This is the second part of an edited <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/michael-knowles-live-at-yaf-ordo-amoris-the-hierarchy-of-political-love" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a>, titled “‘Ordo Amoris’: The Hierarchy of Political Love,” delivered by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Knowles</a> at the YAF Freedom Conference in San Diego, California.
* * *
Saint Thomas’ reasoning is, as always, clear and persuasive in his discussions of the order of charity. In the “Summa Theologiae,” Secunda Secundae, Question 26, he writes, “There must needs be some order in things loved out of charity, which order is in reference to the first principle of that love, which is God.” This expression alone proves editor of The Yale Review James Surowiecki had no idea what he was talking about when he <a href="https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1885302779058557080" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that the ordo amoris is not in the Gospels.
Not only is the ordo amoris in the Gospels, but it is also the principle articulated in the most famous line of the Gospels, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%3A37-39&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matthew 22:37-39</a>: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
There is, in other words, an order of charity — a hierarchy of love — and this order is the very foundation of Christian morality. We must love God first, and only then and upon that basis do we love everything else. And this order does not just comprise two categories. It isn’t just “God” and “everyone else.”
We find further scriptural evidence of the order of charity in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%205%3A8&amp;version=RSV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1 Timothy 5:8</a>: “If any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” A man does not necessarily disown the faith — he is not necessarily worse than an unbeliever — if he does not care for some random guy on the other side of the world. We have greater obligations to those who are closest to us.
This moral insight is attested to both by philosophy and religion — reason and revelation — and yet many liberals deny it. And we know they deny, not just because of their snarky tweets about JD Vance, but also from social science. Shortly after the ordo amoris debate kicked off, a graph went viral on social media.
<div id="attachment_886629" style="width: 678px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-886629" class="wp-image-886629 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/41467_2019_12227_Fig5_HTML.jpg" alt="Heatmaps indicating highest moral allocation by ideology, Study 3a. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Note. The highest value on the heatmap scale is 20 units for liberals, and 12 units for conservatives. Moral circle rings, from inner to outer, are described as follows: (1) all of your immediate family, (2) all of your extended family, (3) all of your closest friends, (4) all of your friends (including distant ones), (5) all of your acquaintances, (6) all people you have ever met, (7) all people in your country, (8) all people on your continent, (9) all people on all continents, (10) all mammals, (11) all amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish, and birds, (12) all animals on earth including paramecia and amoebae, (13) all animals in the universe, including alien lifeforms, (14) all living things in the universe including plants and trees, (15) all natural things in the universe including inert entities such as rocks, (16) all things in existence. SOURCE: “Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circle.” Adam Waytz, Ravi Iyer, Liane Young, Jonathan Haidt, Jesse Graham. National Center for Biotechnology Information. National Library of Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31558713/" width="668" height="281" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/41467_2019_12227_Fig5_HTML.jpg 668w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/41467_2019_12227_Fig5_HTML-300x126.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px" />SOURCE: “Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circle.” Adam Waytz, Ravi Iyer, Liane Young, Jonathan Haidt, Jesse Graham. National Center for Biotechnology Information. National Library of Medicine.</div>
It’s from a 2019 <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31558713/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> titled, “Ideological Differences in the Expanse of the Moral Circle.” The graph depicts heat maps “indicating highest moral allocation by ideology.” The “moral circle rings” extend from the center outward. Care for “your immediate family” is in the center, followed by “all of your extended family,” then “all of your closest friends,” then “all of your friends (including distant ones),” then your acquaintances, people you’ve ever met, your countrymen, people on your continent, all people, all mammals, all other animals, all living creatures (including amoebae), all potential life in the universe (including aliens), all living things (including plants and trees), all non-living things (including rocks), and finally all things in existence.
The study found that conservatives, being normal, tend to care more about the things closest to them; they tend to care more about their immediate families than they care about rocks. Liberals, being the sort of people who hug trees and hate their dads, tend not to care more about things closer to them. The study found that “the more liberal people were, the more they allocated equally to humans and non-humans.” A distinguishing feature of Right-wingers is that they are more likely “to morally prioritize humans over nonhumans.”
Some libs have attempted to argue that conservatives simply misunderstand the study. They argue the study shows that conservatives don’t care more about their families than liberals do; it’s just that liberals care more generally. Now, even if that were true — and it’s a perfectly plausible hypothesis given liberals’ frequent inability to control their emotions — it would still be extremely disordered to care more about strangers than about one’s own parents. Even if they cared more overall — which, it turns out, they don’t.
Liberals really do care more about rocks and trees than they do about their own families. We don’t need a chart or study to show us that. Just ask a liberal about climate change and abortion. Liberals will rend their garments over environmental threats to the coral reef, but they’ll dance in the streets to celebrate the murder of their own children through abortion.
And, it turns out, the study shows as much. Because the study “constrained the number of units that participants could assign to each group, forcing participants to distribute moral concern in a zero-sum fashion” (i.e., the more concern they allocate to one circle, the less they can allocate to another circle). And the researchers did this because research suggests that’s how people really do distribute “empathy and moral concern.” Of course: It’s a finite world. We only have so many hours to worry. We only have so many tears to shed.
But just to prove how deep this moral perversion runs on the political Left, the researchers conducted another study to test what would happen if they did not constrain people to zero-sum moral thinking. And what they discovered was that “even when participants’ allocations were not constrained, the same pattern replicated.” Conservatives, the researchers showed, exhibit “greater concern and preference for family relative to friends, the nation relative to the world … and humans relative to non-humans.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
So what conclusion are we to draw from this? Is it just a matter of preference? “Conservatives love their family and friends; liberals love trees and rocks” — de gustibus non disputandum est! No accounting for taste! I don’t think so. Any reasonable person knows that one should care more for his children than for rocks and trees. If liberals do not, it is because they have made a moral error.
And the liberals didn’t even necessarily fall into this moral error because they’re wicked. More likely, I think, they fall into it because they’re trying (and failing) to be good. I suspect most of the time it actually comes from a place of love. But that love is misplaced. It’s out of order. And disordered love tends to evil, just as the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
G.K. Chesterton explains the phenomenon with regard to his friend, the socialist atheist George Bernard Shaw.
“Bernard Shaw,” Chesterton <a href="https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/439/orthodoxy2-3.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “has a heroically large and generous heart; but not a heart in the right place. And this is so of the typical society of our time. The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues.”
“When a religious scheme is shattered,” he concludes, “it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad.”
Our nation’s — our whole civilization’s — religious scheme has obviously been shattered. The vice president invoked Thomas Aquinas, and our political elites were left drooling and scratching their heads.
The scheme has been shattered, the virtues have wandered, and these wandering virtues — these errant loves — have caused our present political ills. The only remedy is to restore order — not just to our streets and our communities but to our loves — if for no other reason than that without order, without caring for ourselves and our own, we can’t properly care for anyone else either.

