231 Pentecost 6: Made Honest
“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” ~ Psalm 30
Made Honest
Honesty is the result of Truth working on the heart. Though it is central to the soul's experience of the foundation, the heart cannot be our Christian foundation, because the heart is deceitful. An honest heart is therefore one that rests on the Truth rather than attempting to be its source.
A Christian heart rests on this Freedom: the promise of the Kingdom is that no matter how bad it gets, no matter how deep the mire, no matter how dark the shadow, all we need to do is call on Jesus to be saved.
Yesterday. Today. Forever.
Repent, and believe the Gospel.
Of course, my own reason and strength cannot do this. For this, we need a Holy Spirit. For this, the Spirit must be given. Since you have been baptized, called and gathered, it’s now a moot point.
You have been selected: reign.
This is the blessing: it's never too late to call on Jesus. His Name is His Word and His Word is an autopiloting, automating, αυτόπιστόsmous perspicacity: Truth you can take to the Day with you.
No need to let their fears shackle you. We are not here to draw back. Alleluia.
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
R.J.M.F
Births, Deaths and Marriages
A crowd of people protested the two year anniversary of the Dobbs decision outside the Supreme Court building. While many states have ramped up protections for the unborn since that decision, nine states plus the District of Columbia allow abortion without restriction. Vice President Kamala Harris joined model Chrissy Teigen on stage at a campaign event to promote pro-abortion policies. Teigen became emotional saying abortion gives women “hope that they have a future”. You see the twisted logic of the culture of death! President Biden promised during a debate last week that he would restore Roe vs Wade if he retains the White House. As Albert Mohler regularly points out though, the Democrat policy is less restrained than Roe with the stated desire to enshrine unrestricted abortion across America. (WNG, The Blaze)
Crime and Punishment
A very important week for the Supreme Court of the U.S.A. Read Frisby’s round up of key decisions:
A New Jersey gamer has flown to Florida to settle an “online altercation”. Edward King broke into the home of a man and attacked him with a hammer. (Newsweek)
Coming to America
Florida has seen a drastic drop in Medicaid funding since it started requiring hospitals that accept government money to ask patients about their immigration status. Critics say the law dissuades illegal aliens from seeking help, including pregnant women who are carrying “U.S. citizen babies”. But a government spokeswoman assured the public that anyone with emergency medical needs would be treated. (Politico)
Thunderdome 2024
Presidential debate or presidential mistake?
The classified documents case against Donald Trump began in Florida last week. Trump’s defence argued that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith was not properly appointed nor funded, while Justice Department lawyers maintain that the appointment did not require Congressional approval. District Judge Aileen Cannon is also considering a request from the prosecution for a gag order against Donald Trump. (WNG)
Politics
U.S. Surgeon-General Vivek Murthy last week declared firearm violence to be a public health crisis. Mr. Murthy said “America should be a place where all of us can go to school, go to work, go to the supermarket, go to our house of worship, without having to worry that that’s going to put our life at risk.” Murthy called lawmakers to “ban automatic rifles, introduce universal background checks for buying guns, regulate the industry, pass laws that would restrict their use in public spaces and penalize people who fail to safely store their weapons". In 2022, 48,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds, more than half were suicides. Mr Murthy said it was time to take discussion about gun control “out of realm of politics and put it into the realm of public health, like smoking.” (NBC, The Guardian)
New York congressman Jamaal Bowman has lost his primary race to fellow Democrat George Latimer. Much was made of the fact that this was one of the most expensive congressional races ever, with a price tag of $25 million. Much was also made of the fact that almost $15 million of that total was raised by American Israel Public Affairs Committee, reportedly in response to Bowman’s pro-Palestine stance. However, Bowman has been falling in favorability polls for many months. He was a member of the leftwing “Squad” and was fined for pulling a fire alarm last year during a vote in the House. (BBC, New York Post)
Factchecking site Snopes has decided to debunk reports that President Trump described neo-Nazis as “very fine people”, seven years after the fact. (Not the Bee)
Public trust in the U.S. government, 1950s to today. (Pew)
The Digital Age
TikTok has revealed it offered the U.S. government the option of a “killswitch” as a good faith measure to assure officials that it was willing to cooperate with oversight. The admission came as the company begins a trial to defend itself against forced divestment from Chinese-owned parent ByteDance. TikTok insists all American data stays in America, but lawmakers are not persuaded. (BBC)
Chatbot Perplexity has been sprung plagiarizing an article which was about how it makes things up. (Wired)
Robotaxi company Waymo is waiving waitlists for San Francisco residents. (Tech Crunch)
Instagram asks users if they really, actually want to follow Tucker Carlson. (The Blaze)
Google Translate has added an additional 110 languages, almost doubling the amount of languages supported. Google used its PaLM 2 language model to help Translate to learn the languages. (The Verge)
Money, Markets and Jobs
