Commentary

In a dark and sinister speech last Thursday night President Biden misused a primetime presidential address to attack, not an evil foreign government that has threatened our Nation with economic or military destruction, but rather, tens of millions of his fellow Americans.

I was stunned as I watched and couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. Traditionally, a primetime presidential address is used to speak swiftly and directly to the country about a pressing national issue in order to provide leadership toward a unified national solution.

Not Biden. This can’t be chalked up to just another of the President’s addled, incoherent remarks. This attack on millions of Americans was fully premeditated, employing an unnerving red and black backdrop eerily reminiscent of footage of past dictators exhorting a nation to initiate an unjust war of conquest.

Our outlook depends upon which Tree we’re sitting under.

The Tree of Life or the Tree of Death.

Yes, when we look around us today, all we seemingly see is “doom, despair and agony on me.” We increasingly feel like the guy who’s fallen down into a deep, dark hole and the only light he sees is the proverbial “light of an oncoming train.”

But, in reality, it’s always been that way.

Yes, ever since the Garden of Eden, the two trees mentioned above have always been around—and we must choose to sit under the one (“The Tree of Life”); otherwise, by default, we’ll end up sitting under the other one (“The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”), whose “forbidden fruit” leads to death physically and spiritually (Genesis 2:9, 17).

“What in the world are you talking about?” the atheistic, agnostic, skeptical, secular, relativistic humanist asks.

The weekend ahead has been set aside in the United States and Canada, to honor the gifts and obligations of work. Labor Day has been celebrated since the late nineteenth century to acknowledge people whose labor and loyalty in the marketplace are not recognized from day to day.

It’s a secular holiday, to be sure, but one valued by people of faith. We shall include this Collect from The Book of Common Prayer: “Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”

It’s hard to believe anything other than that the agency intends to audit the middle class.

In the recent Inflation Reduction Act (which will actually feed the fires of inflation) there is an appropriation of $80 billion to the IRS. A chunk of this money will go to hiring 87,000 new employees and effectively doubling the current number of agents.

So why does the IRS need 87,000 new, armed agents?

The only reasonable answer that is supported with data is that the Biden Administration intends for the IRS to target the middle class in order to pay for its out-of-control spending which has caused the highest inflation in the last 40 years.

As Heritage Foundation has observed “Auditing every single taxpayer with annual income over $1 million would require only 25,000 new IRS enforcement agents, but Democrats’ bill calls for 87,000 new agents. What will all those extra agents be doing?”

Another Witch Hunt: FBI Raid on Trump Home is Unprecedented and Unjustified A law enforcement action like this against a former president has never occurred before. It will be construed by millions of Americans as Pres. Biden’s desperate deployment of the power of the federal government to damage his likely 2024 opponent who now leads him in national election polls.

This past Monday, the FBI, in an unannounced raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, broke dangerous new ground in the increasing politicization of our government institutions. Attorney General, Merrick Garland, has stated that he personally approved the raid that reportedly included 30 agents—including SWAT teams—in 20 government vehicles swarming Mar-a-Lago in the Palm Beach darkness.

As such, he, and Biden—who certainly had prior knowledge of the raid—will squarely bear the cost of this dangerous political gambit.

Let’s look at the larger issue here.

In view of the increasing number of carjackings in Shreveport-Bossier—as well as the uptick in those occurring in Baton Rouge and New Orleans—it is worth revisiting the law that provides for the right of selfdefense if citizens of Louisiana are attacked while in our vehicles, businesses, or in our homes.

Louisiana Revised Statute 14:20 provides for the definition and elements of Justifiable Homicide (killing).

This statute states that a “homicide is justifiable” when committed in self defense by an individual who reasonably believes that they are in imminent danger of losing their life or receiving great bodily harm and that, therefore, … the killing is necessary to save the individual from that danger. (Emphasis added).

The statute also requires that “the circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fear of a reasonable person” such that the individual would face serious danger to their own life or person without the act of self-defense.

There is nothing like being outside working on a barbed wire fence and hearing ‘rriiiipppp’. It means you have once again caught your blue jeans on a barb. You look down and see several tiny holes, and the one big gash. And money is tight, so new jeans aren’t in the budget. Rats.

Knowing how to sew and having supplies on hand come in handy.A good sewing basket has everything you will need to make simple repairs. Here are a few of the items that are absolutely necessary:

Scissors -a large pair and several smaller ones. The larger ones are used to cut fabric; a medium size allows for cutting turns and notches; small scissors are used for snipping thread.

Thread - Keep an assortment of colors in your basket. You don’t have to have every color in the rainbow, but choose the colors that you need the most.

Straight Pins - Straight pins help to keep seams together as you sew. They hold patches in place, and also can be used as markers.

Everyone can’t be right; that’s why we must know where to look and whom to believe.

Truth.

Nowadays it seems like everyone claims to have a corner market on it—unless they’re saying it’s impossible for there to be an objective Standard to go by known as “Absolute Truth.”

Consequently, today’s Gold Standard is rooted in relativism and humanism, which basically say “Everything is relative, i.e., subjective to an individual’s own, personal views-and-values.”

In other words, it’s a humanistic viewpoint says “I am the center of my own universe and truth is what I believe it to be. You’re entitled to your own beliefs—but, don’t try to force your beliefs on me.”

Hmmm: no wonder we’re a divided, polarized nation where it’s “Survival of the Fittest” and “the one who has the most ‘toys’ at the end of the game wins.”

But, in this case, it’s not toys; it’s wealth and power.

“They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they wouldn’t disclose bot info. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot info in court.” Elon Musk

Please recall that Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, had proposed to buy Twitter.

This suggestion was rejected, immediately and forcefully. Twitter was so opposed to the purchase it stated it would put in place a corporate “poison pill” so as to make the potential purchase and/or takeover by Musk so unattractive that he would abandon his plan to acquire it.

Twitter’s corporate legal counsel then reminded the Twitter brass that they have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders. After that Twitter became magically more amenable to the potential sale.

Musk then proposed a $43 billion purchase of the company and reasonably assumed Twitter would honestly disclose the number of “real” human Twitter users, excluding all the fake spam bots.

In reality, we know the problem.

But we choose to believe the Lie.

Yes, II Thessalonians 2:1-12, along with Matthew 24:4-44; Romans 1:18-32; II Timothy 3:1-7, 12-13; 4:3-4 and II Peter 2:1-3:7 clearly tell us what’ll happen in the Last Days. So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we see what’s happening all around us right now.

In Rom. 1:18, Paul talks about “God’s Wrath will be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness toward those who suppress the Truth.” And, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what he meant in vv.19-32: for it’s exactly what’s happening all around us today.

And, what’s this “Wrath revealed?”

Is it earthquakes, famines, floods, tornadoes/typhoons, pestilences (diseases, epidemics), out-of-control forest fires, terrorism, etc. (Rom. 8:22)?

Or, is it also something else?