Zach Uram's Blog

  • New Year Medley 2023

    Happy New Year – 2023! Here are a few songs to ring in the new year.

    Where Have All The Flowers Gone

    This is a very poignant anti-war anthem performed by the 60’s folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary.

    Lyrics

    Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them, every one
Oh when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone for husbands, every one
Oh when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?

Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?
Where have all the husbands gone?
Gone for soldiers, every one
Oh when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, every one
Oh when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, every one
Oh when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?

    The End

    This is a fascinating and powerful poetic rock song performed by The Doors. It was co-written by band frontman Jim Morrison. I wonder if his mind was addled by drugs, or if he was suffering from a psychologically disturbed state of mind at the time. Jim was open about hearing voices that plagued him and drove him to drink alcohol in excess and take illegal hard drugs. Morrison likely had undiagnosed schizoaffective disorder. A very tragic talented figure who went too soon.

    Lyrics

    This is the end
    Beautiful friend
    This is the end
    My only friend, the end

    Of our elaborate plans, the end
    Of everything that stands, the end
    No safety or surprise, the end
    I’ll never look into your eyes again

    Can you picture what will be?
    So limitless and free
    Desperately in need
    Of some stranger’s hand
    In a desperate land

    Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
    And all the children are insane
    All the children are insane
    Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

    There’s danger on the edge of town
    Ride the King’s Highway, baby
    Weird scenes inside the gold mine
    Ride the highway west, baby
    Ride the snake, ride the snake
    To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
    The snake, he’s long, seven miles
    Ride the snake
    He’s old and his skin is cold
    The west is the best
    The west is the best
    Get here and we’ll do the rest
    The blue bus is calling us
    The blue bus is calling us
    Driver, where you taking us?

    The killer awoke before dawn
    He put his boots on
    He took a face from the ancient gallery
    And he walked on down the hall
    He went into the room where his sister lived, and then he
    Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
    He walked on down the hall, and
    And he came to a door
    And he looked inside
    “Father?” “Yes, son?” “I want to kill you”
    “Mother? I want to…”

    Come on baby, take a chance with us
    Come on baby, take a chance with us
    Come on baby, take a chance with us
    And meet me at the back of the blue bus
    Doin’ a blue rug, on a blue bus, doin’ a
    Come on yeah
    Fuck, fuck-ah, yeah
    Fuck, fuck
    Fuck, fuck
    Fuck, fuck, fuck yeah!
    Come on baby, come on
    Fuck me baby, fuck yeah
    Whoa
    Fuck, fuck, fuck, yeah!
    Fuck, yeah, come on baby
    Fuck me baby, fuck fuck
    Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
    Fuck yeah, do it, yeah
    Come on!
    Huh, huh, huh, huh, yeah
    Alright
    Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill

    This is the end
    Beautiful friend
    This is the end
    My only friend, the end

    It hurts to set you free
    But you’ll never follow me
    The end of laughter and soft lies
    The end of nights we tried to die
    This is the end

    Auld Lang Syne

    This is a popular song. Traditionally, it is sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. It’s performed here by The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin.

    The text is a Scots-language poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 but based on an older Scottish folk song. In 1799, it was set to a traditional tune, which has since become standard.

    The poem’s Scots title may be translated into standard English as “old long since” or, less literally, “long long ago”, “days gone by”, “times long past” or “old times”. Consequently, “For auld lang syne”, as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as “for the sake of old times”.

    The phrase “Auld Lang Syne” is also used in similar poems by Robert Ayton (1570–1638), Allan Ramsay (1686–1757), and James Watson (1711), as well as older folk songs predating Burns. Matthew Fitt uses the phrase “in the days of auld lang syne” as the equivalent of “once upon a time” in his retelling of fairy tales in the Scots language.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne

    Lyrics

    Should old acquaintance be forgot,
    and never brought to mind?
    Should old acquaintance be forgot,
    and auld lang syne?

    Chorus
    For auld lang syne, my dear,
    for auld lang syne,
    we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
    for auld lang syne.

    And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
    and surely I’ll buy mine!
    And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
    for auld lang syne.

    Chorus

    We two have run about the hills,
    and picked the daisies fine;
    But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
    since auld lang syne.

    Chorus

    We two have paddled in the stream,
    from morning sun till dine;
    But seas between us broad have roared
    since auld lang syne.

    Chorus

    And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
    And give me a hand o’ thine!
    And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
    for auld lang syne.

    Chorus

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  • The Baptism Debate

    Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, other Reformed, and some Anglican all believe in either infant baptism or both infant baptism and baptismal regeneration. I submit, respectfully, that these believers are all wrong in their understanding of baptism. In this post, I will discuss the fundamental differences between the credobaptist and paedobaptism positions, and I’ll show why the doctrine of baptismal regeneration is utterly unbiblical.

    Background

    All the Church Fathers were fallible men who weren’t writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Thus I don’t find long lists of Church Father quotes convincing in the least when it comes to baptism and baptismal regeneration! I go solely by Scripture. SOLA SCRIPTURA!

    And I’ve heard Christians say, “What about people like Polycarp, Ignatius, and others the apostles trained, surely they have a correct doctrine?” I reject this position because even in Scripture while the New Testament was still being written, we see the apostle Paul had to correct the heretical beliefs of people who he himself trained in the faith! If it can happen to an apostle, it can happen to someone the apostle trained. I put more stock in what the Reformers of the Church believe because they operate on the basis of Sola Scriptura which is thoroughly biblical! Catholics, Orthodox, and other heterodox churches also greatly appeal to the Church Fathers for much of their erroneous theology. So that doesn’t pass muster with me.

    It’s clear in Scripture that:

    • Infant baptism is not biblical.
    • Baptismal regeneration is utterly alien to Scripture and only heavy eisegesis and cherry-picking words or sentences out of proper context can be used to support it.

    Infant Baptism

    Some of the seminal texts used to legitimize the practice of infant baptism are:

    Acts 16:15 “And when she was baptized, with her household, she besought us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ And she prevailed upon us” [cf. 18:18].

    Acts 16:33  “And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, with all his family.”

    1 Corinthians 1:16  “I did baptize also the household of Stephanas.”

    It is a major assumption to infer from these texts that infants were baptized. Many households have no infants. There is not one explicit text in Scripture demonstrating conclusively that infants were baptized. Thus the paedobaptist argument is one from silence which is the weakest of all arguments.

    Hermeneutics

    Some salient points to keep in mind:

    • Misinterpreting the covenant signs: The new covenant is wholly new and better than the old. It is not merely a continuation or addendum of the old covenant. It represents a radically new paradigm. The covenant sign of the old covenant was the circumcision of males only. The covenant sign of the new covenant is spiritual baptism (circumcision of the heart), of males and females.
    • Covenant membership: In the old covenant, not every member was regenerated. In fact, it seems the majority were not. The new covenant however has all members as being regenerate (the elect).
    • Following the wrong model: The New Testament model of salvation is clear and unambiguous: one is to repent and then believe the Gospel. An infant can do neither.
    • Argument from silence: The New Testament does not contain one explicit or unambiguous example of an infant being baptized. If infant baptism is true and given its importance it’s hard to fathom how God could have silence on this issue. Given that the majority of Reformed adhere to the Regulative Principle they would have to reject infant baptism since God doesn’t command it.

