I am going to keep things short and sweet today. I have a day job, just like most of you.
Lots of people believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Sidney Powell believes that her Kraken claim was so outlandish that no reasonable person would believe it. Now “reasonable person” is a legal term of art, but feel free to take it as an insult to the very people she was playing to. If this was a movie or TV show, Powell looked straight at the camera, broke the fourth wall, and yelled “psych!”
Trump can get away with what Powell did, because Trump plays a straight professional wrestling card. Remember Bruce Banner’s explanation in “The Avengers” of how he can keep The Hulk from emerging? His secret was he’s always angry. Trump’s secret is he’s always bullshitting, and always breaking the fourth wall and letting his fans in on it. This is why Trump could launch an actual insurrection against Congress and his own vice president with a straight face, while hundreds of his followers who took it for real are going to federal prison.
Powell can’t get away with that, and Dominion Voting Systems’ lawyers are going to destroy her.
The Washington Post has weakened Fulton County DA Fani Willis’ election interference case against Donald Trump. They published fabricated quotes from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s deputy Jordan Fuchs. Willis’ letter requesting that officials preserve all records relating to the election submarined Fuchs because it led to the discovery of the actual recording of the conversation she made up.
Raffensperger’s staff is a middle school baseball team playing in the big leagues, and they showed their lack of quality with every defensive, boneheaded, short-sighted move. Every politician who knows Raffensperger personally vouches for his earnestness and commitment, but they all say his staff is subpar. Now with Rep. Jody Hice, a Trumper, running to replace him, and the state GOP’s rejection of Raffensperger, I’d say he’s done politically.
Liberal newspapers are still pushing the race crime element of the Atlanta spa shootings, but are more willing to admit that it was likely a crime of sexual frustration, or a theological outpouring of hate. While non-Christian news organizations see all “born again” Christians as a single block of prudish rules against sex and sin, they ignore the nuance and balance necessary for good Christian teaching. They want a story, and someone to blame, so they’ll blame “the church” or the entire Southern Baptist Convention teaching kids that they should kill the object of sexual temptation.
David French has an excellent, and personal, testimony about the pernicious and harmful aspects of “purity culture.” I did not grow up Christian, so I never experienced this as a youth—the whole “courting” thing, purity balls, rings, and “kissing dating goodbye.” I do know that when (as grown adults) I was dating my wife, I had some surgery and she stayed at my house for a few days to nurse me. Believe me, I was in no shape for any hanky-panky, but still, one of the associate pastors at our church reminded her of “the appearance of sin” because her car was parked at my house all that time. We noted it, and continued doing what we were doing, because people are going to think what they want.
It’s notable that Bill Gothard, a big proponent of purity, was disgraced for sexual sin. One of the adherents of Gothard’s theology, the Duggar family (“19 Kids and Counting”), experienced scandal when their oldest son turned out to be a sex addict. Repression and sheltering solves little in the quest to contain sin. And “the appearance of sin” is only as deep as you’re willing to look. Ravi Zacharias spent many hours relating stories of how he kept himself from the appearance of sin, all while he was sinning against the same people the Atlanta spa shooter killed. Zacharias did it for 30 years and went to his death without confession. I think there’s more chance of redemption for the killer, who will have plenty of time to repent in prison.
Christianity has no room for anything but the cross and Christ crucified upon it, and His resurrection. While it’s good to have reasonable character-enhancing limits (don’t introduce 13-year olds to porn sites), it’s harmful to paint sexual sin as a salvation-ending unforgivable transgression. What about pride, envy, gluttony, greed, and the like? God can and does forgive anything, if we put our faith in His Son.
God bless you all today, and congratulations to my friend Erick Erickson for completing his first day of six hours of straight radio, taking over the noon-3pm slot that Rush Limbaugh occupied on WSB. Make sure to tune in!
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