day no. 17,535: fighting to win or striving to survive?

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival." ― Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm

Pursuit is perhaps one of the most difficult principles of war to consistently apply. More often than not, people fight to the point of defeating their enemies, not to the point of seeing their principles established. Men argue and fight for the sake of destroying their foe's premises, but they fall short of proving their own.

"Failure to pursue frequently reveals that the objective in the campaign was not victory, but rather some version of the 'upper hand.' Once we have fought to the point where we might be left alone for a while, we stop. This often happens because Christians are peace-loving people, and this sometimes gets them into trouble. Too often we drag a problem out and make the whole thing last ten times longer than it has to last. But when the principle of pursuit is employed, it is clear that victory is the objective." ― Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers

Too many settle for the upper hand when they should be striving to have their arms raised in victory. We do not fight when we should because we like peace. Peace is good and it should be preferred to war as a goal, but it should be be picked over war in practice. We must fight for peace, not forfeit peace by refusing to fight. We must wage peace.

"We are not to fight to the point of predominance, we are to fight to the point of complete victory... Pursuit is the principle neglected by the currently strong. Many wars have been prolonged because the victorious army did not press its advantage in the immediate aftermath of a critical battle." ― Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers

It is easy to enjoy a victory than it is to keep fighting. It is easier to settle for lesser peace than it is to strive for peach on earth. In this, however, we prove that the love of our neighbor an enemy is not part of our calculus. If it were, we would push harder in order to put an end to the possibility of future wars. We would not kick the can down the road to fight another day, we would rise to our full height and fight now in order to put an end to all the fighting.

"Willingness to pursue when pursuit is a possibility reveals, like nothing else reveals, what the true objective was. An unwillingness to pursue is equally revelatory." ― Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers

Our refusal to fight when victory is near is an indictment against us. We do not want to win, but we do want to pop some champagne in the winner's circle. 

day no. 17,530: when moral retards turn mischief into mandates

"Since the early seventies, most of the abortion carnage, with tens of millions of children killed, was imposed on our nation by means of judicial activism at the federal level. Most notably, the Roe decision in 1973 struck down the restrictive laws of most states. It was judicial tyranny . . . a tyranny that we in our state-level moral cowardice decided to put up with. At the state level, there was real sin on the part of the general populace, and on the part of the lesser magistrates, in that we did not rise up and refuse to have anything to do with such a wicked decision. 'Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?' (Psalm 94:20). Our reply to the federal government at that time ought to have been 'whatever you think you have the right to do to babies, we are not going to allow that to be done to ours.'” ― Douglas Wilson, Idaho and the Abyss

Mischief should not be made into law.

Exodus 21:22-23

If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life

Abortion is mischief. It is killing a child inside his mother's womb.

We should have nothing to do with any of this and our states should have refused to along with the black robed moral retards. We need lesser magistrates to protect us from the madness of Maryland.

day no. 17,528: blood sacraments

"On the Last Day, we are told expressly that every cup of cold water given in the name of Christ is going to be remembered (Matt. 10:42). And it is not possible for this to be true without it also being the case that for every drop of innocent blood shed there will be a savage reckoning. This is a foundational biblical truth. Blood answers blood." ― Douglas Wilson, Idaho and the Abyss

Every cup of cold water will be rewarded and every ounce of human blood shed by sin will be recompensed. The ground cries out for vengeance.

"Scripture tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Heb. 9:22). This would include the need for forgiveness when the sin was the wickedness of ungodly bloodshed. Even unbelievers understand this principle instinctively, which is why there is no turning away from Christ without simultaneously turning toward the shedding of blood in grotesque ways."  ― Douglas Wilson, Idaho and the Abyss

Blood sacraments are inescapable. Those who hate God, love death and those who refuse to come to the Lord's Table find other places to sacrifice victims. There will be blood. Casting shade at Christianity as a barbaric, backwards religion has not stopped millions of feminists from butchering their own babies under no more duress to do so than their own felt needs.