MixCollage-04-Mar-2025-09-54-AM-7123

Restoring The Order Of Love: The Remedy To Political Ills

Bible

Catholics

Christianity

Conservatives

Environmentalism

JD Vance

Liberals

Michael Knowles

Opinion

U.S. Politics

Young America's Foundation

This is the first part of an edited <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/michael-knowles-live-at-yaf-ordo-amoris-the-hierarchy-of-political-love">speech</a>, titled “‘Ordo Amoris’: The Hierarchy of Political Love,” delivered by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show">Michael Knowles</a> at the YAF Freedom Conference in San Diego, California.
* * *
It’s always nice to be in San Diego. I feel even better about it now that we have a functioning southern border again. We’re less than 20 miles from Tijuana. But since January 20, our odds of running into face-tattooed foreign gangsters in the Gaslamp Quarter has dropped precipitously. 
The ones who are still here are most likely in hiding right now. They know that at any moment, Tom Homan might leap out from behind a corner with a big butterfly net and drag them all back to Mexico. This is a happy turn of events. But some on the Left seem not to realize it. Some of the Left argue — and even some on the squishy Right argue — that rounding up and deporting even the very worst illegal aliens in our country is somehow anti-American.
Now, whatever you think about mass deportations, it’s silly to argue that it’s anti-American. Deporting people is a tried-and-true American tradition, whether we’re talking about Indian Removal in 1830; the Palmer Raids in 1919 and 1920, which deported foreign communists; deportation of Japanese nationals after Pearl Harbor; Operation Wetback in 1954, which deported well over a million people in a single year; the deportation of Haitians and Cubans who had arrived during the Mariel boatlift in 1980; or any other number of deportations. 
One can argue over the necessity or prudence of those various deportations, most of which, ironically, were carried out by prominent Democrat presidents. But no one can argue that deportations aren’t American. As a simple matter of history, mass deportations are as American as apple pie.
The “anti-American” charge vanquished, opponents of immigration enforcement will next argue that deportations are somehow “un-Christian.” This claim is contradicted by the plain text of scripture. Deportations or worse — usually worse — are frequently carried out with approval in the Bible. Just ask the Canaanites. (Or the Amorites. Or the Hittites. Or the Perizzites, the Hivites, or the Jebusites.)
Now, in fairness, scripture also instructs us not to oppress or mistreat foreigners who live in our lands. “Thou shalt not molest a stranger, nor afflict him: for yourselves also were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2022%3A21&amp;version=DRA">22:21</a>). Quite right. But what exactly does it mean not to “molest” or “afflict” the stranger? We are not left idly to wonder. Scripture tells us.
Just 10 chapters prior in the Book of Exodus, we read, “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you” (Exodus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2012%3A%2049&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12:49</a>). Further, in Deuteronomy, we read, “Cursed be he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner” (Deuteronomy <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2027%3A19&amp;version=RSV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27:19</a>). To hear the open borders crowd tell it, it’s the enforcement of the law which oppresses the foreigner. But scripture says the opposite. 
Scripture tells us that it’s lawlessness which oppresses the foreigner. The injunction not to oppress the foreigner does not run contrary to justice; rather, it is bound up in the execution of justice. God demands that the civil authority give the foreigner his due; He doesn’t demand that it give him more than his due. He tells us that there must be one law common to native and foreigner alike; he does not insist that foreigners be given a more lenient law, that foreigners be given special privileges over and above those afforded to citizens. Civil authorities must give appropriate care to foreigners, but they have to care for their own citizens too.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
So how do we determine the right balance between hospitality to foreigners and the enforcement of justice owed to citizens and foreigners alike?
Our Vice President JD Vance took a stab at that question on TV, and his answer sparked a national debate. Vice President Vance <a href="https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2025/02/full-time-vice-president-part-time-public-theologian/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “There’s this old school — and I think a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” 
It’s a simple enough concept. Let’s say you’re walking by a public pool, and you see a random little kid drowning. Any decent person would immediately jump in to save the kid. (That actually happened to my father a few years ago at his apartment complex. He saw the kid, he jumped in, and he pulled him out of the water.) Everyone applauds. You’re a hero.
Now imagine you’re walking past the same pool — it’s a very large pool — and you see two kids drowning, each at a different end. One of the toddlers is that same random kid and the other is your own son. You, being a decent person, want to save both. But you help your own son first. In fact, if you did not — if you were to ignore the cries of your son and go to help the other boy first — everyone would not applaud when you climbed out of the pool. You would not be a hero. You would have made a moral error. Because you, as a father, have a greater responsibility to your own son than you do to someone else’s son.
This is common sense. But is it Christian? Immediately after Vance made those remarks, a former U.K. government minister and current Yale professor, Rory Stewart, said no. He <a href="https://x.com/RoryStewartUK/status/1884952501197078922" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, “A bizarre take on John <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015%3A12-13&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15:12-13</a>”— which is “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” “Less Christian,” Stewart wrote, “and more pagan tribal. We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love.” 
This comment was ironic, of course, because Rory Stewart is also a politician presuming to speak for Our Lord, albeit with far less knowledge and seriousness than JD Vance. Vance shot back. He <a href="https://x.com/JDVance/status/1885073046400012538?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, “Just google ‘ordo amoris,’” which means “order of love,” a concept developed most notably by Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Just a quick pause for a moment. Can we just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful it is that we have a vice president lecturing leftists on moral philosophy in Latin? I knew the second Trump administration was going to be good. I had high hopes. But even I did not have “vice president explicating scholastic philosophy in Latin” hopes. I remember in 2016 when many on the Right yelled at me for supporting Trump on the grounds that he wasn’t a “true conservative.” Now his vice president is invoking Saint Thomas Aquinas in Latin on X. How much more conservative do you want him to get?
But I digress. At this point in the conversation, after Vance had dunked on the U.K. politician-turned-Yale professor, another Yale figure — James Surowiecki, editor of The Yale Review — decided to chime in <a href="https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1885302779058557080" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to claim</a> that “ordo amoris is not in the Gospels.” He claimed, “It’s an essentially Aristotelian concept that Aquinas, cleverly if unconvincingly, imported into Catholic theology.” 
Now, up until this point, I was aware that very few people presently associated with Yale had even a passing familiarity with the Bible. But with that comment it became clear that these Yale luminaries don’t even know their Aristotle! What is going on in New Haven? This is embarrassing.
The ordo amoris — or the ordo caritatis, as Saint Thomas would call it — is not “essentially Aristotelian,” and Saint Thomas — among the clearest thinkers who ever lived — did not import that or any other concept “unconvincingly” into Catholic theology. Aristotle touches on the concept broadly in Book IV of “Nicomachean Ethics,” where he writes that “the liberal man” — liberal in this case meaning “generous” — “like other virtuous men, will give for the sake of the noble, and rightly; for he will give to the right people, the right amounts, and at the right time, with all the other qualifications that accompany right giving.”
Early Christian writers, notably Saints Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Bernard of Clairvaux, also discuss this order of charity, all before Saint Thomas, who brings the concept to its fullest expression in the “Summa Theologiae,” Secunda Secundae, Question 26, where he <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3026.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “There must needs be some order in things loved out of charity, which order is in reference to the first principle of that love, which is God.”
So, we are obligated as a matter of reason to love God before ourselves, then to love ourselves before our neighbors, then to love our neighbors more than our own bodies, then to love those neighbors nearer to us more than those further away from us, then to love those connected to us by ties of blood more than others, and so on.

