Denison Forum – JD and Usha Vance’s baby boy makes history

 

The World Cup, the Open, Iran, and the path to transforming joy

Let’s begin with good news from the weekend: JD and Usha Vance on Sunday announced the birth of their fourth child, the first baby born to a sitting US vice president in more than 150 years. Alec Neel Vance joins his older siblings Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4.

Next, we’ll pivot to weekend news that is good for some more than others:

  • Spain won the World Cup by defeating Argentina 1–0 in extra time.
  • Ryan Fox won his first major golf championship when he drained a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the 2026 Open Championship in England.
  • Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade today.
  • The FDA on Sunday retracted its statement linking Taylor Farms to the cyclospora outbreak, reporting that its earlier lab result was a false positive.

And there was terrible news as well: The Pentagon said Sunday that a third member of the American military had died. The soldier was killed in northern Iraq during the disposal of a downed Iranian attack drone. On Friday, two soldiers were killed in an Iranian missile barrage in Jordan that left another soldier missing. Remains recovered on Sunday were believed to be those of the missing soldier.

The US is responding with a new round of airstrikes this morning in Iran, focusing on a northwestern city believed to be home to underground missile bases. Iran, in turn, launched an attack targeting Bahrain, the home of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.

You probably wish I had left the last two paragraphs out of today’s article. I wish I could have as well. But there’s a way of reframing bad news that redeems the secular for the spiritual and the temporal for the eternal.

“A joy that has passed through sorrow”

An article from the Worldview Bulletin Newsletter was in my inbox when I began work this morning. Written by Presbyterian pastor and theologian Thiago Silva, it focuses on what J. R. R. Tolkien called eucatastrophy.

According to Silva, the famed British writer coined the word “to describe the sudden, unexpected turn toward joy that occurs at the darkest moment of a story.” It combines catastrophe, a word for disaster, with the prefix eu, meaning good. However, as Silva notes,

This goodness does not cancel the catastrophe that precedes it. A eucatastrophe is not a clever escape hatch or a narrative shortcut. The danger was real. The loss mattered. The sorrow was not imagined or exaggerated. And yet, precisely when everything seems beyond repair, hope breaks in, not as something forced or sentimental, but as something fitting and deeply true. The joy feels undeserved, even shocking, and that is precisely why it rings with authenticity rather than artifice. . . .

Tolkien believed that stories shaped this way resonate so deeply because they align with something true about the world, something we sense intuitively even when we struggle to articulate it. The human heart longs for joy, but not cheap joy. It longs for a joy that has passed through sorrow and emerged on the other side.

Silva then notes that Tolkien “famously described the resurrection as the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation, the sudden and overwhelming joy that erupts from the deepest possible darkness.”

Here’s the point: What came for Jesus on Easter Sunday is coming for us all. We live in the junction between the cross and the empty tomb, fully aware of the pain and tragedy of our fallen lives but fully expecting God to fulfill his purposes in our world through his providential grace. We are honest about the darkness but confident in the light. We do not deny our suffering, but we deny its claim to ultimacy.

Silva concludes: “The story is not over. And when the final joy comes, it will not cheapen the sorrow that came before it. It will complete it.”

“When you truly know God”

When we know how the story ends, this changes the story for us.

Last night, my wife and I watched The Bourne Identity, a 2002 film adaptation of a Robert Ludlum novel. I read the book when it was published and we saw the movie when it was released. Accordingly, as we watched the film again, we knew not to worry when Jason Bourne’s life was threatened (repeatedly) because we knew he would win the fight, kill the assassins trying to kill him, and ultimately win the day.

Paul felt the same way about the “movie” of his life. Writing from a Roman prison, he was certain that “this will turn out for my deliverance” (Philippians 1:19). He did not mean that he would necessarily escape from jail, but that “Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (v. 20).

As a result, he could declare with triumphant joy, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (v. 21). He could write Philippians, often called his “epistle of joy.” He could encourage us to “rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). And he could tell us to trust every challenge to God in prayer, knowing that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7).

When we remember that our momentary death leads to eternal joy, that the bad news leads to the best news, we are empowered to walk with the risen Lord Jesus in the face of suffering. He then transfuses temporal pain with timeless significance until the day his resurrection becomes our own.

  1. I. Packer observed,

“There’s a difference between knowing God and knowing about God. When you truly know God, you have energy to serve him, boldness to share him, and contentment in him.”

Will you experience this “difference” today?

Quote for the day:

“Jesus, the very thought of thee, with sweetness fills my breast; but sweeter far thy face to see, and in thy presence rest.” —St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)

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Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – The Cornerstone of Liberty

 

 Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today. 

—Deuteronomy 7:9–11

Scripture:

Our founding fathers framed a document that Thomas Jefferson drafted for the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. Congress adopted the document on July 4, 1776. We call it the Declaration of Independence. Among other things it says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Pastor Chuck Smith once said that sometimes we forget that the Declaration of Independence, which declared independence from foreign tyranny, also declared our dependence on an eternal God. We see this in its closing words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Our forefathers believed that there is a God who guides the affairs of humankind. And they founded our nation on the teachings of the Bible.

Thomas Jefferson, our third president, said, “The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty.”

