And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you. Mark 16.5-7
One of my boys said we are living through a long Good Friday. It's hard to disagree.
That first Good Friday, from the POV of Jesus' followers, ended a good thing. A week earlier and a triumphal entry. Dare we think Rome will be tossed out the window and a new David will reign (minus the bad stuff)? Now He's dead. Lying on the ground, dead. And having made Himself an enemy of the powers that be, his followers knew the score.
We often give the disciples grief. Couldn't you even stay awake? How could you be so daft? Running away from Jesus? Ages ago in my ministry days, I recall one Easter sermon I gave.
In that sermon, I took on that tendency to judge too harshly when it comes to His followers. I told the congregation that I can show some pity since I'm sure I never would have abandoned Jesus. Unlike the disciples, I would not have run away.
How do I know this? Sounds sort of arrogant, more arrogant than just judging the disciples, don't it? Well, how can I make such a bold claim? Easy. I wouldn't have abandoned Jesus when He was arrested, tried and crucified because I wouldn't have been within a hundred miles of Him in the first place. I would have been home, going about business, doing my thing. Perhaps I heard of Him, saw Him, was even healed by Him.
But knowing me, I would have been glad, maybe liked what He had to say, then back to business as usual. To abandon Jesus, the disciples already had to have given up everything and everyone to follow Him. They would have done more than I ever have. Only when you leave hearth and home and walk with Jesus through thick and thin do you have the chance to fully abandon Him. Or even betray Him. And how many of us who so easily judge the disciples over that first Good Friday can say we've made the grade in that department?
Well, today there are ones who are holding fast to the historical Faith as so much of it is being pulled out from under us. We see the World openly make war on everything God revealed. And as we watch our leaders and those we trusted throw in the towel, wave the white flag, and willingly question anything we ever believed rather than stand up to the World, it reminds us of something. Something that might make us a little more understanding when we see such capitulation.
We've been a godless, atheistic, secular society for many generations. Oh, there was some Christian residue, but that was fading fast. By now, we can see the secularization was purposeful, and the paganizing increasingly complete. From a time when leaders invoked Almighty God, to today where ideas of the afterlife or divine will have no place anywhere in our social debate, we've seen a growing number of believers and leaders turn their backs on God, Christ, the Gospel, and goodness.
And I know it's frustrating. As my son said, we're heading into a long, dark Good Friday that seems to show no end. But as we see so many throw in the towel, consider that at least until recently, many were holding fast.. If they're buckling now, they've had decades to join our nation and abandon God and flip the bird to the Gospel, yet they didn't until relatively recently.
Perhaps they're finally doing it now. But at least they held out, so there is hope. I'm not downplaying or diminishing the harm being done as Christians and our leaders day after day seem to grovel and buckle under the World's assaults. But at least they made it this far. Many buckled ages ago. Many turned their back on God long before I came along. Our nation certainly did. But the ones we're watching today at least made it to the modern Gethsemane. And that's worth something.
Again, I'm not downplaying the severe harm done in our Church's age of capitulation. The harm it does and the damage to the witness of the Truth. But before we get too angry, consider that the ones we talk about and say "I never thought it would be him" at least made it this far. As a former agnostic, I can testify that our God fearing nation had already gone pagan, and provided plenty of reasons and excuses to abandon God back when cable meant twelve channels. Yet these who are struggling and giving in today made it this far.
Of course there is even hope for those who turned away decades ago or grew up never caring because our nation and its institutions told them not to. Thief on the cross moment there. But for those who fought the good fight until the Internet, or Facebook, or Twitter, or BLM, or this or that social woke twist to sanity in recent years, at least made it farther than we sometimes give credit.
So pray that at some point as we stumble through this Good Friday time in the Church's history, they will come back around. That those of us who say 'surely not I Lord'" will mind ourselves so that we don't join the ranks of those fleeing into the woods. Instead, pray that we remain faithful, and those who traveled so long will return to the narrow path. For however long our Good Friday is, we know that Easter is always round the corner. And that's our hope and assurance that nothing happening today can't be overcome.
