Christian Nationalism Is Happening

 

 

Christians on social media for whom the TGC is too right wing and feminism is right because their wives told them it is. "You can't do Christian Nationalism!" 

Texas, "Watch us."

Things are looking up. 

Many Christians, and Non-Christians in the West are becoming more and more aware that the decline of Christianity is not leading into a Star Trek style Utopia, where all of humanity lives under a tolerant liberalism that defends freedom and prosperity, but instead it is leading into a dystopian world in which everybody is worse off. 

Atheists are beginning to realize how good they had it when they were minorities in a largely Christian country, rather than just one of many anti-Christian parts of society. They are realizing that the post-religion world is not a real possibility. They are realizing that they have simply helped create a void that something else will fill. 

To see John Cleese acknowledging this is incredible. It is remarkable. I remember seeing Cleese debate with an Anglican Minister about these issues and the young Cleese did not get this. He, and other mockers like him, did not realize just how much they were attacking the foundations of the society upon which they stood. 

But as we can see in Texas and other places, this is beginning to turn around. 

Either You Do It Or The Government Will Take Everything

 

 

I've said for years that society cannot afford to sustain the aged on public money. The pension was originally designed to last two or so years on average. Not 20 or 30 years. It was originally designed not just to support people in old age, but to incentivize older people to lay down their tools so they younger people could work. It has gone far beyond its original intention, and we simply cannot afford it.

Historically people have funded their own retirement, and they have done it through a means that anyone can afford: by having children and living with them after a certain age. This was the age old method. Many families would have several generations living in the same home, and the elderly would be looked after by the young. We have now gotten away from this, and forgotten why children were considered wealth, and society is literally going broke trying to make up the difference.

For those older women who have no family, through tragedy or unfortunate circumstances, the Bible says the Church should pool resources to look after them. But for everybody else it says their family should provide for them into old age.

This worked for millennia.

But then, as we humans like to do, we thought we were smarter and thought we could get the government to care for the aged using publicly money, and we thought that we did not really need to care about having lots of children. We called it progress. Within a couple of generations our population’s birth rate is now plummeting, debt is skyrocketing, and forward-thinking policy makers can see the brick wall our society is heading towards. Liabilities are increasing and the number of people who can effectively pay for them is shrinking. 

And don't think immigration can fix it, because lots of data shows that immigrants on average learn less money, and many of them go straight onto welfare anyway. 

Ask the state to care for you too much, and it will take all you have and more to pay for it.

All Israel is Not All Israel

 

When you are discussing the nature of who God’s people really are, the contrast between the people of faith (true Israel) and the people of the flesh (not true Israel), you will have someone chip in, “What about Romans 11?” To which I like to ask, “What about it?” Many people who bring this passage up have not considered it in detail, and how it fits into Paul’s wider argument in both the chapter of Romans 11, the section of Romans 9-11, nor Paul’s wider writings.

I know I have addressed this topic before (you can read past posts here, here and here), but my devotions the other day from Isaiah 59 have prompted me to address this from another perspective. You may be aware that Romans 11 quotes Isaiah 59:20, this is the New King James version of the text,

“25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins” (Rom. 11:25-27).

Verse 26 quotes what Isaiah says in his own prophetic writings. Isaiah is looking forward to the day in which the sins of Israel will be taken away. We know that Jesus did on this on the cross, but we also know that this salvation points forward to a time when he will return to save his people from this fallen world (1 Pet.1:3-5). As I argued in previous pieces, especially this one here, God only temporarily hardened the Israelites so that they would demand the Messiah be killed, and this passage could be fulfilled. God’s calling and election cannot be revoked, therefore, the non-believing Jewish person still has the same offer of salvation under the same conditions as any non-believing Gentile. I am not going to go into detail about this again here. I simply want to show how Isaiah’s own words confirm this reading.

The NKJV breaks this passage into three parts.

Firstly, the recognition that God’s people have gone astray,

“1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

6 Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace” (Isa. 59:1-9).

