankind.  For Christians, seeking such a status is the very root and beginning of the concept of sin.

The idea that mankind can somehow change the climate by eliminating fossil fuels strikes me as the same kind of attitude driving the society that tried to build the Tower of Babel. God Himself laughs heartily at our puny ravings of grandeur:

Can you raise your voice to the clouds
    and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
    Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who gives the ibis wisdom
    or gives the rooster understanding?
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
    Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
when the dust becomes hard
    and the clods of earth stick together?

Not you, buttercup.

Back to Brandon. He’s literally trying to kill the oil industry.

When Biden was running for president, he promised to shut down oil producers: “No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period.” He pledged to put the country on “an irreversible” path toward “doing away with” fossil fuels.

On Day One as president, Biden shut down the Keystone pipeline, sending a message of no new pipelines anywhere, period.

In the months that followed, he stopped all sales of leases to drill on federal lands or offshore, meaning zero new leases allowing oil to be brought out of the ground.

And in September, House Democrats introduced legislation to stop banks from lending money or investing capital for new or expanded fossil fuel production. That legislation hasn’t passed, but it sent a clear message. The oil industry is being shut down.

Here’s how deranged this fool is.

Out of touch as ever, President Biden celebrated record-high gas prices Monday, gushing that the pump pain was part of “an incredible transition” of the US economy away from fossil fuels.

“[When] it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” Biden said during a press conference in Japan following his meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

What I want to know is, how can one man make the decision to shut down an industry that our society — and our world — is so dependent on? Where does that political power come from? Is it constitutional?

He shouldn’t be able to do that just to pander to the small percentage of environmental whackos in our country while wrecking the economy.

I’m sure it’s because the government can regulate and deny or approve drilling, especially on “federal” land (which is a whole other question — who gave “the government” that land?). Stupid us for allowing them to take that power unto themselves.

Wrecking our economy and making it hurt in the process is not working “for” the people but against the people. And we shouldn’t have to sit here and take it.

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Daily Broadside | If You Believe in God, You’re in Good Company (for Now)

Daily Verse | Psalm 62:11-12
One thing God has spoken,
    two things I have heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
    and that you, O Lord, are loving.

Wednesday’s Reading: Psalms 67-72

It’s Wednesday and our carjackers are picking up speed and starting to shimmy in the turns with us in the back seat as we careen down the Avenue of the Americas with a full tank of gas and a wallet emptied by their cruelty and indifference, knowing that they’ll either go out in a blaze of glory or screech to a stop in Davos where they’ll hand us off for compliance training without our freedom, possessions, or sanity.

No time is a good time to reject belief in God, but this would be a particularly unwise time to do so. Still, this is the United States of America, where wisdom is lacking and where the idea of God just got a little less support.

The percentage of Americans who say they believe in God has dipped to the lowest number in the past nearly 80 years, according to a new Gallup poll published Friday.

The Values and Belief poll, conducted from May 2 to 22, showed 81% of people answered that they believe in God. That is down six percentage points from the 87% of respondents who said they believed in God in the 2017 poll. This year is the lowest percentage in Gallup’s trend since the public opinion polling company first asked the question in 1944.

This year’s poll found 17% of Americans said they do not believe in God.

Joe Biden’s America, people. Where even our spiritual condition is the worst in decades. Seriously, more than 90 percent of people believed in God from 1944 to 2011, with the number stabilizing at a high of 98 percent from 1944 through the 1960s.

Whether you believe in God or not seems to correspond with your political affiliation.

The Gallup Values and Beliefs poll found that the decrease in theism has been driven by young adults and those on the political left. Both groups’ belief in God has dropped by 10 percent or more compared to the 2013-2017 average for their demographics.

These groups are also those least likely to say they believe in God in comparison to other demographics.

Liberals (62 percent), young adults (68 percent) and Democrats (72 percent) gave significantly lower rates of belief in God, while conservatives (94 percent) and Republicans (92 percent) gave the highest.

The least change in belief has occurred among conservatives and married adults.

What that seems to be telling us is that religious belief — or at least belief in God — plays a big role in the political divisions we have in this country.

Younger Americans are also less likely to believe in God than their parents and grandparents. 68 percent of 18-29 years say they don’t believe in God, compared to 81 percent of 30-49 year olds and 88 percent of 50-64 year olds.

18-29 year olds includes those who went to college, where we all know that students are indoctrinated into hating America and anything American, including our historical norms when it came to Christian faith.

Our faith hasn’t been passed along to the next generation, it seems. Yet, we need men and women of faith who take their beliefs seriously and let it affect how they vote. Paul was quite clear with his young protégé, Timothy, that “the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2).

