A CITY ON A HILL?
About 40 years ago I took my first trip to the U.S., having been invited to speak at an international conference in Davis, California. This was an exciting time for me and I spent about one month in the U.S. and fell in love with the country and its people. There was an energy and a “can do” attitude that I hadn’t experienced in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom. I found that Americans were extraordinarily hospitable and friendly. I was a very junior academic but I plucked up the courage to approach a professor from Colorado State University and ask whether it was possible to come for a visit. This man did not hesitate but said:
“Sure, come and stay with me and the family for a few days and I’ll show you around”.
This generosity had a great impact and I have similarly reciprocated with hundreds of overseas visitors who have stayed with me and my family.
Subsequently, I had a number of job offers and undoubtedly would have moved to the U.S. if I hadn’t been an only child who came from a family farm. I had a sense of obligation to my parents and the farm. I hadn’t at that stage heard the great quote:
“What do you leave as an inheritance to a child you don’t like?”
The answer is “A farm” – or even better “A farm and some racehorses”.
These are sure to send him or her completely broke!
Since my first visit to the U.S., I have probably had at least 30 visits to the U.S. and had periods of time where I lived for many months in Washington State and Florida. Each visit deepened my understanding of the U.S. and its people. I took a great interest in U.S. politics and then studied the U.S. foundations and its constitution. I realized that we in the West owed a great debt to the U.S. Founding Fathers and their commitment to freedom and protection of “the people” from government overreach. To me, the U.S. really was “a city on a hill” as I wrote about last week.
Many people and nations have been inspired and taken hope from the vision of the U.S. founders and the constitution to uphold freedom and the people’s “unalienable rights” from the Creator Himself. However, in more recent years, I have realized that the situation in the U.S. has become much more complex and troubling as the original aims of the founding fathers have been increasingly subverted. This danger was recognized by John Adams, the second president, who famously said: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” James Maddison also reiterated this view and noted that without sufficient virtue for self-government, “nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.” We may be entering that era.
The New Morality
Morality has been redefined, as God increasingly has been pushed out of education and society. Now a new morality has been embraced, and with a rush, we have been witnessing evil declared as good and good, as evil, just as in the time of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 5:20). This is because many in the U.S. have become “wise in their own eyes” (Isaiah 5:21) and there has been a push by the powers of darkness to promote evil. As the Bible and God have been thrown out of US society, the whole idea of morality has been redefined. This was always part of a satanic, communist agenda that has been promoted relentlessly in schools and universities over the last 90 years, starting with the influential work of John Dewey in the 1930s. It is worthwhile reading about the influence of the Soviet Union on Dewey’s thinking in this article by Daren Jonescu published in 2013 in American Thinker.
The current promotion of the transgender ideology and what is cleverly called “gender affirmation” treatment (but is in reality gender destruction) is just the latest example of a steep decline in morality and a new satanic moral compass. This is significant internationally because the influence of the U.S. in so many spheres of life leaves few countries untouched. The LGBTQ+ agenda has been incorporated into every sphere of entertainment, and it is now unacceptable not to fully embrace and affirm this agenda. So called “pride month” has kicked off in the US and various large companies such as Anheuser-Busch, the manufacturers of “Bud Light”, Target and even sporting teams like the LA Dodgers have rushed to demonstrate their woke credentials. Happily, there has been quite significant commercial blowback but the activists would see this as just a temorary glitch, as they drag society to the left and towards an anti-God vision.
How Did This Happen?
The elimination of God from the education system has resulted in a steady and then sudden decline in the biblical foundations of the U.S. and the disappearance of John Adams's “moral and religious people”. In some ways, this has been a long time coming but is similar to the great Hemingway quote in The Sun Also Rises:
“How did you go broke?” Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly”.
Most of the silent majority has been staggered at the seemingly hasty promotion of everything that destroys family life. I recently heard a replay of a speech by Barrack Obama in 2008 where he declared that he believed marriage was only between a man and a woman, which he said was a Christian foundation. By 2012, Obama had fully embraced the LGBTQ+ program, which has now been enshrined in various presidential executive orders by Joe Biden. Is this just the nature of “progress”? No – it points to the hidden spiritual battle written about by Jonathan Cahn and which I covered in a previous Sons of Issachar Newsletter - see this link.
