Mike Vrabel, Diana Russini and the Truth
Jake the Snake – May 6, 2026
Lindsey Graham, Israel, and Bad Eschatology
William – April 21, 2026
A Lesser Discussed Prophecy of Jesus
Folks, Jesus made several predictions about his return happening within the lifetime of those hearing his words. Sadly, many of his followers in our day and age don’t believe him or worse yet, think he was mistaken. If Jesus was wrong on this claim, then he is a liar and thus not God and has no credibility for anything else he claimed or was claimed about him.
Liberal theologians and some atheists believe Jesus made claims about returning within the lifetime of his hearers, not because Jesus was correct, but because they believe he was wrong. Christopher Hitchens used to beat up premil folks with this all the time. He tried it on Doug Wilson and got smacked.
Conversely, many evangelical Christians don’t believe Jesus because it doesn’t fit their presuppositions about what Jesus meant to say. Instead of taking Jesus at his word, they try to weasel out of it.
In the last chapter of John’s Gospel, is an account of Peter and Jesus at a beach in Galilee. Immediately following the “feed my sheep” story is the last documented squabble amongst the disciples. It involves, Jesus, Peter, and John.
21 Peter seeing him [John] saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. 23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
John 21:21–23.
Prior to these verses, Jesus had told Peter that “… when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” This is understood to indicate that Peter would die of crucifixion. Tradition further states that said crucifixion of Peter was conducted with him upside-down.
Peter then looks at John and says, Hey Jesus, what about him?
At this point in John’s narrative, C.S. Lewis fans would expect to hear Aslan say, “it’s not your story” and end the discussion.
But that isn’t how the discussion ends. Instead, Jesus says that if I want John to live until I return, what business is that of yours?
Folks, as you know, John was the only one of the Twelve that was not martyred. John did in fact live until the destruction of the Temple and siege of Jerusalem were completed. He got to see the fulfillment of the Apocalypse that he had authored and the end of the Old Covenant age. The Kingdom of God came into its fullness and John lived to see it.
At the time of authoring the Gospel, John knew it was a possibly but not a certainty that he would live to see the end. In his epistle, John wrote it is the last hour. (I John 2:18.) John knew it was about to happen.
This account reminds me of Simeon and Anna at the circumcision of Jesus (Luke 2:25 – 38). God allowed both Simeon and Anna to see the salvation of God. In a similar way, John got to see the beginning of the next chapter of redemption. God’s promise to Abraham to bless all nations through the seed of a woman became a reality in his lifetime.
So, yep, John did tarry until Jesus came. How cool.
Voter Fraud Schmaud
I’m going to educate folks about voter fraud. Yes, I do believe fraud exists, no I do not believe it’s hundreds of thousands or millions of ballots.
I know of one whack job who has said voter fraud is the reason California is not a red state. Folks, if you believe that, you shouldn’t be allowed to vote. That is what I refer to as a hair on fire conspiracy theory. It also makes people think there is no fraud.
I do think fraud exists by both parties; I was told more people are registered to vote than there are people eligible to in just about every county in California. I do believe this to be true.
The problem I have with the Republican approach is they try too hard to prove something that could be proven far easier. The DOJ subpoenaed ballots from Fulton County (Georgia) for the 2020 election where Trump keeps swearing was ripe with fraud. Never has there been an indictment or a report verifying the fraud existed. Again, the lack of any reports tells me that fraud likely did not occur. Chad Bianco (sheriff running for governor) seized a bunch of ballots in his home county of Riverside. Nothing appears to be coming out of that either. In both of these examples, a reasonable conclusion would be “much ado about nothing” conspiracy myth busted.
Why not try a more reasonable approach.
The Republican Party should look to what the CRA did over a decade ago. (The following relates to the CRA statewide convention held around 2011.) The rumor was that there were a bunch of local units that existed only on paper. Said paper units existed solely to endorse preferred candidates of the political class/consultants every 2 years. The membership secretary, Peggy Mew, would not turn over the membership rolls. As a result, some of the officers went to investigate for themselves. When the units were confronted by Aaron and George Park at the convention, my goodness what a show that was. One unit president could not name what date they held their meetings. Another couldn’t name the meeting location. A check was shown from a political consultant paying the fees for several members of different units. Obviously, fraud was occurring. My understanding is the units were shuttered.
What is my point?
Fight the fraud the same way. Folks, I can tell you it exists. Want solid proof? Here in the town 20 or so minutes from me, a city councilman pleaded guilty to voter fraud. He had quite a few ballots, and registered voters living at his house.
Shakir Khan, in January 2024, took a no-contest deal for stashing 41 ballots at his home for the 2020 election. Investigators also found that he had registered 23 people at his home and that his email and phone number had been used to register 47 others.
Former Lodi City Council Member Shakir Khan sentenced for 2020 election fraud scheme
Folks Lodi is the town this occurred in. It is not very large. Let’s call it 47 ballots of fraud in Lodi, so how many does that equate to in say; Sacramento? San Francisco? Los Angeles? San Diego? I have been told stories of apartments that have numerous active voters registered at them. Maybe start there?
The Marin GOP claims 73 dead people voted in the special election we had a few months ago….
“I, along with others on our committee, have been dissecting Marin County voter rolls for over three years,” Turnacliff said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “ … And based on our analysis of the ballots that were returned for the Prop. 50 special election on Nov. 4, we found 73 people, 73 dead people had voted in that election.”