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16.33b
On this Spy Wednesday, beyond not betraying Jesus, commit to stand firm on that which was revealed as holy and just:
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| Easter for the time of shadow, but not for me. |
See, I set before you today life and death, good and evil. If you hear the commandments of the Lord your God I command you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His ordinances and judgments, then you shall live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you go to inherit. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but go astray and worship different gods and serve them, announce to you today, you shall surely perish. Deuteronomy 30.15-18a
Is it any wonder that our society is dying? Read that last part and let it sink in.
For Spy Wednesday is don't be Judas.
When it was evening,
he reclined at
table with the Twelve.
And while they
were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to
you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply
distressed at this,
they began to
say to him one after another,
“Surely it is
not I, Lord?”
He said in
reply,
“He who has
dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who
will betray me.
The Son of Man
indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that
man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be
better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his
betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is
not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”
Matthew 26.20-25
There are many ways to turn Jesus over to the crowds. The most obvious being turning Jesus over to the crowds. Let's not do that. No matter how loud the crowds scream. Don't betray Jesus to the crowds, even if we think that kiss we give on Sundays will make it all better.
I'm old enough to remember when Democrats wore as a badge of honor the fact that they raised less money than Republicans. My ethics professor, the late and great Glen Stassen, used to make plenty of hay out of that fact. I recall a sociology professor in my undergrad days at OSU who also hammered the fact that the Democrats were the 'people's pols'. This was demonstrated by the constant falling behind in funds when it came to election time.
But we all know the Left's biggest trump card - changeable principles! Here today, gone later today. It might be the eternal scientific God-truth now, but wait five minutes when it is no longer convenient.
The same is true for a politician's age. Growing up in the Reagan/Bush years, the Left pounded, and pounded, and pounded the pulpit over the superiority of youth versus old people. Old was backwards. Old was history. Old was the past. Youth - like Bill Clinton - was the future, was hope, was cool. And they didn't hold back in their attacks on those old time [GOP] politicians. At the slightest stumble - like President Bush (Senior) misstating the attack on Pearl Harbor as December 7, 1981 - they pounced and mauled and pounced some more.
But again, that's so yesterday's eternal principles. Today? Why, what kind of a horrible person are you to question a politician's age? How dare you. Unless, of course, Trump stumbles. Then it makes the news and we should question his age.
It's tough to play against a team that wears jerseys saying 'We Heart Cheating.' It's worse when the officials make it clear they're on that team's side. And when the sport's commissioner openly endorses that team, cheating and all, there's not much point.
That's where those who challenge the modern Left find themselves. The various organs for the Left don't even pretend anymore. With nauseating smugness, they almost dare us to do anything about it. Worst single day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust? Sorry, doesn't help the cause. Go ahead and try to make something of it. We'll be back when another high school football team uses the word Nazi for a blitz play. Then it will be the holocaust all over again, and you'll agree or be a Nazi yourself.
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| In the video for Land of Confusion, a senile Reagan in a nursing home accidently hits the nuke button. Standard stuff back then. |
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| Not a state for radicals and extremists |
That's the first thing that could topple him. The fact that Americans are growing a bit impatient with the super lifer pols who never go away.
The second thing that could topple him is being linked to the economy. At least if it shows all the improvement it has shown for the last two years. Across the state, bond issues and tax hikes fell to the ballot, largely because of timing. Who is going to vote 'yes' for more taxes when groceries are barely affordable?
I know. The press has spent the last year pouring a ton of manure on the economic news in the hopes that something beautiful will grow. But people won't believe that things are looking hopeful when for almost two years they can barely afford to live. So all of those municipalities and school districts who thought this was a grand time to raise taxes learned a lesson about reality versus media narratives.
If Sherrod Brown falls, it might be because of the economy and his link as a Democrat. The sad part of him is that he still falls along party lines. And like the Democratic Party, he will not call out anything left of center no matter how bat-crazy radical. He doesn't make a big stink about it. He's not mister fanatic with a bullhorn, cheering the transactivists fanatics or celebrating the eradication of Columbus statues. But he doesn't speak out against them either.