Two federal judges in Kansas and Missouri have granted a partial injunction against President Biden’s plan to cancel student debt after two lawsuits claim that the White House overstepped its authority. (Just the News)
The jury is still out when it comes to the effectiveness of New York City’s efforts to make housing more affordable. The City imposed heavy restrictions on temporary holiday rentals, listed on sites like AirBnB, with the assumption that it would free up properties and bring prices down. It remains to be seen whether that will be the outcome. However, the hotel industry is a clear winner with occupancies up by as much as 80%. Industry bodies like the American Hotel and Lodging Association have for many years lobbied governments to restrict short-term rentals, but with almost a fifth of New York’s hotel rooms now occupied by illegal immigrants, they might be able to cool their heels awhile. (Business Insider, Short Term Sage, MishTalk)
A midwesterner living in New York has taken “window shopping” literally, dropping hats onto customers’ heads from his apartment window. ”I had a Raspberry Pi and a stepper motor lying around so I decided to put them to work.” (Drop of a Hat)
Religion and the Church
Examining the “argument from desire” apologetic, summarized by C.S.Lewis: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” (Conservative Reformer)
Dr. Neil Shenvi is warning Christians to be wary of the “woke Right.” He points out that desire to see righteousness in our nation can lead to callousness against fellow humans, including other Christians. In using tactics favored by progressives, conservatives risk becoming another snarky, angry group gathered around a projected identity. (Issues Etc)
Oklahoma’s State Superintendent Ryan Walters has ordered that public schools incorporate the Bible into lessons. “The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone”, he said, and was needed to “properly contextualize the foundation of our nation.” (AP)
Arts, History and Sport
The head of a wax sculpture of Abraham Lincoln has melted in Washington’s heat. (BBC)
A library of cinematic camera techniques and examples. (EyeCandy)
Last week in history:
1613 London’s Globe theater burns down. (Wikipedia)
1844 Founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith is killed at the hands of an angry mob. (All That’s Interesting)
1950 The U.S. enters the Korean War. (National Geographic)
1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway is opened, a “navigational channel from the Atlantic Ocean to all the Great Lakes”. (History)
God bless America!
Health, Medicine and Food
Dr. Peter McCullough made a video addressing media talking points about H1N1 avian flu. He argues that the cruel practice of culling entire flocks when a case is detected is needless. When farmers have been allowed to wait and see, most birds recover, gaining immunity with minimal disruption to the food supply. McCullough says countries are stockpiling human bird flu vaccines and seem to be intent on stoking fear once again. In related news, the Food and Drug Administration says the pasteurisation process kills bird flu in cow’s milk. (Courageous Discourses, CBS)
The latest defense funding bill has earmarked $500 million in taxpayer dollars for the Department of Defense to experiment making lab-grown, or cell-cultured, meat. One National Cattlemen’s Beef Association spokeswoman said, “They’re using our servicemen and women as test subjects for a product that still has a lot of nutritional questions hanging over it, plenty of environmental and safety questions hanging over it, and bottom line, just isn’t needed.” (Tri-State Livestock News)
Recently-published results of a 20 year study claims that taking multivitamin supplements had limited effect on mortality. If we understand it, the scattergun approach may result in an overload of certain nutrients which can increase morbidity in some cases. The authors say getting nutrients from food is better than relying on synthetic vitamins. “Refocusing nutrition interventions on food, rather than supplements, may provide the mortality benefits that multivitamins cannot deliver. (JAMA Network)
Republican Senator Joni Ernst has asked the Department of Defence to release an unreacted report showing the amount of funding the U.S. is sending to Chinese research labs. Senator Ernst says the D.O.D is “not sufficiently tracking or monitoring expenditures made from its own contracts and grants.” (The Federalist)
How oncologists determine stages of cancer. (Ted Ed)
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Education
Strange things are afoot at Concordia University Anne Arbor. (Charles Schulz vis X)
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that a Roman Catholic charter school is unconstitutional. The virtual school had been approved by the state and would have been the first publicly funded religious charter school. (USA Today)
God’s Green Earth
Scientists think that potatoes could be grown in nuclear fallout zones to detect radiation. (Ambrook Research)
Scientists have been amazed to discover some painted lady butterflies flew 2600 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, apparently without stopping. They believe prevailing wind currents may have helped them conserve energy. Given they only live about a month, that’s a good chunk of your life spent flyin’! (Smithsonian)
Recycling plastic is a “dangerous waste of time”. (Quillette)
We’ve been cooling the planet and heating it at the same time??? (Not the Bee)
Why blue animals are rare. (PopSci)
Science
A boy with severe epilepsy has received an implant deep in his brain in a world-first treatment for seizures. (BBC)
Biologists have discovered a bacteria which produces a protein that acts like antifreeze. Various marine worms appear to have a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria, helping them survive in polar waters. (Phys)
