Hopeless Causes and the Glory of God

AUGUST , 2023

by Pastor Andrew Isker

Introduction

We live in an age of constant despair. It seems for so many that things are bad and will never get better. But these are circumstances that God does not leave us in. He takes us down to the depths to lead us out.

This is so often the case throughout the Bible and it is the case for David in 2 Samuel 15.

David has welcomed his murderous son Absalom back home and back into the court. He has forgiven him and restored him. But David’s kindness is about to be abused. His son plots David’s overthrow and leads a coup against him. David is forced into exile. All appears to be lost. David reaches a new low point in his reign and in his life. But great defeats are not always what they seem. God uses them for His own purposes and He never leaves His people in them forever. The very same thing is true here if you have eyes to see it.

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15 After this it happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, that Absalom would call to him and say, “What city are you from?” And he would say, “Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel.” 3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your case is good and right; but there is no deputy of the king to hear you.” 4 Moreover Absalom would say, “Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice.” 5 And so it was, whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, that he would put out his hand and take him and kiss him. 6 In this manner Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

7 Now it came to pass after forty years that Absalom said to the king, “Please, let me go to Hebron and pay the vow which I made to the Lord. 8 For your servant took a vow while I dwelt at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If the Lord indeed brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.’ ”

9 And the king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron.

10 Then Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’ ” 11 And with Absalom went two hundred men invited from Jerusalem, and they went along innocently and did not know anything. 12 Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city—from Giloh—while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased in number.

13 Now a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

14 So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

15 And the king’s servants said to the king, “We are your servants, ready to do whatever my lord the king commands.” 16 Then the king went out with all his household after him. But the king left ten women, concubines, to keep the house. 17 And the king went out with all the people after him, and stopped at the outskirts. 18 Then all his servants passed before him; and all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had followed him from Gath, passed before the king.

19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also going with us? Return and remain with the king. For you are a foreigner and also an exile from your own place. 20 In fact, you came only yesterday. Should I make you wander up and down with us today, since I go I know not where? Return, and take your brethren back. Mercy and truth be with you.”

21 But Ittai answered the king and said, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in whatever place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also your servant will be.”

22 So David said to Ittai, “Go, and cross over.” Then Ittai the Gittite and all his men and all the little ones who were with him crossed over. 23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people crossed over. The king himself also crossed over the Brook Kidron, and all the people crossed over toward the way of the wilderness.

24 There was Zadok also, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar went up until all the people had finished crossing over from the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me back and show me both it and His dwelling place. 26 But if He says thus: ‘I have no delight in you,’ here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him.” 27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 Therefore Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem. And they remained there.

30 So David went up by the Ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went up. 31 Then someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”

32 Now it happened when David had come to the top of the mountain, where he worshiped God—there was Hushai the Archite coming to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go on with me, then you will become a burden to me. 34 But if you return to the city, and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I was your father’s servant previously, so I will now also be your servant,’ then you may defeat the counsel of Ahithophel for me. 35 And do you not have Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? Therefore it will be that whatever you hear from the king’s house, you shall tell to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 Indeed they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son; and by them you shall send me everything you hear.”

37 So Hushai, David’s friend, went into the city. And Absalom came into Jerusalem.

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Absalom’s Conspiracy (15:1-12)

Absalom gets chariots and men to run with him. What is he doing here? In our modern political terms, he is forming an exploratory committee. He is dressing for the job he wants, not the job he has. He’s plotting to make himself king. And not only that he puts himself in between the people and the king. He both wants to present himself as a good judge that will listen to the people and present his father as a faithless, unjust ruler who doesn’t care about them. And you see that he subtlety exploits the tribal divisions already inherent in Israel. And what is the result of all this? He stole the hearts of all Israel. He slanders his father. And flatters the people.

