And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.

~ The Gospel of Luke, 2:14

Despite having precisely one full year to prepare for Christmas, we inevitably break into a panicked fright around mid-December when we are startled by Christmas Tide knocking on our door again. Some of our most inspired planning casually coalesces in July as we watch bundled-up Hallmark Channel actors suppress their sweat while frolicking in deep-fake snow.  Then, on August 1st, we shake the Etch-a-Sketch over our heads and erase Christmas planning from our brains.

Shopping, decorating, and festivities aside, these past few Christmases have been particularly trying for me.  So trying, my faith has been fire-tested so that every seam in my life is stressed and thoroughly singed.

I owned a successful consulting company for years, but in December 2020, by no fault of my own, we lost our contracts, and I had to lay off my entire team.  With two boys in college, I began collecting unemployment for the first time in my life.  Merry Christmas to me.

Only by God’s good grace did we make it through that first year. I often tell people there is a Kingdom economic plan that you will discover only when there are no options left. The testimony of that tested truth is that we never missed a mortgage payment. 2021 was also the year I began writing and setting up my blog, The Wine Patch. The Lord may take away, but He is always giving something new in exchange.

After submitting my resume with 30 years of professional experience to almost 500 different companies, I tallied a few dozen automated responses, and handful of interviews, and not a single offer.

In 2022, I managed to piece together a few small projects, and by early 2023, I was able to bring back two of my old teammates. Making a fraction of what I used to earn felt like progress, and we were grateful for an answered prayer.  

But two weeks before Christmas 2023, our approved contract for 2024 was snatched from under me like the old tablecloth trick. With plates and glasses crashing to the ground, for the second time, I had to lay off my team.  Merry Christmas to us.

The first half of 2024 was some of the darkest days of my life.  Discouragement, despair, and waves of delusion became my abiding, unholy friends.  And when people asked me how they could pray for me, I would always say, “Pray for Jill.  She has to live with me.”

Though 2025 has not dropped a new career down the chimney, my relationship with The Lord has emerged in new facets of intimacy, honesty, and union.  I was learning that though I have accomplished uncommon and audacious goals in my life, reviewing those years through the rearview mirror seemed to rob me of contentment today. And peering through the windshield was equally enervating as tomorrow was impossible to see.

I began to understand why Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, as today is more than enough. And why Paul tells us he counts his immense accomplishments as loss compared with being found in Christ today. And if to the Lord a thousand years is but a day and a day a thousand years, what shall we say of this ratcheting construct of linear time we find ourselves constrained in?

He has put eternity into man’s heart.

~ Ecclesiastes 3:11

When we consider the ungraspable landscape of eternity, our natural understanding defines it from this moment and forever onward. But as equally as eternity has no end, neither does it have a beginning. So is it possible that within our heart is not only a never-ending experience imagined through the front windshield, but also an equally unimaginable, never-ending experience in the rear view mirror? Specifically, as we ponder this pearl of wisdom from Solomon, might a taste of Eden’s glory lie upon the taste buds of our hearts?

I coined this newly opened chamber of mystery, the eternal now. In practical terms, I was learning to surrender both my past and my future in exchange for contentment in the moment. Despite the unfolding trials on the dials of time, our union with God is where we experience abiding peace and transforming holiness. At age 62, after walking with Jesus most of my life, I sensed a new dimension of faith opening.

It was at that point, some nine weeks ago, that I blew out a disc in my lower back doing stonework. The first four weeks were so excruciating, any concept of an eternal now was eclipsed by enough already! Apparently, the Book of Job is not a metaphor but a blueprint.

Throughout these five years, we have prayed.  We have fasted.  We have taken communion in our home. We have held tightly to the prophetic words spoken to us. We have continued to serve, continued to give, and I continue to lead worship. 

And while those first six months of 2021 felt like taking a deep breath and going underwater to playfully see how long I could hold it, the close of 2025 feels more like my foot is stuck in the drain in the deep end, and I am out of air.

Just as bountiful blessing insulates us with comfort, prolonged suffering exacerbates pain.  Yet, few Evangelical pulpits journey into the deep end to dare contemplate the nearness of suffering.  Instead, everything is up, everything is exciting, everything is shiny, and everything is immediate.  And why not?  We love it when prayers are answered immediately.

The Doctrine of Immediately 

Most of the accounts of Jesus’ miraculous healings happened immediately.  

Immediately, his leprosy was cleansed.

Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight.

Immediately, the crippled man stood up and took his stretcher.

Immediately, the man’s ears were opened.

He commanded the fever, and it left her.  Immediately, she got up and began to serve them.

I’ve been in prayer meetings and altar calls when the pastor laid hands on someone for healing. Too often, the only immediately I saw was how quickly that pastor moved to the next person.

I believe in biblical, supernatural healing not only because I’ve experienced it but because Jesus told us we could do it. But what can we say when the immediate healing we pray for repeatedly fails?

The Opposite of Immediately Is Not Never

In the Book of Acts, there is a stirring account of Paul and Silas in desperate need of their immediately.  Chapter 16 opens with Paul having a dream which immediately leads him to travel to Macedonia. When they arrived, they came upon a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. As she followed Paul’s group, she shouted and caused consternation because she bore the voice of a demonic spirit.

Paul turned, rebuked the spirit, and commanded, “Come out of her.”  The spirit came out of her immediately.

The girl was set free but lost her gift of fortune-telling, so her owners became irate.  Paul and Silas were forcibly brought before the magistrates, stripped of their clothing, severely beaten, put in chains, and thrown in prison.

As they were being falsely accused, the truth was not immediately revealed.  When they were condemned before the magistrates, the justice they sought was not immediately served. As the crowd began tearing their clothes off, a holy angel did not immediately intervene.  

As each clenched fist and hack of the rod landed on their naked bodies, the only sensation they immediately felt was unbearable pain. Blow after blow after blow.

As they were dragged into their prison cell feeling utterly abandoned, I imagine they were quizzically praying: 

Lord, where are You? Why is this happening? How could you let them do this to us? We are serving you! We performed countless miracles for others; where is ours?

To further personalize this unbearable scene, allow me to overlay some possible protestations I have sputtered in my worst emotional deep-dives.

I did what You asked, and this is my reward?  What have I done to deserve this? Why does everyone else have it better than me? If my child were suffering like this, I certainly would have stopped it by now.

And now you see why you should pray for Jill.

Our prayers can take on limitless forms of expressed devotion based upon our state of mind and posture of soul.  When it is well with my soul, the modals of petition, gratitude, contrition, and intercession seem to flow nobly.  But when my soul is unwell and in wait of its immediately, my articulations are packaged in anger, doubt, questioning, and accusation.

Thank God Paul and Silas didn’t share my exposed and unstable foundational flaws.  Instead of shaking their fists toward a vast heaven, they set their affections upon face of The Lord.  And instead of counting their wounds, they counted themselves among the worshippers of God.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

~ Verse 25

Of this I am sure:  Worship matters.  When we release worship regardless of the wellness of our soul, even the angels gather to behold such a marvel.

Suddenly, there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

~ Verse 26

The Lord may not move immediately, but when He moves, it is always suddenly. And when the suddenly of God comes upon you, your immediately is taken care of.

Imagine the fear, confusion, and discouragement the disciples felt as they cowered in the upper room after Jesus’ death.  “Suddenly, a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting.”

When Peter was in jail waiting to be killed by Herod, “Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in his prison cell.”

While bloodthirsty Saul was traveling to Damascus to imprison more Christians, “Suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground.”

. . . 

It was a long, dark night that first Christmas Eve.  Shepherds on the night watch had to fight off sleep to protect their flocks from predators.  Seconds seem like minutes, and minutes seem like hours under the endless celestial canopy. 

“Why can’t I have a day job like everyone else?  How long until Israel receives Her King? I’m so tired, I wish I could go to sleep.  God, these sheep stink! What did I just step in?!”

And suddenly there appeared . . .

Bible References in order:

Mat 8:3, Mat 20:34, Mark 2:12, Mark 7:35, Luke 4:39, Acts 2:2, Acts 12:7, Acts 9:3

This article was commissioned by and appeared at Intercessors for America

"I forgive him."

~ Erika Kirk, September 21, 2025

Imbued with eternal weightiness, those three little words spoken that day released seismic pulses through the unseen realms with unstoppable force. Those three little words commanded both angelic applause and demonic squeals as the sound presented to all of creation the magnificent currency that cripples one kingdom and magnifies the other Kingdom. Forgiveness.

My first reaction to Erika forgiving her husband's killer was unexpected: I want to see what is happening in the invisible domain right now.

I was reminded of the time when enemy armies surrounded the prophet Elisha and his servant.  Undoubtedly about to be captured, Elisha prayed for his terrified attendant:

O Lord, I pray, open his eyes so he may see.

~ II Kings 6:17

In that moment, the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and behold, he saw the hills filled with uncountable chariots of fire, positioned to do the Lord's bidding to vanquish the enemy.  When those three little words resounded through the rulers of darkness' murky lairs, I wanted to see their recoil and hear their shrieks.  Even more, I wanted to see the holy battalions emerge to illuminate this present darkness and shower the earth with the Light of heaven's glory.

Forgiveness is love's perpetual fire, burning away the infection of wrath and offense. Forgiveness is the currency of Light, purchasing the freedom of both victim and offender. 

For when you forgive your neighbor, you cleanse your own soul of enmity, and thus you make room for God's mercy to dwell in you.

~ Saint John Chrysostom (Homily on Matthew 19, c. 390 AD)

Those three little words spoken that day offer the most divine invitation to every human heart. Whether that heart be warmed and tender or iced and impenetrable, its deepest yearning is the same: Shalom. One of the most glorious words in all of scripture, shalom means to enjoy wholeness and well-being, peace with one another, harmony with creation, and deep communion with God. 

The heart that is pure and free from disturbance is the one that finds its rest in God, for it is there that true shalom resides, in the love that casts out all fear.

~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395 AD)

Deficiency in forgiveness, or better said, resistance to forgive, cultivates a disturbance within the heart that breeds disruption of shalom in the body, mind, and soul.  Let the fans in the cheap seats bicker over whether Erika meant it or not.  The fact is, she did it.  

And in her act of obedience, she quoted what Jesus said from the cross he died upon:  Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.  In doing so, the world beheld what scripture calls the foolishness of our message:

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

~ I Corinthians 1:18

And therein lies the great and terrible divide in our country at present: Those who are being saved and those who are perishing. While I expected the caustic, calloused comments coming from the usual sources, I did not expect to see so many pastors wholly unable to discern the times and speak life into the midst of this unimaginable death.  

If nothing else, friend and foe alike should strive to comprehend and communicate the life-giving power of forgiveness, or otherwise risk the personal peril of a crippled heart.

What is Forgiveness?

When Erika said, I forgive him, what was practically and spiritually accomplished? Are we to believe her grief was assuaged or her trauma quelled?  Certainly no.  Should we assume that because she forgave, the pain and memory of this demonic murder would quickly be erased? Absolutely no. 

Our grief, trauma, pain, and memories can all be brought before The Lord, personally and intimately.  As we place them on the altar as an offering and invite His healing virtue to flow into our wounds, the restoration of shalom can begin. And while forgiveness plays a vital role in this process, there is another facet Erika invoked with those three little words. 

Both the biblical Hebrew word for forgiveness, nasa, and the Greek word aphiemi convey vibrant imagery, meaning to carry off, to lift, bear up, or take away.  The Old Testament contains a physical depiction of this imagery when the people of ancient Israel sought forgiveness. The priest would lay his hands upon a goat, effectuating a symbolic representation that the people's sins were transferred to the goat.  The goat was then set free as the people watched their sin be carried away. (This is where we get the term, scapegoat.)

When John the Baptist saw Jesus for the first time, he exclaimed:

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!

~ John 1:29

Takes Away

When Jesus taught us how to pray, forgiveness is the only portion of the prayer He explains afterward.

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions

~ Matthew 6:12, 14-15

When Erika publicly confessed, I forgive him, she released the shooter from the relational consequence of his sin against her.  In effect, any emotional or spiritual tie with the shooter was taken away.  And while this act of forgiveness allows Shalom to begin restoring her heart, do not confuse her forgiveness with justice.

Forgiveness does not ignore justice, but rather transcends it within the individual.  However, civil government is still endowed with the authority to punish evildoers.  In the Book of Romans, chapter 13 explains that those who do right have nothing to fear.  But those who do wrong will incur the wrath of punishment as wielded by the state. Erika can now look forward to justice being served while also pursuing healing in her heart.

This is the Christian response of forgiveness.

. . .

During one of my trips to Rwanda, I met Pastor Francis.  I can still hear his Popeye-like laugh as I nervously rode on the back of his rickety motorcycle.  Late in our trip, he confided to me how his mother, sisters, and brother were slaughtered in the 1994 genocide.  We drove past the home, and he pointed to where the bodies fell.  His mother lay in the front yard, nearly decapitated. 

As the genocide raged on, Francis slowly snuck his way to the border, joined the rebel forces, and fought valiantly to take back the capitol.  For his service, he was appointed warden of one of the largest prisons in the country.

One day, a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit fell at Francis's feet.  Clutching his legs and weeping, he confessed, "Jesus has forgiven my sins and changed my heart."  Francis asked, "Why do you tell this to me?"

"I am the one who murdered your mother."

Francis became weak and dizzy as the ravenous spectrum of years of walled-up emotions crashed through his body at once.  Reaching for his gun, he collapsed.

While in the hospital, he had a vision of his mother.  He described to me how she was surrounded by beautiful, glorious light. As she held Jesus' hand, he heard, "I am alright, son.  Please, you must go and forgive that man."

After weeks recovering from his breakdown, he returned to his post.  He found the prisoner, who once again fell prostrate before him.  "I know I am going to heaven because Jesus forgives me.  But while I am on the earth, please, sir, you must forgive me for my crime against you."

Francis said three little words.

When the prisoners and officers saw this unimaginable act of forgiveness as the warden and prisoner embraced, revival broke out in that prison.  Guards and inmates alike repented of their sins, forgave one another, and shalom began to spread in this least likely of places.

Francis and his newly forgiven friend were permitted to travel to many prisons throughout Rwanda, sharing their story. And everywhere they went, revival broke out!  This unprecedented outpouring of grace in the prisons garnered the attention of government officials, and the National Reconciliation Movement in Rwanda was born.  

Throughout Rwanda, the perpetrators of genocide found their victims' families, confessed to the survivors, and worked to serve and restore them.  Amidst the million graves, shalom began to heal hearts and restore villages.  Francis went on to get a seminary degree and continues to serve churches throughout the country today. 

O Lord, may we all pray, "Open our eyes" to see what is happening in the invisible realms since Erika forgave her husband's murderer that day.

Three little words.

Charlie Kirk was a luminary, the likes of whom are born to this world perhaps once in a lifetime.  For the past ten years of his foreshortened life, I've marveled through hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of his speeches, punditry, sermons, and debates.  His gift for the craft of communicating was uniquely unequaled, yet I cannot remember an instance of him thumbing through notes. 

His mastery of subjects like history, philosophy, theology, sociology, and the American formularies confounded his detractors, yet he reveled in boasting that he never went to college. Charlie's savant-like ability to recall cited statistics during a debate was almost as impressive as his ability to deftly deconstruct tranches of voter data on election nights.

He was bolder than most preachers, and some of his most rousing, seat-shifting messages were delivered in churches. Friends and colleagues attest that Charlie was precisely the same person on stage as off, and every indication confirms that his prayer closet was the most visited space in his life. 

Erika and his two children are the most exquisite fruit of Charlie's life.

His public execution sews trauma in us all. Yet, as vigils and tributes to this astounding man emerge across the country and around the world, the shrieks of the disturbed slice through the mourning with ghoulish pitch.  Similarly to how Pro-Hamas rallies ignited before the slaughter had abated in the Israeli Kibbutzim on October 7, the blood was still wet on Charlie's microphone when the rabid protestations of his character erupted.

. . .

Stephen, who was a man full of grace and supernatural power, performed many astonishing signs and wonders and mighty miracles among the people. This upset some men belonging to a sect who called themselves the Men Set Free . . . They all confronted Stephen to argue with him.   

~ The Acts of the Apostles, 6:8-9

The Book of Acts presents to us Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. Scripture tells us of his magnificent, yet foreshortened public ministry, which included public debate, signs, wonders, and miracles. Charlie may not have been granting sight to the blind — Or was he?