MixCollage-02-Mar-2025-08-03-PM-3563

The Hierarchy Of Love: Balancing Hospitality And Justice

Catholic

Illegal Immigration

San Diego

Love is a deep and profound concept, both at an individual level and in society at large. Though a marriage based on companionship and attraction was not a readily accepted idea until, arguably, the Victorian era, the first marriage ceremony took place over 4,000 years ago. The evolving and historical practice of marriage — and love’s role in it — is perhaps most easily mapped through literature, as it reflects societal norms of its time. To name a few, both Plato (428-348 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) parsed thoughts on love, the book of Numbers tells of Zimri and Cozbi’s story (and subsequent demise), William Shakespeare constructed an entire play around star-crossed lovers with “Romeo and Juliet” (1597), C.S. Lewis drew on the Greeks and Christian commentators&#8217; thoughts to describe the types of love in “The Four Loves” (1960), and the “Twilight” series spent 274 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list in the early 2000s.
The stories of star-crossed lovers — Zimri and Cozbi, Romeo and Juliet among them — have enticed people to believe and even engage in relationships set up for failure, usually in the name of passion. After all, no records document Zimri and Cozbi as married, and Romeo and Juliet knew each other for all of 24 hours before their marriage ceremony. But what of relationships set up for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">success</a>? Vampire Edward and human Bella certainly seemed to be on a star-crossed path headed for doom, but they took matters into their own hands, setting themselves up for success. They found a way to make their relationship work “till death do us part” — or, in their case, for the long haul of immortality.
In more recent years, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson has contributed to history’s collection of tales on love and marriage, the most obvious of which being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his series “Marriage”</a> in which he draws on both his clinical and personal experiences. In it, he teaches how to avoid a star-crossed path and, instead, pursue one that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leads to fulfillment</a>. Love is a complex notion. It takes a brilliant mind to discuss the role of one’s values in the act of love, to acknowledge the extent to which it affects consciousness, and to analyze how love can be applied practically in life. As an acclaimed clinical psychologist, author, educator, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, Dr. Peterson is that mind. Yet he is not of mind only. He is one of heart. Peterson approaches the subject of love as a father and husband, having married his wife in 1989 (two years before earning his PhD in clinical psychology). Even after all he has accomplished in his career, he still proclaims his marriage, his intimate relationship, to be the best part of his life.
You can divide your life into thirds: an intimate relationship (that is, marriage), family, and career — according to Peterson’s rule of thumb. In the present day, society generally views the trajectory of love between significant others as one which culminates in marriage. He believes a “profound and properly integrated and oriented intimacy” is found in the state of marriage, with love being a beautiful and foundational element to it. And he addresses love as both a verb and a noun. Merriam-Webster defines love as a verb meaning “to hold dear; to feel passion, devotion, or tenderness for; to take pleasure in; to touch or handle in a tender or loving manner.” The noun “love” is defined, “as in affection; darling; liking.” Essentially, marriage is an opportunity to act out love reciprocally in relation to the person with whom you have fallen in love.
In his “Marriage” series, Peterson parses thoughts on love in marriage, describing love as:
<h3>A Permeated State</h3>
Love is a “grace, a gift of God,” and when you fall in love, you experience what it is like to care for someone and receive care in return. When you enter into marriage, you engage in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an act of faith</a>. In a marriage, you are given an opportunity, a chance to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrange your life</a> with the person you have fallen in love. Then the “state of love” permeates the relationship and all that you do together.
<h3>Continual</h3>
Your conscience is an indicator of behavior. One way of learning how to pay attention to your conscience (i.e., behavior) is by devoting yourself to another person within the confines of marriage. In marriage, your conscience becomes an indicator of behavior in relationship to your partner in the long run. Since you will be with your husband or wife for years of your life, you have to treat them in a manner that is “reciprocal and productive, that grows positively over decades.” A productive, positive, decades-long relationship is made up of moment-to-moment interactions, and it is from these moments that continual love blossoms in a relationship. And you have the opportunity to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve yourself</a> in relation to your partner.
<h3>An Infinite Wellspring Of Mystery</h3>
When you fall in love with someone, Peterson explains that you see an infinite wellspring of mystery. It is granted as a gift, a gift you are willing to devote yourself wholeheartedly. Together, you can foster that infinite wellspring to continually pour forth. Sometimes, people think they are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bored with their partner</a>, but Peterson clarifies this, explaining that they are usually bored because of what they have forced the other person to become or because of their own lack of creative imagination on the intimate front. After all, people are infinite mysteries.
<h3>The Precondition For Marriage</h3>
Falling in love with someone is the precondition for marriage. You find them attractive, then you fall in love — both of which Peterson says are worthy of gratefulness. Your long-term partner is significantly more interesting than any plethora of short-term, shallow relationships, and life with an intimate relationship (marriage) is far more fulfilling than walking through life alone. The caveat? Living together is not commitment enough because “trying someone out” before marrying them — the equivalent of giving them a trial run — still allows for an option to leave. True commitment begins when you formally and publicly ally and bind yourselves <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">together</a>.
<h3>Support During The Worst Times Of Life</h3>
Once married, you will go through the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worst times</a> of your life with your husband or wife. But you are better situated to survive those times with a companion who loves you. When the storms come, you are part of a joint arc because you are committed to each other in a fundamental manner. You can share in contending with the harsh realities of all dimensions of life.
In the end, you can be oriented toward love and life more abundant. But how do you know you are in love? How do you know you can be married? How do you know you are ready? Peterson’s answer is: You don’t know. You decide. That is the act of faith.

MixCollage-14-Feb-2025-02-21-PM-9969

Jordan Peterson On Love And Marriage

DailyWire+

Dr. Jordan Peterson

Marriage

Relationships

Shakespeare

I was raised to hate Jews. Before I ever met a Jewish person, before I knew anything about Israel, I was already taught that they were my enemies.
It was not an opinion I formed on my own. It was fed to me, day after day, year after year — woven into the culture, the education system, the religious teachings, and even the conversations at my family’s dinner table. That is how propaganda works. It does not scream all at once; it whispers, drips like poison, and seeps into the cracks of a mind until it is no longer questioned but accepted as absolute truth.
For decades, this same poison has been fed into the minds of young people in universities — but this time, not in the Middle East. This time, it is happening on American soil.
Radical Islamists have infiltrated universities, manipulated the narrative, and slowly shifted the sentiment away from Israel — not by force, but by brainwashing generations of students into believing that Israel is the oppressor and the terrorists are the victims.
And now, the fruit of that deception is being harvested.
<h3>Trump’s Executive Action: A Bold Stand Against The Lies</h3>
President Donald Trump has done something no leader in recent history has dared to do — he has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-sign-executive-order-to-deport-anti-semitic-foreign-students-and-protesters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken executive action</a> to put an end to the rampant anti-Semitism that has been spreading like wildfire in universities across America.
This is not just a policy decision. This is a battle for truth.
Trump’s executive action directly confronts decades of propaganda that has systematically been planted by radical Islamic influences in American institutions.
The executive action will:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Cut federal funding to universities that allow anti-Semitism to spread unchecked</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Hold radical professors accountable for pushing hate under the banner of “free speech”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Expose the deep infiltration of Islamic extremists in academic institutions</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Send a clear message: The U.S. will no longer tolerate the spread of radical, anti-Israel propaganda on its soil</li>
</ul>
<h3>How Radical Muslims Use Propaganda</h3>
I grew up in Turkey and I was never encouraged to ask questions about what I was taught about Jews and Israel. The lies were presented as undeniable facts.
<ul>
<li>“Jews are evil”</li>
<li>“Israel is stealing our land”</li>
<li>“Jews are the reason for our suffering”</li>
</ul>
It was constant, relentless, unchallenged. This is how you change a generation.
This same method has been used in American universities for decades, and today, we are seeing the terrifying results:
College students march with Hamas flags, chanting for Israel’s destruction. Professors justify terrorism in the name of “liberation.” Jewish students are harassed, silenced, and even physically attacked on campuses. Universities host anti-Semitic speakers, normalizing hate under the guise of “academic freedom.”
This is not an accident. This is the result of a well-planned infiltration designed to shift America’s loyalty away from Israel and toward radical Islamic ideologies.
And it has worked because nobody stopped it … until now.
<h3>Radical Islam’s Long Game</h3>
Radical Islam never conquers all at once. It conquers through patience, manipulation, and deception. Step by step, it:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Victimizes itself by portraying Muslims as the oppressed, even when they are the aggressors</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Demonizes Israel by rewriting history to make Jews appear as invaders rather than defenders of their homeland</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Controls the language by introducing terms like “Israeli occupation” while ignoring the true occupation of terrorist groups like Hamas</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Hijacks social justice movements by turning causes like feminism, Black Lives Matter, and indigenous rights into platforms for anti-Israel rhetoric</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Infiltrates media and universities by controlling the narrative to brainwash the next generation into becoming useful tools in their war against Israel</li>
</ul>
They don’t need guns or bombs to destroy a nation. They just need to control how young minds think. And for years, they have been winning the battle in American classrooms. But truth has power, and that truth is finally being defended.
<h3>It’s Time To Stand Strong With Israel</h3>
I have spent years undoing the lies I was raised with and fighting against the same deception that once held me captive. And I cannot stay silent while I see those same lies poisoning a new generation.
This is personal because I was once one of those deceived students. I was once one of those young minds, taught to hate Israel without ever questioning why. If I had stayed on that path, if I had never encountered the truth of Jesus Christ, I might have been among the masses today — marching, chanting, screaming for the destruction of a people I didn’t even know.
But I was set free and now, I am here to fight for the truth. This is not just a political battle, it is a spiritual war.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 12:3a (NIV): “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” This is not just about Israel — it’s about America’s future. Any nation that turns against Israel will suffer the consequences. The time to wake up is now.
Trump has taken action. Now, we must do our part and speak up, spread truth, pray for Israel, and expose the lies. And never be silent in the face of deception again.
* * *
Işik Abla is the President and CEO of <a href="http://isikabla.com/">Işik Abla Ministries</a> (IAM). Abla was born in Turkey and raised as a Muslim. She eventually fled to America. Işık Abla Ministries leverages the power of TV and radio broadcasting, social media, and innovation to preach the Gospel in Turkish, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Indonesian, and English.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-INAUGURATION