On what appears to be Absalom’s 40th birthday, he asks David to allow him to go to Hebron, David’s Judahite home base of support, to pay a vow that he had made. David allows him to. Absalom then sent men throughout Israel to proclaim that he was taking over in Hebron. Absalom also invited 200 noblemen from Jerusalem to Hebron who had no idea what was going on to make it look like they were on his side of the coup once it was declared.

Having the nobility in your camp is like taking the radio or TV station first in an African coup, or exercising total control over social media in recent years here. The point is to make it look like you have much more support than you do so that the opposition to the coup will melt. On top of the appearance of great support, Absalom gains Ahithophel the Gilonite who was Bathsheba’s grandfather. And more and more people continued to join Absalom.

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David in Exile (13-37)

David is told of what was occurring. He immediately decides the course of action. They are going to flee the city. This is the most courageous thing David has done since his sin with Bathsheba. It might not seem like courage to flee. You might be thinking “He’s running away! How is that courageous?” But think about it. David understands that he could hole up in the city, Absalom would come with an army and lay siege. Hundreds or thousands of people would die of starvation, of disease, and from warfare, including women and children and elderly people. Even though he might have the upper hand militarily—Jerusalem is a very defensible city with a water supply—and still a lot of support among his people, David wants to avoid this happening. So rather than causing the people to suffer for him, he chooses to suffer for his people. He makes himself a fugitive yet again.

David packs up his household, but leaves ten unnamed unendowed wives behind. This tells us just how much he has disobeyed Deuteronomy 17:17 where kings are not allowed to multiply wives. But it also shows that David wants them to remain to manage the household in his absence. He is going into exile, but the kingdom will still remain and function with a skeleton crew.

Then we are given a reminder of David’s faithfulness as a true Israelite. Israel was to be a priest to the nations. And here many foreigners had become loyal to David and to David’s God. Philistines had forsaken their gods for the Lord because of David’s faithfulness. And David tells them to return home, like Naomi told Ruth to return. But Ittai the leader of the Gittite Philistines refused. They are going to follow David to the death. They crossed the Brook Kidron, the border of Jerusalem and began to enter the wilderness to the east. The people wept as they went into exile.

Zadok and the Levites appear with the ark. David tells them to keep the ark in the city where it belonged. The ark had left the land, and God had gone into exile before at the very beginning of 1 Samuel. David did not want to see that happen. Instead David would be the one going into exile instead. David is Israel. And Israel is going into exile instead of Israel’s God this time.

David continued east. East is the direction of exile. Cain was exiled from Eden to the east. Later Israel would be exiled to the east in Babylon. David here is a typological preview of what Israel’s fate would be many generations from now. He is living it out for them. He covers his head, goes barefoot and weeps. There he is told of Ahithophel’s betrayal. And there he prays that God would turn his wise counsel into foolishness. As he prays, his friend Hushai appears. David tells him to return to the city and defeat Ahithophel’s counsel, and to be a spy in Absalom’s camp, to tell everything you hear to the Zadok and Abiathar. So Hushai returns. And Absalom takes over Jerusalem.

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Conclusion

What is going on in this story? If you have eyes to see it, it is not just a typological preview of Israel going into exile, but it is also a preview of Jesus’s crucifixion. Jesus follows the very same pattern. He leaves Jerusalem, the temple, and travels up the Mount of Olives, where the Garden of Gethsemane is. David is betrayed by Ahitophel who later hangs himself. Jesus is betrayed by Judas who later hangs himself. In the next chapter, many of David’s friends like Mephibosheth in the next chapter appear to abandon him. Jesus’s friends, the disciples abandon him. David is taunted in the next chapter by Shimei. Jesus is taunted on the cross by the Jews.

This exile of David is pointing forward to the cross. The similarities here are obvious once you see them. The cross is a kind of exile. It is the final and greatest form of exile. All the exile episodes in the Bible point toward this, the true king being exiled from His people and suffering on their behalf. And the story of the crucifixion ends with God’s enemy’s rejoicing. They think they have won. The disciples despair. They believe all is lost. If the story ended there, it would seem dismal indeed. If the story of David ended here it would seem like a disaster. All is lost. It’s over.