"In a vain attempt to wash away the stain of guilt and blame, the unbelieving heart turns naturally toward the shedding of innocent blood, following their great carnal principle, which is 'your life for mine.' This is the opposite of the great Christ-example, which is 'my life for yours.' In doing this great wickedness, they have inverted the entire moral order, and pulled down deep heaven upon their heads."  ― Douglas Wilson, Idaho and the Abyss

Abortion is the demonic parody of the Lord's Supper. Instead of coming to receive the completed work of, "My body for yours," they routinely return to the fount of "Your body for mine," which is a river that runs red with the blood of others.

day no. 17,526: easier said than done

“It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.” ― Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions

Leftists want to provide free healthcare to anyone who wants on the presupposition that most people cannot afford it and yet their solution is for everyone, regardless if they want it or not, must pay enough taxes to cover the cost of all healthcare services plus the administrative costs of the government who now oversees the collection and distribution of funds.

Passing a law that entitles everyone to free healthcare is passing a law that enslaves everyone. Some nurse, doctor, physician, etc... is now obligated to provide care; some company is required to produces medications and another company is required to deliver them; and all people are required to pay their share of the tax burden to fund the whole endeavor.

There is no such thing as free chocolate milk for everyone. That involves farmers and cows and cocoa and bottles and distribution centers and refrigerated trucks. Leftist logic is violently at odds with reality.

day no. 17,525: behemoth state university and boot camp

“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it." ― Thomas Sowell, The Thomas Sowell Reader

Some things are so hard to believe that only an academic could think them. Socialism is one such thing. The only people who promote it do not live under it. Those who rule in socialist societies do not themselves live under socialism. They get what they want when they want it. They enjoy privileges of which the hoi polloi are deprived. Socialism can only be applauded as an idea, because as a practice it produces nothing praiseworthy.

 

“Racism does not have a good track record. It's been tried out for a long time and you'd think by now we'd want to put an end to it instead of putting it under new management.” ― Thomas Sowell

Racism does not work in the way Sowell is referring to here, but it most certainly does in the way it is wielded by the woke. Racism got an unqualified, closet-Marxist elected to the office of president in the United States for two consecutive terms. It fuels DEI and CRT initiatives. It colors headlines and shades stories that the legacy media shares and promotes.

Academics love socialism and racism which is anecdotally another good reason to avoid sending your kids to behemoth state university and boot camp. 

day no. 17,524: discrimination and equity

“When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.” ― Thomas Sowell

Equitable treatment produces various outcomes. 

Equitable outcomes requires preferential treatment.

Preferential treatment produces preferred outcomes. 

Preferential outcomes presuppose superior standards.

If you give everyone an equal opportunity, some will excel and some will not.

If you want to the same result, you have to hamstring some and help others out.

The hundred yard dash should start and end at the same place for all participants and the starting gun should apply to everyone at the same time. That is equity. That standard comes from Christ and it employs equal weights and measures. 

Wanting everyone to cross the finish line at the same time requires the track to be longer for some and shorter for others and for multiple guns to be fired or many participants to be burdened or hindered.

Leviticus 19:15

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

If you get used to dunking on an eight foot rim, it is humbling to have to deal with a ten foot rim you barely touch. It feels like you are being abused, but in reality, you have been coddled for too long so that regular tasks seem out of reach. And when that happens, the first thing many do is blame the one who raised the bar for them.

day no. 17,523: what worked versus what sounded good

“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.” ― Thomas Sowell

America was founded on principles that work in practice. The foundation made freedom possible. But as people began to question the principles, the practices changed. Those who want to keep the fruit but cut down the tree will soon find themselves hungry. That is where we find ourselves at this point in the story. We have been living off of our inheritance for years, but it is almost out and our friends are leaving and the only place that is hiring needs people to feed the pigs. What sounded good to some does not work out well for the rest. You can all a man in a dress a woman, but he can't get pregnant like one. You can say that 2 + 2 = 5, but you can't fly a plane like that.

day no. 17,522: sin and solutions

“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” ― Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles

Everything costs something and no problem is so bad that you cannot make it worse. 

Since there is a God, everything is not necessarily a zero sum game, but because of sin, many things function as though that were the case. Those who take sin seriously see the sin to consider what problems their solutions might cause. They assess the situation and pick which consequences they prefer. Those who refuse to acknowledge sin or take it as seriously as they should consider their solutions to be the end of all problems. When they get their way, new problems are created, responsibility is avoided, and a new solution is crafted.

