SOUTH BAY UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, ET AL., v. GAVIN NEWSOM, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA, ET AL.

 Late Friday, the SCOTUS ruled that California must allow it's churches to open, but amazingly, allowed the state to restrict activity and attendance.

We discussed the First Amendment on Moment of Clarity Saturday and this topic came up.

Most of my information comes from ScotusBlog, where I often go to get informed on recent rulings.

I'll boil it down for you.

SCOTUS refused to hear cases like this eight months ago.
They heard this one.

Michigan was under similar lockdowns as California last year and my friends William Wagner and David Kallman pursued a suit against Governess Gretchen Whitmer in Federal Court, wherein she caved immediately before a hearing took place. Yet California remained on lockdown.

Of the justices, Thomas and Gorsuch wanted immediate full relief. No limits.
Oddly, Alito wanted 30 days for California to present evidence on limits to attendance and singing(!) but voted for immediate opening.

Barret felt that since the plaintiffs only challenged attendance, limits and restrictions on singing were not argued for, so she didn't opine that they should be lifted. They didn't say "Simon Says".
Kavanaugh was in agreement with her.

Concerning singing and limits, Roberts said “federal courts owe significant deference to politically accountable officials with the ‘background, competence, and expertise to assess public health.’”, but he felt the churches should open.

So that's six for opening but only 2.5 for no limits on attendance and singing.

Robert's "deference" is reflected in the opinion of the three leftist/progressive/authoritarian justices.

They felt that as Justices, they are not scientists and should defer to the "science" regarding denying the God-given rights of citizens respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

I'm just a citizen, but it seems readily apparent to myself and a number of others that "prohibiting the free exercise thereof", such as not allowing chanting or signing, would be, let's see, what's the word..."unconstitutional" comes to mind.

So, thankfully, Donald J Trump appointed three SCOTUS justices who actually knew what the Constitution says.

The "justices" that defer to the "science", and it must be asked "Which science?", are basically admitting that they support an administrative state of technocrats with no restraint by our Constitution.

This should be grounds for their removal from office, but I suggest we wait until after Xi Biden is removed from office, shortly after 2022.

There is another first amendment issue here. The establishment clause should forbid the state from establishing this religion of "science", a faith in a set of outcomes that looks for a source of support.

There are many denominations (sets of belief) of science. Why is the state endorsing one over the other, or any?

Where Do We Go From Here?

 

The Crisis

by Thomas Paine

December 23, 1776

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

So many are posting, like many did in 2012, that they are giving up.
But in 2016 we prevailed.

For a while.

Will we prevail again?

Or quit?

How Would Jesus Vote?

 I just got off the phone with the author of this book:

Jesus Is Involved In Politics!

I'll be interviewing Neil Mammen Saturday.
I thought we'd just be discussing the book, but we'll be talking about the Church in persecution in the United States.
Charlie Kirk will be speaking at his California church Saturday.

Neil's church is facing heavy fines (millions) for remaining open.
I opened a real can of worms talking to him and am looking forward to talking to him more on air and with some of the others that are joined in the defense of our religious liberties he is putting me in touch with.

And if you don't go to church but you are a moral person?
If they take your religious liberties, they'll dictate your moral sensibilities, too.

I left the church I served in for 25 yrs because the pastor was too timid to stand up to the governess.
Even after her anti-church policy had been de-fanged.

I found a church that was/is willing to stand for Liberty.

God wants a people that are Bold and Courageous.

Shopping and Other News

 I was shopping at Meijer's last night and everyone was polite and I gave space to anybody I was walking by.

When I was leaving the sporting goods department, a young man who was walking back and forth aimlessly actually walked into my path.

I stepped back and waited for him to realize what he had done knowing it wasn't intentional.

He turned and saw me and looked startled and stepped back a little bit spreading his arms and hands as if he were to steady himself against an imaginary wall behind him.