But this is that is what we have to see more than anything else. This is how God conquers through these means. He disguises His greatest victories as defeats. That is what Christ’s death was! If the rulers of this world knew what they were doing they would not have killed the Lord of glory, says the Apostle Paul. David and Israel are brought low in this episode as well. But it is not over. God is moving to establish His kingdom and secure it. The highest point in Israel is just around the corner. The reign of Solomon is near, but there would be no reign of Solomon with Absalom standing in the way. God is removing Absalom in this very painful, very difficult way.

So when you look to our day and the state that the church is in, how decrepit and unfaithful and apostate we have become, it can easily become a moment where you give in to despair. Where you go barefoot weeping like David on the Mount of Olives. But we do not know precisely what God is doing. But we do know the patterns that He follows. Things look bad. Things look like they are over. But it is precisely in moments like these where God’s glory shines forth the brightest. We do not know glory lies around the corner. We do not know what resurrection lies behind the death we are seeing. But we do know that that is how God operates consistently.

So the charge to you is this, to not look at our conditions with the eyes of man. To despair. To become hopeless. We must look at things with the eyes of faith. That God has not abandoned His people. That He will lead us out of the wilderness. He puts us in these positions to force us to trust in Him alone. So trust Him. Trust that whatever He is doing, it is good and for our good. Trust in the Lord. Trust that He will lead us from glory to glory.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

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Andrew Isker is the pastor of 4th Street Evangelical Church in Waseca, MN. He is a graduate of Minnesota State University and Greyfriar’s Hall Ministerial Training School, and he has served churches in Missouri, West Virginia, and Minnesota. He is the author (with Andrew Torba) of Christian Nationalism, and the author of the forthcoming book, The Boniface Option. Andrew, his wife Kara, and their five children reside in his hometown of Waseca, MN. He can be found on Gab @BonifaceOption.

Published in Bold Christian Writing

Neil Oliver: ‘…beware, beware, beware!’

‘….our way of life is being taken apart…we are being pushed & herded into a new feudalism….’ To help support this channel & get exclusive content every week sign up to ‘Neil Oliver’ on Patreon.com https://www.patreon.com/neiloliver Audio Podcasts, Neil Oliver's Love Letter To The World &, Neil Oliver's Love Letter To The British Isles Available on all the usual providers https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... Check out the Instagram account: Neil Oliver Love Letter https://www.instagram.com/neiloliverl...

"Your comments will not stand!" with debanked vicar Richard Fothergill

Special guest the Rev'd Richard Fothergill joined revs with a difference Jamie Franklin and Daniel French for the second half of this episode to discuss his recent experience of being debanked by the Yorkshire Building Society for his shockingly prejudicial comments about transgenderism. But our conversation was more wide-ranging, taking in Richard's experience in starting the international movement which goes by the name of The Filling Station (https://thefillingstation.org/) in response to the weakness of many local churches and the general spiritual darkness of the surrounding culture. In the first half of the episode, Daniel and Jamie discussed Psalm 2 and the nations raging against Christ, the Costa Coffee transgenderism debacle and the spiritual implications of the outrageous level of inheritance tax that we are forced to pay in this country. We also covered a Question the Rev on the legitimacy or not of the NRSV translation of Scripture. Please Support! Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/irreverend) or Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/irreverend). Subscribe to Jamie's Blog here: https://jamiefranklin.substack.com For your merchandise needs: https://irreverendmerch.bss.design Links: Costa "trans man" cartoon - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023... Inheritance tax in the UK - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023... Notices: Find me a church: https://irreverendpod.com/church-finder/ Join our Irreverend Telegram group: https://t.me/irreverendpod Find links to our episodes, social media accounts and ways to support us at https://www.irreverendpod.com! Thursday Circles: http://thursdaycircle.com Jamie's Good Things Substack: https://jamiefranklin.substack.com Irreverend Sermon Audio: https://irreverendsermonaudio.buzzspr...