Andrew Jackson, our seventh president, called the Bible “the Rock upon which our republic rests.”

And Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, said of the Bible, “All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.”

Two hundred and fifty years after the founding of our nation, our need for God’s Word has never been greater. Deuteronomy 7:9–11 says, “Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today” (NLT). There is much to gain by placing God’s Word once again at the center of American life. And there is even more to lose in rejecting His Word.

The wisdom of God’s Word is eternal, timeless. It’s not outdated. It’s not a relic. It doesn’t belong to an earlier, simpler time. The keys to the spiritual revival our nation so desperately needs can be found in its pages.

That’s why we as believers must continue praying that our country finds its way back to the Word of God.

 

Reflection question: How can you make God’s Word a bigger part of your daily life? Discuss this with believers like you on Harvest Discipleship!

 

 

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Days of Praise – Our Natural and Glorified Bodies

 

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:43–44)

In this portion of this great chapter on the resurrection—first that of Christ, then the future resurrection of the redeemed—death and resurrection are compared to seed-sowing and harvest. When a seed is planted in the ground, it is as though it has died and is buried. For a long time after its “death,” the seed cannot be seen, but eventually it rises again as a beautiful flowering plant, sheaf of grain, or even a lovely tree.

Jesus made this same analogy in His teaching. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24; note also Mark 4:26–29). Our human bodies, because of sin and the Curse, will eventually die and be buried. But one day, like the planted seed, they will appear again renewed and far greater than they were before: now immortal and glorified—that is, of course, if their real inhabitants (their eternal created spirits) have been born again through faith in the already-resurrected Savior.

Our new bodies rising from the grave will be real physical bodies (like that of Jesus after He was raised). They will be “fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Although “it doth not yet appear what we shall be . . . when he shall appear, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). Then in our glorious, powerful bodies, we as “his servants shall serve him” in love and joy forever (Revelation 22:3). HMM

 

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

Joyce Meyer – Learn to Love Yourself God’s Way

 

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

When a Pharisee asked Jesus what the greatest commandment in God’s law was, He responded with the words of today’s scripture verses. What is most important for us as Christians is to love God, love people, and love ourselves. We often feel we do well in terms of loving God and loving others, but we struggle to love ourselves.

Part of loving ourselves involves liking ourselves and feeling good about who God made us to be. The best way to feel about ourselves is to feel positive, not negative, about who we are. If we don’t like ourselves, we will have a hard time liking other people and getting along with them. We may pretend to like ourselves, but pretense doesn’t alter fact. Eventually, the truth will come out.

To be everything God has created us to be and do all He calls us to do, we need to have godly attitudes toward other people and toward ourselves. We need to be emotionally stable and rooted and grounded in God’s love for us (Ephesians 3:17).

When we are rooted and grounded in God’s love, we are secure in who we are. We can be relaxed and at ease. We are confident that our worth as individuals has nothing to do with our performance or anything we do; it has everything to do with God’s heart of unconditional love and acceptance toward us. When we begin to understand how God feels about us, not only can we love ourselves, but we can also like and enjoy ourselves.

Prayer of the Day: Help me, Lord, to understand how You feel about me so I can love, like, and enjoy myself. Teach me to rest in Your love and live with confidence, peace, and gratitude for who You created me to be.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Max Lucado – Trust God’s Sturdy Grip 

 

Play

In one of Henri Nouwen’s books, he tells about the lesson of trust he learned from a great trapeze artist. The acrobat said, “The flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. I have simply to reach out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me and pull me safely over the apron.” The flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.

In the great trapeze act of salvation, God is the catcher, and we are the flyers. We trust. Period. We rely solely upon God’s ability to catch us. As we do trust him, a wonderful thing happens—we fly!

Your Father has never dropped anyone. He will not drop you. His grip is sturdy and his hands are open. Place yourself entirely in his care. As you do, you will find it is possible—yes, possible—to be anxious for nothing.

 

 

 

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Today in the Word – Moody Bible Institute – Worry Steals

 

Read Matthew 6:28–32

“Worry is a thief” wrote Phil Ryken in Kingdom, Come! “It steals our time. Our thoughts turn to our troubles, and then rather than praying about them or doing the things God is calling us to do, we waste time worrying about them. Worry steals our rest. We lie awake at night, anxious about tomorrow, and then we get up too tired to work hard, and this only adds to our anxiety…Worry shrivels the soul, robbing our joy.”

Jesus had a lot to say about worry. In Matthew 6:25–27, He stressed its uselessness. In verses 26 to 32, He turns our attention to God’s provision, giving two natural object lessons: God’s care for birds (v. 26) and for flowers (vv. 28–29). Wildflowers do not “labor or spin,” but their “clothes” are gorgeous. This amusing image makes a strong contrast with all the effort people make with clothing. Not even Solomon with all his riches could compare to wildflowers! Given his legendary wealth and power, he was probably the best-dressed person Jesus’ listeners could imagine.

The “grass of the field” is comparatively insignificant, here today and gone tomorrow (v. 30). As before, Jesus argued from the smaller to the greater: Since God takes care of wildflowers, He will also take care of people. To worry therefore exhibits “little faith.”

