Leadership positions and committee assignments in Congress are being decided during these days in January and the leaders of the Senate and House of Representative have more power over the rank and file than ever before.
Leadership positions from the very top with the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader, through the committee chairmanships and among the heads of the many official caucuses in both chambers define the tone and temper of Congress. And individual senators and representatives set the leadership example for their committee and personal staffs.
The ambition to lead when matched with needed skills and channeled and controlled properly can be a great blessing in society. The problem, thanks to the Original Sin that affects every human being, however, is that ambition to lead too often and too easily becomes ambition to exalt oneself over others.
It is an assertion heard in recent decades with some regularity among critics seeking to discredit the claims of Jesus Christ in the New Testament to be God. It typically goes something like this:
“Jesus Christ did not even exist as a real person, but was instead a fictional creation of a small sect of dissident Jews whose vision of their expected Messiah was taken over by Gentiles and turned into religious/political movement.”
In fact, modern scholarship has established that the Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — were written within the living memory of witnesses to the life and teachings of Jesus, and are verified by far more ancient transcripts than such long-accepted authors as Homer, Aristotle and Julius Caesar. Continue reading “The Gospel Writers Aren’t The Only Ancient Sources For Jesus”
I searched the world But it couldn’t fill me Man’s empty praise And treasures that fade Are never enough
Then You came along And put me back together And every desire Is now satisfied Here in Your love (Hey)
Oh, there’s nothing better than You There’s nothing better than You Lord, there’s nothing Nothing is better than You (Oh) (Yes, I know it’s true) (Come on, stand up, hey)
I’m not afraid To show You my weakness My failures and flaws Lord, You’ve seen them all And You still call me friend
‘Cause the God of the mountain Is the God of the valley There’s not a place Your mercy and grace Won’t find me again (Come on, now)
Oh, there’s nothing better than You There’s nothing better than You Lord, there’s nothing Nothing is better than You (I know it’s true)
Faith & Law, the collegial, bipartisan gathering of congressional aides who are followers of Jesus Christ and who seek to integrate their faith with their professional life, is convening an important Zoominar a week from today. Here’s the official description:
“Have rancor and hyper-partisanship in our politics gone so far that recovery is impossible? Is America now a fading, failing democracy? Or can we come together as one nation to revitalize our experiment in ordered liberty in the 2020s?”
David Blankenhorn is president of Braver Angels.
“[David Blankenhorn is the featured speaker for the noon forum.] He is president of Braver Angels, a citizens’ organization working for less rancor and more goodwill in politics and society.
“Before co-founding Braver Angels, David led the Institute for American Values, a think tank on civil society he founded in 1988. He also founded the Mississippi Community Service Corps and the Virginia Community Service Corps and co-founded the National Fatherhood Initiative.
“The author of four books, David grew up in Jackson, Mississippi; graduated from Harvard College in 1977; received an M.A. in history from the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, in 1979; and lives today in New York City.”
If you work on Capitol Hill, you will very likely find this forum and discussion informative, thought-provoking and educational. Click below to register in advance.
“For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his life? What can a man give in exchange for his life.”— Mark 8:36-37
Photo by Melanie Sosa on Unsplash.
And C.S. Lewis said:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Rebecca Brown takes over as Deputy Press Secretary and Digital Manager for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) after a stint as Digital Director for the Cal Cunningham Senate campaign in North Carolina. Rebecca is a Summa Cum Laude 2017 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in Political Communication and Sociology.
Tyler Jenkins moves up from an internship with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to serving as her Research Assistant on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Jenkins’ BA in History and Government was awarded by Harvard University in 2019.
Rep. Ed. Case (D-HI) has a new Staff Assistant in Alyssa B. Futa. Alyssa is moving up from an internship with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who did not seek re-election to the House in order to mount a presidential bid. Alyssa expects to complete her BA in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton College this year.
Conventional wisdom holds that sex between consenting adults is a purely private act of no concern to anybody except those directly involved. But is that really true?
The annual public health costs of STDs in the U.S.
Think about it a bit and a number of factors come to mind that suggest sex is anything but private in terms of its effects on everybody not directly involved. And more than a few of those factors involve all-too-real emotional, physical and societal consequences. Continue reading “WHAT WOULD YOU SAY: Is Sex A Strictly Private Act?”
Beginning tonight at 7 pm EST a dozen men and women from points across America gather together via Zoom for the first session of an eight-week video-based study called “God’s Crime Scene.”
The course is taught by J. Warner Wallace, the former Los Angeles Police Detective who became nationally famous a few years ago with his many appearances on NBC’s “Dateline” news program.
Fact: The Bible declares, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave, nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28).
