Category: Politics

PROJECT 2025

I am writing this little essay due to the political hot potato Project 2025, a blueprint for government change from a conservative point of view.  Democrats vilify it. They claim that Project 2025 is the playbook for a possible next Trump term. The former President claims he has had nothing to do with it, that he has not read it and will not, and that it is not its playbook.  The Democrats claim that Project 2025 is an extreme right-wing agenda that will set the country back.  Republicans do not defend it but probably wisely say little because Democrats will pick and choose parts out of context and prosecute their case against Republicans on the basis of such misrepresentations.  I read some of the names of those who gave leadership to different chapters or sections of the document and knew them to be brilliant, credible, and not extreme.   However, were others extreme and suggesting extreme and dangerous policies?  I have read many studies from the Heritage Foundation and other think tanks whose leaders were part of this project.  Heritage is usually very credible.   

 

So, what is a person like me to do?  I am an informed person who seeks to apply biblical worldview thinking to politics.  See my book Social Justice. In this book I promote the idea that love and Justice are one and that a truly just social order is one that promotes the lifting up of the greatest number of people.  I argue that a free enterprise society with checks and balances on corporate and governmental power is the most successful.  Justice is based on God’s law, the universals that can be derived from the Bible, and on empirical evidence of what works. With this understanding,  I decided to review the 2025 Project.  It is 880 plus pages, large dense pages.  It was no easy task, but how can I evaluate the many claims that are being made?  I could not find a good and comprehensive defense of the project or a fair and serious critique,  so I decided to work my way through it. 

 

Here is a very short summary of my key takeaways.  No, it is not a radical crazy radical right-wing agenda but is the product of brilliant and serious thinkers whose articles should be read and weighed.  The book is primarily dealing with the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and all its agencies.  The administrative state, all its agencies, is so large and vast that it is difficult to get one’s arms around it.  So, the 2025 Project gives more information on the vast federal government than anyone could want.  It is an education.  The Executive Branch of the Government is far larger than the rest of the government put together and very powerful.    Here is my review.  

 

The Massive Labyrinth and Its Waste

The project describes every agency and significant sub-agency.  Each one is a vast labyrinth in itself with huge budgets and government administrators and sub administrators galore.  The documented waste, duplication, inertia, civil service employees who resist change, corruption, and cronyism are beyond what we can imagine.  Truly as Lawrence Peter argued, in government agencies inefficiency is ubiquitous since people are often promoted beyond their competence. (The Peter Principle.)  This reminds us of Ronald Reagan and his Grace commission which sought to address this.  But since then, the waste and corruption of government has grown back and is probably worse than ever.  There must be a radical evaluation on the basis of efficiency and the government in size has to be radically reduced.  Can anyone get their hands around these agencies and reform them?  We hope so.  They swallow up much wealth. 

 

Agency Mission Creep, and Corruption 

One aspect of the administrative state and its agencies is mission creep.  Over and over again agencies and their leaders stretch the boundaries of their legal congressional mandates and involve themselves in regulations and initiatives that were not approved by Congress.  This is a way for elites to gain progress in their political and social directions without the necessity of legislation and democratic debate.  The various authors show this in agency after agency.  I will detail some examples.  It is the characteristic of leftist elites to bypass legislative and democratic processes to gain their end in hidden ways through the bureaucracy.  

 

CRT. DEI, Transgenderism, ESG 

A few years ago, we were told that Critical Race Theory was an academic theory and was not being applied in our schools or in government policy.  This was a lie.  The cultural formation left has made CRT ubiquitous in most government agencies.  This began with President Obama, was somewhat halted under President Trump but now has returned with a vengeance.  CRT promotes appointing and promoting people by their particular race and ethnicity above others who may be more qualified.  This racial/ethnic orientation and quota system was not passed by Congress and not approved by the democratic process but is being applied throughout the agencies and in its policies promoted for other nations, in education and so much more. CRT partners with its twin ideas, DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion.  DEI is not interested in diversity of thought or political or religious views.  DEI means that every government agency, every corporation, and every institution is to reflect the proportion of embraced groups that are disadvantaged. Blacks and Hispanics especially are favored, but Asians need not apply!  There is a pecking order. Such racial discrimination was rejected by the Supreme Court, but the agencies of the Federal Government are fully promoting these unconstitutional directions.  This replaces the right orientation for disadvantaged groups, programs, and opportunities for the poor that will qualify many for advancement.  

 

CRT partners with transgenderism and the promotion of the LGBTQ+ agenda.  These alternative lifestyles are endorsed and promoted and makeup one of the groups for special treatment and promotion.  They were disadvantaged and are now to be promoted.  These policies need to be eliminated. 

 

ESG, Environment, Social, and Government is another left orientation that seeks to force corporations and banks to act to only favor those who embrace a more radical environmental agenda that can lead to much poverty, Social brings us back to DEI and go Government to leadership that promotes all of this.  Businesses that run a full ESG and DEI can be refused financing and de-platformed.  This discrimination must be halted. 

 

Restoring and Incentivizing Marriage and Family

Contrary to false claims, Project 2025 does not seek to eliminate welfare but like the Clinton administration, seeks to incentivize work. It also seeks policies that incentivizes marriage and family stability as the building block of success.  While there are successful children from single parent situations, the percentages of success show differentials that are huge and are in favor of an intact family with a mother and father.  This may be one emphasis that is hated by the left that seeks to equalize all types of living arrangements.  Incentivizing family should be expressed in welfare programs, education, and government programs in housing and adoption.  This affects policies on adoption that should favor intact two parent families with a mother and father and should not discriminate against religious families that promote traditional marriage.  

