18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For (D)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, (E)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not [c]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became (F)futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 (G)Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and (H)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [d]crawling creatures.
24 Therefore (I)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be (J)dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for [e]a (K)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, (L)who is blessed [f]forever. Amen.
26 For this reason (M)God gave them over to (N)degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [g]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, (O)men with men committing [h]indecent acts and receiving in [i]their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit [j]to acknowledge God any longer, (P)God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are(Q)gossips, 30 slanderers, [k](R)haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, (S)disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, (T)unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of (U)death, they not only do the same, but also (V)give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Now, all of a sudden, not only is this characteristic of our nation, but we now promote it. One of the parties, the Democratic Party, has now made Romans 1, the sins of Romans 1, their agenda. What God condemns, they affirm. What God punishes, they exalt. Shocking, really. The Democratic Party has become the anti-God party, the sin-promoting party. By the way, there are seventy-two million registered Democrats in this country who have identified themselves with that party and maybe they need to rethink that identification.
I know from last week’s message that there was some response from people who said, “Why are you getting political?”
Romans 1 is not politics. The Bible is not politics. This has nothing to do with politics. This has to do with speaking the Word of God through the culture in which we live. It has nothing to do with politics. It’s not about personalities; it’s about iniquity and judgment. And why do we say this? Because this must be recognized for what it is–sin, serious sin, damning sin, destructive sin.
First is what Romans says: Romans 1:18-32 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Unbelief and Its Consequences 18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to […]
Abortion and the Campaign for Immorality (Selected Scriptures) John MacArthur Published on Sep 30, 2012 by JohnMacArthurGTY http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-448 What a privilege and joy it is to worship the Lord here at Grace Church. Patricia and I miss it when we’re not here. There’s no place like this. Our hearts are full to overflowing to be […]
Prophecy–The Biblical Prophesy About Tyre.mp4 Uploaded by TruthIsLife7 on Dec 5, 2010 A short summary of the prophecy about Tyre and it’s precise fulfillment. Go to this link and watch the whole series for the amazing fulfillment from secular sources. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvt4mDZUefo ________________ John MacArthur on the amazing fulfilled prophecy on Tyre and how it was fulfilled […]
1 John 5:14-17 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 14 This is (A)the confidence which we have [a]before Him, that, (B)if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, (C)we know that we have the requests which we have asked from […]
To Travis Barker, From Everette Hatcher of Little Rock, AR
You and I have something in common and it is the song GOD’S GONNA CUT YOU DOWN. You were in the video and my post about that video entitled, People in the Johnny Cash video “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” is the most popular post I have done in recent years. It ranked #1 for all of 2015 and I have over 1,000,000 hits on my http://www.thedailyhatch.org blog site. The ironic thing is that I never knew what a big deal Johnny Cash was until he had died. I grew up in Memphis with his nephew Paul Garrett and we even went to the same school and church. Paul’s mother was Johnny Cash’s sister Margaret Louise Garrett.
Stu Carnall, an early tour manager for Johnny Cash, recalled, “Johnny’s an individualist, and he’s a loner….We’d be on the road for weeks at a time, staying at motels and hotels along the way. While the other members of the troupe would sleep in, Johnny would disappear for a few hours. When he returned, if anyone asked where he’d been, he’d answer straight faced, ‘to church.’”
Have you ever taken the time to read the words of the song?
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler,
The gambler,
The back biter
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news
My head’s been wet with the midnight dew
I’ve been down on bended knee talkin’ to the man from Galilee
He spoke to me in the voice so sweet
I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel’s feet
He called my name and my heart stood still
When he said, “John go do My will!”
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What’s down in the dark will be brought to the light
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
___
Johnny Cash sang this song of Judgment because he knew the Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” The first part of this verse is about the judgment sinners must face if not pardoned, but the second part is about Christ who paid our sin debt!!! Did you know that Romans 6:23 is part of what we call the Roman Road to Christ. Here is how it goes:
Because of our sin, we are separated from God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
The Penalty for our sin is death. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.(Romans 6:23)
The penalty for our sin was paid by Jesus Christ! But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
If we repent of our sin, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from our sins! For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)
PS:If one repents and puts trust in Christ alone for eternal life then he or she will be forgiven. Francis Schaeffer noted, “If Satan tempts you to worry over it, rebuff him by saying I AM FORGIVEN ON THE BASIS OF THE WORK OF CHRIST AS HE DIED ON THE CROSS!!!
Johnny Cash’s version of the traditional God’s Gonna Cut You Down, from the album “American V: A Hundred Highways”, was released as a music video on November 9 2006, just over three years after Cash died. Producer Rick Rubin opens the music video, saying, “You know, Johnny always wore black. He wore black because he identified with the poor and the downtrodden…”. What follows is a collection of black and white clips of well known pop artists wearing black, each interacting with the song in their own way. Some use religious imagery. Howard sits in his limo reading from Ezekiel 34, a Biblical passage warning about impending judgment for false shepherd. Bono leaning on a graffiti-filled wall between angel’s wings and a halo, pointing to the words, “Sinners Make The Best Saints. J.C. R.I.P.” A number of artists wear or hold crosses.
Artists appear in this order: Rick Rubin, Iggy Pop, Kanye West, Chris Martin, Kris Kristofferson, Patti Smith, Terence Howard, Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Q-Tip, Adam Levine (Maroon 5), Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake, Kate Moss, Sir Peter Blake (Sgt Peppers Artist), Sheryl Crow, Denis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Amy Lee of Evanescence, Tommy Lee, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire (Dixie Chicks), Mick Jones, Sharon Stone, Bono, Shelby Lynne, Anthony Kiedis, Travis Barker, Lisa Marie Presley, Kid Rock, Jay Z, Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, Corinne Bailey Rae, Johnny Depp, Graham Nash, Brian Wilson, Rick Rubin and Owen Wilson. The video finishes with Rick Rubin traveling to a seaside cliff with friend Owen Wilson to throw a bouquet of flowers up in the air.
American singer and civil rights activist Odetta recorded a traditional version of the song. Musician Sean Michel covered the song during his audition on Season 6 of American Idol.Matchbox Twenty also used the song before playing “How Far We’ve Come” on their “Exile in America” tour.
The New Jersey rock band The Gaslight Anthem have also covered the song.[citation needed] Canadian rock band Three Days Grace has used the song in the opening of their live shows, as well as the rock band Staind . Bobbie Gentry recorded a version as “Sermon” on her album The Delta Sweete. Guitarist Bill Leverty recorded a version for his third solo project Deep South, a tribute album of traditional songs. Tom Jones recorded an up-tempo version which appears on his 2010 album Praise & Blame. Pow woW recorded a version with the Golden Gate Quartet for their 1992 album Regagner les Plaines and performed a live version with the quartet in 2008. A cover of the song by Blues Saraceno was used for the Season 8 trailer of the TV series Dexter. Pedro Costarecorded a neo-blues version for the Discovery channel TV show Weed Country (2013). Virginia based folk rock band Carbon Leaf covered the song many times during their live shows.
SANTIAGO, Chile (BP)–Sean Michel smiled through his distinctive, foot-long beard as he slid the guitar strap over his shoulder and greeted the crowd at El Huevo nightclub with what little Spanish he knows. The former American Idol contestant and his band then erupted into the sounds of Mississippi Delta blues-rock.But unlike other musicians who played that night, the Sean Michel band sang about every person’s need for God and the salvation that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ.”We came down [to Chile] to open doors that other ministries couldn’t,” said Jay Newman, Michel’s manager. “To get in places that only a rock band could — to create a vision for new church-planting movements among the underground, disenfranchised subcultures of Chile.”The Sean Michel band recently traveled through central Chile playing more than 15 shows in bars, churches, schools and parks. The group consists of Southern Baptists Sean Michel, lead singer; Alvin Rapien, lead guitarist; Seth Atchley, bass guitarist; and Tyler Groves, drummer.”Although we’re a blues rock ‘n’ roll band, we’re an extension of the church,” Michel said. “We’re kind of like ‘musicianaries,’ if you will.”MISSIONS-MINDED MUSICIANSThe band formed after Michel and Newman met as students at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. While there, the two began recording and selling Michel’s music as a way to raise money for mission trips to Africa and Asia.”We were just trying to raise money for a mission trip, but we’d also seen God speaking to people through the music,” Michel said. “So we were like, ‘Well, maybe we need to do something with this,’ and we became a music ministry. But it’s always been rooted in missions and … in the Great Commission.”Michel graduated from Ouachita in 2001, Newman in 2004. In 2007, Newman talked Michel into auditioning for American Idol. The exposure Michel received through the television show gained a wider audience for their ministry.”The whole American Idol thing was so weird,” Michel said. “We just kind of went on a whim. But the Lord used it in a big way.”During his tryout, Michel belted out a soulful rendition of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” The video of the audition went viral on the Internet.Soon he was doing radio interviews in which he identified himself as a Christian and directed listeners to the band’s Gospel-laden MySpace page. On their next mission trip to Asia, Michel and Newman found that being recognizable gave them access to venues they couldn’t have entered before.The band is now an official extension of First Southern Baptist Church of Bryant, Ark., where the musicians have long been active members serving in the music and youth ministries. Every mission trip they have taken has involved working with International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries.”We’re Southern Baptist,” Michel said. “That’s who we roll with.”TOUR DE FAITH”With short-term mission trips, you can plan, but you just got to be willing for your plans to change,” said Michel. When the band arrived in Chile, they were surprised to find that their schedule wasn’t nearly as full as expected. Almost no public venues had booked shows, and many rock-wary churches had declined to host the band.”The biggest barrier we had was the pastors,” said Cliff Case, an IMB missionary in Santiago, Chile, and a 1984 graduate of Ouachita Baptist. “The older pastors on two or three different occasions gave excuses for not doing it. It was a real frustration in that sense.”Disappointed by the lack of interest, the band prayed for God’s help. They met Jose Campos — or Pépe, as the band came to know him. Campos works with music and youth for the Ministry of the Down and Out, an independent Christian ministry that seeks to reach the often-overlooked demographics of Santiago.Campos was able to use his connections to book shows for the band in venues they wouldn’t have known about otherwise.”Had we met Pépe (Campos) two or three weeks before the group came, there’s no telling how many shows we might have done,” said Case, who met Newman at Ouachita when Case and his wife, Cinthy, were missionaries-in-residence there.Campos booked the show at El Huevo, possibly Chile’s most popular club. Playing there has given the band musical credibility among Chilean rockers. And, one Chilean church reported that a youth accepted Christ after hearing Newman talk before a show. The band already is contemplating a return tour next year.
OPENING NEW DOORS
Sharing the Gospel through their songs is only the beginning for the Sean Michel band. Their vision is to be a catalyst to help churches — and missionaries — connect with the lost people of their communities.
“God is not saving the world through rock bands,” Michel said. “He’s saving the world through the church. And it will always be through the local body.”
The band wants to see churches take ministry beyond the church doors.
“If you’re going to want to legitimately reach lost people, you’re going to have to get out,” Michel said. “Go out into the dark places. Those are the places we need to be to reach out.”
The band’s ministry in Chile opened new doors for IMB missionaries to reach the young, musical subculture of Chilean society.
“They laid the groundwork for more opportunities,” Case said. “Now we have a network of who to talk to and how to get organized. We can focus on how to use the work they’re doing so we can win people to the Lord and plant some churches.”
Tristan Taylor is an International Mission Board writer living in the Americas.
Featured artist is Louise Despont
Louise Despont According to the Universe | ART21 “New York Close Up”
Published on Nov 13, 2015
What is the source of inspiration?
Filmed in her Tribeca studio, Louise Despont peruses a vast reference library of images she began collecting in high school and maintains to this day. Drawn to geometry, energy waves, and universal symbols, Despont’s interests reveal a fascination with underlying patterns and cosmological draughtsmen: Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, Agnes Martin, Charles Burchfield, Martin Ramirez, Achilles G. Rizzoli, Adolf Wölfli, Hilma af Klint, Theosophy, Buddhist medical charts, Shaker gift drawings, seismographs, echolocation, mandalas, yantras, Tantric drawings, maps, gardens, fasciation in plants, beehives, kilim, ikat, Jantar Mantar, and masks. “What’s so interesting about the creative act is that you can access something completely outside yourself,” says Despont, who makes a distinction between consciously referencing subject matter in her artwork versus communing with a sense of unconscious awareness. “If you offer yourself up as the hands to make the work the relationship you form with what you communicate with has its own voice.” Featuring Despont’s drawings included in the exhibitions “Harmonic Tremor” (2015) at Nicelle Beauchene and “The Six-Sided Force” (2014) at Pioneer Works, as well as scenes from her stop-motion animation “Experiments in Moving Drawings, Parts I & II” (2007).
Louise Despont (b. 1983, New York, New York, USA) lives and works between New York and Bali, Indonesia. Learn more about the artist at: http://www.art21.org/newyorkcloseup/a…
ART21 “New York Close Up” is supported, in part, by The Lambent Foundation; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; and by individual contributors.
Louise Despont was born in 1983 in New York; she lives and works in New York and in Bali, Indonesia. Since discovering the potential of working with pencil and architectural stencils on paper, Despont has adopted an intuitive process in which she allows her drawings to develop as she creates them, resulting in an almost devotional object comprised of dense colors and shapes.
Preferring to draw on ledger paper with preexisting lines, Despont sees a parallel between the mathematical accounting the paper was designed to organize and the way that her practice is an accounting of her time spent. Even when Despont creates large-scale installations—such as for her 2016 solo exhibition at the Drawing Center, New York—her practice remains personally labor intensive. Having collected images for many years, Despont complements her broad visual references with her interest in energy and spirituality.
I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978. Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around “Being a Christian isn’t for sissies,” Cash said once. “It takes a real man to live for God—a lot more man than to live for the devil, […]
I got to see Johnny Cash perform in Memphis in 1978 and I actually knew his nephew very well. He was an outspoken Christian and evangelical. Here is an article that discusses this. Johnny Cash’s Complicated Faith Dave Urbanski <!– var fbShare = { google_analytics: ‘true’, } tweetmeme_source = ‘RELEVANTMag’; –> Unwrapping the enigma of […]
I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978. Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around A Walking Contradiction Cash’s daughter, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, once pointed out that “my father was raised a Baptist, but he has the soul of a mystic. He’s […]
I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978 at a Billy Graham Crusade in Memphis. Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around Cash also made major headlines when he shared his faith on The Johnny Cash Show, a popular variety program on ABC […]
I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978. Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around Johnny Cash was not ashamed of his Christian faith—though it was sometimes a messy faith—and even got some encouragement from Billy Graham along the way. Dave Urbanski | […]
Wikipedia noted: Johnny Cash recorded a version of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” on American V: A Hundred Highways in 2003, with an arrangement quite different from most known gospel versions of the song. A music video, directed by Tony Kaye,[1] was made for this version in late 2006. It featured a number of celebrities, […]
John Stossel takes up for Babylon Bee and notes “Even a few left-leaning comedians like Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle are mocking the intolerant left!”
President Joe Biden released a Women’s History Month Proclamation on Feb. 28 in which the president shows his confusion about who can get pregnant. Pictured: Biden speaks during the annual House Democrats Issues Conference on March 1, 2023, in Baltimore, Md. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden claims women need abortion to be successful in his 2023 Women’s History Month Proclamation.
“[D]espite significant progress, women and girls continue to face systemic barriers to full and equal participation in our economy and society,” Biden’s proclamation, released Feb. 28, reads. “Last year, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, stripping away a constitutional right from the American people and the ability of millions of women to make decisions about their own bodies, putting their health and lives at risk.”
The president mentioned abortion and “reproductive rights” five times in his announcement and cited women’s suffrage once. Yet, the president appears to be confused about who can have an abortion.