This is not meant as an insult but an exhortation to have faith (v. 31). Food and clothing are merely examples—we should be trusting the Lord in every area of life. He already knows what we need. The “pagans” or unbelievers “run after all these things,” but we should live differently (v. 32). Our consumer-crazed culture illustrates this too well. By living counterculturally we can have a bright witness as faith-filled followers of Christ.

Go Deeper

How do we “run after” material possessions (v. 32)? How does this comparison to the beauty found in nature challenge our consumer mentality?

Pray with Us

Father God, You will never abandon us. When we are afraid of being in want, please remind us of Your faithful provision. We fix our eyes on You, Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.

So do not worry…your heavenly Father knows that you need them.Matthew 6:31–32

 

 

 

https://www.moodybible.org/

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – God Already Knows

 

NEW!Listen Now

I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 34:4

Recommended Reading: Psalm 34:1-4

The Greek word in the New Testament for confess is homologeo: homo (“same”) and lego (“to speak”). It means “to say the same thing.” It is usually translated as “confess” or “profess.” But there is also another time to “agree with God”—when we acknowledge to Him how we feel since He is aware of what we are going through before we even speak (Matthew 6:8).

Before David assumed the throne of Israel as king, he found himself in a perilous situation with a Philistine king (1 Samuel 21:10-15). He wrote Psalm 34 as a record of this encounter and how God delivered him from danger. He began the psalm with praise to God (verses 1-3) before stating, “[He] delivered me from all my fears” (verse 4). David wasn’t afraid to acknowledge his fears to God or to acknowledge that “many are the afflictions of the righteous” (verse 19). Nor should we be. When we confess to God how we are feeling, we are acknowledging that He knows our need.

Whatever you are feeling or experiencing, tell God. And praise Him that He will deliver you from your fears.

A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts.
Paul Johnson

 

 

 

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Our Daily Bread – Pass it on

 

Today’s Scripture

2 Corinthians 1:1-7

Listen to Today’s Devotion

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Today’s Devotion

After a fifty-five year wait, England’s soccer team finally made it to the European Football Championship Cup finals. Locked in a tie with Italy, the game was decided by a penalty shootout. England’s last chance fell to a young player named Bukayo Saka. But as Saka kicked the penalty shot, Italy’s goalkeeper deflected it. England fans wept; the Cup was lost.

Few will forget what happened next, though. England’s manager, Gareth Southgate, walked over to the devastated Saka and embraced him. Southgate knew how Saka felt. In 1996 it was he, as a young player, who had missed the penalty shot that cost England a place in the semifinals, and England’s then-manager Terry Venables had comforted him in the very same way.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul says, “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Just as Southgate passed on to Saka what he’d received from Venables, Paul discovered that God’s comfort in his distress enabled him to comfort others in theirs, building their endurance (v. 6). Our “God of all comfort” (v. 3) can use our disappointment for good.

So let’s do the same, passing on God’s comfort to create an endless chain of encouragement.

Reflect & Pray

How has God comforted you in a time of loss or distress? How can you pass that comfort on to someone else today?

 

God of comfort, through each trial I face, please help me pass on Your comfort to others.

To continue reflecting, read Psalm 23: Finding Safety in the Wilderness.

Today’s Insights

Notice the words all and any in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4: “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” These are comprehensive descriptors that provide extraordinary comfort because they assure us that no matter what we go through, God will provide His all-encompassing comfort. In addition, we can console others who are experiencing trials and heartaches, whether we’ve experienced them or not. This is the greatness of God. As our Creator, He fully understands what we’re suffering and knows how to comfort our hurting hearts. As He comforts us, we pass along His comfort to others so they too can become a conduit for His comfort, mercy, and grace.

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Days of Praise – The Delightful Law

 

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” (Romans 7:22)

To many people, the law of God is harsh and cruel, consisting of an unreasonable list of “thou shalt nots.” But Scripture teaches that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). The “old man”—that is, the natural man—“is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). Therefore, it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10).

No natural man could ever truthfully say, “I delight in the law of God,” and in our modern world it is even probable that most people have broken at least most of God’s Ten Commandments and often delight in doing so. But the “old man” becomes a “new man” when he accepts Christ as his Savior, for “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made [the] curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Thus, the “inward man” can thenceforth “delight in the law of God,” as our text says: not to earn salvation (which we could never do) but because we love to live for Him who died for us.

God’s law (and we can understand this now to include even the entire Word of God) indeed becomes our delight. We can say with the psalmist, “Thy law is my delight” (Psalm 119:77). Everyone redeemed of the Lord should now find that “his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

The old covenant said, in effect, we must keep the law to live. But now, “this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them” (Hebrews 10:16). No longer are the commandments written “in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3), and we delight in them. HMM

 

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

Joyce Meyer – Trust God with Your Desires

 

Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.

Psalm 38:9 (AMPC)

God says in His Word that if we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the secret desires and petitions of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). I like that plan because I certainly spent plenty of years frustrated trying to get the things I wanted for myself. In the process of seeking things, we often fail to pursue God and delight ourselves in getting to know Him. Many years ago, I even let that happen because of my strong desire to be in ministry. I thought the most important thing in the world was ministering for God, but I needed to learn that it was not as important as God Himself.

