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Daniel Hochhalter Posts

The kingdom and the spirit of the age

Published by Daniel on February 9, 2025

When I was in seminary, one of my professors often wove a profound quote throughout his lectures that he attributed to theologian Karl Barth: “When the church weds itself to the spirit of the age, it will find itself a widow in the next.”

Often this quote was raised in the context of contemporary theology and how the body of the American church in the early 20th-century “wedded” itself to western modernism by replacing faith and with rational and scientific explanation. Those churches embraced this philosophy by categorizing Christianity into neat systems and defending complex questions of faith with rational arguments to the point where they were sure people could be argued into the kingdom.

Then in the 90s and 00s, a societal shift took place where rationalism was no longer trusted and the metanarrative of science was completely rejected. Many churches responded by wholeheartedly embraced tearing down old meaningless theological constructs and seeking out different ways of approaching faith. “Let’s take an out-of-the-box approach to Christianity,” those churches would argue

The trendy church movement that came out of the first decade of the 21st century was known as the “Emerging Church.” At first, those churches—of which I was initially saw benefits—had some great new ways of helping Christians break out of from the grip of western culture and speak Jesus into other cultures.

Unfortunately, typical of ministries in the U.S. who have a tendency of overshooting the runway, those churches morphed into today’s progressive church. And this movement is delving into some pretty dangerous theological territory.

I have been increasingly suspicious when emerging church preached love and acceptance while completely ignoring sin. Suddenly, churches—even one I attended in Portland—promoted social justice at the expense of truth.

Fast forward another decade, and now a new, trendy term took hold—“exvangelical”—that was unfortunately embraced by several fairly well-known individuals in evangelical circles.

In this new trend, which thankfully is already started to peter out, the exvangelical proclaims their disillusionment with the millennia of Christianity, deciding that they are somehow more enlightened than 1700 years of Christian theologians and biblical authority.

Then, this trend started to jump the shark.

It started by taking small steps by making strange claims like Mary and Joseph were illegal immigrants, Jesus was a homeless man, and Jesus was a socialist.

Suddenly, naming sin a sin was considered hate. I actually know of a devotional magazine whose editor decreed quoting 1 Corinthians 6:9-11″hate speech.”

The movement began to double down. I recently came across the “Sparkle Creed,” a very bizarre rewrite of the Apostle’s Creed which for centuries had summarized the tenets of Christianity.

In what I assure you does not come from the Babylon Bee, the “Sparkle Creed” in part goes like this:

“I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling-child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.”

Perhaps I am being a bit fussy here, but can someone show me where the Triune Godhead, the physical death, burial and resurrection Jesus, his virgin birth, the blood atonement, among other claims fit in to the faith?

I am having trouble trying to imagine the martyrs of Christianity getting fed to the lions as a great witness to the Sparkle Creed.

Not going to lie, if my faith is based in the Sparkle Creed, I would probably be home for evening supper after getting the option to either renounce it or die.

Of course, the Sparkle Creed is an extreme example.

In fact, in an effort to remain socially relevant, the progressive arm of Christianity continues to wed itself to the spirit of the age thus diluting the authority of scripture. All with the help of the media serving as its mouthpiece.

Episcopalian minister Mariann Budde, in the spirit of telling truth to power, openly chastised the new president about social justice issues during the National Prayer Service while he sat in the audience. Progressive Christians stood and cheered her words. In the days following, Budde became a rock star in the press.

Now, I believe in telling truth to power—truth that is not synonymous with one’s own personal agenda. And it turns out she was not telling truth to power. Budde was protecting the $53 million dollars her organization received from taxpayer funding. It turns out she had skin directly in the game. That doesn’t disqualify anyone from speaking one’s opinions, but it sure lessens his or her credibility.

This weekend, I cringed when Wheaton College, one with a rich history in the U.S. and one of the few remaining colleges that are far more than Christian in name only.

At least for now.

This week Wheaton posted their congratulations to nominee and alum Russell Vought for receiving senate approval for Director of Office Management and Budget and calling believers to pray for him. After other Wheaton alumni went apoplectic because the school had the audacity to congratulate and issue a call to prayer for a –gasp—Trump nominee, it retracted the post and assured the world its non-partisan stance.

All the while having no trouble hosting a “non-political” political gathering last September by The After Party, discussing what Christians should do in a Trump administration (loosely speaking). It had no Christian speakers on the right and was funded by Defend Democracy Together which was founded by Bill Kristol who last week echoed the mantra of every villain from “The X-Files” declaring he “preferred the deep state to Trump.”

Meanwhile, the school offered no event addressing Christianity’s response to truth in Biden administration.

After looking this issue up, I found out Wheaton allows an LGTBQ+ Network on campus.

On a personal sidenote to that point. I was an adjunct professor at a Christian college in Portland who allowed a student-led Straight-Queer Alliance group on campus, whose stated objective was to change the thinking of the school about LGBTQ issues. The admin wanted that particular line omitted from the groups bylaws, and the group immediately went to the press who jumped at the chance to ridicule us closed-minded Christians. Now, I want to stress this is not official, but roughly six months later, the Board closed the doors to the 109-year-old institution at the end of the school for unclear reasons. Many on both sides contend that was the issue.