The words out of his mouth were not "Excuse me", they were "You're not wearing a mask!"

I bet he went to public school.

People wear masks who know that they don't work.

They don't want the hassle, they want to follow the rules, they don't want to upset others.

Not to be harsh, but they are enablers.

If you can get away with it, get away with it.
Or THEY will keep getting away with it.

And: Never Forget.

A Poem for the Day

He didn’t only light a room
He did away with dark

An MBA who sang and danced
I give you my friend, Mark

He capered in a play I wrote
Don’t worry, I won’t quote it

No need to say he played the part
Much better than I wrote it

So gifted that he stood above
But still one of the guys

You knew he heard you with his heart
Because he listened with his eyes

So, when I tell you who he was
Your ears, dear listeners, lend

Executive at Freddie Mac
And husband, father, friend

Then like three thousand others
Who left home unconcerned

He made a trip one fateful day
From which no one returned

Two weeks of doubt
Two weeks of prayer

Please tell me that
He wasn’t there

That somehow from the fire and dust
He got away

He must.  He must. 

The terror, the disaster
The pain, the loss, the waste

What horror to imagine
The moment that he faced

 I know though from the man he was
And by the life he chose

That he, when it was finished,
Instead of falling, rose

Tarzana Joe https://www.tarzanajoe.com/a-poem-for-the-day/ 

Mark Schurmeier 9/11/ Peace Fund
Wake Forest University
Wfu.edu

Your Knee Is On My Neck. I Can't Breathe!

We are being oppressed by our local and state governments.

They are telling us we cannot worship in assembly.

We cannot conduct business as we have for centuries.

We cannot congregate.

Our voice in the public square is being suppressed.

Our lives are threatened by rioters and the rioters are protected.

Hey government! Your knee is on my neck I can't breathe free.

How long will a populace have their rights trampled by a governess who clearly acts in an illegal manner, uncontested by their duly elected representatives or the judiciary?

When will they have had enough and rise up to take matters in their own hands?

When will the masses realize they have been conned, driven by an unwarranted fear to submission to a dictator?

On Your American Heritage I talked with historian and author William J. Federer.

We discussed his latest book "SOCIALISM - The Real History from Plato to the Present: How the Deep State Capitalizes on Crises to Consolidate Control"

It's fascinating and engaging. And his discourse on the Jacobins and Antifa and the attempt to overthrow our civilization to remake it in their own image, socialist hell, is worth it.

But the insight on the influences of our founding is eye-opening.
I thought I knew a lot of this stuff, but learned much more.

You can listen to the conversation here: Your American Heritage 8 8 2020 

Why Not Hydroxycloroquine?

Well.

If it works:

• We don't need a lockdown.
• We don't need masks.
• We could restore our economy.
• Churches could revert to previous occupancy.
• You couldn't sell a vaccine.
• We would vote in November.
• Trump would be re-elected.

Investment

Many people invest into many things in their life.
Almost everyone invests into their homes, their retirement, their lifestyle, marriage, family, nation, community.
Many invest into their church.
I have done that repeatedly.

There is a practice in many churches wherein the pastor is addressed as "Pastor" as if that was his given name. I was, and am not, used to this practice.  The first churches I joined believed in the "five-fold" ministry. Evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, apostle.

There is some discussion as to what these positions entail today, particularly prophet and apostle.
The pastorate is an office, not a title.
The pastor is another member of the local body with his own gifts, but is often the ruler.

I have invested physically, financially and emotionally in the church I have been involved with for over twenty years.

Leading construction projects, installing heating systems, maintaining the A/C, plumbing.

Teaching, befriending, interacting.
I am a teacher. I have been asked after ten minutes of conversation to teach a congregation in another church, because that is my calling. And I did for a couple years. But then we returned to the church we are presently in. Or have been in.

With Covid-19, our church, along with others in the state (and nation), closed it's doors.
While this seemed reasonable at the start, it soon became apparent that this was not reasonable and an intrusion on our religious liberty.