Countless testimonials continue to emerge from the numerous young adults who credit the awakening of their faith in Jesus Christ with TPUSA, the organization Charlie founded and led as CEO for the past 13 years. TPUSA's billions of views across social media platforms undoubtedly tipped the last election, but more so are eternally responsible for rescuing students from ideological capture. These two factors made Charlie especially dangerous.

Though 2000 years apart, might Charlie's days and Stephen's days portray to us the same ongoing war between two kingdoms? The war between the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness.

Men Set Free?

In Acts 6, when an activist organization lends itself the moniker "Men Set Free," we can predict with 100% certainty that they were neither men nor free. Like today's swarming hive that calls themselves Antifa — They are neither against fascism nor can they define the word. And they certainly have neither the intellect nor the maturity to hold reasoned conversations.

When [Stephen's opponents] heard these things, they were overtaken with violent rage filling their souls, and they gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, overtaken with great faith, was full of the Holy Spirit.

His accusers covered their ears with their hands and screamed at the top of their lungs to drown out his voice 

~ Acts 7:54, 57

The maelstrom of invectives being hurled at Charlie's empty chair is both dispiriting and demonic. The predictably dim, collectivist insults are chumming the cultural waters as trained petulant piranhas emerge from their murky lairs to lather and froth into their next feeding frenzy. The game makers open their rusty tackle box and sinisterly muse; What are the fish biting on today?  

The worn-out lures with dulled hooks are tied to the lines, and the broadcasting begins.  The luring slurs of racist, bigot, homophobe, fascist, misogynist, white supremacist, xenophobe, Christian nationalist, Nazi, and transphobe haplessly hit the waters, and the ferocious churning roils the waters.

The fish can't tell the difference between a lure and a slur, but the game maker's goal is not to catch fish. The game maker's goal is to agitate the otherwise peaceful waters into violent chaos.

The Men Set Free agitated the crowd, the elders, and the religious scholars, then seized Stephen and forcefully took him before the supreme council. One after another, false witnesses stepped forward and accused Stephen.

~ Acts 6:12

Subdue Or Be Subdued

Christians all too casually speak of spiritual warfare as if invisible poofs of misty thoughts flit about, tempting us to lie or swear.  But when the Apostle Paul explains that the invisible realm is densely populated with world forces of dark power, invisible wickedness, the devil's strategies, and rulers and authorities in the unseen territories, the post-Enlightenment Western mind goes on the fritz.

Creation's enemy is not flesh and blood.  But it is perilously foolish not to perceive that these evil, spiritual forces animate flesh and blood all around us every day.  And always have.

It is the grandest of errors for preachers to avoid politics because by doing so, only the opposing kingdom is pleased.  Politics, simply put, is the ordering of communities in a manner to maximize human flourishing.  Christians should never let fear, corrupt politicians, or captured media trick them into abdicating their immutable Edenic calling: To fill the earth and subdue it. 

The Hebrew word used for "subdue" is intentionally forceful.  In its context, it means to bring under control and make subservient.  Practically speaking, if we don't subdue the earth, the earth will subdue us.

Churches that feign neutrality in politics are often the most political in their influence, ceding their God-given authority to the many dark forces eager to have a go at societal subjugation. Imagine preachers trying to reach the world with the Gospel, yet are desperately afraid to confront the gaping divisions sitting in their pews.

The Real Enemy 

Resist the principality of cable news and corporate media outlets because they are part of this most dangerous game.  The teleprompter talking heads pretend to commentate on this cosmic chess match, but they have been subdued by the game makers who want you to view our citizenry as pieces on the board. However, none of this is perceptible until you realize they are projecting a simulation, the board is not real, and the rules on the box top are hidden.

Take Charlie's shooter.  At the time of writing, the official investigation is wholly unreliable, but emerging evidence reveals he was radicalized with Antifa ideology.  The time has come for us to know the difference between being radicalized and being demonized.

This is where the chessboard metaphor becomes both clarifying and terrifying. For the last ten years, the malevolent media has actively engaged in a carefully choreographed symphony to foment the luring slurs listed earlier. When one team is labeled Nazi's, fascists, xenophobes, and misogynists, the other team believes the only noble thing to do is resist, riot, intimidate, and shoot.

What we fail to realize is that it's the same game makers who orchestrate, fund, and control both sides of the board.

It's at this point that the Christian hops onto the board, trying to engage in a meaningful debate.  What they fail to realize is that whether they are standing on a red square or a black square, they have already lost because they are playing by the other kingdom's rules.

. . .

One of Charlie's last tweets lends us insight into his understanding of the war between these two kingdoms:

No civilization has ever collapsed because it prays too much. But a civilization that abandons God will deteriorate and ultimately collapse from the inside out, or because it loses the will to repel a malicious, external force.

~ Charlie Kirk on X, September 3, 2025

The microphone was to Charlie what length of hair was to Samson.  While each possessed the outward sign of their inward calling, their power against malicious forces was unmatched.  But unlike Samson, whose source of power was a secret, Charlie proudly proclaimed the source of his strength.

The Holy Spirit gave Stephen remarkable wisdom to answer them. His words were prompted by the Holy Spirit, and they could not refute what he said. 

~ Acts 6:10

Samson lived to see his locks hit the floor.  Charlie's last breath was with his microphone in hand. And both will be revered throughout the ages and beyond.

Charlie Kirk is a Christian martyr. The Kingdom of Light he represented on earth has now received him with joy and exultation.  At the same time, the kingdom of darkness is being more and more revealed as the death cult it is.  And in the uncovering, we should all see more clearly now.

The Father has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, and promises that the Kingdom of God is within those who will receive Him.

Therefore, may each one of us receive Christ and live in the fullness of this heavenly transference from darkness to Light.  May we tend well to the garden of our hearts. And then, from that place, may we subdue the gardens the Lord has placed each one of us in. May our lives bountifully bear in these gardens robust fruit, human flourishing, and peace with God. 

Then I heard a voice from the heavenly realm, saying, “Write this: Blessed are those who die in the Lord . . . they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

~ Revelation 14:13

Artwork Credit: Doug Giles. https://douggiles.net

Note: I chose the closing scripture before I saw Doug’s painting. Takes my breath away . . .

Commissioned By and Appeared First At Intercessors for America.

On May 1, the National Day of Prayer, President Trump issued an Executive Order establishing a Commission on Religious Liberty. The purpose and policy of this commission are described as follows:

It shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce the historic and robust protections for religious liberty enshrined in Federal law.  The Founders envisioned a Nation in which religious voices and views are integral to a vibrant public square and human flourishing and in which religious people and institutions are free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or hostility from the Government. 

This is a welcomed order by the many who have actively resisted the aggressive assault on liberty, Judeo-Christian values, and American traditionalism over these past decades, particularly displayed in the frightening overreaches of the prior administration. 

While Christians know the battles being waged originate in the spiritual realms, these nefarious spiritual foes work through human systems to accomplish their purpose: Dismantle faith and tear down the institutions that make the West great.

As Douglas Murray writes:

There is a war on the West. It is being fought by Western revolutionaries aimed at destroying our civilization and our past. They come for our heroes because they know it demoralizes us. They tear down Churchill and Lincoln because without our heroes anything can be forced on us.

~ Douglas Murray, The War On The West

This is why it is vital to keep the parameters of this war in their proper perspective. While the forces aimed at deracinating goodness and freedom from the West appear to be the media, the swamp, and the proponents of leftism, we must never forget that the animating power behind what we can see is the globalist oligarchs.

Modern globalism, as promoted by organizations like the World Economic Forum (WEF), World Health Organization (WHO), and United Nations (UN), is a coordinated push for supranational governance that weakens first-world sovereign nations through mechanisms like pandemic mandates, under-skin nanotechnology, climate catastrophism, open borders, and central bank monetary policy, paving the way for the WEF's Great Reset and a centralized new world government. 

Hence, the 2024 election was of paramount significance. Although it was a win for the Republican candidate, it was also a denouncement and rejection of the forces of globalism whose intention is plainly revealed:  to destroy America and the West as history has known it.

This backdrop is imperative because 21st-century American politics is less a personal popularity contest and more an engagement of spiritual discernment. And while an endless number of active politicians embrace globalism in one form or another, these are the five (5) most concerning to keep our eyes on.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) - U.S. Representative from New York, known for her democratic socialist platform and high-profile social activism.  Prized by both establishment media and social media alike, AOC represents the new brand of leftism in a darling of a package.  While effective in tight sound bites, AOC can rarely speak for long periods without revealing glaring misunderstandings of American history, civics, or geopolitical matters.

AOC has called for the decriminalization of illegal border crossings, referring to illegal migrants as "undocumented citizens" and advocates for expansive amnesty programs.  Her stance undermines national sovereignty, the rule of law, and historic American values.

She is also a vocal advocate for "transgender rights," particularly sterilization, castration, and surgical mutilation of minors. She has actively defended puberty blockers and hormone manipulation and resisted efforts to remove gender-confused books from schools.

Along with her anti-Israel rhetoric and failure to denounce violent activist groups like Antifa or BLM Inc., she has been touring the country with Bernie Sanders (VT) in their Fighting Oligarchy Tour.  The left never seems to get their terms quite right. 

The oligarchs are the ones three layers up that we never see. They manipulate nations and global conditions through unelected enterprises like the WHO, the UN, central banks, the Paris Accord, NATO, the WEF, and so on. Think Blackrock, Vanguard, Rockefeller, Rothschild, etc.

Trump and Musk cannot be oligarchs because, first, Trump is elected, and Musk is duly appointed. Second, they work from within the system. While few believe AOC could seriously run for President, voters should take careful note of AOC's positions and activism.

Gavin Newsom - Governor of California and former Mayor of San Francisco Newsom pushes maniacally progressive policies and foists himself as an indefatigable leader of the Democrat party. His policies released ruin, first upon the once-glorious Bay City of San Francisco, and are now spreading throughout the state.  Crime, homelessness, drug abuse, and illegal immigration are at record levels under his governorship, not to mention the incalculable destruction caused by his dereliction of duties specific to the wildfires.

It is almost as if he's been tasked with decimating one of our country's most glorious states.

Like AOC, his positions on transgender activism are extreme.  Newsom has championed legislation to force biological females to compete against biological males and share privacy space.  Newsom signed Bill 1955 into law, which prohibits school districts from requiring teachers or staff to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender or requests to be determined by a different gender, name, or pronouns.

Governor Newsom's Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates were among the strictest in the country, a stance he continues to defend. He also boasts of defying federal law enforcement by declaring California a sanctuary state. Imagine the types of Executive Orders he would sign into action if he were President.

Like AOC, the longer he speaks on a topic, the sooner we discover how flimsy and thoughtless his prized leftist positions are. His new podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, is courtroom exhibit A. Be sure to start with his episodes with Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon. Conservative common sense never looked more superior.

JB Pritzker – Governor of Illinois and billionaire heir of the Hyatt Hotel fortune, is a vocal critic of conservative policies and advocates for progressive social reforms. Like AOC and Newsom, his policy positions are in near lockstep, including open borders, opposing parental rights, and declaring Illinois a sanctuary state.  However, he is finding his lane as a boisterous critic of President Trump, which is a clear indication he is reluctant to tout his state policies on the national stage.

Though Governor Pritzker enforced some of the most extreme vaccine mandates in the country, in May 2025, he passed legislation to block Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s work to investigate systemic health issues affecting our country.  

Like Newsom, JB's positions and actions to promulgate abortion are wicked.  In 2022, Newsom signed California Proposition 1, which enshrines the right to abortion in California's state constitution and ensures abortion access without gestational limits up to birth.  

Similarly, in 2019, Pritzker signed the Reproductive Health Act (RHA), the landmark Bill that declares abortion a "fundamental right" in Illinois, removing restrictions like parental notification for minors and allowing late-term abortions if a provider deems it necessary for the patient's health.

Both Newsom and Pritzker advertise their abortion services to out-of-state residents.

Pete Buttigieg—Former Mayor of South Bend, IN, former Transportation Secretary, and 2020 presidential candidate, Pete is a prominent voice for progressive activism. Though mild-mannered and unassuming in stature, like his cohorts on the left, Pete fully supports open borders, government mandates, and mutilating minors and promotes abortion as a right.  

Buttigieg has forged a staunch alliance with progressive social justice activists, like BLM Inc., and is a proponent of reparations.  In a CNN interview, Buttigieg said, "We need to confront the fact that the wealth gap is tied to systemic racism, and a commission on reparations is a way to start."

As Transportation Secretary, Buttigieg integrated "health equity" into infrastructure, advocating for transportation policies that address disparities in minority neighborhoods. These are precisely the types of initiatives people cheer for in a rally yet never yield benefits to the people they were promised. Pete's tenure as Transportation Secretary yielded few notable achievements that benefitted the country.

Cory Booker – Former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and current U.S. senator since 2013, known for advocating social justice and progressive economic policies.  Booker is a leading co-sponsor of the Equality Act, reintroduced in 2023 and 2025, which seeks to amend federal civil rights laws to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. 

The bill mandates access to sterilization and surgical mutilation of minors and requires schools, businesses, and religious institutions to accommodate transgender individuals' preferred pronouns and facilities. In a 2023 Senate speech, Booker called the act "essential for equity," framing any opposition as sheer bigotry.

In his quest to codify Roe vs. Wade, Booker supports unrestricted abortion access and co-sponsored the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) with AOC. This plan would federally ensure abortions without gestational limits or parental consent.

Booker also tacitly supported the Defund Police movement, introduced a bill to end cash bail, and is a proponent of decriminalizing certain drug offenses.

More recently, Booker made headlines by refusing himself a bathroom break for a record-setting 25 hours as he filibustered on the Senate floor.  Though it was hardly a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moment, we all breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Booker went to the men's room.

Climate catastrophism is another unifying theme of these five dwarf stars (known for their dimming light and meager heat.) AOC pushed for "climate equity" and "fossil fuel divestment," while Pritzker signed into law that Illinois will be 100% clean energy by 2050 and 40% renewable by 2030. The only element required for these unattainable ideals to fail is the passage of time.

Senator Booker was a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, a socialist scheme masquerading as a planetary atmospheric remedy. The American Action Forum projected that it would cost up to $93 trillion over the course of a single decade. The only thing green about it are the washed and wasted dollars.

Newsom signed into law that all new passenger cars sold in California be zero-emission by 2035, effectively banning gas-powered vehicles.  As Transportation Secretary, Buttigieg allocated $7.5 billion to build EV charging stations. Current estimates indicate 37 were built, which puts the per-unit cost at about $202 million. Now, take a deep, $7.5 billion breath of air and remember the difference Pistol Pete made to our atmosphere is incalculably undetectable. As you exhale, say; boondoggle.

Which brings us back to globalism.

Never forget that globalism's goal is to weaken nations and strengthen supranational oligarchies. Its tactics are simple: mass migration, government censorship, monetary collapse, depopulation, elimination of faith, and the dismantling of the family unit. This is why it is of the utmost importance that we always lift our eyes higher to see the animating forces behind these radical politicians.

This is also why, as Christians, we can actively oppose the policies and ethos of dangerous leaders while praying for their personal repentance and finding life in Christ. It is not a biblical ethic to accept the antichrist initiatives of depraved politicians in the name of love. We are called to pray for our nation, spread the Kingdom of God on Earth, and pursue truth while trusting the souls of truth's opponents to the Lord's keeping. 

(Image credit: Luojie | Copyright 2016 Cagle Cartoons)

The law is ignored, and justice is never upheld. The wicked surround the righteous; Therefore, justice comes out perverted.

(Habakkuk 1:4)

The ethos and tenets of the American justice system have their roots in Biblical precepts and Judeo-Christian principles. Nearly all the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were confessing Christians who revered and studied the ancient scriptures.

It is factually evident that as the founding formularies for our country began to coalesce specific to Judicial Power, Common Law, and the Courts of Justice, the undergirding concepts of fairness, impartiality, moral accountability, and the ardent protection of individual rights were all found first in Holy Scripture.

John Adams knew precisely the risk of an apostate populace when he wrote:

We have no Government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry 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.

~ Letter to the Officers of the Massachusetts Militia, 1798

However, could President Adams or any of our Founding Fathers ever have imagined apostate judges?  10 of the 13 Colonies either explicitly or implicitly required Christian faith or active church membership to serve in the government, which included the judiciary.

While the balance of power is kept in check by the three branches of government, Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist Papers No. 78 that the judiciary is "the least dangerous" branch because it "lacked the sword (military power) and the purse (budgetary power.”) 