However, we’re not even doing the basics.

Interestingly, while belief in God is on the decline, Gallup clocked an even steeper decline in church attendance, church membership and trust in religious institutions as a whole. In other words, it may not be just that belief in God is dropping, but that it’s evolving into something less beholden to traditional ideas of what it even means to believe in God.

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Daily Broadside | Man Can Donate Blood if He’s Not Pregnant

Daily Verse | Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of your strength,
    in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
    my refuge in times of trouble.

Tuesday’s Reading: Psalms 60-66

Good morning my friends. It’s Tuesday and we’re only ten days away from the end of June — already! I’ll soon be taking a two-week break and my good friend, Bruce Gust, who has filled in for me before, will be taking the keyboard starting Monday. He’ll bring you into July and I’ll pick up again a few days after the fourth of July celebrations wind down.

A story I read in the New York Post yesterday caught my attention because the title seemed so absurd: “Man denied giving blood after refusing to answer if he was pregnant.” Is the progressive brain disease known as “being woke” so pervasive that blood banks are now asking men if they’re pregnant?

They are in Scotland.

It’s not as clear cut as a guy sitting in a chair with rubber tubing wrapped around his elbow as the technician is plumping an artery while asking, “Are you pregnant?” But it’s close.

Leslie Sinclair, a 66-year-old father of two, had donated some 125 pints of blood over five decades before he was barred from his altruistic efforts during a trip Wednesday amid a push for new donors, Daily Mail reported.

Sinclair, of Stirling in central Scotland, was told to complete a form asking whether he was with child or had been pregnant in the last six months, prompting him to reply that the question did not apply to a man in his late 60s.

So he’s filling out a form and comes to a question that asks if he’s pregnant. Like this:

Obviously, he’s not. He’s a man, of the male variety. Men don’t get pregnant.

Now I suppose that if I had been filling in that form and came to that question, I would just check “No” because I’m a guy and I can’t be pregnant, not even “in the last 6 months.” And I would assume that the question is there because both men and women donate blood and 99 percent of the questions are the same and this one is different, so they just include it rather than creating a separate form for women only.

But not our hero, Leslie Sinclair.

Sinclair told a staffer at the Albert Halls clinic in Stirling it was “impossible” for him to be pregnant, but soon learned that he needed to answer the query in order to give blood …

“I told them that was stupid and that if I had to leave, I wouldn’t be back,” Sinclair said. “And that was it, I got on my bike and cycled away.”

Sinclair said he was angered since “vulnerable people,” including children, are in desperate need of donations.

“But they’ve been denied my blood because of the obligation to answer a question that can’t possibly be answered,” Sinclair told Daily Mail.

Actually, he can answer it with “No.” But I get his point. By answering the question, he’s validating it. If we didn’t live in a Woke World, I think my assumption that it’s a woman’s question on an otherwise identical form would be reasonable.

But it turns out Mr. Sinclair’s irritation is justified.

Anyone who has given birth in Scotland must wait six months before donating blood. Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service officials said all donors are now asked whether they’re pregnant as part of a “duty to promote inclusiveness,” according to the report.

“We appreciate the support of each and every one of our donor community and thank Mr. Sinclair for his commitment over a long number of years,” SNBTS director Marc Turner told Daily Mail.

Ah, yes — ideological conformity over common sense while kicking a long-term blood donor in the teeth. Punish the non-conformist, even if it means losing a reliable source who has been giving blood for nearly 50 years in the midst of a donor shortage.

The stand-off took place as NHS England launched a campaign earlier this week to recruit a million more blood donors over the next five years after numbers fell during the pandemic. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) began a drive earlier this month to find 16,000 new donors in the coming year.

It emerged last night that all potential donors are asked if they are pregnant to ‘promote inclusiveness’ and because pregnancy is ‘not always visually clear’.

When you cater hard to wokeness it takes you out of the realm of reality and into the realm of fantasy. Mr. Sinclair is clearly not pregnant: not yesterday, not today, and not tomorrow. But a numbing bureaucratic regime insisting on conformity is willing to put the health and safety of children and adults who need blood at risk for the sake of satisfying mentally unwell women who believe they are male “birthing persons.”

We need a million blood donors, but not any of those icky people who believe that men can’t get pregnant, thank you. Step aside.

You may not be interested in the idiocracy, but the idiocracy is interested in you — and you will be made to care.

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Daily Broadside | New Holiday’s Origins Are Rooted in the Bible

Daily Verse | Psalm 53:1
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

Monday’s Reading: Psalms 55-59

Happy Monday. Apologies for the absence over the last few days — a collision of priorities meant I had to demote my blogging to concentrate on other matters.