An acquaintance of mine, Professor William Wagner, whom I believe is going to be a closer acquaintance (if not friend) soon, sued the State of Michigan, and Governess Whitchmer rescinded her restraints on houses of worship immediately.

I was elated. 

I'll be frank, our church has maintained social distancing for years. It has shrunk in size to where people sit together as families, but these groups have had 6' between them for years.

I thought for sure that our pastor, who I considered a friend, would open the doors, and I told him as much. He told me that he wasn't comfortable, that the surrounding community would think less of us for doing so. So we would wait.
I let him know that I wasn't comfortable being in a church that was afraid to meet together or would bow to the whim of the state.

I asked him if he had consulted the congregation and whether I had missed that e-mail.
When he said no, I asked him if he had consulted the board, the three deacons, of which I am not one because of my prior marriage and remarriage (something I believe is unscriptural and to which he later agreed).

He said no, but that he would.

He called me after that meeting and said that they had agreed with him to keep the doors closed a while longer, but that by this day (today) we would be meeting at church again.
I decided to be patient.

Today, "church" was held at the property. The worship team was in the building and played some songs to an empty room, which was broadcast on Facebook.
The congregation sat outside in their cars, watching (I imagine) on their phones.
The pastor then went out to the parking lot to preach, while the congregation listened on their car radios, or their phones.

I watched from my home. I would have been embarrassed to do otherwise.

I have embarrassed myself for Christ (and at other times because I'm an idiot) but this would be for neither of those reasons.

I hate to lose my investment in this church, but I have lost confidence in the "leadership" of the pastor.
He is a genuinely good guy. He is earnest and sincere.

But to sit in cars, watching a guy stand in front of their cars preach to them, at this point is ridiculous.

Jesus sent His disciples by twos to preach the good news, and to heal the sick. Presumably lepers were involved. I doubt they stood at a distance and yelled the good news to them. Or loudly called at them to be healed from six feet or more. With masks on. After applying Purex. 

Thanks for listening.

addendum:
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Thoughts

Realize that the major reason for the booming economy of 2017-2019 was the removal of much of the oppressive regulatory activity promoted by the left.
Consider that the current strangulation of the economy is due to  oppressive regulatory activity promoted by the left.
Remember that.
The left hates a healthy economy because it sets you free from them.

My 87 year old Father-in-law was admitted Saturday with Covid.
The record says he was throwing up and had a fever, which he denies.
They released him yesterday. It was pneumonia.
Yet they scared him into thinking he might have infected his wife.
He's walking around now, and is gone to the store to pick up his prescriptions. Left the oxygen tank at home.
I'll bet he's still statistically a Covid admission.
Inflate the curve.

I just got back from Meijer's Grocery.
Most were wearing masks.
Except for myself and a few others.
Like that paper over your mouth will stop a virus.
Checking out, a number of employees and customers with masks half off. Some down below their chin while they were talking.
I got a good laugh in produce where a guy was trying to ask a question and nobody could understand him til he took it off.
They had lot's of TP, little bread and little rice.
I don't think that's a product of hoarding,
That's a product of our government driving people into poverty.

I Still Live In A Totalitarian State

Gaylene Deitering, Ed Bonderenka and Phil Stargell discuss the unlawful Michigan Quarantine Edict with Professor William Wagner of the Great Lakes Justice Center on Moment of Clarity.

I was thrilled to be able to schedule an interview with Professor Wagner again on this subject.
A Christian Scholar who has argued before the SCOTUS.
He made a good argument here.

https://anchor.fm/ed-bonderenka/episodes/Moment-of-Clarity-5-02-2020-edhobp

What's so Good about Good Friday?

When they take the Son of God and put Him to death, why is that considered good?

Because when He died that horrific tortured death on Calvary, He took the punishment due us for our rebellion against God.