So, either way, we will have problems. The question is will we have the ones we want and will we be realistic about the ones we have and one we've chosen to have tomorrow.

day no. 17,521: make america

“No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.” — Christopher Columbus 

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

“Praise be to our eternal God, our Lord, who gives to all those who walk in His ways victory over all things which seem impossible.” — Christopher Columbus

day no. 17,520: satanic panic

“It’s amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites." ― Thomas Sowell

Someone who says what is true and repents of what is true about himself is free of handles. He can speak openly and honestly about anything because he isn't afraid of the truth. He isn't worried about being maneuvered and he doesn't feel any pressure to say anything other than the truth. The only pressure he feels is to say tell the truth. He is free to feel more obligated to God than he is to his own safety. He is more concerned about offending God than he is about offending others. His only fear is falling short of the truth. He is not worried about any truth finally catching up with him because he walks side by side with the Truth every day. There are no skeletons in any of his closets and there is nothing anyone could bring to light that he has not already brought into the Light and confessed openly. He is forgiven, free, and confident before God and man. This is the best thing a man can do for others. It inspires confidence and is superior to the facade others build by telling lies and attempting to cover up past sins.

“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” ― Thomas Sowell

We cannot do anything against the truth. Lying to people by telling them what you think they want to hear may get you what you want for the moment, but it cannot get you what you need in the long run. Peace and quiet, safety and stability cannot be purchased by corruption and keeping secrets. If you want to help others, tell them the truth. If you want to help others, tell the truth and show them how to be set free from the slavery of telling lies.

day no. 17,518: equality and brutality

"The political left has never understood that, if you give the government enough power to create ‘social justice,’ you have given it enough power to create despotism. Millions of people around the world have paid with their lives for overlooking that simple fact.” — Thomas Sowell

You cannot enforce equality without brutality. You cannot guarantee an equality of outcome without ensuring a disparity of opportunity. If the government has been given enough power to manufacture outcomes, it has enough power to disregard outcomes.

"I cannot possibly conceive fraternity legally enforced, without liberty being legally destroyed, and justice legally trampled under foot. Legal plunder has two roots: one of them, as we have already seen, is in human greed; the other is in misconceived philanthropy." — Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Fraternity cannot be enforced without trampling liberty underfoot. Free people can have fraternity, but forced fraternity destroys liberty. DEI programs erode personal freedoms as they reward personal idiosyncrasies.

day no. 17,517: long cons and little men

"The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive." — Thomas Sowell

You can pass a law that two plus two equals five, but you can't force God's world to work that way.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." — Philip K. Dick

Reality is not left wing or right wing. It is not conservative or progressive. It is the indomitable will of God Almighty and it doesn't go away. Insanity is not a long term plan. Everything is going somewhere and sooner or later it's going to get there. There is a way to work with the grain and a way to work against it. There is a way to more competent at corruption than others and there is a way to be incompetent with character. In other words, some people are better at being bad than others and some people no good at being good. Politicians, somehow, are often both.

"No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems -- of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind." — Thomas Sowell

Since insanity cannot work, it must seek shelter somewhere were results do not matter. Washington is just such a place. Promises do not need to be kept and policies do not need to work, they just need to be lobbied for. So, as long as politicians keep promising to do better and continue to be reliably dishonest or incompetent in keeping them, they will always have job security.

Washington is where you want to go when you don't want to work and you aren't concerned about the outcome. Not working is what works best in the swamp. It is the land of long cons and little men.

day no. 17,515: succors and suckers

“Men are ruled, at this minute by the clock, by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern.” — G.K. Chesterton, Utopia of Usurers

Honest men are, at this very moment, governed by liars and wise men are ruled by fools.

Dishonest men presented themselves as experts and honest men believed them.

Liars said they were being honest and wise men trusted them.