Are you keeping your desires in balance and delighting yourself in God above all else? If not, you can easily make an adjustment by reminding yourself of what is truly important. Place all of your desires before God, as our Scripture for today instructs us to do, trusting Him to remove any that are not His perfect will for you.

Every desire is not from God and therefore every desire we have will not be met, but we can trust God to meet the ones that will work out for our good. God wants you to know that if you ask for something and don’t get it, it may be that He has something much better in mind for you. So relax; delight yourself in God; and let Him take care of the rest.

Prayer of the Day: God, help me delight myself in You above everything else. Teach me to trust Your timing, Your plans, and what is truly best for my life, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Max Lucado – Look Forward 

 

Play

There’s a reason the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror: your future matters more than your past. God’s grace is greater than your sin. You thought the problem was your calendar, your marriage, your job. In reality, it’s this unresolved guilt. Don’t indulge it. Don’t drown in the bilge of your own condemnation. What you did was not good, but your God is good, and he will forgive you. He is ready to write a new chapter in your life.

Say with Paul, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us” (Phil 3:13-14 TLB). Your salvation has nothing to do with your work and everything to do with the finished work of Christ on the cross. Rejoice in the Lord’s mercy.

 

 

 

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Today in the Word – Moody Bible Institute – The Sin of Worry

 

Read Matthew 6:25–27

In his bestselling book The Anxious Generation, author Jonathan Haidt demonstrated that teenagers’ mental health began nosediving in the early 2010s. Screentime, smartphones, and social media led to significant increases in depression and anxiety. Virtual reality, now available around the clock to all ages, has injured a generation’s normal psychological development.

Worry and anxiety are a big deal! Today’s reading begins with the transition “Therefore,” meaning “given that earthly treasures hold no real value” and “given that money should not be your master” (v. 25). Since we now understand these truths, we are told, “do not worry about your life,” not even about basic needs such as food and clothing. Life is more than these.

“Look at the birds of the air,” Jesus continued (v. 26). God takes care of them, so He will take care of you as well. Jesus here argued from the smaller to the greater: Since a small thing is true, a greater thing can be counted on to be true as well. Since He takes care of birds, He will also take care of people, especially since we are of greater value. So why worry? To do so is a lack of faith, a failure to trust.

Worry is useless (v. 27). It accomplishes nothing. It cannot add an hour to our life or an inch to our height. Even setting aside God’s provision, worry is thus simply foolish. Worry didn’t enter our society with smartphones, of course. It’s been around a long time. If we’re tempted to worry instead of trusting the Lord, what can we do? “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7).

Go Deeper

Why did Jesus spend so much time on the sin of worry in the Sermon on the Mount? Do we underestimate it? How and why?

Pray with Us

Our eyes are fixed on You, Lord. When we are afraid, we put our trust in You. Remind us that we never need to worry, because You are always in control. Hallelujah!

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?Matthew 6:27

 

 

 

https://www.moodybible.org/

Who Really Funds the Climate Agenda? 

President Trump’s efforts to dismantle parts of the Biden administration’s climate-policy framework have exposed just how much money and institutional power had become attached to it.

Renewable-energy companies, financial institutions, advocacy groups, labor organizations, and state governments are now fighting over subsidies, tax credits, regulations, and investments worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Whatever one thinks of President Trump’s policy reversals, the controversy raises a more fundamental question: who built and financed this sprawling climate-policy system in the first place?

Most people assume climate policy emerges through the normal democratic process. Scientists publish research, governments consult experts, legislators debate proposals, and elected representatives decide the direction of public policy. Yet across both Europe and the United States, a vast network of philanthropic foundations, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, advocacy groups, and financial institutions also plays an important role in shaping climate policy and public opinion.

Lobbying itself is neither unusual nor inherently improper. What deserves closer examination is the scale, funding, and influence of the organisations promoting today’s climate agenda — and where their funding originates.

One organization that has attracted increasing attention is the European Climate Foundation (ECF), established in 2008 and headquartered in The Hague. Although headquartered in Europe, many of the foundation’s largest financial supporters are major American philanthropic organizations, illustrating the increasingly transatlantic nature of climate advocacy.

Dutch science journalist Marcel Crok recently examined the foundation’s role in European climate policy, arguing that it has become one of Europe’s most influential climate-focused philanthropic organizations while remaining largely unknown outside specialist circles.

His investigation raises important questions about how modern climate advocacy is financed and organized.

According to publicly available information cited by Crok, the ECF received approximately €275 million in funding during 2023. Among the listed supporters are several major American philanthropic organizations, including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, alongside a number of European charitable foundations.

Grant recipients include research organisations, environmental NGOs, legal advocacy groups, communications initiatives, and media projects. Crok notes that organizations such as Carbon Brief, the European Environment Bureau, and CAN Europe have received ECF support, while Carbon Brief publicly discloses such funding as part of its transparency policy.

Climate policy today extends far beyond climate science. Across both Europe and the United States, it increasingly influences industrial strategy, financial regulation, banking, agriculture, transport, housing, taxation, and long-term investment decisions. Governments now work alongside NGOs, philanthropic foundations, research institutes, financial institutions, and private-sector organizations in developing climate and energy policy.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act alone originally included an estimated $369 billion in energy-security and climate-related programs, including grant funding and tax incentives, increasing the importance of understanding the organisations that help shape climate policy debates.