    The Bible is entirely silent about infant baptism, either pro or con. We admit it. We do not profess to get infant baptism from its pages.” “We would not find infant baptism in the Bible, because it is not there, and cannot be gotten out of the Bible.

    Dr. Albertus Pieters – Reformed theologian, “Why we baptize infants”.

    Baptismal Regeneration

    I will not address the strongest evidence proponents of baptismal regeneration use to defend their doctrine.

    The following quote may appear at face value to support their position. However, if we scrutinize it with the proper hermeneutics and do solid exegesis of the texts we will see clearly that the proper interpretation of Scripture does not affirm baptismal regeneration.

    But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

    For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

    1 Peter 3:14-22 (ESV)

    Puritan Matthew Henry, in his famous commentary on Scripture, explained what the Apostle Peter truly meant and it does not support baptismal regeneration.

    We sanctify God before others, when our conduct invites and encourages them to glorify and honour him. What was the ground and reason of their hope? We should be able to defend our religion with meekness, in the fear of God. There is no room for any other fears where this great fear is; it disturbs not. The conscience is good, when it does its office well. That person is in a sad condition on whom sin and suffering meet: sin makes suffering extreme, comfortless, and destructive. Surely it is better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing, whatever our natural impatience at times may suggest. The example of Christ is an argument for patience under sufferings. In the case of our Lord’s suffering, he that knew no sin, suffered instead of those who knew no righteousness. The blessed end and design of our Lord’s sufferings were, to reconcile us to God, and to bring us to eternal glory. He was put to death in respect of his human nature, but was quickened and raised by the power of the Holy Spirit. If Christ could not be freed from sufferings, why should Christians think to be so? God takes exact notice of the means and advantages people in all ages have had. As to the old world, Christ sent his Spirit; gave warning by Noah. But though the patience of God waits long, it will cease at last. And the spirits of disobedient sinners, as soon as they are out of their bodies, are committed to the prison of hell, where those that despised Noah’s warning now are, and from whence there is no redemption. Noah’s salvation in the ark upon the water, which carried him above the floods, set forth the salvation of all true believers. That temporal salvation by the ark was a type of the eternal salvation of believers by baptism of the Holy Spirit. To prevent mistakes, the apostle declares what he means by saving baptism; not the outward ceremony of washing with water, which, in itself, does no more than put away the filth of the flesh, but that baptism, of which the baptismal water formed the sign. Not the outward ordinance, but when a man, by the regeneration of the Spirit, was enabled to repent and profess faith, and purpose a new life, uprightly, and as in the presence of God. Let us beware that we rest not upon outward forms. Let us learn to look on the ordinances of God spiritually, and to inquire after the spiritual effect and working of them on our consciences. We would willingly have all religion reduced to outward things. But many who were baptized, and constantly attended the ordinances, have remained without Christ, died in their sins, and are now past recovery. Rest not then till thou art cleansed by the Spirit of Christ and the blood of Christ. His resurrection from the dead is that whereby we are assured of purifying and peace.

    Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible

    Note that Henry says “to prevent mistakes”, because he saw the errors of the Papists and Lutherans. He knows there would be many, sadly, who interjects the false notion that an ordinance & sacrament could confer saving grace, rather than the Holy Spirit who does quicken a soul and thus confer regeneration wholly apart from any work of man.

    Salvation is monergistic (God acting alone), not synergistic (God and man acting together). The latter is the heresy of semi-Pelagianism.

    I should note that baptismal regenerationists love using the early Church Fathers, to prove their diabolical misinterpretation of 1 Peter 3. They do this with all the so-called proof verses which they believe legitimize baptismal regeneration.m The Church Fathers were fallible men. They were given insights on some matters of Scripture, but to treat them as if they are an infallible oracle of truth is quite absurd.

    Credobaptism

    I believe that the credobaptist position (also known as believer’s baptism) is the most consistent and biblical. In this view, a sinner is effectually called by God, is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, repents, and believes the Gospel.

    Debate

    Here’s a great debate between two good friends, Drs. R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur on the topic of baptism

    Conclusion

    We must love our paedobaptist brethren, yet we have a duty to point out their flagrant error and call them to repentance and right belief. Soli Deo Gloria!

    Much weight is given to the Reformers and certainly, their teaching is vital and much needed. I love the Reformers, and I thank God for their obedience and service. However, I don’t believe they were infallible. We must be careful not to idolize a group of people and believe they alone had the greatest understanding of the truth. Or believe that their theological opinions were infallible and inerrant! Catholics and Orthodox do this with the Church Fathers.

    Luther was certainly wrong in his support of baptismal regeneration. And I believe Calvin was wrong on infant baptism.

    I believe God wants us to be always Bereans searching the Scriptures and comparing doctrine with what Scripture says. We should always be striving for perfection in our doctrine and should always be reforming (semper reformanda); I believe we Reformed Baptists have done that. At great cost and through much suffering we held on to the truth. Everything comes back to God’s Word.

    Postscript

    My friend David left a good comment on this post which I wanted to address and publish in the post itself because I think it helps clarify some issues readers may have.

    Good evening David.

    The new covenant is radically different than the old as I said in my post. Scripture does explain the purpose and nature of the new covenant. Most in the old were not regenerated whereas everyone in the new is regenerated.

    You are thinking in OT terms. You need to think by NT mindset since so much has changed. God has always had a covenant people, but the old system was always a shadow pointing to the fuller and better covenant in Christ. To assert that since circumcision was the sign of the old covenant, infant baptism must thus be the sign of the new covenant is simplistic and fallacious. Circumcision of the heart (as I explained in my post) is the sign of entrance into the new covenant in Christ. The old covenant was a physical covenant. Man had to do certain work to enter the covenant. The new covenant is a purely spiritual covenant as Jesus explained to Nicodemus. Thus a work like an infant baptism is meaningless and does nothing, but get the baby wet. You can’t do physical work to enter into the new covenant.

    Being born again through the Holy Spirit quickening a soul and bringing it to life spiritually, and then sincere repentance and belief in the Gospel is the ONLY way to enter into the new covenant. Infants can neither repent nor believe. Thus they are excluded from the old covenant until and if such time the Lord is pleased to regenerate them. And one more thing about the old covenant: it applied to the children (technically only the males, the females were left in the lurch) and granted them entrance into the covenant but what benefits did they receive? They were part of the nation of Israel (citizenship as we’d say) and had temporal blessings such as the right to live, work, and marry. They were NOT guaranteed salvation in the old covenant. Salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The vast majority of those Israelites under the old covenant were reprobates who were never to be regenerated. The new covenant is a covenant of salvation.