Gab Tells Governments Who Demand Censorship To Get Lost, Facebook Censors On Behalf Of The Biden Admin

 Gab Tells Governments Who Demand Censorship To Get Lost, Facebook Censors On Behalf Of The Biden Admin

The “Facebook Files” recently made public have shed light on how White House officials exerted pressure on the social media giant for special access to tools to target vaccine-hesitant users. They also criticized Facebook employees for not sharing enough data, contradicting White House claims during that time.

At Gab we stand firm in our commitment to freedom of speech and will never bow down to any administration’s demands for censorship, be it the Biden Administration or any other. Our resolve remains unwavering, as we regularly reject censorship requests from governments. We have a long history of very publicly turning down censorship demands from the UK, Germany, France, and many others.

Unlike Facebook we believe in allowing the free flow of information, regardless of whether it aligns with popular narratives or not. It is disheartening to witness Facebook taking steps to suppress not just false information but also mere opinions about vaccines. Internal documents reveal Facebook’s deliberate efforts to create a “vaccine negative environment” by demoting posts discussing negative side effects or questioning vaccine mandates, even though these discussions are not based on false information.

When the pandemic hit, conventional social media platforms faced a daunting task: curating vast amounts of pandemic-related content while attempting to control the spread of information. This often led to concerns about the suppression of genuine debates and the Facebook Files reveal that this overreach was absolutely happening on other platforms. In stark contrast, Gab remained true to its principles of free speech, providing a welcoming space for users to engage in open conversations about vaccines, COVID origins, and lockdown measures.

Gab’s refusal to censor discussions surrounding the pandemic allowed a myriad of perspectives to flourish. Users felt empowered to share their thoughts, concerns, and even dissenting opinions without fear of being silenced. As a result, Gab became a platform where experts, skeptics, and ordinary people could engage in constructive dialogues and learn from one another.

Amid the chaos of conflicting narratives and rapidly evolving information, Gab acted as a beacon for critical thinking. By encouraging uncensored discussions, users had the opportunity to analyze various viewpoints and make informed decisions. The free exchange of ideas on Gab facilitated the growth of a well-informed community that could better navigate the complexities of the pandemic.

It’s quite astonishing to learn that even memes were a point of contention for the Biden White House. This shows a worrying trend towards stifling creativity and the sharing of ideas. According to Facebook, posts expressing concerns about the Biden administration’s Covid vaccine mandates and criticizing government overreach were subjected to reductions because they were perceived to contribute to a “vaccine negative environment.”

In an email, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s then-VP of Global Affairs, shared his conversation with Andy Slavitt, President Biden’s White House senior adviser for the COVID response. Slavitt was visibly outraged that Facebook had not removed a meme about vaccine side effects. The meme used Leonardo DiCaprio’s iconic pointing image with text suggesting potential future class-action lawsuits related to the COVID vaccine. Slavitt argued that the post drew a direct comparison between COVID vaccines and asbestos poisoning, which allegedly undermined confidence in the vaccines among the Biden administration’s target audience.

At Gab we embrace diversity of thought and allow users to express themselves freely, even if their opinions might differ from those in power. We firmly believe that open dialogue, not censorship, is the path to progress and understanding.

Gab’s commitment to free speech extended beyond just pandemic-related discussions. By remaining transparent about its content policies and rejecting censorship requests from various entities, Gab earned the trust of its users. This trust formed the foundation of a strong and loyal community, united by the belief that open dialogue is paramount in times of uncertainty.

If you value the freedom to speak without fear of suppression, Gab welcomes you with open arms. Together, we will safeguard the principles of free speech and defend our right to share true information and honest opinions without interference. Join us in building a platform that truly values liberty and open discourse.