While some will say 47 and 73 amount to rounding errors, those were recently discovered. As I mentioned earlier, how many more exist? The apartment with 9 people registered to vote who are regular voters may be a place to start. It is not about accusing folks of fraud, it’s just asking a question. I bought my house 10 years ago; the couple I bought it from, I believe, have both passed away. If still listed as active and voting at my address, someone has some explaining to do.
My point is has been and always will be, try to crack the door open. Once it gets cracked open, use a pry bar and force it to be completely open. In my opinion, the Lodi city councilman had some smoke, which turned into a lot of smoke, then a lot of fire. It got to a point that it needed to be investigated and prosecuted.
I am sure there are a ton of these cases that could be made. Quit screaming hair on fire voter fraud conspiracies or waiting for Trump’s DOJ to prosecute or release a report on voter fraud. Sheriff Bianco seizing ballots? It’s a rough look, intentions may have started out being good, but it’s a bad look.
But, but, but our county has a Democrat DA, get the local paper involved. San Joaquin is a blue county; they prosecuted that Lodi councilman. It can and will happen. Crying about the 2020 election makes you sound like a bitter ex-lover. Move on. Yes, there were likely shenanigans, but Trump got elected again and moving on is good.
The Chief
Editor’s Note: I respectfully disagree with the Chief on this issue. I think vote fraud is a huge issue, especially in California. Here is an article from one week ago. Oregon was ordered by a federal court to remove 800,000 names from their voter rolls following a lawsuit from Judicial Watch. “Oregon and nearly all its counties had registration rates exceeding 100% of the eligible population, the highest inactive registration rate in the nation.” Ditto for voter rolls in many parts of the once golden state.
Mike Vrabel, Diana Russini and the Truth
In case you are not aware, Diana Russini covered the NFL for The Athletic; a pay-to-view website. Mike Vrabel is the head coach of the New England Patriots and was head coach of the Tennessee Titans prior to that. Russini gets paid to cover the NFL and more specifically get scoops before anyone else does. She was by most accounts very good at her job. Another thing that followed Russini was the rumors of inappropriate sexual behavior that she was trading for said scoops. There was always smoke but never fire, well until now.
One piece of information I’d like to pass along. Always tell the truth, you will never remember the story you told or who you told it too.
The information above is what 90-day guy lacked. It cost him. He told five different stories to five different people. The mental gymnastics is causing him mental anguish. I witnessed him contradict himself 3 sperate times in the course of a 3 minute conversation. When called out, he would go to his old standby “I don’t have a good memory.” As Chief would say, “Folks, you know who doesn’t need a good memory? The guy who always tells the truth.”
Back to Vrabel and Russini.
Both are married, but not to each other. They were both photographed together at The Ambiante Hotel in Arizona. The Ambiante is known for being adults only. Also, it’s a romantic getaway where you usually are proposing to your girlfriend or you’ve made the decision you want to have a child in 9 months. I went to the Ambiante hotel with my, at the time, girlfriend. Folks, as mentioned above, we left the room to eat, and to lounge by the pool, but a lot of sex was happening.
Here are the photos of the two of them.
Russini is definitely very good looking but likely doesn’t have much in the brain department.
The photos leaked out and Russini took a page out of the 90-day guy’s playbook. It backfired. I call it the Holy Trinity of Stupidity.
She first insulted everyone’s intelligence by saying it was a chance encounter with another friend. Umm … folks, I have multiple female friends; we do not embrace or interact like that. Also, not on a trip without our significant other/spouse. Then she said that she was there for a girl’s weekend trip. Then when out of lies, she decided to play the sympathy/victim card saying it was lies and she didn’t want to give the story any more oxygen. If you are a loser in life, this is the playbook you follow. Notice, she could have told the truth, and while consequences would have occurred, the story would blow over.
Again, she could have told the truth but didn’t want to risk her marriage so she claimed it was a chance encounter. Then it was a girl’s weekend getaway, (strangely this would be the first girl’s weekend in the history of girl’s weekends with zero photos taken of said girls.) Secondly, going to that particular hotel and calling it girl’s weekend was definitely an interesting choice of words. Just by going there, many would understand it as a girl-on-girl orgy type outing. Definitely a different spin on girls just wanna have fun. Again, bad move. The pulling the victim/sympathy card is the last play in the playbook. Yep, when all else fails, resort to the victim or sympathy card. She is not a victim.
Russini is now seeing her life come apart at the seams. She lost her job reporting and covering New England in the NFL. Bottom line, you cannot be having sex with your source and be non-biased. It’s an ethics issue. A big one. She will land another gig, but she is damaged goods. Her marriage is likely on the rocks. No guy wants to be viewed as your “Monday through Thursday guy” with your side piece taking over on date night/weekends. Oh, she has a son who is four named Mike. Coincidentally, she was photographed with Mike Vrabel 9 months prior to her son’s birth. I would say we have even money odds that the kid may not be his. Even if it is his kid, now you find out he is named after the man your wife cheated with? Ouch. Her friend group is likely eviscerated as well. When she brought up it was a girl’s getaway trip, I have a feeling her group chat was filed with “keep us out of your adultery.” Girls in your friend group are not dumb; they don’t want to be blamed for your marriage likely dissolving. As one of Chief’s friends of the blog said, girls do not want to wreck a home. In the case of Russini, she wrecked hers. It seems as if Mike Vrabel likely dropped 7 figures on a ring or other material things for his current bride and his marriage may be ok. Money can buy happiness, especially when happiness involves likely not working and being a stay-at-home wife.