    The majority of people I know who were baptized as infants and considered by their parents and churches to be “covenant children” grew up to be reprobates! So that is prima facie evidence that infant baptism is futile. Whereas I know very very few people who sincerely repented and believed the Gospel and later fell away proving they were never regenerated. It does happen, but there are literally hundreds of millions of baptized infants who go to Hell and that is a fact. When Scripture says your children are holy it means through the faith of the parents and being raised in a Christian home they are set apart from pagan children, and they have the chance to be exposed to God’s Word and the Gospel. However, that doesn’t mean they are part of the Elect.

    Plenty of Elect parents have non-Elect children! In fact, the pagan who hears the Gospel for the first time, repents, and is granted saving faith in Christ alone is much better off than the hundreds of millions of people who I’ve seen were baptized as infants, even in Reformed families, and heard the Gospel hundreds or even thousands of times, yet they hardened their hearts and were inoculated again the Gospel! These people are much harder to reach. I’d argue that infant baptism does more harm than good overall. For so many people it lures them into a false sense of security and they grow up thinking they are saved by virtue of their infant baptism!

    Oh and my post addresses baptismal regeneration and infant baptism – 2 different topics. I never asserted that the Reformed held to baptismal regeneration so you should apologize for fo accusing me of a strawman fallacy.

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  • Sheer Folly: America’s Ukraine/Russia Policy

    It’s madness and utter idiocy for America to goad and antagonize Russia thus provoking a potential nuclear war. The stakes are too high and the risks are not mitigated sufficiently to behave so brazen and foolish. Yet that is precisely the policy the Biden Administration and Congress (including many Republicans) are taking.

    The $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package the House of Representatives passed this week, which Biden is likely to approve, will authorize $45 billion in additional spending on Ukraine. That will bring total U.S. funding on that effort to over $100 billion since the start of this year when the conflict started.

    Even the way the American mainstream media and the Biden administration characterize the conflict is offensive to Russia and needlessly polarizing. They keep referring to Russia’s involvement as an invasion of Ukraine. Calling Putin Hitler and a fascist is so absurd.

    The truth is that Ukraine had a pro-Russian president and majority government until 2014 when the US (led by CIA operatives and funding from people like George Soros) worked to destabilize the region and ousted the pro-Russia president and replaced him with an aggressively anti-Russian leader.

    When the Soviet Union broke up in the early 1990s assurances were given to Russia by America and NATO that no former Soviet bloc countries would enter NATO. NATO and EU countries are pushing Russia to a breaking point.

    Ethnic Russians in the Donbas region of Ukraine were being killed by the thousands by president Volodymyr Zelensky’s government. They provoked Russia to intervene. Russia is currently taking action to secure the Donbas region and remove the Ukrainian government’s ability to wage war.

    Sadly the neocons (neoconservatives) and war hawks have learned nothing since the US debacles in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq! They are pushing for an all-out war with Russia. It’s a proxy war now, but it could easily widen into a broader and deadlier conflict – one involving nuclear weapons.

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  • The Christian fish symbol

    The fish was used in the Early Church to identify oneself as a Christian. Until the late 4th century Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire and punishable by death. So Christians had to be cautious and take protective measures to avoid detection by the authorities.

    The acrostic ICHTHUS (ΙΧΘϒΣ) identifies Jesus Christ as God’s Son and as the Savior. Thus it is a Christological symbol. Ichthus is the Greek word for fish. Thus we see how it was used as a Christian symbol. Ichthus is the Greek word for fish.

    • Ισούς (Iesous) = Jesus
    • Χριστός (Christos) = Christ
    • Θεού (Theou) = God’s
    • ΥιόΣ (Huios) = Son
    • Σωτήρ (Soter) = Savior

    This fish symbol, also became a code of communication, especially for the first
    Christians when persecuted during the Roman Empire. Although Common (Vulgar) Latin was the language, everyone, across the known Western world spoke (the English of the time). Many people, especially educated people, but also Middle Eastern people spoke and understood Greek (and that is why the sign above the Cross said “The King of the Jews” in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek).

    The fish symbol can also be signified thus:

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  • January 6th, 2021: Insurrection or Idiocy?

    On January 6th, 2021, as Congress was certifying Joe Biden as the newly elected President as a result of his winning the 2020 presidential election, a group of angry supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol Building where the members of Congress were, including Vice President Mike Pence. They wanted to stop Congress from certifying the election in favor of Biden. Some of them had previously planned to target certain politicians for assassination including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and also Vice President Pence because he refused Trump’s request to invalidate the election. For months since the election Trump had refused to concede, he claimed there was a vast conspiracy that stole the election from him, the rightful winner in his mind, and given it to Biden. On January 6th, mere hours before Trump supporters sprang into violent action Trump had cajoled and encouraged them to “fight” for him.

    Here is a minute-by-minute timeline of the attack/riot.

    The Justice Department results of the criminal investigation into the rioters as of December 30, 2021. Based on the public court documents, below is a snapshot of the investigation. Complete versions of most of the public court documents used to compile these statistics are available on the Capitol Breach Investigation Resource Page at https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/capitol-breach-cases.

    Arrests made: More than 725 defendants have been arrested in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia. (This includes those charged in both District and Superior Court).

    Criminal charges:

    • More than225 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including over 75 individualswho have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.
      • Approximately 140 police officers were assaulted Jan. 6 at the Capitol including about 80 U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department. 
    • Approximately 10 individuals have been arrested on a series of charges that relate to assaulting a member of the media, or destroying their equipment, on Jan. 6.
    • Approximately 640 defendants have been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds.
      • Over 75 defendants have been charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
      • More than 45 defendants have been charged with destruction of government property, and over 30 defendants have been charged with theft of government property.
    • At least 275 defendants have been charged with corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding, or attempting to do so.
    • Approximately 40 defendants have been charged with conspiracy, either: (a) conspiracy to obstruct a congressional proceeding, (b) conspiracy to obstruct law enforcement during a civil disorder, (c) conspiracy to injure an officer, or (d) some combination of the three. 

    Pleas:

    • Approximately 165 individuals have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges, from misdemeanors to felony obstruction, many of whom will face incarceration at sentencing.
      • Approximately 145 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. Twenty have pleaded guilty to felonies.
      • Six of those who have pleaded guilty to felonies have pleaded to charges related to assaults on law enforcement. Four face statutory maximums of 20 years or more in prison as well as potential financial penalties. Two face statutory maximums of eight years in prison as well as potential financial penalties.

    Sentencings:

    • Approximately 70 federal defendants have had their cases adjudicated and received sentences for their criminal activity on Jan. 6. Thirty-one have been sentenced to periods of incarceration. Eighteen have been sentenced to a period of home detention, and the other defendants have been sentenced to probation with no term of incarceration.
      Public Assistance:
    • Citizens from around the country have provided invaluable assistance in identifying individuals in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. The FBI continues to seek the public’s help in identifying more than 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, including over 250 who assaulted police officers.
    • Additionally, the FBI currently has 16 videos of suspects wanted for violent assaults on federal officers and one video of two suspects wanted for assaults on members of the media on January 6th and is seeking the public’s help to identify them. For images and video of the attackers, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/capitol-violence. Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.
    https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/one-year-jan-6-attack-capitol

    Recently, the Jan. 6 Congressional panel, the House select committee, investigating the Jan. 6 incident, unveiled its comprehensive 845-page final report on the insurrection. This bipartisan committee describes Trump as being deeply rooted in a ‘conspiracy’ to commit insurrection.