The Biden administration will “defend reproductive freedom” for all Americans “regardless of their gender” or “gender identity,” according to the proclamation. But subscribers to biological reality know that only one gender can get pregnant.
This is not the first time the Biden administration has misunderstood the definition of womanhood. The White House’s 2022 fiscal year budget replaced the word “mothers” with “birthing people.” The Democrats’ May 2022 abortion bill used the word “person” to refer to those who bear and give birth to children instead of the words “woman,” “women,” or “female.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra appeared to become flustered when asked to define the term “birthing people.”
“I’ll check on the language there,” Becerra said, “but I think if we’re talking about those who give birth, I think we’re talking about—I don’t know how else to explain it.”
Biden’s proclamation highlights his administration’s work to further abortion. He mentioned his executive orders to “safeguard access to reproductive care, including medication abortion,” ensure women can receive “emergency medical care,” and protect patients’ access to information about their “reproductive rights.”
The president said he has called on Congress to pass a law securing “the right to choose” in every state, undoing the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned the power to legislate abortion to the states by overruling Roe v. Wade. He also touted his Gender Policy Counsel and the so-called Respect for Marriage Act.
“Women continue to lead as advocates for reproductive rights, champions of racial justice, and LGBTQI+ equality,” the proclamation says.
Biden has chosen to intertwine women’s history with the history of abortion and the progress of women’s rights with securing a woman’s right to end the life of her child. All the while, he doesn’t know what makes a woman a woman.
Instead of pretending abortion is the keystone to the progress of women, the president should have dedicated his attention to the actual accomplishments women have made in America, progress which is worth celebrating every March.
Three sitting Supreme Court justices are women, and women constitute more than a quarter of the 118th Congress. The House of Representatives is more than 28% female, while women make up half of the Senate.
The Biden administration has demonstrated it cares more about ensuring abortion is legal than about what is actually best for women. If the president thinks abortion is an essential part of women’s history, he clearly doesn’t know what women are capable of.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
Late night hosts like Stephen Colbert, seen speaking during the Montclair Film Festival on Oct. 23, passionately defend leftists to the point of lecturing, rather than providing comedic relief. (Photo: Manny Carabel/Getty Images)
A woman tells the cop who stopped her in a carpool lane she’s allowed to drive there because her pronouns are “they” and “them.”
That’s from a video by a conservative Christian satire site called the Babylon Bee. Their humor gets millions of views.
“Christian conservatives used to … be very dour and self-serious,” says Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann in my new video.
Today, he says, it’s the left who are self-serious. “They’re the ones that have trouble laughing at themselves.”
For example, late night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert passionately defend COVID-19 vaccines.
“It is a lecture,” complains Mann.
“The left used to be anti-establishment,” adds Bee actress Chandler Juliet. Now, she says, ‘They’ve become the blob. … We’re super happy to be leading the comedic conversation on the right.”
One Babylon Bee video, “The Woke Zone,” makes fun of the way the media ignored violence and arson during the George Floyd protests.
“Do you ever feel gratitude to the left that they give you so much material?” I ask.
“We have to write things that are funnier than things they’re actually doing,” Mann responds. “That makes our job very difficult.”
One Bee sketch portrays its writers struggling to find new material.
“John Kerry warns that the war in Ukraine might distract from climate change!” suggests one.
Can’t do it, explains another. “It actually happened.” Yes, Kerry really did say that.
“Cosmo magazine features a morbidly obese woman on the cover as the picture of health” and, “Math professor says ‘two plus two equals four’ is racist!” are among other ideas that can’t be used as jokes.
“A math professor really said two plus two equals four is racist?” I ask.
It’s “a colonialist, white supremacist idea,” explains Mann.
Today the Bee reaches more people than The Onion. The establishment doesn’t like that, so some people actually sic so-called fact checkers on the Bee.
One article fact-checked by Snopes was titled, “Bernie Sanders Vows To Round Up Remaining ISIS Members, Allow Them To Vote.”
“Does Snopes not understand that you’re making jokes?” I ask.
“I think that they know what our intention is,” answers Juliet. “They just don’t like us.”
Recently, Twitter banned the Bee. Their offense was tweeting an article that named Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine “Babylon Bee’s Man of the Year.”
Levine is a transgender woman. Calling her the man of the year is a joke I wouldn’t make. But it doesn’t need to be censored.
Twitter says they’ll allow the Bee back on the platform only if they delete the tweet. Mann says he won’t.
“Twitter has the capability to just delete the tweet themselves. They want us to bend the knee and be the ones to click, ‘Yes, we acknowledge hateful conduct.’ We’re not going to do that.”
Today, a lot of comedians attract sizable audiences by mocking the left. Some I found funny are JP Sears, Ryan Long and FreedomToons.
The culture is changing.
The highest rating late-night comic these days is often not Colbert, Kimmel or Fallon, but Greg Gutfeld of Fox.
Even a few left-leaning comedians like Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle are mocking the intolerant left.
“I talk about AIDS, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, pedophilia … the one thing you mustn’t joke about is identity politics,” says Gervais in his recent Netflix special.
Professional media critics trashed him for that. But the special was hugely popular with the public.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are revealing. Critics gave Gervais’ special a 29% rating, calling it “terribly unfunny” and “a detestable combination of smug and obtuse.”
Viewers gave it a 92% rating.
The same is true of Chapelle’s latest special, “The Closer.” Critics give it just 40%. The audience gives it 95%.
Clearly, many people are tired of smug, condescending humor.
I’m glad the Babylon Bee, and others, give us an alternative.
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After Life 2 – Man identifies as an 8 year old girl
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Before I get into the fine article by Brendan O’Neill which I present in its entirety, I wanted to quote Francis Schaeffer who spent his life examining the humanism that now Ricky Gervais embraces!
All humans have moral motions and that is why Ricky Gervais knows it is wrong to let biological men use ladies’ bathrooms!!!!!!
“[in Christianity] there is a sufficient basis for morals. Nobody has ever discovered a way of having real “morals” without a moral absolute. If there is no moral absolute, we are left with hedonism (doing what I like) or some form of the social contract theory (what is best for society as a a hole is right). However, neither of these alternative corresponds to the moral motions that men have. Talk to people long enough and deeply enough, and you will find that they consider some things are really right and something are really wrong. Without absolutes, morals as morals cease to exist, and humanistic mean starting from himself is unable to find the absolute he needs. But because the God of the Bible is there, real morals exist. Within this framework I can say one action is right and another wrong, without talking nonsense.” 117
Francis Schaeffer in the film WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?
He has mocked identity politics – the god of our times
I have long thought that if Life of Brian came out today, it wouldn’t be Christians kicking up a fuss about it — it would be trans activists.
When Monty Python’s classic tale of a man mistaken for a Messiah came to cinemas in 1979, people of faith weren’t happy. They saw it as taking the mick out of Christ and they aired their displeasure noisily. Nuns in New York picketed cinemas. In Ireland the film was banned for eight years.
In 2022 I reckon it would be a very different story. It wouldn’t be Monty Python’s ribbing of the gospels that would outrage the chattering classes — it would be their mockery of trans people.
Life of Brian was way ahead of time. It was Terf before Terf was even a thing. There is a brilliantly observed scene in which Stan of the People’s Front of Judea — or is it the Judean People’s Front? — says he wants to become Loretta.
‘I want to be a woman. From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta’, says Stan, played by Eric Idle. When the others push back and say he can’t just become a woman, he says: ‘It’s my right as a man.’ Which was remarkably perspicacious.
‘I want to have babies’, says Stan / Loretta. ‘You can’t have babies! You haven’t got a womb!’, barks John Cleese’s Reg. Transphobic or what? To calm things down, Francis (Michael Palin) says they should accept Stan’s desire to be Loretta as being ‘symbolic of our struggle against oppression’. ‘Symbolic of his struggle against reality…’ Reg mutters.
——
Imagine if a film or TV show did something like that today. Showed an aspiring ‘trans woman’ being mocked for not having the right body parts to be a woman. Showed a man who wants to be a woman being told — for laughs, remember — that the only thing he’s struggling against is reality.
The cancel-culture mob would kick into action. There’d be a Change.org petition, maybe even a physical protest outside the offices of the production company or streaming service that was foolish enough to broadcast such trans-poking humour. ‘Jokes kill!’, we would be told, day and night.
Hell, JK Rowling can’t even very politely say ‘men aren’t women’ without being subjected to weeks of hatred and violent threats — so heaven help the film company that tried to air a Stan / Loretta skit in these febrile times.
This week, my theory about Life of Brianin 2022 was kind of proven right. For we had the pretty extraordinary sight of Ricky Gervais getting a very free ride for his God-mocking while being dragged into the Twitter stocks for his gags about trans issues.
In his new Netflix special SuperNature, Gervais vents his atheistic spleen. The Christian God is cruel and perverted, he says. Those Christian fundamentalists who believe Aids is the Almighty’s way of punishing gay sex clearly believe in a God who’s up in heaven thinking, ‘I’m sick of all this bumming’. And so just as God once said ‘Let there be light’, according to Gervais in the 1980s He said, ‘Let there be Aids’. What a rotter.
This isn’t the first time Gervais has made fun of God and those who believe in him. He’s famously an atheist. He talks about it all the time. (Rather too much, in my view.) But God-bashing is fine these days. Cool, even. Christians tend to take it in their stride. Believers have mostly kept their counsel following Gervais’s latest mockery of their wicked, ridiculous God.
The same cannot be said of trans activists and their allies. Not even remotely. They have responded with fury to Gervais’s blasphemy against the new god of genderfluidity.
He’s been called all the usual names. Transphobe, Terf, bigot. His crime? Choosing not to adhere to the ideology of transgenderism, daring to dissent from that pseudo-religious mantra we are all now pressured into saying: ‘Trans women are women.’
What’s funny about this spittle-flecked response to Gervais’s trans jokes is that he was really only saying what trans activists themselves have said. He had a bit on ‘old-fashioned women’ — ‘you know, the ones with wombs’ — complaining about born males using their bathrooms. ‘What if he rapes me?’, these women say. To which Gervais, playing the trans activist, responds: ‘What if she rapes you, you… Terf whore.’
Cutting, yes. But also incredibly accurate. Some police forces and courts do indeed refer to rapists as ‘she’ and ‘her’, if that’s how they identify. And, as feminists have pointed out, this results in rape victims being pressured to refer to their rapist with female pronouns. As for the language, anyone who has spent more than five minutes online in recent years will know that that kind of thing is said to gender-critical women all the time.
Like all great blasphemous comics, Gervais is merely shining a light on things that really are said, and things which really do happen, and inviting us, his audience, to laugh and say: ‘Yeah, that is kind of ridiculous.’ Much as Monty Python did with the Bible, in fact.
But, say Gervais’s humourless critics, while the likes of Monty Python were punching up — against God, no less — Gervais is punching down, against vulnerable, marginalised trans people. I don’t buy this at all. Gervais has made it clear that he fully supports rights for trans people. His issue is with the excesses of trans activism and the authoritarianism of identity politics more broadly.
‘I talk about Aids, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, paedophilia’, he says in SuperNature. ‘But no, the one thing you mustn’t joke about is identity politics.’
Absolutely. And that’s because identitarianism is the god of our times. It’s the new religion of the elites, their means of controlling and reprimanding the masses. Ridiculing identity politics is to the 21st century what questioning the authority of God was to the 15th. The woke rage against Gervais really does echo earlier outbursts of intolerant religious fury against anyone who dared to dissent from the Word of God.
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I was referred this subject by a tweet by Daniel Dennett which referenced a fine article by Robyn E. Blumner in defense of her boss at the RICHARD DAWKINS FOUNDATION and you can read my response at this link.
Ricky Gervais is a secular humanist just like his good friend Richard Dawkins and it is the humanists who have bought into this trans-identity politics and as a result the AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION has stripped Dawkins of his 1996 HUMANIST OF THE YEAR award.
As an evangelical I have had the opportunity to correspond with more more secular humanists that have signed the Humanist Manifestos than any other evangelical alive (at least that has been one of my goals since reading Francis Schaeffer’s books and watching his films since 1979).
Let me make a few points about Ricky personally and then a few about this comedy routine by the secular humanist Ricky Gervais.
Notice below in AFTER LIFE how he suspects Anne of being a Christian when she tells him “We are not just here for us. We are here for others,“
Ricky Gervais and Penelope Wilton in ‘After Life’ (CREDIT: Netflix)
(Above) Tony (played by Ricky) and Anne on the bench at the graveyard where their spouses are buried.
In the fourth episode of season 1 of AFTER LIFE is the following discussion between Anne and Tony:
Tony: My brother-in-law wants me to try dating again.
Anne: Oh excellent! You need some tips.
Tony: why would I need some tips?
Anne: I imagine you are awful with women…Well all men are awful with women but grumpy selfish ones are the worst.
Tony: Let me take notes. This is dynamite.
Tony: I would just be honest. Tell them my situation and tell them what I am going through. Be honest up front.
Anne: So it is all about you then?
Tony: I can’t win can I? I don’t want to date again. I don’t want to live without Lisa.
Anne: But is not just about you is it? That is what I am saying. What if a nice date made her feel good? That might feel nice right? We are just here for us. We are here for others.
Tony: I don’t do the whole God thing I am afraid.
Anne: Neither do I. It is a load of rubbish. All we got is each other. We have to help each other struggle until we die then we are done. No point in felling sorry for ourselves and making everyone else unhappy too. Might as [kill] yourself if you feel that bad.
Tony: Are you sure you want to work for the Samaritans?
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Christ came to this world and his followers have changed this world for the better more than any other group that ever existed. When Anne makes the assertions, “But is not just about you is it? That is what I am saying. What if a nice date made her feel good? That might feel nice right? We are not just here for us. We are here for others,” Tony assumes she is a Christian.
If you found yourself in a dark alley late at night, with a group of rough-looking, burly young men walking swiftly toward you, would you feel better knowing they were coming from a Bible study?
If we are only cosmic accidents, how can there be any meaning in our lives? If this is true, which it is in an atheistic world view, our lives are for nothing. It would not matter in the slightest bit if I ever existed. This is why the atheist, if honest and consistent, must face death with despair. Their life is for nothing. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.
I highly recommend Ricky Gervais series AFTER LIFE which is running on NETFLIX because it reminds me of King Solomon trying to find meaning in life UNDER THE SUN without God in the picture!!!
God put Solomon’s story in Ecclesiastes in the Bible with the sole purpose of telling people like Ricky that without God in the picture you will find out the emptiness one feels when possessions are trying to fill the void that God can only fill.
‘I want to have babies’, says Stan / Loretta. ‘You can’t have babies! You haven’t got a womb!’, barks John Cleese’s Reg. Transphobic or what? To calm things down, Francis (Michael Palin) says they should accept Stan’s desire to be Loretta as being ‘symbolic of our struggle against oppression’. ‘Symbolic of his struggle against reality…’ Reg mutters….
He’s been called all the usual names. Transphobe, Terf, bigot. His crime? Choosing not to adhere to the ideology of transgenderism, daring to dissent from that pseudo-religious mantra we are all now pressured into saying: ‘Trans women are women.’
What’s funny about this spittle-flecked response to Gervais’s trans jokes is that he was really only saying what trans activists themselves have said. He had a bit on ‘old-fashioned women’ — ‘you know, the ones with wombs’ — complaining about born males using their bathrooms. ‘What if he rapes me?’, these women say. To which Gervais, playing the trans activist, responds: ‘What if she rapes you, you… Terf whore.’