That's why most Republicans, even those who do respect Brown as an old timer politician, aren't going to vote for him. As a politician, he's pretty much traditional 'what Ohioans want'. He keeps his feet close to the ground. He's the guy who goes around and actually talks with people at the local diner. He works to accomplish the best for his charge. He reaches across party lines.
He has worked with Senator JD Vance since Vance came into office. When the train derailed in East Palestine, Brown and Vance acted like they were in a buddy movie. They called out the railroads, the State and the White House for their responses or lack thereof.
Heck, when my oldest was in high school, he sent an email to Senator Brown over some issue of the day. I can't remember the topic in question. But he responded with a hand typed message to my son. A US Senator took time out to answer a teenager directly. It was respectful, it was thoughtful, and it made an impression. That's why he's generally liked in a state that usually isn't too radical and tends to gravitate toward a more moderate tone.
Bernie Moreno, who until recently was pretty liberal about more than one issue, suddenly insists he's seen the light. It's mostly good old conservatism most of the way. But his main campaign slogan was basically 'I'll obey Trump'. Matt Dolan was, as far as I know, the only one of the three GOP candidates to poll ahead of Senator Brown in the polls, showing that Brown is vulnerable.
Why Donald Trump didn't support the one who was able to poll ahead of Brown is pretty easy to figure. Dolan has criticized Trump. And by now we know the routine. Obedience to Trump is a major priority for Trump, and he would rather loose at the ballot box than see someone who might not always agree with him take the seat. If we end up with yet another term for longstanding Sherrod Brown, that will be a big reason.
Jeffrey Epstein, whose life story should be the subject of a million movies, TV shows and streaming specials, is largely ignored. I can imagine, in a different age, his case being one of those stories that never goes away. Yet it only appears to raise its head when something makes it happen, and then it is quickly swept under the carpet again. Which I find interesting.
The movie Sound of Freedom was ravaged. It was brutally attacked. Film critic and Catholic deacon Steven Greydanus linked to an authority who said the movie's lies would lead to endless death and suffering on the part of trafficked children. Others attacked the movie for failing to be a full scale dissertation on the subject. Triumph of the Will got less pushback.
Now we have Senator Katie Britt, who gave the response to the State of Union stump speech. Wow. I mean, the Press/Left always attacks the Republican who gives the SOTU response. Remember the great Dry Mouth Apocalypse of Marco Rubio? But this has been brutal. Apparently she bold face lied about a case involving sex trafficking from decades ago. I don't know the details since everyone has their versions. I just notice that the topic of sex trafficking itself has been all but ignored in preference for attacking her. Once again. Even the victim in her example has jumped on board and attacked her as the main point of contention.
I just notice trends. And one trend I notice is that the national press spends scant little time discussing the modern global slave trade driven largely by the sex slave trade. Especially given our current lack of mercy or empathy for Western slave traders and slave owners of the past. Local press outlets will sometimes cover it, mostly in the sense of how local agencies are helping victims. But there's no real big national 'we must stop the horrors!' media frenzy. No ongoing headlines keeping it in the public eye for months on end, like George Floyd or the Unite the Right rally of 2017 or gun violence. In fact, it seldom comes up.
Unless someone brings it up, and then it's pull out all the stops and attack - the ones bringing it up. Again, I'm no conspiracy theorist. Nonetheless, if those - usually on the Left - would mount an outrage driven crusade against sex trafficking with the zeal that they go after those who bring up the problems with modern sex trafficking, I'd be far less inclined to give wild conspiracy theories even a second glance.
But as I've said before, there comes a time when it takes far more credulity to disbelieve a conspiracy theory than to believe in one. And given the reactions I've seen over the last few years where this topic does and doesn't come up, the craziest thing to believe appears to be the claim that nothing is going on behind the scenes where this modern scandal of human slavery is concerned.