It is hard for us to understand this as we go about our daily lives. However, the great St Paul declared 2,000 years ago:
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
This unseen battle is just as real today, although often difficult for us to comprehend. This week I saw a helpful YouTube video that provided a interesting overview of the “powers of darkness” and the “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”. The battle between the spiritual hosts of wickedness has been around, almost since time began.
Whether we realize it or not, the whole world is under the grip of these spiritual powers that seek destruction and enslavement of the entire world, with allegiance to The Satan. In his letter to the Ephesians, St Paul, having identified the problem of the spiritual battle, goes on to provide a remedy which is to “Put on the full armour of God…” (Ephesians 6:11). This armour includes the following elements outlined in Ephesians 6:14-18:
“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”.
So, individually, Christian believers are called to stand against the “spiritual hosts of wickedness”, not by being stronger but by arming ourselves spiritually. These armaments include: truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, God’s Word and prayer.
The Destruction of Justice?
If we return to the U.S. Constitution and the “unalienable rights” provided by “nature’s God” written about by the founders (see last week’s Sons of Issachar), God’s law is at the heart of the system of justice. There was a clear intention in the construction of the Supreme Court in Washington DC to embed God’s law into the building design. Here are some of the details, outlined by Gary Demar:
“A seated Moses is shown holding the two tablets of the law as the central figure of the east pediment on the exterior of the Supreme Court building.
An image of the two tables of the Ten Commandments is engraved on the frame of the bronze gates separating the courtroom from the aisle.
A marble frieze in the Chamber itself shows Moses holding a copy of the tablets on which the Ten Commandments are written.
Two allegorical figures, representing “The Power of Government” and “The Majesty of Government,” stand beside a carved flat-faced tablet with two rows of Roman numerals, I-V and VI-X, an obvious rendering of the Ten Commandments.
Carved into the bottom panel of the oak doors separating the courtroom from the hallway of the Supreme Court building is a rendering of the Ten Commandments.”
The links to the Ten Commandments and God’s justice have been under relentless attack from “civil rights” groups, that aim to destroy the U.S.’s moral foundations. Justice has been increasingly politicized, as evident with partisan indictments against President Trump and whistleblowers targeted by the FBI.
President Trump turns out to have been correct when he declared that he had been “wire tapped” and undermined by the “deep state”. The increasingly partisan activities of the FBI, U.S. Justice Department, CIA and IRS are now targeted at US citizens who disagree with the policies of the Biden administration. Many of the actions of the FBI and CIA are hidden from view behind a veil of secrecy but this veil has been removed just a little, with the publication in the last few weeks of the “Durham Report” – see this link.
The Durham Report
This report, almost four years in the making, delivered a bombshell about the prejudiced US justice system, but the report seems to have been largely ignored by the media. It is of greater significance than “Watergate” - which led to President Nixon’s resignation, largely because of a cover-up. The report tells us that the US justice system is partisan and bankrupt.
There can only be a shining “city on a hill” if there is a fair and impartial administration of justice, without fear or favour.
The Durham Report, sets out in 316 pages, a shocking story of conspiracy by key government agencies against Donald Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign. The conspiracy seems to have even involved Barack Obama and Joe Biden who were informed about the activities of the Clinton campaign by then-CIA Director, John Brennan in August 2016, three months before the presidential election. The conspiracy even involved Australia, with the whole “Russiagate” story having kicked off following a meeting of the Australian High Commissioner with an unpaid Trump foreign policy advisor, George Papadopoulos, in a London pub on 6 May, 2016. Comments reportedly made by Papadopoulos were sent through diplomatic routes and ended up with the FBI on 28 July 2016. However, as Durham notes in his report:
“the government possessed no verified intelligence reflecting that Trump or
the Trump campaign was involved in a conspiracy or collaborative relationship with officials of the Russian government…”
John Durham was given special investigative powers in 2019 by Trump’s Attorney-General William Barr. Mr Durham handed down his report on 12th May 2023 and no charges are recommended. This itself is a scandal. Various government groups colluded to paint Trump as a Russian dupe with a clear intention to undermine his campaign and presidency. Yet, there are no consequences for any of those involved.