Ricky is trying to use common sense (through sarcasm) on people that “GOD GAVE…OVER to depraved [minds]. Romans 1 states:
26 For this reason (M)GOD GAVE THEM OVER to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural…
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are…inventors of evil,
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Francis Schaeffer later in this blog post discusses what the unbelievers in Romans 1 were rejecting, but first John MacArthur discusses what the unbelievers in the Democratic Party today are affirming and how these same activities were condemned 2000 years ago in Romans 1.
Christians Cannot And MUST Not Vote Democrat – John MacArthur
A Democrat witness testifying before the HouseJudiciary Committee on abortion rights Thursday declared that men can get pregnant and have abortions. This reminds of Romans chapter 1 and also John MacArthur’s commentary on the 2022 Agenda of the Democratic Party:
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…26 For this reason (M)GOD GAVE THEM OVER to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are…inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Now, all of a sudden, not only is this characteristic of our nation, but we now promote it. One of the parties, the Democratic Party, has now made Romans 1, the sins of Romans 1, their agenda. What God condemns, they affirm.
I know from last week’s message that there was some response from people who said, “Why are you getting political?”
Romans 1 is not politics. This has to do with speaking the Word of God through the culture in which we live….it’s about iniquity and judgment. And why do we say this? Because this must be recognized for what it is–sin, serious sin, damning sin, destructive sin.
Dem witness tells House committee men can get pregnant, have abortions
‘I believe that everyone can identify for themselves,’ Aimee Arrambide tells House Judiciary Committee
A Democrat witness testifying before the HouseJudiciary Committee on abortion rights Thursday declared that men can get pregnant and have abortions.
Aimee Arrambide, the executive director of the abortion rights nonprofit Avow Texas, was asked by Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., to define what “a woman is,” to which she responded, “I believe that everyone can identify for themselves.”
“Do you believe that men can become pregnant and have abortions?” Bishop asked.
“Yes,” Arrambide replied.
The remarks from Arrambide followed a tense exchange between Bishop and Dr. Yashica Robinson, another Democrat witness, after he similarly asked her to define “woman.”
Aimee Arrambide testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on May 11, 2020. (YouTube screenshot) (Screenshot/ House Committee on the Judiciary)
“Dr. Robinson, I noticed in your written testimony you said that you use she/her pronouns. You’re a medical doctor – what is a woman?” Bishop asked Robinson, an OBGYN and board member with Physicians for Reproductive Health.
“I think it’s important that we educate people like you about why we’re doing the things that we do,” Robinson responded. “And so the reason that I use she and her pronouns is because I understand that there are people who become pregnant that may not identify that way. And I think it is discriminatory to speak to people or to call them in such a way as they desire not to be called.”
“Are you going to answer my question? Can you answer the question, what’s a woman?” Bishop asked.
Donna Howard and Aimee Arrambide speaks at Making Virtual Storytelling and Activism Personal during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 14, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Hubert Vestil/Getty Images for SXSW)
“I’m a woman, and I will ask you which pronouns do you use?” Robinson replied. “If you tell me that you use she and her pronouns … I’m going to respect you for how you want me to address you.”
“So you gave me an example of a woman, you say that you are a woman, can you tell me otherwise what a woman is?” Bishop asked.
“Yes, I’m telling you, I’m a woman,” Robinson responded.
“Is that as comprehensive a definition as you can give me?” Bishop asked.
“That’s as comprehensive a definition as I will give you today,” Robinson said. “Because I think that it’s important that we focus on what we’re here for, and it’s to talk about access to abortion.”
“So you’re not interested in answering the question that I asked unless it’s part of a message you want to deliver…” Bishop fired back.
Wednesday’s hearing, titled, “Revoking your Rights,” addressed the threat to abortion rights after the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion signaled the high court is poised to soon strike down Roe v. Wade.
John MacArthur explains God’s Wrath on unrighteousness from Romans Chapt…
18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For (D)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, (E)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not [c]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became (F)futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 (G)Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and (H)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [d]crawling creatures.
24 Therefore (I)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be (J)dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for [e]a (K)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, (L)who is blessed [f]forever. Amen.
26 For this reason (M)God gave them over to (N)degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [g]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, (O)men with men committing [h]indecent acts and receiving in [i]their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit [j]to acknowledge God any longer, (P)God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are(Q)gossips, 30 slanderers, [k](R)haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, (S)disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, (T)unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of (U)death, they not only do the same, but also (V)give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Now, all of a sudden, not only is this characteristic of our nation, but we now promote it. One of the parties, the Democratic Party, has now made Romans 1, the sins of Romans 1, their agenda. What God condemns, they affirm. What God punishes, they exalt. Shocking, really. The Democratic Party has become the anti-God party, the sin-promoting party. By the way, there are seventy-two million registered Democrats in this country who have identified themselves with that party and maybe they need to rethink that identification.
I know from last week’s message that there was some response from people who said, “Why are you getting political?”
Romans 1 is not politics. The Bible is not politics. This has nothing to do with politics. This has to do with speaking the Word of God through the culture in which we live. It has nothing to do with politics. It’s not about personalities; it’s about iniquity and judgment. And why do we say this? Because this must be recognized for what it is–sin, serious sin, damning sin, destructive sin.
WHAT HAS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY REJECTED? THE ANSWER IS THE GOD WHO HAS REVEALED HIM SELF THROUGH THE BOOK OF NATURE AND THE BOOK OF SCRIPTURE!
God Is There And He Is Not Silent
Psalm 19
Intro. 1) Francis Schaeffer lived from 1912-1984. He was one of the Christian
intellectual giants of the 20th century. He taught us that you could be a Christian and not abandon the mind. One of the books he wrote was entitled He Is There And He Is Not Silent. In that work he makes a crucial and thought provoking statement, “The infinite- personal God is there, but also he is not silent; that changes the whole world…He is there and is not a silent, nor far-off God.” (Works of F.S., Vol 1, 276).
2) God is there and He is not silent. In fact He has revealed Himself to us in 2 books: the book of nature and the book of Scripture. Francis Bacon, a 15th century scientist who is credited by many with developing the scientific method said it this way: “There are 2 books laid before us to study, to prevent us from falling into error: first the volume to the Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the volume of the creation, which expresses His power.”
3) Psalm 19 addresses both of God’s books, the book of nature in vs 1-6 and the book of Scripture in vs. 7-14. Described as a wisdom Psalm, its beauty, poetry and splendor led C.S. Lewis to say, “I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world” (Reflections on the Psalms, 63).
Trans. God is there and He is not silent. How should we hear and listen to the God who talks?
I. Listen To God Speak Through Nature 19:1-6
God has revealed himself to ever rational human on the earth in two ways: 1) nature and 2) conscience. We call this natural or general revelation. In vs. 1-6 David addresses the wonder of nature and creation.
Whatever Happened To The Human Race? | Episode 5 | Truth and History
First is what Romans says: Romans 1:18-32 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Unbelief and Its Consequences 18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to […]
Abortion and the Campaign for Immorality (Selected Scriptures) John MacArthur Published on Sep 30, 2012 by JohnMacArthurGTY http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-448 What a privilege and joy it is to worship the Lord here at Grace Church. Patricia and I miss it when we’re not here. There’s no place like this. Our hearts are full to overflowing to be […]
Prophecy–The Biblical Prophesy About Tyre.mp4 Uploaded by TruthIsLife7 on Dec 5, 2010 A short summary of the prophecy about Tyre and it’s precise fulfillment. Go to this link and watch the whole series for the amazing fulfillment from secular sources. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvt4mDZUefo ________________ John MacArthur on the amazing fulfilled prophecy on Tyre and how it was fulfilled […]
1 John 5:14-17 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 14 This is (A)the confidence which we have [a]before Him, that, (B)if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, (C)we know that we have the requests which we have asked from […]
EXCLUSIVE: Two Republican senators are taking aim at the Biden administration over its support for the Washington, D.C., Council bill giving illegal immigrants and non-citizens, which they say would include members of the Chinese Communist Party residing in the city, the right to vote in local elections.
Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., are urging the Senate to take up a joint resolution that would stop the bill in its tracks, following the House of Representatives’ passage Friday of a bipartisan resolution of disapproval on the D.C. measure.
Prior to the House’s passing of H.J. 24, the resolution disapproving of the D.C. Council’s move, the Biden administration issued a memo stating its support for the council’s bill and its opposition to the resolution, calling it a denial of “true self-governance,” and evidence that D.C. “deserves statehood.”
“The Biden administration should be ashamed,” Britt told Fox News Digital. “This is a flagrant failure of the president to uphold his oath of office to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ Quite simply, he has chosen to pander to the far-left wing of the Democratic Party instead of advancing America’s interests.”
“Voting in our country is a sacred right that must solely be limited to American citizens. This is simple common sense,” she said.
The House passed H.J. 24 in a 260-162 vote. Despite Democratic leadership urging its members to oppose the resolution, 42 of the party’s members joined Republicans.
Sen.-elect Katie Britt makes her way to a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 15, 2022.
Britt accused D.C. and other Democrat-run municipalities of “diluting the value of American citizenship” with the push to allow illegal immigrants to vote, and added that it was “effectively disenfranchising hardworking American citizens, insulting those American citizens who came to our country legally and took the time and effort to go through the citizenship process, and undermining faith in our entire electoral system.”
“D.C. would even allow official representatives of the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries to vote in local elections in our nation’s capital, when their stated interests run counter to America’s interests. This is a dangerous, illogical policy that Congress has a duty to block,” she said.
Cotton echoed Britt’s sentiment and called on Senate Democrats to join them in supporting S.R. 5, the Senate version of the joint resolution passed by the House.
“The Washington, D.C., Council is insulting every voter in America by putting forward this bill. There should be a bipartisan denouncement of this insane policy,” he said.
Sen. Tom Cotton echoed Britt’s sentiment and called on Senate Democrats to join them in supporting S.R. 5, the Senate version of the joint resolution passed by the House.
It’s unclear when, or if, the Democratic-controlled Senate would take up the joint resolution for a vote. It’s also unclear how many Democratic senators would join.
Atlanta voters line up Dec. 14 for the first day of early voting outside a polling station at the High Museum of Art in the runoff elections for two U.S. Senate seats. (Photo: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this week capped off a year of major election reforms across America by signing hotly debated legislation after a prolonged drama that saw Democratic legislators flee the state in a bid to prevent its passage.
Texas, with its Republican governor, is among at least 18 states to enact election reform measures this year, including bills to require voter ID, curb the controversial practice of ballot harvesting, and remove the dead and other ineligible voters from registration rolls.
“State legislatures finally realized in many states that these holes and vulnerabilities that existed in the system for quite a while need to be fixed,” Hans von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, told The Daily Signal.
“States like Texas, Georgia, Florida, and other places actually passed some good reforms to fix it,” von Spakovsky said.
Now manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at The Heritage Foundation, parent organization of The Daily Signal, von Spakovsky noted that many of the state election reforms prevailed despite misleading political attacks.
“[Lawmakers have] done it in the face of totally unfair and outrageous criticism of them, basically saying all kinds of lies about what they were doing,” von Spakovsky, also a member of President Donald Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, said.
The Brennan Center, which is affiliated with the New York University School of Law, characterized the new state laws as “restrictive” measures that would “suppress” voting.
The group announced a lawsuit against the state of Texas, claiming that the objective of the legislation known as SB 1 “is not to prevent voter fraud; it is to retain power in the face of a changing and expanding electorate.”
The 18 revised state election laws could be the most such successful bills since 14 states passed election measures 10 years ago, the Brennan Center said, noting: “The United States is on track to far exceed its most recent period of significant voter suppression—2011.”
Most of the new laws, however, allow more early voting and are less restrictive than election laws in New York, where the Brennan Center is based, von Spakovsky said.
Kansas and Kentucky are the only states with Democratic governors to enact major election reforms, although Nevada saw passage of a modest new law. The Kansas law came only after a veto override.
In most states that acted, a clear partisan divide opened over election reforms, with Republicans backing them and Democrats opposed.
“I think it’s a hopeful sign because I think it finally, maybe, will show that many of the opponents in the political ranks are realizing that the lies they are telling about voter ID aren’t working,” von Spakovsky said of states with Democratic governors.
“Given that the American people overwhelmingly support [voter] ID, that they better finally get onboard and go with what the American people think is a good idea,” he said.
Here is an overview of state election reforms passed so far this year:
Alabama
A new Alabama law prohibits curbside voting and requires that applications for absentee ballots be received no less than 10 days before Election Day.
Arkansas
A new Arkansas law requires voters who cast provisional ballots to show ID by noon on the Monday after Election Day. These voters previously had only to sign a sworn statement.
A separate law puts stricter limits on ballot harvesting, the practice in which political operatives distribute and collect large quantities of absentee ballots. It also prohibits election officials from distributing unsolicited applications for absentee ballots.
Arizona
One new Arizona law requires the secretary of state to compare death records with a statewide voter registration database. Another law enhances the security of voting machines.
The Grand Canyon State also joined a trend among states by banning private money to pay for election administration. The move largely was in response to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s donating $350 million to election offices across the United States last year.
Another new Arizona law will remove the names of inactive voters from an early-voting list if they have not voted in two consecutive election cycles. And a fourth law requires voters to sign the envelope in which they submit an absentee ballot.
Florida
A new Florida law restricts ballot harvesting byallowing someone to collect absentee ballots from immediate family members, but no more than two ballots from others.
Besides banning private funding of election administration, the law requires voters to request an absentee ballot in order to receive one. It also increases security for ballot drop boxes, which debuted in the 2020 election because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Georgia
A Georgia law, among the most controversial in prompting protests, requires voter ID to cast an absentee ballot. Opponents falsely claimed the restriction amounted to “Jim Crow 2.0.”
The law establishes guidelines for ballot drop boxes, aims to shorten lines at polling places, and gives a State Election Board more oversight over county election administration.
The measure also prohibits political operatives from offering food, bottled water, or anything of value within 150 feet of polls. Only New York and Montana have similar provisions related to offering food and water in voting lines.
Idaho
Idaho is among states that responded to Zuckerberg’s big spending on election administration through the left-leaning Center for Tech and Civic Life, which distributed the money.
The Idaho Legislature passed and Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed SB 1168, which requires that all state elections be funded only by appropriations from federal, state, or local government entities.
Indiana
Indiana’s SB 398 prohibits local election jurisdictions from accepting or spending funds that come from private donors for the purpose of running elections. In response to the Zuckerberg donations, the new law specifies only federal, state, and local government money may be used to administer elections.
“A number of states banned private funding of election officials, election offices, which I think was something that happened in the last election [and was] unprecedented—“Zuckerbucks”—[and] raised enormous conflicts of interest and ethical problems for election officials,” von Spakovsky said.
“They have now banned that, which is a good thing,” he added. “No private party, no political candidate, should be able to give money to local election offices in a way that might influence and manipulate the outcome of the election.”
Iowa
A new law in Iowa, a battleground state in recent presidential elections, requires absentee ballots to arrive at election offices by the close of Election Day to be counted.
The measure also allows fewer early-voting days, dropping the total from 29 to 20.
Kansas
A new law in Kansas curbs ballot harvesting by limiting to 10 the number of ballots one person may return to an election office.
The Republican-controlled Legislature voted in May to override a veto of the measure by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat.
Kentucky
Kentucky’s new law increases security for absentee ballots and requires a paper trail for voting machines. It also sets up an online portal for absentee ballot requests and adds three days to in-person early voting, up from the previous 19-day limit.
Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, signed HB 574, which was passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
Louisiana
Louisiana’s new law, known as HB 167, establishes a procedure for election officials to remove dead voters from registration rolls within 30 days of receipt of a death certificate.
Montana
One new Montana law requires voters at the polls to present either a state driver’s license, a tribal photo identification card, a state ID card number, or a military ID.
