The Gospel of the Hypocrites: Why Trump & the "Bible?Believing" Right Would Deport Jesus - By Michael Chavers

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The astonishing smugness of the author defies explanation. He swings his Bible as a weapon against a strawman MAGA/Christian nationalists/right-wing/Republican/ corporations/xenophobes (As if these were synonymous) without understanding its contents. But in actual fact he doesn't care about the Bible, he wants to smack down his political adversaries.

The ignorance on display is palpable. He seems to think that the commands of Jesus are directed toward the government. Apparently the separation of church and state is no longer an issue, for the author wants more government poverty programs as if those programs fulfil Jesus' will. That's right, food stamps, welfare, and unemployment insurance are what Jesus wanted.

So, Christians, et al, are the enemy because they are in the way of this wonderful new way. The generosity and compassion of Christians stand in stark testimony against the author. He hates them because they want to give away their own money instead of having government take it from them and waste it. They want to help their neighbors, not subsidize them. They start food ministries instead of wanting government programs.

But ironically, the author doesn't actually care about the poor. That's just an excuse. No, he cares about The Agenda, which is the replacement of of The System. The System is the evil, racist American culture presided over by the author's bogeymen. The Agenda is the dismantling of this horrible System so as to install a compassionate, fair, equity-based new system. 

But this glorious new system has failed every time it has been tried, it is responsible for the death of tens of millions. Socialism. This is the author's unstated goal. A system that completely removes individual compassion (with severe sanction, if necessary), making a new god that supplies every need and wipes every tear away.

So it's not about religion at all, it's about a political idea with a little bit of Christian lingo mixed in so as to fool the ignorant. It's about a gospel of greed, where it's good to envy the rich and to take their money. It's the gospel of unrighteousness, where the words of Jesus are adapted to a political agenda. It's the gospel of hate, where those who truly want to walk humbly with God are mocked, persecuted, and hated for rejecting the nanny state.

Hate. It drips from the author's word processor. The author needs to repent and get right with the true Jesus, not the Jesus of his politics.

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Project truck: 1960 F100 - for sale?

Introduction

For a solid year, April 2023 to April 2024, I cut and welded and sanded on a derelict 1967 Pontiac Lemans and chronicled it in this blog over 14 episodes. I sold that car and I thought I was done with rusty hulks. But for reasons I don't understand, even after swearing off involved and difficult car restoration projects, I bought another. Another, as in another 1967 Pontiac Lemans, which was chronicled over 13 episodes, October 2024 to June 2025. It sold the end of March 2026.

Since the shop has an open slot, I've been (sort of) looking for another project. Then my son put in an accidental bid at an online farm auction last week. No one else bid, so my son now is the owner of this pick up. And it's in my shop.

Here is the new acquisition:



We weren't absolutely sure what year it was, but after we got it home we searched it out and confirmed it was a 1960. The sequence below is 1960, '59, '58, and '57:


We drove about 90 miles out to Twin Bridges, MT, towing a flatbed trailer. It had snowed and rained the night before, so by the time we got to the farm the access was a sloppy, muddy mess. There was no way we were going to get the trailer in. 

We parked outside the gate and picked our way through the mud to meet up with the auction company rep. He said they had a gradall, and they could drag it out for us:



The operator dragged it all the way out to the trailer, and with the help of a skid steer lifted the truck up so that all we had to do was back the trailer under it. They set it down, we strapped it in, and off we went:

Now that it's safely ensconced in my shop, we could get a better look at it. First step was to clean it all out, which filled 1 1/2 garbage cans. Passenger side looks pretty good:

And the driver's side is not bad:

However, the driver's box side, in front of the rear tire, has some rust:

And the box floor is badly beat down:

Condition

The front floorboards are rusted out, but the back areas under the seat are good. The steps look good. The dash is complete and not smashed up. The passenger side front underfloor brace is rusty. The lower lip of the hood is rusty, and there's a wide, shallow dent in the hood on the passenger side. A very poor Bondo repair was done to the driver's door. Door bottoms are not rusty. Both rear cab corners are rusted out. All the glass is bad, but the riser mechanisms and latches are all there and work.

The lower rear corners of both front fenders have been crudely through-bolted to the cowl. There's no transmission, but it was a floor shift 4 speed. There's a complete, unmolested Y block under the hood, and the aircleaner and valve covers were not removed like so many other old cars. The frame and suspension are in very good condition. Someone has replaced the original rear end for a 9 inch.

All four wheels turn, the steering works, the window chrome is complete and very nice, and the truck is pretty much complete. But everything on the body is dented, rusted, or damaged. Yet everything is fixable.