Radical Islam’s Long Game Of Propaganda In The West Is Over — Because Of Trump

Radical Islam's Long Game Of Propaganda In The West Is Over — Because Of Trump

Anti-Semitism

Donald Trump

Israel

Jewish

Middle East

Muslims

Radical Islam

Actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tim-allen">Tim Allen</a> announced that he has finished reading the Old Testament of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bible">Bible</a> and is excited to start on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">New Testament</a>.
The 71-year-old sitcom star shared the update on X on Saturday. 
“After nearly a year I have finished entire Old Testament and the experience of re reading, dedicated focus and no drifting has made this a humbling overwhelming experience. What a treasure,” Allen wrote, adding that he was “three days” into reading the second part.
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After nearly a year I have finished entire Old Testament and the experience of re reading, dedicated focus and no drifting has made this a humbling overwhelming experience. What a treasure. Three days into New Testament. <a href="https://t.co/un2XHROhBj">pic.twitter.com/un2XHROhBj</a>
&mdash; Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) <a href="https://twitter.com/ofctimallen/status/1888381223535358099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The actor previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/so-far-amazing-tim-allen-reacts-to-reading-the-bible">shared an update</a> in August, writing, “Never took the time in all my years to ever read and really read the Bible. Currently almost through the Jerusalem Bible Old Testament and almost done with the Prophets. Next up to New Testament.”
Allen said it was, “So far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.”
The actor has discussed his relationship with Christianity before. In 2022, he spoke with <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/the-santa-clauses-christianity-tim-allen-disney-series/">The Wrap</a> about keeping Christ at the center of his “Santa Clauses” series on Disney+.
“It originally had a lot of otherworldly characters, and ghosts, and goblins. I said no, this is Christ-mas. It’s Christ-mas. It literally is a religious holiday,” Allen told the outlet. “We don’t have to blow trumpets, but I do want you to acknowledge it. That’s what this is about. If you want to get into Santa Claus, you’re gonna have to go back to history, and it’s all about religion.”
In 2011, Allen opened up about his struggle with faith following his father’s death after being struck by a drunk driver. The actor was 11 years old at the time.
“For years, I just did not like this idea of God, church,” he said, per <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2011/11/funnyman-tim-allen-serious-about-god">ABC News</a>. “[I was] still a churchgoer, but constantly a cynic.”
He said he eventually started referring to God as “The Builder.”
“I always do ask…The Builder, what did you want me to do?” Allen said. “And I do ask it. But you’ve got to be prepared for the answer.”
“Whoever built me, this is too much, too weird that it happened by accident,” Allen added. “It didn’t happen by accident.”

Tim Allen

Tim Allen Said He Finished Reading The Old Testament: ‘A Humbling, Overwhelming Experience’

Tim Allen Said He Finished Reading The Old Testament, 'A Humbling, Overwhelming Experience'

Celebrities

Entertainment

Twitter

U.S.

The following essay was originally published on Andrew Klavan&#8217;s Substack, &#8220;<a href="https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/essay-12-weve-won-what-now">The New Jerusalem</a>.&#8221;
The night Donald Trump won re-election, a sense of sweet peace settled over me. It had little to do with politics, little even to do with Trump himself. Trump is, to be sure, a titanic figure, a living avatar of our age, for good and sometimes ill. No other man I know of could have manifested the inner iron required to defy the entrenched powers and withstand their tidal onslaught of abuse and deceit.
But his fight was not my fight, and his victory was just a symbol of my victory. I have only ever been a novelist, a storytelling artist. I drifted into political commentary when, after seven years as an expatriate, I returned to an America whose foundational ideas had been gutted by a corrupted culture. Our universities were infested with leftist theorists who worked to smother the voices of the sages they were meant to teach. Our news media was biased to the point of corruption. And our entertainment media was using every pop icon from Superman to Snow White as a propagandist for perversion, racialism, and Western self-hatred.
When, barely a year after my return, a group of Islamist murderers attacked the city of my birth, slaughtering three thousand civilians in the name of their hateful god — and when, in response, our professors and journalists and entertainers quivered with philosophical nuance, wondering aloud what the naughty U.S. had done to bring this atrocity upon itself — and when the film industry in which I worked began churning out movies about evil G.I.’s and CIA agents tormenting and oppressing innocent Muslims in their cherubic multicultural piety — I saw no other honorable course but to write and speak about these moral distortions.
I believe, though I can’t prove, that this decision cost me my multi-million dollar career as a screenwriter and my place of respect in the literary world I love. All I know for sure is that the phone calls from Hollywood and the awards and raves from New York vanished in a startling flash.
Nevertheless, I persisted. And over the next twenty years or so, I watched as entrepreneurs like Andrew Breitbart, Jeremy Boreing, Bari Weiss and Elon Musk organized scattered and lonesome rebels like myself into an internet militia which, like our revolutionary forefathers, could pop out of cover and take potshots at the goose-stepping legions of the empire of lies.
To me, Trump’s victory meant simply this: we beat them. Skirmish by skirmish, we exposed their oppressive philosophies, their abuses of power, and their ceaselessly dishonest mangling of history, news and national mythology. When they slandered Trump as Hitler, when they indicted him on wholly bogus charges, when they created movies and TV shows and novels singing the praises of government power and idiot utopianism, we shot them down one by one until half the electorate felt bold enough to reject them.
The day was ours.
So … What now?
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1213-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Andrew Klavan Show on DailyWire+</a></h3>
The losers, of course, must pass through the seven stages of grief: anger, whining, blaming everyone but themselves, more whining, denial, denial, denial. Who knows if they will ever face the facts? Their philosophy was false; their policies failed; they lied and censored in an effort to maintain their power and prestige; the rotten structure collapsed on their heads. End of story.
The victorious entrepreneurs, having done the negative work of debunking the opposition’s lies, must now build the structures for the positive business of truth-telling: unbiased journalism, the creation of high and popular art, and the infrastructure of commentary, appreciation, reviews and awards.
But I remain what I always was: a barefoot teller of tales. For me, there is only one question. What do I want to write about next?
The answer is this: I want to explore the nature of God.
Over these past twenty years or so, it has become increasingly clear to me that our worst problems have their sources in unbelief. Our centuries-long drift away from Christian faith — what Nietzsche called the death of God — is, as Nietzsche predicted it would be, at the heart of our catastrophe.
Most often, it manifests itself in one of three forms. Materialism, the idea that spiritual problems can be solved by physical means. Misogyny, devaluing women as women — as wives, homemakers and mothers who excel outside masculine power structures. And antisemitism, the hatred of Jews, which as I explained in a previous essay, is really a disguised hatred of one Jew, namely Jesus Christ. Examine our most entrenched dysfunctions — the dearth of children, degrading promiscuity and perversion, government redistribution of wealth, censorship and authoritarianism, drug abuse both lay and medical, the sexual butchering of the young, the atrocity of abortion, the snarling cruelty and ignorance of our debates — and you can trace them back to one of these three manifestations of our faithlessness.
But the truth is, just as we have won the political argument, this argument too is already over.
“Something profound is happening,” writes Peter Savodnik in the Free Press. “Instead of smirking at religion, some of our most important philosophers, novelists, and public intellectuals are now reassessing their contempt for it.” Sales of Bibles Are Booming, Fueled by First-Time Buyers, reads the Wall Street Journal headline. The sales spiked 22% in a year.
The revival of the intelligentsia — which I’ve predicted for over a decade — has begun.
As in the political sphere, our job is no longer to debunk the non-believers, it is to rediscover what it means to believe. The ancient and medieval wisdoms and orthodoxies are important, but there are more basic questions that have to be answered before thinking non-believers can even put their toe in those deep waters. Plus, old language may not always suffice in our new scientific and technological world.
As <a href="https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New Jerusalem</a> enters a new year and, I hope, a new era, I would like to propose some topics for open discussion.
<h3>Heart vs. Mind</h3>
Science, technology and capitalism are so responsive to the work of intellection that they have lifted reason above its station. GK Chesterton was right when he said, “The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”
Conversely, prophets, artists, and mystics are frequently not the most intellectual of men. They possess a wholeness of perception that reveals the world to them with an immediacy that can only be communicated by parable, art, and praxis.
When we look at Jesus honestly, we find he too is vastly bigger than our theologies. His presence cannot be reduced to rules and philosophies. We must renew the rituals and practices that can re-open our eyes to a love beyond reason.
<h3>Inside vs. Out</h3>
For centuries, materialist thinkers have sought to find the source of spiritual reality within the mind of man. Whether it was a Freudian understanding of God as a psychic projection of our fathers, the Jungian dodge of a “collective unconscious,” or an image of the evolved brain as a generator of false perceptions, the basic idea was that spiritual truth is a psychic creation rather than an outward reality.
Not so. We see God through a glass darkly, but his incarnation in Christ is proof that what we see is really there. What should we believe, then, about God’s actions on earth? The reality of angels and demons? The efficacy of prayer? How can we discuss this without descending into either superstition or rationalism?
<h3>Symbol vs. Reality</h3>
The thesis of all religion is that there is an invisible reality that our world reveals and symbolizes. Transcendental values like love, justice and mercy must be made manifest in human word and deed. But what are the limits? It’s lovely to say a husband and wife represent Christ and the church, but is that what he’s thinking when he’s chasing her around the bedroom? (I hope not!)
While living into transcendentals can elevate our behavior, inhuman restrictions based on metaphor can be immiserating, inflame doctrinal hatred and give fuel to the arguments of unbelievers. Can we discuss ecumenicism, interfaith cooperation, and various other species of tolerance and deviance without either moral surrender or bullying self-certainty?
<h3>Orthodoxy vs. Individuality</h3>
A church without orthodoxy is Satan’s sandbox. Orthodoxy creates the image of the spiritual kingdom to which we are responsible. But each person’s journey to that kingdom is unique and may take them through territory of which church orthodoxy disapproves. Can we allow the beauty of the single soul to thrive in a church of true faith?
I’ve given up much to speak my mind. Money and prestige and career dreams. All things of value, make no mistake. My peaceful sense of victory now is gratifying. But the destruction of lies is not the triumph of the truth, and it’s on the truth that the reclamation of our culture depends. Our enemy counts on us to defend our faith with rigidity, belligerence and cruelty. Give us vision, open minds and loving hearts, and we will watch him fall like lightning.
* * *
Read the full post on Andrew Klavan’s new Substack “<a href="https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/essay-12-weve-won-what-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New Jerusalem</a>,” where he and son Spencer Klavan chart an alternative path toward life in the 21st century and beyond.
* * *
Andrew Klavan is the host of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>” at The Daily Wire. He is the bestselling author of the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fourth installment, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1613165536?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_thcv_3&amp;storeType=ebooks">A WOMAN UNDERGROUND</a>,” is now available. Follow him on X: @andrewklavan
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Klavan_10-scaled (1)4