I respected Wheaton. I know graduates and once believed it as a light in the Midwest. It houses the Marian Wade Center focusing on C.S. Lewis as well as the Billy Graham Museum (at least it did). Now I fear its wedding itself to the spirit of the age is going to render the school an empty shell of itself if not close down altogether. Vought, the new OMB Director, expressed his hurt from Wheaton’s retraction. He says he cannot with a good heart recommend that school for his daughters.

I am not sure I could recommend it anymore either. In fact, I am hesitant to recommend one of my alma maters because of a growing concern they’re doing the same thing.

Now, let me clarify something and clarify this as unambiguously as I can. One could easily ask “isn’t the Christian Right also wedding itself to the spirit of the age?” Without reservation, I will answer absolutely: YES.

The danger is there, and the right has crossed that line before.

In the 90s, I read a book “Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?” written by Conservative Commentator Cal Thomas and former Liberty University Vice President Ed Dobson.

This book had a huge impact on me.

I am a Liberty alumni (Class of 90!). I attended the school during the time of Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority.

Thomas and Dobson argued in their book that the when the Christian Right submitted itself to the Republican Party in the 80s, it became a servant and a mere tool of that party. Instead, we are a kingdom worldview which should never submit to a political party.

Since then I have tried to navigate between being a kingdom individual who has a conservative political philosophy. That is a hard line to tow. It’s a real struggle for me.

I remind myself that revival did not come to America because of the election results.

While I agree with Trump draining the swamp, he is not my savior. Lower taxes and government funding are not a scriptural issues, and closing the Department of Education is not a salvific matter one way or another.

So, yes, Christians on the right make those mistakes—myself included—when it weds itself to the spirit of the age.

However, I will also argue that Christians on the left are making those same mistakes now. The Kingdom of God is not USAID; it is not found in any government programs.

Herein lies the real problem when the church weds itself to the spirit of the age. It lessens our credibility and dampens the church’s prophetic voice.

Our message gets confused and diluted at best, and highly suspect at worse.

It is okay to have a political stance and be relevant in culture. However, it must never, ever reinterpret or deconstruct itself into oblivion (which I would argue is impossible since it is Jesus’s bride). When we find ourselves having to squint at the text as we do rhetorical somersaults to make the Bible read the way we want it to, we throw out our prophetic voice.

The Spirit of the Age fluctuates. It will never stay the same. The Bible on the other hand never changes.

Wedding itself to the spirit of the age must never be our objective. The authority of the Bible must never be sacrificed in the name of relevance.

Or, as Barth warns, we will become a widow when the spirit of the age once again shifts.

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What is truth?

Published by Daniel on February 3, 2025

What is truth?

It’s an age-old question that’s woven its way throughout human history. It is a question every worldview, belief system, and philosophy.

Thousands of volumes have written over the millennia, and believe me, I am in not going to claim I have the final say in the matter. Nowhere near.

This deep and contemplative question was asked by Pontius Pilate (John 18:38), ironically when he had the very definition of truth standing before him (14:6).

So when Jesus emphatically states that he is “the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me,” what exactly does he mean?

Primarily in the West, we define “facts” as “truth.” Facts indeed can be “true,” but is that necessarily synonymous with “Truth” (capital T)?

No.

Years ago, while researching my master’s thesis, I came across an interesting quote. Honestly, I am having trouble recalling it verbatim, or who said it, but it went something like this: lies can be told with facts; truth can be found in fiction.”
In other words, facts are not all they’ve claimed to be. They can actually be used to deceive.

For example, during the 2024 election, many thought (as I do) that “fact-checkers” were really full of crap. My suspicion as to their agenda first arose when they often fact-checked the Babylon Bee (not The Onion, by the way). During the debates the media couldn’t help themselves to fact-check Trump and Vance while allowing Harris and Walz to utter false claims unchecked.

My problem with the media is they play loose with the facts. They might put forth one fact which is true, while intentionally omitting another fact which negates the truth by not telling the full story. For example, under Biden, both the president and VP traveled to El Paso, Texas, after accusations of ignoring the problem. The press gushed about showing their care and being on top of the problem.

The facts they omitted were: 1) El Paso scrubbed the presidential route through town, scrubbing the sidewalks and clearing out the homeless, and 2) avoiding other towns deeply affected by illegal immigration such as Eagle Pass.

This was only one example.

A new attempt from the left is coming in the claim: “each side has their own facts.”
Which kind of supports my claim: facts are not synonymous with Truth. When two facts contradict the other, one of those facts is wrong.

Now, can each side claim a fact which is true?

Yes.

Take today’s shutdown of USAID, an organization which distributes foreign aid. Can be a fact that some important funds are temporarily cut off? Yes. However, is there a lot of waste and corruption. ($2.5 million for DEI in Serbia? $47,000 to publish a trans book in Columbia? I am going out on a limb here, but I will call that waste.)
It is a fact that there is waste in that organization. It is a fact that there are other means within the government to distribute that money. It is also a fact that if the United States doesn’t get its waste and overspending under control, our economy will collapse and we will be no good to any one.

The left will respond with their set of facts. Either left or right, one has wrong or incomplete facts.

Back to my main point.

If facts are not synonymous with Truth, then what is Truth?

When Jesus stated that he is the Truth, is he merely stating he is a “fact.” The devil even believes that.