One example of this wider funding ecosystem is its growing connection with the international financial sector. Over the past decade, major American and international banks, asset managers and multinational corporations have become increasingly involved in developing climate-related financial frameworks.

In December 2015, the Financial Stability Board established the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which represents $118 trillion of assets globally — see here.

The task force brings together representatives from many of the world’s largest financial institutions and corporations to develop climate-risk reporting standards. Over subsequent years, climate-related disclosure rapidly became embedded within investment management, Wall Street, banking regulation and corporate governance.

Critics, however, contend that they have also accelerated the financialisation of climate policy, embedding net-zero objectives within banking, investment and corporate decision-making.

When the world’s largest banks, corporations, and institutions, all align to push a climate change agenda that, in my view, is not supported by robust empirical evidence, one can see there is another agenda going on behind the scenes. This climate agenda tries to convince the public to make sacrifices and to accept significant economic and social changes under the emotive guise of “saving our planet.”

Meanwhile, corporations, financial institutions and investment funds stand to benefit financially, and political institutions implement worldwide technocratic policy systems under the banner of combatting man-made CO2-induced climate change.

Ultimately, critics argue that this agenda aligns with the objectives of U.N. Agenda 2030 while creating, or potentially creating, trillions of dollars in new financial opportunities for major banks and investment firms.

As a former science adviser at the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change, and one of more than 2,000 scientists and academics who have signed the Clintel World Climate Declaration, I believe this close relationship between climate policy and financial institutions deserves far greater public scrutiny.  The Clintel declaration argues that CO₂ is not the dominant driver of climate and that natural variability plays a much larger role than is commonly acknowledged.

The Rockefeller family’s support for climate initiatives has also attracted particular attention. How the Rockefeller banking dynasty became leading advocates of the global warning agenda is described in a report titled The Rockefeller Way: The Family’s Covert ‘Climate Change’ Plan published by the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute in  December 2016.

An article published by the institute  states:

In their Sustainable Development Program Review, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund boasts of being one of the first major global warming activists… Their highly complex integration of hedge funds, interlocking boards positions, and non-profit organizations has steered public policy on these issues and provided them with foreknowledge of emerging markets and access to the developing worlds’ natural resources …

Another important development has received surprisingly little public attention.

The developers of the next generation of official climate scenarios have concluded that the highest-emissions pathways, including RCP 8.5 and SSP5-8.5, are no longer considered plausible representations of likely future development. Because these scenarios influenced thousands of studies, policy recommendations and media reports, this shift has important implications. I examine the issue in detail in my earlier American Thinker article, “The Climate Scenario Behind A Decade of Alarmism Is No Longer Considered Plausible

A broader question concerns the underlying assumptions built into today’s climate models. Is carbon dioxide truly the dominant driver of climate, as argued by the U.N. IPCC, and can current models isolate its influence with the degree of precision implied by modern attribution studies? Many scientists and researchers—including the more than 2,000 signatories of the Clintel World Climate Declaration — argue that CO₂ is not the dominant driver of climate and that natural variability plays a much larger role than is commonly acknowledged.

Supporters argue that funding of net-zero initiatives accelerates action on an urgent global challenge. Critics contend that concentrated philanthropic funding amplifies particular policy perspectives while making alternative viewpoints less visible within public debate.

Regardless of one’s view of climate science, organisations spending hundreds of millions of dollars and euros to influence public opinion and public policy deserve greater transparency and public scrutiny. Whether in Europe or the United States, citizens have a right to know who is shaping climate policy, how it is being funded, and whether competing scientific perspectives are receiving a fair hearing.

These issues are examined in greater detail in the 2026 edition of my book Climate CO₂ Hoax: How Bankers Hijacked the Real Environment Movement.

Its purpose is to distinguish genuine environmental concerns from claims that, in my view, are not supported by robust empirical evidence.

Mark Keenan is a former United Nations technical expert and an independent writer on science, technology, political economy and human freedom. He is the author of Climate CO2 HoaxThe AI IllusionThe Debt Machine, and Demonic Economics. His articles are available on Substack at markgerardkeenan.substack.com.

 

Mark Keenan | July 18, 2026

Source: Who Really Funds the Climate Agenda? – American Thinker

America’s Independence From Tyrannical English Governance Would Never Have Succeeded Without Dependence On God 

America’s Independence From Tyrannical English Governance Would Never Have Succeeded Without Dependence On God

 

America’s celebration of birth since 1776 was spectacular, our independence from mother England 250 years previous having been a painful and bloody one, to say the least. That separation, however, wasn’t one of merely exerting cleavage from an empire determined to rule over the colonies. That is, there has been a much more profound leverage than a revolutionary spirit at work in producing that schism than just the colonists’ desire to break free of overbearing bondage.

America’s founding fathers—that is, a majority of them—recognized the nature of the profound leverage they were allowed to apply in order to burst free from the most powerful military on the planet at the time. It was providential leverage that most of them acknowledged as the intervening force that birthed this nation.

George Washington said on a number of occasions following the War of Independence that he felt the hand of the Almighty on him. He said he was providentially prevented from being shot on several occasions. In one incident, there were four rifle ball holes in his general’s uniform, but none of the balls had entered his body.