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| To our West. Image from the Dayton Daily News |
Fortunately for us, the cell that produced the tornado suddenly swung south and then after it passed, turned east again. It weakened a bit as it approached us, and then strengthened. It looks like places farther to the east also got hit hard.
This is the fifth tornado I've been through, including two that hit right next to where I was at the time. When I was little, about four years old, a tornado cut a path right up to our house and then 'jumped' over our property. In Florida, I was getting ready for work when a tornado hit and cut travel across the intercoastal bridges, leaving me stranded.
Apparently when I was an infant, my mom was home with my sister and me while Dad was at work. A tornado hit the town then (that town has been hit before, owing to its place in the Ohio landscape) while she kept rocking in her rocking chair.
And finally when I was a pastor in Southern Indiana, our church was one of the few buildings with a basement. So we were assigned to make sure the doors were opened in case of something like a tornado outbreak. One night it hit, while the Final Four was going on (prompting those basketball obsessed Hoosiers to constantly apologize for having to break from the important stuff to talk about all of that saving our lives gibberish).
And now this. I will say this, the stories are true. Of the three tornados that hit when I was able to see the conditions, it's just like they say. First you have the storms, massive winds, lightning, downpours and hail. Then silence. A dead, suffocating silence. And then it hits. The two times I heard the tornadoes actually hit nearby, it does sound like a locomotive.
And they are fickle things. Back in 1974 during what they called The Super-Outbreak, my dad was at work on the railroad. He stayed where he was, since it takes only the strongest tornadoes to damage a railroad engine. So he kept on moving, watching the distance as he crossed no fewer than four of the tornadoes that night. He said there's no sense trying to plot a course and guess. They jumped around like rabbits, appearing here, vanishing there, reappearing a mile later.
So having gone through number five, I hope that's it. We were fortunate, though others weren't. Our prayers for them while the state digs out of the second outbreak of tornados in almost as many weeks. Again, nobody denies the climate changes. And it's tough not to see a sudden shift in weather patterns. It's approaching it scientifically and realistically that most people want, not doing the political thing that dominates the disucssion nowadays.
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| Obviously a badge of honor |
Abortion has become the source and summit of modern liberalism. It is the one sacred issue behind which all other issues and priorities can be placed. Racism has its place. Sexism is usually important. Opposing sexual violence is more often than not important. The border? Eh. Climate change as good as always. But abortion? Apart from complete fealty to all things LGBTQ, I'm at pains to think of anything more important, more cherished, or more emphasized among the Left than legalized abortion.
This is not hyperbole on my part. It is, if anything, a restrained observation of just how much passion, zeal, and focus is prioritized among the Left for defending legal abortion to the exclusion of almost any other issue. It's the ace in the hole that could, by liberal pols' and pundits' own admission, save the day in November. Whatever else is happening in the world, whatever suffering or misery, they are betting that liberals will turn out for Biden over abortion rights if for no other reason. Again, something they point out almost gleefully.
The New Pro-Life Catholics who swept abortion under the rug as an unfortunate, but completely understandable, result of everything from patriarchal conservatism to capitalist corruption are going to have to admit to this. For years they have insisted that nobody wants an abortion, nobody is 'pro-abortion', Democrats have other priorities, they merely maintain, as a sort of last ditch necessity, the right to abort pregnancies by the tens of millions.
Now we have the party that is willing to promote abortion and everything to do with it in a way that would make P.T. Barnum blush. And beyond that, the growing 'I'd proudly abort a million pregnancies because I can' testimonies are becoming all too common in pro-abortion advocacy.
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| You can just see the agony and regret on their faces |
The slick sleight of hand by New Pro-Life Catholics was that they took a caricature of those who insisted abortion was a non-negotiable and used that to altogether avoid confronting the Left's emerging abortionphilia. That was at a time when they could still lean on 'safe and rare is all we want.' But that, like the age of sanity and virtue, has long since passed. So 'New Pro-Life Catholics' who hang on the 'nobody is promoting abortion' label had best be honest. For siding with the movement dedicated above most things to aborting undesirables on an industrial level is bad enough. But lying in order to justify it? That would give a whole new spin on the old 'Liars for Jesus' kerfuffle.