The idea that our country would one day be infiltrated with unelected judges who ignore the law, refuse to uphold justice, and torment the righteous was a script never dreamed of. Recent judicial rulings and actions show that a judge has more power than the President.

Since Donald Trump announced his campaign for the Presidency in 2015, the American people have had a front-row seat to watch a rising tide of anti-justice activism overwhelm both Trump and those who support him. 

Sure, the regime machinery doesn't like Trump's ego, street talk, or Sunkist hue, but the fact is this: Trump is a threat to the globalists, the oligarchs, and the legion of creatures lurking in the murky depths of the DC swamp.  In response and seemingly out of nowhere, terms like Lawfare, weaponization of the DOJ, and activist judges have become household terms.

Two failed impeachment attempts, Russia Collusion, collect calls to Ukraine, hush money, declassified documents, election interference, paid-in-full bank loans, and, as Megyn Kelly said, of all the cases levied against Trump, the E. Jean Carroll case has the least legal merit.

In all fairness to the judiciary process, if the courts prized presidential integrity, wasn't there sufficient basis to pursue Joe Biden similarly?  Imagine if Trump opened the border, allowed untold millions of criminal migrants to enter the country, permitted human trafficking and drug running, surrendered Afghanistan to the Taliban, had the top Prosecutor in Ukraine fired, siphoned millions through shell companies, and enabled a crack addict son to proliferate prostitution. If for no other reason, the blind impartiality of Lady Justice should have been allowed equal sniffing through both administrations.  

It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every individual, his life, liberty, property, and character, that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws, and administration of justice.

~ John Adams, 1780

The latest round of blatantly biased judicial activism, as opposed to impartial interpretation, comes in the form of ardent resistance to President Trump's warranted enforcement of the deportation of criminal migrants in the name of national security. On cue, the maestros of media are pummeling the public with endless symphonies of due process.

Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists' due process. 

~ Buck Sexton 

James Howard Kunstler wrote an outstanding article on the topic of Lawfare: 

If you want to know one paramount reason for institutional failure in our country, look to the evil enterprise that calls itself "Lawfare." It originated as a blog launched on September 1, 2010, founded by three key figures: Benjamin Wittes, Jack Goldsmith, and Robert Chesney. Over time, it evolved into an activist operation, The Lawfare Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to (cough cough) "Hard National Security Choices," and run under the shady umbrella of the Brookings Institution.

The point of Lawfare is self-evident in its name: it is an instrument of warfare against a perceived enemy which, for the past decade, has been the political faction led by Mr. Trump, the once-and-current chief executive of the federal government. Mr. Trump is a danger to the bureaucratic arm of the federal government because he has defined it as a racketeering operation and moved decisively to end its depredations. Lawfare is the praetorian guard of the permanent DC bureaucracy, including especially its rogue intel actors, who function as enforcers for the Democratic party that largely staffs the bureaucracy.

While President Trump had every legal right to invoke the Alien Enemies Act in March 2025 against criminal migrants associated with violent gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, he has faced aggressive legal opposition from leftist judges who have a track record of strident partiality. 

On March 15, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg (DC), who oversaw both RussiaGate and January 6, issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) blocking The President's deportations under this Act. Trump defied the Order, and Boasberg threatened criminal contempt in court.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy (Boston) filed a similar TRO, and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis (Maryland) ordered the return of the now-infamous Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador. 

A word on Garcia. While each individual deserves fair and humane treatment, the media maestros have foisted Garcia on the public to once again reveal how woeful they are at picking our heroes.

Whether Garcia's tattoos prove MS-13 ties, the overriding fact of his case remains undisputed: He entered our country illegally, was denied asylum, and is therefore criminally negligent. Figure in his rap sheet of domestic violence, driving without a license, and suspicion of aiding criminal migrants and possible trafficking, he is a dubious celebrity for the anti-deportation contingent. 

We now have Lawfare v2.0 to worry about.  On April 25, 2025, Judge Hannah Dugan (Milwaukee) aided and abetted a criminal migrant in an effort to evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehension. The judge has been arrested, and if convicted, this represents a chilling collapse of judicial integrity.

Additionally, former New Mexico judge Joel Cano and his wife were arrested for harboring a criminal migrant and gang member of Tren de Aragua in their home.

When Supreme Court Justices rule in a manner that conflicts with our faith, beliefs, or political wishes, we moan and chalk it up as a loss. When federal and district judges knowingly deprive American Citizens of their rights and allow them to be traumatized in solitary confinement for committing no correlating crime at the Capitol, we must speak out on their behalf. 

But when judges break the law and oppose the legal directives of the Commander in Chief, who is carrying out his duties to protect the homeland, we must demand that justice is restored in our nation.

It has been estimated that the Biden administration utilized over 9,000 commercial and international flights to transport migrants into our country and place them throughout various cities. Does anyone remember the press asking questions or neighborhoods being allowed the benefit of due process to understand the details? Better yet, who remembers activist judges risking their careers to stop the influx of roughly 15 million migrants into our country during Biden's four years?

Lawfare is the weapon of the regime machinery, as Kunstler poignantly summarizes:

Now, the difference between Lawfare and the practice of law is that Lawfare trafficks lavishly in lies to do its business in the courts and actual law practice is supposed to be dedicated to ascertaining the truth in matters that come before the courts. Lawfare is grounded in dishonesty — as is its main client, the Democratic Party.

When I was a church planter, Holy Week was the most exhilarating, exhausting, and emotionally overwhelming time of year. It was exhausting because we had four very different services to plan, and it was emotionally overwhelming because the rhythms of these four services take hold of your heart and lovingly lead us through the whole gamut of human emotions.

In the solemn and sober Maundy Thursday service, we commemorate the new commandment of Christ — Love one another as I have loved you — Demonstrated by the oft-dreaded public foot-washing. In the somber and grim Good Friday service, or as some Anglican Brits call it, Easter Friday, we commemorate the Passion of Christ — Draping the cross in black cloth — Demonstrated by beholding the unimaginable torture Jesus endured and meditating on the final seven phrases he said as He died.

Most assuredly, it was exhilarating because the week culminates with the resurrection of Jesus—A release of power into all of creation that makes the Big Bang look like a Junior High School lab experiment—Demonstrated by the empty tomb, the torn veil, and the inauguration of a New Creation through the reconciliation of all things.

However, the most irrational service was the predecessor to Holy Week, the dual-natured Palm Sunday celebration. It opens with the exulting "Hosannas!" and ends with the revolting "Crucify him!" — Demonstrating the fickle bifurcation of the human heart.

Crowd Sourcing of the Worst Kind

Widely held bible commentary makes the reasonable claim that the same crowds who joyously welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem quickly turned on Him once He was arrested. The Gospels of Mark and Matthew preserve valuable clues. Mark explains the chief priests "stirred up the crowd" (15:11), and Matthew gives a detailed report: "The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed." (27:20)

Alternatively, acclaimed author and scholar Eugenia Constantinou writes in her breathtaking masterpiece, The Crucifixion of the King of the Glory, that likely, the crowds who exclaimed "Hosanna!" during Jesus' entry to Jerusalem were not the same people who shouted "Crucify him!" at Pilate's Praetorium. Her premise is that the herd of agitators demanding that Barabbas be released were a hand-picked lot of political activists.

In either case, as we ponder our piety and place ourselves in these historic contexts, we confidently deduce precisely how we would have behaved if given the chance, and it's always in the most noble, righteous manner possible. 

As we transport our current-day morally shaped selves back through history, we proudly know we would never have afforded ourselves to native American land nor entered a home that enslaved a person. And as surely as I write this, I proudly see myself hopping atop the Praetorium wall with my Free Jesus banner to publicly plead my case. With 100% surety, I can confirm that I would never be coerced or persuaded to blindly follow a blood-thirsty crowd and cast my vote for Barabbas.

Or would I?

Professor Jordan Peterson perfectly sums up our surprising blindness to ascertain the depth of our propensity for good and evil under tribal social pressure: 

You might think you would have been a hero in Nazi Germany, resisting the regime, but the truth is, most of us would have been Nazis. You would have been the one following orders, maybe even guarding the camps, because that's what ordinary people do under pressure.

This same social dynamic is present today, actively winnowing moral virtuousness from human hearts more than ever. 

This social contagion comes in many flavors and labels: groupthink, virtue signaling, the bandwagon effect, or tribal conformity, to name a few. During the Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates, Dr. Robert Malone, horrified by the blind compliance of large percentages of the populace, coined Mass Formation Psychosis.

Always remember that the persistent symptom of deception is that the patient is not aware of their diagnosis.

Five aspects of this social phenomenon are certain.  First, if we are not astutely keen-witted and employ rigorous discernment, we are all vulnerable to succumbing to it.  Second, resisting this deception is a matter of daily vigilance and frequent introspection.  Third, when you hear the crowd clamoring in the West, it is best to set your face Eastward. Fourth, once you permit the poison to enter your mind, you will rarely pick the true heroes and villains.

And fifth, it is very much a spiritual matter. 

As I watch the corporate-owned chief priests of media stir up the crowds with persuasive arguments intended to steer them, I am genuinely grieved and confounded by the mass compliance and adherence. I liken it to battered-viewer syndrome: no matter how many lies we are hit with, we somehow believe it's for our own good.

The weapons we raise in this spiritual battle for truth are not cable news personalities, network hosts, or newspaper columnists.  The spirit-filled believer is readily equipped to reveal and dismantle false arguments, arrogance, and vain speculations that are presented against the knowledge of God. Once dismantled, we then constrain any rogue ideas to be obedient not to my tribe but to Christ. (My summary of II Corinthians 10:4-5)

Give Us Barabbas!

It astounds me to watch the enemy execute the same tiresome play repeatedly, only to hear the masses screech for Barabbas repeatedly. The media and corrupt politicians revel in foisting their heroes and villains on the nation, but they never seem to choose correctly.

Ferguson, Missouri, became newsworthy for all the wrong reasons when Michael Brown was shot to death by a police officer. But do you remember the case of Daniel Shaver in Mesa, Arizona? He was shot and killed by a police officer, too.

The media chose their hero immediately in the Ferguson case and promulgated unproven details that erupted in violent protests, arson, destruction, and looting. Predictably, a proper investigation later proved everything first reported was false and that Mr. Brown was not indiscriminately gunned down.

Do you remember the riots in Mesa? I don't, either. But we all remember, Hands Up, Don't Shoot.

Louisville, Kentucky, became newsworthy for all the wrong reasons when we were told Breonna Taylor was shot to death in her bed by police.  But do you remember the case of Duncan Lemp in Potomac, MD?  He was shot and killed while sleeping in his bed by a police officer, too.

The media chose their hero in Louisville immediately and promulgated unproven details that erupted in violent protests, arson, destruction, and looting. Predictably, a proper investigation later proved the first reports were false, and Miss Taylor's boyfriend fired at the police first.

Do you remember the riots in Potomac?  I don't, either. But we all remember, Say Her Name.

Shall we review how the media covered the cases of George Floyd, Nicholas Sandmann, Kyle Rittenhouse, Daniel Penny, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, Bevelyn Beatty, and the ongoing cast list of the regime machinery's gruesome play? It truly breaks my heart to recount these stories because human lives were persecuted, taken, and destroyed. 

My point is not to retry these cases but to remind us how desperately treacherous the media is when picking heroes and villains.  And as they continue to dish out their biased slop, the mass formation psychosis is predictably spreading.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia criminally entered this country in 2011 or 2012, was in court for suspected gang-related activities, alleged human trafficking, driving with an expired license, was denied a request for asylum, and had multiple reports of domestic abuse and a civil protective order filed against him by his wife.

As the chief priests of media stir up the crowds of adherents with frothing shouts of Due Process!, no similar protestations were made for John Strand, an innocent, law-abiding U.S. citizen who was terrorized by the FBI, tortured by the DOJ, and forgotten by the media.

Both Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and high school student Austin Metcalf were senselessly murdered in broad daylight, yet the mob in Pilate's Praetorium is once again equivocating who the villains are.

Splitscreen 

A recent photo blew through social media with a sobering effect.  On one side of the photo, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is shown visiting with Kilmar Garcia in El Salvador.  On the other, President Trump is shown visiting with Maryland mother, Patti Morin, whose daughter was murdered by a criminal migrant.

Heartbreakingly, this meme is a fitting depiction of the split-screen in our nation right now. It is the resulting portrayal of precisely what the regime machinery wants you to see when you look at their game board.

As we roll the reels of these past ten years and look at whom the media lauded as heroes and persecuted as villains, has the passage of time proved they cared about truth or the well-being of these souls?  Or perhaps, as battered viewers, we were devilishly persuaded at the time to believe something we now know was not true.

At this point, some will choose to berate my faith and accuse me of being unchristian in my judgments. As I have consistently said through the years, we can show great care, concern, and love for the individual while at the same time exposing and tearing down the systems and agendas that stand in opposition to truth, justice, and the knowledge of God.

Did God love Barabbas as he stood before the crowd? Yes. Was Breonna created in God's image? Yes. Did Jesus die for George Floyd? Yes. 

I never use the phrase, Love the sinner but hate the sin. Better said, we love people with everything we've got because they are made in God's image. Likewise, we hate corrupt systems with everything we've got because they use tragic stories to leverage more harm and division instead of cultivating healing.

And know this: When a human heart rejects the love of a Savior and welcomes demons to animate it, we need discernment to know the difference because this split screen runs through the center of every human heart—until we put our trust in the one Who died that day instead of Barabbas.

Next time you watch one of the late-night hosts, read an article in the NY Times, or watch a primetime panel of pundits on cable news, ask yourself: Who are they asking me to cheer for? Who is the criminal they are making excuses for? Which crowd do I find myself in?

And, ask yourself: is the Messiah standing quietly by, asking me to consider Him first?

You brought me this man [Jesus] as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

~ Pontius Pilate to the crowd in the Praetorium, Luke 23:14

Yet the crowd shouted all together:

Take Jesus away! Release Barabbas for us!

Unanswered prayer can endlessly grind at a person's faith in ways few other things can. How many times have we earnestly prayed, sometimes fasted, and genuinely believed what we asked for was reasonable and permissible within Our Lord's will? 

Whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive.

~ Jesus in Matthew 21:22

Step one, ask in prayer: check. Step two, believe: check. Then, as we patiently wait in step three, the passage of time perpetually proves that our belief has not resulted in receipt—at least in the wrappings we expected.

Over these past four years, I've been forthright about one of the most confounding trials of my life: the loss of my career. My reflection has become: Is this a case of unanswered prayer or something much deeper?

As the final flames of the glorious Jesus Movement consumed the waning acres of souls in 1978, Jesus revealed Himself to me at age 15. (I'll give you time to do the math to determine I'm now 61).  By that stage of my life, I had already held three jobs and was never out of work my entire adult life. Then came January 2021, when I was forced to lay off my team and close down my technology consulting firm.

I've been either unemployed or underemployed ever since.

In addition to meeting the demands of my career, I was driven to accomplish a unique array of outlandish goals. I was a standup comic for seven years, served in various church leadership roles, and climbed Mt. Rainier and Denali (Sorry, Donald, I'm sticking with the original Athabaskan name, which means The Great One.)

I completed five Ironman Triathlons, including two Hawaii World Championships, back in the days when I shaved my legs and wore a speedo in public to not get laughed at. I also raced six marathons, including three sub-three-hour finishes in Boston and one in New York. By the time I switched to bike racing, it came so easily to me that I began coaching other athletes.

If you aren't tired yet, it was at this point in our lives, with two babies in tow, that Jill and I became church planters. We started with four families in our little living room and, less than three years later, launched our Sunday morning service. One year after that, I left the corporate world and became a full-time pastor.

It's true what they say: Church planting is the hardest thing you will ever do. And of all the struggles, victories, glory, and splits, my greatest lesson was this: Don't rush trying to become a real church. Or, as scripture says, despise not small beginnings. Those early years of breaking bread from house to house were humble and holy, bumbling and pure, and we didn't recognize how beautiful it was until it was in the rearview mirror.

Years later, I transitioned back into the business world, remained the Worship Leader in our church, and soon after founded my own business, The Denali Group, (not McKinley Group.)

After eight wildly successful and rewarding years of technology consulting, we now come full circle to where this piece starts: January 2021, when I lost it all. Strangely, this was also the same month I set up The Wine Patch and embarked on one more challenging pursuit.

I share all of this so you can learn more about my story and remind myself that I am proven capable of accomplishing audacious goals. So why am I stuck between steps two and three while my career is in the morgue? 

