Video in Link: America's Counter Revolution: The Constitution Revisited

Watch it. It's on Sheldon Richman's new book. Click the link below.

Free Association: Jeff Tucker Interviews Me about "America's Counter...

Sermon: The Gospel First and Last (1 Cor. 15:1-11)

His refutation of Gnosticism at 28:00 is genius.

This sermon on Hell did not end the way I thought it would

I'm serious. Scot McKnight, author of The Jesus Creed, sketches the predominant views of Hell (eternal punishment) today and then preaches on the parable of the rich man in Hades (Luke 16:14-31) and comes to his own conclusion. He distinguishes between the NT Greek terms Hades and Gehenna.



Watch it from beginning to end.

Video: N.T. Wright on the Authority of the Bible 7

This is really good.

Visit the unofficial N.T. Wright page here.

One of the best Youtube comments about Lauryn Hill

I am a huge Lauryn Hill fan.

I consider her one of the best rappers/MCs of all time. Based on her live performance in DC in 2013, which I attended, I consider her one of the best performers of all time. I also based my opinion off of this video from Philadelphia in 2012, which shows it wasn't an one-off event, but an over-the-years kind of consistency. More on that in another post.



On another note, which is the purpose of this post, I saw a comment about Ms. Hill that I really wish I wrote myself. It has so much poetic quality to it:

She has the flow of a thug and the voice of an angel and she goes from one to the other with such ease...there will never be another like her.

The comment was left under the above video on Youtube.

Read about her December 2013 Washington D.C. performance here. 

Video: Thomas Sowell - Cultural Prerequisites for Developing Wealth

Thomas Sowell has a relatively new book out now called “Wealth, Poverty and Politics, An International Perspective.”

See the image for the book below.

Again that's  “Wealth, Poverty and Politics, An International Perspective" available on Amazon.

Rand Paul's Best Debate?!?

The always reliable American Conservative says that the fourth Republican Presidential debate was Senator Rand Paul's best.

This is great news. I missed the debate last night.

Just a few weeks ago I was ready to tell him to quit and save his Senate seat. I provided the above video as a rebuttal to the views of Kasich, Cruz, Rubio, et al.

On Paul:

Overall, this was Paul’s best debate by far, and he was finally playing the role that many people thought he could play in these debates by opposing some of the more ludicrous and reckless foreign policy statements from the other candidates. He pushed back on the hawks’ endorsement of a “no-fly zone” in Syria (though he erred a bit in later statements by saying Iraq when he meant to say Syria), and corrected Trump on the TPP. He had a crowd-pleasing line about that we shouldn’t “arm our enemies,” but if you didn’t already know that U.S. arms sent into Syria and provided to the Iraqi government have ended up in the hands of ISIS and the Nusra front it might not have made much sense. There was still not enough scrutiny of the hawkish candidates’ statements on their support for “no-fly” and safe zones in Syria, and none of them was pressed to answer who would be defending these safe zones on the ground. They were permitted to propose much more aggressive policies without being called out on it with the exception of Paul’s criticisms.

On the neoconservative Rubio:

Rubio showed off his reflexive interventionist side much more last night than he has in previous debates, and resorted to using the dishonest, misleading label of “isolationist” when he asserted that Paul was a “committed isolationist.” Besides being untrue, it confirmed how shallow his arguments against realist and non-interventionist Republicans have always been. As he usually does, he framed other states’ actions in terms of U.S. “weakness,” because he apparently can’t grasp that other states have interests unrelated to our action or inaction and will pursue them for their own reasons. He mentioned that ISIS has a foothold in Libya, but neglected to mention that he was a supporter of the war for regime change that helped make that happen.

Regrettably, the audience at the debate responded well to a lot of his rhetoric, but he makes it very easy for people to see him as a neoconservative factional candidate and nothing more. 

On Bush:

Bush repeated his line that the U.S. won’t be the “world’s policeman,” but that it will be the “world’s leader,” which for all practical purposes amounts to the same thing. 

He assumes that the U.S. has to respond to every crisis and conflict, and that if it doesn’t it creates an unacceptable “vacuum.”

