Kimberly Kobayashi~

I am gradually adjusting my thoughts and expectations to conform to these truths:

This is not my home

God is in control

God wins and therefore I have hope and need not fear the future

I hope you find this article encouraging in these challenging times.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/exile-ok/

Alistair Begg: 'Welcome to Exile. It's Going to Be OK.'

April 29, 2021

When I was a child, I was taught this chorus:

This world is not my home,
I'm just a-passing through.
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.

Honestly, until recently I had no idea what I was singing. For us in the English-speaking West, this world has tended to feel very much like home, and our treasures have been right before our eyes.

Perhaps it is only in the last few years in the United States that we have finally faced that what the Bible says is true: in this world we really are sojourners and exiles (1 Pet. 2:11). That reality has been clouded and obscured by the size and legal protection of the church in most of the Western world. But this world is not actually our home. We're not supposed to settle down here. We're not supposed to expect the church to be large, influential, and respected.

Christians are increasingly going to be seen as different, and not in a good way. We are increasingly going to have to choose between obedience and comfort. The next decades will not bring apathy to the gospel, but antagonism. And that's OK. After all, that has been the reality for most of God's people through most of history.

Christians are increasingly going to be seen as different, and not in a good way. We are increasingly going to have to choose between obedience and comfort. The next decades will not bring apathy to the gospel, but antagonism.

In this sense, as we move ahead in time, we're going back—back to the world of the first-century church, and back even further to the Babylon of the exiles. And so we have many lessons from early Christians, and from men like Daniel and his friends.

Statue vs. Rock

When we think of drawing inspiration for a post-Christian world from the book of Daniel, our minds perhaps instinctively turn to the fiery furnace or the writing on the wall or the lions' den. But even before any of those events, there's rich truth for our times in the dream that God gives the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar, and enables his godly servant Daniel to interpret—for here is a lesson about what the church is, and what the great empires and nations of the world are.

Here is, as Daniel explains it to the king, the content of the dream:

You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Dan. 2:31–35)

The statue represents the great empires of the ancient world, with Nebuchadnezzar's as the head. And all—all—are superseded by, and brought to nothing by, a small rock. The meaning? "The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people" (Dan. 2:44).

Here is the main and the plain thing: human history is under the control of God, and he has a purpose that will be achieved. The message of the dream was for the young exile as much as for the apparently all-powerful king. God would replace every kingdom and bring into being his everlasting kingdom. And that is what he did when he sent his Son, who announced that "the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15). Jesus was (and still is) the rock that God fashioned out of nothing. Here was the everlasting kingdom of God. And it appeared that the Roman statue had smashed the rock by nailing him to a cross, and yet it was not possible even for death to keep hold of this king (Acts 2:24).

Even then, at the turn of the first century it must have seemed impossible that the Roman Empire would ever fade and perish—yet fade and perish it did, even as the kingdom of King Jesus grew throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. The rock smashed the statue, and the rock became a mountain that filled the entire earth.

What a comforting message for the young, exiled Daniel. What a confidence-building truth for us, too: God is God, he is in control, and his kingdom has no rivals.

His Kingdom Knows No Rivals

We have seen more than Daniel could. We know the name of the rock; we can look back in history and around in our world and see how the rock became a mountain. Yet we find ourselves complaining about everything, looking back to the good old days and worrying that the church cannot survive the empire of an aggressively secular post-Christendom. Too much of the public face of evangelicalism is characterized by angry venting or panicking—rather than prayerful, humble, calm, and confident belief in a sovereign God who is in control of things.

How will we handle the onset of persecution? How will we handle the loss of our jobs on account of our Christian faith? How will we handle the closing of public worship? Will we give up, or grow defeatist or angry? Not if we remember that God is God, that he is in control, and that his kingdom ultimately knows no rivals.

In the 1920s, Lord Reith helped to establish the British Broadcasting Corporation and served as its first director-general. He was a somewhat severe man from the highlands of Scotland. As the BBC began to be carried along by the tide of secularism that swept through Britain in the 1960s, a young producer stood up in a meeting and said to Lord Reith that the world was changing, and that the BBC did not need to continue with its religious programming. People were no longer interested in religion, he said, and the church was becoming increasingly obsolete.