Other new laws in Montana close voter registration at noon the day before an election, restrict paid ballot collectors, and allow local election officials to reduce hours at polling locations with fewer than 400 registered voters who will cast ballots in person, as long as other polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Nevada
A measure signed into law by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, increases the maximum size of an election precinct from 3,000 to 5,000 registered voters.
New Hampshire
A new law in New Hampshire, the only New England state to pass election reforms this year, requires the secretary of state to provide information on matches of death records against voter checklists.
Another law requires that those who register to vote on Election Day by using a voter affidavit or sworn statement must also have a photo taken beforehand. The Brennan Center claims the measure is among those that “restricts access to vote.”
Oklahoma
A new law in Oklahoma sets a 30-day limit for a county election board to remove dead voters from its registration list. Another law both expands early in-person voting and requires applications for absentee ballots to be received no later than 5 p.m. on the third Monday preceding an election.
A third Oklahoma law allows the State Election Board to participate in multistate organizations that maintain voter lists, such as the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center.
Texas
The new Texas law extends early voting hours, prohibits election clerks from mailing out an application for an absentee ballot unless a voter requests one, and bans “drive-through” voting. The measure also requires voter ID for mail-in ballots and safeguards for poll watchers.
The law also requires the Texas secretary of state to use specifics on a driver’s license to “verify the accuracy of citizenship status information previously provided on voter registration applications.”
Utah
Utah’s new law, known as HB 12, requires that the names of dead voters be removed from rolls and assigns the state’s lieutenant governor to enforce it.
The Brennan Center described the law and others removing dead people from voter rolls as a “purge.”
Wyoming
A new Wyoming law requires voters to show ID to vote in person. Acceptable forms of identification include a driver’s license, a state or tribal ID, a passport, a military ID, or one from a Wyoming public school, university, or community college.
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Whatever happened to humanity? Ya we’ve driven ourselves to insanity We are human waste in a race to the finish Now we know that we’re all gonna get it
Do something stupid like some dumbass kids Hiding in the dark, hunting down our friends We are Lord of the flies till the very end Now we know that we’re all gonna get it Whoa twenty-twenty four hours to go
Hey kids, boys and girls Now we’ve really done it, it’s the end of the world ‘Cause, hey kids, we were warned Tonight we’re going out, going out like the dinosaur
Hoping heaven’s gonna let you in But your God is wondering where you been When idiocracy is all there is Now we know that we’re all gonna get it
Carl Sagan rollin in his grave We all lie to ourselves saying it’s just a phase Yeah, we’re all f$&@&$@ yeah we can’t be saved Now we know that we’re all gonna get it Whoa ten-nine hours to go
Hey kids boys and girls Now we’ve really done it, it’s the end of the world So pray big, oh my lord Now we better run, better run Come with me, now we’re free Let’s all just purge the ending Hey kids, we were warned Tonight we’re going out, going out like the dinosaur
Whoa only one minute to go
Hey kids boys and girls Now we’ve really done it, its the end of the world So pray big, oh my lord Now we better run, better run
Come with me, now were free Lets all just purge the ending Hey kids, we were warned Tonight we’re going out, going out like the dinosaur
Theory of a Deadman – Story by Charles Ken, photo by Jimmy Fontaine
Listen to “Dinosaur” from Theory of a Deadman, a song that takes the band back to their roots
Theory Of A Deadman are back with a new single, “Dinosaur,” out via Roadrunner Records. The song features a crunchy riff and catchy chorus, which fits with Theory’s longstanding hard rock sound. Watch the official visualizer for the song below.
“‘Dinosaur’ takes us back to our roots with this riff-driven rocker,” vocalist Tyler Connolly said in a statement. “To me, it feels like it could fit on any of our albums, but I will say if you like the old Theory Of A Deadman, you’ll love the new Theory Of A Deadman.”
“Rock is where we made our bed for all these years,” guitarist Dave Brenner added. “It’s been a while since we had an up-tempo in-your-face track like this – and it felt good.”
Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, YUNGBLUD) produced “Dinosaur.” The song marks the band’s first bit of new music since 2020’s “Say Nothing.” The group is also pushing the single as a “return to form stylistically,” with it being more of the classic rocker upon which Theory of a Deadman’s following was built.
Theory of a Deadman features Connolly and Brenner, alongside bass player Dean Back and drummer Joey Dandeneau. The guys got their start “Jamming together in basements throughout high school,” according to a release, and came out of their small hometown of North Delta, British Columbia, to release their 2002 self-titled debut. Since then, the guys have a plethora of multi-platinum albums and singles, including “All Or Nothing,” “Bitch Came Back,” “Lowlife,” “Angel,” “Hate My Life,” “Bad Girlfriend,” “Not Meant To Be” and “RX (Medicate).”
“Dinosaur” is the last of new music of Theory Of A Deadman’s upcoming studio album. They promise to release “a barrage of anthems” with the new set. Details on the new album are forthcoming.
Theory of a Deadman – Dinosaur (Official Visualizer)
“Eve of Destruction” is a protest song written by P. F. Sloan in mid-1964.[1] Several artists have recorded it, but the best-known recording was by Barry McGuire. This recording was made between July 12 and July 15, 1965 and released by Dunhill Records. The accompanying musicians were top-tier LAsession players: P. F. Sloan on guitar, Hal Blaine (of Phil Spector‘s “Wrecking Crew“) on drums, and Larry Knechtel on bass. The vocal track was thrown on as a rough mix and was not intended to be the final version, but a copy of the recording “leaked” out to a DJ, who began playing it.[2] The song was an instant hit and as a result the more polished vocal track that was at first envisioned was never recorded.
The song had initially been presented to The Byrds as a Dylanesque potential single, but they rejected it. The Turtles, another LA group who often recorded The Byrds’ discarded or rejected material, recorded a version instead. Their version was issued as a track on their 1965 debut album It Ain’t Me Babe, shortly before McGuire’s version was cut; it was eventually released as a single and hit number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. The song was also recorded by Jan and Dean on their album Folk ‘n Roll in 1965, using the same backing track as the McGuire version, and by The Grass Roots on their first album Where Were You When I Needed You in 1966.
McGuire also mentioned that “Eve of Destruction” was recorded in one take on a Thursday morning (from words scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper), and he got a call from the record company at 7:00 the following Monday morning, telling him to turn on the radio—his song was playing.[3]
After becoming a born-again Christian, McGuire re-recorded “Eve of Destruction” as the lead track on his second contemporary Christian release: “Lighten Up”. McGuire updated the lyrics when he performed at a reunion of folksingers, with the line about the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches replaced by the words “Columbine, Colorado“, referring to the student massacre of 1999. On March 12, 2008, McGuire appeared on the Australian music comedy/game show Spicks and Specks, performing an updated version of “Eve of Destruction”, with new lines such as “You’re old enough to kill/ you just started voting” and “…can live for ten years in space”. The reference to “Red China” was also removed, and in its place were the more generic “Now think of all the hate, still living inside us/ its never too late, to let love guide us”.
In the first week of its release, the single was at number 103 on the Billboard charts. By August 12, Dunhill released the LP, Nick Featuring Eve of Destruction. The LP reached its peak of number thirty-seven on the Billboard album chart during the week ending September 25. That same day the single went to number one on the chart, and repeated the feat on the Cashbox chart, where it had debuted at number thirty.[4] McGuire would never again break into the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100. It went to number one in Norway for two weeks.[5]
Due to its controversial lyrics, some American radio stations, “claiming it was an aid to the enemy in Vietnam”,[7] and Radio Scotland[8] banned the song.[9] It was placed on a “restricted list” by the BBC, and could not be played on “general entertainment programmes”.[10]
In the late 1970s, Los Angelespunk band The Dickies recorded a cover of “Eve of Destruction”.[11]New wave group Red Rockers covered the song in their 1984 album Schizoprenic Circus.[12]Johnny Thunders recorded it on his 1984 album Hurt Me[13] and also frequently covered the song in concert (a live version is included on his 2000 CD, Belfast Nights), while veteran Canadian punk outfit D.O.A. also covered the song on their 2004 album Live Free Or Die. Tiny Tim included a 23-minute cover of the song as the final track of his 1993 album Rock. The song has also been covered by Australian band Screaming Jets on their 1997 album World Gone Crazy. Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman released his cover version on a maxi-single CD in 2004.[14] Left-wing Christian punk band Crashdog also covered it on their album Cashists, Fascists, and Other Fungus. Post-Industrial psychedelic rock outfit Psychic TV released “Eve Of Destruction” as a limited edition single in the late 1980s. In 2003, the reggae singer Luciano recorded a version of the song. The band Bishop Allen also released a song titled “Eve of Destruction” on their 2003 album, Charm School, which takes its chorus from this song. The Cookeville, Tennessee, rock band MerseySide released a rocked up version in 2012 with the lyric “Think of all the hate there is in Al Qaeda”, with the Mayan Calendar as the cover. Irish singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy also covered the song on her 2011 album Alone, and often performs the song live with the lyrics altered to acknowledge more contemporary issues.
The Temptations‘ song “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” mentions the song title. The song was briefly featured on Stephen King‘s 1994 miniseries The Stand. With a burning Des Moines, Iowa as a backdrop, Larry Underwood sits atop the hood of a car, belting out the song to amuse himself until interrupted by another survivor of the superflu. It also appeared in The Simpsons episode GABF16, “The Girl Who Slept Too Little“, and was also featured in Michael Winterbottom‘s 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo. A Joey Scarbury cover was played repeatedly in the original airing of The Greatest American Hero episode “Operation Spoil Sport” to encourage the hero to prevent an automated nuclear strike being triggered by a renegade U.S. general (the aliens who provided the hero’s super-powers commandeered his car radio and tuned it to stations playing the song). Due to copyright issues, the song does not appear in the DVD version of the episode. A French translation is used in the closing credits of Michael Moore‘s film Sicko. An Italian version, “Questo vecchio pazzo mondo” (“This old crazy world”), was recorded by Gino Santercole in 1967; a 1984 recording by Adriano Celentano was included in his album I miei americani (a collection of US hits translated into Italian). This song also makes an appearance in The Doors (directed by Oliver Stone), as the opening act performs it before The Doors take the stage in Miami.
The song is played during the fourth-season finale of The A-Team, “The Sound of Thunder,” when the team returns to Vietnam and flashbacks recall their tours of duty. The song is featured in the fourth level of the Vietnam War video game Men of Valor. While the song is playing, the main character’s lieutenant is dying of his wound on the battlefield.
The song, like many other popular songs of the day, gave its name to a gun truck used by United States Army Transportation Corps forces during the Vietnam War. The truck is on display at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum and is believed to be the only surviving example of a Vietnam era gun truck.[15]
“Eve of Destruction” is featured in the video game Mafia III, released October 7, 2016.
“You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin'” refers to the fact that in the United States at that time men were subject to the draft at age 18, while at that time the minimum voting age (in all but four states) was still 21, before a Constitutional amendment changed it in July 1971.
“You may leave here for four days in space, but when you return it’s the same old place” refers to the June 1965 mission of Gemini 4, which lasted just over four days.
ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman, famous for inventing nicknames for sports figures, and often bringing song titles into the play on words, dubbed slugger Mark McGuire as “Mark ‘Eve of Destruction’ McGuire”.
The indie rock group Bishop Allen performs a version of “Eve of Destruction” borrowing heavily from the original, but with an even more sharply apocalyptic theme. It includes the lyrics “And if this moment is gone in a flash/ And my hand in yours becomes ash in ash”, followed in the next verse by an imagining of rejection from Heaven: “Then we’ll have a dance, yeah a dance, on the head of a pin/ Then God will grin, and shoo us away”.
MUSIC MONDAY Rolling Stones New Album Part 8 Rolling Stones – Hoo Doo Blues Blue & Lonesome is the album any Rolling Stones fan would have wished for – review 9 Comments Evergreen: The Rolling Stones perform in Cuba earlier this year CREDIT: REX FEATURES Neil McCormick, music critic 22 NOVEMBER 2016 • 12:19PM The Rolling […]
MUSIC MONDAY Rolling Stones New Album Part 7 Rolling Stones – Everybody Knows About My Good Thing The Rolling Stones Alexis Petridis’s album of the week The Rolling Stones: Blue & Lonesome review – more alive than they’ve sounded for years 4/5stars Mick Jagger’s voice and harmonica drive an album of blues covers that returns […]
MUSIC MONDAY Rolling Stones New Album Part 6 Rolling Stones – Just Like I Treat You Music Review: ‘Blue & Lonesome’ by the Rolling Stones By Gregory Katz | AP November 29 The Rolling Stones, “Blue & Lonesome” (Interscope) It shouldn’t be a surprise, really, but still it’s a bit startling to hear just how well […]
MUSIC MONDAY Rolling Stones New Album Part 5 Rolling Stones – Everybody Knows About My Good Thing Review: The Rolling Stones make blues magic on ‘Blue & Lonesome’ Maeve McDermott , USATODAY6:07 p.m. EST November 30, 2016 (Photo: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images) Before the Rolling Stones were rock icons, before its members turned into sex […]
MUSIC MONDAY Rolling Stones New Album Part 4 Rolling Stones – Little Rain Rolling Stones, ‘Blue & Lonesome’: Album Review By Michael Gallucci November 30, 2016 1:34 PM Read More: Rolling Stones, ‘Blue & Lonesome’: Album Review | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/rolling-stones-blue-lonesome-review/?trackback=tsmclip The Rolling Stones were never really a thinking band. A shrewd one, for sure, […]
MUSIC MONDAY Rolling Stones New Album Part 3 The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger chats about new album “Blue & Lonesome” on BBC Breakfast 02 Dec 2016 Rolling Stones – I Gotta Go Rolling Stones – ‘Blue & Lonesome’ Review Barry Nicolson 12:52 pm – Dec 2, 2016 57shares The Stones sound their youngest […]
_____________ Carpenters Close To You Karen Carpenter’s tragic story Karen Carpenter’s velvet voice charmed millions in the 70s… but behind the wholesome image she was in turmoil. Desperate to look slim on stage – and above all desperate to please the domineering mother who preferred her brother – she became the first celebrity victim of […]
carpenters -We’ve Only Just Begun The Carpenters – Yesterday Once More (INCLUDES LYRICS) The Carpenters – There’s a kind of hush The Carpenters – Greatest Hits Related posts: MUSIC MONDAY Paul McCartney Mull Of Kintyre November 13, 2016 – 10:29 am Paul McCartney Mull Of Kintyre-Original Video-HQ Uploaded on Nov 25, 2011 Paul McCartney Mull Of […]
Neither of the techniques mentioned above is a very accurate way to measure each president’s impact on the national debtbecause the president doesn’t have much control over the national debt during their first year in office.
For example, President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. He submitted his first budget in May. It covered the 2018 fiscal year, which didn’t begin until October 1, 2017. Trump operated the first part of his term under President Barack Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2017, which ended on Sept. 30, 2017.2
fusing, Congress intentionally sets it up this way. An advantage of the federal fiscal year is that it gives the new president time to put together their budget during their first months in office.
The Best Way to Measure Debt by President
The best way to measure a president’s debt is to add up their budget deficits and compare that total to the debt level when they took office. A president’s budget reveals their administration’s priorities.
Note
Though they sound similar, deficit and debt are two different things. A deficit is a budget shortfall, whereas debt is the running total of all deficits and surpluses. Deficits add to the debt, while surpluses reduce it.