Fact: The Declaration of Independence declares “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Fact: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said this in his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963: “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny, and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”
So how did Professor Carol Swain, born dirt poor and Black in rural Virginia at a time when segregation was still a fact of life in much of the South, achieve so much success in her life? She explains it all poignantly and candidly in the following video from Prager U.
If you’ve ever discovered somebody you thought was a friend you could depend upon wasn’t, or a spouse who would always be there had left, or that you were hopelessly lost in an addiction, Matthew West wrote and sings this song for you.
Listen to the music below, then read through the lyrics reprint after the video. And think about the friend who never leaves your side, who never lacks the grace you need, who loves you with an eternal love. You’re thinking about Jesus, my friend. He will change you and your life forever if you follow Him as your Lord:
If I were You I would’ve given up on me by now I would’ve labeled me a lost cause ‘Cause I feel just like a lost cause
If I were You I would’ve turned around and walked away I would’ve labeled me beyond repair ‘Cause I feel like I’m beyond repair
Oh, but somehow You don’t see me like I do Somehow You’re still here
You’re the God who stays You’re the God who stays You’re the one who runs in my direction When the whole world walks away You’re the God who stands With wide open arms And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart From the God who stays
I used to hide Every time I thought I let You down I always thought I had to earn my way But I’m learning You don’t work that way, no
‘Cause somehow You don’t see me like I do Somehow You’re still here
You’re the God who stays You’re the God who stays You’re the one who runs in my direction When the whole world walks away You’re the God who stands With wide open arms And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart From the God who stays
My shame can’t separate My guilt can’t separate My past can’t separate I’m Yours forever
My sin can’t separate My scars can’t separate My failures can’t separate I’m Yours forever
No enemy can separate No power of hell can take away Your love for me will never change I’m Yours forever
‘Cause you’re the God who stays You’re the God who stays You’re the one who runs in my direction When the whole world walks away You’re the God who stands With wide open arms And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart From the God who stays You’re the God who stays You’re the one who runs in my direction When the whole world walks away You’re the God who stands With wide open arms And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart From the God who stays
Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson of Pennsylvania spoke more often on the floor of the House of Representatives than any other congressman during 2020, according to data compiled by C-SPAN.
Screenshot from Thompson’s official web site.
Thompson, a Republican, spoke on 190 days during the year when the House was in session, leading by a substantial margin the second-most prolific congressional speaker, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), who rose to address colleagues 156 times.
Six of the top 10 most frequent speaker were Republicans, including Doug Lamata of California (138), Buddy Carter of Georgia (136), Joe Wilson of South Carolina (111), Ross Spano of Florida (104), and Virginia Foxx of Virginia (99). Continue reading “WORKING ON THE HILL: Who Talks The Most In Congress?”
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die, ever.”— John 11:25-26
Photo by Melanie Sosa on Unsplash.
And C.S. Lewis said:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
How well do you know the pro-life and pro-abortion arguments?
UPDATE: Just a note to say thank you to the commenters who have noted how much they prefer text to video without explanatory text. To be honest, that never occurred to me as an issue, so I apologize for my tone-deafness in this regard. – MT
Madison Bau makes the move from the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire to Capitol Hill, becoming Field Representative for Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX). Madison received her BA in Political Science and Government from Eau Claire in 2020.
Nick Clemens (Screenshot from Facebook)
Nick Clemens is now Communications Director for newly sworn-in Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR). Nick was previously a Legislative Correspondent for Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV). He is a 2013 graduate of Elizabethtown College with a BA in Political Science, Business Administration and International Studies.
Moving into the Deputy Chief of Staff slot is Nicole Renee Rapanos, working for newly sworn-in Rep. Carlos Antonio Giménez (R-FL). Nicole is a 2010 University of Miami graduate with a BA in Political Science, Public Relations and Communications. Continue reading “STAFF NEWS: Look Who’s Moving Up On The Hill This Week”
Beginning at 7 pm Tuesday, January 19, a dozen men and women from points across America will convene together via Zoom for the first session of an eight-week study called “God’s Crime Scene.”
The course is taught by J. Warner Wallace, the former Los Angeles Police Detective who became nationally famous a few years ago with his many appearances on NBC’s “Dateline” news program.
Wallace was a gifted detective with extraordinary investigative skills that enabled him to solve murder cases that had eluded being solved for decades.
Along the way, he also applied those skills to the evidence for and against Christianity, with the result that he came to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Now he teaches others how to learn and apply the same skills.
Each of the eight sessions will be an hour long, with a 10-15 minute video presentation by Wallace, followed by questions and discussion led by HillFaith founder and editor Mark Tapscott.
This Zoom class is full, but it will be repeated in the near future for congressional employees, and other classes will also be offered, in 2021, including Dr. Frank Turek’s “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist.”
If you would like to receive scheduling and content information on future HillFaith class offerings, send your name and email address to: mt.hillfaith@gmail.com