It was good for us. Was it good for Him?

When He arose from the dead on Easter, He proved that what He said was true. He had been predicting these moments to His followers for a couple years and they did not believe Him.

Until He did it.

The Bible says, "… who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 2:2).

So if Jesus came down from Glory, endured the cross, and went back to Glory, what was His net gain?

Us.
We were the joy set before Him.

We are the bride He travelled to a far land to obtain (like Jacob did, among other examples).
Granted we're not the finished product, yet, but if we cooperate with His plan, He sees something in us He wants to spend eternity with.
I'm good with that. That's good.

I want to share a cool thing with you.
If you're not a Christian, please read anyway, because it never hurts to have a little information about what those whackos around you believe.

A few people know that Psalm 22 is a description of the crucifixion of Jesus that was written hundreds of years before the event.
David saw it in a vision and it shakes him up so much that he starts out with:
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Many Christians have been taught that, as He was crucified, Jesus was crying this out to His Father in heaven, because the Father could not bear to look on Jesus, our scapegoat.
That He was separated from the Father.
That Jesus was accursed (and the Father could not be in fellowship with Jesus because it would violate His holiness) because Jesus was carrying the penalty of the sins of the world.

Give me a break.

<< 1 Corinthians 12:3 >> Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed.

Jesus and the Father had this worked out since before the universe was created, and at the last minute The All-Powerful Ruler of More than the Universe flinches?
No.
If the Father and the Son (who with the Spirit are referred to as the "Godhead" in perfect unity) ever separated, I believe the universe would crumble.

As you read the gospels, particularly John's, you see that the Pharisees (some of them, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, were good guys, by the way) were asking Jesus for a sign that he was the Messiah. He continually answered them that when they saw Him lifted up, that would be their sign.
Here He is, lifted up in front of them. He's surrounded by "strong bulls" (prison slang for guards), and the crowd is taunting Him. It's the scene predicted in Psalm 22 .
Then He quotes the first verse of Psalm 22.

This is called a "Remez". It's a teaching tool Jesus had used for 3 years.

When they hear this verse, they remember the rest of the Psalm.
The Pharisees had asked Jesus for a sign.
He said that they would have it when the Son of Man was lifted up.
(Remember that joke, "Here's your sign."?)
Can you imagine the look on their face when they get it?
This death on this cross by this man was predicted hundreds of years ago.
Here was their sign.
The ramifications are huge.

Do you get it?

These people did:
https://stream.org/did-god-abandon-jesus-on-the-cross/

All You Can Eat! Health Care

I worked with a guy a while back, and we went down south to a plant and the town had a farmers market in which was an All You Can Eat! restaurant.

Rocky was a tall thin guy and when he went to the buffet for the third time, I asked the waitress to tell him he had hit his limit.
That was all he could eat.
She did.
He had such a perplexed look on his face, and then he got it and turned to look at me and grinned.
It was perfect.

I wonder if our nation's obesity problem is aggravated by Golden Corral, The Sweden House and every Hampton Inn (and other hotels) in the country.

But I digress.

I just got back from vacation.
The hotels had  breakfast bars.
The Christmas meal was a buffet.
All I could eat.
Not almost all.
All.
I met the challenge.
I ate more than I would if I had ordered a la carte.
At least I cleaned my plate.
Others, not so much.
Plates of food and cups of drink abandoned on vacated tables.

Now imagine all these people getting free health care.
See the problem?

Send Her Back

I have something to say about the outrage over the Trump rally crowd chanting "Send Her Back!"


Send Her Back!

Send Her Back!

Send Her Back!

Ilhan Omar is most probably a perpetrator of election fraud.

I've been following this on Powerline Blog for a few months now.

DAVID STEINBERG: TYING UP LOOSE THREADS IN THE CURIOUS CASE

I haven't been posting anything on it previously because so many other good sources are out there, and in this particular case, there is so much not previously explained clearly.