John Adams repeatedly wrote that America was a nation under God’s hand, that America was a moral nation, and the Constitution would work for no other than a moral people. Even Jefferson acknowledged a greater power as having guided the founders and seen to it that the War of Independence was won because of a providential power.

So, the desire for independence from a tyrannical, overbearing English governance was important as those patriots waged the Revolutionary War. But, in the words of almost every founding father, according to extensive documents we have seen presented by experts on America’s founding, such as David Barton, it was dependence on God in Heaven they acknowledged as the true reason for America’s winning independence.

This dependence was steeped in adherence to the Word of God. The Judeo-Christian reference to America’s founding is that its founding principles were based, by and large, within Old and New Testament principles.

Although there is debate on who made the statementFrench historian and political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville is attributed as saying: “America is great because she is good; if America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

During the early times of the nation’s founding, America was indeed good in comparison to today’s America. Jesus Christ was the only good there was at the center of the founding principles. At this late date 250 years hence, however, we can but admit the truth that we have in many areas lost our way in comparison to those earlier times.

The entire world of earth’s inhabitants, for the most part, have strayed ever farther from Heaven’s governance. Independence is now a term that can be applied to the world pulling away from God’s desire that people come nearer to Him, not break away from Him. I believe that because of America’s founding fathers’ dependence on the principles found in God’s Holy Word, the nation could well call the date of July 4, 1776, Dependence Day. It was in large part a dependence upon Heaven above to secure the Revolutionary War victory and nationhood we enjoy today.

America, too, suffers from the independent spirit of anti-God behavior. It is actually the Antichrist Spirit that this country and all nations of the world suffer from as we dive more deeply into the end of the Age of Grace.

But vestiges of that early spirit of dependence upon the God of Heaven still linger in America during this evil day. Despite the world’s mainstream media’s constant railing against Americanism, and the leaderships of the world’s countries lying to their peoples about the ugly Americans, we see, through reports, that this nation that was once populated by a moral people can yet be sensed, even if during this time of liberty’s last gleaming.

 

American greatness left a World Cup traveler in tears as he admitted what initially caused him “fear to travel to the United States.”

In the weeks since the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been underway, communities across North America have embraced the prolific drinking of the Tartan Army, Norway’s Viking row, and the myriad guests soaking up cities and small towns alike. Despite seeing his home team eliminated by Paraguay, a German’s tears were for love of the U.S. after buying into propaganda about how “the country’s not safe.”

During an interview with NBC10 Boston’s Oscar Margáin, Sebastian Kraus could be seen repeatedly wiping away tears with his hands and his shirt as he got choked up about his experience as a visitor to America.

“I fell in love with this country, and this was so emotional, I even cried in the stadium,” he told the reporter after being seen taking a moment to collect himself, including a breathing exercise, having been asked, “Why? Help us understand, why is this so impactful to you?”

Juxtaposed against video he shared with the outlet of a group of strangers driving him back to his hotel where he joyfully expressed, “Bob takes us home,” and “America is great,” Kraus told Margáin, “To be honest, I was a bit scared or had a fear to travel to the United States. News about shootings and criminals and that the country’s not safe.”…

“We owe America a huge apology, because America is nothing like what the media tells us,” he said in a social media video. “Everyone is so friendly, everyone is so accommodating, and I’ve honestly had the best time.”…

His whole life in Germany, he’s been fed lies about America by their media. There’s a reason so many Europeans mock the US until they visit it for themselves; they’ve been brainwashed by the politicians and media elites. 

 

America’s relationship with God from its birth was independence from Great Britain through dependence on Heaven’s help. This is a truth that applies to believers in Jesus Christ. It also applies to those who are in Satan’s grip, needing to come into liberty offered only through God’s Son, who died and rose again to make the lost free from sin-bondage.

Our independence from the evil one, Satan, who seeks to destroy humankind, can be only achieved through dependence upon God’s plan of redemption.

Here yet again is that plan: “That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).


 

Source: America’s Independence From Tyrannical English Governance Would Never Have Succeeded Without Dependence On God – Harbinger’s Daily

Today in the Word – Moody Bible Institute – What We Treasure

 

Read Matthew 6:19–24

What do you do out of habit? Maybe you always start the day with a cup of coffee or get in a walk around the block after dinner. Many of our habits are based on what we think is important. Habits can take us in surprising directions, either toward God or toward rival gods, priorities, or values.

In Matthew 6, Jesus asks us what we treasure. In other words, what do we truly love? The answer is revealed by our everyday actions. That’s where our heart truly is, no matter what we say on Sundays (vv. 19–21). Earthly treasures are temporary and vulnerable. By comparison, heavenly treasures are eternal and secure. Which of these would we prefer to be our “reward in full”? The second, of course.

In verses 22–23, there appears to be an abrupt change of topic. After discussing treasure, Jesus turns to a new topic: healthy versus unhealthy eyes. While at first it might seem unrelated, this metaphor is directly related to the treasure metaphor. To be “full of light” indicates that our knowledge and actions are righteous and thus please God. Eyes “full of darkness” indicate knowledge and actions that are sinful and thus dishonor the Lord. Healthy “eyes” discern and follow right teaching. They can see the foolishness of storing up earthly treasures. Unhealthy “eyes” are blind to these truths and thus pursue the wrong goals.