Top 5 Presidents Who Contributed to the Debt by Percentage
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
President Roosevelt added the largest percentage increase to the national debt. Although he only added $236 billion, this was an increase of about 1,048% from the $22.5 billion debt level left by President Herbert Hoover before him. The Great Depression and the New Deal contributed to FDR’s yearly deficits, but the biggest cost was World War II—it added $186.3 billion to the debt between 1942 and 1945.3
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
President Wilson was the second-largest contributor to the debt, percentage-wise. He added about $21 billion, which was a 723% increase over the $2.9 billion debt of his predecessor. World War I contributed to the deficits that raised the national debt.3
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
President Reagan increased the debt by $1.86 trillion, or by 186%. Reagan’s supply-side economics didn’t grow the economy enough to offset the lost revenue from its tax cuts. Reagan also increased the defense budget by 35%.4
George W. Bush (2001-2009)
President Bush added $5.85 trillion to the national debt. That’s a 101% increase, putting him in fourth. Bush launched the War on Terror in response to the 9/11 attacks, which led to multi-trillion-dollar spending on the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq. Bush also dealt with the 2001 recession and the 2008 financial crisis.5
Barack Obama (2009-2017)
Under President Obama, the national debt grew the most in dollar terms ($8.6 trillion) and was fifth by percentage at 74%. Obama fought the Great Recession with an $831 billion economic stimulus package and added $858 billion through tax cuts. Even though the fiscal year 2009 budget was set by President Bush, Obama added to it with the Economic Stimulus Act in 2009.657
US Debt Increase by President Per Fiscal Year
The U.S. Treasury Department has historical tables that report the annual U.S. debt for each fiscal year (FY) since 1790. We’ve compiled this data from that source to create the figures used below.81
Joe Biden
In January 2023, the nation hit the $31.4 trillion debt limit Congress passed in 2021.9Republican lawmakers control the House of Representatives and said they won’t raise the debt limit unless Democrats, who control the Senate, agree to budget cuts.
On Oct. 1, 2021, at the end of fiscal year 2021, the national debt was $28.4 trillion. Between the end of fiscal year 2020 and the end of fiscal year 2021, the national debt grew $1.5 trillion, a 5.6% increase year over year. For fiscal year 2022, President Joe Biden’s budget included a deficit of $1.84 trillion, and by August 2022, the national debt had grown to $30.8 trillion.110
When Biden took office, the economy and household finances were still reeling from the pandemic, and Biden continued his predecessor’s policy of spending heavily to keep households afloat. In March 2021, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, which showered taxpayers with pandemic relief cash in the form of stimulus checks and extra unemployment payments, and temporarily expanded child tax credits, plus other help. It all came with a cost to future budgets: The bill would add $1.9 trillion to the national debt by 2031, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.11
The bipartisan infrastructure bill, signed by Biden in November 2021, which provided new funding for highways, railways, broadband Internet expansion and other projects, added to the debt too, with estimates on its 10-year impact ranging from $374 billion to $400 billion, depending on how it’s calculated.1213
Some of Biden’s actions cut the other way. In August 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, an anti-climate change bill that spent money on new green energy programs and tax credits as well as to make drugs cheaper for patients, and paid for it by raising taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy. The bill should reduce the national debt by $102 billion by 2031, the CBO estimated.14
Biden followed up this bill with an executive action that forgave up to $10,000 of federal student loan debt per borrower, and $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants. He also proposed a new, cheaper income-driven student loan repayment program for future borrowers. However, he also announced that student loan interest and required payments, both of which had been frozen since the pandemic hit, would resume in January 2023.15
In August 2022, the government did not have an official estimate for how these measures would impact the national debt. One piece of it—forgiving $10,000 of debt per student loan borrower—would cost $329.7 billion over 10 years, according to an estimate by the Wharton School of Business.16
Donald Trump
At the end of fiscal year 2020, the debt was $26.9 trillion. Trump added $6.7 trillion to the debt between fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2020, a 33.1% increase, largely due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and 2020 recession.
In his FY 2021 budget, Trump’s budget included a $966 billion deficit.17 However, the national debt actually grew by $1.5 trillion between October 1, 2020, and October 1, 2021.
FY 2021: $1.5 trillion
FY 2020: $4.2 trillion
FY 2019: $1.2 trillion
FY 2018: $1.3 trillion
Barack Obama
President Obama added about $8.6 trillion, about a 74% increase, to the national debt at the end of President Bush’s last budget in 2009.
FY 2017: $671 billion
FY 2016: $1.42 trillion
FY 2015: $326 billion
FY 2014: $1.09 trillion
FY 2013: $672 billion
FY 2012: $1.28 trillion
FY 2011: $1.23 trillion
FY 2010: $1.65 trillion
FY 2009: $253 billion (Congress passed the Economic Stimulus Act, which spent $253 billion)18
George W. Bush
President Bush added $5.85 trillion to the national debt, a 101% increase from the $5.8 trillion debt at the end of Clinton’s last budget for fiscal year 2001.
FY 2009: $1.63 trillion (this was Bush’s deficit without the impact of the Economic Stimulus Act)
FY 2008: $1.02 trillion
FY 2007: $501 billion
FY 2006: $574 billion
FY 2005: $553 billion
FY 2004: $596 billion
FY 2003: $555 billion
FY 2002: $421 billion
Bill Clinton
President Clinton increased the national debt by almost $1.4 trillion, almost a 32% increase from the $4.4 trillion debt at the end of President H.W. Bush’s last budget.54
FY 2001: $133 billion
FY 2000: $18 billion
FY 1999: $130 billion
FY 1998: $113 billion
FY 1997: $189 billion
FY 1996: $251 billion
FY 1995: $281 billion
FY 1994: $281 billion
George H.W. Bush
President H.W. Bush added $1.55 trillion to the debt, a 54% increase from the $2.857 trillion debt at the end of Reagan’s last budget.4
FY 1993: $347 billion
FY 1992: $399 billion
FY 1991: $432 billion
FY 1990: $376 billion
Ronald Reagan
President Regan added $1.86 trillion to the national debt, a 186% increase from the $997.8 billion debt at the end of Carter’s last budget.4
FY 1989: $255 billion
FY 1988: $252 billion
FY 1987: $225 billion
FY 1986: $302 billion
FY 1985: $251 billion
FY 1984: $195 billion
FY 1983: $235 billion
FY 1982: $145 billion
Jimmy Carter
President Carter added $299 billion to the debt, a 42.7% increase from the $698.8 billion debt at the end of Ford’s last budget.4
FY 1981: $90.1 billion
FY 1980: $81.1 billion
FY 1979: $54.9 billion
FY 1978: $72.7 billion
Gerald Ford
President Ford added $223.7 billion to the debt.4
FY 1977: $78.4 billion
FY 1976: $87.2 billion
FY 1975: $58.1 billion
Richard Nixon
President Nixon added $121.1 billion to the national debt, a 34% increase from the $353.7 billion debt at the end of President Johnson’s last budget.4
FY 1974: $16.9 billion
FY 1973: $30.8 billion
FY 1972: $29.1 billion
FY 1971: $27.2 billion
FY 1970: $17.1 billion
Lyndon B. Johnson
President Johnson added $41.8 billion to the national debt, just a small 13% increase from the $312 billion debt at the end of President Kennedy’s time in office in 1964.4
FY 1969: $6.1 billion
FY 1968: $21.3 billion
FY 1967: $6.3 billion
FY 1966: $2.6 billion
FY 1965: $5.5 billion
John F. Kennedy
President Kennedy added $22.6 billion to the national debt.4
FY 1964: $5.8 billion
FY 1963: $7.6 billion
FY 1962: $9.2 billion
Dwight Eisenhower
President Eisenhower added $22.8 billion to the national debt.4
FY 1961: $2.6 billion
FY 1960: $1.6 billion
FY 1959: $8.3 billion
FY 1958: $5.8 billion
FY 1957: $2.2 billion surplus
FY 1956: $1.6 billion surplus
FY 1955: $3.1 billion
FY 1954: $5.1 billion
Harry Truman
President Truman added $7.3 billion to the national debt.43
FY 1953: $6.9 billion
FY 1952: $3.8 billion
FY 1951: $2.1 billion surplus
FY 1950: $4.5 billion
FY 1949: $478 million surplus
FY 1948: $6 billion surplus
FY 1947: $11 billion surplus
FY 1946: $10.7 billion
Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Roosevelt increased the national debt by $236 billion, a 1,048% increase from the $22.5 billion debt at the end of Hoover’s last budget.3
FY 1945: $57.7 billion
FY 1944: $64.3 billion
FY 1943: $64.2 billion
FY 1942: $23.5 billion
FY 1941: $6 billion
FY 1940: $2.5 billion
FY 1939: $3.2 billion
FY 1938: $740 million
FY 1937: $2.6 billion
FY 1936: $5 billion
FY 1935: $1.6 billion
FY 1934: $4.5 billion
Herbert Hoover
President Hoover added about $5.7 billion to the national debt.3
FY 1933: $3 billion
FY 1932: $2.8 billion
FY 1931: $616 million
FY 1930: $746 million surplus
Calvin Coolidge
President Coolidge reduced the national debt by about $5.3 billion.3
FY 1929: $673 million surplus
FY 1928: $907 million surplus
FY 1927: $1.1 billion surplus
FY 1926: $873 million surplus
FY 1925: $734.6 million surplus
FY 1924: $1 billion surplus
Warren G. Harding
President Harding reduced the national debt by about $1.6 billion thanks to budget surpluses.3
FY 1923: $614 million surplus
FY 1922: $1 billion surplus
Woodrow Wilson
President Wilson added about $21 billion to the national debt, a 723% increase from the $2.9 billion debt at the end of Taft’s last budget for fiscal year 1913.3
FY 1921: $1.9 billion surplus
FY 1920: $1.4 billion surplus
FY 1919: $12.8 billion
FY 1918: $9.8 billion
FY 1917: $2.1 billion
FY 1916: $551 million
FY 1915: $146 million
FY 1914: $0 (slight surplus)
Note
All presidents from 1790 to 1913 added a total of $2.8 billion to the national debt.8
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Which president has put the United States the most in debt?
President Joe Biden is on track to add the most to the budget deficit, largely due to the costs associated with continuing to battle the coronavirus pandemic. In late 2021, Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling.
Why does the United States owe so much debt?
Continued decreases in the amount of taxes paid by corporations and the wealthiest Americans have resulted in less money coming in. At the same time, spending on pandemic relief and the military continues to increase.
March 31, 2021
President Biden c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Please explain to me if you ever do plan to balance the budget while you are President? I have written these things below about you and I really do think that you don’t want to cut spending in order to balance the budget. It seems you ever are daring the Congress to stop you from spending more.
“The credit of the United States ‘is not a bargaining chip,’ Obama said on 1-14-13. However, President Obama keeps getting our country’s credit rating downgraded as he raises the debt ceiling higher and higher!!!!
Washington Could Learn a Lot from a Drug Addict
Just spend more, don’t know how to cut!!! Really!!! That is not living in the real world is it?
Making more dependent on government is not the way to go!!
Why is our government in over 16 trillion dollars in debt? There are many reasons for this but the biggest reason is people say “Let’s spend someone else’s money to solve our problems.” Liberals like Max Brantley have talked this way for years. Brantley will say that conservatives are being harsh when they don’t want the government out encouraging people to be dependent on the government. The Obama adminstration has even promoted a plan for young people to follow like Julia the Moocher.
Imagine standing a baby carrot up next to the 25-story Stephens building in Little Rock. That gives you a picture of the impact on the national debt that federal spending in Arkansas on Medicaid expansion would have, while here at home expansion would give coverage to more than 200,000 of our neediest citizens, create jobs, and save money for the state.
Here’s the thing: while more than a billion dollars a year in federal spending would represent a big-time stimulus for Arkansas, it’s not even a drop in the bucket when it comes to the national debt.
Currently, the national debt is around $16.4 trillion. In fiscal year 2015, the federal government would spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.2 billion to fund Medicaid expansion in Arkansas if we say yes. That’s about 1/13,700th of the debt.
It’s hard to get a handle on numbers that big, so to put that in perspective, let’s get back to the baby carrot. Imagine that the height of the Stephens building (365 feet) is the $16 trillion national debt. That $1.2 billion would be the length of a ladybug. Of course, we’re not just talking about one year if we expand. Between now and 2021, the federal government projects to contribute around $10 billion. The federal debt is projected to be around $25 trillion by then, so we’re talking about 1/2,500th of the debt. Compared to the Stephens building? That’s a baby carrot.
______________
Here is how it will all end if everyone feels they should be allowed to have their “baby carrot.”
How sad it is that liberals just don’t get this reality.
While living in Europe in the 1760s, Franklin observed: “in different countries … the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee(15 October 1747 – 5 January 1813) was a Scottish lawyer, writer, and professor. Tytler was also a historian, and he noted, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.”
[Jefferson affirms that the main purpose of society is to enable human beings to keep the fruits of their labor.— TGW]
To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, “the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.” If the overgrown wealth of an individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best corrective is the law of equal inheritance to all in equal degree; and the better, as this enforces a law of nature, while extra taxation violates it.
[From Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Albert E. Bergh (Washington: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), 14:466.]
_______
Jefferson pointed out that to take from the rich and give to the poor through government is just wrong. Franklin knew the poor would have a better path upward without government welfare coming their way. Milton Friedman’s negative income tax is the best method for doing that and by taking away all welfare programs and letting them go to the churches for charity.
_____________
_________
Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.
Sincerely,
Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733
We got to act fast and get off this path of socialism. Morning Bell: Welfare Spending Shattering All-Time Highs Robert Rector and Amy Payne October 18, 2012 at 9:03 am It’s been a pretty big year for welfare—and a new report shows welfare is bigger than ever. The Obama Administration turned a giant spotlight […]
We need to cut Food Stamp program and not extend it. However, it seems that people tell the taxpayers back home they are going to Washington and cut government spending but once they get up there they just fall in line with everyone else that keeps spending our money. I am glad that at least […]
Government Must Cut Spending Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Dec 2, 2010 The government can cut roughly $343 billion from the federal budget and they can do so immediately. __________ Liberals argue that the poor need more welfare programs, but I have always argued that these programs enslave the poor to the government. Food Stamps Growth […]
Milton Friedman – The Negative Income Tax Published on May 11, 2012 by LibertyPen In this 1968 interview, Milton Friedman explained the negative income tax, a proposal that at minimum would save taxpayers the 72 percent of our current welfare budget spent on administration. http://www.LibertyPen.com Source: Firing Line with William F Buckley Jr. ________________ Milton […]
Dan Mitchell Commenting on Obama’s Failure to Propose a Fiscal Plan Published on Aug 16, 2012 by danmitchellcato No description available. ___________ After the Welfare State Posted by David Boaz Cato senior fellow Tom G. Palmer, who is lecturing about freedom in Slovenia and Tbilisi this week, asked me to post this announcement of his […]
Is President Obama gutting the welfare reform that Bill Clinton signed into law? Morning Bell: Obama Denies Gutting Welfare Reform Amy Payne August 8, 2012 at 9:15 am The Obama Administration came out swinging against its critics on welfare reform yesterday, with Press Secretary Jay Carney saying the charge that the Administration gutted the successful […]
Thomas Sowell – Welfare Welfare reform was working so good. Why did we have to abandon it? Look at this article from 2003. The Continuing Good News About Welfare Reform By Robert Rector and Patrick Fagan, Ph.D. February 6, 2003 Six years ago, President Bill Clinton signed legislation overhauling part of the nation’s welfare system. […]
Uploaded by ForaTv on May 29, 2009 Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/05/18/James_Bartholomew_The_Welfare_State_Were_In Author James Bartholomew argues that welfare benefits actually increase government handouts by ‘ruining’ ambition. He compares welfare to a humane mousetrap. —– Welfare reform was working so good. Why did we have to abandon it? Look at this article from 2003. In the controversial […]
Thomas Sowell If the welfare reform law was successful then why change it? Wasn’t Bill Clinton the president that signed into law? Obama Guts Welfare Reform Robert Rector and Kiki Bradley July 12, 2012 at 4:10 pm Today, the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an official policy directive rewriting the welfare […]
I have been writing President Obama letters and have not received a personal response yet. (He reads 10 letters a day personally and responds to each of them.) However, I did receive a form letter in the form of an email on July 10, 2012. I don’t know which letter of mine generated this response so I have […]
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld waits for the next scene to be filmed for an episode of the program “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” near the Capitol in Washington on Dec. 6, 2015. All too many lawmakers under the Capitol dome think they have a no-spending-limits credit card of the sort Seinfeld joked about. (Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
As members of Congress debate the debt limit, some seem to think the government has an American Express “Black Card.”