The Interior Life

The mountains are my happy place.  The White Mountains of New Hampshire are my happier place.  And climbing those majestic peaks in winter is my happiest place. I recently went to my happiest place and consecrated it as time to be with the Lord.

Withdraw yourself from all unnecessary cares and business, that you may attend to the one thing necessary, the service of your soul and its union with God.

~ Thomas à Kempis (1380 - 1471)

I've been a Christian for nearly 50 years, yet I feel like a babe before Him in so many ways. The trials and suffering of these four years have wrought aching growth plates, signifying an impending growth spurt.  But I'm not called in this season to grow taller, smarter, wiser, or stronger.  This is a call to grow deeper: Union with God in the interior life.

As I look at scripture and contemplate things Jesus said, the true position of this relationship He describes is in.  We tend to look up for God, but He is looking in.  We close our eyes to look beyond, yet the place he is most passionate about is inside us — In the depths of who I am.

Author and speaker John Eldredge reminds us that the Old Testament representation of the Temple has been transformed and is now fulfilled as living temples—you and me.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

~ Paul's First Letter to the Believers in Corinth, 3:16

Eldredge continues. Just as the Jewish Temple had three primary areas, so do we have three primary modes of life: the Shallows, the Midlands, and the Depths. 

Like the Temple's outer courts, where there is chaos, commotion, commerce, and clutter, we have the Shallows.  In the Shallows, we unpredictably flit from thought to thought, distraction to distraction, fog to fog, similar to death-scrolling from Reel to Reel on YouTube.

The inner courts of the Temple, where the priestly duties were carried out, can be equated with the Midlands.  This is where we handle and process life's cares: our worries, heartaches, desires, and longings. It's in these two strata that modern Western life is almost exclusively lived.  As I wrestle like Jacob and wait like Joseph, I am struck with my demands that The Lord meet me in the Shallows or the Midlands. 

When He seems far away, He may be already waiting inside. 

The Holy of Holies was the sacred inner chamber deep within the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant rested.  The Presence of Adonai dwelled in this rarely visited, deeply reverent place.  Likewise and unimaginably, the Lord of the Universe has chosen to reside in the Depths of who we are. The Depths are where our true essence resides, and God's presence rests. 

Enter the invitation of the interior life.  Faced with my seemingly unanswered prayers asking to become an earner again, I have been stripped of every practice and discipline I formerly relied upon. These past months, I have found myself reading less, listening more, petitioning less, quieting more, and clenching less and opening more. As best I can, I detach from my dread and rest in sometimes unbearable silence, inviting The Trinity to renovate my interior world.

Wait, did he say The Trinity?

In

As I've written in earlier pieces, one of the most profound descriptions of the indescribable nature of The Trinity is perichoresis.  Peri is the Greek word for around, surrounding, and where we get circle.  Think, perimeter or periphery. Choresis is the Greek word for movement, a going around, or dance.  Think, choreography.

The Three-in-One essence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can be envisioned as a Circle Dance:  A continual movement of the three Persons encircling one another in an unending, ever-increasing flow of pure light and love. And we are invited in.

When Elohim said, "Let us make man in our image," He breathed the breath of life in him.  Jesus said if we hear a knock and open the door, He will come in and enjoy a meal with us.  And the most extravagant and inexplicable prayer of all is found in John 17. Jesus prayed for us, almost giving us a glimpse of perichoresis:

May they be one just as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you.  I pray that they will be in us . . . I in them and you in me, that they may be completely one.

Who can understand such a passage except to say:  We are the answer to Jesus' prayer. 

I can no longer avoid descending to the Depths with the excuse that I'm waiting for the mess in these outer courts to be cleaned up.  These past few months, I have been spending extended time, like never before, quietly communing with God in the Holy of Holies, detaching from my worries, embracing union, and finding a mystery of movement in the rhythms of oneness.

This journey of the interior life is an invitation to us all.

What is it to be a Christian? It is to have Christ dwelling in us, to be united to Him, to be made one with Him.

~ St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

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I am astounded and confounded by the never-Trumpers, particularly those who are also believers. As I wonderly watch their predictable calisthenics, their arguments and analyses carry a depth of insight quickly garnered from watching The View. If these code-blue patients would tear up their DNR, pull the plug on their dependency on globalist media, and take the time to seek independent sources, they might see how pernicious the bags of propaganda are swinging from their I.V. carts.  

Until then, I marvel at the show.

It's the folks who cannot even bear to hear the term Trump Derangement Syndrome who suffer from it themselves. As with all deception, this entire phenomenon is predicated on the fact that the patient is incapable of self-diagnosis.

First, let's define terms, as derangement is surprisingly apropos. While the common definitions are fitting, like to disturb the operations or functions of or to make mentally unsound, it's the lesser-known definition that intrigues me. To be deranged is to be odd, eccentric, and sometimes offensive. This certainly rings true in my experience and goes something like this.

A well-reasoned, thoughtfully researched post focused on issues, policies, or movements is often met with irrational, unsubstantiated rants that are nearly always personally insulting.  

I watched a debate today on The Free Press between a reasoned Trump supporter and a typically unhinged Trump opposer.  What was most remarkable, and all too common, is the Trump opposer was not able to sustain a sentence without sputtering slurs like misogynist, homophobe, transphobe, xenophobe, fascist, and racist, with a steady sprinkling of Hitler, fascist, and threat to our Democracy.

The debate lasted less than 20 minutes, yet the opposition could barely depart from these lazy, collectivist pejoratives.

The recent dust-ups over judges blocking deportations and USAID cuts are a blatant overreach of the judiciary.  So blatant Justice Roberts didn't officially post his statement but floated it through the SCOTUS Information Office.  To cheer these activist judges is to not understand our three branches of government, their roles, and precisely how our checks and balances work.

Brave and noble some are demanding? Where were similar judicial motions when Biden was covertly orchestrating thousands of flights into and across the United States, often under the cover of night, illegally transporting millions of migrants across the country — for years?

The never-Tumpers and Democrats have painted themselves into an ever-shrinking corner. Wittingly or unwittingly, their disdain for The President now pits them against removing waste and corruption from our government.  They now find themselves on the same team as those who are against protecting babies, against protecting children, and against protecting women.  They are openly against law enforcement. They struggle to pick sides between Jews and Jihadists. And mind-numbingly, they are against ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which is one of their most baffling handstands.

Biden never once spoke of a brokered peace and never even bothered to call Putin.  All he did was pump hundreds of billions of dollars into Zelensky's laundromat as almost 350,000 people have needlessly died.  Do the "I Stand With Ukraine" yard sign signalers believe Ukraine should fight this war until Russia unconditionally surrenders?

Staggering idiocy.

All of these faux tears for USAID are mostly misplaced.  Where were the tears when the HHS Whistleblower Tara Rodas uncovered government-sponsored child sex and labor trafficking? Where were the tears as hundreds of billions were laundered through wireframe NGOs, Catholic Charities, and cartel-benefited enterprises?

Thanks to the gritty, on-the-ground investigations by heroes like James O’Keefe and Larry Taunton, we saw USAID's role in funding, equipping, and managing the migrant caravans, sending them into the Darien Gap where women and children were raped so often, the crooked Red Cross was handing out rape kits at the trailhead of the Gap. 

Here's a nifty discussion topic: Which administration do you think the cartels prefer, Biden's or Trump's? Discuss amongst yourselves, but preferably with The Lord.

I'm trying to remember, during the Biden administration, all of the riots and vandalism inflicted upon US cities by conservative hooligans.  Yet here we are, once again watching the reasonable left open fire on the Tesla brand.  Once cherished by the climate catastrophists, it's now open season as mostly peaceful protesters are destroying Tesla cars, dealerships, and charging stations.  Don't these Molotov maniacs realize Tesla owners mostly voted for Kamala?

It reminds me of when BLM and Antifa peacefully burned down cities with their blankets and binkies while no one in the press or law enforcement dared to oppose them.

If you lean in, you can catch the left's tacit support of violent protest, which now includes revering radical Islamist jihadists and cold-blooded murdering healthcare executives.

Another nifty compare and contrast: When Trump supporters disagreed with a company's policy, they stopped buying their beer. Discuss amongst yourselves, but preferably with the Lord.

And you can not cite January 6 as the corollary example of conservative violence.  We now know there were hundreds of paid Antifa activists regaled in team Trump attire and over a hundred FBI assets who not once tried to quell the crowds. 

SWAT'ing cases against conservatives are increasing at a dangerous rate.  There have been twelve reported cases in just the past two weeks. My friend, historian, author, and speaker, Larry Taunton, was SWAT'ed this week in the dark of night by a battalion of body-armored agents.  Believing his home was being invaded, Taunton was seconds from opening fire.  Thank God, it ended peacefully.

The same mainstream media that mainlines endless bags of Trump derangement into the minds of the masses offers no condemnation for these types of acts.  And why should they, they are too busy rallying support for Jihadist activists like Mahmoud Khalil.  

Then again, this is the same media that barely covers the slaughter of Christians in Syria, Nigeria, and Congo because it's Khalil's team doing the butchering.

An important part of discernment is to stop and become aware of whom you align with—and against.  Pastor Jim Garlow gave a brief report today after a time of prayer in the Oval Office. Never-Trumpers seethe at such scenes, particularly the believing ones.  I've gotten to know Jim, and he is a remarkably wise and godly leader.  I trust him.  So, I trusted him when he reported that prayer time was holy and poignant.

If you want a clear assessment, watch the thumb-twirling circus of Gavin Newsome's new podcast. First watch the episodes with Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon.  I'm on that team.

Then watch the insufferable episode with Tim Walz, who looks like Tim Conway and Richard Simmons had a kid.  Is that your team?

I've lost friends over Trump. It's almost unbearable to imagine until I remind myself it has little to do with Trump and less to do with me. People confuse Kingdom-centric commentary as some strange concoction of church and state infused with Jesus and Trump. If we don't acknowledge that darkness covers the land and deep darkness covers the people, then we risk taking part in that darkness rather than resisting and exposing it.

Paul explains to the church at Corinth that though we are humans, we do not battle according to human standards.  If we wield human weapons in this war, we will accomplish little.  But when we employ divinely empowered weapons, we not only tear down every argument aimed against the knowledge of God, we destroy the systems that protect those antichrist ideologies. (2 Cor 10:3-5, my paraphrase)

Arise and shine! The glory of the Lord rises upon you, and nations will come to your great light!

Oh, so what you are saying is; Trump is the great light? (TDS 4:17)

==========

And look what I just stumbled upon. This is real, folks!

“In March 2025, the Minnesota Legislature introduced Senate File 2589. This bill proposed amending Minnesota Statutes 2024 to include "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (TDS) as an officially recognized mental illness under state law. The legislation aimed to modify sections 245.462 and 245I.02, which deal with mental health definitions, by adding TDS alongside existing conditions.

The bill defines TDS as "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump." It lists symptoms such as "Trump-induced general hysteria," an "inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology" in Trump’s behavior, and potential "overt acts of aggression and violence" against Trump supporters or symbols. The proposal suggested that adults with TDS could be classified as having an "acute mental illness" requiring "prompt intervention."

The Fifth Seal—Martyrs

"Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given.

They cried out with a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?"

~ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 6:9-10

As you read this, Christians are being slaughtered in Syria, Congo, Nigeria, and beyond.  Those being killed are not Christian military or armed officials.  No, the dead and dying are innocent civilians: Mothers, babies, fathers, and children.  And there is no mystery as to who is doing these genocidal killings because they kill in broad daylight, often filming themselves as they do it.  Those doing the killing are Islamic Jihadists.

Although Western media have become University-trained experts in peddling the oppressor / oppressed narratives, this blatant and obvious case of one group annihilating another group is going completely unnoticed. The press eagerly augments accounts of war when Israelis kill Gazans or Russians kill Ukrainians, but we live in a day where the press is reticent to report on terrorist attacks carried out by radical Islamists or Christian genocide perpetrated by Jihadists.

Far more unnerving is the collective silence from prominent Christian pastors and church leaders. As the great Douglas Murray recently reminded us, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out with courage against the inherent violence of Islamic holy war in 2006.  Quoting a 14th Century Byzantine Emperor, the Pope said:

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.

~ Pope Benedict XVI, The Regensburg Speech, 2006

Predictably, in response to his reading of this quote, violent attacks against Christians broke out around the world.  Innocent believers were kidnapped, tortured, and killed, many churches were torched, and even a nun was sacrificed on the altar of Jihad. On cue, Western churches decided it would be best not to speak publicly of such things again. 

Whether driven by fear, a false sense of respect, or a complicit component in spiritual warfare, Islamists are among the most protected groups on the planet in terms of public criticism or negative press.  And be very careful if you ascribe these atrocities to only a tiny fringe group in the world's second-largest religion.

There are an estimated 2 billion Muslims on the planet, as compared to 2.4 billion Christians.  Within these 2 billion Muslims are contained two minority groups: Jihadists and Islamists. Jihadists vow to murder all apostates, are willing to die trying, and believe they have a great reward in paradise for doing so.  The Islamists are just as convinced, but they are willing to work within systems, infiltrate governments, and use democracy against itself to achieve their goals.

These two groups comprise roughly 25% of the religion — A number greater than the population of the United States.  Keep this in mind when you're told radical Islam represents minor flare-ups at the fringes.

The more important element is: Who is doing the dying?

I spent a few very painful hours watching recent killings in Syria and Congo.  Like the October 7th massacre, the killers are gleefully filming their torturous handiwork.  As one killer walked over the body of someone he killed, he jeered into his GoPro:

As long as you, Christians, raise the cross, we will not leave you. We will fight you until the last one of you is gone.

As I watched these innocent people slowly tortured and murdered in their homes, on their streets, and upon their knees, I could only ballast my anguish with this hope: That in their moment of suffering, martyrs experience a dimension we cannot see.  May it be, Lord, that in these moments of unbearable terror and excruciating pain, there is a rush of grace, a rush of angels, and the rush of Christ to assuage Satan's onslaught.  

May these saints see what the martyr Stephen saw as he was murdered in the book of Acts.

But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 

~ The Stoning of Stephen, Acts 7:55-56

Until the Full Number

After 24 years of Bashar al-Assad's brutal authoritarian regime in Syria, he was removed from power in December 2024.  In a near mirror-image to Saddam Hussein's removal from Iraq in 2003, the sudden vacuum of power, as notorious as that power was, enabled a worse brand of evil to rise and take control. In Syria's case, it is the Sunni extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).  

Similar to what transpired in post-Hussein Iraq, Syrian Christians are now among the most vulnerable to retributive killings.

Before the civil war began in 2011, Syria had approximately 1.5 million Christians or roughly 10% of the population.  Although Assad was fairly committed to protecting Christians from Sunni extremists, by 2024, that number dropped to 400,000 due to war and emigration. As HTS took control, violence has spiked across the country, particularly in the cities where Christians and religious minorities live in mixed communities.

Post-Assad data is too fresh to confirm, but the month of March has been incredibly bloody, with Christians and minority Alawites shedding the lion's share. March 6th-10th saw thousands of executions, looted homes, and burned villages.  Lion of Judah, please rush to their protection.

Suffice it to say that broader numbers remain underreported at best. In Nigeria, since the year 2000, it is believed close to 70,000 Christians have been slaughtered by the radical Islamic groups Boko Haram and the Fulani. Last month, on February 13th, 70 Christians were beheaded in the Congo by the ISIS-aligned ADF, and it is believed the massacres continue daily.

Join these dear souls with the uncountable martyrs since the dawn of history, and the best estimates are that close to 35 million lives have been viciously ended because of their faith in Christ.

To continue our verse from Revelation concerning the Fifth Seal:

Each of them was given a long white robe, and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.

~ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 6:11

In this supernatural, open vision the Apostle John is caught up in, he hears the martyred souls told: Rest until the full number of those violently killed for their faith is complete.  

Who can understand such a verse?

First, the killing will not stop — yet.  Second, the total number of souls to be killed seems predetermined. This means that the horror we are watching is neither random nor lacking purpose and unfolds before heaven's watchful eyes.  However, resist academically disengaging our hearts by postulating, "Well, I guess prophecy has to be fulfilled."  

Perhaps this is not a prophecy being fulfilled, but the inevitability of depraved malevolence when demons darken human hearts.  

All of us want The Lord to physically intervene, serve swift justice to the killers, and spare the lives of the innocent.  And while He is at it, remove all of the evil that is plaguing the world. But we do not know what we ask; to remove man's free will is to remove the free flow of love.