We’ve Won. Now What?

We've Won. Now What?

2024 Election

Andrew Klavan

Debate

Religion

Spencer Klavan

As Christians throughout the United States celebrate Christmas, tens of millions of their fellow believers face intense persecution for their beliefs and could be endangered if they choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Last year, at least 365 million Christians were persecuted for faith, including thousands who were killed and nearly 300,000 who were displaced, <a href="https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/persecution/persecution-trends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to persecution watchdog Open Doors. Open Doors, which puts out a top fifty watchlist every year tracking persecution, said that violent attacks on Christians have only increased in recent years, especially throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. 
“Those things are rising because the church is rising, because the church is growing, because the church is having impact and influence in areas, and the gates of hell are trying to stamp that out,” Open Doors President Ryan Brown told The Daily Wire. 
While many Christians in the West celebrate the birth of Jesus at their churches and with their friends and family, there are many countries where doing so would be dangerous. 
Here are ten of the worst places for persecution around the world, <a href="https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Open Doors.
<h3>1. North Korea </h3>
The one non-Islamic country on the list, communist North Korea is notorious for its state enforced atheism and hatred of Christianity. Whole families can be sent to work camps if someone is found with a Bible in the Hermit Kingdom. 
According to Open Doors, there are around 400,000 Christians in the DPRK who regularly face heavy persecution. 
”Those in power see Christianity as being subversive and being a threat to their power. And in some cases they make an association because they see that as some kind of a tie to the West,” Brown told The Daily Wire. “In other cases it&#8217;s just this idea that anybody willing to lay down their life for something other than the state scares them.”
Brown said that many Christians who have successfully escaped North Korea will return to the country to “seek to live as Christ called them to live, to work and minister to their neighbors.”
<div id="attachment_818433" style="width: 980px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-818433" class="size-large wp-image-818433" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/North-Korean-military-970x576.jpg" alt="North Korean military officers march during a welcoming ceremony, June 19, 2024, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin is arriving to North Korea with a two-days visit. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)" width="970" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/North-Korean-military-970x576.jpg 970w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/North-Korean-military-300x178.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/North-Korean-military-768x456.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/North-Korean-military.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" />Contributor/Getty Images</div>
<h3>2. Somalia </h3>
Known for its constant instability, Somalia is also a very dangerous country for the few hundreds of Christians estimated to live in the country. The predominant form of persecution there comes from Islamic radicals opposed to the growth of Christianity.
Somalia is the first Sub-Saharan country on the list, a region Brown said has been seeing increased violence. 
“There’s been a continued upsurge in violence throughout sub-Saharan Africa where there is a massive issue right now where a total of over 16.2 million Christians in [the region] that have been displaced,” he said. 
Brown urges Christians to join the “<a href="https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/getinvolved/arise-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arise Africa</a>” campaign which seeks to bring awareness to the widespread persecution in Sub-Saharan Africa. He urged them to pray for the African church and find ways to support them with educational and material needs.
<h3>3. Libya </h3>
This North African neighbor to Egypt was long ruled by dictator Muammar Gaddafi until 2011. The vast majority of Libyans are Sunni Muslims who adhere to Sharia Law. Libya is also home to just 35,000 Christians which is less than 1% of the country’s population. 
According to the U.S. <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/libya/">Department of State</a>, &#8220;Muslims who converted to another religion faced intense social and economic pressure to renounce their faith and return to Islam.&#8221;
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<h3>4. Eritrea</h3>
Located on the western bank of the Red Sea, Eritrea borders Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. While Christians make up nearly half (47%) of Eritrea’s population, they face deep challenges as the dictatorial government doesn’t tolerate Christianity <a href="https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/eritrea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outside</a> of three recognized denominations. At least 1,000 Christians are currently estimated to be imprisoned there without having faced any formal charges.
<h3>5. Yemen</h3>
Christians are subject to intense persecution from Islamic radicals in Yemen, which is located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. In 2024, the Islamic Houthi rebels attacked numerous commercial ships and oil tankers passing through the Red Sea on their way to the Suez Canal, successfully disrupting a major international shipping lane.
According to Open Doors, only a small number of Christians live in Yemen. Like many other Islamic countries, people who convert to Christianity can face severe consequences, even from their families, for their decision.
<div id="attachment_692811" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-692811" class="size-large wp-image-692811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-454468418-866x576.jpg" alt="SANAA, YEMEN - SEPTEMBER 1: Supporters of Yemen's Shiite Houthi group stage anti government protest at Taghyeer square in capital Sanaa, Yemen on September 1, 2014. Shiite Houthi group blocked several main roads across the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday in response to a call by their leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi to escalate action against the government of Prime Minister Mohamed Basindawa. (Photo by Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-454468418-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-454468418-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-454468418-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-454468418.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images</div>
<h3>6. Nigeria</h3>
While Nigeria is home to some very large churches, more Christians are killed in Nigeria than in any other country. In 2023, it was <a href="https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/stories/13-christians-killed-day-average/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that over 4,100 Christians were killed in the African country, largely due to Islamic persecution. 
&#8220;There were more people killed in Nigeria last year than all other places in the globe combined, nearly about 80% of those that were martyred for their faith occurred in Nigeria,&#8221; Brown said of those killed for their Christian faith. “In many ways, Nigeria is kind of a concentrated reflection of what we are seeing throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Last year, over 150 Christians <a href="https://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/latest-news/nigeria-attacks-christmas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were</a> killed during Christmas Eve attacks by Islamic Fulani herdsmen.
<h3>7. Pakistan</h3>
Pakistan’s four million Christians also face intense persecution for their faith and are often openly prosecuted. According to <a href="https://www.opendoorsuk.org/countries-watch/pakistan/">Open Doors</a>, 1.8% of the population identify as Christian, but due to Pakistan&#8217;s strict blasphemy laws, very few can talk about their faith.
&#8220;Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws are often used to target minority groups, but Christians are disproportionately affected – in fact, roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians.&#8221;
Pakistani Christians also face &#8220;institutionalised discrimination&#8221; and are given &#8220;occupations that are deemed low, dirty and degrading – such as working as a sewer cleaner or on a brick kiln – are reserved for Christians by the authorities. Many are referred to as ‘chura’, a derogatory term meaning ‘filthy’.&#8221;
<h3>8. Sudan </h3>
Returning to Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan’s two million Christians face intense persecution that has only been <a href="https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/persecution/countries/sudan/?gad_source=1&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAqQP2Ook0kQ403zkIS6qUIF6Z_g99&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAsaS7BhDPARIsAAX5cSBeC5bPV1MmoZNdmwvLl0noggWgPui5AlY9oIlBWuEjblqyMu-YM7UaAqfVEALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exacerbated</a> by the civil unrest in the country as the National Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battle it out for control. Millions of people, including Christians, have been displaced due to the fighting.
Brown said that Christians will often be targeted and mistreated in refugee camps and not be given access to equal support and aid.
<h3>9. Iran</h3>
Iran’s government targets Christians in Iran with a number of oppressive laws, <a href="https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/iran/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including</a> making conversion to Christianity illegal.
“The government views conversion as an attempt by the West to undermine Islam and the Islamic government of Iran,” Open Doors reports. “This means that anyone who is discovered to be a member of a house church can be charged with a crime against national security, which can lead to long prison sentences.”
<div id="attachment_823711" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-823711" class="size-large wp-image-823711" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/GettyImages-1037865852-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/GettyImages-1037865852-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/GettyImages-1037865852-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/GettyImages-1037865852-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/GettyImages-1037865852.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Arnulf Stoffel/picture alliance via Getty Images</div>
<h3>10. Afghanistan</h3>
Only a few thousand Christians are estimated to be in Afghanistan, but they face intense cultural persecution from the Taliban, which has no tolerance for Christianity.
The next World Watch report from Open Doors comes out in January, and Brown urges Christians to try to remember their persecuted brethren through prayer and support on a more frequent basis. He said that much of the persecution is happening in places where the church is actually growing and active.
“Even in those places it seems most dark, and yes it is dark and yes there is evil, but that evil is there because there is a hope there, because there is a light there, because the church is present and the church is working,” he said.
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Liturgy In Church: Procession Of Ministers, Bearing Holy Cross to Altar, As Congregation Stands In Wonder. Christians Rejoice In Celebration Of Divine Mass. Hymns Praise God