In a 2018 episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” Jerry Seinfeld explained his version of how the Black Card came to be:
I was waiting for [the crew] to move some cameras, and the crew guy comes up to me, he says, ‘You got the Black Card?’ And I go, ‘No, what’s the Black Card?’ He says, ‘There’s only three in the world. The Sultan of Brunei has one, the president of American Express has one, and I thought you would have the third one.’ Next morning, I call the president of American Express. I go, ‘Is there a Black Card?’ He says, ‘It’s just a rumor. It doesn’t exist.’ He said, ‘But you know what? It’s not a bad idea.’ And so they developed it, and they gave me the first one.
The so-called Black Card—formally, the Centurion Card—is an exclusive, “no spending limit” credit card, available by invite only. While other companies also have their own versions of “no spending limit” credit cards, the reality is that none offers a blank check on spending.
The cards may have no preset spending limit, but they all limit cardholders’ purchasing power based on a rolling assessment of their creditworthiness and ability to repay.
And that makes sense because neither the Sultan of Brunei, nor Jerry Seinfeld, nor American politicians should be given a limitless line of credit.
America’s debt limit exists as a checkpoint, meant to protect Americans from the reckless accumulation of debt in their names, and those of their children and grandchildren. That’s why a majority of Americans oppose raising the debt limit unless policymakers also reduce spending.
Already, the U.S. has accumulated $31.4 trillion in federal debt—the equivalent of $242,000 per household.
If the federal government’s borrowing were subject to the same constraints as ordinary households, and it actually had to repay its borrowing, every household in America would suddenly have two mortgage or rent payments each month, instead of just one. (At $220,000 in 2021, average mortgage debt was slightly lower than each household’s share of the federal debt.)
But unlike ordinary households—and unlike even exclusive Black Card holders—the federal government can simply vote to raise or temporarily waive its debt limits.
Over the past decade, policymakers have frequently given lip service to the debt limit, choosing to “suspend” the debt limit for periods of time, instead of setting dollar limits, and usually failing to include meaningful measures to alter unsustainable federal spending.
The proof is in the pudding in the case against Congress granting itself unlimited spending periods. Over the course of 74 years, from the establishment of the first debt limit in 1939 (an amount equal to $968 billion in today’s dollars) to 2013, policymakers raised the debt limit by about $15.4 trillion.
In 2013, policymakers began the practice of “suspending” the debt limit instead of setting dollar limits and the consequence was $12 trillion in new debt over the following eight years, through 2021. That’s seven times the inflation-adjusted rate of expansion prior to the reckless practice of suspending the debt limit.
And the federal government blew through Democrats’ $2.5 trillion debt-limit increase enacted in December 2021, adding $19,200 in debt per household over the past 13 months.
Imposing an actual debt limit and enacting meaningful spending reforms is crucial, because if politicians don’t set their own limits, they’ll face the market’s limits.
At some point, investors will become unwilling to continue lending to the U.S. government at reasonable interest rates, and recent years of reckless spending have pushed us closer to that point. The consequences of a market-imposed federal debt limit will be far more severe than the short-term effects of modest fiscal restraints that should accompany any debt-limit increase.
For example, if markets soured on U.S. debt in 2025, balancing the federal budget in that year alone would require policymakers to take an extra $10,000 per household across the U.S.
If, however, policymakers were to agree to meaningful spending reductions and pro-growth policy reforms in exchange for a specified increase in the debt limit, they could help avoid a fiscal crisis and start reducing the second-mortgage equivalent of federal debt that looms over every household in America.
They might even start to get us out of the red—and into the black.
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Remember the debt? That $17 trillion problem? Some in Washington seem to think it’s gone away.
The Washington Post reported that “the national debt is no longer growing out of control.” Lawmakers and liberal inside-the-Beltway organizations are floating the notion that it’s not a high priority any more.
We beg to differ, so we came up with 17 reasons that $17 trillion in debt is still a big, bad deal.
Some families and businesses won’t be able to borrow money because of high interest rates on mortgages, car loans, and more – the dream of starting a business could be out of reach.
5.High debt and high spending won’t help the economy.
8. Jeopardizes the stability of Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.
Millions of people depend on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, but these programs are also the main drivers of the growing debt. Congress has yet to take the steps needed to make these programs affordable and sustainable to preserve benefits for those who need them the most.
9. Washington collects a lot, and then spends a ton. Where are your tax dollars going?
In 2012, Washington collected $2.4 trillion in taxes—more than $20,000 per household. But it wasn’t enough for Washington’s spending habits. The federal government actually spent $3.5 trillion.
College students from all over the country got together in February at a “Millennial Meetup” to talk about how the national debt impacts their generation.
14. Makes us more vulnerable to the next economic crisis.
According to the Congressional Budget Office’s 2012 Long-Term Budget Outlook, “growing federal debt also would increase the probability of a sudden fiscal crisis.”
15. Washington racked up $300 billion in more debt in less than four months.
“The credit of the United States ‘is not a bargaining chip,’ Obama said on 1-14-13. However, President Obama keeps getting our country’s credit rating downgraded as he raises the debt ceiling higher and higher!!!! Washington Could Learn a Lot from a Drug Addict Just spend more, don’t know how to cut!!! Really!!! That is not […]
We got to stop all the red ink. New Video Is a Strong Indictment of Obama’s Dismal Record on Spending August 13, 2012 by Dan Mitchell The burden of federal spending in the United States was down to 18.2 percent of gross domestic product when Bill Clinton left office. But this progress didn’t last long. Thanks […]
In One Year, Spending on Interest on the National Debt Is Greater Than Funding for Most Programs Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute. In 2010, the U.S. spent more on interest on the national debt than […]
National Debt Set to Skyrocket Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute. In the past, wars and the Great Depression contributed to rapid but temporary increases in the national debt. Over the next few decades, runaway spending […]
Each American’s Share of National Debt Is Growing Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute. As Washington continues to spend more than it can afford, future generations of taxpayers will be on the hook for increasing levels […]
I have been writing President Obama letters and have not received a personal response yet. (He reads 10 letters a day personally and responds to each of them.) However, I did receive a form letter in the form of an email on May 9, 2012. I don’t know which letter of mine generated this response so I have […]
Uploaded by PBS on Jan 4, 2008 Thousands of media outlets descended on Iowa, erecting a powerful wall of TV cameras and reporters between the voters and candidates. Bill Moyers talks with Ron Paul who knows well the power of the press to set expectations and transform the agenda. ____________________________ We should not be running […]
Liam Fox Issues a Warning to America Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Feb 28, 2012 Britain’s Liam Fox has a warning for America: Fix the debt problem now or suffer the consequences of less power on the world stage. The former U.K. secretary of state for defense visited Heritage to explain why the America’s debt is […]
Liam Fox Issues a Warning to America Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Feb 28, 2012 Britain’s Liam Fox has a warning for America: Fix the debt problem now or suffer the consequences of less power on the world stage. The former U.K. secretary of state for defense visited Heritage to explain why the America’s debt is […]
Each American’s Share of National Debt Is Growing Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute. As Washington continues to spend more than it can afford, future generations of taxpayers will be on the hook for increasing levels […]
Riley Dowell, 23, was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, destruction or injury of personal property and damage of property by graffiti
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark’s non-binary child, who was arrested in an anti-cop protestover the weekend, was the one the Massachusetts congresswoman previously said had nightmares about “climate change.”
Clark’s middle child, Riley Dowell, was arrestedSaturday evening for allegedly tagging a monument with anti-police slogans in spray paint and assaulting a law enforcement officer during the protest.
The House Democratic whip in December recalled Dowell “waking up with nightmares” over climate change.
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., in December recalled Riley Dowell “waking up with nightmares” over climate change.
“One of the biggest changes is going to be that we’re coming into this in the minority, but the commitment that we have had to the people of this country, to workers, to women, to the climate is going to continue on,” Clark said.
“And let me tell you what it means to me coming in as a different generation,” she continued. “I remember my middle child waking up with nightmares over concern around climate change. I’ve had my family at a movie theater, when the movie stopped, my children immediately felt there must be a shooter in the theater with us.”
“These are the type of experiences that we are going to bring as we continue to push to meet this moment of challenge for the American people with progress,” she added.
Dowell, 23, was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, destruction or injury of personal property, and damage of property by graffiti.
The Boston Police Department referred to the suspect as “Jared Dowell.” Clark has spoken in the past about how one of her children is non-binary.
Officers were called to the Parkman Bandstand Monument in the Boston Common around 9:30 p.m. Saturday about a protest.
When officers arrived, they saw Dowell allegedly spray-painting “ACAB,” which stands for “All Cops Are Bastards,” and “NO COP CITY,” an apparent reference to a police training facility in the suburbs of Atlanta that has sparked protests after officers shot and killed a protester who allegedly opened fire on them, injuring one, earlier this week.
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark’s middle child, Riley Dowell, was arrested on Saturday evening for allegedly tagging a monument with anti-police slogans in spray paint and assaulting a law enforcement officer during the protest. (Getty Images)
While police arrested Dowell, a group of 20 protesters “began to surround officers while screaming profanities though megaphones on the public street causing traffic to come to a standstill,” according to police.
The protesters were “interfering with the arrest” and “an officer was hit in the face and could be seen bleeding from the nose and mouth.”
Clark addressed the arrest in a tweet posted Sunday.
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I was referred this fine article by Robyn E. Blumner in defense of her boss at the RICHARD DAWKINS FOUNDATION by a tweet by Daniel Dennett.
As an evangelical I have had the opportunity to correspond with more more secular humanists that have signed the Humanist Manifestos than any other evangelical alive (at least that has been one of my goals since reading Francis Schaeffer’s books and watching his films since 1979). Actually I just attended the retirement party held for my high school Bible teacher Mark Brink of EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN SCHOOL of Cordova, Tennessee on May 19th and he introduced me to the works of Francis Schaeffer and it was Schaeffer’s works that eventually help topple ROE v WADE!!! Ironically Mr Brink had a 49 year career that spanned 1973 to 2022 which was the same period that ROE v WADE survived!!!
Let me make a few points about this fine article below by the humanist Robyn E. Blumner.
Robyn is trying to use common sense on people that “GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind.” Romans 1 states:
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are…inventors of evil,
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I had the unique opportunity to discuss this very issue with Robert Lester Mondale and his wife Rosemary on April 14, 1996 at his cabin in Fredricktown, Missouri , and my visit was very enjoyable and informative. Mr. Mondale had the distinction of being the only person to sign all three of the Humanist Manifestos in 1933, 1973 and 2003.
I asked if he knew John Dewey and he said he did not, but Dewey did contact him one time to ask him some questions about an article he had written, but Mondale could not recall anything else about that.
Mondale told me some stories about his neighbors and we got to talking about some of his church members when he was an Unitarian pastor. Once during the 1930’s he was told by one of his wealthier Jewish members that he shouldn’t continue to be critical of the Nazis. This member had just come back from Germany and according to him Hitler had done a great job of getting the economy moving and things were good.
Of course, just a few years later after World War II was over Mondale discovered on a second hand basis what exactly had happened over there when he visited with a Lutheran pastor friend who had just returned from Germany. This Lutheran preacher was one of the first to be allowed in after the liberation of the concentration camps in 1945, and he told Mondale what level of devastation and destruction of innocent lives went on inside these camps. As Mondale listened to his friend he could feel his own face turning pale.
I asked, “If those Nazis escaped to Brazil or Argentina and lived out their lives in peace would they face judgment after they died?”
Mondale responded, “I don’t think there is anything after death.”
I told Mr. Mondale that there is sense in me that says justice will be given eventually and God will judge those Nazis even if they evade punishment here on earth. I did point out that in Ecclesiastes 4:1 Solomon did note that without God in the picture the scales may not be balanced in this life and power could reign, but at the same time the Bible teaches that all must face the ultimate Judge.
Then I asked him if he got to watch the O.J. Simpson trial and he said that he did and he thought that the prosecution had plenty of evidence too. Again I asked Mr. Mondale the same question concerning O.J. and he responded, “I don’t think there is a God that will intervene and I don’t believe in the afterlife.”
Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, was on this very subject of the Nazis that Lester Mondale and I discussed on that day in 1996 at Mondale’s cabin in Missouri. In this film, Allen attacks his own atheistic view of morality.Martin Landau plays a Jewish eye doctor named Judah Rosenthal raised by a religious father who always told him, “The eyes of God are always upon you.” However, Judah later concludes that God doesn’t exist. He has his mistress (played in the film by Anjelica Huston) murdered because she continually threatened to blow the whistle on his past questionable, probably illegal, business activities. She also attempted to break up Judah’s respectable marriage by going public with their two-year affair. Judah struggles with his conscience throughout the remainder of the movie and continues to be haunted by his father’s words: “The eyes of God are always upon you.” This is a very scary phrase to a young boy, Judah observes. He often wondered how penetrating God’s eyes are.
Later in the film, Judah reflects on the conversation his religious father had with Judah ‘s unbelieving Aunt May at the dinner table many years ago:
“Come on Sol, open your eyes. Six million Jews burned to death by the Nazis, and they got away with it because might makes right,” says aunt May
Sol replies, “May, how did they get away with it?”
Judah asks, “If a man kills, then what?”
Sol responds to his son, “Then in one way or another he will be punished.”
Aunt May comments, “I say if he can do it and get away with it and he chooses not to be bothered by the ethics, then he is home free.”
Judah ‘s final conclusion was that might did make right. He observed that one day, because of this conclusion, he woke up and the cloud of guilt was gone. He was, as his aunt said, “home free.”
Woody Allen has exposed a weakness in his own humanistic view that God is not necessary as a basis for good ethics. There must be an enforcement factor in order to convince Judah not to resort to murder. Otherwise, it is fully to Judah ‘s advantage to remove this troublesome woman from his life. CAN A MATERIALIST OR A HUMANIST THAT DOES NOT BELIEVE IN AN AFTERLIFE GIVE JUDAH ONE REASON WHY HE SHOULDN’T HAVE HIS MISTRESS KILLED?
The Bible tells us, “{God} has also set eternity in the hearts of men…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV). The secularist calls this an illusion, but the Bible tells us that the idea that we will survive the grave was planted in everyone’s heart by God Himself. Romans 1:19-21 tells us that God has instilled a conscience in everyone that points each of them to Him and tells them what is right and wrong (also Romans 2:14 -15).
It’s no wonder, then, that one of Allen’s fellow humanists would comment, “Certain moral truths — such as do not kill, do not steal, and do not lie — do have a special status of being not just ‘mere opinion’ but bulwarks of humanitarian action. I have no intention of saying, ‘I think Hitler was wrong.’ Hitler WAS wrong.” (Gloria Leitner, “A Perspective on Belief,” THE HUMANIST, May/June 1997, pp. 38-39)
Here Leitner is reasoning from her God-given conscience and not from humanist philosophy. It wasn’t long before she received criticism. Humanist Abigail Ann Martin responded, “Neither am I an advocate of Hitler; however, by whose criteria is he evil?” (THE HUMANIST, September/October 1997, p. 2)
HOW CAN A REASONABLE SAY SUCH A THING AS THE HUMANIST Abigail Ann Martin? She has no standards but relative standards! That is where humanism finds itself in 2022!