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CEO, Gab.com
Jesus Christ is King of kings

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Yes, You Can Legislate Morality

 Yes, You Can Legislate Morality 

By: Pastor Andrew Isker

Any time a conservative Christian proposes laws to address issues of public morality, he is always told “you can’t legislate morality.” This is a mantra that is deep in the bones of liberal, democratic society. You hear it all the time.

Want to pass laws to stop abortion? “You can’t legislate morality.”

Want to eliminate gay marriage? “You can’t legislate morality.”

Want to stop children being castrated? “You can’t legislate morality.”

Want to stop the dissemination of pornography? “You can’t legislate morality.”

But simply repeating something ad nauseam doesn’t make it true.

The reality is that law really does “legislate morality.”

The very idea that morality is separable from external society—from the norms and standards of everyone else around you—betrays a liberal individualism that is completely out of touch with reality. Human beings do not develop their moral bearings in isolation. Only the most antisocial personalities and the mentally ill are capable of bootstrapping a novel and idiosyncratic morality apart from what everyone around them believes.

The overwhelming majority of people acquire their moral senses from those around them, especially those in authority over them. Parents, teachers, peers, media, and yes, even government instill moral principles upon them. The Bible commands Christian parents to do this very thing (Pr. 22:6, Eph. 6:4). Naturally, it isn’t as simple as giving a child a set of rules and downloading them into their brain. The human heart does not work this way. However, the moral training parents give their children does become internalized over time. Children really do believe what their parents tell them is right and wrong, and though some can and do rebel against it, the majority will more or less follow what they have been taught. Outward conformity to external rules usually becomes internalized over time.

Rules don’t change a person’s heart directly and on their own, but they absolutely do train you before you are even able to understand why those rules are given. When I tell my young child not to touch the hot stove, he doesn’t understand the reason why he has been given this command. All he knows is that his father told him something and he must obey. Only when he matures will he understand the reason he was given this command is because I love him and do not want him to harm himself. That is how the exercise of authority brings about moral formation. Whether that authority is father over son or king over subject is immaterial.

You can see this demonstrated in political and cultural developments over the last century. Attitudes regarding race relations have changed dramatically since the Second World War. During the war, the overwhelming majority of soldiers were in favor of maintaining the military policy of segregating units by race. When the United State Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional in 1954, over 40% of Americans disagreed with the decision. Forty years later, in 1994, the same poll was conducted and only 11% disapproved of the ruling while 87% approved.

No polling recent polling exists on the decision, but it would be safe to estimate opposition to Brown is in the very low single digits. How did Americans go from believing segregation was good to nearly everyone believing it was bad in the space of half a century? While law was obviously not the only factor in cultural change, it quite evidently had a major role. Law changes the moral principles of a people. Law has a pedagogical function. The Bible even talks about the Old Covenant law in this way (Gal. 3:24-27) Furthermore, people see a preference cascade and they want to be in the majority. This doesn’t imply that they are insincere. It is simply human psychology. Human beings adapt to the their surroundings, including their moral surroundings.

The very same process played out with the acceptance of homosexuality and gay “marriage.” In the late 1990s into the early 2000s, defense of marriage acts and gay “marriage” bans were extremely popular even winning majorities in places like California in 2008. That same year the then-Senator Obama campaigned for President publicly opposing gay “marriage.” Then, all-of-a-sudden, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the United States Constitution guarantees a right for homosexual men to play act as married man and wife. Immediately all the Civil Rights Act provisions became applied to homosexuals and eventually to virtually every other conceivable sexual perversion.

Concurrently, public opinion of homosexuality rapidly changed. The majority that had only years earlier opposed homosexuality now approved of it. Their moral views were legislated for them. It wasn’t as though every, single American sat down to deeply meditate upon their own moral principles, sifting through complex philosophical and ethical conundrums. They saw which way the wind was blowing and conformed. Again, while some may be insincere, human beings are pack animals. We do whatever everyone else is doing. Anyone who has ever been in a traffic jam knows this is true.