The Plan

My son hasn't decided how to proceed. He's considering several possibilities:

• Quick flip. Clean out the dirt and grime, check to see if the engine is free, and just sell it.
• Part it out and junk whatever's left.
• Slow flip. Make some crucial rust repairs (floors). My son has a t-5 trans that will fit. See if it will run. 
• Basic project. Get it running and driving. Brakes, wiring, driveline, glass.
• Involved project. Frame swap and make a 4x4 diesel.
• Hotrod. Late model running gear, body and paint, lowered with wheels and tires.

Considering it's a truck he really doesn't want, he may opt to not mess with it, which though understandable would be a shame. It's rough, but it's rebuildable and would make a neat project. In fact, it's well within the skill set of the average mechanically-minded person.

This post will be updated from time to time.

Original Song using Suno: Like an Ocean

A couple of months ago I made a post regarding an A.I. song generator called Suno. I uploaded many of my songs, my melodies, chords, and lyrics to Suno, and it essentially gave my songs a band. A very real sounding band.

So rather than spending thousands of dollars in a recording studio, Suno takes my original songs and arranges them and produces amazing sounding demos.

"Like an Ocean" is a song I wrote in 2012.

Audio link here.

I hope you enjoy it and share it.

A Faceborg conversation about being a house of prayer

Me: 

What revelation did you get regarding being a house of prayer? I could tell something was dropped on you.

Elijah:

This was a new encounter for me with the Father in that I was speaking with his voice and it was one of stern intensity in corrective discipline. I was honored to be releasing his heart but was gripped by a holy fear because what he was saying was confronting things in me and was flowing from an immense place of still, yet massive power. It was somewhat like when a child disobeys their parent, is being corrected gently in a public place, but eventually, because they are not heeding their parent, the parent takes their child by their arm and forcefully and intentionally lifts/carries/drags their child to a place of more intense and intentionally direct correction! This was Father’s manner, countenance and movement and what he was addressing was a misalignment with his heart: he has called his dwelling place a house of prayer but this was not the stance of his people. We have filled it with all kinds of things, but prayer is a very small percentage of the activity contained IN the mix: it is not the house.

Jesus the Socialist

The political Left is fond of quoting Jesus when He can be made to serve The Agenda. The rest of the time, not so much. They don't actually believe in Him, but when His teachings are carefully isolated and contextualized, well, they are certainly useful to beat down conservatives and Christians and further The Agenda.

One Leftist talking point is that Jesus was a socialist. Aside from the patently offensive idea that Jesus' ministry was political, it is very nearly laughable that anyone could consider Jesus to be in favor of a centralized government redistributing wealth. 

Bad Worship Songs: Living God - by Bede Benjamin-Korporaal, Jessie Early, Kory Miller, and Tyler Roberts (Red Rocks Worship)

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned?

We think an excellent worship song should contain the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• Lyrics that do not create uncertainty or cause confusion
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness
• Not excessively metaphorical
• Not excessively repetitive
• Jesus is not your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with this song, Living God.

Video link.

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Unclear Evangelism Leads to Unclear (and False) Conversions - by John Lee

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author is pastor of a baptist church in California. His church website has one of the most detailed statements of faith we have ever read. From it we were attempting to ascertain the author's doctrinal perspective, and it is definitely Calvinistic. From the statement of faith:

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

This is textbook Calvinistic jargon, with their typical emphasis on Election. So the reader knows, this is the doctrine that God long ago chose who He would save.

Why is this relevant? It's simple. 

First, the author writes about the need for effective evangelism, which suggests that evangelism techniques are somehow relevant to people getting properly saved. Yet the church he pastors believes that God has already chosen the saved.

We acknowledge the commands of Scripture regarding preaching the Gospel. Nevertheless, we simply note the obvious: Evangelism, whether properly done, done poorly, or not done at all, has no effect on who will get saved. If God has chosen, then nothing will change that.

Second, the author bemoans his altar call experiences as if they were not genuine in some way. He doesn't really tell us at what point he was saved, but it seems that at least one of these experiences was real. 

He acknowledges that salvation is "the miraculous work of God’s Spirit," but seems certain he is saved. And this is crucial. He doesn't know. No one knows, only God. The author may be a false convert even now. 

Many Christians who persevered for decades and bore much fruit of the Spirit have fallen away. Many mature believers, theologians, and pastors have stumbled or wandered and have never returned. Probably every one of them thought of themselves as certainly saved. But apparently they were false converts. The fact of the matter is, no one can be secure, simply by thinking he's been properly evangelized, discipled, or has a long history in the church.

This of course means the author's presentation is entirely irrelevent if he were to be consistent with his doctines.

Lastly, the author does quote snippets of several Scriptures, but none of them are about evangelism. None of them are illustrative of "clear conversions." 

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The spirit of witchcraft vs. Holy Spirit freedom

This is going to be direct and possibly offensive. 