The Durham report is titled: “Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns” - and I have been making my way through it over the past weeks. It is not easy reading but there is a good analysis and overview in The Spectator magazine this week – titled “The Dirty War on Trump” by Kerry Wakefield. Wakefield writes in the introduction to the article:
“As one Twitter wag put it, virtually the only ones not involved in the Trump-Russia collusion scandal turned out to be Trump and Russia. The release of Special Prosecutor John Durham’s final report into the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation exposed Stasi-style plotting between the Clinton campaign, the FBI and the Obama regime to first prevent, then knobble, Donald Trump’s presidency. This amounted to an attempted palace coup.
Yet the fix is in. No one has been charged and the key players will be chuckling smugly into their whiskies as a wave of disgust passes over those privy to the report’s details, both conservatives largely aware of the truth years ago, and those newly awakened by the forensic detail of this damning, four-year, $6 million probe.”
In essence, Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign, being aware of the problems arising from the destruction of emails on her private server, launched a counter-offensive, to paint Donald Trump as a Russian pawn. They did this by paying for a report by a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, then arranging for the FBI to use it as though it was independent information. The unverified “Steele dossier” was used against the Trump campaign and provided a smokescreen for FBI surveillance.
The Durham report is shocking in its implications. The US justice system has been completely captured by the left wing of politics. It is not surprising that the corruption of the Biden family, exposed with Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell”, has been covered up, while Donald Trump has been relentlessly pursued. Pro-life activists are targeted by the US Justice Department and other administration opponents, including the U.S. military, painted as “right-wing MAGA extremists”.
The media and Big Tech are left-wing mouthpieces and have been so for quite a long period. Now, the Durham Report, shows that the entire justice system has been infiltrated by the “progressives”, who believe that the end (removal of President Trump) justified the means (rigging the entire electoral and justice system). Unless there is a rebellion by the silent majority of thoughtful U.S. citizens, the foundation of impartial justice in the U.S. will become a distant memory.
The light from the “city on a hill” is becoming dimmer and, if extinguished, will lead to the further destruction of freedom and justice around the world. I pray that our U.S. friends are able to turn the tide as the next presidential election season draws close.
SOME RECENT STORIES THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION
The World Health Organization (WHO) and New World Order
The WHO is cunningly and gradually consolidating its power to become the global health czar with powers that override those of national governments. This evil cabal is already at work amending global health regulations, and the unelected representatives are manoeuvring to bring their crafty plan to completion at their May 2024 meeting in Geneva, when regulations will be amended. James Roguski has posted a helpful 8 min video titled: “The Top Six Reasons to Speak Out Against the Amendments to the International Health Regulations”
Rebecca Weisser has written in the Australian Spectator about the long-reach of the WHO and the government.
An Australian senator, Alex Antic, has exposed, via a Freedom of Information request, dramatic censorship of social media posts that highlighted COVID vaccine adverse events, the lack of effectiveness of masks and the ineffectiveness of COVID vaccines to prevent disease transmission. These posts were removed under anti-terrorism legislation, designed to prevent “online terrorist and extreme violent content”. The collusion between government and Big Tech is similar to that exposed by the “Twitter files”
in the U.S.. In Australia, social media groups were pressured under anti-terrorism legislation to remove legitimate posts about COVID-19. Behind this was the WHO, seen as the ultimate authority about COVID-19. Now the WHO is seeking further power to prevent so-called “misinformation”. As Rebecca Weisser concludes:
“That almost identical pandemic censorship should occur in the US and Australia is not an accident. Early in the pandemic, the World Health Organisation called for Big Tech to remove any posts about the pandemic that countered its official narrative. Far from lamenting the mistakes that it made, the WHO is calling for even more power and resources via a pandemic treaty which it will use to censor misinformation during the next pandemic. Frighteningly, the Australian government and the mainstream media seem only too happy to give the WHO a blank cheque.”
Alex Newman from the New American magazine, posted a very thoughtful podcast this week that is only 19 min and worthwhile listening to. The podcast is called: UN WHO Coming in for the Kill with “Health” Schemes”
The WHO is a tool of the New World Order to force a top-down globalist approach to health and enable bypassing of national sovereignty. Because most of the negotiations are done in secret, changes to the regulations could be simply a “fait accompli”. There needs to be more awareness about this globalist health takeover which seeks to bring about a surveillance state using the requirement for individuals to have a “global digital health certificate”.