So when a Christian proposes laws for the purposes of public morality, the you-can’t-legislate-morality-ers who naysay don’t truly believe what they are saying. There is always going to be a public morality enforced by law. It is not “whether,” but “which.” Our current legally enforced public morality makes “racism” and “discrimination” the most damnable offenses. The official public morality makes every sexual practice except for pederasty—for now—all but illegal to criticize.

There is a public morality and the laws we have passed have enshrined it. If Christian laws were passed that make adultery a crime once again, prohibit the production and distribution of pornography, prohibit public displays of homosexuality, criminalize all abortion, and eliminate no-fault divorce, the culture would necessarily change. And such change would be rapid. And just like all other cultural change, it wouldn’t be insincere. People would conform to the influences that surround them just as they have with other cultural change.

Laws would not make men Christian. The Christian influence of a Christian culture everywhere around them would however make the preaching of the gospel significantly easier. Take for example the unfortunate Congresswoman Nancy Mace. Last week Mace spoke at a pastors’ prayer breakfast held by Senator Tim Scott where she openly bragged about cohabitating with a man not her husband and turning down intercourse with him in order to make it on time. In a society governed by Christian-influenced law, something like America a century ago, such a thing would be unheard of by anyone, much less a person with major political influence who makes much of being a regular church-goer. No one would be expected to individually exegete the Bible in order to arrive at a Christian sexual morality. It would be in the air around them and implicitly understood by everyone. You simply would not do that, just as everyone today knows there are certain words you are forbidden from uttering.

In such a world, where Christian understanding of right and wrong is fundamental to the entire society, there is a pathway where the gospel can be understood and applied. In our world today, much of what the Bible calls “sin” is celebrated as a virtue. Just to reach a point where people can admit something they do is a sin is a steep mountain to climb. Law is a teacher. What the king commands trains his people in what is moral and immoral. When the Bible describes the evil kings of Israel, it often says “who made Israel to sin.” This does not imply that the average person in Israel had no moral agency or was not responsible for what he or she did. What it does mean is that what the political leader commands has a very real effect on how his people understand right from wrong. A people will follow their leader for good or for ill. That is how God made human beings.

So with this in mind, Christians should absolutely want to pursue law for the sake of public morality. “Cultural Christianity” is good. All legislation is legislating one morality or another. God changes men’s hearts. And one instrument He uses is the commands of those He places in authority. To that end, we must pray for godly rulers who will wield the authority God gives them to reform a very corrupt and godless society. Kings have led great moral reforms in the past. And they will do so once again.

Russia Has Eliminated 400,000 Soldiers Thus Far

Colonel Douglas Macgregor Straight Calls - Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world. Interview with Jackson Hinkle on August 3, 2023.