The spirit of witchcraft is operating when there is

• Seeking position and false humility
• Flattery and a critical spirit
• Form of godliness and secret debauchery
• Generosity with resentfulness
• Bible knowledge and fruitlessness
• Bible knowledge without mercy
• Discernment without love
• Seated with Christ with arrogance and presumption
• Rebuking the devil without holiness

Christians: You've Been Lied To... The Forbidden Knowledge Series - by Rev. Valerie Love

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author is a self-described "Christian witch." What exactly is Christian about her religion? She claims to know and explain the real Jesus, which consists mostly of rejecting every historical and biblical claim about him. Basically her religion name-drops Jesus but in every other way is indistinguishable from paganism. 

We mean no disrespect to the author, but we require more than her word about what she espouses. She will make many claims, but document none of them. So, what we will read below is nothing more than undocumented opinions about some other dude named Jesus.

Lastly, despite the title, the author will identify no lie. What she does do is to point out things she disagrees with, but does not explain how they are lies.

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Hitler didn't start with camps - faceborg memes

A Leftist faceborg friend posted this:



Transcript: Hitler didn't start with camps, he started with:

• Making Germany great again
• Banning books
• Targeting the press
• Blaming immigrants
• Creating enemies from neighbors
• Defunding the arts
• Stoking fear of outsiders
• Demonizing educators

Sound familiar? Or should I type louder?

****

Actually, we don't need him to type louder, he should type more rationally.

Flower Power: T.U.L.I.P. Analyzed and Applied - by Rut Etheridge III

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The author has a somewhat peculiar approach to his Calvinism. He doesn't so much explain his doctrines as much as he assumes them. With this assumption he wants to explain how the Calvinist should respond and live in keeping with Calvinism.

That's what Calvinists always do: Explain Calvinism. Over and over again. They will never explain the Bible without explaining Calvinism. 

The author only manages to quote two irrelevant Scriptures in this entire article. We therefore must deem it Bad Bible Teaching.

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Leadership and Service in Christ’s Church - by Dennis Johnson

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author is a cessationist, which means he believes the "supernatural" activities and gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today. His entire thinking process is colored by this, so much so that he uses words incorrectly, overlooks key Scriptures right in the middle of passages he references, and teaches more to his tradition than he does the Scriptures.

In addition, the author repeatedly uses the Christian vernacular "Word" to refer to the Scriptures. This is a continual irritant to us, because the "Word" is not the "Scriptures." We will explain below.

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Bad worship songs: Elohim - Bethel Music, Aubree Archibeck

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned?

We think an excellent worship song should contain the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• Lyrics that do not create uncertainty or cause confusion
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness
• Not excessively metaphorical
• Not excessively repetitive
• Jesus is not your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with this song, Elohim.

Video link.

Government prosperity

Introduction

It seems there are many who believe that the measure of a successful economy is how much money government has and how much is spent. The government spends so much money it could give every single person in the US more than $20,000. Every single year:

The federal government is projected to spend roughly $7 trillion in fiscal year 2026, making it the largest single entity of spending on Earth.

The numbers involved here are colossal. $7 trillion, for all practical purposes, is an inconceivable amount. So much so that other colossal numbers pale by comparison. This quote attributed to Everett Dirksen (a former congressman and senator) illustrates the concept:

A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

These kinds of numbers have a numbing effect on the mind, leading many people to simply choose to not think about it.

Stop Trying to Discover Your Spiritual Gift. Start Serving the Church - by Alistair Chalmers

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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On one hand the author acknowledges spiritual gifts, but then seems to dismiss them in favor of just volunteering to serve the church with what you're good at. In doing so the author does his best to avoid some uncomfortable Scriptures.

The author never does manage to actually explain what spiritual gifts are. So, we shall do the author's work for him. "Spiritual gifts" in the Greek is pneumatikos charisma, of the spiritual realm, and, empowerment. The two words appear together only once in the Greek text, in Romans 1:11: 

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong...

charisma hymin pneumatikon
    gift      to you    spiritual

but the connection between the two is clearly presented in Scripture. Every spiritual gift is a spiritual empowerment. 

This is quite different than a natural skill or ability. While it is certainly true that a person's natural ability might give a hint of a spiritual gift, a spiritual gift is a notably a supernatural endowment. 

It is clear that some of these spiritual endowments make the author uncomfortable, because they are unnecessarily supernatural. The reason is, the author is a cessationist who doesn't believe in prophecy, tongues, words of knowledge, healing, or miraculous powers. Yet all these are listed as gifts. 

So rather than engage these uncomfortable things the author either doesn't mention them or glosses over them. Though he manages to quote a few Scriptures, he doesn't quote any part of the verses that mention spiritual gifts.

We must therefore regard this as Bad Bible Teaching.