 

Rejecting transgenderism as a policy implies rejecting education that fosters transgender ideas in children in our education system and even promotes transgender transition for children.  This can lead to confusion in children.  It also rejects transgender biological men in women’s locker rooms, shower rooms, and sports.   There is a rejection of Biden’s fiat re-interpretation of Title 9 to apply protections for women in sports to include biological boys and men who identify as girls or women.  This also affects the Department of Health and Human Services in its policies promoting transgenderism.

 

Abortion, National, and International

Though our nation is divided on the issue of abortion the Agencies of Government are all in on promoting it, in Health and Human Services and even in foreign policy from the State Department and through the influence of the largesse of foreign aid.  The 2025 project does not call for a ban on abortion but for regulation and an end to late-term abortion.  Despite all the professions in favor of multiculturalism, contrary to our laws, the Federal Agencies dealing with foreign nations strong-arm these nations to embrace pro-abortion policies and the LGBTQ+ agenda  This is profoundly contrary to the traditional cultures of many nations.  Such policies and arm-twisting are seen as colonialism. And it is!  Conservatives may be pro-life but generally seek to see abortion limited to the first trimester. 

 

Education

The union monopoly education system in the U. S. is a disaster in many locales.  Morals (Immorality) are promoted contrary to family religious beliefs. Think of the defense of the pornographic in the school and those who oppose it are claimed to seek censorship. Often performance in schools is very poor.  The solution is that money should follow the parents who can choose their schools.  This is the key for many of the poor underclass to escape their poor-performing schools and to escape poverty. This is a key policy that is greatly needed.  If money follows the student the parents can choose religious schools, private schools, or public schools.  Some think the Education Department should be eliminated.  It imposes mandates against the will of many parents.  Of course, funds can be given so that the poor can choose a better education, but that does not require a department.  Education should be locally controlled.  School choice is a key to a better future. 

 

Environmental Ideas 

The 2025 Project claims to be pro-environment but not in a radical way where we destroy the fossil fuel industry and do not by world statistics improve the environment but have policies that will lead to poverty. Banks should not be able to refuse business on the basis of this part of the ESG agenda.  The Environmental Protection Agency needs to be reined in for it regulates beyond its congressional mandate.

 

Cancel Culture and Big Tech  

It is crucial that cancel culture be opposed and Big Tech needs regulation to not de-platform and demonetize what is contrary to their politically correct ideas.  Only calls for violence, pornography and real hate (not made-up hate such as promoting traditional marriage!) should be censored.  Monopolist issues with Big Tech and the internet need to be addressed.

 

Trade

There is a very good discussion on international trade, tariffs and prosperity with different points of view presented.  The dangers of trade with China and its nefarious behavior are dealt with. 

 

The Department of Justice 

The Department needs to be depoliticized.  It is severe with pro-life demonstrators who slightly cross red lines but have been soft on violent behavior against pro-life centers. Crimes from the left (think of George Floyd, Minneapolis burning, and Seattle).  It puts out warnings on parents at school boards but allows more serious crimes to be unprosecuted.  A return to law-based enforcement is crucial   

 

This is a very small summary.  It is classic conservative not radical.  So why the big reaction?  It is that the authors are credible people whose positions threaten the Democratic elite.  That is about it. 

 

But do note, that though President Trump is not connected to the 3025 project, former members of his administration are.  His own policy paper recently put out tracks with the 2025 project.

The Christian Nationalism Question Again

I have written about this topic before but the controversy again among believers is intensifying.  Often there is a lot of heat and little light because terms are not defined.

Idolatrous Nationalism

Nationalism can be defined in an idolatrous way where our loyalty is to be to our nation, right or wrong. This is then applied in a way to the United States that produces real imbalance. I don’t know any Facebook friends of mine who argue for this.  But I know this is the attitude of some.

Loyalty to a nation-state

Others point to nationalism about the 19th-century organization of former tribes and regions into nation-states and argue that all are called to loyalty to their nation-state, to make their state the best it can be. As long as they recognize that we are called to care about the world and not only our nation, I embrace this idea.  However, America First can be imbalanced if it means America only.  I see an isolationism in some that is troubling.

The United States as a Covenant Nation

When one adds the word Christian to nationalism, there are several meanings. One is that the United States is in a special covenant relationship with God like Israel. They trace this to the Puritans and Pilgrims and even the Mayflower Compact.  But despite these origins and the theistic theology of the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that all men were created equal, there is no explicit profession of being a Christian nation as was the case for example in the United Kingdom or the Hapsburg Empire. This view of a covenant with God and even an election of the United States is argued in the book by Peter Marshall Jr. The Light and the Glory. The son of the famous Senate Chaplain and the famous mother, Catherine Marshall, is persuasive but I still believe it is wrong.

Christian Nationalism as Seeking the Good of the Nation and Biblical Norms in Society

Others use Christian Nationalism to mean that we are to seek the good of our nation and that our nation was dominated by the influence of the Bible on its laws and its cultural norms.  God’s rule of sowing and reaping applies to nations as well as individuals.  This is the clear teaching of the prophets and is made clear in the Psalms which call for all nations to acknowledge God and his basic law.  Our nation is Christian to the extent that our people are Christian and produce a dominant culture of Christian values.  I am very sympathetic to this understanding of Christian Nationalism but still have reservations.  I think this was close to the idea of the founders who taught that the republic depended on the Christian life and piety of its citizens.