Isaiah begins this passage by outlining the sin problem. Just like any good gospel preacher would do. Note the tense in this passage, this is Isaiah looking at the wickedness of his people. He is describing a people who are caught in their sins and the result of their sins.

Next, Isaiah speaks from the perspective of an Israelite. He switches from “they” to “we”, this section reads more like a confession, as my NKJV identifies,

“9 Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us;
We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
10 We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as if we had no eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.
11 We all growl like bears,
And moan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord,
And departing from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off;
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.
15 So truth fails,
And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey” (Isa. 59:9-15).

This part of the passage says much the same thing, but because of the change in perspective it shows that the consequences of the sins of God’s people are causing them to cry out. They are suffering because of their rebellion. They know their guilt and they are confessing it.

In the final part of the passage we see God’s response to the rebellion of his people, and their being trapped in their sins,

“Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him
That there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
And wondered that there was no intercessor;
Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,
Fury to His adversaries,
Recompense to His enemies;
The coastlands He will fully repay.
19 So shall they fear
The name of the Lord from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”
Says the Lord.

21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore” (Isa. 59:15-21).

God looks at his people and sees them in their rebellion, he sees how their selfishness has turned into them oppressing the weak, he sees how there is no justice, no righteousness, and he decides that he himself needs to save them, so he does, “16 He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.” The “arm” of the Lord is of course Jesus, as we know from Isaiah,

“1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him…

…12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:1-3, 12).

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the arm of the Lord who made intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus rode out of Zion and took away the sins of his people, which is all who believe. And he will return one day out of heavenly Zion to bring judgement for his people, and all who trusted in him will be saved. He will punish evil as he notes in Isaiah 59:17-19. He will ride to victory his people, as Isaiah 59:20 says. And who are his people?

Well, he defines his people for us in verse 21,

“21 As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

They are those who:

-        He has a covenant with,

-        who speak the word of God,

-        who pass the words of God unto their descendants,

-        and who will be his people forevermore.

This can only apply to believers. Isaiah 59:20 is not a promise that God has a plan to save the final generation of Jewish people living in a country called Israel. It is that he will ride to victory for his redeemed, though who are filled with the Spirit, which we know is all believers, “14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). This is the Church, the community of believers.

The very next part of Isaiah also shows that the Gentiles are indeed in view,

“1 Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isa. 60:1-3).

Isaiah is clearly teaching about the work of salvation achieved by Jesus that goes out to all peoples, and that Jesus will again return to judge evil and vindicate his people. Hence, all Israel is simply all who believe. Saying that all Israel will be saved is the equivalent of saying that all believers will be saved.

Indeed, one of the reasons that Pharisees misunderstood who Jesus was, is because they believed the coming of the Messiah would bring their glory and the establishment of a Jewish Kingdom to rule the world. They missed the fact that there were two comings. One to deal with sin, one to take God’s fallen people from this sinful world. Isaiah 59:15-21 points to both these events. The New Testament helps us to see this with more clarity. Jesus took away our sins on the cross. He came out of Zion and achieved victory of our sins. He will one day ride again out of heavenly Zion and take people’s sins away completely.

Trying to force this into an end time revival of one ethnic group, when the vision is global, is doing great harm to this passage. It is fair to say it points to the cross and to the end of days, though. What Jesus did on the cross is a picture of how he is going to rescue us with the salvation ready to be revealed at final day, as I noted at the start.

Why limit this passage down to only apply to Jewish people, when it is taken from a much larger argument made by Isaiah that God will save all who trust in him from their sins, make them his people, and come back and rescue them? Thinking that Isaiah was referring to simply their nation, rather than to all peoples, is exactly the mistake the Pharisees made. Paul would not make that same mistake. 

 

 

Every Empire Falls For The Same Reason

 

The ruins of Nineveh lie buried beneath the sands of modern-day Mosul, a silent testament to the fragility of human power and the temporal nature of powerful empires. This reminds me of Ozymandias by Shelley,

“And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”[1]

The Assyrian Empire, the one-time undisputed superpower of the ancient Near East, collapsed with stunning speed. For the biblical prophets, however, this was no historical accident. It was the judgement of God, a divine act. While the world often attributes the fall of nations to economic collapse or military defeat, the Scriptures offer a different underlying cause; empires fall when they become full of themselves and fall into pride in their own strength and abilities.