    The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection recommends barring former President Donald Trump from holding office again.

    The recommendation is among the conclusions of the panel’s final report, a comprehensive overview of the bipartisan panel’s findings on how Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election, released late Thursday evening.

    The 845-page report – based on 1,000-plus interviews, documents collected including emails, texts, phone records and a year and a half of investigation – includes allegations that Trump “oversaw” the legally dubious effort to put forward fake slates of electors in seven states he lost, arguing that the evidence shows he actively worked to “transmit false Electoral College ballots to Congress and the National Archives” despite concerns among his lawyers that doing so could be unlawful.

    The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Photo via AP)

    In a symbolic move Monday, the committee in its last public meeting referred Trump to the Justice Department on at least four criminal charges, while saying in its executive summary it had evidence of possible charges of conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.

    “That evidence has led to an overriding and straight forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him,” the report states.

    Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said on Monday that he has “every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a road map to justice, and that the agencies and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under the law will use the information we’ve provided to aid in their work.”

    Special counsel Jack Smith is leading the Justice Department’s investigations related to Trump, including both his post-election actions and classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this year.

    Trump swiftly lashed out over the report on his Truth Social platform with false claims about the riot and the 2020 election. He did not address specific findings from what he called the “highly partisan” report but instead falsely blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the breakdown in security that day and resurfaced his unfounded claims of election fraud.

    Here’s what’s in the report:

    Trump and his inner circle engaged in ‘at least 200’ attempts to pressure state officials

    In an effort to overturn election results in key states, Trump and his inner circle targeted election officials in “at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure, or condemnation,” between Election Day and the January 6 attack, according to the report.

    There were 68 meetings, attempted or connected phone calls, or text messages, aimed at state or local officials, as well as 125 social media posts by Trump or senior aides targeting state officials.

    Trump “spearheaded outreach aimed at numerous officials in States he lost but that had GOP-led legislatures, including in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona,” the report says. (He lost all of those states.)

    Members of the DC National Guard are deployed outside of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021. - Trump supporters remain outside, defying a 6.00 pm (2300 GMT) curfew imposed across the city by Mayor Muriel Bowser. Donald Trump's supporters stormed a session of Congress held today, January 6, to certify Joe Biden's election win, triggering unprecedented chaos and violence at the heart of American democracy and accusations the president was attempting a coup.

    DC National Guard commander ‘strongly’ considered sending troops to Capitol without approval, Jan. 6 report says

    For example, during a January 2, 2021, call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the then-president went through a “litany of false election-fraud claims” and then asked Raffensperger to deliver him a second term by “finding” just enough votes to ensure victory, according to the report.

    Trump infamously said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”

    Committee identifies pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro as architect of fake electors plot

    The January 6 committee identifies a little known pro-Trump attorney as being the original architect of the legally dubious fake electors plan: Kenneth Chesebro.

    Conservative attorney John Eastman authored a now-infamous memo detailing step-for-step how then-Vice President Mike Pence could theoretically overturn the 2020 election results. But the committee points to Chesebro, a known associate of Eastman, as being responsible for creating the fake electors plot.

    “The fake elector plan emerged from a series of legal memoranda written by an outside legal advisor to the Trump Campaign: Kenneth Chesebro,” the report says.

    It was previously known that Chesebro was involved in the fake electors scheme, but the committee’s conclusion about his leadership role is new.

    The US House Select Committee convenes a hearing to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on October 13, 2022.

    What’s in the House January 6 committee report summary

    The effort to put forward fake slates of pro-Trump electors is under scrutiny by federal and state prosecutors investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020.

    The committee wrote that Chesebro sent a memo to then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani after a request from Trump campaign official Boris Epshteyn about a “‘President of the Senate’ strategy,” which wrongly asserted that the vice president could pick which presidential electors to count during the joint session of Congress on January 6.

    “President Trump in the days immediately before January 6th, Chesebro – an attorney based in Boston and New York recruited to assist the Trump Campaign as a volunteer legal advisor – was central to the creation of the plan,” the report says. “Memos by Chesebro on November 18th, December 9th, and December 13th, as discussed below, laid the plan’s foundation.”

    CNN has previously asked Chesebro to comment about these topics and he has not responded.

    Trump WH called Eastman on the day he wrote his memo

    Eastman reached out to speak to Trump on December 23, 2020, the same day that he drafted his initial memo on the Pence theory.

    Eastman emailed Trump’s assistant, Molly Michael, at 1:32 p.m., according to the committee. “Is the President available for a very quick call today at some point? Just want to update him on our overall strategic thinking.”

    The committee wrote that Eastman received a call from the White House switchboard, and the call lasted 23 minutes, according to Eastman’s phone records. Eastman’s two-page memo discussed various ways to ensure “President Trump is re-elected,” even though by then, he had been projected to lose the election, according to the committee.

    These new details show how the committee used emails and phone records it obtained after it successfully fought in court to obtain the documents.

    The committee obtained Eastman’s emails after a judge sided with the House in a lawsuit where the committee accused both Eastman and Trump of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct Congress and to defraud the government.

    Trump latched onto Eastman’s theories that incorrectly claimed Pence could overturn the election, and launched a pressure campaign against Pence in the days leading up to January 6. Eastman was present at a January 4, 2021, meeting between Trump and Pence in the Oval Office where Trump tried to convince Pence he could intervene when Congress certified the Electoral College vote on January 6.

    January 6 committee recommends barring Trump from holding office again

    Barring Trump from further public office is one of 11 recommendations the committee is making as a result of its investigation.

    The panel zeroes in on the section of the Constitution that states an individual who has taken an oath to support the US Constitution but has “engaged in an insurrection” or given “aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution” can be disqualified from office. The former president and others have been referred by the committee to the Department of Justice for assisting or aiding an insurrection.

    It calls on congressional committees of jurisdiction to create a “formal mechanism” for evaluating whether those individuals violate that section of the 14th Amendment should be barred from future federal or state office.

    Says lawyers should be held responsible

    In addition to criminal referrals, the select committee is calling for lawyers involved in the efforts to overturn the election to be held accountable.

    “Those courts and bar disciplinary bodies responsible for overseeing the legal profession in the states and the District of Columbia should continue to evaluate the conduct of attorneys described in this Report” the panel writes, adding that there are specific attorneys the report identifies as having “conflicts of interests” for the Department of Justice to evaluate.

    The report even calls on Congress to amend statutes and consider the severity of penalties that deter individuals from efforts to obstruct, influence or impede the Joint Session of Congress that certifies election results. It calls for statutes of federal penalties for certain types of threats against election workers to be strengthened.