Do not be deceived, as bad as you know yourself to be in possibility many are in actuality. Those who rule are not different kind of men than we are, but they may have less self-control than we do. 

day no. 17,513: form and freedom

"Form and freedom must go together for the sake of ordered liberty, and form and freedom only go together in Christ." — Douglas Wilson, Unholy Wars: Slavery, Jews, and Your Mouth

This reminds me of Chesterton's observation that "the chief aim of order is to give room for good things to run wild.” which then reminds me of what our Lord said in John 10:9, "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." 

So, any way you shake it, it comes down to: form and freedom, order and emancipation, or one door and infinite pasture.

1 Corinthians 14:33

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.

The law of liberty is peace. 

Law without liberty is legalism and liberty without law is licentiousness.

day no. 17,512: right and wrong

"We have to start with the fact that we are always looking out at the world through our own eyes. And we think that we are seeing accurately, which may indeed be the case, but we are sometimes wrong. You don’t believe you are always right, but you always believe you’re right... Confronted with the question 'have you ever been wrong?' virtually everyone would acknowledge it in the abstract. But acknowledging it and budgeting for it are two different things." — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

No one says, “I was wrong,” unless they think they’re right about that. So, even when we are confessing our failures, we are presuming to be succeeding in that assessment.

day no. 17,511: don't run in a hurry

“Don’t run in a hurry, run with a farmer’s patience.” — Brooks Potteiger

Runners should run, but not frantically. They should strive for the finish line, but not grow impatient in the meantime. Running includes a commitment to keep running. It isn't sprinting until you cannot continue, it is persevering in the running. Running is patient diligence.

2 Timothy 2:1-7

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Think it over. Be in it, but be in it for the long haul. Do not lift so little that you do not bring anything across the finish line, but don't lift so much that you cannot reach the finish line. Yoke yourself to Christ and carry what you can and more to the point, keep on going until the end.

Philippians 3:12-15

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Do not run like someone who doesn't have to run, but do not run like someone who has lost sight of the finish line.

day no. 17,510: national blessings and curses

Revelation 2:14

I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

If you can't beat them, get them to beat themselves. Balaam could not curse the people of Israel, so he convinced them to curse themselves. God was not out of to get His people, but Balaam knew that there were things He would not tolerate, regardless of who was doing them. So, he enticed them to do that which would obligate God to act against them. 

The long and short of it is this. America was and is a Christian nation established by their covenant with Him. Covenants have blessings and curses that attend them. We are in the predicament we are in because we have obligated God to curse us by violating the terms and conditions of the covenant. Our enemies cannot curse us or conquer us, but we can and will be cursed and conquered if we abandon God and the blessings that come in obeying Him.

day no. 17,509: animal worship and human sacrifice

“Wherever there is animal worship there is human sacrifice.” ― G.K. Chesterton, The Uses of Diversity

We are told to save the whales, the polar bears, and the sea turtles while simultaneously being told to protect a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy at any point for any reason. Animal worship is here and human sacrifice is here along with it. We have dog moms and doggy day cares and we also have abortion on demand and puberty blockers.

Romans 1:22-23, 28

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things... And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

Worship and sacrifice are inescapable and we become like that which we worship and we identify with that which we sacrifice. If we worship the one true God by faith in the one and only Son of God, we become more like God by identifying more with Christ. If we worship idols we become more like them by identifying with the unnatural acts they require.

day no. 17,508: repent or die

'I will therefore tell you my best advise, and heartily pray God you may earnestly follow it. All these plagues that before you have heard rehearsed, famine, pestilence, sedition, wars, destruction of countries, captivity of people, and alterations of states, are the instruments of God sent and powered on the people for their sins, that they should be sorry and repent them of their former wicked life, call to God for mercy, and lead a new life in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life: which if you will earnestly do, no doubt but as God is merciful, so will He use mercy towards you. For God that never deceived any, but abhors all practices, all deceit, and all practicers (the workers of deceit) promised it by the mouth of His prophet Ezekiel. If (he says) the ungodly will turn away from all his sins that he has done, and will keep all my commandments, and of the thing that is just and right, doubtless he shall live and not die. For all the sins that he did before, shall not be thought upon anymore: but in his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. For I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner (says God) but that he should repent him of his wicked life and live &etc. It follows in the prophet thus: wherefore repent and return from your wickedness, and your wickedness shall not be your destruction. Cast from you all your ungodliness, make you a new heart and a new spirit: wherefore will you die, o you house of Israel (that is, all such as trust to be saved by Christ) seeing I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, say the Lord God. Turn therefore, and you shall live...