On Fiorina:

Fiorina advocated once again for her program of needless provocation of Russia. Her position on a “no-fly zone” in Syria implied that she thought the airspace of all countries in the world rightly belongs to the U.S.: “We must have a no fly zone in Syria because Russia cannot tell the United States of America where and when to fly our planes.” 

On Kasich:

Kasich manically listed all of his bad and questionable foreign policy views at one point that included endorsing a Syria “no-fly zone,” embracing the Sisi dictatorship in Egypt, and praising the Saudis as “fundamentally our friends.” The first position is obviously dangerous, the second is misguided, and the third is delusional. Kasich also predictably said that the U.S. has “no better ally” in the world than Israel, which will come as news to all of the actual treaty allies that the U.S. has around the world.

Read the original article here. 

Video: How Come We're So Rich? | Gary North

Interesting thesis.

Economic historian Gary North proposes a thesis to answer the question of what happened that caused economic growth to compound in the 1800s.

He cites the work of Deirdre McCloskey and says that her thesis of a shift in rhetoric is wrong.

Rather, he believes a change in the vision of the future and the theological acceptance of prosperity was the key.

Douglas Wilson on Shaming children: "I think it's appalling"

"I think it's appalling." Douglas Wilson on comments parents shaming their children on social media and in general. He also says that parents shouldn't rely on the comments of the child's peers to discipline them.

Video: Douglas Wilson on the New Heavens and the new Earth

This is something to think on.

Eight Presentations You Will Never Hear From Bernie Sanders, Clinton, Et al.

Many financial experts believe that a financial downturn is coming. All agree a recession is guaranteed. Some go as far to say that we in the United States are going to experience a depression.

Some call it a "Great Reset" or "Great Default." Others believe we will experience a "credit crisis." Some believe we are going to believe to experience a deflationary depression.

The Bible teaches that "Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed." (Proverbs 15:22).

These are your multiple counselors.

They all agree on the central premise that the Federal Reserve's money printing policies and artificially low interest rates have done serious damage to the economy.

They paint slightly different scenarios of how their scenarios come to be.

How will all of this come about?

Watch these videos to find out.

David Stockman-Debt Markets Unstable and Tottering


The Great Deformation | David Stockman




Bill Bonner: Cash Shortage to Hit U.S.


Jim Rickards: Coming Economic Depression


Exclusive Interview: Jim Rickards and Peter Schiff Discuss Global Gold Mar...



Ron Paul - From Stansberry Research



Economic Collapse Coming - Rep. Ron Paul [Mirrored]



David Stockman The Global Economy Has Entered The Crack Up Phase

Sermon: Three Chains #4: Deliverance (Romans 8:1-6)

The difference between sinners and educated proud saints is that the former realizes that they have a problem (they are separated from God) and the latter grades on a curve ("Oh, I'm better than most people."

Very insightful sermon.

Video Sermon: Three Chains #2: Guilt (Romans 3:19)

The solution to false guilt is to repent of the false standard that has been set up in the place of the law of God. The solution to false guilt is real guilt and real repentance. ~Douglas Wilson

Video: Rosaria Butterfield on Her Conversion from Lesbianism

Rosaria Butterfield used to live a lesbian lifestyle.

Now, I will spare those who are curious as to whether that means she was in the "gay-as-long-as-I-can-remember" camp. She was not. She got into it pretty late.

But all this means is that she connects with the thousands or millions of people who have embraced homosexual lifestyles post-high school or post-college.

Nevertheless, she is clear, insightful and has a heart for those in the LGBT community.

For one, she, like myself, is against reparative therapy.

In an essay, she puts it this way:

"This position contends a primary goal of Christianity is to resolve homosexuality through heterosexuality, thus failing to see that repentance and victory over sin are God's gifts and failing to remember that sons and daughters of the King can be full members of Christ's body and still struggle with sexual temptation. This heresy is a modern version of the prosperity gospel. Name it. Claim it. Pray the gay away."

She is right, and she is taking the biblical view.

My reason for rejecting reparative therapy comes straight from the Bible as well.

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:10-11 NIV)

Almost 2,000 years ago, people were, before the arrival of modern technology, dealing with homosexual attraction and having homosexual intercourse. And, by the grace and Spirit of our God, they were washed and sanctified from their sins -- sex-related or not. Notice the inclusion of all kinds of sins in the passage.

No doctors, except the Great Physician, were present.