Now it is.

She came to this country fraudulently under an assumed name (Omar).

Her brother (of course, now with a different clan name) had escaped Somalia to England.

She married her brother in England so that he could come to this country fraudulently.

Everything else, the tax fraud, the bogus marriages, is bonus.

She doesn't belong here, much less in Congress.

I wonder who coached her in this fraudulent activity.

Send her back.

And Now This from Her Majesty

 Have a Happy Celebration of the Independence from Tyranny
to the
Greatest Nation-Experiment
the world has ever known.

May it survive the attack of many of it’s citizens, 

and may those attackers come to their senses,

or perish.

the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it’s natural manure.

2 + 2 = 4

When I read "transgendered woman" I assume, she’s really a woman.
That’s what the words say.
I didn't realize they meant "confused person with male genitalia pretending to be a woman".
I thought it meant "confused person with female genitalia pretending to be a man".

Tyranny is making me say or think something that is obviously untrue (to a sane mind).

2+2=4.

Maybe that should be our call sign.
Like when early Christians drew a fish in the sand with their toe while in a conversation as a secret signal to see if they were talking to a like-minded person.

2+2=4.

Addendum: 

Yesterday's episode of The Drift Radio Show
"Join hosts Gary Wellings and Ed Bonderenka as they discuss FISA declassification, deep state abuses of the system, investigations in DC and news of the week."

The Drift Radio Show

Join hosts Gary Wellings and Ed Bonderenka as they discuss the State of the Union Speech and the New Green Deal put forth by Democrats.

I'd feel remiss if I did not post this.
Some pretty good stuff inside.

And it's downloadable.

So What Are You Expected To Do?

Yesterday's Drift Radio Show.

Among other things, Gary and I played an audio clip of a woman threatened by a black man wearing a MAGA hat.
His hat inspired "fear" in her. It implied racism and hate towards her.

Well let me tell you how threatened I feel by your wearing a Che Guevera shirt, you little snowflake.
Che murdered people with impunity because of his socialist philosophy, like Lenin, Stalin, Castro, Pol Pot et al.
Scum that killed millions.
Would kill and enslave my family.

That woman, Nathan Phillips and the Black Israelites fear a MAGA hat?

Should no one fear an "indian" chanting and marching toward them while chanting some unintelligible nonsense?
Perhaps a War Chant?
Get's in your face? Stares at you while beating an animal skin with a club?

If I fear your intent, I will take you down.
Like a dog.
In the street.

You started it.
Lucky for you, you picked on a high school kid you bully.
But you knew he was unarmed in D.C.
You coward.

H/T https://accordingtohoyt.com/2019/01/26/rules-of-the-game/

Discussing the Disgusting Swalwell

Saturday's Radio Show.
I offer this to the connoisseur's of Talk Radio.
It's a new vintage.
Bold. Bubbly. With a certain edge.

A Discussion of Pot Legalization Among Other Things

We had a great show Saturday.
I'd be remiss if I didn't give you an opportunity to listen to it.

http://thedailydrift.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Upload-Drift-102718.mp3

Judge Kavanaugh, Then and Now

As for the allegations of Ford against Judge Kavanaugh,
If there were any truth to those allegations (which do not include rape but only laying on her fully clothed), if he admitted to them even, he is not that teenager.
I did horrible things as a young man.
I am not that man. Ask anyone who knows me today.

I had a friend, a pastor, who was a bootlegger as a youth.
He was a convicted felon.
He later learned accounting and had a tax business.
Years later, he applied to the IRS and they asked if he ever had a felony in his past.
On the drive to the interview he realized that they could not hire ex-felons.
In the interview, they asked him about the felony.
He answered "I'm glad you asked that!" and told them the story, ending with "I am not that man, I am born again."
He got the job.

BTW, he quit it two years later.
He could not, in good conscience as a Christian, do what the IRS required of him.

So much to say

So little you'd care about.