1) “Apocalyptic Islamic Ideology: The Most Important Factor In Iran’s Motivation Is Being Overlooked” (Mark Hitchcock, Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article — Iran’s government is an Islamic theocracy built on the foundational principle of Velāyat-e Faqīh, or the “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist.” This doctrine was developed by Ayatollah Khomeini as part of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran’s constitution places a “Guardian Jurist”—a religious cleric—at the head of the state. Currently, that is the Ayatollah Khamanei.
Behind all of this is the belief that clerics have to pave the way for the return of their Mahdi, the 12th Imam. They believe that preservation of the regime is the existential imperative for the Mahdi to return.
According to their view, the 12th Imam was born in 868 AD. He communicated with his followers through four deputies until 941 AD, after which he went into total seclusion and hiding. This Imam is expected to reappear in the end times to “usher in justice” and “put down tyranny”—an ironic premise considering the fact that Iran today is the most tyrannical regime in the world.
2) “Always Ready: Speaker Johnson Gives Biblical Defense of Borders” (Joshua Arnold, Washington Stand)
From the article — “Borders and walls are biblical — from the Old Testament to the New, God has allowed us to set up our civil societies and have separate nations,” Johnson began. Fact check: this is true. As Paul put it to the pluralistic skeptics of Athens, God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26).
At the same time, “We are to welcome the sojourner and love our neighbor as ourselves,” Johnson allowed. “But what’s also important in the Bible is that assimilation is expected, and anticipated, and proper. When someone comes into your country, comes into your nation, they do not have the right to change its laws or to change its society. They’re expected to assimilate. We haven’t had a lot of that going on.”
Indeed, the same law that taught Israel to welcome the sojourner anticipated both political and religious assimilation. The Lord commanded Moses, “Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 31:12).
On this point, it’s worth noting how Johnson was able to affirm two separate biblical teachings that could be held in tension with one another. Those who misuse the Bible often take one verse or teaching and over-extrapolate it through human reason, to the point that they make it contradict other biblical teachings. The way to protect ourselves against such misuse of Scripture to know and understand the whole counsel of God, so that we affirm everything the Bible affirms — even if it includes ideas that are, or seem to be, in tension. Johnson modeled this well.
3) “The Loss of Trust in Legacy Media” (John Kass)
From the article — So, how did the Legacy media lose the public trust? Simple: By mocking the people who bought the newspapers and supported the advertising, by opening the newsroom wide to the snobs of the American left, by adopting the language of the left. And by manufacturing demigods like Barack Obama to lead the country where it did not want to go.
Journalism lost something irreplaceable as corporate legacy media created Obama as something of a plaster saint. What they lost, or abandoned, was the one thing a journalist needs to do the job: Curiosity.
And he, Obama, led American journalism into a special hell, having his shadowy Deep State operatives like the CIA’s John Brennan and the FBI’s James Comey manufacturing phony evidence to cast Donald Trump as the tool of Putin’s Russia—even though they knew that was totally untrue. But that didn’t stop Deep State, establishement newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post to push these notions into Pulitzer Prizes, and American journalism sealed itself into the vault of horror.
4) “The National Miseducation Association. In addition to being consumed with left-wing politicking, the teachers’ unions inflict significant harm on the nation’s children.” (Larry Sand, American Greatness)
From the article — So, what do we do to counter the destructive power wielded by teachers’ unions? Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hardly a right-winger and a champion of private-sector unions, wrote in an August 1937 letter to the National Federation of Federal Employees that “All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.”
But trying to outlaw them now is a nonstarter. The best way to defang the unions is for teachers to stop supporting them.
5) “In Nations Across The Globe, Technology Is Becoming A Dangerous Tool To Target Freedoms” (Mark Henry, Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article — As with any technological device, it’s not the instrument itself that poses a threat, it’s how and for what purpose the technology is used by those having access to it.
In the hands of individuals, organizations, or political bodies whose intentions are noble, morals are honorable, and values are righteous, innovations and advancements in differing scientific fields can prove to be tremendous blessings. Productivity can be increased, burdens of daily life can be eased, hinderances that limit one’s ability to thrive can be removed, and hope can be kindled for those suffering from various disabilities.
However, in the hands of those who are selfish, those who strive for power and control, and those driven by wicked ambitions, technology can quickly become weaponized against those that are ignorant, unsuspecting, gullible, or powerless to stop it. Freedom of speech and expression can be censored, access to different locations and establishments can be restricted, and ability to purchase certain products can be limited, all because of something said, done, or believed that contradicts the “established” or “approved” policies and positions of those in power.
Related articles: “Developers Design AI To Talk To Each Other — And They Immediately Made Their Own Religion (Answers In Genesis, Harbinger’s Daily)… “AI And The Antichrist: As Artificial Intelligence Becomes More Powerful, Serious Spiritual Questions Arise” (Greg Laurie, Harbinger’s Daily)
Other excellent articles from the week:
* “Shaping Young Minds: UAE Cuts Scholarships To Study In The UK, Citing Radical Islamic Ideologies In British Universities” (Thomas Fretwell, Harbinger’s Daily)
* “The West’s pragmatic fallacy: Qatar represents the Jeffrey Epstein of world politics.” (Melanie Phillips, JNS)
* “It’s Time For Trump To Win The West’s Civil War” (Bradley A. Thayer, Federalist)
* “The British state treats its adults like children: From smoking bans to arrests over tweets, the UK is being run like an oversized kindergarten.” (Sheila Lewis, spiked!)
* “On Remigration and the Question of Belonging in Europe” (Alexandros Dolgov, The European Conservative)