The Assyrians, for example, were proud of their conquests and their victories. Every empire is. We read in Zephaniah 2:15 about Nineveh, “15 This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.” Zephaniah captures the heart of Assyria's fatal arrogance. What does the statement, “I am” mean? In the book of Isaiah, this almost exact phrasing, “I am, and there is no other,” is the exclusive claim of the Lord God (Isa. 45:5-6). Only he can claim to be the one who is above all others. By placing this divine claim in the mouth of Nineveh, Zephaniah is not just accusing them of idolatry; he is accusing them of Luciferian pride. They aren't merely boasting; they are actively usurping the sovereignty of the Lord Creator. The Assyrians thought they were gods, indeed, they are placing themselves in the position of THE God. Assyria had become proud of its evil, confident of its victories, enamoured with its own glory. They worshipped themselves.

Every empire becomes like this just before it starts to fall and decline. It becomes proud, arrogant, boastful, and overconfident. This overconfidence is part of what leads to its fall. Not simply because they become sloppy in battle, though this often does happen. But because as we learn in the prophets, pride provokes the living God to judgment. Empires do not merely fall as a natural consequence of bad decision-making, God intervenes in their destiny. God actively “cuts down” the towering tree (Ezekiel 31:10-11) because He “opposes the proud” (James 4:6). Empires that lean into their pride face divine resistance to their own strength and prosperity.

The reason this hubris causes an empire to fall is because pride causes people, leaders and nations, to trust in their own abilities and strengths. As Ezekiel notes about the heart of the Assyrians, “10 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height,…” (Eze. 31:10). The Babylonian Empire learned this lesson too when King Nebuchadnezzar looked at his kingdom and boasted, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built...?” Immediately, his reason departed and he was driven into the fields to eat grass (Dan. 4:30-33). God will not share His glory with a human ruler or a human kingdom. Many people refuse to learn this lesson.

This pride also leads these powers to think they can do whatever they want. They think they are like God, so why should they not act however they want? Is that not what it means to “be like God”? This is part of what causes them to fall into foolish and evil behaviours, specifically things like extreme cruelty, violence, and the oppression of the vulnerable (see Nahum 3:1, "Woe to the city of blood"). Empires that think they are God will believe they can dehumanize their enemies and treat them however they like. They, of course, set the standards and terms, right? Their fall is judgment for how they treated others, not just how they thought about themselves. But these two things are intricately connected. Pride of position leads to evil action.

This is why every empire falls, because they all fall into these same patterns of strength, pride in their own strength, believing they can act like God as the judge and executioner of all according to their will, and that their cruelty is justified, therefore they can act as they will and not be held to the same account as the nations they vent their fury on. God looks at this, sees a nation, or people, who have sought to usurp his place, and he removes his favour from them, and humiliation and collapse results. From the natural you would look at this and see a corrupted empire, seeking to enforce its will on people and failing. In the spiritual you see the same results of pride that have been recorded since time immemorial.

The warning of Zephaniah and Ezekiel is not confined to the dust of ancient Mesopotamia. Every superpower, from Rome to Britain to the contemporary global powers like the USA, faces the same temptations and falls into the same patterns. The United States is one example of this today. How often have its leaders condemned other nations for invading others and dealing violence, and then turned around and argued its own invasions and violence were thoroughly justified? Like other world powers it often fails to live by its own moral code. This is because of the same pride that other world powers, like Britain, France, and others, have fallen into. This is the consistent pattern. When a nation begins to rely on its military prowess, its economic strength, or its technological advancement as its ultimate security, it has already begun the slide toward ruin. God giveth and God taketh away.

We live in an age of unprecedented human achievement. Yet, the greatest danger facing any modern empire is not a rival nation or a shifting economy; it is the existential risk of believing the lie, “I am, and there is no one else.” Nor, should the nations that oppose corrupted empires be confused with always being the good guys. They might be just as wicked in many ways, and if they walk forward in pride they will fall into the exact same errors.