One thing I saw, while buying a couple items at the grocery store, was a gossip magazine essentially asking why Vrabel has gotten a pass and asserting that double standard exists. Folks, there is no double standard. Having an affair with a women who is not your wife doesn’t mean you get fired as a football coach. Morally bankrupt? Yes. Unemployed? No. He, to his credit, has also stayed silent for the most part, Russini lied over and over. As mentioned earlier, Russini is paid for her ability to break news before it goes mainstream. When you are sleeping with your source, your ethics are compromised.
Back to the point of this blog. If you tell the truth, you have no reason to lie or fabricate a story. It also makes memory easy. You can always recall the truth. Trying to memorizing 5 different stories you told to 5 different people is mentally taxing and emotionally draining.
It was amazing for me to hear 90-day guy, in a 3-minute, one-sided conversation, tell me he couldn’t get ahold of his doctor, then he loved his doctor and said he was the best, then he wanted to be on a stronger pill, then he also wanted off said pill.
He has no issue throwing his brother or his other agent friend in front of the oncoming bus when needed. Oh, when he was called out about his changing story he claimed he is the face of dementia. Like I said earlier, Holy Trinity of Stupidity; insult someone’s intelligence by telling 2 completely different stories, throw other folks under the bus, then play a sympathy/victim card.
It’s why he has no friends and is alone. Ditto for Russini. No one likes the person who throws people innocently under the bus. You want to cheat? Leave your friends out of it. You may be morally bankrupt; they do not need to be involved.
For the 90-day guy, he watches too much TV to know he is a loser. He knows he is alone but doesn’t seem to know why. His version of reality is quite malleable. My explanation for that is easy as I have seen the tire marks on Chief’s back from being thrown under the bus too many times when 90-day guy has been caught manipulating reality and needs to blame someone else.
In the case of Diana Russini, it’s time for you to do some inner searching and reflection. I will say the quiet part out loud, it’s going to hurt. Diana you were just a hot little piece of ass for the football coach. Hence when this news broke, he pulled out all the stops to save his marriage. He may have loved “penetrating you’re A gap or being in your defensive backfield” (hat tip to Troll for that one) but do you really believe you’re the first that’s been his backup piece? Diana, one sentence of a tip for you; you are 43 and still smoking hot, you won’t be that way forever. Try to make right with your Shake Shack Executive husband. This too shall pass. People forgot the late Kobe Bryant cheated on his wife.
The point of this blog should not be forgotten, tell the truth because you will always remember it, you will never remember the lie you told or whom you told it too. When you lie, the problem is you must tell another lie to cover that up, then another one, and so on. If you are the 90-day guy or Diana Russini, you likely have an IQ in the mid-single digits, gentle reminder: there are a lot of people smarter than you, they can quickly figure out 1+1 wasn’t equaling 2. Don’t lie. The benefit of not lying is that you don’t need a good memory when you always tell the truth.
Jake the Snake
Streams of Light in Darkened Places
Drawing above is John Calvin.
In the last few weeks, I’ve seen the fruit of a paradigm shift in the church that I’ve been attending. Some of the clergy have been moving away from premillennial dispensationalism and toward a more historic understanding of the faith. The new pastor and the soon to be leaving one have been tag-teaming the book of Romans. In the last few weeks, they have been defending predestination as above free will and that God has one people—the church—which is the continuing Israel and true children of Abraham. Today the pastor went out of his way to proclaim that God has one people, not two. He even stated that only via faith in Jesus Christ can anyone be saved. God didn’t have one path for the church and a separate one for Jews. It sounded much like stuff that I’ve been posting here lately.
There are some really hardcore Armenians and Premil folks in the group. The pastor stating that eschatology was a secondary issue, not one that is core to the faith, was followed up by a plug for classic dispensationalism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. He said he had limited copies of a sheet with four views of eschatology for people to get at the back of the church after the service. He encouraged folks to consider views other than premillennial dispensationalism. Bold move. The four views documents were all gone when I went looking for one. I was going to photograph it and leave it for someone else but was unable to do that.
Folks, this is a dicey move to make in a nondenominational church. I think the pastors would only move their flock in that direction if they were convinced that it was true. There is a minority that is post millennial in the church but whether the clergy is heading that direction has not been revealed yet. I think they can move their people a ways down that track, but at some point, their paradigm shift will get some pushback.
A couple of the leaders in the church are what I would describe as old school Baptists. I think they will balk at any move away from Arminianism (free will) and Scofieldism.
Many Christians call eschatology a secondary issue, but the reality is that it is not. Eschatology cannot really be separated from core Christian doctrines. There is a huge difference between playing duck and cover, wait for the Rapture, and taking dominion because Jesus claims to be Lord over every area of life. Premillennial dispensationalism leads to escapism while post millennialism leads to progressive growth as nations are discipled not individuals.
I am very happy to see this change taking place. If America is to see revival, then many congregations will need to experience a similar shift in eschatology.
90-Day Guy Paranoia
Warning: this post discusses adult themes and is not for the faint of heart or those under 18 years old.