Here Are The 10 Most Dangerous Countries For Christians To Celebrate Christmas

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Somalia

Mary, did you know one day you’d be reimagined?
Before you hit play, you have to read what those behind the new Netflix film “Mary” — billed as a “survival thriller” — are saying to understand the direction Hollywood is going with the movie.
Released earlier this month, screenwriter Timothy Michael Hayes <a href="https://whitmanhansonexpress.com/whitmans-timothy-michael-hayes-pens-netflix-film-script/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “One challenge was that they wanted (the) film to appeal to all denominations and all dogmas.”
The first hint at a modern-day inclusive Mary.
After all, they consulted Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders when writing the screenplay. Yes, Muslim leaders. Show of hands if you think Hollywood would consult Christians on a film about Mohammed. Me neither.
Bible-believing Christians are naturally upset about the liberties taken to recreate Mary. Director of &#8220;Mary,&#8221; D.J. Caruso, said he wanted to give the world a portrayal of the real, human Mary even though the Bible doesn&#8217;t have much to say about her.
And the anti-Israel crowd is coming in hot because an Israeli Jewish woman, Noa Cohen, was cast as Mary, the Jewish mother of Jesus. The calls for boycotts quickly went out on social media.
Let’s just be real: If you are in the habit of spewing anti-Semitism online, then you are probably never going to watch a movie about the mother of Jesus.
Cohen, clearly has no idea who Mary was, <a href="https://thedirect.com/article/mother-mary-netflix-noa-cohen-bible-story-movie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a>, 
<blockquote>Mary’s being portrayed in a whole new light in my opinion. It&#8217;s giving her her voice back. She&#8217;s not just a vessel for something greater than herself.</blockquote>
Actually, that’s exactly who the mother of Jesus was. Saying she’s “not just a vessel” is an ignorant statement — as if it’s not enough to be chosen by God as a key instrument in His perfect plan to bring His son to earth so that He may be the ultimate sacrifice for our salvation, as Christians believe. This production brings an obvious feminist twist and an attempt to modernize Mary with an actress who doesn’t understand her story or purpose.
<div id="attachment_848557" style="width: 471px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-848557" class="wp-image-848557 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/MixCollage-23-Dec-2024-10-50-AM-4074-461x576.jpg" alt="&quot;Mary.&quot; Netflix. Aloe Entertainment. Creativity Media. IMDB." width="461" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/MixCollage-23-Dec-2024-10-50-AM-4074-461x576.jpg 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/MixCollage-23-Dec-2024-10-50-AM-4074-240x300.jpg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/MixCollage-23-Dec-2024-10-50-AM-4074-768x960.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/MixCollage-23-Dec-2024-10-50-AM-4074-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/MixCollage-23-Dec-2024-10-50-AM-4074.jpg 1440w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" />&#8220;Mary.&#8221; Netflix. Aloe Entertainment. Creativity Media. IMDB.</div>
With some exceptions, faith-based movies often ping-pong between being cringe-worthy or missing the biblical mark. A mark they likely never intended to hit.
When I heard that prosperity gospel megachurch pastor Joel Osteen was an executive producer of Mary, I was fairly confident this movie would plant itself in the second camp, landing short of the biblical target. Gaining health and wealth is at the center of the prosperity gospel, and generally absent of sound biblical theology.
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On X, Osteen <a href="https://x.com/JoelOsteen/status/1865074051921641658" target="_blank" rel="noopener">teased</a> the movie, saying, “See Mary like you’ve never seen her before.” Tell me you’re not going to stick to the Bible without telling me.
If you hit play, right out of the gate, Mary opens the film with, “You may think you know my story. Trust me, you don’t.”
Trust me, Netflix, we do — for the Bible tells us so.
Friendly PSA: If you’re letting Hollywood teach you theology, you’re doing it wrong.
It’s bad enough Disney is tragically “reimagining” their classics — one painful reboot at a time. Their <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2024/08/22/did-disney-make-the-right-decision-about-the-dwarfs-for-snow-white-movie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second attempt</a> at reimagining “Snow White” comes out next year, and includes seven computer-generated “magical creatures” instead of dwarfs and a Latina Snow White who publicly trashed the original “Snow White.” In spite of the politically correct ring kissing having no floor or ceiling — you can never bend the woke knee enough, even for magical creatures — everyone understands animated fairytales are fiction. That doesn’t change the fact that liberties taken with Dopey and Sneezy are still dumb. For a majority of Americans, however, the Bible is not fiction. Adherence to its original context without ad libbing an agenda is something many of us take very seriously. 
Director of “Mary,” D.J. Caruso, <a href="https://religionnews.com/2024/12/06/new-netflix-film-wants-to-make-mary-accessible-to-all/">said</a>, 
<blockquote>The world needs to see Mary, and they need to see her in a new light. My goal was to see if I could present Mary in a beautiful way, in a way that a younger audience could see her and relate to her as not just this beautiful, iconic holy mother, but as a young girl who had to make sacrifices and struggle and deal with things that a lot of the contemporary youth are dealing with today.</blockquote>
While, no doubt, young girls today have serious struggles and make sacrifices, none will ever be able to relate to being chosen to carry the Savior of the world through an immaculate conception and the potential earthly consequences she may have faced. The most they can do is respect her faithfulness.
A bright light has been shining on Mary for more than 2,000 years. Her story and her obedience to God are just as beautiful and relevant today as it was back then.
If God wanted us to have a different take on Mary, He would have provided one and not waited more than 2,000 years for Netflix to offer its take.
In “Mary,” her cousin Elizabeth <a href="https://stmarkministries.com/2024/12/should-you-watch-the-mary-movie-on-netflix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tells her</a>, “Trust the strength inside of you.” It sounds eerily like the gospel of self-actualization trending in today’s “me” centered culture. It also sounds like something you’d hear straight from Joel Osteen.
Hollywood doesn’t need to give the mother of Jesus a reboot in order to reach large audiences and reap the financial rewards. On the rare occasion it does produce a film that&#8217;s faithful to Scripture, such as “The Passion of the Christ,” audiences turn out in droves — to the tune of over $600 million at the box office.
Hollywood is great at making Hallmark movies, but not so much with theologically accurate narratives.
Caruso <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mary-noa-cohen-comments-bible-113606680.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wants us to believe</a> that Mary is &#8220;sort of a superhero without powers.” The film wraps with Mary — the superhero — announcing that “Love will save the world.”
Nice bumper sticker, but if you’re a Christian, you know that it’s God’s Son who came to save the world, and He’s the only superhero in this story.
* * *
Lauren DeBellis Appell, a former lobbyist and communications aide on Capitol Hill, is a writer based in Fairfax, Virginia. Follow her on X <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_ldappell-3Flang-3Den&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=kaAUPcZhpO1MvBc6jwa0VBiGZWXka6ART1tFuyQjLfc&amp;m=vTKo4FePDMyKVWSuxLCuaaDL3sLK4GEfxQYz1yppw20&amp;s=SGybKxJyqU1J2FWxExk5C2vqBiQeF6THIyErZ--DZHc&amp;e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@LDAppell</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-23-Dec-2024-11-00-AM-8948