This is as true of individuals as it is of empires. Behind every abusive man is the same sort of pattern of pride. Behind every abusive woman is the same thing. Wherever we have authority we must never forget that it is a delegated authority that will ultimately be judged by the Lord God. We are never the ultimate authority. Even if you were to rise to the highest place in the world you would still not be the ultimate authority. God is the only one who can rightly claim, “I am, and there is no one else!” All else who fall into the lie of believing they can claim this will bring his ire.

Repent, he is merciful to the repentant who will humble themselves. But the proud, they are in trouble.

List of References

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[1] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias

The NRL Is Anti-Christian

 

You can beat your wife or girlfriend.

You can deal drugs.

You can take drugs.

You can take performance enhancing drugs.

You can have gambling debts in the hundreds of thousands.

You can put a little girl in hospital, while driving unlicenced.

You can be credibly charged with sexual assault.

You can glass someone in a pub.

And the NRL has a pathway to let you play again. This is not theoretical, these are actual situations that the NRL has walked through and let the players come back into the competition.

But if you accurately quote the Bible on the issue of our culture's favourite sexual sins, as Folau did, they will crush you, and exclude you, and act like you are the real danger.

Make no mistake, this is not about Israel Folau. This is happening because Rugby League has the one of highest rates of Christian representation of any sport, as far as I know at least - unless you include dropping verses about free will to bait your Calvinist friends a sport of course 😉 - Particularly because of Islander participation. They are seeking to cow their desire to speak up.

I think these players should consider striking, en masse, until the NRL backs down. Like the Manly players did a few years ago when they refused to wear the rainbow jersey. Otherwise, every single one of these players risks being the next Israel Folau.

The idea that the NRL can claim some kind of moral high ground is as laughable as it gets. I don’t know anyone who watches sport expecting the players to be paragons of virtue. We watch it because we want to see great competition. This sort of social justice nonsense will kill anyone’s desire to watch this sport.

Galatians 5 Bible Study – Do Not Feed the Flesh

 

You can watch the video of this study tonight, the 22^nd of July, at 8pm AEST on YouTube here. Or at any point after that time you can watch the replay.

Passage

English Standard Version

Christ Has Set Us Free

“1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Bible Study: Galatians 5 – Do Not Feed the Flesh

Introduction

The fifth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians stands as a powerful manifesto of Christian freedom and spiritual transformation. Paul wrote to a church struggling with legalistic teachings that insisted on adherence to Jewish laws, like circumcision, for salvation. Paul stands against this and delivers a passionate plea for grace-centred living instead. The chapter divides into two main sections: first, a vigorous defense of justification by faith alone apart from the works of the law (vv. 1–12), and second, an exhortation to live out that freedom not in selfish indulgence but in loving service and Spirit-led obedience (vv. 13–26).

Paul begins with a memorable declaration, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” This freedom is not merely political or social, but a liberation from the enslaving power of sin and the silly attempt to earn God’s favour through the Mosaic law. He warns that turning back to ritual observance as a means of righteousness actually severs a person from Christ and this causes them to fall from grace. He encourages people that what really counts is “faith working through love.”

The latter half of the chapter paints a powerful contrast between life dominated by the “flesh” and life guided by the Holy Spirit. Paul lists the obvious “works of the flesh”, sinful actions and attitudes that destroy our fellowship with one-another, lead us to destruction, and reflect a heart alienated from God. Over against these, he presents the “fruit of the Spirit”, a character transformed to reflect the very nature of Christ. He wants us to bring our lives into spiritual alignment with the ways of Jesus, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Galatians 5 remains profoundly relevant today, how can it ever not be relevant in this fallen world. It challenges any form of legalism that adds human requirements to the gospel, and any license that confuses freedom with selfishness. It invites believers into the dynamic, sometimes challenging, journey of allowing the Spirit to produce His fruit in us, empowering us to love and serve others as the true fulfillment of God’s law.