    Although the panel was successful in getting more than 1,000 witnesses to testify as part of its investigation, it still had difficulty gaining cooperation from everyone it wanted to speak to. Its report recommends congressional committees of jurisdiction “develop legislation” to create “a cause of action” for the House to enforce its subpoenas in federal court.

    Electoral Count Act reform

    One recommendation may soon become reality.

    The panel calls on Congress to pass an overhaul of the 1887 Electoral Count Act aimed at making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election – the first legislative response to the insurrection and Trump’s relentless pressure campaign to stay in power.

    The House and Senate have each passed their own version of the legislation.

    Committee refers Trump to Justice Department

    A video of former President Donald Trump is shown on a screen on Capitol Hill on December 19, 2022.

    A video of former President Donald Trump is shown on a screen on Capitol Hill on December 19, 2022. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

    The House committee lays out a number of criminal statutes it believes were violated in the plots to stave off Trump’s defeat and says there’s evidence for criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Trump, Eastman and “others.”

    The report summary first released Monday says there’s evidence to pursue Trump on multiple crimes, including obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements, assisting or aiding an insurrection, conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.

    The panel says it also has the evidence to refer Eastman on the obstruction charge, and it names him as a co-conspirator in other alleged criminal activity lawmakers have gathered evidence on.

    The committee alluded to evidence of criminal obstruction of the House investigation but the summary does not go into detail about that evidence.

    Trump’s false victory declaration was ‘premeditated’

    The committee outlines 17 findings from its investigation that underpin its reasoning for criminal referrals, including that Trump knew the fraud allegations he was pushing were false and continued to amplify them anyway.

    “President Trump’s decision to declare victory falsely on election night and, unlawfully, to call for the vote counting to stop, was not a spontaneous decision. It was premeditated,” the report states.

    The committee also revealed emails from Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, from before the 2020 presidential election that say Trump should declare victory regardless of the outcome.

    It notes that Trump’s top allies, including those who testified before the committee, acknowledged they found no proof to back up the former president’s claims.

    “Ultimately, even Rudolph Giuliani and his legal team acknowledged that they had no definitive evidence of election fraud sufficient to change the election outcome,” it adds, referring to Trump’s then-personal attorney.

    “For example, although Giuliani repeatedly had claimed in public that Dominion voting machines stole the election, he admitted during his Select Committee deposition that ‘I do not think the machines stole the election,’” it states.

    Millions of dollars were raised on false claims, but RNC showed caution to not go too far

    The committee investigators describe how Trump campaign and Republican National Committee fundraising pitches containing false claims of a stolen election ultimately raised more than $250 million – but were met internally with some resistance.

    Investigators describe three options that were considered for a post-election fundraising appeal by the campaign. One option, that the campaign opted against using because they knew it was false, said that Trump had won. A second unused option said the campaign was waiting on results. Ultimately, according to the committee, the Trump campaign approved a message that Democrats are going to “try to steal the election” that was written before election night.

    The committee describes, based on interview with Trump campaign officials, that much of the material in the fundraising emails was based on messages said by Trump – but were not checked for accuracy before being used to ask for donations.

    “President Trump’s claims were treated as true and blasted to millions of people with little to no scrutiny by those tasked with ensuring accuracy,” the committee wrote.

    Trump campaign’s deputy director of communications and research Zach Parkinson told investigators that reviews for accuracy were limited to “questions concerning items such as time and location.”

    The RNC did eventually tone down some messages, which the committee suggests shows “the RNC knew that President’s Trump’s claims about winning the election were baseless” and made “changes to fundraising copy that seemingly protected the RNC from legal exposure,” according to investigators.

    House investigators said that RNC lawyers directed copywriters not to use the term “rigged,” according to interviews conducted by the committee. The panel obtained several examples of fundraising appeals that were toned down to be accurate and less inflammatory.

    Trump privately called some of Sidney Powell’s election claims ‘crazy’

    White House communications director Hope Hicks told the January 6 committee that Donald Trump had laughed at one of his election lawyer’s claims about foreign powers interfering in the election, calling them “crazy,” according to the committee’s final report.

    “The day after the press conference, President Trump spoke by phone with Sidney Powell from the Oval Office. During the call, Powell repeated the same claims of foreign interference in the election she had made at the press conference,” the report said, referring to conspiratorial claims made by Powell, Trump’s onetime attorney, at an outlandish press conference after the 2020 election.

    “While she was speaking, the President muted his speakerphone and laughed at Powell, telling the others in the room, ‘This does sound crazy, doesn’t it?’” the report says.

    During the press conference, Powell falsely claimed, among other things, that widely used voting machines from the election technology company Dominion Voting Systems featured software created “at the direction” of deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to swing his own election results, and that the company has ties to the Clinton Foundation and George Soros.

    “A few days later, the Trump campaign issued a statement claiming Powell was not part of the Trump campaign’s legal team. But Powell’s outlandish claims were no different from those President Trump was making himself,” the committee writes.

    Trump refused to act as riot unfolded

    Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington.

    Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington.Samuel Corum/Getty Images

    The committee lays out Trump’s failure to act as the riot unfolded, noting that as he watched the riot on television, he made no calls for security assistance and resisted efforts from staffers asking him to call off his supporters.

    “President Trump did not contact a single top national security official during the day. Not at the Pentagon, nor at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the F.B.I., the Capitol Police Department, or the D.C. Mayor’s office,” the committee writes. “As Vice President Pence has confirmed, President Trump didn’t even try to reach his own Vice President to make sure that Pence was safe.”

    Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee he had this reaction to Trump, “You know, you’re the Commander in Chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America. And there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?”

    White House staffers, meantime, described being appalled that as the Capitol was under attack, Trump fired off a tweet criticizing Pence.

    WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 6: Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. - Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

    Republicans release their own US Capitol riot report focused on security failures

    Hicks texted a colleague that night to say, “Attacking the VP? Wtf is wrong with him,” according to the committee’s summary report.

    “No photographs exist of the President for the remainder of the afternoon until after 4 p.m. President Trump appears to have instructed that the White House photographer was not to take any photographs,” the committee writes, citing testimony from former White House photographer Shealah Craighead.

    In the aftermath, on the evening of January 6, Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale told Katrina Pierson, one of the rally organizers, that he felt guilty helping Trump win, the report states.

    The events of the day, Parscale said, resulted from “a sitting president asking for civil war.”

    Aide characterized Trump’s tone on January 6 as, ‘can you believe this sh*t?’

    Trump’s tone during his last known phone call on January 6 was like, “wow, can you believe this sh*t?” according to the White House aide who spoke with him that night.

    In newly revealed testimony included in the January 6 committee’s final report, the aide, John McEntee, said Trump told him “[t]his is a crazy day.” The report added, “McEntee said his tone was one of “like, wow, can you believe this sh*t?”

    Trump did not express any sadness over the violence that had unfolded at the Capitol that day, McEntee told the panel.