But the Greek he use for “truth” is alethia. This word means “true.” However, it also means “authentic, integrity, genuine, faithfulness.”

One analogy explains this.

In ancient times, before the invention of levels, carpenters used the plumb line to measure whether a wall was straight. They would climb to the top, tie a rock to the end of the rope, and drop the rock to let it hang down. If the wall is straight compared to the plumb line, it is said the wall is “true.” If an airline pilot took off from New York to Paris and his direction is directly on course, it is said his course is “true.”

This is Jesus refers to Truth.

Over the course of the 2024 election, I often drew up a comparison between Truth and a fabricated narrative. I will be the first to admit that Trump is not the harbinger of Truth (though admittedly—whether you love him or hate him—the president has done everything he said he would do. One cannot accuse him of being untruthful).

For four years, I was constantly being told things by the highest office in the land things that did not reflect reality: the economy was the fast growing ever; Biden was sharp as a tack; the border is closed; the Inflation Reduction Act worked; gas was $5 per gallon when Biden took office; white supremacy is the biggest problem; January 6 was the darkest day in American history; BLM and Antifa were peaceful protests; Biden would not pardon his son; pre-emptive pardons were suspicious when Trump broached the subject, but ok when Biden did it; Kamala lost because of racism and misogyny (even Democrat strategist James Carville likened her to playing a “7th string quarterback” in the Superbowl).

Holding these claims against a plum line, it became very clear that none of those claims are genuine, authentic, genuine, etc.
In other words, none of those claims are true.

Thus, I concluded I was experiencing a fabricated narrative.

Please don’t get me wrong. Those on the right can also create narratives. We must call them out whenever we see them, not just when it’s our guy.

As Christ-followers, we must always obey and follow the One who is Truth. Those on the right, me included, do not have a monopoly on Truth. We are not immune to fabricate narratives. Christ-followers on the left have the same plumb line: authenticity, genuineness, etc.

It is fair to measure everything against the plumb line, including anything I say or do. One does that by carefully measure it against the wall. However, it is not done by ad hominem (personal insults), whipping up needless fear, nor by trying to silence those with whom one not agree.

We must all be seekers of Truth.

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Is writing still worth it?

Published by Daniel on February 1, 2025

I’ve really run into a conundrum over the last couple of days that was triggered by a particular headline from, of all places, the Babylon Bee (which, by the way, is my favorite fake news source): “Report: Nobody Cares About Your 17-Paragraph Political Facebook Rant.”

From my earliest days since picking up a pencil, I loved the exercise of communicating through the written word.

I loved writing short stories, essays, and even research. In the 7th grade, I wrote 26-page short story when others struggled to eke out three to four-pages. In the ninth grade, I finished my first novel about 400 pages. In college, I rewrote it to over 800 pages on an electric typewriter that definitely annoyed my dorm mates. Frankly, the novel was garbage, but I sure enjoyed doing it.

It was nothing to turn out essays twenty to 30 pages. Whether it was the standard semester research paper, my master’s thesis, and even my doctoral thesis (of which the latter was determined by my examiners also to be garbage), I have always loved the writing process.

Out of that last experience in a post-graduate program came my book “Losers Like Us” published by David C. Cook. Hopefully, soon, my second manuscript will be ready.

Fortunately, I live in a time that provides me a chance to continue to write: the internet. For the last decade, I have maintained a webpage wherein I was able to post an occasional blog.

Unfortunately, I live in a time wherein blog posts are so “last year.” Users just don’t read blogs anymore. We live in the age of “TL/DR” which stands for “Too Long/Didn’t Read” (or as I see it: “Too long, [I’m a] Dumb Reader.”

If you can’t write it in a tweet, don’t bother writing it at all. Or, better yet, create a “reel” which consists of giving bad spiritual advice, lip-syncing songs or comedic snippets, filming a ten-second mic drop moment, or recreating humorous–I use that term loosely–skit from other influencers–I use that term at an even higher level of, um…loosely-ness.

That is the intelligence of the world we live in.

Still, I feel compelled to write.

I tended to avoid writing about politics during this last decade. The political clown show just wasn’t something I wanted to be a part of. If someone’s comment interpreted anything I posted as political, I would delete the entire post.

That changed last July shortly after the first assassination attempt of Donald Trump. With the bizarre response from the media and many on the left, I just felt that rhetoric could not be ignored.

Instead of blogging about this near-tragic event, which tends to not be read, I clumsily posted my thoughts for my tiny world on Facebook with my fat fingers on my mobile phone.

A lot more people responded positively and negatively this way–all more than when I announced a new blog post, so I just continued using that method. It kind of turned into a habit. I actually began to enjoy the more instant comments telling me either how stupid or encouraging I am. I thought maybe I had found a different outlet for my writing.

Now, seven months later, the Babylon Bee posts a satirical article, which joked, “A new survey concluded that there was not a single soul who would be interested in reading any further political rants, finding that even the mothers of those writing and posting them would not care to read them.”

That hit a little close to home.

Now, I know that it was the Babylon Bee, which, for those NYT, CNN, and Politico “fact-checkers,” is what “normal people” call a “satirical site.” However, given the laughing stock the media has become, one can argue that more truth is found in satire than in media generated facts.