So, I was in the office working today for 90-day guy’s colleague. 90-day guy retired last month but has been coming by to clean-up his personal belongings. He has a computer that is his that he left behind. He quarried me today about what he should do to remove the data from it. I answered that with a question “why are you so concerned with what is on the hard drive?” He quickly retorted he had nothing to hide; he was just curious. I told him either; throw it away in the dumpster or take it to e-waste to be recycled. He wanted no part of either of those as he is convinced someone would obtain said computer and hijack his info. With as much TV as he watches, I would assume he saw reports on the news and likely watched a program about dumpster diving leading to identity theft or something. Odd paranoia for someone who has nothing to hide, am I right?
Maybe I am naïve, but who would want to obtain your computer and crack the hard drive? Let’s be honest just for a minute, if you are storing your username and passwords on your computer in a Word file, you may be the dumbest person on earth. But even if someone obtained that info, most people have two-factor authentication set up, like I do. You could steal my information, but you would also need my phone to get into any account of mine, as a 6-digit code is sent to my text message box.
He doesn’t have passwords or sensitive info on his computer. It’s pornography, and very disturbing pornography to boot.
How do I know this? Well, it’s speculation because I have not seen it, but let’s just say there is a ton of smoke. Here I’ll explain.
Here are some of the leading indicators:
- Sick, very inappropriate sexual jokes. On two separate occasions, he demanded me and my now employer listen to his “very, very funny joke” of a man having sex with a sheep. On the other occasion it was a man having sex with a goat. I will not gross you out by repeating said “jokes.” On both occasions of telling these, he laughed like a four-year-old would laugh at the word “poop”. Neither my current employer nor I laughed at all. 90-day guy said, “what is wrong with you two? It’s funny!” I felt compelled to respond saying “people do not have sex with animals, its gross, disgusting, and a wildly inappropriate topic for a work setting. He didn’t agree.
- Normalizing transgender behavior. He has a granddaughter who is dating a transgendered male. He has always wildly defended transgendered people, and I never really knew why. He has suddenly become the “Colin Kaepernick” of defending transgendered people. Calling them “oppressed”, or in need of “being equal to others.”
- Odd comments/behaviors about younger girls. So, on this one I caught him. I had to go behind his desk to grab a rate book manual, and on his phone, he was looking at young girls in swimsuits. While this isn’t really a crime per se, it’s pretty gross. He made the comment “when you get older, you need to look at half naked or naked young girls to get it up.” Yikes.
- Comments about his granddaughter. This is gross. He made a comment about his freshman in high school granddaughter calling her “hot.” Barf.
- Jokes about same sex “sex.” As Jake the Snake will tell you, the Catholic Church screwed up with the priests having sex with young boy’s scandal. Full stop. 90-day guy routinely makes comments about the Catholic priests and the Boy Scout leaders having sex with young boys; like way more often than a normal person would. Seems like an obsession with him. His latest comment was “if two guys are having sex is it considered doggy style?” Yikes.
- Odd relationship with his brother. This one is wild. He has nothing good to say about his brother, quite literally nothing. He will golf/hangout with him and afterwards have nothing good to say again. They go out to lunch, again he says zero good to say about him. However, when his brother texts/calls him, he not only answers, he feels compelled to hang out/golf/go to lunch etc. Who does that? When I finally met his brother, I asked him what it was like growing up with 90-day guy. Well, before his brother could get a word in, 90-day guy filibustered, talking about … well … nothing. It was talking just to fill time and not allow anyone else to speak. After he was done with his filibuster, they immediately “had to leave.” More on this later.
So how can I conclude he has porn on his computer?
So, first, I am not a fan of circumstantial evidence, I like seeing a smoking gun, not “if this, then that must be true”. However, in this case, there is too much smoke for there not to be fire.
But porn isn’t illegal!
This is in fact correct. Porn, in my opinion, is likely 70% of the traffic on the internet. Yes, it is not illegal to possess or look at porn. Even the very disturbing men with animals, transgender porn, or even same sex porn. But (btw no good thing ever comes after the word “but”) pornography with people underage is a felony and a major crime at that.
My conclusion.
He is a very sick puppy dog. Very sick. No one of sound mind declares they “have nothing to hide” while simultaneously not wanting their computer to fall into the wrong hands. For the living impaired, if you throw your computer or anything into the trash for that matter, the garbage truck has a ram that will repeatedly smash said garbage over and over again. I have seen said garbage truck empty its load at the dump, with the load being unrecognizable. If someone was going to grab a computer (if they can find one), then in my opinion, go for it. Access it and steal anything you want. News flash: no one is going to do that.
I am positive that he has a treasure trove of very eclectic porn on his computer’s hard drive. The jokes about men having sex with animals is because he is trying to attempt to normalize his obsession. His comments about transgender people being people too is because he is into that as well. When you are into the porn like he is, you have to normalize it. Why? Because nothing is normal at all about a guy having sex with animals, nor a guy deciding he is a girl. The photos of girls in swimsuits, also is not a crime, it gives dirty old man vibes. The porn is not an issue; the problem is as follows.
The porn on his computer is that of underage girls. His comments crystallize it. His paranoia seals it. Folks no one cares what kind of porn you are into, it’s sick but if the actors are over 18, it’s not a crime. Gross, but again, not a crime. However, the porn with underage girls carries something that should scare most people to death. There is no statute of limitations on that.