Alvin Plantinga, in his book God, Freedom, and Evil, writes:

God wanted creatures capable of moral good, which requires them to have the freedom to choose evil, too. If God stopped every bad act, free will would vanish, and with it, the ability to freely love or act morally.

Similarly, C.S. Lewis writes in The Problem of Pain:

Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love, goodness, or joy worth having.

It doesn't preach well in our seeker-sensitive Sunday gatherings, but Jesus did say things like: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Therefore, be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown.

I am not trying to explain away the hell on earth I watched with my own eyes.  But I know this: 

As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord's word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.

~ Psalm 18:30

Pray for the martyrs, with heaving tears, and envision them safely resting under the altar in robes of brilliant white.

This article was commissioned by Intercessors for America and first appeared there.

In the early 2000s, long before his first Presidential bid, if asked to describe two words that Donald Trump was famous for, many would have immediately said, "You're fired!"  Call it prophetic or call it full circle; he's making these words great again—and his opponents are apoplectic about it.

President Trump vowed that if he were re-elected, he would employ Elon Musk to head up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which would have the sole purpose of identifying fiscal waste, uncovering corruption and malfeasance, and eradicate it from our system. Yes, it's "our system," not theirs.

One reason for the apoplexy is that President Trump is delivering bigly on this campaign promise. His opponents were counting on an unwritten rule of elections: The winner would wag enough dogs in the first year so that no one would remember the campaign promises. Not so, in this President's case. It's only been one month, and he is sprinting out of the starting blocks, making good on his pledges to We The People. DOGE is at the top of the priority list.

Strategically, the President's adversaries are forced into a no-win situation.  To decry and bemoan opposition to eliminating government waste places them in the unseemly position of standing on the side of fraud, money laundering, and a private sector white-collar criminal enterprise never before imagined.  (Unless you are Senator John Fetterman, then it's called a Carhartt Hoodie criminal enterprise.)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has promised full transparency and disclosure as the DOGE team does their due diligence.  Here are a few lowlights:

• 7.9 million dollars to teach Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid binary gender language.

• 45 million to combat disinformation in Kazakstan.

• 2 million for sex change operations and LGBTQ activism in Guatemala.

• 2.1 million for the BBC to value the diversity of the Libyan society.

• 10 million of USAID-funded meals, which ended up in Al Qaeda training camps.

• 1.5 million to an Armenian LGBTQ group.

• 5 million to Jamaica to promote LGBTQ equity.

• 5.5 million to Uganda for LGBTQ activism.

This list is but a snowflake atop the iceberg, yet it already makes us wonder if DOGE stands for the Display of Global Embarrassment. However, there is a critical point to be aware of before moving on to the big-ticket items.

Years ago, we were warned that Environmental Social Governance (ESG) would be implemented in every segment of society, similar to the Chinese Social Credit System. With neither a vote nor a debate, ESG is now firmly embedded into our financial systems and is weaponized against conservatives, traditionalists, and people of faith.  

The Left has continually chided conservatives that DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) does not exist but is merely a figment of their pigment privilege. This is false because DOGE is uncovering a staggering amount of DEI initiatives systemically embedded throughout government systems and programs.  

DEI is the “S” in ESG.  This is vital to understand because DEI is not a noble program designed to lift the marginalized.  DEI and its evil parent, ESG, are tools in the hands of the oligarchical globalists who have been trained, dispatched, and embedded in positions of power all over the world by the World Economic Forum.   

DOGE needs to deracinate all funding for DEI initiatives.

The Big Ticket Items

To satisfy their mandate of full transparency and disclosure, DOGE set up a website to track the details of their progress.  Visit www.doge.gov and hold on to your hat.

Once on the site, you can view the wildly informative posts made daily on X.  By clicking on Save, you are presented with an updated list of how much money is being saved by DOGE and where it is being cut.  By clicking on Spend, you are presented with a list of each government agency and how much money they spend.

I'll give you time to find your hat.

USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is in the news as this is one of the first behemoths Musk is slaying.  While the corporate media insists that USAID is as holy as Mother Theresa, what they don't tell you is there is a dollar sign to her left and a dozen zeroes to her right. 

The oligarchs are trembling because it's being discovered that USAID may be one of the world's largest operations for money laundering, embezzlement, and human trafficking. Larry Alex Taunton, who is a blend of James O'Keefe and Indiana Jones, does remarkable investigative work on both the World Economic Forum and the migration crisis.  

Taunton has spent a great deal of time in South and Central American countries following the pathways of the migrant caravans.  USAID is actively funding the coordination and logistics of moving millions of illegal migrants into the U.S. 

USAID does not reside under a specific government agency but instead operates under the policy guidance of the Secretary of State. USAID was created in 1961 via the Executive Order of President Kennedy, and it is entirely legal for it to be closed via the Executive Order of this President.

There are certainly many more surprises to come. DOGE discovered there are 8.6 million Social Security Numbers in the system for “people” ages 110 to 150. DOGE will determine how many are receiving active payments, how many have been issued to illegal immigrants to receive benefits, and how many may be phantom numbers kept active for unknown reasons.  

DOGE is learning that almost half of the 250 billion dollars sent to Ukraine is unaccounted for and that the Pentagon's 850 billion dollar budget has not passed a basic audit. We can only imagine what will be discovered as DOGE works its way through the 1.72 trillion dollar budget of the Department of Health and Human Services, where three-ring-letter circuses like the NIH, CDC, and FDA reside.

We all need to pray for DOGE.

The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but an accurate measure is His delight. 

~ Proverbs 11:1

May we all be found on the side of honest scales, righteous measures, and virtuous handling of our nation's wealth, which all belongs to the Lord. 

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

~ The Book of Acts, 11:26

In one of my earliest published blogs, I explore how hitching well-understood words together like boxcars on a train purposefully hijacks our lexicon and cunningly addles essential communication. Meaning that needlessly appending an unnecessary qualifier to a well-understood word does not enhance the description of that word but rather intentionally obfuscates the original meaning.

For example, the word justice is clearly defined, well-understood, and carries robust meaning.  But ask a dozen people to define social justice and expect 13 different answers.  Justice needs no concatenated descriptor when held in its original and historical meaning.  Likewise, attempt to garner consensus definitions for systemic racism, climate equity, white privilege, gender-affirming, or Christian Nationalism and be prepared for quarreling and chaos — which is precisely the aim. 

This is not to say that the nature of these words does not include serious issues worthy of our attention. Still, once language has been willfully crippled, there is little hope of thoughtful communication.

There is a maniacal brilliance in scooping up the English lexicon, shaking it up in a Yahtzee cup, and splaying it across the tabletop of our culture like rock salt on ice.  The result?  That which was once firm and solid begins to dissipate and crack under our feet.  

By confusing and disabling clear thought and debate via linguistic hegemony, we are being pummeled to believe the ominous, cultural dragons that were systematically slain in past generations with great price have been hiding alive and well in plain sight all along. There is no choice but to resurrect the conversations put to grave long ago, unsheathe our swords, and begin wildly taking swipes at the mist dragons, only to realize the wounds being inflicted are not on some systemic behemoth; but upon one another. 

~ Taken From Words Matter, February 2021

These overused bromides are not the language of the Kingdom of God.  When I hear these boxcar phrases hissed and bandied about, I don't hear the Shepherd's voice but the stranger's.  Jesus tells us never to follow the stranger's voice.

Similarly, the bundled term Progressive Christianity has been a splinter under my nail for many years for two primary reasons. First, if there was ever a word that needed no prefixed appendage, it's Christian.  Second, I believe the Progressive Christian movement is doing irreparable harm by confusing, dividing, and weakening the church.

According to Alisa Childers, Progressive Christianity has its ancestry in the Emergent Church Movement and seeks to reinterpret the Bible, reassess historical doctrines, and redefine the core tenets of the faith.

When I think of Progressive Christianity, I think of a low holding of sin and a high holding of culture.  A low holding of scripture and a high holding of self-actualization.  A low holding of repentance and a high holding of affirmation. A low holding of the Majesty of Christ and a high holding of the innate goodness of humanity. 

Progressive Christians continually chide their orthodox brethren for being too political.  However, if you remove politics from Progressive Christianity, there is little meat left on the bone. For the vast majority of progressives I follow on social media, to remove their posts on culture, politics, and ideology, their feeds would be left devoid of the greatness of God or the spread of His Kingdom here on Earth.

They will tell you that the centerpiece of their theology is love, yet when the allyship test is applied, they exhibit little restraint while hurling personal insults and vitriolic slurs at fellow believers who dare challenge their philosophies.  

This may be the rare case when a prefixed qualifier helps define terms. The love of God we behold in scripture and in the life of Jesus is unconditional, sacrificial, and self-giving.  Yet, progressive love, as displayed in the marketplace, is quite different.  When asked what is the first and greatest progressive commandment:

Love yourself with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor for yourself. 

Watching the Progressive Christian movement, I see levels of activism mostly indistinguishable from secular activism. The progressive movement is fixated on social justice warring, pro-abortion (or at least a "nuanced" view which does not hold the life of the baby as tantamount), and has some allegiance with the anti-racist movement as defined by Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X Kendi.

Like secular progressives, progressive Christians fawn over climate catastrophism, defend open borders and lawlessness, and promote confused and mixed philosophies around gender and sexuality.  Progressive Christianity fosters strong suspicion for historic orthodoxy and biblical inerrancy, and weak expression for glory and holiness.  The movement discerns little to no understanding of the threats of Globalism, and of course, the new glue that unifies their cause is — Never, ever anything Trump.

While Christianity starts with theology to formulate its politics, Progressive Christianity starts with politics and then formulates its theology around it.

Rendered to its essence, it is a brand of faith that adapts to the culture and demands the church make compromised accommodations rather than injecting into culture the transformative power of Christ. 

I am not a progressive if you haven't spotted my breadcrumbs yet. And, like many of you, I have lost friends because of it. I've lost decades-long friends not for anything I've done but for simply writing about my thoughts and convictions.  

Perhaps, at times, I write with a sharp blade that can cut. Progressives write much softer, but some quills have been dipped in poison.  You can always heal from a cut.

After a recent social media dust-up, I invited a combative reader to walk through a recent post I made line by line.  In that particular post, I sharply criticized the Progressive Christian movement by displaying a quote from a well-known progressive pastor who regularly gets over a million views on his Tweets. Here is an excerpt of what I wrote:

Affirm LGBTQIS2S+ children, avoid any offering of rigorous counseling and healing, then attack the believers who want to protect these children from porn, hormones, and scalpels. 

Affirm abortion, avoid any discussion about sexual ethics or self-control, and then attack the believers who want to save the lives of the resulting innocent babies. 

Affirm open borders, avoid any reference or adherence to state and federal laws currently on the books, ignore the trafficking, rape, crime, embezzlement, and murders that illegal immigration causes both here and abroad, and then attack the believers who think it's a better idea to secure the border and only allow select foreigners to enter legally.  

Affirm the Marxist constructs of race and equity, pretend as if the scriptures teach us to view the world through a lens of anti-racism, privilege, and oppression, and then attack the believers who are not racists and believe every person is created in the image of God. 

"Watch out! Beware the leaven of Herod!" ~ Jesus

The reader refused to discuss with me any of these cherished platforms held by the progressives.

When I write, there are often pages of thought behind each sentence.  This means that I choose my words carefully and intentionally. Over these past few years, I've sat down with many angry readers. After welcoming their initial emotional release and their angst is diffused, I try to walk them through what I've written line by line.  In almost every case, they admit agreement. But they will maintain that I shouldn't write what I write.

Many who quietly follow me have told me I must have thick skin. In some measure, it's true, but sometimes the punch lands, and any pride in a thickened hide risks nurturing a hardened heart.

I read an inordinate amount of content that I firmly disagree with to understand better those who do.  I just finished John Pavlovitz's book, If God Is Love Don't Be A Jerk (2021). He is a thought leader in the Progressive Christian space, so my goal was to have my footings tested, my angles trued, and my support beams exposed to the elements.  The book was so abysmally disappointing that I was neither challenged nor inspired.

I would offer to let you borrow it, but each page has more handwritten notes than words from the author. But as a tasteless sampler, these are excerpts from just two pages of this book:

. . . pulpit pounding pastors who exclude, wound and do harm . . . human rights violations, overt racism and rabid nationalism . . . Franklin Graham alt-right Proud Boys, discriminatory bathroom bills, Muslim bans . . . misogyny, bigotry, homophobia . . . wall builders, transphobes, white supremacists . . . immigration and black lives matter protests . . . gun-toting preachers, damnation-wielding social media trolls and predatory presidents.

When we read the glorious Edenic account in the third chapter of Genesis, which describes the sound of the Lord moving through the Garden in the spirit-filled time of day, I don't imagine Adam and Eve hearing any of these dulcet terms harrumphing through the Garden.

The best thing about finishing this book was my heightened eagerness to rest in the Spirit, soak in the scriptures, and steep in the writings of the Church Fathers.  In other words, my mind and my heart needed a refreshing shower.

As I follow these progressive leaders, I don't catch Christ's aroma or the Spirit's movement.  I can't remember a testimony of a progressive who miraculously healed someone, accurately prophesied, or cast a demon out of a tortured soul.  The Gifts of the Spirit don't make for compelling yard signs or controversial memes.

You ought to say plainly that you do not believe the gospel of Christ. For to believe what you please, and not to believe what you please, is to believe yourselves and not the gospel.

~ St. Augustine

We are Hand-wired to resonate with the eternal, surge with the supernatural, and marvel at the mystical. The progressives frequently remind us of Jesus flipping tables at the temple, but this is precisely their shortcoming—they revel in the dusty commotion of the Outer Courts but have never been facedown in the Holy of Holies. 

The Apostle Paul gives us the key to life here on Earth: Don't you know that you are a temple of God? Western Evangelicalism places great emphasis on the externalities of our faith, which is precisely where Christ flips our precious displays. In the interior life, His love thrives, holiness resides, and union with God grows. And from that chamber of unitive exchange, we emerge back into the dusty commotion and are no longer confused about what to bless and what to cast out.

Do you have prophetic friends? To have friends who say, “I’ll pray for you,” is a rare blessing.  To have friends who say, “I’ve been praying for you,” is a special blessing.  To have friends who say, “Let’s pray right now,” is a supreme blessing.

But, do you have friends who prophesy to you?

Are you in a church where there is always a chance someone will prophesy to you?  To be in a church that teaches about prophesy and the gifts of the Spirit is a rare blessing.  To be in a church that demonstrates prophecy is a special blessing.  To be in a church where people prophesy to one another is a supreme blessing.

But, do you have friends who prophesy to you?

You can all prophesy

~ I Corinthians 14:31

Prophecy has been in the news recently and for all the wrong reasons. You may have seen that Shawn Bolz and Chris Reed, who both built entire careers around prophesying to strangers, have been charged with cheating.

I will never forget flying across the country with my boys to attend the Azusa Now event at the L.A. Coliseum in 2016.  With his phone in hand from the platform, Bolz called out names, addresses, birthdays, and dreams with uncanny accuracy.  

He was later caught having “data-mined” the information online using the registration list.

More recently, I can never forget being in a church service with Chris Reed.  With his phone in hand from the platform, Reed called out names, addresses, birthdays, and dreams with uncanny accuracy.

He was later caught having “data-mined” the information online using church lists.

These instances of fraud are disgraceful on their face, but I shudder at the brazenness of a human heart that would dare play Rich Little with the voice of God.  It makes me think of the Apostle Peter’s words to Ananias when he caught him in a public lie in the Book of Acts:

 ‘How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.’ And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last. 

~ Acts 5:4-5

I won’t speak for you, but as for me and my house, I choose to abstain from thinking I can lie to the omniscient King of the Universe. I can only conclude one of two things for jesters like Ananias, Reed, and Bolz.  They either presume wrongly upon His fathomless forgiveness or don’t believe there is a King or a throne. Yet, this still has little to do with my original question.

Do you have friends who prophesy to you?

Pursue love and be eager for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

~ Paul’s First Letter to Corinth, 14:1

According to Derek Prince’s definition, prophecy is the ability given by the Holy Spirit to speak words inspired by and given by The Holy Spirit.  Note both the ability to hear the words and the content of the words are from The Lord. While these prophetic words are sometimes predictive, corrective, or cautionary, they are most often for encouragement, strengthening, and consolation. (I Corinthians 14:3)

Encouraging

In October 2020, I was leading worship in a prayer meeting.  About 50 of us were there, and a pastor with a seasoned gift of prophecy was visiting.  Over two hours into the meeting, I was wearily planning an escape route with the least path of disruption when this pastor interrupted his message, scoped me around the music stand, and said, “I see writing all over you.  I know you’re the music guy, but you won’t be writing songs.  This will be something entirely different.”