A Better Approach,  a Judeo-Christian Nationalism

Our rights and freedoms are rooted in the Bible. No biblical influence, no human rights! Many historians have noted that.  And there is a blessing of God for a nation that acts righteously.  But when we say Christian nation, it tends to exclude those who are not Christians. In the book The Hebrew Republic, by Eric Nelson, the author argues that the Hebrew Bible is the source of Western liberties and advancement in laws and rights.  Christianity adds wonderful standards of love and mercy that are even greater due to the New Testament, but it is the Hebrew Bible that is the primary source of so much.

It would be better to say that our ideal is to return to being a Judeo-Christian republic and that all are welcome who affirm the laws and standards that arise therefrom, to enjoy the rights and liberties.  As such we are a pro-Judeo-Christian religious society.  To say that we believe in a quest for a Judeo-Christian Nationalism would be in order.  But we are not there at this point.  Where things are now, we are drifting away and are not a nation that is truly Judeo-Christian in our values. Many are bible based on their views of law and liberty but many are not. This is why the work of evangelism and revival is the key to restoration.

ISLAM AND THE LAST OF THE LAST DAYS (ESCHATOLOGY)

Three books which I mentioned in a past article argue that Islam will be the final Antichrist movement and the opponents of God’s people in the final battle in the Last Days.  George Otis Jr. argued this in the Last of the Giants and looked at the powers of darkness behind Islam as the last and greatest powers in opposition to Yeshua and his Kingdom.  Otis majored in spiritual warfare in this book.  Dr. Brad Long of Presbyterian Renewal Ministries takes a similar spiritual warfare direction in his writings. Then in more recent years, Walid Shoebat in God’s War on Terror and in several other books presents this case, that Islam will be the last Antichrist power before the return of Yeshua. Joel Richardson makes a similar case in his The Islamic Antichrist. 

 

The Case for Islamic Fascism being the Last Day Power under the Antichrist

Generally, the argument is put forth that Islam presents a false Messiah that supersedes Yeshua.  It denies that Yeshua came in the flesh which is the Antichrist spirit according to John in I John 4:3 and has become the primary persecutor of Christians around the world. Islam is the great cult that broke from Christianity. In addition, Richardson and Shoebat argue that the lineup of the nations against Israel in the Last Days Wars is Islamic.  Both argue that we have to look out from Israel as the center and not the United States or Europe.  Then the lineup of nations is clear.  They argue as historian Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, formerly of Rutgers and then Miami University in Ohio, that the northern power fits Turkey more than Russia and these ancient tribes of Ezekiel 38, 39 were in Turkey.  Some of those who hold to the traditional view that Russia is in view in these chapters believe that these tribes moved north to Russia.  Yet the case of Shoebat and Richardson does have to be weighed and is a serious proposal.  However, I am not in this article centering on the exegesis of the Biblical texts but want the center to emphasize Islam and especially the more radical Islamic Fascism.  I did review a book on this platform by that name by a former Islamic fascist, Hamed Abdel-Samad.  Shoebat also was a former radical Muslim. 

 

Defining Islamic Fascism 

What do I mean by Islamic Fascism?  Like Nazi Fascism, it is a worldview with a foundational doctrine of seeking to take over the world by any means that will work.  This includes immigration, war, manipulation, and more.  All strategies and actions that advance Islamic rule are legitimate.  Islamic Fascism does seek to be rational concerning what strategy is best at the time and does not want to engage in war pre-maturely which would lead to defeat.  However, power assertion and violence are foundational and legitimate as means of extending their fascist rule. 

 

In addition, Islamic Fascism produces governments that are ruled by authoritarian or dictatorial regimes. Islamic Fascism has embraced the most extreme traditions of the suppression of women, unlike more moderate countries like Indonesia. However, Islamic Fascism seeks to supplant the moderate Muslim governments.  It is well to note what happens to women after the fascists take over.  They are at least head covered and, in some cases, covered to the point that only eye slits are allowed.  They live in movable tents. In Afghanistan, they have brought women into bondage and ended education for them.  The United States leaders will someday have to account for their cruel abandonment. Western feminists hardly voice any concern about the greatest oppression of women on the planted today. 

 

The Simple Theology and Eschatology

Islamic Fascism has a simple theology.  They proclaim that there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.”  Mohammed is the number one leading prophet in all of history in this view. The way to the best world is to force all infidels to become Muslim or die or if there is some mercy to submit to servitude and live as second class.  It at best then produces a true apartheid system for non-believers and women. 

 

Islam has its one eschatology and vision of the Last Days wars when Islam will triumph over all. In addition, the Shiites, or 12th’ers believe in the return of the 12 leaders of Shiite Islam during a cataclysmic war to bring Islam to victory.  Some believe that Iran would start such a war in the hope of deliverance. Iran is the primary force for the Shiite version of Islamic Fascism. They partner with Sunni Fascists, but this is pragmatic.  Ultimately, they would have to fight it out in the future and historically were very at odds.

 

Anti-Israel, Jewish, and Anti-Christian

Islamic Fascists are virulently against Israel and the Jewish people.  They also are vehemently against Christians and have slaughtered them in Nigeria, Kenya, and multiple other nations.  Even in Mozambique, the Bakers in Iris Ministries have lost leaders to Islamic barbarism. One leading pastor was beheaded. 

 

Israel right now is fighting a war against Islamic Fascism. This is a better term than terrorism since terror is a strategy, not the foundational worldview.  Iran, the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shiite Fascists of Iraq and Syria, and more surround Israel. They are all Islamic Fascists.

 

The Weakness of the West

The West is weak and in danger of defeat when they will not face the ideology of the enemy or even name it rightly.  In addition, they do not recognize in the present war, that any agreement is temporary until the Islamic Fascists attain sufficient power to attack again.  The issue with the Gaza war is not only their military but that the population is brainwashed by the Fascists and mostly embrace the worldview. 