Lord Reith, who was 6'6″, told this young man to take his seat. Then he stood up and said: "The church will stand at the grave of the BBC."

And you know what? It will. It will still stand when the BBC—and CNN and Fox as well—dwindle and die. God's kingdom will stand when every organization and institution and empire meets its end.

Give Yourself to the Church

Your church may seem small. As you drive to meet with the household of God on a Sunday, you may pass hundreds of houses whose inhabitants give no thought to what you are doing, except politely (or not so politely) to deride it. It may feel little. But God's kingdom is unsmashable, and it has an embassy in your neighborhood that we call the church. Don't be discouraged as you meet; don't be distraught over dwindling numbers or a more and more hostile media. Instead, commit to it.

God's kingdom is unsmashable, and it has an embassy in your neighborhood that we call the church.

Serve your church family. Give yourself to it. Because when the Lord builds his church (either in number or in maturity) through our labors, gifts, and giving, we are being used to build the only kingdom that will last forever. There is nothing coming next. So, give your best to this kingdom. It may feel small, but it is never in vain, for this kingdom is eternal, and it is God's. So we do not panic and we do not vent, and we enjoy a deep confidence even as the tides seem to run against our faith. God is God, he is in control, and his kingdom—his church—ultimately knows no rivals.

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If everyone knew all there is to know, they would not do half the things they do, including myself, therefore I must foregive them, including myself.

May 2, 2021

Good morning!

Blessings on you and your family, and from all the Huckabee staff!

Today's newsletter includes:

Bible Verse Of The Day
"Huckabee" Preview
Typical Leftist Behavior Alert
Babbitt Lawsuit Planned
Biden Uses Climate Crisis To Push Transformative Legislation
More on Kerry/Iran
Say THIS isn't true, please
The Government Wants To Give You A Gift
New Podcasts
A Reader Writes Back...
Inspirational Americans

Thank you again for subscribing! To read this newsletter on my website, go here .

Sincerely,

Mike Huckabee

BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalms 23:1

"Huckabee" Preview

By Mike Huckabee

Join me tonight for a terrific new episode of "Huckabee" on TBN! I'll talk about the left's racist attacks on voting laws with outspoken North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. You'll meet a Huck's Hero who's a hero to people and dogs alike. Discover the man behind some of your favorite country hits, singer/songwriter Bill Nash. We'll have lots of laughs with "In Case You Missed It" and the return of the hilarious Chonda Pierce. Then top it all off with a performance by Christian music superstar, Michael W. Smith.

It all comes your way tonight at 9 EST/8 CST, on TBN. To find out how you can watch TBN, from local cable and broadcast channels to streaming, visit https://www.huckabee.tv and click on "Channel Finder" on the top menu. You can stream previous episodes, highlights and online-only "Digital Exclusives," including extended interviews, "In Case You Missed It" and "Facts of the Matter" segments, and extra performances by our great musical and comedy guests, all at https://www.huckabee.tv. You can also find past shows, highlights and digital exclusives on YouTube and my Facebook page.

Typical Leftist Behavior Alert

By Mike Huckabee

Rich, famous white liberal from New York condescendingly informs black conservative from the Deep South that he doesn't understand what "systemic racism" is. The mind reels…

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/04/29/unreal-joy-behar-claims-tim-scott-doesnt-understand-what-systemic-racism-is-n371372

Babbitt Lawsuit Planned

By Mike Huckabee

A lawyer for the family of slain pro-Trump protester Ashli Babbitt announced that they plan to file a $10 million lawsuit against the Capitol Police within the next ten days. Babbitt was shot and killed by a Capitol officer on January 6th while unarmed and climbing through a broken window. An official investigation ruled that the officer, whose name has never been revealed, acted appropriately and should be returned to duty.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ashli-babbitt-lawsuit-capitol-police

But the attorney said there were officers all around her in riot gear who could have helped peacefully arrest her. She was on a window ledge and not holding any weapon. The worst crime she was committing was misdemeanor trespassing. He said any rookie officer would have known to just arrest her, not shoot her in cold blood. Apparently, some high-ranking people in Washington don't know that, but maybe a $10 million civic suit will bring it to their attention.

