AGENDA Weekly Brief Week of August 28 – September 3 By Curtis Bowers

Dear Friends,

Ephesians 6:10 says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Truly, the forces of evil are accelerating their assault on truth and light, as witnessed by today’s headlines. We are not strong enough to battle the enemy on our own. But we can confidently and courageously stand if we stand in the power of Christ.

1. BIDEN DEHUMANIZES HIS OPPOSITION: In a prime-time speech delivered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden lashed out at freedom-loving Americans, claiming, “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans — and that is a threat to this country.” Biden was flanked by two Marines during the 25-minute speech. His statements followed an August 25th speech at the so-called “Unite” rally in which he called the MAGA movement “semi-fascism.”

Franklin Graham called the speech an attack on “freedom-loving Americans.” Rep. Andy Biggs called the address “extremely dangerous.” Biggs continued, “He means anybody who opposes him is a danger and threat. It dehumanizes anyone who is antithetical to his point of view. Make no mistake, that’s what he’s trying to do: dehumanize anyone who disagrees or takes a heterodox position compared to him. They’re going to be demonized.”

By contrast, disgraced former FBI director Andrew McCabe, who illegally spied on Trump, said Biden didn’t go far enough: “People would like to have seen a bit more references to accountability. There really wasn’t much talk about what we’re doing about those insurrectionists.”

Ed. Note: For more, see this week’s Behind the Scenes video, “It’s Not Just Trump They’re After; They’re After You.”

2. JUDGE UNSEALS TRUMP FBI AFFIDAVIT: The Department of Justice unsealed the affidavit which led to the search warrant on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago…but with extensive redactions. The Daily Signal reports, “As expected, the redactions are heavy and, as a result, the affidavit reveals little information about the investigation beyond what was already publicly known. In fact, even most of the FBI’s justifications for redacting certain information are themselves redacted.” The judge left out the name of the individual close to Trump who told the FBI about the documents, but did not redact the name of Trump ally Kash Patel. Patel accused the FBI of “intentionally jeopardizing” his safety.

Trump accused FBI agents of attempting to smear him with pictures of documents strewn on the floor: “Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland has ordered DOJ agents not to speak directly to Congress, in order to stop further leaks and whistleblowers.

3. FEDERAL RESERVE TO RELEASE FEDNOW SERVICE: Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard announced that the new payment system FedNow, will go live between May and June of 2023. Brainard said, “The FedNow Service will transform the way everyday payments are made throughout the economy, bringing substantial gains to households and businesses through the ability to send instant payments at any time on any day, and the funds being immediately available to recipients to make other payments or manage cash flow efficiently.”

Ed. Note: In his insightful article, “Biden’s Most Enduring Legacy?” financial analyst and attorney Jim Rickards notes, “Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are coming fast, and you need to be prepared for them because they’ll mark a major victory in the war against cash — and against your personal privacy.”

4. WAR ON DISSENT: A new bill passed by California’s legislature would allow the Medical Board of California to revoke the licenses of doctors who spread “misinformation” and “disinformation” regarding Covid-19 treatments and vaccines.

Twitter suspended the Libs of TikTok account, which has 1.3 million followers, after it shared a video from Boston Children’s Hospital discussing “gender-affirming hysterectomies” for children. Senator Marsha Blackburn responded, “Time and again, we’ve witnessed Big Tech’s double standard against conservatives. The Ayatollah is allowed on Twitter without question, but conservatives who hold up a mirror to the left’s agenda get suspended for ‘misinformation.’”

The Epoch Times reports, “More than 50 officials in President Joe Biden’s administration across a dozen agencies have been involved with efforts to pressure Big Tech companies to crack down on alleged misinformation, according to documents released on August 31.” Google has removed World Net Daily from its search engine.

5. J6 PRISONERS ARE BEING “TORTURED”: Bonnie Nichols, the wife of January 6 defendant Ryan Nichols, said her husband is being tortured and has been held for 19 months in solitary confinement without charges. Attorney Joseph D. McBride, who is defending January 6 political prisoners, said his clients are being “tortured” by a system of “anarcho-tyranny” that considers them to be a “subhuman, sub-constitutional class of people.”

McBride continued, “They are gaslighting the entire American public. They are calling these people extremists and terrorists, but the extremism and the terrorism lies with them!” McBride said, “For the first time in U.S. history, the political party in power is hunting down and jailing members of the opposition party for political dissidence, and torturing them in jail. This is the stuff of dictatorships.”