 

Their Simple and Powerful Theology

Their theology is simpler and easier to understand theology than Naziism.  It is more dangerous as it motivates its people with the promise of eternal rewards.  It is growing and more and more are being radicalized. One submits to God and Islamic law for eternal rewards.

 

Russia and China in Alliance

Russia and China allied themselves with the Fascists to weaken the West, but their turn will come someday.  It is an alliance of convenience.  Amazing how the Islamic Fascists give China a pass on the destruction of their Muslim minority, but it is all part of the pragmatism!

 

Should the West go to War

Should the West go to war to defeat Islamic Fascist nations?  Yes, and the longer the West waits the worse it will be. Even now these fascists are a fifth column in many Western nations. But ultimately this war has to be won by prayer and by supernatural miracles in the preaching of the Gospel.  What level of power will be poured out on God’s people to resist this?  Much more than we now see. If the Book of Revelation is rightly interpreted, it points to revival and a great harvest as well as martyrdom.  But we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony and love not our lives even to death.  (Rev. 12:11) 

 

Yes, Islamic Fascism may be the Last Days’ power of evil to oppose Yeshua and his people, His Kingdom. 

The West Shows Lack of Moral Courage in the Face of Ideologies of Terrorism 

We see this in the response to the killing of Ismail Haniyeh and the idea that he was negotiating for hostages and should not have been killed.  But he was responsible for hundreds of deaths and then the 1200 killed on October 7.  I would love to see a doctrine in the West and Israel that terrorist leaders forfeit their right to live and are legitimate targets.  That would include Iranian leaders. 

 

Two articles in the Jerusalem Post Weekend edition noted the lack of moral courage in the West.  The Biden administration allows Iran to be supplied with tens of billions of dollars even now through evading oil sanctions and this finances their proxies and terrorism.  The idea of living with terrorist nations and having accommodations is foolish and temporary and will lead to much greater loss.  They are pledged to destroy the United States and the West. Believe them!  The lesson of appeasement with Hitler has not been learned. One article by strategic think tank thinker David Weinberg was especially powerful.  I read him every week. It was entitled “Getting strategically “unstuck.”  The West accommodates Iran.   Israel sought to accommodate Hamas and Hezbollah and find ways to just live with them.  Iran should never have been permitted to move toward an atomic bomb and regime change should have been policy.  Israel’s policy should be that no terror regime will be allowed to rule in a nation on the border of Israel.  Also, any nation threatening Israel’s existence is a legitimate military target.  Weinberg hopes that the killing of Haniyeh will now open the way to get unstuck since Iran’s response and Israel’s response to that get us unstuck.  Even a pre-emptive strike before that response comes to full fruition gets Israel unstuck as painful as that will be.  Finally, Israel seems delivered from its delusion of living with Hamas Hezbollah on its border.  

 

A second amazing article was by Marziyeh Amirzadeh, an Iranian now in the United States.  She was arrested and sentenced to death for converting to Christianity.  The article did not say how she escaped after 9 months in prison, but her husband and best friend were tortured and lost their lives. Here she rightly rails against a Jewish Israeli historian, Alon Ben Meir.  He writes about the opportunity to get along with a more moderate Iran now that a more moderate President has been elected, President Pezeshkian.  What a delusion!  But this is window dressing for the West.  She is stunned that Israel allowed Hamas to be funded and armed and now the West falls for such a foolish response to Iran.  Iran is totally under the Ayatollah and no other official will make a difference. When they tell you what they want to do believe them and fight them before they have great power.  But as Weinberg says, the West has lost its moral courage.  Is it possible that this loss is rooted in postmodern leftism that cannot grasp a battle of good against evil?  Morals have fallen to a terrible degree.    

 

One other article also showed the moral bankruptcy of the West.  Gil Hoffman reports on news coverage of the terror missile bombing on the Druze Village of Majdal Shams in the Golan.  In several major papers, what happened just was not represented.  It was emphasized that this was occupied territory.  It is not.  Tell the Druze who live there and are pro-Israel.  The articles did not clearly note the Hezbollah attack and wrote as if Israel was somehow responsible and that this was a response to Israel’s attack on Hamas and Haniyeh.  One writer noted that when Netanyahu visited after the attack he was shouted at (as if they were anti-Israel) but their shouts were demanding that he take revenge for them. (This total misreporting was from Sky News in Britain).  U. S. papers in the legacy press simply are so anti-Israel that they could not report it right. 

 

These are very dark days, and we need so much prayer support in Israel as we prepare for an attack from Iran.  Some of the weapons that were delayed from the United States are dearly needed now.  Why? Again, the lack of courage and fear of escalation.  God help us, really.  May our Christian supporters have a clear moral vision and make a difference. 

Vice Presidential Candidate J. D. Vance

I wanted to understand the candidate J. D. Vance.  Who is he?  What makes him tick?  Then I found out that there was a memoir of his life.  It covers his childhood to his early 30s and the post-Yale Law School period very briefly. It is call the Hillbilly Elegy.  I am trying to discern what God is saying.  I am also trying to be discerning of all the prophetic voices, and some not too trustworthy.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the media prophets would be accountable to a real eldership and would post where their accountability is? I am trying to discern. With the positives and negatives of Donald Trump, if God really desires him to be President, he will win. Surely this would fit the classic old hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way His Wonders to Perform.”  My interest is seeking the sense of God’s working in all of this to hope that it could be part of an outpouring of revival in America.  This is the most important thing.