Alasdair Macleod: The Financial Equivalent of Nuclear War

Alasdair Macleod believes that the US dollar is heading towards a major financial crisis due to its unsustainable debt trap, contraction of bank credit and rising interest rates. He believes that Russia and China are behind the destabilization of the US dollar as a global currency and are attempting to introduce a new single, gold-backed trade settlement currency, which the enlarged BRICS membership could potentially use. This currency does not include any retailers yet, but those involved in international trade transactions would need to use it. McLeod believes that the US government has been sending Henry Kissinger and Janet Yellen to convince China to not abandon the US dollar, as the consequences would be immense. However, he still believes that the majority of BRICS members will ultimately support this new currency in order to improve monetary stability and create a stabilising effect on global markets. Palisade Radio Links: ► Website & Newsletter: https://palisadesradio.ca ► Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1586024 ► Odysee: https://odysee.com/@PalisadesGoldRadio:c Alasdair believes that the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the US sanctions against Russia have been the catalysts for the introduction of a gold-backed currency. He believes that a financial war similar to a nuclear war is brewing due to the shift from fiat currency to gold, and the contraction in bank credit will result in a decrease in the nominal GDP of countries. To counteract this, and protect itself, Russia and China have been attempting to support poor countries in order to keep them away from Western control. Lastly, he discussed the historic situation of the Weimar Republic's financial collapse, which saw those with gold profit handsomely, and concluded that the only solution for the Russian economy was to move forward with the “financial war” which he predicts will happen at the Johannesburg BRICS summit. Time Stamp References: 0:00 - Introduction 0:34 - BRICS Meeting & The Dollar 13:47 - China-Yellen Meeting 15:00 - Gold & Global Trade 19:03 - BRICS & SCO (Asia) 26:55 - Russia & Commodities 33:10 - Western Fiat & History 36:47 - Western Ignorance 40:54 - Foreign Held Debt 43:37 - Bank Credit & Money Supply 50:34 - Gold & Financial Wars 55:15 - Golden Consequences 1:02:32 - Gold in a Crisis 1:05:22 - Wrap Up Talking Points From This Episode - BRICS is proposing a gold-backed currency as a trade settlement system to reduce interest rates and increase monetary stability. - The US has sent Henry Kissinger to try to convince the Chinese to abandon the proposed currency. - Moving away from the dollar and backing it up with gold could create a financial war. Guest Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MacleodFinance Website: https://goldmoney.com Research: https://www.goldmoney.com/research/ Alasdair Macleod is Head of Research for GoldMoney. He is an educator and advocates for sound money thru demystifying finance and economics. His background includes being a stockbroker, banker, and economist. Alasdair Macleod started his career as a stockbroker in 1970 on the London Stock Exchange. Within nine years, he had risen to become senior partner of his firm. Subsequently, he held positions at the director level in investment management and worked as a mutual fund manager. Mr. Macleod also worked at a bank in Guernsey as an executive director. For most of his 40 years in the finance industry, he has been demystifying macro-economic events for his investing clients. The accumulation of this experience has convinced him that unsound monetary policies are the most destructive weapon governments use against the common man. Accordingly, his mission is to educate and inform the public in layman's terms what governments do with money and how to protect themselves from the consequences.

Connecting with Tradition and Simplicity

 Connecting with Tradition and Simplicity

By: Rory Feek, Plain Values

On our recent trip to Amish country in Ohio to spend time with the team at the Plain Values office, Marlin put together a small gathering of folks from the community, and I sang a few songs and shared a few stories with them. But I think my favorite part of the trip was when he took us around and introduced us to his neighbors, Ivan and Emma, a young Amish couple in their mid-thirties.

We have an Amish community here in Etheridge, Tennessee, about an hour from our farm, and we make trips there often to purchase jams and jellies and other things. But I don’t know any of the people who live there and have never been given the opportunity to spend time talking with any of them.

Ivan and his family live in a beautiful brick home up on a hilltop, not at all like the white clapboard houses I’m used to seeing most Amish folks living in here in Tennessee and other places. After welcoming us inside, for about two hours, we sat on chairs in their living room, visited, and got to know each other.

We talked about our families and what it was like growing up Amish for Ivan and his wife, and English for myself. I don’t think our childhoods could have been any more different. He grew up as part of a family of 11 (she is from 12), rooted in a strong community of believers, extended family, and centuries of history. I, on the other hand, grew up with my mom, a single mother, struggling to survive with 5 children, and spent much of my youth living in trailer parks, and only getting to be around extended family now and then, but never enough.

But here we were, both grown, raising families of our own. Me, with a good bit more gray in my beard than he has in his, but both of us well past our days of youth. He had recently purchased the English-built house they live in and turned it into an Amish home. Ivan explained that the first thing he had to do was remove the forced-air electric a/c & heat system and install a wood stove, with only a main floor grate that allows the heat to rise to the rooms above. And then he disconnected the house from the electric power pole and covered up most of the electric outlets and light switches. Then they installed a few gas lights here and there.