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Why I'm a Calvinist - by Kyle Borg

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The author is colored by his Calvinism to the point where he cannot see or understand what the Scriptures clearly teach. In the one instance he actually recognizes a contrary perspective he does not discuss it.

He begins with Dinesh D'Souza but never responds to his claims. Rather, he just moves on to spout his Calvinism. That's what Calvinists always do. They never teach the Bible unless they can include their Calvinism. Calvinism is their bottom line, and it must be continually taught, reinforced. reiterated, and restated.

This is very nearly cultic behavior. It is certainly Bad Bible Teaching.

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Will Christians Really Judge the World? - by Alistair Chalmers

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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On the whole this is a good presentation, which is the first time we are able to say this about Mr. Chalmers. He explains the topic well, uses the Scriptures correctly, and even reaches a proper and edifying conclusion. 

Except on a couple of points, where his Calvinism/Reformed doctrine creeps in. Let's take a moment to examine those two items.

First, he writes,

"For those who are in Christ, the final judgment is not a trial to determine whether Christ has paid enough for our sins, the gospel has already answered that question." 

Jesus did not pay for our sins. There is no Bible verse that says such a thing. Rather, he paid for us: 

1 Cor. 7:23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 

1Pe. 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

1Ti. 2:5-6 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time.

There was no exchange. No bargaining. Nothing changed hands. Jesus didn't pay anybody to redeem us because no one was owed anything. Paying for our sins is not a concept found in the Bible.

Jesus' death was not financial, it was sacrificial.  

We discuss this in detail here.

The second issue is this:

"We are sinners who deserve judgment. And yet the Judge entered his own courtroom. The one who will judge the living and the dead came into the world and stood condemned in the place of sinners. At the cross, Christ bore the judgment his people deserved." 

Jesus' death was not a legal transaction. There is no courtroom where evidence is presented, and there is no presumption of innocence. There is no prosecutor, no jury, and no defense attorney. 

There is no verse in the Bible that tells us that Jesus walked into court and took our place. None. Jesus did not substitute Himself for punishment, for indeed, no legal jurisdiction would allow such a thing. 

Jesus did not die in our place. Rather, He gave His life for our sins:

1Pe. 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

Ga. 2:20 The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Ep. 5:2 ...just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

1Ti. 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men...

Tit. 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness...

"For" in all these verses is huper, which never means "in the place of." Huper means on behalf of, for the sake of, concerning. It was for our benefit He endured the cross. It was for our sake His blood was spilled. 

Nor was Jesus punished for our sins. He died to spill His blood, for "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). The blood itself is completely effectual:

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins... 

 

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

Jesus' sacrificial death alone is sufficient to satisfy the Father's wrath. There is no need or reason to punish Jesus in addition.

Therefore, 

• Jesus' death was not a legal proceeding.

• Jesus' death was not financial. 

• Jesus' death was not substitutionary. 

• Jesus' death was sacrificial. 

We discuss this in great detail here.

If the reader is able to keep these truths in mind, the article will be of benefit.

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Do We Have Free Will? - by Scott Christensen

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The author wrestles unsuccessfully with the contradictions caused by his Calvinism. The basic problem, unresolved by any Calvinist, is that if God chooses then we did not choose. That's it, the bare, unvarnished equation. But Calvinists like the author wants to hold mankind responsible for choices mankind did not make, for the purpose of absolving God from bad outcomes. 

It requires quite of bit of verbal gymnastics to attempt to escape the Calvinistic trap, a futile thing no matter the rhetorician.

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What is the gift of speaking in tongues? - Gotquestions.org

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Gotquestions is supposed to be a provider of Bible explanation. It represents itself as a sober, unbiased source of truth. But in fact it has a definite doctrinal tilt toward Reformed/Calvinist and cessationist. 

For the serious Bible student, Gotquestions is not a trustworthy source.

We see that quite clearly in Gotquestions' explanation of tongues. They make absolutely no effort to explore the charismatic doctrinal viewpoint at all.

We are therefore happy to assume that role and explain the other side.

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What Is the Job of the Pastor? - by Collin Hansen, Jonathan Leeman

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author actually explains the job of the elders, not the pastor. He wants very badly for the two to be the same, because he wants the pastor to be a leader, maybe even the chief leader, as is practiced in most churches today.

But biblically speaking, pastors aren't leaders or even teachers. They are shepherds. They care for the flock. They comfort, encourage, restore, counsel, and reconcile. They might teach or lead, but the Bible doesn't tell us this. 

In fact, the author will never explain biblical pastoring. He will never use the word "shepherd." 

The bottom line is, the author cannot bring himself to upset the apple cart. The traditional church with a CEO pastor is a given for him. He either likes it this way or isn't willing to challenge it. He seems to know better, but unfortunately he is part of the system and cannot unplug from it.

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