Senate Confirms Bill Nelson To Head NASA

By Mike Huckabee

The Senate confirmed by consensus without a voice vote President Biden's choice of former Florida Senator Bill Nelson to be the new head of NASA. Nelson promised to "help lead NASA into an exciting future of possibilities."

https://www.foxnews.com/science/senate-confirms-former-florida-senator-bill-nelson-head-nasa

Unlike some other Biden nominees, Nelson actually has qualifications for the job, having grown up near Cape Canaveral and flown on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. And as a NASA supporter, I wish him the best of luck. The chief concern about him is that he's being put in charge of the agency that's tasked with taking America into the future and the cutting edge of technology, and Nelson is 78 years old. But you can understand why nobody would want to suggest to Biden that some jobs might be too demanding for somebody who's 78 years old.

OUR MOST READ STORY YESTERDAY: Reminder: Our Police Put Their Lives On The Line Everyday

Biden Uses Climate Crisis To Push Transformative Legislation

By Mike Huckabee

Speaking of climate hysteria, Biden is using the "climate crisis" (in Liberal Land, the border isn't a crisis, but the weather is) as justification for massively expensive, economically ruinous and dangerously "transformative" legislation. They've whipped up so much fear over climate change that they even got Scientific American magazine to betray its name by agreeing to refer to "climate change" as the "climate crisis." So then the science must finally be "settled" for real, with no qualified scientists questioning at all that the weather is going to kill us if we don't give up all our rights and freedoms to Washington and start living in mud huts?

Not exactly. In addition to many other skeptical scientific voices, a brave former Obama Administration official is questioning Biden's climate fear mongering. Dr. Steven Koonin is a scientist and the former undersecretary for science in the Department of Energy under Obama. Koonin says that the data in the UN's IPCC panel report and the US's National Climate Assessment shows no justification for Biden's radical climate measures. He believes humans "exert a growing but physically small" influence on global warming and we need to lower CO2 emissions, but says much of the current public portrayal of climate science is agenda-driven, context-free misinformation designed to persuade, not inform.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/24/obama-admin-scientist-says-climate-emergency-is-based-on-fallacy/

In an article in the New York Post, Koonin writes that "humans have had no detectable impact on hurricanes over the past century, Greenland's ice sheet isn't shrinking any more rapidly today than it was 80 years ago," and "the global area burned by wildfires has declined more than 25 percent since 2003, and 2020 was one of the lowest years on record."

He adds that "both research literature and government reports state clearly that heatwaves in the US are now no more common than they were in 1900, and that the warmest temperatures in the US have not risen in the past fifty years…When I tell people this, most are incredulous. Some gasp. And some get downright hostile."

(This article is an excerpt from an upcoming book: https://www.amazon.com/Unsettled-Climate-Science-Doesnt-Matters/dp/1950665798?tag=nypost-20)

Read the full article, and note that hostile response to being told that the world isn't ending. Sound familiar? It's the same response you get from leftists when you tell them it's no longer necessary to wear a facemask or that you think America is actually much less racist than it was in years past. They hate being told good news.

They honestly seem to relish holding a pessimistic view of everything and everybody, because only by believing that everything is terrible and heading for apocalypse can they convince us to give up our rights, power and money to them. But if you want things to get worse for real, put them in charge (something that Joe Biden is proving every day.)

I quote this often, but I can't think of a more appropriate place to do so again. H.L. Mencken wrote it nearly a century ago: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary."

More on Kerry/Iran

By Mike Huckabee

The Washington Free Beacon reports that, contrary to the State Department's excuses, leaked audiotapes of Iran's foreign minister indicate that he had no knowledge of Israel's covert military operations against Iran in Syria until then-Secretary of State John Kerry told him.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/zarif-had-no-knowledge-of-israeli-strikes-until-kerry-told-him-translation-reveals/

This has incited calls from Congressional Republicans for Kerry to resign immediately and for an investigation to be launched. That is, if the DOJ isn't too busy rooting through Rudy Giuliani's garbage, trying to find any evidence that he, as a private citizen, was secretly colluding with some foreign nation.