Lights that I’d never seen before, especially not in the rows of lighting options at Lowes or Home Depot where most folks purchase their lights these days. And lastly, he’d put in a few solar panels so that they could run a few small things from time to time, but only in moderation. Ivan told me how it wasn’t so much that all of this is strictly ‘policed’ in his Amish community, as much as it is given as a guideline. It was also, as he explained, how he and his wife wanted to live and raise their children. Like most Amish in that area, Ivan shared that he and his wife wanted to live and raise their children in this way: off the grid, with no tv or internet.

His story about how he took this beautiful, modern house with all the up-to-date features and reworked it to suit him and his family better reminded me of what I have done to my phone. I had to—actually, I chose to—‘dumb down’ my smartphone to make it a tool that worked for me instead of me being a tool of the phone. My iPhone has no SIM card and no connection to the internet. It has no apps, no ability for googling or searching. And especially no texting. I just wanted to have a powerful 4K camera that fit easily into my pocket. In order to make it a blessing for us, I had to simplify it, like Ivan and Emma did in their house. They just need a good place to live their lives and raise their children, without the constant marketing of outsiders telling them how they should live or what they’re missing out on by not having the latest of the latest gadgets inside and around their home.

At one point in the conversation, we started talking about how the Amish do business and market in today’s society. That is where our worlds really crisscrossed. “Amish marketing?” I thought as, in my head, I imagined ads in a 100-year-old magazine or hand-painted signs at the end of driveways that said ‘homemade jam’ or ‘baked goods.’ I couldn’t have been more wrong. Ivan explained that the Amish are being pulled into using the same marketing tactics that the English are using. They now have to know about Google analytics and page ratings, Facebook ads and Instagram likes, and other platforms like Pinterest. “But how do you know about these things?” I asked, a little dumbfounded that his world is so much like mine. “Unfortunately, we are being pushed in that direction,” he said. “It is how business is done these days; even the Amish have to find ways to reach our customer.”

He explained that they don’t actually put the ads on Facebook or see how many likes an Instagram post gets; instead, the Amish businesses hire someone else to do that. Very similar to the way Amish do not drive cars, but hire drivers if the need arises, they have forbidden devices that allow their members internet access but will hire someone to market online if needed.

Ivan also shared a story of what life was like for the Amish half a century ago and how things have changed based on things his uncle shared with him. Back in the early 1970s, when Ivan’s uncle was still a young man, many Amish families all gathered together to bring the hay from the fields to the barn. In time, they were able to go together and purchase a baler that their families could share. Soon it was a job that only required two families to do. But before long, almost every Amish family had their own baler and could do the job themselves.

Ivan mused on how money has a way of becoming the driving force in our lives even when you don’t mean for it to be. At the end of the day, money has a strong influence, even for the Amish. He said that there aren’t that many Amish farmers anymore because there is more money to be made in building barns or doing other jobs off the farms. So their young people are being swept away just like ours. They aren’t actually leaving their farms and communities like our young people are, but a part of their hearts and a good bit of their livelihood seem to be.

It was interesting to see how blurry the line between the Amish and English cultures is becoming. I had imagined that somehow the Amish were immune, free from these things. I had no idea that even the Plain people have some of the same struggles that we, not-so-plain, folks have. 

As my visit with Ivan and Emma ended, I found myself encouraged in my own journey, and realized how similar our worlds are, even if they still seem to be about 100 years apart. We are both trying to move towards what is best for our families in the service of God, and often those choices are in complete conflict with the direction ‘the world’ is pulling us. In reality, life is about managing the delicate balance between the two.

I look forward to coming back to Ohio again one day soon. Hopefully in the fall when the autumn leaves are turning and it’s harvest time. And I hope I find myself in more living rooms, getting to visit with more of the fine people who live there in Amish country.

This article was published in a recent issue of Plain Values Magazine. If you want the latest stories every month, subscribe to the magazine at plainvalues.com. As a special thanks, get 10% off your subscription with the code “GAB23”!

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