    “I think he was shocked by, you know, it getting a little out of control, but I don’t remember sadness, specifically” McEntee said.

    He wasn’t the only person with that impression about Trump’s mood.

    Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser at the time, told the select committee her father was “disappointed and surprised” by the attack on the Capitol.

    But when pressed by committee investigators, she could not provide any instances of the president discussing whether or not he did the right thing on January 6 or speaking about those who were injured or died that day.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

    CNN’s Marshall Cohen, Dan Berman and Adam Levine contributed to this report.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/22/politics/jan-6-committee-final-report/index.html

    Trump could be the first president in American history to go to prison after they left office. It is a shame this happened. I don’t know Trump’s level of culpability, but it seems clear that he made many mistakes. Was Trump the man behind a vast orchestrated conspiracy? Or were the people who rioted just idiots getting carried away?

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  • Christmas Under Attack!

    Adoration of the Shepherds
    Domenico Ghirlandaio
    1485

    It’s Christmas Eve night, a holy night as we sit under eager expectation to celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s birth. You’d think this special time of the year is for joyous celebration and quality time spent with friends and family observing holiday traditions, going to church, eating a delicious fine meal, and exchanging gifts. Yet for most Reformed, Christmas, and Easter celebrations illicit feelings that are akin to a pre-conversion Scrooge from Charles Dicken’s wonderful book “A Christmas Story“. To them, these are just ordinary days on the calendar with no special significance whatsoever. I disagree strongly with this view. These people believe the only lawful and proper holiday for Christians to observe is the Christian Sabbath (Sunday). I have no problem with observing the Lord’s Day, but I don’t believe it is the only possible holiday we have the freedom to observe as believers.

    It is utterly fallacious for opponents of Christians observing holidays, such as Christmas, to assert that these are not holy days since they are not explicitly defined as such in Scripture. That very narrow-minded definition is not biblical at all. What could be more holy than Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection?! We know these are holy days and are fit for a celebration. It’s ridiculous to assert that Scripture must explicitly designate a certain day to be holy for it to be so.

    Making an extra special celebration for Christ’s birth is VERY BIBLICAL and VERY NECESSARY in my view. It is an exaggerated and reactionary Reformed response to the Roman Catholic church calendar which is behind most Reformed not celebrating Christmas or Easter. I think it’s stupid! The Puritans went so far as to condemn those that celebrate Christmas and Easter as being guilty of sin. They often banned such holidays from being observed in their jurisdictions.

    Christians from the time of the EARLY CHURCH to the present have been celebrating Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection continuously for nearly 2,000 years!! Yes, December 25th, and Easter, are very momentous, significant, and special days. I believe ALL CHRISTIANS should honor Christ on these days and celebrate!!

    The other root cause of this problem, besides a reactionary response to all things Roman Catholic, is the regulative principle of worship (RPW). It dictates that we may only worship God in ways He has delineated in Scripture. I have several objections to this principle. First, observing holidays like Christmas does not fall under the rubric of worship so the RPW does not apply. Second, even if observing Christmas does fall under the category of worship there is nothing in Scripture that explicitly commands us to only worship God as defined in Scripture. I believe the normative principle of worship (NPW) is a far more biblical and balanced view. The NPW says that anything which is not sinful and is not explicitly condemned or forbidden in Scripture is permissible.

    A problem here is believers not comprehending how better a covenant the New Covenant is, and the freedom to worship we have in Christ. So no I absolutely do not believe that a Christian who sets up a Christmas tree, watches a Christmas movie, sings carols, has a fine family meal, or any of the other traditions associated with Christmas makes us somehow guilty of offering Strange Fire unto the Lord.

    There is, sadly, often a highly legalistic and self-righteous spirit behind these objections to Christmas and Easter. I actually feel sorry for such Christians, and I pray God would open their eyes someday. It would be one thing if they choose to not observe Christmas or Easter, but they aren’t content with that and frequently feel compelled to criticize, falsely judge, ridicule, mock, and lambast those of us who do observe such holidays. I’ve seen some very ugly behavior on Facebook in particular. This controversy does not honor Christ! I will step back and try to not let such people get me too upset and disturbed.

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  • Transgender insanity

    It is a simple biological fact that you cannot change your sex. Gender = biological sex. There are only 2 sexes, male and female, and thus only 2 genders. This has been the accepted wisdom until the past 20-25 years. Slowly, but surely, as the LGBT movement has grown and become powerful and widely accepted by the government, academia, big business, K-12 schools, and across the mainstream media and entertainment industry, there are more and more people identifying as transgender. A transgender is a person who believes they were born as the wrong sex. A man may feel like a woman and so on. However, your feelings don’t dictate or change your biology.

    Transgenderism is the latest manifestation of the Emperor With No Clothes phenomenon. Every sane and rational person can see that a transgender man is just pretending he’s “really” or “truly” a woman! Within my parents’ lifetimes, transgenders were rightly recognized as suffering from severe mental illnesses such as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and gender dysphoria. Homosexuality also up until the mid-1970s was classified as a mental illness in the DSM book which is the standard source where mental illnesses are defined. These people are sick and need help. What they don’t need is for society to coddle them and entertain their perverse delusions. Yet, sadly, that is precisely what we’ve seen happen.

    Your sex/gender is literally encoded in your chromosomes in every single cell in your body. So it’s impossible to change!!! This is a scientific fact.

    Brainwashing and indoctrination into LGBT and gender insanity is happening right now in public schools. They start as early as possible such as in preschool or kindergarten. Girls are given male hormones (testosterone) so they develop facial and chest hair, boys are given hormone blocks and take female hormones (estrogen) so they develop breasts. Even horrific surgeries are performed that mutilate their bodies! This is sexual abuse and child abuse! It is absolutely wicked.

    In less than 70 years (within my parents’ lifetimes), transgenderism and homosexuality went from being on the fringe of society, where it was universally reviled and shunned, to mainstream acceptance by all strata of society. LGBT as a set of beliefs has become so dominant that now, one can be fired from their workplace, expelled from their school, have their small business sued, lose tenure as a professor, be censored, or forced to resign their executive position all for merely not assenting to LGBT propaganda. Donald Trump even courted the LGBT vote and recently many Republicans in Congress sided with Democrats to pass the bill enshrining homosexual marriage into federal law. Absolutely disgusting!

    When I was in kindergarten and grade school there was no story time with so-called Drag Queens (male transvestites who dress as women), and there were no books such as “My Two Mommies” about lesbian relationships. Looking back now, I can clearly see how God sheltered and protected my sisters and me from the LGBT insanity.

    Today LGBT ideology is indoctrinating kids are early as preschool! If you attend public schools you’ll be brainwashed by LGBT ideology for 13 years. It’s even more blatant in colleges and universities. There, supported by most of the liberal professors and the administration, LGBT students and faculty are quite aggressive. They make all types of demands and take sanctions and target any students or faculty who challenge LGBT ideology.