Say THIS isn't true, please

By Mike Huckabee

Did you think that the Biden/Harris methods of dealing with illegal border crossings from Mexico couldn't possibly get any stupider than they already are? Well, the President of Mexico thinks he can use their hysteria over the climate to convince them to try.

https://www.westernjournal.com/vp-harris-mexico-pres-discuss-giving-migrants-us-citizenship-plant-trees-mexico-mexican-official/

The Government Wants To Give You A Gift

By Mike Huckabee

Who doesn't like a gift? Something given to me by another who spends his or her hard-earned money to provide something I need or maybe something I just want. But if I'm given what's said to be a gift and then handed a bill to pay for it, is it a gift?

When the government says it wants to GIVE you something, you should ask whose money will pay for it? The politician who made the promise? Out of his or her personal money? Or will it actually be funded by you or even a total stranger using funds that were taken from you involuntarily through taxes or fees?

I'm sure hearing a lot of offers from the government that they want to give me some stuff-like free childcare, free college, free guaranteed income for life, and free medical care. That sounds pretty good since I've been paying for all that myself. But I'm not totally stupid. Somebody has to pay for it.

When you hear an elected official promise to give you something for free, ask these questions:

1. Who will really pay for it? Maybe you're told some faceless big corporation will pay for it. But if you or someone in your family works for a big corporation, I hope you understand how taxing a corporation works. Truth is, corporations don't pay taxes—they just collect taxes from their customers and pass them on to the government. To make up for the money they send to the government, they either raise their prices or they cut expenses. And sometimes the expense they cut is YOUR job. Employers are not looking for ways to lose money—they have a responsibility to their shareholders and employees and customers to make money. If they don't make money, they go out of business and the people who invested in their stock lose THEIR money. Those folks who lose their jobs have less money to buy things and if they have buying stuff from YOU, you have less money. So the government has maybe given you something you didn't even ask for, but it may cost you something you needed—like your job. If I give you something from my own pocket, it's a gift; but if I give you something from someone else's pocket, that's theft.

2. Is this something that the government has the legal authority to give you? Read the Constitution carefully. Does the government really have the power to give this? It's easy for a politician to tell you HE or SHE is giving you something, but is it really a function of government to give it? I get it that since most of us can't buy our own firetrucks or hire a policeman just for our own family, it makes sense to chip in with some taxes so we can have a fire department, police department, and streets and a sewer system and water lines that come to our house.

3. Is the price the government paying better than I could do? It may be hard to get a good answer, but I can tell you that in almost every case, the government is paying way more for the things it gives away that those things actually cost because there are so many "handling" costs for the people and paperwork involved. What if government just gave YOU the money and let YOU spend it for what they were going to "give" you? The costs for K-12 education range from just under $7000 in Utah to almost $36,000 in New York. The average nationally is around $15,000 per student. Most private schools are well below that. Would you be better off if you could just get the funds from the government and choose the school best for your child rather than the government picking your child's school? And the annual health care costs per American is about $12,000 a year. The cost on average for health insurance is about $6000 a year. Would you be better off buying your own than having the government buy it for you?

So when a politician tells you he or she is going to "invest" your money in something, you should want to know if it's something you really need or even want; does the government have the legal right to take money from other people to give it to you, and would you be better off taking the money the government will spend and spending it yourself?

Remember, the government doesn't have anything it doesn't take from you first. Before you celebrate what they promise to GIVE you, be sure you know how much they TOOK from you.

A Reader Writes Back...

I follow your daily newsletter via email and faithfully watch and enjoy your show. My mom told me about it. I value and respect your opinions (I'm from Idaho)

Inspirational Americans (Repeat)

America's history is full of inspirational people. Our "Inspirational Americans" series will profile 32 of them. Today's inspirational American is Theodore Roosevelt.

"Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care."

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

"A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education."

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

- Theodore Roosevelt

To learn more about Theodore Roosevelt, visit his Wikipedia page here .

To learn more about Theodore Roosevelt, visit the White House website here .

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May 04, 2021

Former KGB Agent predicts the current America in 1984. deepstate

‘Welcome to (DeepState) Exile. It’s Going to Be OK.’