6. NEW YORK GOES FOR THE GUNS: Times Square is now a “gun-free zone” as multiple gun control laws took effect in the state of New York. New Yorkers are prohibited from carrying guns in “sensitive” areas, including “government-owned buildings, schools, health care facilities, places of worship and public transportation,” according to CNN. “People who carry a gun in a prohibited location could be charged with a felony under the law.” Governor Kathy Hochul falsely claimed, “This whole concept that a good guy with a gun will stop the bad guys with a gun, it doesn’t hold up.”

Some stores in the state have begun requiring individuals to show an ID to buy cans of whipped cream, following a new law mandating that customers be over 21 to buy whipped cream chargers. New York lawmakers and Gabby Giffords’ gun control group are calling on Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to flag gun and ammunition purchases.

Ed. Note: To fully understand the anti-gun agenda, see our previous episode, “They’ve Got to Get the Guns.”

7. THE CALIFORNIA NIGHTMARE: Just days after the state announced a ban on new gas-powered cars by 2035, officials asked California residents to conserve energy by not charging their electric vehicles during the state’s brutal heatwave. U.S. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise responded, “California is now telling people to ‘avoid using large appliances and charging electric vehicles’ from 4-9pm. This from the same state that’s going to force everyone to buy electric cars by 2035. This is what Democrat control looks like — and they want it nationwide. What a joke.” The World Economic Forum recently praised California’s suicidal climate measures as a model for the world to follow.

8. DOES BIDEN WANT MORE TERRORISTS IN THE U.S.?: Ten Republican Senators sent a letter to Biden demanding an explanation for Biden’s immigration rule change that will allow individuals who had supported terrorist organizations to enter the U.S. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says that 81 individuals on the terror watchlist have been stopped at the Southern Border during the Biden Administration, compared to an average of 3 per year during previous administrations. There’s no telling how many terrorists slipped through and were not caught.

Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre, “How come migrants are allowed to come into this country unvaccinated, but world-class tennis players [referring to Novak Djokovic] are not?”

A new documentary claims that an unidentified U.S. Army colonel blocked busloads of Americans, orphans, and allies trying to flee Afghanistan (including individuals with U.S. passports) from getting on planes and instead sent them back into the Taliban-controlled Kabul. “This decision to turn these buses around essentially just killed, just murdered these people,” former Marine Chad Robichaux said.

9. OIL SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA AREN’T WORKING: The Wall Street Journal reports that Russia is earning $20 billion in average monthly sales this year, compared to $14.6 billion in 2021. Zero Hedge reports that China has been quietly reselling Russian Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to Europe and making a handsome profit in the process. China has also increased its purchases of Russian gold following the West’s ban, importing $108.8 million in gold during July of 2022, up from a mere $2.2 million in July 2021. Meanwhile, Russian state energy giant Gazprom has “temporarily” stopped gas supplies to Germany via its Nord Stream 1 Pipeline. According to the A.P., the United States is still importing over $1 billion worth of Russian goods each month.

Even mainstream economist Jean Pisani-Ferry admits, “After six months of unprecedented Western sanctions, Russia’s economic situation, though bad, is arguably better than most observers expected. This does not bode well for the outcome of the West’s financial war against the Kremlin.”

10. CHINA’S LOCKDOWNS AND ECONOMIC WOES: The city of Chengdu, with 21.2 million inhabitants, is the latest to lock down. Foreign Affairs reports that China is on the “brink of catastrophe” as its ongoing water crisis has worsened. “Potential water-driven disruptions beginning in China would rapidly reverberate through food, energy, and materials markets around the world and create economic and political turbulence for years to come.” Aquifer depletion, water contamination, and overuse of pesticides and fertilizer are all contributing to China’s water crisis.

Ed. Note: Never forget how much global elites love China. It was the brutal Chinese lockdowns that inspired similar lockdowns in the West.

11. GORBACHEV DEAD AT 91: Lifelong Communist and former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev died at age 91 after an unspecified “long and grave illness.” Antonio Guterres, the socialist head of the United Nations, said, “The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace.” Joe Biden called Gorbachev “a man of remarkable vision.”

Ed. Note: As noted in our AGENDA films, Gorbachev transitioned directly from leading the Soviet Union to promoting Communism through Green Cross International, which he founded in 1993. To understand the real Gorbachev and the phony fall of the Soviet Union, read the article, “Gorbymania!” by William F. Jasper and watch our interview with Joe Skousen, “Is World War III Just Around the Corner?” 