    Now we see transgenders in the Biden administration, in state and local government offices. We see transgender judges, professors, K-12 teachers, actors, singers, and in many other positions. They are given maximum exposure by the mainstream media, and they are championed by academia. The entertainment industry has LGBT content now in just about every TV show or movie, even ones made for kids such as Disney films. Popular music also pushes LGBT ideology. To put it bluntly, they are loud and in your face. Just as all LGBT are today in the West. This degeneracy and lack of belief in biblical values have truly engulfed the Western world. Only in the East and in Africa do we see much resistance and people fighting back against these Satanic ideologies.

    Make no mistake about it, this is a spiritual battle. Satan’s goal is to undermine and destroy the traditional family with a heterosexual biological father, and a heterosexual biological mother.

    God made two genders and only two genders. Gender is not ‘fluid,’ nor should we misidentify our gender

    By Elizabeth Prata

    In Genesis 1:26, God made man in His image. We don’t look like God nor do we possess His incommunicable attributes, but ‘in His image’ means as Phil Johnson preached:

    “Humanity bears the stamp of God’s likeness. No other creature, not even the highest archangel, was made in God’s image. We can see the image of God imprinted on the human soul in humanity’s unique moral and spiritual attributes, those things that set us apart from the animals.”

    “For example, the human intellect is uniquely capable of self-reflection. We’re creative. We are moved by beauty. We speak a variety of complex languages. Our moral instinct (that innate sense of right and wrong) is unparalleled in the animal kingdom. We have a conscience that declares our guilt when we do wrong. And no other creature manifests anything like the human craving for communion with God. Animals don’t practice religion of any kind.” end Phil Johnson excerpt from sermon “What Creation Reveals”

    Then God made woman, Genesis 2:22. God made male and He made female. He made only two genders. He didn’t make another Adam and then change that Adam into Eve. He used one rib, and fashioned a woman, distinct from a man. He did this for a purpose. First, to be a helper suitable for man. Second, so that the two would come together and populate the earth.

    In the New Testament, Jesus affirmed God’s design of the two genders in Matthew 19:4 and 5. Jesus replied to the Pharisees’ question about marriage this way, “And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,” and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?” emphasis Bible’s.

    Jesus’ reply in a few short words covers a lot. It affirms God’s design for human kind- two genders. It affirms that marriage is between one man and one woman. It affirms two genders again, noting that there is a father and a mother, from which a child issued. In other words it intends two specific genders that comprise family units. It affirms that in marriage, the two genders become one flesh. That last bit refers to the sexual act, but overall it also refers in general that the two genders become one unit. I.E. that marriage is permanent between two opposite-sex individuals.

    Even where polygamy is recorded in the Bible, it’s a man married to multiple women. You note that even though polygamy is sinful, that when it is pictured in the Bible, it’s opposite genders married, not same genders married to multiples of the same gender. The creation mandate to multiply cannot happen between same genders.

    But speaking of the one flesh as the marital physical act, there is no other configuration from which two people become one flesh.

    The human reproductive system is designed by God. It’s designed to be incomplete without the other gender. Humans were given a mandate to go forth and multiply (Genesis 1:28). They were given that mandate again after the flood (Genesis 9:7). The human reproductive system was designed to produce a human, which cannot happen when the sexes are the same. Homosexuality is evidence that God has given them over to their unwholesome and depraved desires, (Romans 1:26-27), and it rejects the marriage mandate and the multiplication mandate. It is a total rejection of God’s created order.

    Though in the Bible times they did not have the medical capability to change a person from one gender to another like we do now, God called the outward expression of a person presenting the inward desire to be another gender via cross-dressing, an abomination in Deuteronomy 22:5. Going the extra step nowadays using medical technology to actually change genders and not simply dress like the opposite gender, would also be an abomination. Even more so.

    They are suppressing their own biology. All they need to do is examine their own body and understand they are a boy or a girl. A man or a woman. God does not make mistakes and He didn’t put the wrong ‘heart’ into the wrong body. There are two genders and they are as solid as cement, not fluid, not changeable, but one OR the other. What you are is what you are and what God intended them to be when He formed them in the womb.

    If one rejects one’s own gender, it is an ultimate rejection of God, because He is creator not just of the world but of each person. It’s a supreme rejection of God because if I can change my own gender, adjust my own biology, I am my own god.

    All creation groans under the curse set upon it by man’s first sin. (Romans 8:22). Yet all creation is doing what it’s supposed to, while suffering. Only man is the rebel. Humans who desire to switch from one gender to another are living with a deep inward delusion. They are living in the darkness, and we should have compassion on someone who is so burdened with perverted desires. We should pity the person who is under such judgment from God that He gave them over. We should be righteously angry with parents who act as in Romans 1:32, they heartily applaud such craven desires and allow their precious children to be pushed further into the evil dark.

    For the person sadly seeking some sort of ‘liberation’ from being ‘trapped’ in the wrong body, there is liberation. It’s liberation from the power of sin, by repenting of our sin and appealing to Jesus Christ and His death on the cross and resurrection. He died for sinners, and has released those already who will repent of their sin and acknowledge Him. True liberation comes from Jesus, not a different gender. The pursuit of liberation, satisfaction, settled happiness, comes not under the surgeon’s knife but under the sharp sword of the Word of God. The word promises-

    So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. 15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:12-17).

    https://the-end-time.org/2021/07/21/god-made-two-genders-and-only-two-genders-gender-is-not-fluid-nor-should-we-misidentify-our-gender/

    There is also a profit motive driving the transgender insanity:

    Data show that “socially transitioned” children are far more likely to go on to medical interventions. And perhaps this is the point: After all, transgender is big business. Gender-transition surgery can cost upward of $100,000. The US gender-surgery market was valued in 2021 at $1.9 billion, with predicted annual growth of more than 10%. And when hormone therapy costs $1,500 a year, for the rest of a patient’s life, no wonder entrepreneurial medics want kids on the treatment treadmill as young as possible. Clinics are popping up like mushrooms to take advantage of this new business opportunity: The first American pediatric gender clinic opened in 2007, and there are now more than 50 nationwide.

    https://nypost.com/2022/08/24/boston-childrens-hospitals-transgender-insanity-elites-profit-from-kids/

    The parents of these so-called transgender kids are destroying their children’s lives! They will answer to God. All the educators, doctors, surgeons, nurses, psychiatrists, and others who are harming these children shall likewise be held to account!

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  • Two Songs by Elvis about Love

    Here are two songs performed by Elvis that describe diametrically opposed ways of experiencing love. One is about losing love, and the other is about falling in love.

    What Now My Love

    Elvis conveys deep anguish and heartache. The emotional turmoil is palpable. The man loses everything and he loses the will to live. When Elvis sings “no one would care, no one would cry, if I should live or die” seems oddly prophetic since less than 4 years later he’d be dead. This song was recorded live in Honolulu, Hawaii for the special concert “Aloha From Hawaii”, which was broadcast by satellite to homes all across the globe, to 1.3 billion people in 1973.