Ask Subway spokesperson Jared Fogel what happens when they find underage porn on your computer.
The reason for my conclusion
Well, it’s obvious. Folks who have nothing to actually hide do not care if you look at things. William moved my hard drive’s contents from one computer to another. If any out of sorts things existed, he would have found it. Oh, wait, he, like most, doesn’t give a you know what!
And, as a guest blogger, we will turn this over to Jake the Snake for further commentary:
So, I went to a lecture about addiction. It focused on all addictions. I failed the bar exam so that was part of it, it was not court ordered by the way. When the speaker spoke about porn, it was eye opening. First, you watch guy/girl porn, then maybe girl/girl or I guess guy/guy porn. The point being, the guy/girl doesn’t do it for you anymore. So, you need to go for more hardcore. I think that is where the transgender porn come in, because “regular porn” doesn’t cut it. Then the underage porn come into play, because of course, the other porn doesn’t cut it anymore. The animal porn well… see above. As you desensitize yourself, you are having to reach further for something to get you off. Barf.
Commentary by The Chief Continues
Folks, this is going to hurt, but it’s likely the truth. I made a comment about 90-day guy and his brother. The vibe that I get from their relationship is that he was sexually assaulted by his brother at a young age. Yep, go ahead and say I’m crazy, but he was very uncomfortable when his brother was around. He wanted to spend zero time even acknowledging his childhood existence. He apparently hates him, unless he is in the room. The act is obvious. He has been on the business end of a dick. He tries to justify transgender behavior which is normal for those who like same sex porn. His comments about very young girls are nothing but a chance to stay relevant.
Folks, if I saw a babe wearing a thong swimsuit at my gym, I admit I’d be looking. Clearly, she wants me to. Chief is 40, not dead! But under aged children NFW.
90-day guy fantasizing about seeking out young girls when he is older, gross. Hoping such a girl might really want to be with some dirty old man like him, twisted. Feeding said perversions from the internet while at work and simultaneously claiming he is a happily married man, simply beyond my vocabulary to describe.
I hope he figures out what to do with his computer, but man, be true to yourself.
The Chief
Ambushed by Love
Tomorrow marks one year since my bride died. She took her last breath about eight feet from where I’m sitting right now. I am reminded of her in random ways: smells, sounds, sights, and seasons.
One thing to know about my wife was that music was important to her. She liked the old Roger’s and Hammerstein musicals, opera, and classical compositions. Heck, her major in college was voice or vocal training if you prefer. She often sang at community events before I came along. She continued to sing during our marriage but got invited less frequently as the years went on. In later years, she sang at many funerals.
She and her children sang a song for me at our wedding.
It was a surprise that they sprung on me after the ceremony. As it was recounted to me, she and the children would practice singing it on the way to school in the morning. The song was, “If You Could See What I See” by Geoff Moore. The song became her ringtone for the entirety of our marriage. We’re not the only people to use the song during a wedding but it was special to me.
Oh, eventually my generic ringtone was “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives. Each of the children earned their own ringtones too. Child #1 got “When the Saints Go Marching In” which was due in part to this child being a band nerd. Child #2 earned “Now that We’re Men” from the first Sponge Bob movie.
As good as my ringtones were, when each child was born, their mother assigned each a song. The song was mostly a bedtime thing. I don’t recall what the songs were. If I guessed, “Baby Mine” from Dumbo went to child #2. Child #3 was assigned a church hymn like “Amazing Grace” or something like that. Child #1, no clue what song it was although the wife was partial to classic Disney stuff.
I have a special place in my heart for the three songs listed below.
“The Warrior is a Child” by Twila Paris
“Touch of the Master’s Hand” by Wayne Watson
“Tell Me Again” by Geoff Moore
During my wife’s cancer and beyond, I frequently listened to “Stand by Me” by Darrell Mansfield.
Darrell has six or seven versions of the song that I have accumulated over the years. My favorite is from his album “People Get Ready” from 2009. It is a slightly edited version of “Stand by Me” from his live concert video released in 2008. Darrell Mansfield owns this song. He reclaimed it as the church hymn that it once was but stays with the tune made famous by Sam Cook. The video version of the concert is worth it just to watch this song and “Tell the Truth”.
One other song that deserves an honorable mention that has some musical hooks and lyrics that get my attention is “Things Left Unsaid” by Disciple. Many lines really sting when I listen to it, but a few don’t/didn’t apply to our relationship.
Here’s most of the lyrics presented in order.
It’s just a matter of time a few days ago
I saw you, you were fine
Remembering what you said
About the book you read
The one I got you
The Beginning of the End
Oh how we’d talk
For hours upon end
What I give
Just to do it again
But you’re lying there
In this hospital bed
Won’t you open you eyes
And let’s talk once again
If you fly away tonight
I want to tell you that I love you
I hope that you can hear me
I hope that you can feel me
Well I’ve been here all night
And I’m watching you
Breathe in and breathe out
Is it really you
Or just a machine
That’s giving you life
And it’s making it seem
That there could be hope
I could say to your face
If it weren’t for you
That there would be no grace
That’s covered my life
You took the time
To speak into my mind
And my heart
Words of life
If you fly away tonight
I want to tell you that I love you
I hope that you can hear me
I hope that you can feel me
So goodbye for now
And I’ll see you again
Some way, somehow
When it’s my time to go
To the other side
I’ll hold you again
And melt at your smile
Now all I have
Are the ones that I’m with
And you taught me not
To take for granted
The time that we have
To show that we care
Speak into their minds
And their hearts
While they’re here
And say I love you
If you fly away tonight
I want to tell you that I love you
I hope that you can hear me
I hope that you can feel me
I’m gonna call this post a wrap. I’m feeling spent just thinking about her last few hours of life. Disciple’s lyrics hit close to home and emotionally strike a chord with me as well. I’m sure you can find all the songs listed on YouTube or Amazon Music.