At that point, I was not even keeping a journal, let alone The Wine Patch. Over these past four years, that word has sustained me through the endless cycles of asking myself why I do this. The next time you want to leave a meeting early, it is best to check with The Lord first.

Last year, my close friend and prayer room leader gave me a handwritten prophetic word.  I’ve watched him accurately prophesy over hundreds of people over the years, but this one was different.  I can still see him, in tears, reading it to me.  Every week since, as I struggle to understand why my business failed and why I can’t yet see the way forward, I read that word, and it bolsters my faith and chases my doubts.

Strengthening

A few months ago, I found myself once again overwhelmed with despair, particularly about finances.  I asked the Lord for a sign. My phone lit up with a text from an unknown number saying they appreciated my work and were praying for me.  I ignored it as spam, but a few days later another message arrived.  I reservedly asked who it was.

It turns out it was from a young man of miraculous faith and holy fire who was with us on my mission trip to India in 2018.  He now lives in the States, is married with a child, and asked if we could talk on the phone. As excited as I was to hear from him, I expected a fund-raising ministry pitch to follow.

I could not have been more wrong.  This young man told me he had followed my writing and prayed for me. Still, I jadedly thought:  How much money will you need? But no, he told me he had a word from The Lord for me and began to prophesy.  As I type this, I can still feel the power of those sacredly phrased truth bombs bursting in my heart.  

Consoling

Just a few weeks ago, a few of us were sitting around the kitchen table after a presence-filled prayer meeting.  We call these post-gatherings The After Glow.  We had barely sat down when my friend and pastor, who lives half the country away, grabbed my arm and started to prophesy.  He teared up, yet with resolve, he spoke directly of the price I’ve paid for the battles I’ve waged — Against culture, politics, and the church.

I dislike giving the enemy too much air time because misplaced focus can yield unintended consequences. However, his words landed in my heart and mind with profound, insightful comfort. I’ve been praying through them ever since.

Though I am withholding details of the content, these are three examples of pretty recent gifts God has given to me through friends who dare to prophesy.  And while some may think these are simply instances of positive affirmation, each of these friends has evident, intimate, and devoted faith in God, is firmly rooted in the scriptures, and knows the difference between giving a compliment or a prophecy. 

Our magnificent wiring is incredibly conductive to the current of The Creator’s voice.  In other words, when a word is from the Lord, we know it.

With regard to the spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.

~ I Corinthians 12:1

Paul does not want us to be unaware of the power made available through resurrection.

I know very few churches that practice the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, teach the gifts of the Spirit, or allow time in their gatherings for the Holy Spirit to speak.  I surmise that subconsciously, or better said, sub-spiritually, church leaders are well aware there is a paucity of power in their gatherings, so clunky compensations are implemented to give the appearance of power — Compensations like mood-evoking lighting, over-caffeinated messages, piped-in glory smoke, and excessive decibel distribution.

Others believe that because we have the canonized scriptures, The Lord has said everything He wants to say. Yes, we cherish the Bible, God's living and active eternal Word. However, we can become scripture scholars yet still not recognize His voice.

Paul also clearly distinguishes between the gift of prophecy and the office of the prophet.  All can prophesy, but not all are prophets.

Scripture requires that all prophecies should be tested.  I have had many prophetic words given to me over the years which have not yet happened.  While some may still come to pass, in most cases, it is safe to say the person giving me those words had confused their thoughts for The Lord’s.  

I’ve been in more than a few meetings where one person shared a struggle or a need, and suddenly, we started playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey with our best attempts at placing a meaningful word on the person. Like blindfolded kids stumbling to land their best effort, the poor subject ends up covered in tails, with even a few left dangling from the ceiling.

But when that one pinned word of precision finds its mark, it can change a person’s life. Even cleaning up the rogue tails can be a vital learning process for everyone.

The one who prophesies builds up the church.

I Corinthians 14:4

Many church leaders will say that I Corinthians 14 is prescriptive for small group meetings, not Sunday morning gatherings. Here are a few thoughts.

First, when this letter was written, the church primarily met house to house.  Second, why should we expect a Tuesday night small group to excel and flourish in the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit when it is never taught, modeled, or demonstrated on Sunday mornings? In my experience, it is rare for a small group to exceed the freedom the Sunday leaders permit.

Third, Paul tells us that prophecy builds up the church.  My aim is not to be preachy nor to be critical because my heart longs for the people of God to take full ownership of the gifts Jesus rose to give us.  In that exchange, we are molded more into the image of Christ, and our gatherings grow in the same power that transformed the world through the first-century church. 

Are you worried about repelling a seeker or offending a visitor?  Paul tells us what can happen to them when prophecy is released in the gathering:

The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and in this way he will fall down with his face to the ground and worship God, declaring, 'God is really among you.'

~ Verse 25

And you'll want to turn up the lights when this starts happening.

Photo Credit: An image from Papyrus 46. One page of Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth. Roughly AD 200.

“Dad, Harrison called and invited me to swim at his house.  Should I go?”

“Of course!”

“But Dad, Peter called and invited me to ride bikes at the trails.  Should I go?”

“Sure, I know you love to ride in the trails.”

“But Dad, should I swim or ride bikes?”

“Son, it’s up to you.  It’s your choice.”

“But I want to do the right thing.”

“Neither one of them is wrong, son.”

“But I want you to tell me: Should I swim or ride bikes?”

“I told you, son, you can choose. Swimming with Harrison will be great, and riding with Peter will be great.  What do you want to do?”

“I want to do what you want me to do. Please tell me your will.”

[Three hours later]

“Son, you’re still here?  Now it’s late; why didn’t you go?”

“Father, you didn’t tell me which one to do?”

.  .  .

If I were this father, I would feel upset, perhaps angry.  But the overwhelming emotion would be a resounding, wrenching sadness.  I didn’t raise my son to be timid or fickle, and I certainly didn’t train him to be fearful or indecisive. After all this time together, how can he not understand how much I love him and want him to live his life to the fullest?  It is as if he doesn’t even know me.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

~ Paul to the Church at Ephesus, 4:30

I’ve been thinking a good deal about this verse since I wrote my last piece on a companion passage: Do not quench the Spirit. The idea that we can extinguish the movement and actions of the Holy Spirit of God is impossible to imagine — And yet, we can.  However, the idea that my actions can cause The Spirit to grieve is far more unimaginable. How many times have I been like this bound-up boy and grieved The Spirit?

I have an all-too-easy time imagining God being angry with me, disappointed in me, or not speaking to me.  The truth is, I often feel that way.  But the thought of the Spirit of God grieved with me is impossible to consider.  

My thoughts can readily imagine His majesty, power, splendor, and light. My reflections can steadily ponder His glory, wisdom, mercy, and grace.  But grief?  And worse yet, grief caused by me?

Scripture is clear that when Jesus laid aside His Divinity, He put on the fullness of our humanity, which includes our messy emotions.  Isaiah calls Him a man of sorrows.  While looking upon the city of Jerusalem and beholding their unbelief, he was deeply moved and wept.  While standing at the grave of His friend Lazarus and beholding their unbelief, he was deeply moved and wept.  When he prayed in Gethsemane on the night of His arrest, He was in such travail that droplets of blood mingled with his sweat — the first trickle of the water and blood that would soon flow on the cross.

Even still, how can I grieve the Holy Spirit today?  When I embark on a carnal riff, shaking my fist to heaven while thundering my case, it’s easy to envision Him sternly waiting for my tantrum to pass like a robed Judge behind the bench. But like the father of the infantile boy, how often does He grieve at the misshapen character I continually cling to?

Love your neighbor as yourself

~ The Second Most Important Commandment As Stated By Jesus, Mark 12:31

I have openly shared that these past four years have been the most challenging of my life.  When people ask me how they can pray, I quickly say, “Pray for Jill, she has to live with me.” If I am being honest, this supreme command of Christ should be flipped for me:  Love yourself as you love your neighbor.

I love other people well.  It’s me I have a problem with.

When discouragement, despair, and disillusionment set in, the cascade of insults roll off my tongue and into the mirror all too freely. I become Don Rickles without the warmth or the laughs. If I ever heard my son speak of himself the way I can speak of myself, I would be far more saddened than the scenario of swimming or bikes.

Do not fear or be dismayed

~ Deuteronomy 31:8

The Old Testament continually joins “Fear not” with “Be not dismayed.” We confidently remind one another not to be afraid.  In fact, the Bible says, “Do not be afraid” over 70 times.  But how often do we urge someone not to be dismayed?  What does it mean to be dismayed?

Before I learned the Hebrew meaning of dismay, I assumed it was a lesser bedfellow to fear, something like to be discouraged. But this word’s meaning is far more arresting and aptly describes large swathes of my last four years. To be dismayed is a surprisingly troubling description of an even more worrisome condition.

To be dismayed in this context means to be broken, so broken you are shattered — Shattered to the extent you feel your sense of self has been abolished.

Why am I publicly rendering my heart to extract a concentrated essence of these emotions?  When these harsh self-criticisms tumble freely from my lips, it’s not merely because I have an ingrained Italian temper.  I now realize the launch pad for my negative self-talk is far deeper than I thought — And it’s a launch pad the Lord wants to remove from within all of us.

We should always read scripture within its surrounding context, and in the case of do not grieve the Holy Spirit, the preceding and proceeding passages give us more than a clue of what grieves Him:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

~ Ephesians 4:29-31

While our indecision and inaction may grieve Him, our spoken bitter words indeed grieve him.  

Scripture reveals the power our words have. The Book of James is a master class on our custom-built flamethrowers, also known as the tongue. The tongue is a small fire that can start a course-changing inferno.  It is a tiny rudder able to redirect a massive ship. If we can not tame our tongue, it can be the poison that renders our religion worthless. 

For we all stumble in many ways.  If anyone does not stumble in what he says, then he is a perfect man.

~ James 3:2

James admits we all stumble in countless ways, but we can only be perfect by not speaking careless words.  The charge for me to put away clamor and slander is a poetic punch in the mouth.

Lord, I don’t only want to bite my tongue or tame it.  I invite You to touch that place deep within me from where these flames are launched. May it be that I never grieve you again.

“Hey Dad, I’m going to ride bikes.”

Photo Credit: Holy Spirit Prayer of St. Augustine. Painting by Jen Norton

For those who binged Lost, you may remember the ominous, swirling tower of black smoke that eerily and sporadically rose from the island floor. To see it was to be drawn to it.  But before I continue, can we agree that Lost wins the award for the worst closing episode ever?

While running on an oppressively hot morning in Tempe, AZ, I saw a similar pillar of black smoke rising across the horizon.  It only seemed a few blocks away, so I ran in that direction.  After a few miles of navigation, I could behold the source:  A rather large, single-story nightclub was on fire.  I hit pause on my watch and marveled at how the fully fitted firefighters had employed their extensive training to put the fire out.

Turn on the hoses and douse the place, most would think.  But no, I witnessed a carefully choreographed dance of precision where every cast member knew their part in a well-rehearsed strategy to extinguish the flames.

Some firefighters, with axes in hand, focused on the front entrance.  Instead of hacking down the door, they poked holes in the overhang above their heads on the front porch.  Other firefighters broke through perimeter windows as others unfurled hoses, positioning themselves around the structure.

By this point, the Hook and Ladder truck had positioned a fireman over the roof and he opened more holes with a significant, heavy tool.  Once all the windows and holes were opened, the commander gave the order to the man at the dials who opened the pumps.  Like stiffening boa constrictors, the bevy of hoses snapped into formation, gushing their roaring payload as teams directed the fire-quenching flow onto the flames.

I soon realized there was neither interest nor care to preserve the building. No one was in a hurry, nor was anyone rushing.  They were methodically following a script.  By the time I forgot that I was miles from my hotel, the fire was under control, and the firefighters had begun entering the building.

Do not quench the Spirit

~ Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, 5:19

Creation was forced to wait through all 39 books of the Old Testament and first four of the New Testament before beholding the outpouring of the third Person of the Godhead.  And how did The Father manifest His Holy Spirit after Jesus’ resurrection? As fire. Scripture recounts that when the promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled, He appeared as flaming tongues. 

And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

~ The Book of Acts, 2:3-4a

The biblical writers were inspired by The Holy Spirit and well-trained in the Hebrew ways of artful communication.  Luke’s word choices here are not only heavenly; they are curated with great forethought and purpose.

The description of The Holy Spirit as fire is understandable.  But tongues?  Cecil B. DeMille’s glowing tumbleweed barely depicted the flames of fire Moses saw in a bush.  Fire, yes.  But a bush?  

Like Moses’ attempt to describe what he saw, I’m sure Luke struggled to explain what he saw.  A few thoughts immediately come to mind.  First, the substantive representation of the Holy Spirit is fire. And second, this fire wants to speak.

What is more sobering is that we can quench this voice-shaped fire. The first-generation, post-resurrection church in Thessalonica was prone to quenching the spirit, which literally means they were extinguishing Him.  How can this be possible? How can human beings snuff out the fire of the Living God? 

The first time the word extinguish appears in the Old Testament is also a command specific to holy fire:

The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it.  It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning.

~ Leviticus 6:12

I was a teenager during the Jesus Movement and saw firsthand the fire of God in many people and many church gatherings.  Yes, there were healings and conversions, prophecy and miracles.  But most of the time, it was not as visible as it was discernible.  The presence of God is not a feeling, but when the presence of God is near, you feel it.  You know it.  Likewise, when the presence of God seems absent, you should also know it.  We are designed to know it — and prevent it.

It’s a Dry Heat

This brings us back to the fire I watched in Arizona.  When the Spirit of God is indiscernible in a church gathering, it is not by accident or happenstance. The natural state of the presence of God is the burning centerpiece of every gathering and every heart. If a nightclub fire requires a battalion of firefighters to follow an agreed-upon script to put out the fire, imagine how much more intentional, well-coordinated agreement and action is needed to put out the Spirit of God?

I remember when a gentleman was supernaturally healed of a fist-sized tumor on his spine and the pastor told me he couldn’t share the testimony from the platform on Sunday because the staff were not in agreement on the doctrine of healing.

I remember when a woman was asked by leadership not to pray in tongues in church, even if it was under her breath.  I remember when a congregant told me after I led worship in a service not to pray or talk between songs, as I often did.  

I remember hearing reports from staff meetings after George Floyd died that half the clergy demanded sermons on white privilege while the other half refused. I remember when revival broke out at Asbury College in February 2023, yet most churches failed to mention it, let alone look heavenward to catch the wave.

I remember when a worship leader deviated from the schedule and allowed time for people to worship the Lord in their own expression, and the priest later told him never to do that again. I remember sitting through years of Sunday morning sermons and never hearing mention of baptism in the Holy Spirit.

I remember countless church services where there was nary an unscripted moment, almost as if for fear Jesus might grab the mic.

The real danger is this:  Once the holy fire has been snuffed out, church leaders can be tempted to become spiritual arsonists, using carnal pyrotechnics to create the illusion of presence by replacing the All-consuming Fire with a Duraflame log.

Many years ago, I had a dream.  We were in my old church, St. Paul’s Darien, CT.  As would occasionally happen, a demonized person began to act out.  Father Mark addressed him from the altar, saying, “Name yourself.”  The person answered, “I am Satan, the evil one.”  I can now see and hear the dream as if it happened yesterday.

At that point, the person turned and slowly walked out of the sanctuary. I saw that he was carrying a pail in each hand, and in each pail was fire.  I followed him as he exited the building, urging, “Don’t take the fire!  Don’t take the fire!”  But he continued across the lawn toward the road.

I shouted more urgently in pursuit, “Don’t take the fire!  Don’t take the fire!”  He crossed the road and disappeared into hedges.

I woke up out of breath.  For the ensuing days, I asked trusted friends what the dream meant.  No one seemed to nail it until I asked my Father-in-law.

“Satan can not contain nor carry the fire of God. You thought it was God’s fire, but it wasn’t.  That was the unholy fire. It was the strange fire that Nadab and Abihu attempted to offer — And were slain by God for doing so.”

Only four chapters after the priests are commanded not to let the fire go out, we find these two sons of the High Priest:

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on the fire and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.’”

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

~ Leviticus 10:1-3

I am not saying the guitar player will drop dead the next time the smoke machine revs up, but if he does, be careful what you say. However, a church’s propensity to snuff out the fire of God in their gatherings and prop up a fanciful facsimile is not accidental nor unintentional.  It requires decisive, well-coordinated actions and behaviors, and Paul commands us never to do it.