If you are a dad, Happy (belated) Father’s Day. I enjoyed the day with all of my family — minus one who lives half a continent away. It’s nice to be formally appreciated once a year, and I’m grateful that it comes within the context of strong family relationships so that it’s not something done out of obligation but our of genuine love and respect.

We had an awesome pizza dinner and watched Dinesh D’Souza’s “2000 Mules.” If you haven’t seen it, I strongly encourage you to spend the $20. After watching it, you can’t say that the 2020 election wasn’t completely corrupted, if not outright stolen.

General Orders No. 3

Yesterday was also the second annual recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Uncle Joe signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, 2021, and I have the day off today in honor of the holiday.

I didn’t understand until recently that Juneteenth is about commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans in the United States.

Juneteenth has been celebrated for more than 156 years, though its history is possibly lesser known than other American observances. Although the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved African Americans in Confederate states, went into effect in 1863, this document did not immediately end slavery. In fact, it took until June 19, 1865—more than two years later—to end the horrors of slavery in Texas. And slavery continued in pockets of some Union states until December 6, 1865, when the 13th Amendment was ratified and slavery was formally ended in America.

Part of the reason it took that long to reach Texas was that the Civil War was still being fought, yet the state experienced no large-scale fighting or significant presence of Union troops. Because of that, many southerners took their slaves and moved to Texas to keep them out of the war’s reach.

It took 2,000 federal troops two and a half years to arrive in Texas to take control of the state and to enforce emancipation. The man who led the troops and announced that 250,000 slaves in Texas were free was U.S. General Gordon Granger, who stood on the soil of Galveston Bay, Texas, on June 19, 1865, and read General Orders No. 3 (pictured above):

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863, freeing all slaves in the southern states, but it didn’t go into practical effect until the Union won the Civil War. You can’t enforce a law in a territory you don’t control.

It wasn’t until two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered in April, 1865, when the news got to Texas and the last enslaved African Americans were told about their freedom. And it was there, in Galveston, that the idea of Juneteenth took root.

While there was relief and joy in the immediacy of the proclamation, the former slaves started formally celebrating Juneteenth in Galveston the next year. Celebrations were initially held in churches, and “the original observances included prayer meetings and the singing of spirituals, and celebrants wore new clothes as a way of representing their newfound freedom.” They also included reading the Emancipation Proclamation.

The name, “Juneteenth” is a later designation. Throughout its history, the holiday has also been known as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Black Independence Day, and Juneteenth Independence Day.

In the era following their liberation, however, African-Americans called their observance “Jubilee Day.” It refers to the biblical practice of every 50 years “when land was to be returned, debts forgiven, and enslaved people were to be set free. Announced by the loud blast of a ram’s horn, biblical scholars note, the Jubilee year was grounded in the idea of freedom, orchestrating an economic, cultural, and moral reordering of society.”

It’s based on Leviticus 25:8-55. Verse 10 reads,

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.

One report explains,

At the time, Texas was the farthest state West and the last to hear of freedom more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. As the news spread, the shock for some 250,000 enslaved Texans quickly turned to celebration. Juneteenth combines the words ‘June’ and ‘Nineteenth,’ but according to Tisby it was originally referred to as Jubilee Day – a biblical reference [to] the book of Leviticus, which tells the story of how the Israelites celebrated their freedom from slavery in Egypt. Faith formed the foundation of what would become America’s most recent federal holiday. 

Unfortunately, it seems as though Juneteenth has, at least in part, become detached from its roots and is now becoming a secular observance that isn’t satisfied with just remembering that the slaves had been freed after a long and bloody war that produced some 650,000 casualties. “The question becomes, what does it mean to celebrate that freedom gained, and what freedoms now are still being sought after?“

That’s an open question that includes discussions of reparations and accusations of systemic racism and tension between the races. Dr. Ben Carson, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under president Trump, encourages us to learn from the past and to appreciate the present.

“Juneteenth is so important because it actually efficiently recognizes the emancipation of the slaves, and slavery was a horrible thing, there’s no question about it. But I think we need to recognize that slavery has been a part of virtually every civilization since there has been written history,” Carson explained …

He continued, “We in America have actually done something that no one else really did. That is, we had so many people who are opposed to it that we fought a Civil War, a bloody Civil War, lost a large portion of our population to get rid of this evil. And that says something about this nation as a people. We’re not all the same. We have a lot of different opinions but overall tendency was to move toward freedom and justice for people” …

“It would be very nice if a lot of the people who are complaining today about the United States could go and live in some other parts of the world for a little while, and I think they would have a tremendous appreciation of freedom we have and why it is so vitally important for us to not only understand it but to protect it for those who are coming behind us and particularly for our young people,” Carson said.