We must choose. Will we seek earthly treasures or heavenly treasures (v. 24)? We cannot serve both; we can have only one “master.” Earthly treasures are represented by money, given that wealth leads to the things that worldly people want most. But we can only love or be devoted to one thing. By definition or by comparison we will hate or despise the other thing. Which will it be? God or money? Heavenly treasures or earthly treasures?

Go Deeper

Psalm 1 also describes choosing between two spiritual paths. What do this psalm and today’s reading have in common?

Pray with Us

God, You are worth more than anything this world has to offer. When we become enticed by earthly riches, remind us that they do not last. Only You and Your words are eternal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Matthew 6:21

 

 

 

https://www.moodybible.org/

Our Daily Bread – Road Closed, Spirit-Led

 

Today’s Scripture

Acts 16:6-10

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Today’s Devotion

After a lengthy journey, my wife and I finally neared our street, but a large road closed to thru traffic sign blocked our path. I felt the urge to drive around it because home was just ahead, and I didn’t like being rerouted. But then I saw why the road was closed: A downed power line lay across the road. Had I ignored the warning, I could have driven into danger.

In Acts 16:6-10, Paul and his companions were eager to preach the gospel in the province of Asia, but the Holy Spirit closed that door. Detours aren’t always rejection, however. They can be divine redirections. Like the roadblock on our street, God rerouted Paul from entering the province of Bithynia. It must have been frustrating to be blocked, especially while Paul was striving to do his best. But then he received a vision in which a man said, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (v. 9). God said “no” to something good because He was preparing them for something else—taking the gospel to the people of another continent (v. 10).

Rather than seeing “no” as punishment and rejection, we can see it as His Spirit-led redirection. His detours are often pathways to divine appointments. Let’s not simply trust His direction when the roads are open; let’s follow when He closes them too.

Reflect & Pray

When has God placed a “road closed” sign in front of you as you were striving to do something good? How are you listening for the Spirit’s guidance as you work out your plans?

 

Dear God, please help me to trust Your closed doors as much as I trust Your open ones.

To learn more read When God Says No

Today’s Insights

In Acts 16:6-7, it’s unclear how the Holy Spirit stopped Paul from moving forward with his plans. It may have been through a vision, a word of prophecy, or some other circumstance. When God prompted him to go to Macedonia so the gospel could be heard there, we’re told He spoke to him through a vision (vv. 9-10). Scripture doesn’t reveal the identity of the “man of Macedonia” (v. 9), but some scholars believe it may have been Luke, who wrote the book of Acts and joined the group at this point. As believers in Jesus, when God seems to close a door, it may be that the Holy Spirit is redirecting our plans to better align with His. The Spirit of God lives inside us to guide us. Christ said of the Spirit, “He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears” (John 16:13; see 14:26).

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Denison Forum – What makes a hero? A Christian review of “The Odyssey”

 

Christopher Nolan’s take on the 2,800-year-old epic poem, “The Odyssey,” is one of the summer’s most anticipated films, and it’s easy to see why. Outside of the fact that Nolan just doesn’t seem to make bad movies, it’s also the first time anyone has attempted to depict this classic tale on the big screen in more than 70 years.

Perhaps part of the reason for such a long gap is that elements of the story are so foundational to the way we see the ideas of heroism, struggle, and family that they pop up in other mediums often enough that we never really feel the original’s absence. The film is worth seeing, though, and the nearly three-hour runtime feels much shorter as Nolan crafts a story that jumps through time in a way that’s simultaneously disorienting yet clarifying for following along with Odysseus’s journey and the family he left behind.

Moreover, much of the controversy surrounding elements like casting choices is quickly forgotten once the story starts. Elliot Page does not play Achilles, despite frequent rumors to the contrary, though the transgender actor still looks out of place as a soldier, even when playing a physically weaker character. I also appreciated that, despite plot elements and characters that could have easily lent themselves to a more overtly sexualized portrayal, those elements were largely absent from the film as a whole.

At its core, The Odyssey remains a story about a man trying to get home while wrestling with the question of whether he is worthy of doing so. While Nolan’s version takes liberties with the original tale, they’re mostly in service of helping the audience follow along with Odysseus as he struggles to find that answer.

And understanding that struggle is important because, in many ways, it highlights the best answer our culture can offer and why that answer still falls woefully short of what we need.

Is it enough to be better?

I’m not sure if you can spoil a story that’s nearly 3,000 years old, but by the end of the film, Odysseus makes it home. The man he is when he arrives is quite different from the one who left, though. And, in Nolan’s telling, that’s largely what makes him a hero.

The saga tales about the Trojan Horse, infiltrating the otherwise impregnable walls of Troy, and creating the pathway to the Greeks’ final victory are ultimately viewed through a lens of shame rather than pride, and it’s only after coming to that realization and accepting the consequences of his actions that he feels worthy of reuniting with his family.

Owning our mistakes, rather than attempting to hide from them or explain them away, is a necessary corrective to so much of what’s wrong in how our world views sin. The problem is that it leaves little room for true redemption.