Japanese scientists have attached lab-grown human skin to robots in order to help them achieve facial expressions. Kind of creepy.. (BBC)
University of Copenhagen researchers have produced a plastic substitute made from barley and sugar beet waste. While there are other bioplastics, the developers of this one say theirs is truly biodegradable. (Phys)
Scientists observe the formation of scales on a butterfly wing during metamorphosis. (MIT)
Space X has been awarded the contract to build a vehicle which will “deorbit” (i.e. crash) the International Space Station into the ocean in 2030. (WNG)
Hearts and Minds
How to throw away sentimental things. (LifeHacker)
War and Rumors of War
Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that Orthodox Jewish men, who have been exempt from military service must enlist. Orthodox Jews believe their most important duty is full-time religious study. (AP)
Stories from Far Away
🇦🇺 Wikileaks founding member Julian Assange is home in Australia after a plea deal with the U.S. government. He had to “admit guilt to a single felony count” of spying but avoided jail time, since he has already served five year in the U.K. Assange is a controversial figure who draws criticism for his methods and the company he keeps. \As one blogger wrote though, “Love him or not, the fact that Julian Assange was essentially in this giant diplomatic limbo for roughly 15 years of his adult life is a travesty, a miscarriage of justice, and to see him go free feels like the right move at this point.” Assange who has been fighting extradition to the U.S. on charges of treason related to his leaking of classified documents since 2007. (AP, Mercator, Tedium)
🇯🇵 Japan’s yen has dropped to its lowest value since 1986. The Bank of Japan has said it will do whatever is required to prop up the currency. Meanwhile, the country recently announced the discovery of vast deposits of manganese, nickel and cobalt on the sea floor near an island in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. (CNBC, Reuters, Japan Times)
🇰🇪 Police opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Kenya’s capital last week, using live rounds and tear gas, killing 5 people. Protestors stormed and set fire to the Parliament building in Nairobi as lawmakers sat to pass a bill increasing tax rates. Kenya President William Ruto has since withdrawn the bill, but the nation’s financial situation is “precarious”. (CBS, Semafor)
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone’s Parliament has passed a bill criminalizing child marriage. West and Central Africa have the highest incidence of the practice, with many girls married before fifteen years of age. (Semafor)
🇮🇷 Iranian voters have been offered a do-over with a run-off presidential election after the lowest ever turnout last week. One expert said that the refusal to show up is a “protest in its own right: A very widespread choice to reject what’s on offer – both the candidates and the system.” (AP)
🇧🇴 Bolivian army chief General Juan José Zúñiga has been arrested for attempting a coup against President Luis Arce. However, Zúñiga has told journalists that Arce told him to arrange the coup to boost his popularity. (AP)
🇰🇷 An explosion at a lithium battery-producing plant in South Korea has claimed the lives of 22. (BBC)
🇷🇺 More than a dozen people have been killed during a terrorist attack in the southern Dagestan region of Russia. Gunmen opened fire in two synagogues, two churches and a police station in simultaneous attacks. Islamist groups are currently being accused as the instigators. (WNG)
🇷🇺 Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has faced his first day in court, on trial for espionage. The WSJ and the U.S. government deny the charges. Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, but Russia is open to a prisoner swap. Gershkovich is the first American journalist arrested on spying charges since the Soviet-era. (AP)
🇩🇰 Danish farmers will be hit with a carbon tax for each cow. (CNN)
🪩 How the Las Vegas Sphere works
☁️ Massive shelf clouds stretch across Lake Michigan
⛳ Yes, but can a llama drive the golf cart?
🚀 An artist imagines vintage space travel posters
🚴♂️ Nailed it: A.I. imagines the Tour de France
💠 Mathematicians are pretty excited about a newly-discovered shape
🎨 Hyper-realistic paintings..of rugs!
😍 Repurposed cutlery, gorgeous birds
💰 One of New York’s grandest Gilded Age mansions
🇺🇸 A red, white and blue cocktail
The second First Draft (if you are following along at home) covered a wide range of discussion – imprecatory prayers, wayward kitchen appliances and the mystery of God’s kingdom. You’ll have to just watch it yourself on YouTube or Rumble, or listen here. Show links:
The lesser known gems in Psalm 139: “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?”
Without Flesh by Jonathan Fisk
Echo:Unbroken Truth Worth Repeating, Again by Jonathan Fisk
Pastor Wolfmueller on the Three Estates
If you missed it, Meridith put out a call for anyone who would like to make a quilt for men who stay at the Hebron Collegium. If that is something you would be interested in helping out with, please reply to this email or send a message through madpxm.com/contact.
Our disclaimer: These are some resources the Fisks have found edifying, but when dealing with human-authored texts, apply discernment liberally!
This Week Preached:
Podcast Release:
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, during His earthly ministry Your Son Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. By the healing medicine of the Word and Sacraments pour into our hearts such love toward You that we may live eternally; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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