Lindsey Graham, Israel, and Bad Eschatology
What do Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Mike Hukabee have in common besides being Republican politicians? Bad eschatology. Specifically premillennial dispensationalism.
The attached meme sums it up, or at least half the story.
Folks, when you hold views in isolation—in your mind anyway—you can simultaneously claim to value two ideals that are in complete opposition to each other.
Illustration: Life or Death
Let me pick on Liberals first and illustrate what I mean. Let’s take the issue of life. Liberals simultaneously value life and death as the highest ideals. They hold both as true and don’t see the inherent conflict. Let’s explore this.
Liberals oppose the death penalty for those that commit murder. They view this as unjust. They claim nobody deserves the death penalty because it is cruel and unusual punishment, inhuman, and discriminates against minorities. Some even quote the Bible stating, “Thou shalt not kill.” Thus, they assert that executing someone is violating the Commandment of God.
Simultaneously, Liberals support death via abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide. Lest Liberals dispute my claim of support for all three: abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide then let me sight a few examples that won’t make your brain hurt should you choose to verify them.
Euthanasia is legal in several states and in Canada. Canada called their euthanasia program MAID. As of my writing, Canada is surpassing the deaths of over 100,000 of its citizens via the MAID program.
The United States has killed upwards of 73 million children via legal abortion since 1973. Contrary to what you would expect, abortions are higher now than when Roe v Wade was the Law of the Land. This is due to the availability of abortion pills being shipped over state lines, mostly from California and New York.
Infanticide is legal in California and probably a few other leftist states, I’m thinking maybe Colorado. In California, if an infant dies, it is illegal for any law enforcement officer, doctor, or other government official to investigate the cause of death. If such an investigation occurs, the person investigating can be prosecuted and jailed for committing a crime; thus, a woman has an absolute right to kill her child purposely or by neglect and she cannot be punished. This has been California law for many years. Thanks Gavin Newsom.
Oh, the time limit of how old a child can be before its death is investigated in California is not defined in the law. It was felt that the mother could choose to kill her baby during a period of at least the first 30 days of life, but such a limit was left to be decided by the courts and not the Legislature.
Thus, killing a human being that is weaker than yourself is allowed in states that oppose the death penalty. One must therefore conclude that life is not valued highly in Liberal states despite protestations that the death penalty is wrong. Life and death are arbitrary and decided on something other than the intrinsic value of human life. Oh, yes, Liberals will cite passages of Scripture in isolation to support ending life and saving life. Their metric seems to be to free the guilty and punish the innocent. There is no single logical proposition to justify both death and life in their worldview.
Scofieldism and the Jews
In like manner, premillennial dispensationalists will proclaim support for Israel and simultaneously believe that Jews only exist to be slaughtered in the largest holocaust in the history of the planet, a yet future even which will make what Hitler did seem like a picnic in comparison.
Huckabee, Cruz, and Graham all hold to this view as do millions of Evangelicals in the West. I hope to illustrate the absurdity of these ideas in what follows.
Some claim that the premillennial dispensational view is orthodox Christianity, but I say that is B.S.
I have previously delt with the idea that the promise in Genesis to bless Abraham has no application to the modern nation called “Israel.” The New Testament makes it clear that the offspring of Abraham are not genetic descendants but those who by faith believe in Christ. Look it up in the New Testament books of Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews.
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Galatians 3:6–9.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:26–29.
Premillennial dispensationalists deny the plain teaching of the New Testament and instead teach that God will eventually get back to dealing with national Israel at some point in the future. A future when the Church is no longer in the picture. Until the Church is Raptured, they think the Bible teaches that in order to be a good Christian that you must support modern Israel, right or wrong, or God will punish you both personally and as a nation.
Again, the New Testament teaches that Jesus is the true Israel and that his followers are the true Israel—people of God. In Jesus, the promise made to Abraham is fulfilled, Abraham is heir to the whole world and through Christ (Abraham’s seed) all the nations of the world have been blessed. The Bible also promises at a future date that Jesus will be the Savior of the World. The Church will fulfill her mission, and the world will be converted. God divorced Israel in 70 AD and has a new people, a new bride, the Church. He is done with Old Covenant Israel.
What Do Evangelicals Believe is Israel’s Fate
Some Evangelicals even raise money to send Jews to Israel. Isn’t that nice? They are so supportive of modern Israel. Did you ever wonder why?
Evangelicals are supportive of Israel because they want the Jews there to die. No, really. They believe that 2/3 of all the Jews in Israel will die. Some even say that 2/3 of all Jews everywhere on the planet will die.