For now, the longest-running African-American observance is Juneteenth, which originally celebrated the end of slavery in the U.S. The celebration included singing spiritual songs, prayer meetings, and likely thanksgiving to God for their newfound freedom. That posture would be worth restoring on the day which commemorates the emancipation of our black brothers and sisters of that era.

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Daily Broadside | Most Polls Skew Democrat and Are Probably 6 Points Worse Than Reported

Daily Verse | Psalm 27:8
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.

Wednesday’s Reading: Psalms 31-35

Happy Wednesday my friends. Summer has hit the Midwest and we’re experiencing temperatures in the nineties this week. Hot and muggy. I won’t complain, though, because I was so done with the extreme cold of winter.

I try to stay current with Brandon’s popularity or, as it’s called by the polling firms, “approval ratings.” A new poll by Civiqs shows him underwater by 17 points.

That chart shows all respondents. It includes Republicans, Democrats and Independents. When you filter for Democrats only, this is what you get:

It boggles my mind to see that 70 percent of Democrats approve of the job Brandon’s doing (in a downward trend). I honestly can’t understand why only 12 percent disapprove. That’s less than have no opinion (17%).

Republicans are much clearer about what they think of the Resident.

Those supporting the GOP came out of the gate disapproving of Brandon and have only gotten stronger over the last 17 months. The 2 percent who approve are Never Trumpers and the writers at The Dispatch and The Bulwark. Oh, plus RINOs Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Mitt Romney.

Remember that only about 37% of the population is Democrat while 31% is Republican. The rest are Independents. That means that neither party wins without significant support from indies. Here’s what the poll tells us about them.

That’s quite a gap — a 45-point spread with an upward trend. As much as they hated Trump, Independents are realizing they’ve been had by the Democrats. Good luck closing the gap, Dems.

As bad as these numbers are for Democrats, it’s likely they’re even worse than being reported. According to this piece in the American Thinker, most polling firms “are systemically biased against conservatives.”

For three cycles in a row, there’s been this consistent pattern of pollsters overestimating Democratic support in some states and underestimating support in other states.  It happened in 2018.  It happened in 2020.  And the reason that’s happening is because the way that [pollsters] are doing polling right now just doesn’t work.

The author goes on to identify two intractable problems for pollsters: “One is developing an accurate voter turnout model that predicts who is likely to vote.  The other is getting an unbiased measurement of what voters think, known as a random sample.” Getting an unbiased measurement is difficult because Republican voters, in particular, don’t trust political polls.

The trust issue is a societal problem that has been building for many years.  Due to partisan infighting, some voters have lost faith in our national institutions; politics; and, by association, political polls. This issue affects conservatives more than liberals, causing a polling effect called partisan nonresponse or nonresponse bias.

After some additional analysis, he concludes with this:

If the polls are overestimating approval numbers for Biden and other Democrats, how bad is it? The political climate today is different since the 2020 election, but the Democrat poll bias seems intact, which was 4% nationwide. Since nonresponse bias, 4%, and registered voter bias, 2.6%, should be mutually exclusive, we can add them together. This gives us a total Democrat bias of roughly 6.5%.

What does this mean? Until pollsters switch to sampling likely voters right before the election, you can subtract a solid 6 percent from Joe Biden’s approval numbers. And if nothing changes before the election, any Democrat who leads by 3 percent or less is likely to lose.

If we apply that math to the numbers from the Civiqs poll above, Brandon’s approval numbers are potentially a dismal 27 percent. That’s worse than Donald Trump’s worst approval rating (29% in January 2021). And remember that Trump’s numbers were undoubtably biased in favor of Democrats.

I refuse to gloat. As we saw in 2020, our institutions are deeply infected with reprobates who have no hesitation in “fortifying” elections with dirty money, coordinated smear campaigns, and ballot stuffing. All I can say is that everything continues to point to a red tsunami in November.

I don’t think there’s anything that will change that trajectory either, not even the likely roll back of Roe v. Wade. Independents might trend more liberal in social issues, but they’re subject to the economic realities that every American is suffering right now. The electorate is reeling from inflation and rocketing gas prices, Brandon and company don’t have any answers, and Americans will vote with their pocketbooks.

In any other era, it would be a foregone conclusion that the Dems would suffer a crushing defeat this November. Unfortunately, all predictions of a red wave this fall come with an asterisk that says, “past performance is no guarantee of future results.”