On our own, the best we can hope for is that the desire to avoid repeating our past mistakes helps us to become better people going forward. Those memories can—and should—inspire us to change, but to what extent are people really capable of that?

In one of the film’s more poignant scenes, Odysseus vows to protect his men from themselves, only to be told that it’s not up to him. And, to an extent, that’s true for all of us.

Even the best versions of who we are capable of being will fall short of the people God has created and called us to be. We can try to be better, we can learn from our mistakes, and we can vow not to repeat them, but our fallen nature will eventually win the day.

On some level, I think most people understand that. It’s why we find stories like The Odyssey inspiring. It’s why we identify with the flawed heroes who fail and long to see them restored.

And it’s why, apart from God, we will never find that longing fully satisfied.

New or improved?

The truth is that God has instilled in each of us a basic awareness of the fact that we are called to be more than we are capable of becoming on our own. However, if we’re not careful, that awareness will get buried under the desire to settle for something we can achieve without turning to the Lord.

If acknowledging our mistakes and striving to do better is enough, then we’ve lowered the bar to a standard that any human can meet. Doing so assumes a degree of eventual failure that lessens its sting and embraces its inevitability as simply part of the human condition. And, this side of heaven, such failure truly is inevitable, even when we have the Holy Spirit to help.

There will never come a moment when we have to sin, but enough of our fallen nature remains that we eventually will. So, what will you do when those moments come?

In the world’s telling, the key is to learn from our mistakes and strive to be better. But that still leaves those mistakes as the defining characteristics of who we are. Any changes we make, or personal improvements that come, are still based in an identity of failure.

God wants more for us than that, and he offers a new identity in Christ that not only forgives our mistakes but banishes them as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). In Jesus, we can find true restoration and redemption; the kind that makes us new rather than just improved (2 Corinthians 5:17).

But we can’t do it on our own. We were never meant to.

That’s good news if we can have the humility to accept it.

Can you?

 

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise – When the Foundations Are Destroyed

 

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)

The word here for “foundations” is not the usual word for, say, a building foundation. Used rarely, a better translation of this word would be “purpose” or “basis.” The fear expressed is not that the foundations of our faith may be undermined but that we may lose our sense of purpose.

In the context of the psalm, David was in danger of becoming demoralized by the pressures of wicked desires and evil ambitions all around him, and Christians surely have the same problem today. Why should we try to maintain high standards of doctrinal integrity and moral purity when the people around us—even most Christians—seem to be occupied mostly with materialistic ambition and pursuit of pleasure? If we allow the devil to undermine the very purposes God has for our lives, wandering away from His will in favor of some temporal interest, then why even continue with a pretense of Christian living?

David’s solution was simply to remind himself that “the LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men” (v. 4). He may allow the righteous to be tried for a season, but we must not forget that “the righteous LORD loveth righteousness” (v. 7) and that “the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (v. 5).

When we are tempted to wonder whether it is really worth all the effort, and when our very foundation and purpose for living seems to be crumbling, we should remember that our God is Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of all—He still is on His throne, and we who belong to Him have been “predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11). HMM

 

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

Joyce Meyer – Jesus Has Overcome the World

 

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

John 16:33 (AMPC)

Jesus tells us that in the world we will have tribulation. He doesn’t want us to be surprised by our troubles, but to hold our peace and remain confident in Him in the midst of them. He actually says that when trouble comes, we should cheer up, because He has overcome the world and deprived it of power to harm us.

This is such good news. Satan may come against us, but he will never win. We might lose a battle now and then, but we have already won the war. I used to think that life would be so good if only I didn’t have trouble stalking me all the time. I kept waiting for my trouble to go away, but I discovered that God wanted me to learn how to face it with confidence, knowing that He would always take care of me. He wants to do the same for you. Are you worried about something right now? If so, read today’s scripture over and over, and let the reality of what it says sink into your heart.

Prayer of the Day: Jesus, help me stay confident in You during difficult times. Remind me that You have overcome the world and are always with me, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – The Solid Rock: Honey in the Rock

 

NEW!Listen Now

He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.
Psalm 81:16

Recommended Reading: Deuteronomy 32:12-13

“O my brother, do you know the Savior, who is wondrous, kind, and true? He’s the rock of your salvation! There’s honey in the Rock for you.”1

There is evidence that ancient civilizations practiced the art of beekeeping in order to harvest honey and pollinate crops. The practice of keeping bees intentionally grew out of the observation that bees will naturally create a hive in trees, crevices in rocks, and even in the carcass of a wild animal (Judges 14:8-9). Isaiah referred to the Assyrian army as bees that would rest “in the clefts of the rocks” (Isaiah 7:18-19). When Moses (Deuteronomy 32:13) and the psalmist (Psalm 81:16) referred to God providing “honey from the rock,” it was likely a metaphorical reference to God’s provision for His people—just as He provided water from a rock in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8-11), an image that was seen to be the preincarnate Christ (1 Corinthians 10:3-4).

However unlikely your circumstances may seem, know that God is able to provide for you through Christ Jesus.

God’s purposes always have God’s provision.
John Blanchard

  1. F. A. Graves, “Honey in the Rock,” 1895.

 

 

 

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

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