But now back to Vance. The Hillbilly Elegy is one of the most amazing books I have ever read.  Vance grew up in the Hillbilly area of Kentucky.  He grew up poor.  The book is raw in honesty and sometimes coarse in language.  He pulls no punches in describing his family members and their terrible dysfunctions.  The drug addiction of his mother, the many men in her life, and the instability.  He lived in so many places.   His grandparents were separated though they lived near each other.  They provided stability for his life between and in the midst of the upheavals.  His older sister came out well and an aunt and uncle.  He himself lived out several dysfunctions, rage, anger, and reactions, doing poorly in school for a season.  In later high school, things began to turn around.  He spent some time with his biological father who became a Fundamentalist Pentecostal.  For a season he went to church with him and read the Bible from time to time. Finally, he joined the Marines seeking a a step forward.  He served in Iraq.   Interestingly, he describes the white underclass of the Hillbilly community as very similar to the Black underclass.  Despite the claim that he is a white supremacist, it is clear that he empathizes with the black underclass.  After the Marines, he did Ohio State’s 4-year program in two years and then went to Yale Law School. This had never happened to any in his community.  Then he married an Indian classmate after graduation.  He credits much of his growth and maturing in the years at Yale and after to her.   He therefore is in an interracial marriage with interracial children.

Vance came to see that no amount of welfare can make up for a stable family and that this is the key to the way out of poverty. Many have argued this though today’s crucial race theory denies this. He therefore became a conservative.  His identity is the working class and his heart is with the working class.   He sees how the policies of the government have destroyed the economy of these poor areas, and they are economically hollowed out.  In the afterward, he attributes his success to those who imparted to him.   His gratitude to them is amazing.  His forgiveness for his most dysfunctional family members is noteworthy.  I teared up reading this.

Finally, after wrestling with Christianity and the many denominations, after writing this book he became a Catholic.

The Democrats now paint him as anti-woman due to an unfortunate statement about some of the single miserable women in the elite as cat ladies (women who cannot find acceptance in marriage and family and thus adopt cats. Amazing.  We used this term when I was a kid.  I wonder if this is a term in the Hillbilly community.  But he is not anti-single women and attributes so much of his success to his grandmother.

The book is so honest, raw, and coarse.  Ron Howard made it into a Netflix movie. So, Donald Trump picks a Hillbilly who graduated from Yale as his V. P.  He is today a man interested in Christianity in a serious way.  His heart is with the underclass.

I see the story as an amazing testimony to the grace of God. Can we look at such an unusual story of overcoming without seeing the hand of God in his life? J. D. Vance is unlike any politician in history, an overcomer from the greatest dysfunctionality who admits his ongoing battles with some of his inherited demons.  I am convinced that God has his hand on him but cannot say what this will lead to.  But I am convinced by his book that he is no racist, no white supremacist, and loves the underclass, black and white, and the working class.  He desires policies that really help. He does see that some government help is beneficial but some programs are destructive.  His identification with the underclass poor and the working class could be a revolution for the Republican Party, a significant re-alignment.

At any rate, I was moved by this book.  May he find God’s power at new levels and may he come into such a place with his beautiful Indian wife that they could contribute to a revival in America.  That is my prayer.  I also note that he is pro-Israel. I heartily recommend reading the book.

The Amazing Demonic Intelligence of Hamas Leader Sinwar

The Hamas plan in the war against Israel has been amazingly intelligent, brilliant, evil
and demonic at the highest level. Let’s review.

1. First, Hamas created a military fortress of weapons and tunnels the lengths of
the New York subway system, under civilian areas with the means to come
above ground to fire rockets and other ordinance at Israel. The tunnel shafts are
in civilian homes, schools and hospitals.
There has never in history been such concentration of military weapons so
concentrated in civilian areas. It is human shield strategy on steroids. Hamas
knows that it can use the death of civilians in propaganda to turn the world
against Israel. This was all brilliantly pre-planned. It is the strategy of Hamas to
get a significant number of civilians killed. Hamas lies about statistics, and about
attacks that did not happen (remember the hospital in the early days?) Its lies
are reported by a corrupt western media as truth.

2. The Hamas invasion and slaughter of October 7 th was an act of evil horror. But it
did not end there. Rather, Hamas took hostages. Sinwar rightly understood that
the hostage issue could eventually be used to undermine the willingness of
Israelis to fight the war against them. While in the early months the Israeli public
by a clear majority supported prosecuting the war over getting the hostages out,
though this was really important too for all Israelis. The pain of the hostages
would wear down the will to fight. Sinwar knows the Israeli mentality well enough
to have anticipated this in his strategy. In addition, the hostage strategy would
divide Israel between the prosecute the war faction and the get the hostages out
at all costs faction even if it means Hamas remains in power. Sinwar anticipated
this and he plays Israel like a master.

3. Hamas depends on media to distort the reality of fighting an urban war. Civilians
will always die in such a war and according to the expert from West Point,
Jonathan Spencer, Israel’s casualty rate is the best in history on protecting
civilians in urban war. Hamas depends on the fact that Israel can be accused of
genocide apart from its legal definition. The genocide and war crimes are on the
side of Hamas. But people do not carefully read the conventions that were
approved that define war crimes, and who bears the responsibility for civilian
deaths. Hamas is responsible for almost all such deaths. They kill their own
people over food distribution, over criticism of Hamas and more. They depend
on the ignorance of people to make claims not based in law. The actual law is
too nuanced and requires real thought. Those accusing Israel are radically
misinterpreting the law. But Sinwar and Hamas knows that people will by the
definitions of propaganda and not respond according to the actual law.

This level of intelligence shows a brilliant demonic inspiration. It has to be defeated by
much prayer as well as by military might.