The Disastrous Ukraine Conflict
Retired US Colonel, Douglas McGregor, has been one of the most considered voices in relation to the Ukraine conflict. He has written and spoken extensively and has resisted the “I Stand With Ukraine” propaganda of Western governments and media. The official narrative, promoted by mainstream media, is prepared to “stand with Ukraine” until there are no Ukrainians left!
Colonel McGregor wrote an article in The American Conservative on 23rd May that is worthwhile reading. This this link.
The article is titled, “After Bakhmut” and details the events leading up to the recent Russian occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, after its almost complete destruction. I wrote a song about the Vietnam war more than 50 years ago, which had a great line: “There are people dying everywhere so we can make them free. But we’ve got to kill, kill, kill, to bring them democracy”. This seems to be the approach of the West today.
There are 30,000 Ukrainian troops currently training in the West who will return to Ukraine for an offensive against Russia in the northern hemisphere summer.
Colonel McGregor concludes his analysis as follows:
“Why not spare the people of Ukraine further bloodletting and negotiate with Moscow for peace while Ukraine still possesses an army? Unfortunately, to be effective, diplomacy requires mutual respect, and Washington’s effusive hatred for Russia makes diplomacy impossible. That hatred is rivaled only by the arrogance of much of the ruling class, who denigrate Russian military power largely because U.S. forces have been lucky enough to avoid conflict with a major power since the Korean War. More sober-minded leaders in Washington, Paris, Berlin, and other NATO capitols should urge a different course of action.”
Net Zero and Non-Sustainable and Non-Renewable Energy
Iain Davis is an independent writer and researcher based in the United Kingdom. He has written extensively about globalism and the rise of the public-private partnership. Iain has written several articles for the UK Column (see this link) in relation to renewable energy and I found his recent article titled: “Sustainable Renewable Energy:Neither Sustainable Nor Renewable” - really worthwhile reading.
The ”sustainability” gravy train has set off from the station and nearly everyone is on board. Iain asks a few key questions in his article, that starts with a focus on Switzerland which, thanks to hydroelectric power, has a good supply of renewable energy. However, Iain writes that even in relation to Switzerland:
“When it is wet, Switzerland has excess energy. However, when it isn't—such as in the dead of winter—there's a shortfall that the Swiss currently meet with a mix of nuclear, wind and solar power on the one hand and "fossil fuel" energy generation on the other, combined with energy imports from their European partners. Nuclear provides the bulk, but Swiss "sustainable development" policy means that the Confederation has made the seemingly kamikaze-inspired decision to phase out nuclear energy.”
The Swiss problem confronts many other countries and Germany has likewise decided on the kamikaze approach of shutting down nuclear energy. However, all countries seem to have taken a “head in the sand” approach and the green planners are relying on “something happening”. It looks as though this is the death of millions! As Iain Davis writes:
“Given the current state of renewable energy technology, it is incapable of meeting the energy needs of the human population. There is no evidence that there are enough natural resources on Earth to build the energy infrastructure required—not even if a high degree of reliance upon renewable energy were feasible, which it isn't.
Compared to that of fossil or nuclear fuels, its energy density is practically non-existent. Nor can renewable energy be stored in a usable form that is sufficiently flexible to meet real people's variable demand. It is ostensibly uncontrollable, environmentally damaging, and often dangerous.”
He concludes by saying that “the whole notion of renewable energy….is essentially a ruse” and that:
“The uncomfortable realisation we have to face is that the transition to "sustainable energy" is not based upon the premise of our continuing to use energy on anything close to the scale we are accustomed to. The figures simply don't add up.
Rather, the sustainable development (which is in no way "sustainable”) of renewable energy (which isn't "renewable”) is predicated upon one stark equation: either we will each use a considerably less energy or there will be far fewer of us.
Perhaps we, as a species, are ready to accept this in order to protect the planet for future generations. But in doing so—unless some quantum leap in energy technology suddenly emerges—we also need to accept the dictum that they should be poorer and less numerous than we are.”
We need to be prepared to find our own energy solutions outside those of government. There is a coming energy showdown and the impact on our lives will be dramatic and “unsustainable”.