We won't get into this being one of the top issues for our most Catholic president. The growing notion that Vatican II means never having to care about Catholic teaching is for another post.
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| Catholics who insist liberals drive down abortion numbers might want to consider context |
With that said, it doesn't appear they have actually demonstrated that the January 6th protests and riots were an insurrection, despite media narratives to the contrary. To me, and many of those in that 'billions', it was yet another riot in a year of riots. This one directed at liberals in many ways that riots following Trump's election in 2016 were directed at conservatives.
Or just like the riots and protests of 2020 that were aimed at anything American in general, at government buildings, at Christian churches, at religious art featuring white people, or businesses and residential areas, injuring and even killing innocents*, and destroying much property. And all of that after four years of pundits, activists and even journalists declaring the 2016 election a fraud, stolen, corrupted, illegal, and in need of being overturned by hook or by crook.
But I didn't see an insurrection on January 6th, 2020, at least not yet. I'm waiting for the verdict. For I vehemently reject the modern Left's insistence that things like due process, presumption of innocence or burden of proof are antiquated ideals once used to keep the oppressed down, and therefore worthy of being overhauled or eliminated.
If it is found to be legally true, that by the law an actual insurrection did take place, and a court has ruled so, then I'll concede the possibility at least. As far as I know, however, that hasn't happened yet, at least with the riot as a whole. Much less that Donald Trump has been found legally guilty of being linked to such a crime.
*I'll assume at least some of those 25 said to have been killed during the 2020 riots were killed due to the 2020 riots. I recently had a debate with deacon and film critic Steven Greydanus who challenged that assumption, and suggested that just because they died during the riots doesn't mean they died because of the riots. If that is true for some, I have a hard time believing all of them were only coincidently killed in ways unrelated to the riots and protests in which they were killed.
Because obviously God would have some improving to do to equal the State:
The ease with which Christians have shoved God into the Sunday closet and deferred to the efficacy of the State as our only salvation shows the speed with which God can so easily be mocked.
For the godless Left, of course, the State is substitute God. And activists are its prophets. For the believer and the sane and rational individual who made it through kindergarten, we know better.
Now I have no idea what issue is being referenced here. Mocking thoughts and prayers began with selectively chosen shootings and the idea that guns and guns alone are the only thing worth focusing on. Since then it has spread to a host of issues where the only acceptable response is to take your loser thoughts and your loser prayers to your loser God and keep them for an hour on Sunday mornings where they belong.
Again, it is the progressive activist and the dogma of progress that will save the day. God, prayers, and anything spiritual has bupkis to do with the real problems of the real world. Let's bet on how many good and faithful Christians approve this message.
I should say that it goes without saying I believe Christians should be involved in things, including politics. But since mocking thoughts and prayers unless tied to distinctly leftwing activism has become all the rage among the Left, I'm wagering the shirt is supposed to imply more than a simple statement of intent.
But apparently this last winter was the hottest on record.
Which is a headline getting as common as the morning traffic report. For quite some time, every month, ever season, every year, every week, every day seems to be the hottest on record ever.
Even when summers have been mild or we have been hit with disastrously arctic level freezes as a year or so ago. The headlines always read 'Last [insert here] hottest on record.' Sometimes there's a qualifier, like hottest in US, or hottest in Europe, or hottest in a month with an R in it. But always the hottest. Always.
Why do I feel like there is something about this that doesn't seem right? I mean, they must have the stats, the numbers, the data. Yet call me too much of a skeptic, but I can't help but think the headlines and the accompanying meteorological data somehow aren't the whole picture.
Of course I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.
By telling Ukraine to embrace the 'white flag' of negotiations.
Let's face it. Christians have been charging forth with white flags waving for generations. Since WW2, Westerners and Americans have joined the call to charge forth and surrender. That's how we're at the place we are today.