Francis Schaeffer in the 3rd chapter of ESCALE FROM REASON tells us how our humanist society arrived there:
The twentieth- century pornographic writers all trace their origin to the Marquis de Sade (1740- 1814). The twentieth century now treats him as a very important man—he is no longer just a dirty writer. Twenty or thirty years or so ago, if anyone was found with one of his books in England he was liable to have difficulties with the law. Today, he has become a great name in drama, in philosophy, in literature. All the “black” (nihilistic) writers, the writers in revolt today, look back to de Sade. Why? Not only because he was a dirty writer, or even that he has taught them how to use sexual writing as a vehicle for philosophic ideas, but also because basically he was a chemical determinist. He understood the direction that things would have to take when man is included in the machinery. The conclusions he drew were these: if man is determined, then what is, is right. If all of life is only mechanism—if that is all there is—then morals really do not count. Morals become only a word for a sociological frame-work. Morals become a means of manipulation by society in the midst of the machine. The word “morals” by this time is only a semantic connotation word for non-morals. What is, is right.
This leads to the second step—man is stronger than woman. Nature has made him so. Therefore, the male has the right to do what he wishes to the female. The action for which they put de Sade in prison, both under the Monarchy and the Republic—taking a prostitute and beating her for his own pleasure—was by nature right. We get our word sadism from this. But it must not be forgotten that it is related to a philosophic concept. Sadism is not only pleasure in hurting somebody. It implies that what is, is right and what nature decrees in strength is totally right. Men like Sir Francis Crick today and even Freud, at his point of psychological determinism, are only saying what the Marquis de Sade has already told us—we are a part of the machine. But, if this is so, the Marquis de Sade’s formula is inescapable—what is, is right. We are watching our culture put into effect the fact that, when you tell men long enough that they are machines, it soon begins to show in their actions. You see it in our whole culture—in the theater of cruelty, in the violence in the streets, in the murders on the moors, in the death of man in art and life. These things, and many more like them, come quite naturally from the historical and philosophic flow which we are tracing
Identitarian: A person or ideology that espouses that group identity is the most important thing about a person, and that justice and power must be viewed primarily on the basis of group identity rather than individual merit. (Source: Urban Dictionary)
“The Affirmations of Humanism”: We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. (Paul Kurtz, Free Inquiry, Spring 1987)
The humanist project is at a dangerous crossroads. I fear that our cohesion as fellow humanists is being torn apart by a strain of identitarianism that is making enemies of long-standing friends and opponents of natural allies.
Just at a time when it is essential for all of us to come together to work arm-in-arm against Christian Nationalism and the rise of religious privilege in law, humanism is facing a schism within its own movement. It is heartbreaking to watch and even more disheartening to know that the continued breach seems destined to grow.
The division has to do with a fundamental precept of humanism, that enriching human individuality and celebrating the individual is the basis upon which humanism is built. Humanism valorizes the individual—and with good reason; we are each the hero of our own story. Not only is one’s individual sovereignty more essential to the humanist project than one’s group affiliation, but fighting for individual freedom—which includes freedom of conscience, speech, and inquiry—is part of the writ-large agenda of humanism. It unleashes creativity and grants us the breathing space to be agents in our own lives.
Or at least that idea used to be at the core of humanism.
Today, there is a subpart of humanists, identitarians, who are suspicious of individuals and their freedoms. They do not want a free society if it means some people will use their freedom to express ideas with which they disagree. They see everything through a narrow affiliative lens of race, gender, ethnicity, or other demographic category and seek to shield groups that they see as marginalized by ostensible psychic harms inflicted by the speech of others.
This has given rise to a corrosive cultural environment awash in controversial speakers being shouted down on college campuses; even liberal professors and newspaper editors losing their jobs for tiny, one-off slights; the cancellation of great historical figures for being men of their time; and a range of outlandish claims of microaggressions, cultural appropriation, and other crimes against current orthodoxy.
It has pitted humanists who stand for foundational civil liberties principles such as free speech and equal protection under the law against others on the political Left who think individual freedoms should give way when they fail to serve the interests of select identity groups. The most important feature of the symbol of justice is not her sword or scales; it is her blindfold. Identitarians would pull it off so she could benefit certain groups over others.
Good people with humanist hearts have been pilloried if they don’t subscribe to every jot and tittle of the identitarian gospel. A prime example is the decision last year by the American Humanist Association (AHA) to retract its 1996 award to Richard Dawkins as Humanist of the Year. The man who has done more than anyone alive to advance evolutionary biology and the public’s understanding of that science, who has brought the light of atheism to millions of people, and whose vociferous opposition to Donald Trump and Brexit certainly must have burnished his liberal cred became radioactive because of one tweet on transgender issues that the AHA didn’t like.
Apparently decades of past good works are erased by 280 characters. Just poof. No wonder a New York Times poll1 recently found that 84 percent of adults say it is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem that some Americans do not speak freely because of fear of retaliation or harsh criticism.
This is what identitarians have wrought. Rather than lifting up individuals and imbuing them with autonomy and all the extraordinary uniqueness that flows from it, identitarians would divide us all into racial, ethnic, and gender-based groups and make that group affiliation our defining characteristic. This has the distorting effect of obliterating personal agency, rewarding group victimhood, and incentivizing competition to be seen as the most oppressed.
In addition to being inherently divisive, this is self-reinforcing defeatism. It results in extreme examples, such as a draft plan in California to deemphasize calculus as a response to persistent racial gaps in math achievement.2 Suddenly a subject as racially neutral as math has become a flashpoint for identitarians set on ensuring equality of outcomes for certain groups rather than the far-more just standard of equality of opportunity. In this freighted environment, reducing the need for rigor and eliminating challenging standards becomes a feasible solution. The notion of individual merit or recognition that some students are better at math than others becomes racially tinged and suspect.
Not only does the truth suffer under this assault on common sense, but we start to live in a Harrison Bergeron world where one’s natural skills are necessarily sacrificed on the altar of equality or, in today’s parlance, equity.
Of course, the identitarians’ focus is not just on racial issues. Gender divisions also play out on center stage. I was at a secular conference recently when a humanist leader expressed the view that if you don’t have a uterus, you have no business speaking about abortion.
Really? Only people with female reproductive organs should be heard on one of the most consequential issues of the day? Such a call, itself, is a form of lamentable sexism. And it seems purposely to ignore the fact that plenty of people with a uterus are actively opposed to the right to choose, while plenty of people without a uterus are among our greatest allies for abortion rights. Why should those of us who care about reproductive freedom cut fully half of all humanity from our roster of potential vocal supporters and activists?
As has been said by others perplexed and disturbed by such a narrow-minded view, you don’t have to be poor to have a valid opinion on ways to alleviate poverty. You don’t have to be a police officer to have a valid opinion on policing. And, similarly, you don’t have to be a woman to have a valid opinion on abortion rights.
If the Affirmation quoted at the beginning of this article that rejects “divisive parochial loyalties” based on facile group affiliations isn’t a rejection of identitarianism, I don’t know what is. In his 1968 essay “Humanism and the Freedom of the Individual,” Kurtz stated bluntly:
Any humanism that does not cherish the individual, I am prepared to argue, is neither humanistic nor humanitarian. … Any humanism worthy of the name should be concerned with the preservation of the individual personality with all of its unique idiosyncrasies and peculiarities. We need a society in which the full and free development of every individual is the ruling principle. The existence of individual freedom thus is an essential condition for the social good and a necessary end of humanitarianism.
The individual is the most important unit in humanism. When our individuality is stripped away so we can be fitted into prescribed identity groups instead, something essential to the humanist project is lost. Those pushing for this conception of society are misconstruing humanism, diminishing human potential and self-actualization, and driving a wedge between good people everywhere.
Robyn E. Blumner is the CEO of the Center for Inquiry and the executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason &, Science. She was a nationally syndicated columnist and editorial writer for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) for sixteen years.
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER LGBTQ+ SCHISM
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Francis Schaeffer later in this blog post discusses what the unbelievers in Romans 1 were rejecting, but first John MacArthur discusses what the unbelievers in the Democratic Party today are affirming and how these same activities were condemned 2000 years ago in Romans 1.
Christians Cannot And MUST Not Vote Democrat – John MacArthur
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A Democrat witness testifying before the HouseJudiciary Committee on abortion rights Thursday declared that men can get pregnant and have abortions. This reminds of Romans chapter 1 and also John MacArthur’s commentary on the 2022 Agenda of the Democratic Party:
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…26 For this reason (M)GOD GAVE THEM OVER to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are…inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Now, all of a sudden, not only is this characteristic of our nation, but we now promote it. One of the parties, the Democratic Party, has now made Romans 1, the sins of Romans 1, their agenda. What God condemns, they affirm.
I know from last week’s message that there was some response from people who said, “Why are you getting political?”
Romans 1 is not politics. This has to do with speaking the Word of God through the culture in which we live….it’s about iniquity and judgment. And why do we say this? Because this must be recognized for what it is–sin, serious sin, damning sin, destructive sin.
Dem witness tells House committee men can get pregnant, have abortions
‘I believe that everyone can identify for themselves,’ Aimee Arrambide tells House Judiciary Committee
A Democrat witness testifying before the HouseJudiciary Committee on abortion rights Thursday declared that men can get pregnant and have abortions.
Aimee Arrambide, the executive director of the abortion rights nonprofit Avow Texas, was asked by Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., to define what “a woman is,” to which she responded, “I believe that everyone can identify for themselves.”
“Do you believe that men can become pregnant and have abortions?” Bishop asked.
“Yes,” Arrambide replied.
The remarks from Arrambide followed a tense exchange between Bishop and Dr. Yashica Robinson, another Democrat witness, after he similarly asked her to define “woman.”
Aimee Arrambide testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on May 11, 2020. (YouTube screenshot) (Screenshot/ House Committee on the Judiciary)
“Dr. Robinson, I noticed in your written testimony you said that you use she/her pronouns. You’re a medical doctor – what is a woman?” Bishop asked Robinson, an OBGYN and board member with Physicians for Reproductive Health.
“I think it’s important that we educate people like you about why we’re doing the things that we do,” Robinson responded. “And so the reason that I use she and her pronouns is because I understand that there are people who become pregnant that may not identify that way. And I think it is discriminatory to speak to people or to call them in such a way as they desire not to be called.”
“Are you going to answer my question? Can you answer the question, what’s a woman?” Bishop asked.
Donna Howard and Aimee Arrambide speaks at Making Virtual Storytelling and Activism Personal during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 14, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Hubert Vestil/Getty Images for SXSW)
“I’m a woman, and I will ask you which pronouns do you use?” Robinson replied. “If you tell me that you use she and her pronouns … I’m going to respect you for how you want me to address you.”
“So you gave me an example of a woman, you say that you are a woman, can you tell me otherwise what a woman is?” Bishop asked.
“Yes, I’m telling you, I’m a woman,” Robinson responded.
“Is that as comprehensive a definition as you can give me?” Bishop asked.
“That’s as comprehensive a definition as I will give you today,” Robinson said. “Because I think that it’s important that we focus on what we’re here for, and it’s to talk about access to abortion.”
“So you’re not interested in answering the question that I asked unless it’s part of a message you want to deliver…” Bishop fired back.
Wednesday’s hearing, titled, “Revoking your Rights,” addressed the threat to abortion rights after the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion signaled the high court is poised to soon strike down Roe v. Wade.
John MacArthur explains God’s Wrath on unrighteousness from Romans Chapt…
18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For (D)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, (E)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not [c]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became (F)futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 (G)Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and (H)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [d]crawling creatures.
24 Therefore (I)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be (J)dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for [e]a (K)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, (L)who is blessed [f]forever. Amen.
26 For this reason (M)God gave them over to (N)degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [g]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, (O)men with men committing [h]indecent acts and receiving in [i]their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit [j]to acknowledge God any longer, (P)God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are(Q)gossips, 30 slanderers, [k](R)haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, (S)disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, (T)unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of (U)death, they not only do the same, but also (V)give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Now, all of a sudden, not only is this characteristic of our nation, but we now promote it. One of the parties, the Democratic Party, has now made Romans 1, the sins of Romans 1, their agenda. What God condemns, they affirm. What God punishes, they exalt. Shocking, really. The Democratic Party has become the anti-God party, the sin-promoting party. By the way, there are seventy-two million registered Democrats in this country who have identified themselves with that party and maybe they need to rethink that identification.
I know from last week’s message that there was some response from people who said, “Why are you getting political?”
Romans 1 is not politics. The Bible is not politics. This has nothing to do with politics. This has to do with speaking the Word of God through the culture in which we live. It has nothing to do with politics. It’s not about personalities; it’s about iniquity and judgment. And why do we say this? Because this must be recognized for what it is–sin, serious sin, damning sin, destructive sin.
WHAT HAS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY REJECTED? THE ANSWER IS THE GOD WHO HAS REVEALED HIM SELF THROUGH THE BOOK OF NATURE AND THE BOOK OF SCRIPTURE!
God Is There And He Is Not Silent
Psalm 19
Intro. 1) Francis Schaeffer lived from 1912-1984. He was one of the Christian
intellectual giants of the 20th century. He taught us that you could be a Christian and not abandon the mind. One of the books he wrote was entitled He Is There And He Is Not Silent. In that work he makes a crucial and thought provoking statement, “The infinite- personal God is there, but also he is not silent; that changes the whole world…He is there and is not a silent, nor far-off God.” (Works of F.S., Vol 1, 276).
2) God is there and He is not silent. In fact He has revealed Himself to us in 2 books: the book of nature and the book of Scripture. Francis Bacon, a 15th century scientist who is credited by many with developing the scientific method said it this way: “There are 2 books laid before us to study, to prevent us from falling into error: first the volume to the Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the volume of the creation, which expresses His power.”
3) Psalm 19 addresses both of God’s books, the book of nature in vs 1-6 and the book of Scripture in vs. 7-14. Described as a wisdom Psalm, its beauty, poetry and splendor led C.S. Lewis to say, “I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world” (Reflections on the Psalms, 63).
Trans. God is there and He is not silent. How should we hear and listen to the God who talks?
I. Listen To God Speak Through Nature 19:1-6
God has revealed himself to ever rational human on the earth in two ways: 1) nature and 2) conscience. We call this natural or general revelation. In vs. 1-6 David addresses the wonder of nature and creation.
Whatever Happened To The Human Race? | Episode 5 | Truth and History
First is what Romans says: Romans 1:18-32 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Unbelief and Its Consequences 18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to […]
Abortion and the Campaign for Immorality (Selected Scriptures) John MacArthur Published on Sep 30, 2012 by JohnMacArthurGTY http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-448 What a privilege and joy it is to worship the Lord here at Grace Church. Patricia and I miss it when we’re not here. There’s no place like this. Our hearts are full to overflowing to be […]
Prophecy–The Biblical Prophesy About Tyre.mp4 Uploaded by TruthIsLife7 on Dec 5, 2010 A short summary of the prophecy about Tyre and it’s precise fulfillment. Go to this link and watch the whole series for the amazing fulfillment from secular sources. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvt4mDZUefo ________________ John MacArthur on the amazing fulfilled prophecy on Tyre and how it was fulfilled […]
1 John 5:14-17 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 14 This is (A)the confidence which we have [a]before Him, that, (B)if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, (C)we know that we have the requests which we have asked from […]
Elevation Worship began in 2007 at Elevation Churchin Charlotte, North Carolina.[1][3][5] The band released four independent albums prior to signing with Essential Records. The Sound was released in 2007 (under the name Elevation Church Live), We Are Alive in 2008, God With Us in 2009, and Kingdom Come in 2010.[3] Featuring the song “Give Me Faith”, Kingdom Come was the band’s first album to break through on the Billboard charts, reaching No. 5 on Heatseekers, No. 42 on Independent Albums and at No. 17 on the Christian Albums chart.[6][1]
The band released their debut studio album, For the Honor, under Sony Music Nashville‘s Essential Records label on November 21, 2011.[1][3] It saw chart success on Billboard magazine charts, including No. 1 on Heatseekers, No. 19 on the Christian Albums, and the Billboard 200 at No. 193.[1][7]
The band’s second album under the Essential label,[1][3]Nothing Is Wasted, was released on February 19, 2013. A deluxe edition of the album also included studio recordings of each song. It also saw chart success – reaching No. 1 on the Christian Albums chart and at No. 41 on the Billboard 200.[1][8][9][10]
Their seventh album, Only King Forever, was released on January 14, 2014, debuting at their highest charting position, No. 23 on the Billboard200[11] and featured guest vocalist Darlene Zschechfrom Hillsong Worship.