Netflix’s ‘Mary’ Is Quite Contrary To Reality

Netflix’s 'Mary' Is Quite Contrary To Reality

Film Reviews

Jesus Christ

Movies

Netflix

Woke Culture

Born into lowly circumstances, he came without fanfare, without flair, without majesty of royalty. Yet his coming fulfilled Old Testament prophecies that pronounced God would send a savior for the world — for every individual in every subsequent time period in every society. The birth story of Jesus has transcended time, and Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s series, “The Gospels,” is evidence of that transcendence. 
To examine the birth of Jesus Christ is to assess the nativity story itself. Peterson and the scholars who join him at the table to read the words of the narrative that begins Jesus’ life and mission take up the task of expository discussion: They analyze the story’s personal and cultural implications, evaluate its historical and political context, and address how it applies to us today. The nativity story continues to draw us in, sometimes in ways we simply cannot explain — try as we might. 
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<h4>Mary and Joseph: Personal and Cultural Significance </h4>
“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:31-33
The birth story of Jesus involves several visits from angels: to Mary, with news of her pregnancy; to Joseph, in a dream with instructions to marry Mary; to shepherds, in a field with directives to find the baby. The greatest of stories, Jordan has said before, omit everyday, common material, but they include excitement — just as the Gospels exclude extraneous details around these angel visits. But the day-to-day happenings were still going right on in these people’s lives. By the time the angel visits Joseph, Mary has somehow already told him, even though they would have been supervised at all times. How? When? Afterward, Joseph had “considered these things,” but what, exactly, was he thinking? What overwhelming news this would have been for them both. 
Yet even in the midst of immensely life-changing, supernatural news, Mary “says ‘yes’ to the fact of the child,” Jordan notes. “There isn’t a deeper reflection of fundamental faith in the goodness of being and becoming than the decision a woman takes to throw herself wholeheartedly and without reservation into the relationship with her infant.” On a personal level, Mary embodies great faith in motherhood. More broadly, Mary’s attitude reflects that of a healthy culture: one that holds the image of mother and infant sacred. Without the values of maternal love, life, continuity, and sacrifice, a culture has no future. 
So, too, does Joseph accept the angel’s directions without question. This is not because the Gospels shy away from addressing doubt and disbelief, as Gregg Hurwitz points out. After all, “How much can you spring on one person at once?” Jordan posits. Joseph had resolved to send Mary away quietly, but he, instead, pushes any doubt or disbelief aside. Like Mary’s, Joseph’s faith as an individual is evident. But on a cultural level, his willingness to act in good faith creates a solid foundation for the family. 
<h4>The Birth of Jesus: Historical and Political Significance </h4>
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
Context always matters — always. The time of Jesus’ birth is unmistakably significant to his life’s mission, which the group discusses at length. At his birth, the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus had come to be known as Divi Filius, a Latin phrase meaning “son of a god.” This is an undeniable mark of a hero story: the genuine God is born during a false god’s tyrannical rule. At the same time, many historians consider Augustus one of the greatest leaders in history. He is responsible for establishing the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of peace. During his reign and the years following, the Romans did not rebel and no outside forces attacked Rome. Considering this period of stability, Jesus is auspiciously born into a time his mission can be most fruitful. Undoubtedly, the Christian message was able to spread with astonishing speed. 
The true emperor where true peace will be found is born into a hidden location, and his coming is not announced to the masses. It is announced to those who shared a specific relationship with the prophets of the Old Testament: shepherds. But the choice of shepherds is significant beyond even the prophetic; it is significant in regards to the universal. The shepherds to whom the angel delivers the birth announcement would have been considered lowly because of their socioeconomic status. Christ’s birth, his mission, his salvific nature is universally salvific, intended for everyone.
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Accompanying the angel who delivers the birth announcement to the shepherds comes “a company of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13). The Hebrew defines this heavenly host as an “army.” Bishop Barron reminds the group that though emperors dominate the world with human armies, Christ will have ultimate dominion with a fierce, angelic, supernatural army. 
<h4>The Heavenly Host: Spiritual and Universal Significance</h4>
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
What does this nativity story tell us about today? About ourselves? About this life — and the next? It tells us that Jesus — the giver of personal peace and worldly peace to come — brings hope, and he intended us to carry that eternal hope with us. 
The host of angels and shepherds signify the fullness of universal reconciliation: two extremes, above and below, connected together through Christ’s birth. Their angelic message proclaims, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Jesus’ mission was to bring true peace, reconciling man to God through his eventual sacrifice. When glory is given to God, as Bishop Barron explains, peace suffuses personally, culturally, and universally. 
It is a story for us, one with the hope of peace and the promise of life.

Jordan Peterson, The Gospels

Critically Examining The Nativity Story: Contextual Study In ‘The Gospels’

Critically Examining The Nativity Story: Contextual Study In 'The Gospels'

Gospel

Jordan Peterson

Well, my friends, this is my final post before Christmas break. So as we approach this holiest of holy days, I would like to set all the political animosity aside, and reach out in love and charity to all people made in the image of God, and also to Democrats, and deliver a seasonal message full of lofty-sounding sentiments that seem uplifting on first hearing only because, when studied carefully, they reveal themselves to be empty of anything resembling wisdom or even meaning. And I want to speak these empty phrases in a pious-sounding voice like this one so that they sound like they either come from the heart or from one of those excruciatingly worthy NPR reports about the art of flute-making among Amazonian Kumonga-Bonga tribesmen or some other bull-pucky you couldn’t care less about, but you can’t turn it off because then people will think you don’t like primitive indigenous people which, of course, you don’t but if you wanted anyone to know that, you wouldn’t be listening to NPR in the first place.
And when I deliver these pseudo-deep yuletide meditations, I want to rely on a lot of cutesy, unnecessarily allusive phrases like “this festive season of the year,” or “the babe laid in a manger,” instead of just saying Christmas or Jesus like any normal person. Do you think Jesus’s mother called him “the babe laid in a manger?” Like, “Hey, babe laid in a manger, make sure you’re back by dinnertime and don’t forget to wear your helmet when you’re riding your bike.” Of course not. They probably didn’t even have helmets then since it was back in olden times.
So without further ado — and before I get sick of talking like some shmuck on the classical music station — let me get to this year’s Christmas message.
You know, at this festive season of the year, when our thoughts turn once again to that babe laid in a manger so very long ago when there were still mangers, but you couldn’t get a bike helmet for love or money, it’s customary for us to go shopping for gifts. Uncle Harry wants a new tie because he got so smashed last Christmas he spilled gravy on his old tie and had to spend the entire year telling people it was handmade by South American craftsmen and what looked like a gravy stain was actually an outline of Argentina. Little Tommy wants a telescope because little Julie across the street keeps forgetting to draw the curtains before she gets ready for bed. And Mom, who’s always so sweetly selfless, just wants a modest little ticket to Pittsburgh and a new social security number along with a driver’s license with her picture on it but an entirely different name.
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But is buying presents really what this festive season of the year is all about? Or is it about that child laid in a manger back in olden times and the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night when an angel of the Lord appeared before them and said, “Don’t be afraid. Because lo, a savior has been born to you who will return to judge you for your sins. So wait, I take back what I said about not being afraid. You should probably be scared out of your wits. But never mind that. Go to Bethlehem and see where this child is laid in a manger, and if you find out what a manger is, send word. And bring him gifts like, I don’t know, maybe a lamb chop or something. You’re shepherds. You figure it out. Only leave the little drummer boy home this year because if he wakes that kid up after Mary finally gets him to sleep, she’s gonna slap his face off.” Then the angel vanished and a heavenly host appeared singing “Peace on earth to men of good will. But the rest of you are screwed.”
So in conclusion, let me just remind you that, when you get your religion from chintzy sentiment like this, you get what you deserve.
And believe me, you do not want that.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. He is the bestselling author of the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fourth installment, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1613165536?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_thcv_3&amp;storeType=ebooks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A WOMAN UNDERGROUND</a>,” is now available. Follow him on X: @andrewklavan
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

I wish you a warm welcome to Christmas dinner!