Most importantly, if each of us is not individually tending to the fire in our prayer closet, we should never expect revival fires to burn in our church.  The tongues of fire that rested on each person in the upper room happened corporately but were profoundly personal and intimate and demanded a lifetime of cherished awareness.  

The most remarkable characteristic of the power of those holy flames that took up residence with each person in that loft is the wooing invitation to this next step of faith. It’s merely a breath away and is ours for the asking.

Jesus breathed on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

~ The Gospel of John, 20:22

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.

~ The Gospel of Luke, 2:14

Despite having precisely one full year to prepare for Christmas, we inevitably break into a panicked fright around mid-December when we are startled by Christmas Tide knocking on our door again. Some of our most inspired planning casually coalesces in July as we watch bundled-up Hallmark Channel actors suppress their sweat while frolicking in deep-fake snow.  Then, on August 1st, we shake the Etch-a-Sketch over our heads and erase Christmas planning from our brains.

Shopping, decorating, and festivities aside, these past few Christmases have been particularly trying for me.  So trying, my faith has been fire-tested so that every seam in my life is stressed and thoroughly singed.  

I owned a successful consulting company for years, but in December 2020, by no fault of my own, we lost our contracts, and I had to lay off my entire team.  With two boys in college, I began collecting unemployment for the first time in my life.  Merry Christmas to me.

Only by God’s good grace did we make it through that first year. I often tell people there is a Kingdom economic plan that you will discover only when there are no options left. The testimony of that tested truth is that we never missed a mortgage payment. 2021 was also the year I began writing and setting up my blog, The Wine Patch. The Lord may take away, but He is always giving something new in exchange.

After submitting my resume with 30 years of professional experience to almost 200 different companies, I think I’ve tallied a dozen automated responses, 4 interviews, and not a single offer.  

In 2022, I managed to piece together a few small projects, and by early 2023, I was able to bring back two of my old teammates. Making a fraction of what I used to earn felt like progress, and we were grateful for an answered prayer.  

But two weeks before Christmas 2023, our approved contract for 2024 was snatched from under me like the old tablecloth trick. With plates and glasses crashing to the ground, for the second time, I had to lay off my team.  Merry Christmas to us.

The first half of 2024 was some of the darkest days of my life.  Discouragement, despair, and waves of delusion became my abiding, unholy friends.  And when people asked me how they could pray for me, I would always say, “Pray for Jill.  She has to live with me.”

Throughout these four years, we have prayed.  We have fasted.  We have taken communion in our home. We have held tightly to the prophetic words spoken to us. We have continued to serve, continued to give, and I continue to lead worship.  And I write, which is sometimes the hardest thing to do.  

But while those first six months of 2021 felt like taking a deep breath and going underwater to playfully see how long I could hold it, 2024 has felt more like my foot is stuck in the drain in the deep end, and I am out of air.

Just as bountiful blessing insulates us with comfort, prolonged suffering exacerbates pain.  Yet, few Evangelical pulpits journey into the deep end to dare contemplate the nearness of suffering.  Instead, everything is up, everything is exciting, everything is shiny, and everything is immediate.  And why not?  We love it when prayers are answered immediately.

The Doctrine of Immediately 

Most of the accounts of Jesus’ miraculous healings happened immediately.  

“Immediately, his leprosy was cleansed.”  

“Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight.”  

“Immediately, the crippled man stood up and took his stretcher.”  

“Immediately, the man’s ears were opened.”  

“He commanded the fever, and it left her.  Immediately, she got up and began to serve them.”

I’ve been in prayer meetings and altar calls when the pastor laid hands on someone for healing. Too often, the only immediately I saw was how quickly that pastor moved to the next person.

I believe in biblical, supernatural healing not only because I’ve experienced it but because Jesus told us we could do it. But what can we say when the immediate healing we pray for repeatedly fails?

The Opposite of Immediately Is Not Never

In the Book of Acts, there is a stirring account of Paul and Silas in desperate need of their immediately.  Chapter 16 opens with Paul having a dream which immediately leads him to travel to Macedonia. When they arrived, they came upon a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. As she followed Paul’s group, she shouted and caused consternation because she bore the voice of a demonic spirit.

Paul turned, rebuked the spirit, and commanded, “Come out of her.”  The spirit came out of her immediately.

The girl was set free but lost her gift of fortune-telling, so her owners became irate.  Paul and Silas were forcibly brought before the magistrates, stripped of their clothing, severely beaten, put in chains, and thrown in prison.

As they were being falsely accused, the truth was not immediately revealed.  When they were condemned before the magistrates, the justice they sought was not immediately served. As the crowd began tearing their clothes off, a holy angel did not immediately intervene.  

As each clenched fist and hack of the rod landed on their naked bodies, the only sensation they immediately felt was unbearable pain. Blow after blow after blow.

As they were dragged into their prison cell feeling utterly abandoned, I imagine they were quizzically praying: 

Lord, where are You? Why is this happening? How could you let them do this to us? We are serving you! We performed countless miracles for others; where is ours?

To further personalize this unbearable scene, allow me to overlay some possible protestations from my worst emotional dives;

I did what You asked, and this is my reward?  What have I done to deserve this? Why does everyone else have it better than me? If my child were suffering like this, I would have stopped it by now.

And now you see why you should pray for Jill.

Our prayers can take on limitless forms of expressed devotion based upon our state of mind and posture of soul.  When it is well with my soul, the modals of petition, gratitude, contrition, and intercession seem to flow nobly.  But when my soul is unwell and in wait of its immediately, my articulations are packaged in anger, doubt, questioning, and accusation.

Thank God Paul and Silas didn’t share my exposed and unstable foundational flaws.  Instead of shaking their fists toward heaven, they set their affections upon The Lord.  And instead of counting their wounds, they counted themselves among the worshippers of God.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

~ Verse 25

Of this I am sure:  Worship matters.  When we release worship regardless of the wellness of our soul, even the angels gather to behold such a marvel.

Suddenly, there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

~ Verse 26

The Lord may not move immediately, but when He moves, it is always suddenly. And when the suddenly of God comes upon you, your immediately is taken care of.

Imagine the fear, confusion, and discouragement the disciples felt as they cowered in the upper room after Jesus’ death.  “Suddenly, a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting.”

When Peter was in jail waiting to be killed by Herod, “Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in his prison cell.”

While bloodthirsty Saul was traveling to Damascus to imprison more Christians, “Suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground.”

It was a long, dark night that Christmas Eve.  Shepherds on the night watch had to fight off sleep to protect their flocks from predators.  Seconds seem like minutes, and minutes seem like hours under the endless celestial canopy.  “Why can’t I have a day job like everyone else?  How long until Israel receives Her King? I’m so tired, I wish I could go to sleep.  God, these sheep stink! What did I just step in?!”

And suddenly there appeared . . .

Bible References in order:

Mat 8:3, Mat 20:34, Mark 2:12, Mark 7:35, Luke 4:39, Acts 2:2, Acts 12:7, Acts 9:3

I love the Church.  The Church is The Lord's precious, sacred gift to the Earth. When we think of Church, we naturally envision a building where believers gather for worship and prayer, a sermon, and hopefully Communion.  But is that what Jesus envisioned?

I grew up in the Catholic Church, and no matter how gingerly I compensated for gravity as I lowered myself to sit, I could still hear the unavoidable creaks and croaks of the dark, worn pews. I remember playing endlessly with the spring-loaded hat hooks affixed to the bench backs and still wince at the thought of Gran-gran's stink eye when my thumb slipped off the button and the hammer strike echoed through the sanctuary.

I always looked forward to lowering the kneeler at the appropriate few times each mass, providing another chance to break the silence of my "Be quiet!" chamber.  Sometimes, I would eek a smirk and slam it down a few extra times to add to the synchronized chorus of heavy wooden feet punching the tile floor. 

I was an altar boy for a few years when I was a little older.  I remember the anticipation of ringing the Communion hand chimes when the priest held up the wafer and, later, the cup.  I always jangled them a little longer than necessary, sometimes getting the clerical stink eye.

Looking back, I realize my most memorable moments as a child in Church were making noise or releasing sound to disrupt the quiet.  Perhaps I liked breaking the rules, but I think it may have been a deeper, more innate urge than that.  Maybe I wasn't designed to be a quieted spectator in the House of the Lord?

When you gather, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.  Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the Church.

~ I Corinthians 14:26

Each one.  The first idea of the Church, or ecclesia, was participatory.  It was a Spirit-led symphony of everyone playing their unique part of the score, producing heaven's orchestral movement.  Alas, the centuries have rendered many churches down to an onlooker's event.  As my Pastor would say back in the day;

The ministers minister, and the congregation congregates.

~ Rev. Terry Fullam

Fast-forward to today's rollicking contemporary church services, and I could shake those bells, slam the kneelers, and snap the hat hooks as loudly as I like—no one would hear it. The juiced-up sound boards and amped-up speakers ensure rolling thunder throughout the room and within the ribcage. 

The rare moments of silence are so short-lived I have begun to count to myself: "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three . . ." I can't remember the last time I reached four.

In many churches, exquisite effort and expense are spent on executing the externalities of the church experience —an experience meant to stir the senses for the Presence of God. Even the prophet Elijah mistook the Presence for strong winds, breaking rocks, earthquakes, and fire. But he quickly learned that the Lord was not in the wind, quake, or fire. His voice was small, and it was still.

For God alone, my soul waits in silence.

~ Psalm 62:1

Growing up, I dreaded the solemnity and quiet of Church. Now that I'm grown up, I want it back. 

Jenga Skylines and Gasoline Puddles

While this brief reflection on church life is from my heart, I sat down tonight to write from a far greater weight: Christian leaders and ministries are collapsing around us like Jenga towers.  Though one block is always the trigger, the compromised position of the adjoining blocks produces the controlled demolition of the structure.

In 2021, I wrote about my miraculous four days at the International House of Prayer.  Because of sexual immoralities, the ensuing coverups, and persistent resistance to repentance, Mike Bickel, IHOP University, and Forerunner Church are no more.

Chris Reed was the delivery mechanism for my most mind-blowing miracle on that trip. He next planted himself in the center of the Bickel debacle and is currently suffering the consequences of an immoral relationship with a student at Morningstar. (I met with Chris when I began to doubt my miraculous encounter. I appreciated our conversation; we prayed for each other, and the rest will remain private.)

We used to bring our family to New York City for Hillsong conferences and services.  In hindsight, I now know that Pastor Carl Lentz was actively cheating on his wife while I watched him preach.

Steve Lawson, Tony Evans, Bill Hybels, Ravi Zacharias, Rick Joyner, and Matt Chandler are memorable names—but remembered for the wrong reasons. I just watched the two-part documentary on David Platt and the woke takeover of McLean Bible Church in DC. If you want to see decimation in the wake of woke theology and dark money, pop some corn and click play.

The teachings of Robert Morris were a mainstay in our home for years.  But after the facts of his pedophilia case were made public, he dropped out of sight quicker than if his headjack was yanked in The Matrix.

This brings us to the TV station we watched Robert on and the highest-profile scandal of the year: DayStar. Even though the story is fresh and the predictable posturing has begun, the facts are unthinkable as it involves a five-year-old little girl, and it bears all of the hallmarks of one more tower about to topple.

As we pull the lens back, the commonalities between these scandals are startling. It is as if the playwrights in Gehenna have run out of ideas and are releasing the Pastor's Moral Failure redux again and again.

Why sexual perversion, infidelity, and abuse are so prevalent among Christian leaders is a profoundly troubling matter in itself, particularly when the Holy Spirit not only convicts us of our sin but animates us with every strength and self-control necessary to resist the devil’s script. The only reasonable assumption is that these pathological offenders have quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit long ago.

An institution may recover from a leader's failure. An institution will rarely survive the coverup.  Attempting to cover up sexual sin in the Church is like trying to hide a puddle of gasoline by kicking hot embers on it.

Tinnitus of the Heart

Back to the quiet.  Western Evangelicalism has long jettisoned the early Church's solemnity, contemplativeness, and personal asceticism. I recently attended a Greek Orthodox funeral, and as soon as I walked through the ornate doors, the architecture lifted my gaze toward heaven.  There was a calming sense of reverence and a feeling that I had left one world and entered another.  

In a word, I felt transcendence.

I rejoice that the New Testament sanctuary is the yielded human heart. Still, I also confess that solemn, contemplative, and transcendent are not the markers of our strip mall concert halls with rack-mounted lighting and huffing smoke machines.

Don't hear me wrong; I love the Church and being in the assembly of God's people.  But I do wonder if these sexually broken leaders had long lost their connection with the still, small voice in their interior world because of the ceaseless white noise in their exterior world.  

A muscle-car worship band can disrupt the contemplative, and the absence of four Mississippi can chase away the solemness.  But I wonder:  Was the fatal sound that drowned out the siren of the Holy Spirit's voice deep inside these broken Pastor's hearts the deafening crackle of applause?

This begs the question: Have we lost the quiet because we love the loud?  Or do we love the loud to avoid the quiet?

The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the Earth keep silence before Him.

~ Habakuk 2:20

Breaking: The Lord has declared victory and a grateful nation rejoices!

The November 2020 election results rightly left countless millions distraught and filled with dread for the future of our country.  Out of that concern and lament, a national prayer movement launched, which possibly would not have formed otherwise. Four long years of faithful, fervent, and travailing prayer brought us these miraculous election results of 2024. When the Lord hears the prayers of a nation, it is fitting to thank Him with the same zeal we beseeched Him with.

He answered their prayers because they trusted Him. 

~ I Chronicles 5:20

To those who knelt low on their kneelers and those who were seated high atop the watchman’s wall, give thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart!  To those who were hungry for the meat of brave preachers and those who were thirsty for the words of the prophets, give thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart! To those who spoke the truth in the face of lies and those who employed the gift of distinguishing between spirits, give thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart! 

To those who resisted the leaven of Herod and those who released the leaven of the Kingdom, give thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart!  To those who prayed without food and those who worshiped without ceasing, give thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart!  To those who suffered loss for their beliefs and those who were reviled, and persecuted, and had all kinds of evil uttered against them: Rejoice! For great is your reward in heaven.

I never set out to be a political commentator, and in the familiar sense of the term, I am still not one.  I am a brother of Christ who is deeply disturbed to see both believers and churches succumb to the deceptions of wokeness, leftism, and globalism.  The antichrist spirit has enthroned itself on this rotted, three-legged stool, the same stool from which winsome preachers muse on the nuance of abortion, the horrors of whiteness, and the unforgivable sins of America’s founding.

These are often the very same leaders who scold Christians not to be political.

The word politics is immediately construed as the corrupt and conniving tactics of crooked, public self-servants.  But in its etymological sense, politics, from polis, is simply the spiritual or secular governance of a citizenry and its behavior. This is precisely why the New Testament church in the First Century was not called a synagogue or a temple but the Ecclesia.  In Roman times, the Ecclesia was an authoritative gathering or council of the polis and was actively embedded in the center of the public square. 

Witnessing how many preachers remained silent about the recent election has been both dismaying and disheartening.  While I have written much on our presidency this year, I wrote one final plea last week charging pastors to equip their sheep before they stepped into the shearing booth.  Tragically, even on the Sunday before the election, many pastors chose to remain silent.

It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.

~ George Whitefield

What Kind of Blue Did He Say?

A recently published national map exhibits the ten most post-Christian cities in America.  Two of these cities are on the West Coast, and the remaining eight are here in the Northeast.  You don’t have to be painter Bob Ross to quickly see this glaringly obvious portrait — The Northeast paints its political palette not with Van Dyke Brown, Titanium White, or even Bright Red. No, the once sacred cradle of two Great Awakenings prefers its politics in deep Phthalo Blue.

This happy-little axiomatic equation is obvious: Deep blue politics yields post-Christian culture, and post-Christian culture breeds deep blue politics. So, to all the church leaders and pulpiteers intent on “bringing the gospel” to New England, you must break through the fourth wall and understand that you are more than gatherers, evangelists, and encouragers—you are thought-shapers.  

The apostle Paul teaches that those who have received the Holy Spirit can know the thoughts of God.  Conversely, unspiritual believers can not understand God’s thoughts and even deem them to be foolish. (I Corinthians 2) Imagine, there are myriads of saints marching through the pearly gates right now who unfortunately missed out on how the mind of Christ operates within the Kingdom of God here on earth.  