    Lyrics

    What now my love
    Now that you left me
    How can I live through another day
    Watching my dreams turn into ashes
    And all my hopes into bits of clay
    Once I could see, once I could feel
    Now I’m a numb
    I’ve become unreal

    I walk the night, oh, without a goal
    Stripped of my heart, my soul
    What now my love
    Now that it’s over
    I feel the world closing in on me
    Here comes the stars
    Tumbling around me
    And there’s the sky where the sea should be

    What now my love
    Now that you’re gone
    I’d be a fool to go on and on
    No one would care, no one would cry
    If I should live or die

    What now my love
    Now there is nothing
    Only my last goodbye
    Only my last goodbye

    Can’t Help Falling In Love (Plaisir D’Amour)

    This is a very touching song about falling in love. Elvis sings it perfectly!

    Lyrics

    Wise men say
    Only fools rush in
    But I can’t help falling in love with you
    Shall I stay?
    Would it be a sin
    If I can’t help falling in love with you?

    Like a river flows
    Surely to the sea
    Darling, so it goes
    Some things are meant to be

    Take my hand
    Take my whole life, too
    For I can’t help falling in love with you

    Like a river flows
    Surely to the sea
    Darling, so it goes
    Some things are meant to be

    Take my hand
    Take my whole life, too
    For I can’t help falling in love with you
    For I can’t help falling in love with you

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  • Some Reformed utter “Bah Humbug!” and seek to cancel Christmas!

    Dear fellow Reformed:

    Stop saying it’s a sin to celebrate Christmas, or that such a celebration is unbiblical.

    You do things every single day not explicitly commanded in Scripture.

    It is a gross misapplication of the regulative principle which itself is problematic. I favor the normative principle. Unless something is SINFUL OR EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN by Scripture then doing so is not a sin.

    You can’t get more biblical than celebrating the Lord’s incarnation!

    Christmas has been celebrated continuously by the Church for the past 2,000 years. It is only in the 1500s (some 1,500 years later) that we see some Reformed saying we should cancel Christmas because it has too close an association with the Catholic church! By that reasoning, we Reformed might as well cancel baptism, communion, etc. How stupid! I love the Puritans and appreciate their insights, but their desire to cancel Christmas and other holidays such as Easter was dead wrong and unbiblical.

    I will keep celebrating the Lord Jesus’ birth and I call upon those who wish to cancel Christmas to examine Scripture closely and realize that celebrating holidays such as Christmas and Easter is very proper and quite thoroughly biblical!

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  • What Does It Mean to Be Reformed?

    In my years of being involved in Christian discussion and debate online (nearly 30 years), I’ve noticed that many Reformed Presbyterians seem to look down on us Reformed Baptists (aka Particular Baptists) and say we aren’t “Really Reformed” or we’re not “Truly Reformed”.

    I maintain that infant baptism is not the sine qua non of Reformed theology. One can disagree with infant baptism and still be Reformed.

    What markers or distinctive make a Christian Reformed? I’d argue for the following:

    Affirm the great “Sola’s” (Latin for “only”) of the Reformation.

    • Sola Gratia…Grace Alone
    • Sola Fide…Faith Alone
    • Solus Christus…Christ Alone
    • Sola Scriptura…Scripture Alone
    • Soli Deo Gloria…To the Glory of God Alone

    To summarize, salvation by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in Christ Alone, according to the Scriptures Alone, to the Glory of God Alone.

    Affirm and promote a profoundly high view of the supremacy and sovereignty of God in all things and sees God as actively involved in His creation, governing and overseeing all the affairs of men. cf. Psalm 115:3; Job 34:14-15; 37:6-13; Daniel 4:35.

    Affirm the utter dependence of sinful man, upon God, in all things, especially concerning salvation.

    Affirm the Doctrines of Grace (commonly referred to as Calvinism), which display God as the author of salvation from beginning to end.

    The acrostic TULIP (which is a summation of the Canons of Dort) is the most familiar way of delineating the doctrines of Grace. TULIP is made up of 5 points that define Calvinism, which are:

    • T – Total Depravity
    • U – Unconditional Election
    • L – Limited Atonement
    • I – Irresistible Grace
    • P – Perseverance, and Preservation, of the Saints

    Creedal – To affirm the great creeds of the historic, orthodox church.

    • The Apostles’ Creed
    • The Nicene Creed
    • The Definition of Chalcedon

    Confessional – To affirm one, or more, of the great confessions of the historic orthodox church.

    The Westminster Standards:

    • The Westminster Confession of Faith
    • The Westminster Longer Catechism
    • The Westminster Shorter Catechism

    Reformed Baptist Standards:

    • 1644 London Baptist Confession of Faith
    • 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
    • The Baptist Catechism
    • Orthodox Catechism

    The Three Forms of Unity:

    • The Belgic Confession of Faith
    • The Heidelberg Catechism
    • The Canons of Dortrecht

    A high view of Scripture, in its necessity, infallibility, sufficiency, and internal consistency, and our dependence upon it to learn what God has revealed about Himself, His commands, and His way of salvation.

    A high view of the church, in preaching (the exposition and application of God’s Word), the ordinances, discipline, prayer, worship, fellowship, and evangelism, all encompassed in the keeping of the Christian Sabbath, commonly called the Lord’s Day (Sunday).

    A distinctly Biblical, Christian worldview that permeates all of life, a life lived in the world, but at the same time, a life not oriented to the world and its standards, but oriented to God’s Word.

    A clear understanding of the distinction between, and relationship of, Law and Gospel.

    The Law has Three Uses:

    • The civil use. The law serves the commonwealth or body politic as a force to restrain sin. The law restrains evil through punishment. Though the law cannot change the heart, it can inhibit sin by threats of judgment, especially when backed by a civil code that administers punishment for proven offenses.
    • The pedagogical use. The law also shows people the perfect righteousness of God, and their sinfulness which deserves punishment, and points them to mercy and grace outside of themselves, found in the Gospel alone.
    • The moral, normative, sanctifying use. The moral standards of the law provide guidance for believers as they seek to live in humble gratitude for the grace God has shown us. This use of the law is for those who trust in Christ and have been justified by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from works.

    The 2nd use of the Law and its perfect requirement points us to the Gospel (good news) of the purchased redemption and free grace of the Son, for God’s people, and the Gospel, once applied by the Holy Spirit, then points us back to the third use of the Law in delight to obey its commands to the glory of God as a new creation in Christ Jesus.

    If one affirms all this, they are truly Reformed, regardless of what some Reformed Presbyterians may assert. We must not tolerate unwarranted theological bigotry under the ruse of being “biblical”. It is a haughty and smug spirit that such Presbyterians have, one which makes them feel superior to Reformed Baptists. We must not be afraid to challenge and confront this bigotry when we encounter it. It has no place in the Body of Christ!

    By the way, you may be interested in reading the other two blog posts I’ve written which are related to the idea of Reformed identity. They are linked below:

    Being Reformed: Confessions and Identity
    Reformed Without Covenant Theology

    Many thanks to Joseph Trost Jr. for contributing content to this post.

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