You have innumerable examples of the great mercy of God toward all that repented truly, and called for mercy. As of the city of Nineveh, whom although God had threatened utterly to destroy them, yet when God saw they were penitent for their former wicked life, and called unto him for mercy, He withdrew his plague, and held out His merciful hand over them: even so you (good countrymen and true English hearts) if you will in time earnestly repent you of your sins, leave your idolatry, and honor and worship God truly, as you were taught in blessed King Edward's time, abhor the fantasies and foolish traditions of men, and cleave to the sincere word of God, and be desirous for the knowledge of it: leave your blasphemy and vain swearing and horrible forswearing and perjury, no longer hate your country, but be true and faithful to it, and by all godly means seek the wealth and safety of it: if you will obey God's commandments before your governors, and your governors in that is godly, honest, and just, and nothing else: If you will leave your bawdry, whoredom, and improper relations, and drive out of all places whores, whoremongers, and whorehouses, and all such as favor and maintain them: If you will abstain from cruel murdering of the saints of God and innocents, and rather yourselves to be content to suffer all martyrdom, then you will embrew your fingers in their blood, or consent to it: If you will leave oppressing of your neighbors, you subtlety, craft, and deceit, and yourselves leave to love greediness, and inordinate desire of the trash of this world: If you leave your inward hat reed, grudge and malice one to another, if the nobility will love and cherish the commonality, and the commoners honor and love the nobility: If one will show himself a brother and neighbor indeed to another: than no doubt if you do these things from the bottom of your heart, that the mouth and heart agree together, your sayings and doings be all one: than shall you perceive, that God will be easily entreated to turn. Then may you boldly ask of God in Christ's name, and your desires shall be heard and granted. But you may in no wise dissemble with Him, as the Israelites did, when they said they would commit no more idolatry, and yet kept their idols, as you pulled down you images, but yet kept them secretly in your chambers: not yet as Judas Iscariot did, who lamented his sins and repented, but returned not to God: nor yet as yourselves did dissemble in the last sweat, while God's whip was in your necks, but you must cleanly do away the old man and put on the new: you must refuse and cast away all evils, and do that which is good, and ever study to do that shall pleases God, and in no wise look (as Lot's wife did) backward: but still go forward. And then if you call to God for mercy, putting your full and only trust in Him, He will hear you, and take from you those plagues that lie on you, and the other which most certainly (if you repent not, hang over you, and will come upon you). Then will He send you His benediction for malediction, plenty for famine, health for pestilence, peace for was, quietness for trouble, for cruel tyranny, a godly and just government: for sedition, such force and power, that you being a few, shall be able to withstand all the tyrannies of the world, and enemies of God and our country, and utterly confound them and destroy them. You shall avoid the eternal pains of hell prepared for sinners: and at length you shall be sue also to make a change from your earthly country to the Heavenly Paradise: from variable England, to the constant Jerusalem: from the company of men, to the fellowship of angels: from mutable and frowning countenances of worldly powers, to the unchangeable and most comfortable sight of the King of all Kings, our most merciful Eternal Heavenly Father. To whom with the Son and the Holy Ghost, be all honor, praise, and glory, now and forever. Amen." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Policies cannot take the place of repentance.

day no. 17,507: lambs with teeth

"When the fox preaches, beware you geese." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

All preachers have an end in mind… some more transparently than others. It is not wrong or selfish to have an end in mind. It is not even wrong or selfish to conceal that end. Sometimes the end requires it. As in a fisherman baiting his hook to deceive the fish. The same can be said when fishing for men.

That said, a hearer would be wise to consider what end the preacher may have and to contemplate whether it is possible that his end is motivating or marring the means he is willing to employ to achieve it.

Belly pinched wolves have a vested interest in securing their dinner and lambs make a captive, if not delicious, audience. 

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." — Benjamin Franklin

Lambs would do well to mitigate their risk by reminding the wolves that they also have teeth. This keeps preachers honest and it accounts for the possibility of mixed motives.