ONE WHO WAS WOKE FROM WOKE

Batya Ungar-Sargon is a high-up editor with Newsweek Magazine.  This is a pretty prestigious position.  I found out about her from an article in the Jerusalem Post.  In the article, she professed that she had awakened from being part of the woke leftist side of thinking and opinion.  I was so impressed by the article that I bought the book that was featured, Second Class.   The book so well fits my argument on economics in my book Social Justice.  Ungar-Sargon is a mystery person.  She is an Israeli, but is she Arab or Jewish or a descendant of a mixed marriage?  She keeps her history private.

I begin with what I argued in my book.  I argued that believers are to be engaged in fighting for good laws in society that are more in accord with the Law of God but only evangelism and revival can change the consensus to have Law that is more in agreement with the Bible.  We, the Body of the Messiah, are to be engaged in all of culture but live out according to one’s own unique calling in life.  One part of my book argues that we should support the economic system that best lifts the greatest number of people to adequate provision.   We are to be concerned for the poor, the working class, and the middle class but with policies that really work.   In this, I argue that only a rightly regulated free enterprise system can create wealth expansion to lift people, but that the concentration and power of wealth in a very few is wrong.

Ungar-Sargon was a woke leftist but got more truly woke and was delivered from woke leftism.  She was delivered by studying the working class, lower middle, and middle class, but also did not ignore the poor. She did address the attitudes and beliefs of the upper middle class and the rich, the elite.  What she found changed her life outlook.  I have often said that the woke are actually just the opposite of being woke but are more like the zombies who became such by being infected by the seedpods in the great sci-fi classic, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Ungar-Sargon found that the policies of the elite in both political parties have been bad for the middle and lower middle classes.  It has deprived them of their potential to attain the American dream economically.  The dream is that by honest work, one can own a home, provide for a family, have a decent modest annual vacation, and save for a comfortable retirement.  This includes healthcare. This was much more attainable 40 years ago.  She details the many policies that have undercut these classes.  I will not detail them all.  Three of them stand out.  One is free trade. This has enriched corporate titans and stockholders at the expense of workers.   The theory was that free trade would lead to specializations where countries would do what they do best, and the U. S. would have more high-paying tech jobs and services.  I read this argument years ago and thought that someday in India they would do the tech jobs at a fraction of the cost, that good-paying union jobs would be shipped overseas, and that it would backfire.  This was a big issue in the Ross Perot campaign for President in 1992.   Indeed, the great industrial jobs were lost, China grew greatly and America’s high-paying blue collar jobs decreased.  Wages were lowered over time and did not keep up with inflation.

The second is mass immigration which suppresses job opportunities.  To say one wants to regulate immigration so as not to suppress the wages of the lower middle class is said to be racist.  But it is not racist, but reasonable.  Mass illegal immigration has been terrible for poor blacks and lower-middle-class citizens.

Finally, she comes against the direction of society that one must have a college degree. Job after job is limited to those with a degree though there is nothing in the job that requires such an education.  Tens of thousands are spent on colleges with no purpose other than to enrich the education establishment.  Jobs are refused to those who more than are capable of doing the work. In addition, training people for jobs in apprenticeships and through trade schools is much more fitting for most people.

She finds that working people have much commonsense wisdom.  They really do not care about what political elites care about, are not racist, and want a social structure where all can get ahead.  Then she finds that the concerns of the elite left are just not relevant to most people.   She finds that DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs make little difference in lifting people but cost a lot of money.  Transgenderism is just not of concern to the working class who see it as a diversion from their concerns.   They are more than live and live-oriented but want to see policies that really work.  She finds that stable families are more important than race as a factor in success by far.   White privilege is way overstated.

Then, horror of horrors, she found that Trump’s policies of bringing jobs back and expanding opportunity really worked.  Ending free trade for fair trade, enterprise zones, and stronger immigration policies were good for the working class.

One could say that Ungar-Sagan became truly woke and is now a champion of the working class which has been abandoned by the Democrats and not yet adequality championed by the Republicans.   For a Biblical worldview orientation her book is hardly adequate, but it goes in the right direction and is in my view closer to a Biblical social justice position.

Abortion, the Pope and Donald Trump

Donald Trump today invited three responses when he said that abortion policy was up to the States by legislators or referendums. He got pushback against this from the left who were angry over the Supreme Court decision and wanted a national law making it legal with no restrictions to the point of birth. He got pushback from the right that want it to be nationally banned or greatly restricted. Neither is realistic.

Then in the same news cycle, the Vatican just came out with a profound document, five yours in the making on God’s creation order of male and female, marriage, abortion, transgenderism, in vitro fertilization (which Donald Trump supports), and more. Here is my take.

The Catholic statement was amazing. Magnificent, theological, and comprehensive. It is based on two premises: that God created human beings as male and female to be expressed for those not called to celibacy in a marriage where children can be produced. It looks at the agendas of transgenderism as profoundly wrong and seeking to overthink the goodness of God’s creation order. Secondly, it also rejects in vitro fertilization because though they understand the desire to have children, having children is not a right but a gift of God. This is consistent with the position of the Church that the life of the developing baby is sacred and to be preserved from the moment of conception until birth. In vitro violates this since the baby is not conceived in marital love and lab-fertilized eggs are destroyed.