No medical contraptions, no weird methods or instruments designed to make a gay person straight were used.

It's also worthy pointing out what comes next:

The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? (1 Corinthians 6:13-15 NIV)

God's power, the same power that lifted the Lord Jesus from the grave, will lift us also in the Resurrection.

She also makes book recommendations. I trust them.

One of them is Christopher Yuan's Out of a Far Country.

Wesley Hill's Washed and Waiting is another book she recommends. Wesley Hill was one of those gay people who at around age 5 or 6 knew they were different.

She also mentions The Art of Neighboring as a book she is currently working through.

While she doesn't recommend it, Kevin DeYoung's "What Does the Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality?" has been recommended by a lot of people.

The Q&A is as good as the presentation, if not better. Watch the entire thing. It's worth it.

Video: Bill Bonner: Cash Shortage to Hit U.S.

Bill Bonner delivers a dire message in the calmest tone.

This is the most important story in the United States you have never heard of.

I sat through this entire thing.

It is worth it.

I promise.

Protect yourself.

Protect your family.

Watch the video.

Video: Scot McKnight: Have we misunderstood the meaning of 'Kingdom'?

"I think we already see in the gospels a pattern: and that is Jesus calls people to follow him unequivocally. His followers follow him and they fail. He rebukes them. He forgives them. They get back up and they follow Jesus again.

That's a pattern of obedience, discipleship, with moments of failure and forgiveness." ~Scot McKnight

Video: The Truth About Bernie Sanders

Get a free E-book on Bernie Sanders here.

[Editor's Note: Regular readers of this blog should this is part of the"Why You Should Not Vote For Bernie Sanders" series. 

The reason I am doing this is because a number of my (young) friends are falling for the rhetoric and promise of Democratic Socialism. It (often rightly) rails against big business.  It (almost) never rails against the government framework which made big business possible. 

It is embodied in the persons of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately, they're both wrong.

My posts will be informed by the Thomas Woods' new E-book Bernie Sanders is Wrong, other informed economic articles, and my personal reflection, except in cases where I find good videos, as was the case with the second post above.

This is Part 2 of many…and I mean many.]

Video: The Real History Of Slavery

One of the most profound points that Thomas Sowell makes is that those who cry the loudest about Euro-centric oppression of black Africans in fact have a Euro-centric view of the institution of slavery...for who would intentionally downplay the history of slavery?

He frames it much more clearly than I do above.

But the basic idea is that slavery existed far longer than emphasized. It has also affected more people -- whites -- than emphasized.

In an interview, Sowell points out that slavery exists as long as we have ancient documents. But that's only true if you discount the Holy Bible as a reliable historical document, which it is.

He also points out that very conservative religious people dreamed up the idea of ending slavery, people whom he says are the equivalent to today's "religious right." As he immediately says after pointing out that fact, that's very "politically incorrect."

He also points out that it took 18 centuries after the Lord Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount to abolish slavery.

Pick up his book "Black Rednecks and White Liberals"  from Amazon to read Sowell's unique insights on race.

Carly Fiorina: Donald Trump Went Bankrupt Four Times

Carly Fiorina points out that Donald Trump invested other people's money and went bankrupt four times.

Donald Trump denied going bankrupt.

But a video posted by Reason.TV just moments before the exchange reveals that Donald Trump did, in fact, go bankrupt.

Trump biographer Jerome Tucille explains that "[Trump] doesn't do a deal unless other people are putting up the money. He's very good at losing other people's money and preserving his own."

Fiorina brought up his bankruptcy and investing habits in light of taxpayer money.

This is my interpretation of what she said, but I think Fiorina was making the connection that as president he will badly spend taxpayer money.

I think it's a good point. The great wall of America which Trump wants to build to keep immigrants out is an example of that. Taxpayers -- even if Mexican taxpayers -- will lose tons of money on an expensive project that can be spent elsewhere or (even better) not spent at all.

"Other people," in this case Mexican taxpayers, will be on the hook for one of Donald Trump's investments.

Trump's website says "a nation without a border is not a nation." So, apparently, the 239 years that have passed since 1776 we were never a nation. And, apparently, ever other country that lacks a wall also are not, and never have been, nations.

Video: Donald Trump is 'Very Good at Losing Other People's Money'