For Evangelicals, this wasn’t fulfilled in 70 A.D. as Jesus predicted but is the future that Jews have to look forward to experiencing. Isn’t that wonderful? So, for every three Jews you help send to Israel, two will die to usher in the End Times.
Yep, they really teach this as the Gospel; the good news that Jews have to expect in their future. Then after 2/3 are killed, the Jews will be so thankful for what just happened to them that all the rest will willingly believe in Jesus and then Christ will return and set up his Kingdom.
Premillennial dispensationalism demands a literal Kingdom, in literal Jerusalem, with Jesus sitting on a literal throne. The millennium will be so wonderful, Jews will reestablish sacrifices in the rebuilt temple (I’m not sure if this is the third or fourth rebuilt temple) and even circumcise babies on the eighth day. It will be just like old times. In fact, it will be just like Jesus never came and accomplished a darn thing by his death.
Oh, nobody ever asks, if the remaining Jews all believe in Jesus, why do they need to restart the Sacrificial system? Didn’t Jesus say, “It is finished?” Doesn’t the New Testament teach that Jesus was the High Priest and the final and perfect sacrifice for sin, so why a new physical temple?
Conclusion
These contradictions don’t matter to the premillennial dispensationalist crowd. Once you start holding contradictory views in isolation, you get to juggle these views in your head and as long as they remain in isolation, people can hold them all to be true.
This belief system is nuts but that is what is taught within the footnotes of the Scofield Reference Bible. Millions of people believe this nonsense. Prophecy pimps make millions of dollars printing books teaching these falsehoods. People with itching ears gobble up this teaching and just assume it must be the correct grid to interpret the Bible. Scofield’s system cannot be found within the Bible unless it is assumed before you open the Book. The core of his system is never found in the Bible.
- Future Rebuilt Temple – not there
- Antichrist as a political figure– not there
- Seven years of tribulation– not there
- Great Tribulation being Worldwide– not there
- Rapture– not there
- God not done with national Israel– not there
- Kingdom of God put on hold– not there
- Mark of the Beast being literal– not there
I could go on but you get the point. Everything that made “The Late, Great Planet Earth” and “Left Behind” sensational is not found in the Bible, at least not if the context of the Scriptures matter.
Final Word
The nonsense coming from Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, and Ted Cruz about Israel is just that, nonsense. If you want to back Israel because you think they are a good ally in the Middle East then have fun with that, but don’t expect God to bless our country just because you believe we must back Israel right or wrong. Sorry, but I get nervous when someone is more willing to back a foreign country than they are the United States. I thought Donald Trump was booting masses of people out of the United States for doing that very thing. Or is the double standard one way for conservatives and another for everyone else?
New Testament Polygamy
With a title like that, if you are expecting a post about Jesus’ friendship with Mary and Martha, please stop reading because you’ll be disappointed. No, I’m once again pointing out a failure in the premillennial dispensational scheme.
Would You Rather …
Admittedly, half the reason that I go to the church Bible study is to get blog ideas, and this post stems from such a study that I attended last night. Towards the end of the session, a question was asked that I found interesting. I don’t recall it verbatim, but it was to the effect of, would you rather be a part of God’s chosen people the Jews coming to Christ as such or part of the New Testament Church?
The respondent thought for a moment and then replied; I guess I would prefer knowing Christ as part of His church.
Bingo. Right answer.
Even one of the stopped prophecy clock guys came up with an orthodox sounding answer. It’s a start.
The guy answering the question is always trying to push every Old Testament prophecy of judgment into the future, but even he seemed content that the book of Amos might actually be something that was fulfilled. He seemed willing to accept the idea that maybe Amos was fulfilled but could be a warning from history that we might learn from. His concluding that God gave us the book of Amos for our instruction is mildly hopeful.
It was a rare time when folks in the group were not trying to make prophecies of judgment into passages requiring double or triple fulfillments. I think the group leader actually teaching the book as history that was fulfilled was satisfying to attendees. Much of the previous books of the minor prophets were concerning the same judgments but the group kept trying to force fulfilled passages into the future to be fulfilled yet again.
Sadly, these moments of lucid theological insight were contradicted by invoking that Christ has two brides: namely, the Church and the Jews. This is not the traditional view of the Church. This crazy idea is part of the Zionist scheme of Schofield which has been adopted without any Biblical warrant by much of the evangelical church.
Does Jesus Have Two Brides
Guys let me not confuse you by quoting the Bible since it’s not your authority as to what the Bible says. Try this explanation.
The purpose of God dealing with the Jews, and Moses, and the Old Testament was to get us to Christ, the Jews’ Messiah.
A recurring theme in the Bible is that at least a remnant of Jews will be saved. Jesus said that only a remnant of Jews alive in the First Century would be saved. In the same passage however, he also promised that hordes of Gentiles would come streaming into the Kingdom.
The illustration that Jesus used was that of an olive tree. Branches of the domesticated olive would be broken off, and wild olive branches would be grafted into the root of the tree. Thus, the Kingdom of God is built from the Jews, includes Jews, and even honors the Jews but access to Christ is also granted to the Gentiles (think rest of us in the world).
Thus, the Jews are never set aside until some future date as Scofield claims. The New Testament Church is built on the foundation of Judaism, and populated with the Spiritual children of Abraham; namely, us.