Donald Trump was vilified by some on the right and even even former Vice President Pence. But I think we can defend what he did. Precluding abortion as a national stand is a losing position at this point in history. Yes, maybe after 15 weeks precluding could win, but a pro-life position can not accept abortion at any time, one week or ten or 8 months. What Trump did is require the people to take a stand in each state. Then each state faces God’s judgment for policy. The danger is that referendums from Democrats are radical and with no restrictions to the 9th month. They deceptively frame poll questions and referenda. At this point, the best way for Republicans to win is to change hearts through education and media efforts and to see states make restrictions as they have the political support to do so while still engaging in counseling and pro-life pregnancy centers. They have to do a better job of pointing out radical pro-abortion positions that the majority of people do not support. We have to both look at what we ideally want but also face what is politically possible even if this brings God’s judgment on states that do not fight for life.

Israel-Hamas War

The Jerusalem Post was filled today with evaluations of the state of the war with Hamas and what we should do.  Not all agreed, but there was a good deal of very good commentary.  My own reflections this week agreed with some of the commentators.  This week I was on a leaders’ retreat in the desert (Sde Boker) and also got the perspective of other leaders.

When Israel went to war after the terrible atrocities, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that the goal was to end Hamas rule in Gaza and to dismantle the terror organization. Once this became the stated goal and was repeated numerous times (can anyone think it is less than 100 times?) anything less will be seen in the world especially the Arab world as a Hamas victory and will discredit Israel and empower Hamas.  Some years ago, Lee Smith wrote the book The Strong Horse on the mentality of the nations in this part of the world.  They want to bet on the strong horse and a weak-looking nation will not gain their alliance.  The Abraham Accords was a bet on Israel as the strong horse to counter Iran’s power.  New accords probably require Israel to defeat Hamas despite what these nations may publicly say.

However, I believe Israel’s leaders have fallen into a Hamas trap.  One of the world leaders in game theory, a Nobel Prize winner, saw this trap clearly.  By getting Israel to delay the war and focus on the hostages, the nation actually diminishes the chances of getting the hostages out and winning the war.  With the Hamas propaganda machine estimated to reach 100 million, the more time that goes by the more Israel is under international pressure to end the war, which would be a disaster.  Israel’s leaders originally said they had till January to win the war and then they would lose international support.  But here it is April. Wow!  And we are still dithering and talking about a cease-fire with only a third of the hostages released. 

If Bibi had in the beginning said that Israel would punish Hamas badly and then withdraw, he could have declared victory.  But now Israel is in danger of being the weak horse due to the claim.  But Bibi was right in the goals because Israel had to end Hamas rule and the periodic terror in the south from Hamas rockets.  But why did Bibi and his leaders think time was not on their side?  Because the pictures of the destruction and civilian casualties would move the world against Israel since it was Israel’s bombs.  Yes, Hamas is the real culprit and the one responsible for it.  Despite the lying narratives about Israel violating International laws of war, the truth is that Israel does not violate the actual written laws, and although we do not know the civilian casualty numbers (we only have Hamas reports), Israel receives the brunt of the outrage, not Hamas. It is wrong and unjust and as John Spencer, the retired West Point expert on Urban warfare argues, Israel’s program to protect civilians and the proportion for urban war especially with civilian human shields, is very good. 

Donal Trump tells Bibi, to get on with it, finish the job, and end Hamas rule.  That seems like good advice and only such an advance might lead to a pause with hostage release.

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER, KANSAS CITY, A PERSONAL RESPONSE

Not long ago I signed onto a joint statement on the present situation at IHOPKC.  However, my main emphasis and reason in supporting this statement was again to call for an impartial judicial eldership board.  Only this can finally bring judgment and clarity at a level that will settle the controversy, for we now see people on both sides in social media pressing their views, though the larger number is anti-IHOP and Mike Bickle.  

I am not happy about how either side is handling this, either IHOPKC or the Advocates that have taken up the grievances against Mike Bickle and IHOP.   Both sides should have called for an objective panel of elders that was so credible that all sides would submit to their decisions on guilt, innocence, discipline, and restitution.  They would oversee an objective investigator if still needed. This is the main issue in my view. It shows how far the modern churches and ministries are from biblical standards of justice and judicial process (Deut. 1, 16, Matthew 16, 18 and I Cor. 6).  This was well established in many Protestant denominations and is also today found in some new church streams. 

In the statement that we put out, some misunderstood the idea that the accusers’ testimonies were credible.  Credible does not mean proven but sufficiently serious and with enough description and corroboration that they should be taken seriously and heard in a fair court.  But unless there is a court with cross-examination, we can have views, and can think something looks credible, but conclusive judgment requires a court.  Again, this was a common process in many historic Protestant denominations.   In civic law, an indictment does not mean the accused is guilty but that there is enough evidence to bring a trial, but the accused is still innocent until proven guilty in such fair court.  Therefore, we have written, called, and cajoled, but it is still not clear that this to finally be done.  

And what is happening now?  Trial by social media continues.  There is a contingent that is now on a feeding frenzy that is discrediting the prophets who were part of the early days of Kansas City Fellowship (the predecessor of IHOP) from 30-40 years ago.  Some who related to IHOP are in full confession mode, but their confession includes why they were sucked in, but at the same time their confession is full of severe judgments and accusations.  It does not seem only a confession.  Another contingent, smaller but also very strong, is blasting the accusers and seeking to discredit them.  One video that was sent was about a primary accuser being mentally ill and needing intervention.  If true, how sad, and if not true how painful to the accuser!  Actually, it is painful in either case!

We do know that Mike Bickle has repented of some serious things.  We know that IHOPKC has drawn conclusions on Mike’s sin as the overseers of IHOPKC today and their conclusions are credible and may be seen as having judicial weight.  However, there is much more that has not been disclosed including the life that Mike Bickle and some other leaders have lived over more than the last 20 years.  That is foggy.  IHOPKC has also admitted a woefully inadequate government structure of accountability.  