On August 1, 2014, the band recorded their eighth album, Wake Up the Wonder, live at the Spectrum in Charlotte. It was released on November 25 that same year. The album debuted at No. 58 on the Billboard 200 in its first week, as well as No. 1 on Billboard‘s Christian Album chart.[12] On July 31, 2015, they held another live recording at Time Warner Cable Arena for their ninth album, Here as in Heaven, their first album released on their own label, Elevation Worship Records. It was released on February 5, 2016, and peaked No. 1 on US album charts.[1][8] Their tenth album, There Is a Cloud, was released on March 17, 2017, after being recorded at Elevation Ballantyne during the church’s revival, “Code Orange Revival”. After There is a Cloud, Elevation Worship released their first Spanish album, Lo Harás Otra Vez, on August 18, 2017. This album peaked at No. 2 on the US Latin album chart. On September 28, 2018, Elevation Worship released their eleventh live album, Hallelujah Here Below, which was nominated for the 2019 Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. On April 12, 2019, Elevation Worship released Paradoxology, which was a reimagined album with different takes on the songs from Hallelujah Here Below, like “Here Again”, “Echo”, and “Won’t Stop Now”. Paradoxologyincluded a single, “With You”.[13]Aleluya (En La Tierra) is Elevation Worship’s second album in Spanish and was released on July 19, 2019. It peaked at eight on US Latin Album Sales. At Midnight, their seventh EP, was released on August 30, 2019. Graves Into Gardens, the group’s twelfth album, was released on May 1, 2020. The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian albums chart and No. 34 on the Billboard 200.[14] On April 30, 2021, Elevation Worship collaborated with Maverick City Music to release Old Church Basement. Old Church Basement debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Albums chart and No. 30 on Billboard 200.[15] Their live album, LION, released on March 4, 2022, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart and No. 80 on the Billboard 200.[16]
You are called to go Keith’s concerts were evangelistic and exhortational. He was the Lecrae of the 70’s. Here is what he has to say about the great commission:
“The world isn’t being won today because we’re not doing it. It’s our fault. This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth. And no where in the world is the gospel so plentiful as here in the United States. No where. And I don’t want to see us stand before God on that day ans say, ‘but God I didn’t hear you call me.’ Here is something for all you to chew on, you don’t need to hear a call, you’re already called. In fact, if you stay home from going into all nations you had better be able to say to God, ‘You called me to stay home God, I know that as a fact.'”
Keith Green – Asleep In The Light (live)
Uploaded on May 26, 2008
Keith Green performing “Asleep In The Light” live at Jesus West Coast ’82
Keith Green was an intense and radical man of God. He was taken from this Earth at a relatively young age. His legacy lives on through his music and his sermons. This video is about his life.
Wayne and I were very close to Keith from 1978-1982. We both served on the leadership of Last Days Ministries, and have many wonderful memories of Keith and those developing years of Last Days Ministries. Here are some inside Keith-facts.
1. Did you know that Keith wore flip flopseverywhere he went?
2. Did you know that Keith always had to share his food with everyone, because if he liked it, he knew you would too? It was the Jewish mother in him.
3. Did you know Keith was a real family man? He couldn’t stand to be separated from Melody or his kids for long.
4. Did you know that Keith was very soul searchingand could be harder on himself then he was on others?
5. Did you know Keith would sometimes cut his own hair; and even played barber shop with some of the other brothers at the ministry?
6. Did you know that Keith was a real night owl? He often got his best revelation late at night and would commonly call people at 2-3am to share his fresh insights.
7. Did you know that Keith used to mow the grassin Texas on a big tractor as a way to relax and to clear his head?
8. Did you know that Keith invited so many family and friends to witness the birth of his children, that it nearly became a public event?
9. Did you know that he always had a team of people praying while he was in the studio? Along with his talent, there were hours and hours of intercession that went into each album.
10. Did you know that Keith had a deep love for people and would get really involved with people he was ministering to?
11. Did you know that Keith would read the bible in the bathroom and got some of his best revelation in there?
12. Did you know that he loved to play racket ball? He also played tennis and ping pong, and was very competitive.
13. Did you know he loved to try new things? He learned to milk a cow, drive a tractor and run a printing press.
14. Did you know that he loved to go to auctions, and was able to furnish our facilities in East Texas saving thousands of dollars?
15. Did you know Keith shaved his beard when we moved to East Texas from California, to avoid offending the locals.
16. Did you know that Keith could type faster with 2 fingers than most of us can with 10?
17. Did you know Keith was really close friends with the famous revivalist, Leonard Ravenhill, and often went to him for counsel and advice?
18. Did you know he was the same off stage as he was on stage? With Keith, what you saw was who he was, he was genuine, sincere and real in all he did.
19 Did you know that Keith once drove the bus off the road in Hell’s Canyon, Utah leaving it dangling over a 2000 foot cliff? It took 2 bulldozers to lift it back onto the road.
20. Did you know Keith borrowed money on his house to sponsor the “So You Wanna Go back To Egypt”album so we could make them available to people for whatever they could afford?
21. Did you know Keith never received a salaryfrom the ministry?
22. Did you know that in spite of his success and popularity Keith lived a very simple life?
23. Did you know Keith loved to walk when he prayed? He could often be seen in an animated prayer walk going along the edge of our ministry property.
24. Did you know Keith led worship every Friday night at a prayer meeting led by Leonard Ravenhill near our ministry in East Texas?
25. Did you know Keith had a vision to do a restaurant that would offer food for whatever you could afford as a ministry outreach to the community?
Did you know Keith wasn’t perfect, but he held nothing back in serving Jesus and bringing others into God’s Kingdom.
My favorite Christian music artist of all time is Keith Green. Sunday, May 5, 2013 You Are Celled To Go – Keith Green Keith Green – (talks about) Jesus Commands Us To Go! (live) Uploaded on May 26, 2008 Keith Green talks about “Jesus Commands Us To Go!” live at Jesus West Coast ’82 You can find […]
Keith Green – So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt (live) Uploaded by monum on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt” live at West Coast 1980 ____________ This song really shows Keith’s humor, but it really has great message. Keith also had a great newsletter that went out […]
Keith Green – So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt (live) Uploaded by monum on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt” live at West Coast 1980 ____________ This song really shows Keith’s humor, but it really has great message. Keith also had a great newsletter that went out […]
Keith Green – So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt (live) Uploaded by monum on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt” live at West Coast 1980 ____________ This song really shows Keith’s humor, but it really has great message. Keith also had a great newsletter that went out […]
Keith Green – So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt (live) Uploaded by monum on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt” live at West Coast 1980 ____________ This song really shows Keith’s humor, but it really has great message. Keith also had a great newsletter that went out […]
Keith Green – Easter Song (live) Uploaded by monum on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “Easter Song” live from The Daisy Club — LA (1982) ____________________________ Keith Green was a great song writer and performer. Here is his story below: The Lord had taken Keith from concerts of 20 or less — to stadiums […]
Keith Green – Asleep In The Light Uploaded by keithyhuntington on Jul 23, 2006 keith green performing Asleep In The Light at Jesus West Coast 1982 __________________________ Keith Green was a great song writer and performer and the video clip above includes my favorite Keith Green song. Here is his story below: “I repent of […]
Keith Green – Your Love Broke Through Here is something I got off the internet and this website has lots of Keith’s great songs: Keith Green: His Music, Ministry, and Legacy My mom hung up the phone and broke into tears. She had just heard the news of Keith Green’s death. I was only ten […]
The Keith Green Story pt 7/7 I remember when I first Keith Green. He had a great impact on me. Below are some quotes on Keith: Quotes “It’s time to quit playing church and start being the Church (Matt. 18:20)” — Keith Green, as quoted by Melody Green in the introduction to A Cry […]
The Keith Green Story pt 6/7 When I first heard Keith Green in 1978 it had a major impact on my life. Below is his story: LEGEND Keith Green CBN.com – When musician Keith Green died in a plane crash on July 28, 1982, the world lost a special man whose heart was aflame […]
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Akiem Hicks (96) tries to tackle Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) during the first half of an NFL wild-card football game, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Click on this link for whole story how Dallas demolished Tampa Bay tonight 31-14!!!
Stephen Jones did a great job at the Little Rock Touchdown Club today and he told a lot of stories about his dad and Father Tribou of Catholic High of Little Rock.
Walking out of the Catholic High School locker rooms en route to practice, three freshmen football players turned a corner and came face to face with a white-haired man briskly descending the stairs in a well-cut navy suit. As they stopped to let the man pass, their eyes widened in recognition of Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys.
“How ya, doin,” Jones asked nonchalantly to the boys frozen speechless in their places.
It wasn’t the first audience Jones had surprised on his Oct. 10 visit to Little Rock. Earlier in the afternoon, before an audience of the senior class, faculty, staff, guests and a throng of local media, Jones announced a contribution in the amount of nearly $10 million was being made by the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Charities of Dallas, San Francisco 49ers co-chairmen and former co-owners Denise and John York and an anonymous Catholic High alumnus, in support of the school’s capital campaign.
“Nobody lives a life of all highs, but this is a high,” Jerry Jones said, his eyes welling with tears. “My family and I get to do something in the name of and for someone that we love.”
That someone is the late Msgr. George Tribou who served as Catholic High School rector and principal for 35 years. Jones’ sons, Jerry Jr. and Stephen, and his son-in-law, Shy Anderson, graduated from the school in the 1980s and each shared a story of their encounters with Msgr. Tribou in their brief remarks. All said his impact on their lives was indelible.
“He was right more times than most,” Jerry Jones Jr. said. “He stressed it was not about feeling good but being good.”
Stephen and Jerry Jones were visibly emotional and struggled to maintain their composure during their remarks. Stephen Jones remarked, “Next to my dad, Father Tribou was like, father 1A. We love him and we miss him.”
Jerry Jones, when asked if he could say one thing to his friend, who died in 2001 and for whom he served as pallbearer, said, “I hope we’re doing a little bit to make you proud.”
Members of the York family were unable to attend the event, but John York, class of 1967, said in a statement, “This capital campaign will help ensure that the same quality education and experience I received will be passed down to more generations to come. Just being a part of the Catholic High history and tradition is an honor.”
York, a CHS Alumnus of the Year, donated $500,000 for the math and science building at CHS in 1999.
The Jones and York contributions match an earlier commitment from the anonymous alumnus with the three packaged as a collective gift. It is the largest donation in the school’s history and effectively meets the campaign goal just 14 months after it was announced. However, the new gift includes a matching component that, if maximized, provides an opportunity for donors to exceed its $15 million target. Any new gifts made between April 2013 and April 2016 are eligible to be matched.
As Steve Straessle, CHS principal summarized, “This gift gets us near the goal line, but we are not finished yet. We still have work to do to meet and exceed our goal.”
Jerry Jones wasted no time pounding a bully pulpit for raising the additional funds. At the alumni dinner later that evening, Jones turned capital campaign evangelizer, urging the 1,000-plus in attendance to step up to the plate and help push the campaign past the original goal.
Calling himself “a soldier for Catholic High,” he said he wanted his to be “one of hundreds, even thousands,” of contributions to the campaign.
The capital campaign supports renovations to the school for technology, mechanical systems and classroom upgrades. It is the first major renovation since the current school was built in 1950. New windows, Roy Davis Athletic Field and track, and the updated cafeteria and gymnasium have all already been completed as part of the project.
Following a whirlwind day, Straessle expressed gratitude for all who had contributed thus far to help the school complete the renovations. He said the ability of the school to attract such participation demonstrates the enduring quality of Catholic High.
“You cannot sell a bad product,” he said. “If you believe in what you have and share that belief among your closest stakeholders to the wider community, there is no goal that is insurmountable. Everyone and anyone who walks onto the Catholic High campus, I think, knows instantly what we believe.”
________ I really enjoyed listening to Charlie Weis on Tuesday. Nortre Dame’s Weis was one of the best speakers we have had at the Little Rock Touchdown Club!!! Little Rock Touchdown Club – September 8, 2015 Weis adapts to life away from football Share on facebookShare on twitterMore Sharing Services2 By Jeremy Muck This article […]
___ Little Rock Touchdown Club – August 31, 2015 Felix Jones, Peyton Hillis talk to LR Touchdown Club Share on facebookShare on twitterMore Sharing Services0 By Brandon Riddle This article was published today at 1:38 p.m. Two former Arkansas running backs spoke to the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday, telling stories of their […]
_________ Streamed live on Aug 24, 2015 Bret Bielema speaks to the Touchdown Club ____________ Bielema speaks to sold-out crowd at LR Touchdown Club Share on facebookShare on twitterMore Sharing Services3 By Brandon Riddle This article was published today at 12:53 p.m. Arkansas coach Bret Bielema addressed a sold-out meeting of the Little Rock Touchdown […]
_______________________ Bret Bielema is first speaker in 2015 George Schroeder — USA Today is the last speaker of the year In an earlier post I praised David Bazzel for the job he did putting together another great lineup of speakers for the Little Rock Touchdown Club in 2015 and today I want to take a look […]
________________ David Bazzel pictured below: I have written about my past visits to the Little Rock Touchdown Club many times and I have been amazed at the quality of the speakers. One of my favorite was Phillip Fulmer, but Frank Broyles was probably my favorite, and Paul Finebaum, Mike Slive, Willie Roaf,Randy White, Howard Schnellenberger, John Robinson, […]
Andrews supports athletes Share on facebook Share on twitter More Sharing Services0 By Jeff Halpern This article was published November 25, 2014 at 2:37 a.m. PHOTO BY JEFF HALPERN Former Arkansas offensive lineman Shawn Andrews was the guest at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Nov. 24, 2014. Comments aAFont Size It’s been 11 years […]
_______ Little Rock Touchdown Club – November 3, 2014 I really enjoyed the stories that Rocket told about Lou Holtz. I noticed another big crowd today at the lunch when I looked around at the audience. Lou told Rocket to make the play Share on facebookShare on twitterMore Sharing Services0 By Jeremy Muck This article […]
________ SEC Network Analyst Dari Nowkah said at the Little Rock Touchdown Club that those outside the SEC say the conference is overrated but that obviously is not true!!!! With SEC teams winning seven consecutive national championships in 2006-2012 and having at least one team in each of the past eight BCS Championship Games, Nowkah […]
___________ Little Rock Touchdown Club – October 6 2014 This is what the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had to say about Lee Roy: After last season, Alabama lost a three-year starter at quarterback, AJ McCarron, who led the Crimson Tide to national championships after the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and was a fifth-round draft pick of the […]
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Ricky Gervais and Penelope Wilton in ‘After Life’ (CREDIT: Netflix)
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The Daily Hatch 