Satire often ridicules something that is overdone. It shines a spotlight on the absurdity of its topic often using the topic’s own logic.

When the Bee satirizes the type Facebook post mentioned above in which I myself am a participant, it forces me to reconsider whether I am once again behind the curve.

Actually, it makes me wonder if the act of writing itself has become obsolete. Why learn to write if we can get AI to do the work for us?

For that matter, why should I bother to keep writing—about anything, political, spiritual, or otherwise? I know there are some who would really wish I’d shut up.

But isn’t that what writing is all about—defending a point, putting something out there to contemplate, discuss or debate? Isn’t it to contribute to the public arena?

I am not so sure. America has gone from critical thinking about anything to creating “mic drop” rhetoric on the right to using emotionally-charged sob stories ad nauseum on the left. That is all Americans have to offer.

I have been wondering the last 24-hours why the Babylon Bee’s post stopped me in my tracks. It caused me to wonder: Am I just wasting my time writing stuff—any topic not just political—that no one will ever read? Is there any avenue for written expression?

Really, though, the main thrust of my question is: Is writing a thing of the past?

Will the act of writing ever become relevant again? Or should I just quit wasting my time?

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Politics and the kingdom worldview

Published by Daniel on January 19, 2025

am a follower of Jesus.

Though I lean to the right politically, my worldview is a kingdom worldview.

As it should be for all followers of Jesus.

I say that to say this.

In a matter of hours, Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States. I will be the first to admit that I was thrilled with the election results across the nation last November. I was thrilled the official narrative was rejected and the media was rendered an irrelevant, toothless lion.

However, I feel as a kingdom follower that I must also throw out a caution to my fellow Christians on the right.

It is perfectly fine to celebrate what is about to happen tomorrow. I, like you, have a bit of hope that things might get back to some sense of normalcy. I personally feel a sigh of relief that the chaos and narrative of the last four years has been vehemently rejected by the American people.

But Donald Trump is *not* the savior.

Though he will be president, he does not sit on the throne.

We serve only one king.

He, like all of us, is an imperfect person who will make mistakes. He, like us, is a broken, sinful man.

Though those of us on the right feel a sense of relief, we cannot forget who the real Savior is.

Jesus saves the world, not Donald Trump.

What does this mean?

It means that we with the kingdom worldview must not lose our moral compass. We must hold our new president and leaders accountable. We must not tolerate being lied to and having the wool pulled over our eyes.

We must not excuse immorality simply because he’s “our guy.” If we don’t hold Donald Trump and our leaders to the same standards as we had Joe Biden then we lose the moral high ground, and more importantly–our prophetic voice, for generations.

One caveat: I know his opponents will join the mantra: “Yeah, but he’s a convicted felon. You’re excusing that, aren’t you?” Possibility of redemption aside (remember Chuck Colson?), it actually might mean something if he wasn’t “convicted” using the most Stalinistic tactics (“Show me the man, I will show you the crime.”). Virtually every legal scholar predicts the verdict will be overturned on appeal once it gets out of the New York Court System Gulag. All but Trump’s most vocal opponents see those charges as joke. A “convicted crime” is not automatically a crime when it comes in a corrupt justice system. So let’s have the debate whether I am right or wrong on this, let’s not try to cover it up or pressure me into silence.

Back to my primary point.

Mistakes are going to made in the White House, and it is more than ok to call them out. We must not do semantic somersaults to justify them. That doesn’t mean we must stop supporting him, nor does it mean all hope is diminished.

If lies are told (note: “lie” does not mean “My personal interpretation or policy does not agree”), we must hold our leaders accountable. We *must* not look the other way.

Is America heading into a Golden Age? If you’re on the left, no bit of economic data will be taken as positive; if you’re on the right, no bumps will be seen as negative. I hope so, only time will tell.

If America is entering a “Golden Age,” Jesus still reigns. If things go sideways, Jesus still reigns.

As Christ-followers, we must also not get lazy. Politically, Christians on the right might feel a sense of being unburdened by the constant attacks by our own government. As Paul reminds us, “our battle is not against flesh and blood.”

We must not retreat to our comfort zones. We must go forward and fight.

How?

By not sitting back and letting the government do our kingdom work for us. We must not sit back and simply call out immorality. Hashtag activism is worthless.

Instead, we must do. As Micah 6:8 says, we love “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.”

We must continue to assist those thousands in North Carolina still suffering by Hurricane Helene as well those who lost everything in the Los Angeles fires. This does not matter if they are liberal or conservative, or if they are poor, rural people or are wealthy city folks.

We must love and care for the homeless, many of whom do not feel worthy to deserve a “normal” life.

We must come along side those who struggle with identity and show them that they are created in God’s image and this is where they find their value.

Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, we must come alongside and support young, unwed mothers both during and after the pregnancy.

We must care for the widows or those who need an extra hand, of which are all around us.

In other words, we must serve and care for the world that might hate us.

Our future relies solely on Jesus Christ, not Donald Trump or the Republican leadership.

We must never forget who we ultimately serve.

Humanly speaking, I am excited about inauguration day.

However, as a kingdom believer, I am most hopeful in the One who saved us all.

Nations fall and nations rise, but He is the One forever on the throne.

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The end of TikTok in the U.S.?

Published by Daniel on January 18, 2025

Tomorrow, Tiktok will go dark in the United States.