And it isn't in one area alone. The world has been having its way with the Church, and by extension the civilization it helped build, for more years than I can remember. If what Pope Francis said seems bothersome, I'd suggest we take a long, hard, honest look at the last century or so and ask why.
In the 'little store that could' department, my son and daughter-in-law were asked to speak at the local public middle school about business, entrepreneurship, and bookselling. Hard to believe they're heading into their second anniversary as business owners.
This isn't to say we're any less proud of our other boys. Oh, they're no angels. And heaven forbid the topic of politics comes up where two or more of them are gathered. But as hopes of parents goes, we couldn't do much better.
So Reuters has a poll by Reuters that finds extremism is voters' greatest worry. I don't believe it. Granted, by now everyone should take polls with at least a block of salt. But in the polls I've been following out of morbid curiosity, I've not seen extremism anywhere near the top. In not a few polls it hasn't been mentioned at all. The economy, the wars, the crime rates and the border crisis all top the majority of polls I've seen, with concerns about healthcare always being a contender.
Nope. This strikes me of one of those 'how to stuff a survey' polls. You know, like asking 'Do you support legalizing child rape or do you think extremism is the country's greatest concern?'.
Again, polls by now should be seen as reliable as the media that reports them. Nonetheless, when I see something like this that is hell and gone from what I've seen almost anywhere else, you just know something is up. The only thing I can think of is that the sampling of Americans in the poll were all from the Reuters press office.
Choose God and choose life. Embrace the Gospel. Flee the hellish culture of death that sees life as important only when expedient. Carl Olson chose well:
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and clinging to him; for that means life to you and length of days... "
Deuteronomy 30.19-20a
The headline alone says it all:
Some states are trying to make sex binary? You've got to be kidding me. Go back twenty years and say that and you'd be met with blank stares from everyone in the room. This shows the speed with which we're sinking and sinking fast.
It's all about power and the removal of the Christian Western tradition. Pick almost anything assumed to be true, and throw it on its head. It can be as ludicrous as you want. Right now, go through the Mental Health industry. Because despite statistics to the contrary, we're convinced the MHI is infallible and can do no wrong and solve all of our problems. If it says C-A-T spells dog, then by golly it's true. The press will approve this message.
At the end of the day, this is telling us that O'Brien was holding up five fingers. Because four fingers is really five. The MHI says so, the press affirms it, and you had best get with the act or else. When your society has reached that level, it's no longer case of when will it collapse, but when did it collapse.
UPDATE: In keeping with the press as the machine of lies and exploitation, I was shown this. It's about a young person dragged into the madness of post-gender reality, and who has died. Before the death, there was a fight. in school In the 'oppressed is always good and can do no wrong/oppressor is always evil and can do no right' template, there is not even an attempt to ask who might have started it. Transgender = oppressed = always good = can do no wrong. That's all we need to know.
But the part that gets me is that the media has been trying to squeeze what exploitation it can from this, with the usual activists and lawyers jumping on board. Yet the only thing we know about the death at this point is from the preliminary autopsy here:
The latest police statement says preliminary autopsy information indicates that the teenager "did not die as a result of trauma".
So the only thing that has been said is that the death was possibly not due to trauma. It reminds me of that ABC story that shocked the world and then was swept under the carpet. You know. The one involving Matthew Shepard that admitted one of the men accused of killing him was, in fact, part of the LGBTQ community. That is, it wasn't a "hate crime." Yet it was the main impetus for ramrodding the - then - controversial notion of 'hate crimes' and 'hate speech' into our social order.
I wonder what really happened with this poor youngster swept up in our modem age of expedient insanity. I doubt we'll ever know. I do know that our media is now to the point of literally letting us know it is promoting BS and lies and doesn't even care. At least it could have left the part about it possibly not being due to the trauma out of the story. That it knows it can put it right there in front of us, and then proceed to push the agenda based on BS, shows where we've gotten to, and just how crazy things have become.