However, I want to speak to the feeding frenzy of attack against IHOP and its history.  First, the leaders’ falling into sin does not mean that mighty things were not done through IHOPKC and Kansas City Fellowship and through its leaders.  I do believe in New Testament standards for qualification and discipline but do want to say something about examples from the Hebrew Bible.  Did God work through Aaron, the brother of Moses, in the Exodus? He was the voice of Pharaoh. He was witnessed as an instrument of the most amazing signs and wonders, amazing prophecy, and more. Yet, he gave himself to make the golden calf and then was in denial as if it happened without his agency.  God nevertheless restored him after his repentance.  Did Mike Bickle sin more than King David?  Not only did David commit adultery but murdered her husband.   He was restored by God and made the preparations for the building of the Temple.  However, his sin was probably the cause of much of the division and civil war that ensued under his son Absalom.  Great tragedy was experienced!  Yet, David unified Israel and established so much and is the ancestor of the Messiah. I am not writing this to say that those who sinned and covered up should be restored. I am writing about what God obviously did through the Kansas City Fellowship and later through IHOPKC.   I personally experienced some amazing times of holiness there over 33 years ago including supernatural signs and wonders.  There was a holy fear of the Lord in His presence. 

Now there is a deep revulsion and rejection of the Kansas City prophets by those who were themselves involved with them.  This leads to the idea that no great work of God was done as a result of the leadership of Mike and his prophets.  I was there at the Vineyard Conference in Anaheim in January 1989 when John Wimber introduced Paul Cain.  His word to John before coming to visit John was an amazing supernatural word that John confirmed.  His ministry in January 1989 came with signs and wonders and a presence of God that was the greatest I ever experienced.  There was a holy Presence that gave rise to deep reverence and fear.  The Holy Spirit’s electricity in the air even set off the fire alarms. Should I deny this because Paul Cain later fell into sin and refused the directions that were given to him for repentance and restoration?   Then there were the other prophets, ones that to our knowledge never fell into sin who prophesied over our ministry and its future, Jim Goll and John Paul Jackson are two I will name.  I don’t think they have any skeletons in their closets.  John Paul wrote a great book on avoiding wrong ways and the casualties from wrong prophetic order.  Then there is the discrediting of Bob Jones.  Did Bob really prophecy that Mike Bickle’s ministry would focus on Israel and its greatest task and fulfillment would be raising 100 million intercessors for Israel?  Yes, he did. Did he do this before Mike had a clue about Israel?  Yes.  Did his later fall did discredit the amazing prophetic happenings and signs and wonders in the early 80s?  The history is in Anglican Bishop David Pytches’s book Some Said it Thundered. It is credible and happened.   The later sins of some did not discredit what happened.  I was a witness to some of this.  As for Bob Jones, he did not have a history of sexual sin to my knowledge, stepped down from ministry for a season, and was fully restored under a well-known national leader who does repentance, discipline, and restoration.   

For me, it is amazing how many forget that the greatest prayer meeting for Israel’s protection and salvation took place on May 28.  Are we forgetting this so quickly?  Without any knowledge of this date, my son led a gathering of leaders in January 2023 and called for fasting and prayer on May 28.  The words from Bob Jones from 40 years ago were amazingly fulfilled and that was some years after his death.  It seems to me that God allowed Mike Bickle’s sin to be hidden until this word was amazingly fulfilled.  IHOPKC and the early prophecy were key to launching great prayer worldwide for the salvation of Israel, prayer houses, integrated 24/7 prayer with congregations, and more.   The pattern of Zinzendorf’s Moravians was resurrected in many nations.  Some even have said they want to destroy IHOPKC.  I think that would be terribly wrong.  Shall God destroy the innocent with the righteous? Abraham plead.

Do I still want fair judgment for those women who are bringing the accusations against Mike Bickle and IHOP?  Yes!   Do I grieve over abuses?  Yes.  Do I want to see an opportunity for cross-examination if there is a desire for a defense to be made by Mike and the former leaders of IHOPKC who are charged?  Yes! Then he and others can be found guilty of what they did do and not guilty for what they did not do.   Do I want to see other charges of manipulation and the use of prophecy for controlling others to be heard with cross-examination?  Yes!  But that is a bit harder to prove.  Strong prophetic gifts can cause people to fall in line.  We too easily forget the responsibility of all believers in the New Covenant to hear the Spirit and to confirm prophetic words for their own individual lives and corporately as well.  Yes, we have to constantly emphasize this.  But none of this discredits that a mighty work was done worldwide through IHOPKC and Mike Bickle.  Again, prayer ministries have been raised up all over the world that pray for Israel and the Messianic Jews.  Also, let us not forget the many who for years served at IHOPKC.  They were not in gross sin, but morally righteous.  They served under a bad leadership structure according to IHOPKC’s present evaluation.  Some of these are now on the Advocates’ side in this battle.  Also, many were blessed, renewed in strength, and sent out to serve the Kingdom after leading to walk in the power of the Spirit. 

So here I am, like a voice in the wilderness. I am calling for two things.  Do not discredit what God did through the Kansas City Fellowship and through IHOPKC.   This is independent of the sin of leaders.  Secondly, let there be fair judgment.  And please stop the prosecution through social media from both detractors and supporters.  I wait and wait for IHOPKC to publicly declare themselves as committed to this objective fair eldership judiciary. 

FOR A BOOK THAT PRESENTS THE CASE FOR ELDERS AND THE WHAT, HOW AND WHY OF THEIR JUDICIAL FUNCTION, DO ORDER AND READ MY BOOK “DUE PROCESS, A PLEA FOR BIBLICAL JUSTICE AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE.”.