Well, kind of.

Americans can still use the app if they have it already installed, and no one will be coming after them for using it. Tiktok will just become unavailable on the Apple and Google Play store. Unconfirmed reports are circulating that incoming President Trump might extend the deadline 90 days.

The one “out” Tiktok has is to sell the platform to someone with no ties to the Chinese government. Yesterday (Friday), “Shark Tank” billionaire Kevin O’Leary put an offer on the table to buy the platform for $20 billion in cash, but as of yet he has received no response.

However, as a response to this ban, Gen Z users across America are downloading another Chinese owned social media app called Red Note, which ironically is named after Chinese totalitarian dictator Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book, which launched the Chinese rebellion into Communism resulting in the slaughter of millions.

That’ll show us.

Now, I am against censorship in all forms. (One could argue that no individual user is being “censored”–there’s a swamp of social media platforms out there. The business itself is deemed a threat to national security.)

Part of me is uncomfortable with this ban. However, the outcry of the banning of Tiktok has me more than a little puzzled.

A little over a year ago, Tiktok was seen as very dangerous to national security. To this day, all federal and state government devices cannot have the app installed because of those ties to China.

This is the same China that flew a spy balloon the size of a school bus over all important military bases across the United States, collecting and transmitting God knows how many secrets back across the Pacific.

This is the same China buying up land bordering United States’ military bases, including Minot Air Force Base, and even Malmstrom Air Force Base here in Montana, which by the way, happens to control the launches of ICBMs in the northern plains states. Nothing suspicious there.

It is also the same China that, according to NBC News, have hacked our infrastructures—including but not limited to the Treasury Department and Office of Personal Management—and building dossiers on tens of millions of Americans. Apparently, they have done this under our noses since 2014.

Surely, there is nothing nefarious going on in back doors of the Tiktok app which, under communism’s economic structure, is ultimately owned not by ByteDance but by the Chinese government itself.

Then, to add fuel to my suspicion, no one seems to remember that following the Hamas invasion of Israel and the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Tiktok’s algorithms showed clear favoritism toward pro-Palestinian posts nearly 10-to-1 over pro-Israeli posts.

I also remember listening to Podcaster Joe Rogan “going down the rabbit hole” reading the Tiktok Terms of Service live on-air.

These included, according to Rogan, Tiktok’s right to collect the user’s “mobile carrier, time zone settings, identifiers for advertising purpose, model of your device, the device system, network type, device IDs, your screen resolution and operating system, app and file names and types.”

Of course, the average naïve Gen Z user responds with a shrug and a flippant, “So what. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Rogan continues, ‘So all your apps and all your file names, all the things you have filed away on your phone, they have access to that…File names and types, keystroke patterns or rhythms. So they’re monitoring your keystrokes, which means they know every f***ing thing you type. [Including passwords].” If you login to multiple devices, Tiktok “will be able to use your profile information to identify your activity across devices…We may also associate you with information collected from devices other than those you use to log into the platform.”

Tiktok possesses enough information on you to even “shut down people’s accounts [including financial].”

How quickly we’ve forgotten.

Knowing this level of manipulation, I am not necessarily sad to see Tiktok placed under pressure to sell or go away.

I am troubled that, knowing all this information, many Americans just don’t care. It seems Tiktok users and highly misnamed “influencers” are willing to sell their souls for seconds of meaningless entertainment and cash.

China doesn’t need to invade us. We are willing to give ourselves over to the threat solely on our own.

China is using our own nation’s strengths against us.

Honestly, Tiktok shouldn’t need to be banned. Americans should be much smarter and wiser.

TikTok users in the United States should have the presence of mind to know that a nation that hates everything we stand for is leading us right off a cliff.

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Some thoughts on Inauguration 2025

Published by Daniel on January 17, 2025

In a matter of days, the United States will swear in a new leader, the 47th President of the United States. Of course, this also means another presidential term will thankfully shuffle awkwardly off the stage, probably in the opposite direction of the door.

I have never been more relieved the current president’s term is over. The last four years, historically speaking, have been an unmitigated disaster. Afghanistan, out-of-control inflation that everyone but the wealthy would understand, gas prices are down, DEI, a Ministry of Truth–I mean a Department of Misinformation, pressuring social media companies to censor points-of-view, lawfare, the border is closed, there is no mental decline, and the making of the nation’s crack intelligence agencies look more like the Keystone Cops.

Most of all, his administration absolutely and completely destroyed trust in the institution of the federal government. To borrow from a tired, old joke: how do you know when the federal government is lying? Their lips are moving.

The White House and their faithful messengers, the media, was all about maintaining the narrative. We were told that everything’s fine—there’s nothing to see here. All the bad things you see is all in your head. It’s the fastest growing economy in history. You just can’t see it.

Truth didn’t matter, only the narrative. The narrative was god. The narrative must be defended at all costs. Loyalty to the narrative was all that was to be worshipped.

I am not saying that the incoming president will be this bastion of truth. He is human. I pray he doesn’t take on the tactic of making a narrative.

The left seems unwilling to let the idea of narrative go. CNN’s Jim Acosta insisted “the press is not the enemy of the people.

The press is the defender of the people.” Ideally, yes. In reality, no. They lied, spun, and covered up the truth. Personally, it will be a long time before I trust anything they say.