Study Questions -

1. What does it mean that “Christ has set us free” (v. 1)? How is this spiritual freedom different from the idea of “doing whatever I want”?
   Cross-references: John 8:36; Romans 6:18
2. Why does Paul speak so strongly against accepting circumcision for salvation (vv. 2–4)? What principle does this teach about adding requirements to the gospel?
   Cross-references: Acts 15:10–11; Philippians 3:2–3
3. What does Paul mean that “faith working through love” is what counts (v. 6)? How does genuine faith express itself?
   Cross-references: James 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:3
4. Paul uses the metaphor “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (v. 9). How does false teaching spread and damage a community of believers?
   Cross-references: 1 Corinthians 5:6–7; 2 Timothy 2:16–17
5. In verse 13, Paul warns against using freedom as an “opportunity for the flesh.” What are some modern examples of turning Christian liberty into license?
   Cross-references: 1 Peter 2:16; Romans 6:1–2
6. How does “serving one another through love” (v. 13) fulfill the law, as stated in verse 14?
   Cross-references: Romans 13:8–10; Matthew 22:37–40
7. What is the connection between being “led by the Spirit” and not being “under the law” (v. 18)?
   Cross-references: Romans 8:14; 2 Corinthians 3:6
8. Examine the list of “works of the flesh” (vv. 19–21). Which of these are more evident as actions, and which are internal attitudes? Why are both dangerous?
   Cross-references: Mark 7:21–23; Colossians 3:5–8
9. Contrast the “works of the flesh” with the “fruit of the Spirit” (vv. 22–23). Why is one described as “works” and the other as “fruit”?
   Cross-references: Matthew 7:16–20; Ephesians 5:9
10. “Against such things [the fruit of the Spirit] there is no law” (v. 23). What does this reveal about the nature of God’s character and His will for us?
    Cross-references: 1 Timothy 1:9; Romans 8:4
11. What does it mean practically to “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (v. 24)? Is this a one-time event or an ongoing process?
    Cross-references: Romans 6:6; Colossians 3:5
12. How can we “keep in step with the Spirit” (v. 25) in our daily decisions and relationships?
    Cross-references: Ezekiel 36:27; Romans 8:5–6
13. Paul ends with a warning against conceit, provocation, and envy (v. 26). How do these specifically undermine a Spirit-filled community?
    Cross-references: Philippians 2:3; James 3:14–16
14. Reflect on your own life. Which aspects of the Spirit’s fruit do you see growing? Which “works of the flesh” do you need to consciously reject by the Spirit’s power?
    Cross-references: Ephesians 4:22–24; 2 Corinthians 13:5

 

Kudos to Trump

 

 

Some are going to mock Trump for failing at this war. But I think we should applaud what he is now doing. The American President has recognized that he cannot use the US military to force Iran to do his wishes, and so he has backed down from those efforts. This is a good move. 

As we all know Trump is a very successful business man. But he has also had a lot of business failures. A lot. Apparently, he has filed for bankruptcy six times. He has had several business initiatives fail and collapse. He has had businesses fail to take off. And yet he still made billions and ended up incredibly successful. This is true of many people who get to his level of success in life, they take a lot of detours through bad projects and ideas. 

In other words, Donald Trump has learnt from bitter experience when to cut his losses. And he is now working really hard to do this with the Iran War. Earlier presidents refused to do this and bogged down the US in foolish, endless, destabilising wars. Trump entered a foolish, destabilising war, but he has wisely been working hard to end it much sooner than these other presidents did. 

Kudos to him for that. Praise God for that. Pray the ceasefire holds and becomes a true peace deal.

Some business ventures just can't succeed. The same is true in politics or war.

I give the man credit for recognizing this. A man who had not failed at a very high level, and learnt from those failures might have been more foolish. A lot of people have overestimated America's military might. At least the US president sees its limits.

One of the last things the western world needs right now is another long term war in the Middle East that drives millions of Islamists out of their nation and into the countries of the West. Something else the West does not need right now is for the greatest of western powers to weaken itself any further in the Middle East. 

Trump's efforts to end this war are a great thing. I genuinely celebrate this development.