Conclusion
This is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that the world would be His inheritance (see book of Hebrews). Jesus unites both Jew and Gentile into one new man. There is no separation between male and female, bond and free, Jew or Gentile. We are all the Bride of Christ. This is a forever arrangement not a temporary one. Jesus has only one Bride.
National Israel was destroyed for the sin of adultery in 70 A.D. This is one of the main points of the Book of Revelation. The harlot, Babylon the Great, where Jesus was crucified is destroyed. Burned forever. (Burning with fire is a punishment reserved almost exclusively in the Bible for the daughter of the priest. Leviticus 212:9)
Sorry, this is not a do-over of Jacob working to get both Rachel and Leah by slaving away, working seven years for each bride. The idea that Jesus gets Israel and her little sister, the Church at the end is the ages is syrupy, sentimental nonsense.
What Old People Can Teach You About Family Relationships
On my recent visit to the once golden state, I saw a behavior that I haven’t noticed before. The older folks purposely decided not to raise certain issues just to keep peace in the family. I think this was for their well-being and not mine.
My folks don’t talk about my girlfriend. My mom says she doesn’t want to hear about it but keeps bringing it up anyway. I took the hint and don’t tell her that we will get hitched in a few months. On this visit she kept asking me about my future plans. I gave her an evasive answer since she kept saying she didn’t want to hear about my friend. It was kind of weird.
She also kept talking about women that were previously married not wanting to do it again. No shit Sherlock. I learned that lesson on my trip to Ireland last summer. Somehow, she ignores it when I told her that during my last visit with them, but when she learns it from her friends, more recently, somehow its now true. Keep up with the group mom.
I’m past caring what my parents think about me getting married again. I don’t get why they suddenly care. They wanted me to divorce my previous wife because she was, in their opinion, a “bad mother.”
Essentially, my mom wants me to find a white girl with a bunch of baggage, personal and financial, and somehow that will lead to happiness. Sorry, I don’t want to marry someone that looks like my grandmother—or at least my memory of her. I also don’t want a babe that is Dave Ramsey’s worst financial nightmare.
I know a good deal when I see it. My girlfriend is someone worth pursuing. As I have said before, she checks all the boxes in what I say I want in my next wife.
My other quiet encounter concerns my father-in-law. It was understood that any discussion of a certain baby was verboten. When others brought the subject up, I just deflected. We both avoided the issue which was fine with me. I’m not a biological relation to the child or its parents so that was easy to take a pass on discussing.
So, there you have it, avoid certain topics and you can peacefully coexist, even when visiting family. The key is not to be totally honest and learn which things need to be withheld. They don’t want to know what’s really going on in my life. Check the things that promote drama at the door. Nobody knows everything I really did on my recent visit to California.
Lastly, unless someone ends up in the hospital or the morgue, I don’t plan another trip to the Left Coast this year.
Eric Swalwell: What a Fall from Grace
Eric Swalwell is a Congressman from Alameda County near the Bay Area. At the age of 45, he was regarded as a rising star in the Democrat Party. He had recently picked-up big-time endorsements in the race to be the next governor of California. While folks on the far right will not admit it, when the California Teachers Union endorses you, it’s your race to lose. In recent polling, he was comfortably in the top two to advance to the runoff. Even the mentally challenged will tell you no Republican is winning against a Democrat in the general election.
Swalwell had everything going for him. The left loved him as he ran the impeachment process of President Trump. This guy was going to be the next governor and likely would have been a highly touted candidate to run for the presidency.
Then it all came crashing down.
On April 10, 2026, the San Francisco Chronicle published a story in which a former Swalwell staffer claimed that Swalwell, 17 years her senior, had sexually assaulted her on more than one occasion, including when she was too intoxicated to give consent. A few hours later, CNN published a story in which four women alleged sexual misconduct by Swalwell, including a former staffer who said he raped her. Politico also reported that a former Swalwell employee signed a non-disclosure agreement pertaining to employment discrimination when they left his office. Although the agreement was not related to sexual harassment, it directly contradicted Swalwell’s previous claims that no one on his staff signed an NDA.
The California teacher’s union pulled their endorsement, 21 of his colleagues pulled theirs as well. Some of his colleagues are calling for him to leave Congress. A resolution is being put out to expel him from Congress!
This past Sunday he ended his campaign to be governor. Later, he announced his resignation from Congress.
Stick a fork in Swalwell. He is done.
I am not one to dance on someone’s grave, but Swalwell came off as an arrogant douche bag of a human being. Turns out he is exactly what he accused Donald Trump of being. One thing I do question is the timing of these reports. He is suddenly getting major traction in the governor race and wham, these reports drop simultaneously. The fall from grace has been startling, in a span of 48 hours his political career is ending. He will likely be expelled from Congress. There are rumors of the District Attorneys in California and New York are sniffing around these allegations and he could face criminal charges.
Swalwell went from rising star to persona non-grata over a weekend.
The Chief
Editor’s Note: I was on the road yesterday when this was sent to me yesterday morning. Subsequently the story blew-up in the media. I give the Chief two scalps since the guy in Texas quit too.
I haven’t seen a Democrat cancelled this fast since that black guy on the Board of Equalization was tossed under the bus by then Governor Jerry Brown many years ago.
Also, candidate Katie Porter is believed to have her fingerprints on Swalwell’s resignation. Katie Porter and influencer behind Swalwell allegations “don’t have a relationship to speak of,” campaign says – CBS News