A believer may possess a biblical worldview, but if they lack a Kingdom way of thinking, they may not robustly release the salt, light, and leaven of the Kingdom into the public square. By choosing to remain silent throughout the election season and thereby not helping the saints grow in Kingdom thinking, our pastors became political in the worst sense of the word.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn.

~ Romans 12:15

Because some pastors carefully calculated their pre-election silence, they have relegated themselves to extending their self-imposed muzzling into the post-election season. The church leaders who viewed their campuses as potential war zones and refused to risk diminishing the size of their ranks are now unable to provide the lambs with the pastoral care they require.

Using broad estimation, imagine that half of your congregation was fervently praying, fasting, and interceding on behalf of our nation these past four years.  These warriors experienced an ongoing threat of peril right up until Pennsylvania was called, at which point these spirit-filled patriots began rejoicing with gratefulness and jubilee.

These faithful and grateful rejoicers walked into church the Sunday after the election with a deepened desire to worship the Lord and celebrate His favor and goodness. It was a victory for them, and they knew that a great evil had been thwarted in the unseen realms.  It was time for the church to rejoice!  

Alas, because their pastor chose to refrain from equipping these intercessors, he disqualified himself from rejoicing with them. As far as anyone could tell as they entered the Sabbath biosphere, nothing of import transpired that week, so it was Sunday business as usual.

Rejoice with those who are rejoicing.

Likewise, consider that the other half of your congregation was deeply conditioned by the media, news outlets, and the current administration and genuinely believed this election would place our nation under despotic, authoritarian control.  For them, a great wave of dread was released when Pennsylvania was called, at which point these believers began weeping with fear and great anger.

These shaken and unsettled mourners walked into church the Sunday after the election with an admixture of woe and fear, wondering how God could allow this.  For them, it was a cataclysmic defeat and they believed a great force of good was vanquished by evil.  It was time for the church to mourn.  

Alas, because their pastor chose to refrain from properly preparing this group of people, he disqualified himself from addressing their mourning. As far as anyone could tell as they entered the Sabbath biosphere, nothing of import transpired that week, so it was Sunday business as usual.

Mourn with those who are mourning.

The impact of our preaching is not intended solely for the sound systems within the biosphere and the hidden chambers of people’s hearts.  The effects of robust preaching shape thought, invoke action, and should be visible in the public square. 

America’s Next Chance to Please The Lord

The thunderous preachers of the Great Awakening, like Whitefield and Edwards, not only shaped the thoughts and ideas upon which our nation was founded but they were also kicked out of their pious biospheres. Jonathan Edwards was fired from his church in North Hampton, MA, over the issue of Communion, and George Whitefield was booted for boldly speaking against the establishment churches.

What their opponents meant for evil, God used for good.  These ousted orators became far more effective as open-air preachers, no longer sprinkling the saturated in the pews but feeding the famished in the fields of New England.

The preaching of Whitefield profoundly forged Benjamin Franklin’s thinking, and he often remarked on the fruit evident in the streets.  Franklin wrote of Whitefield’s preaching in his autobiography:

It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants.  From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seems as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.

~ The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, p. 146

For me, election night was profoundly humbling.  I have listened, discerned, and thought carefully about politics, culture, and the Kingdom these past few years and have paid a personal price for doing so. But when Pennsylvania was called, I was overcome by a weighty sense of history.  While there will potentially be tens or hundreds or thousands of future elections, the election of 2024 may turn out to be the most consequential of my lifetime and I am humbled to know that my analysis, thoughts, and convictions are digitally stored for lifetimes to come.

Early on, I deflected attention from the man and urged readers to focus on policy.  But then we watched this man, Donald Trump, endure an unending onslaught of false accusations, the Steele Dossier, the Russia Collusion, two impeachments, punitive lawsuits designed to bankrupt and imprison him, and the entire regime machinery run 24/7 smear campaigns, forced every American to lean in and look closer.

But when that bullet ripped through his ear just millimeters from taking his head off, it was no longer about policy.  When he rose off the platform, clenched his fist, and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight! it was all about the man.

Yes, it is a time of rejoicing.  And, I bear enough insight to understand why so many are mourning.  But right now, this is very humbling.  The Lord has given America another chance we may not have deserved, and I pray we can live up to the immensity of His grace extended to us.

“Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened.

~ The King of Nineveh in the Book of Jonah 3:8-10

Photo: George Whitefield, Preaching in the Colonies.

This election season is a spectacle like no other, except maybe a 1972 Demolition Derby where the fans roared louder than the engines straining to survive the onslaught.  The reason this Presidential race has been so profoundly divisive, fiercely manipulated, and explosively polarizing is not a Red Team / Blue Team thing; it’s a power thing. The thought-shaping, lie-diffusing, soul-sucking power of the media has become a colossal screen burn-in on the minds of We The People. 

Deception is similar to hypnotism: The subject is the last to know what happened.

When I was growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, we had the Six O’clock News and the News at Eleven.  I remember watching the News at Eleven on our rabbit-eared black and white while brokering deals with my parents to stay up for Johnny’s monologue. I didn’t understand all the jokes, but there was something mesmerizing about a lone man standing on a stage, talking, making a nation happy.

There were the few who listened to talk radio on the AM dial, but this much was true: News was the least exciting part of our lives.

And though we’ve heard the stories that Huntley, Brinkley, and Cronkite were ideologically driven, there was something valuable about a lone man sitting at a desk, reporting, making a nation informed.

Today, news is broadcast 25 hours a day / 367 days a year.  Viewers are treated like programable toy bots, the anchors and pundits are fluffed and buffed, and a hidden cabal is distributing scripts like a cartel pushes their product. These scripts are as addictive as drugs and just as lethal to the mind.  

There is something inhuman about a well-lit gaggle of mouth-flappers perched around a futuristic table, squawking, making a nation stupid.

The cunning subversion of the media machinery convinces us that what we saw with our eyes has not really been seen, and what we heard with our ears has not really been heard.

Lahaina, Springfield, and Asheville.  Charlotte, Minneapolis, and Afghanistan. Covid, Covington, and the Capitol.  Twitter files, laptops, and Pfizer files. Borders, balloons, and Kiev. Gender, hormones, and scalpels.  Occupy, BLM, and Antifa. The NIH, WHO, and WEF.

And the most recent?  You did not hear the President say, “The only garbage I see floatin’ out there are his supporters.”

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.  It was their final, most essential command.

~ George Orwell

Christians are fitted with a superiorly sacred aptitude that can readily dismiss the stranger’s voice and employ the Gifts of the Spirit to acquire wisdom, ascertain knowledge, and distinguish between the spirits that are masterfully deceiving souls in the cultural milieu.  What grieves me immensely is when Christians are influenced more by the simulation than the Kingdom.  And it’s easy to spot because they parrot party propaganda more than releasing vibrant revelations from the King and His Kingdom.

By now, many have seen the latest Barna Poll, which estimates that over 32 million self-identified Christians will not cast a ballot on November 5th. Less than 100,000 votes decided the 2020 election. If the poll’s prediction becomes history, the health of our country and many parts of the world will be irreparably damaged for a generation or more.

Assuming most Christians agree that this is a crucial and pivotal election, as evidenced by the vitriolic rhetoric and endless assassination attempts, both of character and of life, why are so many church-goers content to abstain?

It’s a Pastoral Issue

Many pastor's preaching today does not serve the Kingdom or the country well. While scoring high marks on evangelism, encouragement, and behavior modification, there is little to no mention of the raging cultural battles and destructive spiritual warfare the sheep face every day.  The result? The fluffed and buffed sheep are getting picked off as soon as they leave their Sunday morning pen.  

It is confounding that so many preachers refuse to speak about this monumentally significant election from their pulpits or social media accounts. Some checked off the box by urging congregants to vote while coyly withholding good teaching about how they should vote.  

Many will wince at that statement, but I am not advocating for a political directive. I am pleading that our preachers would rise boldly and clearly to realize they are not mere story illustrators and behavioral motivators—they are thought shapers. And thought shapers are culture makers.

If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it.  If satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.

~ Charles Finney, 19th Century Preacher

I was a church planter and pastor for many years, so I am familiar with the pitfalls and trappings. First, many pastors are discouraged, dried up, and burned out. They are not only running on fumes, but they have initiated total separation from their solid rocket booster—the Holy Spirit—and are making minimal forward progress on propulsion from years gone by. So, the possibility of creating a maelstrom in their already fragile mission is too exhausting to consider.

Others pride themselves on “maintaining unity” in the sanctuary despite their congregation being deeply divided in the parking lot. All that brand of unity means is that the pastor has played pew politics so well that no one knows what he believes, so there is a guise of uniformity. At least the heretical progressive preachers are bold enough to state their unorthodox, untethered doctrines loud and proud and let the cow chips fall where they may.

Another contingent of pulpiteers can not freely speak publicly because of unresolved or unspoken disagreements among their senior leadership. The topic of this Presidential election stirs up the same secular sediment as abortion, gender and pride ideology, white guilt, and sexual ethics. The result?  The most debilitating topics families are combating as their children are being groomed in the classroom are never addressed on Sunday morning.

In The Absence of Sound Teaching, Seek First The Kingdom

When I hear fellow believers dismiss the election with confident exclamations like, “My citizenship is in heaven,” or, “Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world,” my head tilts like a skittish sparrow.  All too often, when using plucked passages like this, heavenward believers write themselves a prescription to abdicate their earthly authority to fulfill their version of Jesus’ proclamation, “You are the salt of heaven” and “You are the light of paradise.”  

Another camp is a bit more fatalistic. These followers believe there is little sense in resisting evil and carrying the Kingdom on earth because the world “will be destroyed by fire.” With this malformed biblical worldview, we can jettison the Genesis mandate to subdue our garden plot, cultivate it well, and be robustly fruitful because it’s far easier to put down the shovel and wait to be evacuated out of here.

Jesus taught a great deal about the Kingdom.  A quick read of the Gospel passages that begin with, “The Kingdom of God is like,” do not describe the heavenly bits like realms of glory, radiant thrones, heavenly beings, and endless worship.  No, He leans in, stoops low, and shows us the earthly bits we are in all day.  Dirt, fields, pearls, seeds and trees, and my favorite; the Kingdom of God is like yeast that spreads through the entire lump of dough.

I heard a pastor say this week, “The Kingdom of God is above politics,” which is true.  But Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is in you.  It’s in your midst.”  So, we release that yeast into every arena of life, including politics. The dough that needs rising is down here, not up there.

Swing The Bat

The preacher is the coach, the congregants are the players on the field, and we live in a world of balls and strikes. God designed the players to get base hits, drive in runs, and win the game. 

We get plenty of sermons that describe the swing and plenty more to improve the swing. We need sermons right now that tell us when to swing. 

Teach us to discern a fastball from a curve and a slider from a change-up. When you avoid mentioning the pitches we face every day, you are essentially telling your players to stand at the plate, take every pitch, and hope for a walk. It may work occasionally, but this is the World Series, and many of our players are striking out looking. 

It’s not wrong to train your players to be hitters, especially when the other team is swinging at every pitch.

The sons of Issachar were men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. 

I Chronicles 12:32

There is something transcendent about a lone man standing behind a pulpit, preaching, making a nation strong again.

Inspired by Eric Metaxas’ New York Times bestselling biography, the film Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin will be released on November, 22 in over 1,000 theaters across the country.  Angel Studios, well known for The Chosen and Cabrini, has produced an exceptionally exquisite film based on the extraordinary life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The film is directed by Todd Komarnicki, well known for his work on Elf and Sulley. From the opening scene, the viewer is immediately ensconced in the storm clouds of early twentieth-century Germany. The desaturated color palette paints murky grey visual tones reminiscent of David Fincher’s motif and subliminally captures this ominously dark chapter in German history. 

In one of the opening scenes of the film, young Dietrich is playing piano in his home at the funeral of his beloved older brother, Walter, who was killed in WWI. He angrily darts from the piano to his room, lamenting to his mother, “No one was listening. No one cared.”  To which his mourning mother says, “Everyone cares, they were just swept up in their thoughts.”  

This became the prophetic symphony of Bonhoeffer’s life — Releasing the notes of heaven in perilous days where few listened, and fewer cared.

The all-German cast is superb, but Jonas Dassler's performance as Bonhoeffer towers in strength and subtleties and is assuredly worthy of award-winning recognition. His boyish smile beguiles his dark, sunken eyes, which simultaneously project the joy and torment of his life’s calling.  

As the world winced on the brink of annihilation at the hands of the Nazis, Pastor, and Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer vehemently warned the Church of the encroaching evils of the Nazi regime.  He masterfully charged the Church to rise in the power she possessed and to stand against the blitzkrieg of hell that was intent on exterminating both the God of the Bible and the Jewish race. But he was not merely a pulpiteer content with preaching the truth — He put his faith into action and lived it out.

The film stirringly captures Bonhoeffer’s transformation from devout believer to Spirit-filled warrior during his months at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. As he trudged through the dusty books and endless boredom at Union Seminary, it was in the black Church that Bonhoeffer experienced the vibrant power and intimate presence of the Lord in His people and within himself.  

As Reverend Powell unveiled the glories of God for Dietrich, the theology in his mind was set ablaze by the newly burning fires in his heart.  Dietrich nearly comes out of his seat and emphatically says, “I want that!” 

It was also during his time in New York that he experienced the hateful racism waged against his black brothers and sisters.  He couldn’t reconcile how faith-filled white people could harbor such hatred.  His friend Frank explained, “Hate comes in many colors, Dietrich.  Your eyes have just not been opened yet.”  His return to his homeland opened his eyes so thoroughly they would never be closed again.

Upon his return, the rise of the Nazis was sweeping through the nation, taking one local election at a time while Hitler hypnotized the masses.  In an endearingly somber moment between Dietrich and his twin sister Sabine, she says, “Something is coming.  Something unstoppable.” Dietrich assuringly avowed, “Nothing is unstoppable.”  And he knew it was true.

Bonhoeffer was boldly preaching the truth of the Gospel at a Sunday morning service in a most memorable scene, a scene many of us wish would happen in our own churches.  As he openly rejected the deceptive and dangerous tenets of Nazism that were infecting churches like a replicating virus, many walked out mid-sermon, including some of his fellow clergymen.  Pretending to be offended, they were, in fact, cowards who held fast to self-preservation and reputation.

But as Dietrich greeted people at the door as the remaining congregants exited, it was soul-lifting to see a few people quietly lean in close to say, “Thank you.  It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the truth.” Young Dietrich’s heart cry was being answered: Some were listening, and they cared.

Bonhoeffer not only proclaimed the truth, he put truth into practice.  When he was approached by his friend Hans to participate in a plot to assassinate Hitler, he confidently complied, “Here I am, Hans.  Send me.”  Some of his fellow clergy forbade him to get involved and urged him to, instead, love his enemy, saying, “Is Hitler the first evil ruler since scripture was written?"  Bonhoeffer said, “No. But he’s the first one I can stop.”

Nothing is unstoppable.  And he believed it was true.

The plot to kill Hitler failed, and Bonhoeffer was arrested. In the arrest scene, a German officer mocks Bonhoeffer, saying, “What has become of the church when the pastor becomes an assassin?”  Bonhoeffer famously replies, “If a driver were running over children, wouldn’t it be everyone’s responsibility to stop it?

Bonhoeffer was held in several prisons and ended up at Buchenwald, one of the gruesome concentration camps.  Throughout his imprisonment, we see him writing his famous letters, encouraging inmates and guards, and wringing his heart before God, asking Him to take him home to glory. In his final sermon before martyrdom, Bonhoeffer said, “This is for me the end, the beginning of life.” 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged on April 9, 1945. On the morning of his execution, he leads his fellow prisoners and one guard in holy communion.  The scene at the gallows landed heavy, salted tears on many cheeks at the private screening, prompting each to ask ourselves:  Am I doing everything the Lord has put before me?  And, at the end of my life, will I know that I have done all things well?

Just three weeks after his death and his new life had begun, Hitler committed suicide, and the war drew to an end.  

The overused theatre slogan “Must see!” is rarely warranted. But in this case, everyone must see Bonhoeffer, particularly those in churches that are eerily quiet about the battalions of evil marching across our land today.  

Most of this glorious movie unfurls as flashbacks from his time in prison, which serves to highlight his resolve, determination, and unwavering faith as he awaited execution. The agonizing scenes in his cell are reminiscent of Jesus’ prayers of anguish in the garden before His death.

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.”

We are listening, Dietrich.  And we care.  The notes of your life resound as a symphonic invitation we all must heed for as long as breath fills our lungs. Yet, it will mean little unless we accept this invitation and our caring turns into action.