During Biden’s farewell address last night, he threw another possible narrative against the wall hoping it might stick: the country will led by billionaire oligarch. Today, on nearly every news outlet, journalists echoed that their biggest fear was the nation being ruled by billionaire oligarchs. (Never mind the fact that day before Biden awarded thr Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros, a billionaire whose only action was donating millions to liberal causes and candidates.)

Given the public trust in the media, I highly doubt it will stick.

This whole idea of narrative-as-truth has got to be thrown out onto the ash heap of bad ideas.

I am so thankful the American people made the statement on the narrative of the last four years. I am thankful we have seen the truth the narrative worked so hard to hide.

I honestly don’t know what the future will bring. My main prayer is that America can breathe a brief sigh of relief that the narrative of the last four years.

Perhaps (?) normalcy might return.

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Truth versus narrative

Published by Daniel on January 3, 2025

One thing that came out of the rise of postmodernism in the 00’s was a regained prominence of narrative as means of understanding truth. In his book titled “The Postmodern Condition,” philosopher Jean Francois-Lyotard argued that contrary to the West’s enlightenment belief that all truth must be filtered through science to be considered legitimate knowledge, it is actually narrative which should be the arbiter of truth. Narrative can do something science is unable to do: bring meaning. I actually saw great potential in Lyotard’s idea.

I am naturally a story-teller. I see the power in story, a way of discovering deeper meaning. It’s not only a way to entertain, it is a way to encourage another to let their guard down, to see things from a different perspective as well as to find deeper meaning to life’s questions that rational arguments cannot explain.

After all, why do you think Jesus taught using parables rather than bullet points and sermons? One could argue that the Bible itself is presented largely as a narrative.

That does not mean the story I believe in Scripture is false.

Au contraire.

It means truth—the Truth—and meaning can be packaged within fiction. Within story.

C.S. Lewis is most famous for taking deep theological elements and wrapping them up in a series of children’s literature based in Narnia. He often used phrases elsewhere such as “myth become fact” and a “baptized imagination.”

There is great power in the theology of story. When it come to introducing Jesus to a non-believer or skeptic, it is usually not argument that brings them to understanding.

It is story, either by telling others how Jesus works in my broken life or showing others Jesus through the story of my day to day actions.

This makes sense to me.

However, a danger can also exists in Lyotard’s idea, one that I had also fallen into: the idea that a person’s story is all that matters. In other words, MY story is supreme. God enters into MY story, not the other way around.

The trajectory of this idea leads to the primary problem of our society today: subjectivism. What’s true for you is not necessarily what’s true for me.

Humanity actually circled back to the serpent’s temptation to Eve in the Garden: “You will be like God.” The individual gets to decide their truth, i.e., their definitions of good and evil.

This subjectivity (“My truth”) is where narrative falls flat.

2024 might have seen the death of this idea of narrative. (I’m not for certain, but I hope and pray).

All year long (and even in the years prior to), I would watch something play out on the news only to be told later by the same news source that is not what I saw. I was told by the “experts” that everything I am personally experiencing is not happening.

“The economy is great!” even though my grocery and gas bill doubled. “The President is at the top of his game and sharp as ever!” even though he clearly was not. “White supremacy is the most dangerous threat to our nation!” even though the most notable cases seem to turn out to be frauds and as of New Year’s Day, everyone’s talking about ISIS cells embedded around the nation. “The border is closed!” even though I am watching caravans of illegal aliens storming gates and ripping through razor wire in Eagle Pass, Texas. And most recently, a spokeswoman for the FBI declared the terrorist attack in New Orleans was most definitely NOT a terrorist attack as pictures of an ISIS flag on the back of the attacker’s pick up truck circulated across the internet. I saw “fact-checkers”—supposedly under the banner of truth spew the biggest narratives.

Institutions that we once trusted and that we should trust have lost all credibility. This is because the necessity of truth has been replaced by the necessity of maintaining a narrative. These institutions worked exceptionally hard to get their narrative before the public’s eyes. If anyone raised questions, they would be called quacks, conspiracy theorists, and somehow, white supremacist.

Often during 2024, when I would post that I hope truth prevails, I was not speaking of a candidate. I was hoping that Americans would see through the narrative presented.

I was hoping to see that America understood that there is such a thing as truth and that truth would always prevail over narrative.

And truth prevailed, not because Trump won but because narrative lost.

Hopefully, society will reject the idea that there is no such thing as objective truth, and that we might see narrative for what it is when it presented as fact yet is highly contrary to that truth.

There is truth—Jesus is that Truth. It is objective, real, and not defined by ourselves.

And it is good to know that Jesus as Truth has survived the harshest attacks for millennia, both physically and philosophically, and continues to grow strong throughout the world.

Finding truth in narrative can be a good thing. Creating narrative as a substitute for truth is nefarious.

There is a truth beyond us. We must rest on that truth because if we rest on any man-made truth, that foundation will crumble.

Kind of like what we saw in 2024.

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Some 2025 predictions (keep score)

Published by Daniel on January 1, 2025

2025 is officially out of the starting gate, and already, it has fallen flat on its face.