My Seasonal Message Full Of Lofty-Sounding Sentiments

Christmas

Humor

Satire

A Texas public school district superintendent informed parents that the Bible was removed from the district’s libraries because it violated a state House bill requiring library books to be expunged if they contained “sexually explicit material.”
<a href="https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/HB00900F.pdf#navpanes=0">HB 900</a>, the READER Act (Restricting Explicit and Adult Designated Educational Resources), was passed by the 88th Texas Legislature, signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, and implemented on September 1, 2023. It <a href="https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/HB00900F.pdf#navpanes=0">states</a>, “a library material vendor must perform a contextual analysis of the material to determine whether the material describes, depicts, or portrays sexual conduct in a way that is patently offensive.”
Canyon Independent School District Superintendent Darryl Flusche wrote an email to parents earlier this week in which he <a href="https://b2161369.smushcdn.com/2161369/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/canyon-isd-email-from-superintendent-re-bible.jpg?lossy=2&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1">stated</a>:
<blockquote>
House Bill 900, which passed during the last legislative session, establishes library standards that restrict content in school libraries. &#8230; This standard for library content prohibits books that have one instance of sexual content as described above. Therefore, HB900 doesn&#8217;t allow numerous books, including the full text of the Bible, to be available in the school library.
</blockquote>
“There are 30 titles available in the Canyon Junior High library that are Bible stories or portions of the Bible,” he pointed out. “Additionally, if any student would like to have a Bible, we have strong connections with local churches that are happy to donate a Bible upon request. We are more than willing to assist a student who would like access to a Bible by arranging this from one of our partnering churches.”
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On December 9, one concerned mother with two children in the school district <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/bible-removed-from-texas-school-district-due-to-state-law-banning.html">stated</a> that it “seems absurd to me that the Good Book was thrown out with the bad books. &#8230; In a day when we are needing security guards and bulletproof windows and doors, I think having the Word of God available to our children cannot only be preventative to violence, but also provide comfort and a sense of security in a chaotic world.”
“It just makes sense to have the Word of God in our school library,” she continued. “After all, it is the book of wisdom. It is the bestselling book of all time; it is historically accurate, scientifically sound, and most importantly, life-changing.”

Texas Public School District Bans Bible In Libraries

Politics

Texas

As Jesus embarked on his ministerial journey, word of his miracles spread throughout the Holy Land. The accounts of his miracles have since filtered through time and across the world to the point we are still discussing them today. To what degree does spiritual healing change and positively impact an individual’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-eternal-question-of-human-beings-how-do-you-live-in-the-world">day-to-day life</a>? How do the stories of Jesus physically healing the sick relate to our society&#8217;s need for its own type of healing today? How would witnessing these events, on a micro and macro level, affect a soul in search for rescue? Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, surrounded by nine other scholars, leads a conversation about these questions in the third episode of “The Gospels.” And <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-modern-day-socrates-jordan-b-peterson-conducts-socratic-seminar-in-new-gospels-series">the tabletalk</a> is real. Each member of this group takes up their knowledge, devoid of pretentious facade, as they vulnerably talk of Jesus’ miracles applicability to life in the present day and age.
To imaginatively place yourself in the Holy Land during the early stage of Jesus’ ministry is a curious notion. Imagine hearing by word of mouth that a man in the town where you live is performing outright miracles. This is a tiny town of maybe 1,500 people — where people move to get away from social media, television, email, and phones in general. It is a place devoid of electronic communication, yet the rumor slowly spreads, ever so gradually. You hear it from a neighbor, from a friend, from conversations spoken in whispers on the dirt road you walk. A man’s son is sick to the point of death, but he recovers his health. A crazed man becomes instantly sane. A man with a deadly skin, nerve, and respiratory disease is healed in an instant.
Then, you find yourself in the right place at the right time to see the rumor turn to reality before your very eyes. From a short distance, you see a crowd clambering around this man, pressing in on him. Some hope to be healed; some hope to see healings. A window through the horde of hopefuls forms, and you catch a glimpse of him. Surrounded by this small mob, the man simply touches the sick, and they are healed in that moment. What would you think? What would you do? How would seeing the miraculous affect you?
Perhaps witnessing a miracle would make clear the path of your life as an individual moving throughout the world. Perhaps it would, in some way, alleviate the pressural pursuit of wealth, pleasure, power, or honor. As the group recounts Jesus’ travels through Samaria, they discuss Jesus’ meeting with the woman at the well. Here, Jesus essentially announces himself as the source of salvation — the Living Water. Rather than continue to pursue counterfeit satisfaction in the four <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/substitutes-for-religion-are-meaningless">substitutionary (and earthly) pursuits</a>, Jesus offers an opportunity away from contagious rhythms through a relationship with Him. This cyclical nature of unending and ill-begotten pursuits has a universal appeal. Bishop Barren posits that this is where hope enters in, because, “At the well, I meet Jesus — if I have eyes to see.” In other words, Jesus is the escape from the trap of pursuing meaningless accolades that never truly satisfy.
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Perhaps watching a miraculous occurrence in real life would unveil the beauty of community. In their discussion, Jordan makes the point that Christ represents a sacrificial offering that paradoxically returns everything in abundance, including the pathway forward to life. Community is founded on this relationship — of giving and receiving. And as Douglas Hedley mentions, Christ gave expression to a philosophical universalism with imaginative power, vision, and spiritual sincerity. His sacrificial teachings, actions, and being itself represents community.
But perhaps seeing a miracle performed in real life would bring clarity to your role as an individual within the greater context of society. During the time Jesus walked the earth, philosophy had shifted to focusing on the human as a part of the cosmos. In other words, particular significance was given to the individual in relation to the universal. How unique a time for Jesus to come to earth and illuminate a philosophy already in vogue. In the present day, Jordan has tailored his teachings in this way, advocating for individuals to <a href="https://store.dailywire.com/collections/books/products/12-rules-for-life-an-antidote-to-chaos">set themselves in order before criticizing the world</a>. Societal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-going-to-be-ok-jocko-willink-on-dealing-with-sadness-and-forgiving-yourself">healing begins</a> on the level of the individual.
“The question of miracles is fascinating,” Dennis Prager says, continuing, “Obviously, they’re miracles within the framework of the world as it exists because they’re suspensions of the natural in some way.” But the miracle of the universe, the presence of life itself, and the existence of consciousness is all miraculous, Prager contends. As the group reads the biblical stories of Jesus’ miraculous physical and spiritual healings, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meditations-with-oliver-anthony-negotiating-a-shared-vision-and-taking-a-leap-of-faith">the topic of faith </a>organically makes its way into their discussion — as founding belief and fostering faith was part of Jesus’ point in performing these miracles.
“What do you make of this miraculous healing and its constant repetition throughout the text?” Jordan inquires of the religiously diverse group of scholars. Before they answer, he defends the text through a psychological lens, implicitly demonstrating the masterful purpose in bringing nine voices to surround this table. Each offers a certain area of specialization alongside a particular religious perspective. When one man poses a question based on a passage, another answers with, sometimes obvious, indications of their background. This, then, is followed by a comment from another that steers — and sometimes entirely redirects — the conversation back to the biblical text.
Why the need for such steerage or redirection? The answer is obvious in the third episode. Obvious are the varied interpretations of the text, which, as John Vervaeke points out, gives it a surplus of meaning and makes evident its sacredness. But where does the interpretation end? At this, Jordan asserts his hopeful purpose of this seminar: to specify the symbolic relationships <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-role-of-the-holy-spirit-distinguishing-between-your-will-and-gods-will">encoded</a> in the text. Jesus’ interaction, for example, the woman at the well was to give her hope in this life and of the next, but that was not his sole intention.
What else did Jesus intend to communicate symbolically through the Living Water he offered her? What else did Jesus intend to communicate by performing healings? What else did Jesus intend to communicate by fulfilling Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah’s coming? Jordan wants to discover those answers. “I’ve been thinking we’re on the verge of something like computational epistemology,” he says — intending that meaning is not arbitrary. Tradition brings meaning to the forefront, making the most potent and actual relationships within the text not merely interpretive but, rather, reflective of meaning.
When Jordan began his investigation into the Bible, he did so with humble curiosity, professing he came to it not knowing what he was doing and not having “a prior presumption of my superiority in any manner to the text.” He continues, “Now, that doesn’t mean I had any real attitude towards it except what in the world is this? And perhaps there’s something I can learn from it.” He has, both implicitly and explicitly, taught others during his own learning process — with a keen sense to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wherever-you-are-is-not-as-good-as-it-could-be-plot-a-course-forward">aim at the highest</a>.
While the group often has differing ideas, one consensus is clear: Jesus’ miracles go beyond supernatural events (as if that would not be a fine stopping point). They are stories that teach of healing the individual and society — stories still teaching us today should we so choose to investigate them with curiosity and expectation.

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

Hope In, Through, And From Miracles — And The Miraculous In Peterson’s ‘Gospels’