Sadly, only three hours into the new year, a pick up truck with an Isis flag slammed into a crowd of partiers in New Orleans’ famous Bourban Street, killing 12 and injuring three dozen more. Hours later, a Tesla truck exploded outside of the Trump Tower in Las Vegas, though at this time, it seems unclear if it was a random event or something more nefarious.

I hope this isn’t an indication how 2025 will go, but it seems each year, in the Annual Meeting of Years, the upcoming and intoxicated new year steps up and vows to outdo the preceding year. (The previous sentence made a lot more sense in my head.)

Anyway, not to be outdone by anyone else on the planet, I have decided to make some predictions about 2025. Now not too brag, but I made some pretty accurate predictions in the previous year that would make Nostradamus proud (though admittedly my secret is that anyone with a simple appreciation of parody could do the same).

1) MSNBC will openly admit to their 13 viewers that they really hoped the New Orleans terrorist was a Caucasian male named “Bubba” who was flying a Confederate flag out of the back of his Ford pick up truck.

2) President Biden will take a moment from sabotaging the incoming President to issue a firm statement for Congress to pass “common sense” gun laws in response to the *check notes* terrorist act in New Orleans.

3) On January 20, Democrats, who for the previous four years used every undemocratic tactic available to bring down Trump, will lament that democracy has come to an end.

4) The new Democratic minority in Congress who loudly threatened to end the filibuster, pack the Supreme Court, and push for statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico to gain progressive senators—all in order to pass unpopular legislation—will now openly push the new Republican majority to play fair and not move the goal posts.

5) Many progressive churches, who water down scripture to appear more relevant to the culture, will close their doors after suddenly realizing much of the nation shifted to the right.

6) Hollywood will continue to produce woke movies all the while trying to understand why their movies continually flop (they likely will continue to blame Covid). And in the same vein …

7) Many actors in Hollywood will realize that to truly take on the edgy, rebel look to distinguish themelves as outsiders will have to claim they’re conservative, Christian, and actually have a moral compass.

8) Many who will flee the United States after Trump becomes president will immediately realize: no one cares.

9) The media, after much soul searching following the 2024 election, will catch a new strain of Trump Derangement System, thus continuing their spiral into irrelevance.

10) Within days of Tom Homan becoming the new Border Czar, the media will air story after story about weeping migrants being deported (there will also be a new Pulitzer category for the journalist who can include a weeping Hispanic child).

11) Democrats will still proclaim the end of democracy while trying to silence those who disagree with the leftist mantras.

12) DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) will be proclaimed officially dead (at least until it can figure out another way to repackage itself).

13) The Department of Education will be shut down, and America will once again rise to be number one in education.

14) Woke leaders in the Pentagon, FBI, Secret Service, etc., will realize—though continuing to deny—that the nation thinks they’re idiots and really are an embarrassment. Shortly after this realization, they will be fired.

15) The nation will continue to believe the media lies to them, and the media will continue to believe they matter.

16) A highly classified memo will be leaked by someone at MSNBC, identifying that a bullet point instructing the media to claim all right-leaning thought as a “Fox News talking point” is, in fact, an MSNBC talking point.

17) There will be statues erected and minstrals sung to the heroes who gun down such oppressors as Healthcare CEOs, and grade school children at Christian Schools. (Many will try to mask their glee by saying that they “condemn all political violence, but…”)

18) The millions who were told they will die if Trump gets elected will be astonished to find out they are, in fact, still alive.

19) RFK , Jr., will mandate that all new prescription drugs will be tested on Anthony Fauci. (Note: this one is not mine. The Babylon Bee came up with this gem on their 2025 predictions, and I couldn’t resist including it!)

20) Surprised that incoming president Donald Trump won’t be building concentration camps for journalists, journalists, who believe they must do their jobs as victims, are expected to build their own.

21) The Democratic Party will start maneuvering Kamala Harris into another run in 2028, to which the Republicans will collectively utter: “ Please do.”

There are a lot more predictions. Have a happy, blessed 2025!

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Final thoughts of the 2024 election

Published by Daniel on December 31, 2024

2024 just about reaching its end, and though it has been quite an eventful year, I must admit I am glad to see it go.

Undoubtedly the most significant event that came out of 2024 was the election in November. Depending where you fall on the political spectrum, the results were either the most catastrophic or brought the greatest relief (Personally, I fall more toward the latter).

However, even more important than who won the election, it was what won: the truth (as opposed to the narrative). Further, it was also who lost: the media.

Mark Twain once said, if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said.

By saying the truth won, I am not associating Trump as a banner of Truth. He is a fallen human like all of us who need God’s grace. There is only one who states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

What I mean by “the truth won” was that the American people saw through the narrative upheld by government officials, bureaucrats, the media, and the “experts.”

Their objective was trying to uphold a perception of reality, building upon it, plugging its many holes, running block against those who attempt to criticize. It’s a façade and one that must be maintained.

All year long (more accurately: during the last four years), the nation has been gas lit countless times by the powers-that-be who seemed more concerned with perfecting the Jedi Mind Trick than solving anything (Note: they weren’t that good at it).

In this narrative, we were told:

• the economy was the fastest growing in history;

• that inflation was transitory;

• that gas prices were lower than when Biden took office;

• that the world respected us;

• that we should trust “science” and the “experts” who, ironically, also insisted men could become pregnant;

• that most existential threat to democracy must be defeated by using the most undemocratic tactics available; or for that matter,

• that all the evils the left accused Trump of, the left was guilty of doing it themselves;

• that Trump was Satan incarnate himself if not worse;

• that two assassination attempts were brought on by the victim himself for his heated rhetoric;

• that the president was sharp as a tack, until Trump argued with one a degree up from zombie in the debate;

• that the media tried to rewrite history before our very eyes with the hope that we were actually as stupid as they thought we were;

• that Kamala was the Border Czar, until she wasn’t;

• that the response to a trans kid shooting up a Christian school was to be empathetic toward the trans community;

• that we should vote for Kamala because it’s patriotic (further, if we didn’t—even if we didn’t because we had no idea what she was for, then we were misogynist);

• that millions actually believed that the candidate who spent nearly two billion dollars and wound up $20 million in debt (and still lost) would be the best one to run the nation;

• that the justice system must be respected except when forgiving student loans despite the Supreme Court ruling to the contrary and pardoning his son for any crime committed over a ten-year span despite his words to the contrary;

• that the president’s replacement was the best choice despite four years of stumbling and bumbling through her term as VP;

• that it was reported that the president regretted his choice to appoint Merrick Garland as Attorney General because he didn’t go after Trump enough and spent too much time pursuing Hunter (see previous point of the president saying justice must be trusted);

The media tried to cover it up, deny it, and ridicule those who actually saw it.

Then, when the powers-that-be realized that the American people weren’t as stupid as they thought, they called us Nazis and garbage.

However, the strategy of maintaining this narrative had one major flaw: it was based on foundation that Americans are stupid, that we couldn’t think for ourselves. For a while, I was afraid that was the case.

They also seemed to have forgotten that there is video.

Fortunately, the narrative propped up by so many elitists contained so many inconsistencies that couldn’t stand up under its own weight. As Twain said above, they couldn’t keep everything on solid ground. The narrative crumbled—badly.

All the propaganda the media forced down our throats was outright rejected. Americans saw the flawed narrative and decided that is not the reality in which we live.

They’re lying to us. They really think we are dumb. They see us as wards of the state and not as their bosses.

And ultimately, that was the best thing to come out of 2024: the media lost its voice and, most importantly, its relevance.

This election was as much a referendum against the media as it was against Biden and Harris.

Two months after the election, they are still trying to come to terms with that. The media was forced down a new road something they had never experienced before: self-awareness. Thankfully, some—a few—in the media are engaging in self-reflection. Most others, not so much (look up Don Lemon’s recent scree on Trump voters).

Whether this journey into self-awareness maintains any traction remains to be seen.

Building a narrative rather than accepting truth as it is is never a good strategy. It is a house built on sand. We witnessed this before our very eyes.

For now, Trump will enter his second term knowing the media are nothing more than a toothless lion.

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Light punching through darkness: the relevance of Advent

Published by Daniel on December 1, 2024

It’s nearly 4:00 as I write this. The sun is already on the western horizon. Within an hour, it will dip below the Continental Divide. Darkness falls.

That deep, heavy, winter darkness.

The Christmas season tends to be described as the most depressing and lonely for many. For others, the season is something to sneer at for its empty commercialism and tiresome stupid Christmas songs.

However, the church body—whether it is out of concern for the downtrodden or for disdain for the materialism—tries to ignore the Christmas season for as long as possible.

Sundays look and feel just like any other Sunday of the year. No trees, lights, or candles—the very symbols of hope—will grace the sanctuary. It will likely be another couple of Sundays before a carol might even be incorporated in the Sunday worship.

The hope—the anticipation—of the coming of our Savior needs more remembrance, more celebration, more proclamation and excitement than just the obligatory Christmas service.

For the lonely, sad, and depressed, they need to be reminded the coming of Emmanuel—God with Us—who stepped into this broken world to make things right once and for all. For a society entranced by the materialism of the “Christmas season,” the universal church—the body of Christ—must break that trance by the proclamation of a coming king.

The church must not acquiesce to the world’s declaration of getting that new great toy or to their martyr complex of being so busy. We have something to proclaim that is much more real than Christmas busyness. The church must promote that redemptive reality every Sunday of Advent. If we can’t get excited for anticipation of the birth of our king, then is there really anything to get excited for?

It is no accident that the Advent season falls during the darkest month of the year (if you happen to live in the northern hemisphere, that is). December contains the least amount of light and the shortest day of the year. That darkness is so emblematic of pretty much every human on this planet.

It is through that darkness that the anticipation of a coming Messiah must be proclaimed.

However, December also has a distinction no other month can claim: it is the month wherein light returns. A few days before the day we celebrate as Christmas, the winter solstice occurs. The days start getting longer. Light returns. Darkness gets pushed away.

The world needs hope. The world needs to know that it is within this darkness that hope shines. The world must be reminded that this darkness will end.

I encourage all Christ-followers not to approach this season with contrived dread. Instead, approach this season with the thrill of anticipation and the excitement of the proclamation.

After all, for most of us, we get more excited about the anticipation of Christmas than the actual day itself.

Advent ends on December 24, Christmas Eve. It was on the night the angels punched through the darkness and proclaimed to the lonely shepherds, “Unto you a child is born.”

As I post this less than an hour later, it is dark outside. And my Christmas lights just came on.

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