12. LIFE EXPECTANCY DROPS IN U.S. FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW: The A.P. reports, “U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American lifespan has been shortened by nearly three years. The last comparable decrease happened in the early 1940s, during the height of World War II.”

Dr. Joseph Mercola notes, “Mainstream media are trying to divert your attention from the elephant in the room — mass injection with experimental gene transfer technology — to anything and everything but that…In the U.S., we lost 349,000 younger Americans to something besides COVID and non-natural death between April 3, 2021, and August 13, 2022, and that’s not counting the tens of thousands of death records that the CDC has inexplicably deleted. Other data shows that during the fall of 2021, Millennials aged 25 to 44 had an 84% increase in excess deaths.”

13. WAR ON THE FAMILY: An official report from England found that almost half (44%) of British children born in 2000 are growing up outside a traditional “nuclear” family (with one father and one mother), compared with 21% born in 1970. India’s Supreme Court ruled against the Biblical nuclear family, mandating that unmarried partnerships or same-sex relationships be regarded as “familial relationships,” qualifying for welfare benefits and receiving full legal protection.

14. UNDERMINING THE CHURCH: The latest study from Dr. Geoge Barna and the Cultural Research Center found that only 37% of Christian pastors and 51% of evangelical pastors have a biblical worldview. Christianity Today published an article entitled, “Don’t Run for the School Board,” discouraging Christian involvement in the culture war. In a 50-page report, The National Association of Evangelicals said that Christians should seek to combat man-made climate change.

Ed. Note: For more on the war on the family, see this week’s featured article by Ken Ham.

15. VACCINE DANGERS: Dr. Joseph Mercola notes that Pfizer’s court-ordered released trial data reported a miscarriage rate of 87.5% for women and explains why the Covid vaccine should be banned for all pregnant women. The Epoch Times reports, “Documents from Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial on animals show that some of the offspring of rats that were injected with the company’s mRNA shot developed rib malformations.”  The FDA authorized new boosters for Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech to target omicron Covid-19 variants.

16. NOTEWORTHY STORIES:

• The Pennsylvania Department of State quietly changed its voter registration application form to include a mail-in ballot application.
• Dr. Joseph Mercola notes, “The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding a project to develop a headset that can read your brain’s neural activity and ‘write,’ or encode, it to someone else’s brain, leading to brain-to-brain communication.”
• Inflation in the U.K., which currently stands at 10.1%, could reach a staggering 22.4 % early next year.
• WND notes, “The IRS official chosen to lead the new ‘centralized office’ featuring the nearly 87,000 new employees funded in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups that opposed Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012.”
• 8 million Americans could be evicted from their homes over the next two months for not paying rent.
• The Washington Free Beacon reports, “A division of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), the branch tasked with confronting China, has ordered its senior leaders and commanders to stop using gender pronouns in written formats, saying the shift to more neutral language will help improve the fighting force’s ‘lethality.’”
• 20 Major League Baseball teams support organizations that perform gender change operations for children, according to National Review.
• Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Republican Sarah Palin for U.S. House in Alaska’s first election to use ranked-choice voting. Peltola only received 40% of the initial vote.
• Nikki Haley’s leaked donor list includes $1 million from a Democrat donor.
• Biden’s pick to lead the National Cancer Institute previously received $290.8 million in research funding from Pfizer.
• Bank Australia will stop financing loans for new fossil fuel vehicles. A bank official said, “By ceasing car loans for new fossil fuel vehicles, we are sending a signal to the Australian market about the rapid acceleration in the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles we expect to see in the next few years.”

THE FREEDOM AGENDA

1. HOUSE REPUBLICANS PROPOSE BILL TO “DEFUND DAVOS”: House Republicans Scott Perry, Tom Tiffany, and Lauren Boebert have sponsored the “Defund Davos Act,” a bill to remove all taxpayer funding from the globalist World Economic Forum. The bill reads, “No funds available to the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, or any other department or agency may be used to provide funding for the World Economic Forum.”

2. LEGAL VICTORY AGAINST MICHIGAN ELECTION FRAUD: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson failed in her bid to dismiss a suit to remove 25,975 deceased individuals from Michigan’s voter rolls. Election integrity expert Hans von Spakovsky notes, “Apparently, Michigan’s secretary of state thinks that trying to prevent someone from using a deceased voter’s registration to fraudulently vote ‘undermines’ democracy.”

In related news, a left-wing ballot measure to gut election integrity in Arizona failed to make the ballot, after the group pushing it violated state law.

3. NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING BIOLOGIST CALLS TRANSGENDER CLAIMS “UNSCIENTIFIC” AND “NONSENSE”: Biologist Dr. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard noted in an interview, “All mammals have two sexes, and man is a mammal. There’s the one sex that produces the eggs, has two X chromosomes. That’s called female. And there’s the other one that makes the sperm, has an X and a Y chromosome. That’s called male.” She called it “nonsense” and “wishful thinking” to think that one can change genders.

4. COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF KENTUCKY PHOTOGRAPHER: A federal district court upheld photographer Chelsy Nelson’s right to not photograph homosexual weddings in Louisville, Kentucky. Trump-appointed Judge Benjamin J. Beaton wrote, “Although Louisville may require restaurants and hotels and stores to provide services regardless of the proprietors’ views or their customers’ legal status, the government may not force singers or writers or photographers to articulate messages they don’t support.”

5. METHODIST CHURCHES CREATE NEW NETWORK: A group of former Methodist Churches will launch the Foundry Network later this month. Pastor Eric Huffman said, “The Foundry Network…seeks to forge a network of like-minded pastors and churches who are aligned theologically and work together to reawaken the movement for Jesus in our communities.” Numerous churches have left the mainline denomination over its failure to stand against homosexuality.

6. CALIFORNIANS PUSH BACK: A federal judge ruled that the state of California cannot force churches to pay for abortions as part of their insurance plans. Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus said, “For years, California has unconstitutionally targeted faith-based organizations. So, we’re pleased the court has found this mandate unconstitutional and will allow the churches we represent to operate freely according to their religious beliefs.”

Fresno, California, Mayor Jerry Dyer courageously vetoed a one-million dollar grant that the City Council voted 5-1 to give to a local Planned Parenthood. San Francisco businesses are threatening to stop paying the city taxes unless San Francisco addresses crime and homelessness.

A California Senate bill that would have allowed children over age 15 to be vaccinated without parental consent failed to garner enough support to pass. State Senator Scott Wiener blamed the failure on an “anti-vaxxer harassment campaign.”

7. FIFTH CIRCUIT RULES AGAINST BIDEN ADMIN: The Fifth Circuit Court ruled that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cannot force “federally funded” Christian hospitals to provide abortions and “gender transition” surgeries. Joseph Davis of the legal group Becket said, “Doctors cannot do their jobs and comply with the Hippocratic Oath if the government requires them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.”

8. DR. ERWIN LUTZER: PARENTS “MUST HOMESCHOOL THEIR CHILDREN”: Dr. Erwin Lutzer warns that the Marxist agenda is infiltrating government schools and undermining the family. Dr. Lutzer said, “Parents need to be warned, if possible, they must homeschool their children. We cannot allow our schools to undermine what God expects us to do. Most public schools are so pagan that whenever possible, parents should find alternative means of education.”

9. YOUNGKIN REJECTS CALIFORNIA CLIMATE ENERGY MADNESS: A 2021 law signed by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s predecessor, Ralph Northam, tied Virginia’s state vehicle emissions policies to California. After California mandated to end the sale of all gasoline-powered cars by 2035, Governor Youngkin said that he was “already at work to prevent this ridiculous edict from being forced on Virginians” and blamed “liberal politicians who previously ran our government” for having “sold Virginia out.”

10. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR FIRED AFTER BEING EXPOSED BY PROJECT VERITAS: Project Veritas released a video showing Assistant Principal Jeremy Boland of Greenwich, Connecticut’s elementary school stating that he discriminated against conservatives and Catholics in hiring. Following the video, District superintendent Toni Jones announced that Boland had been placed on administrative leave.

James O’Keefe of Project Veritas responded, “For all of you who say, ‘nothing ever happens, no one’s held accountable, these videos don’t matter,’ out of the Greenwich Public Schools, superintendent of schools announcing that Jeremy Boland has just been placed on administrative leave. This comes 24 hours after our investigation showing Jeremy Boland saying he does not hire Catholics.”

11. CHRISTIAN SCHOOL TEACHER WINS $95K: Middle school math teacher Pamela Ricard secured a $95,000 settlement after being suspended from teaching for refusing to call two “transgender” students by their made-up names and “preferred” pronouns and for notifying the students’ parents. ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said, “No school district should ever force teachers to willfully deceive parents or engage in any speech that violates their deeply held religious beliefs.”

HYNM OF THE WEEK

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by Helen Howarth Lemmel

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
Look full in His wonderful face!
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there.
O’er us sin no more hath dominion,
For more than conqu’rors we are!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
Look full in His wonderful face!
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
Believe Him and all will be well!
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
Look full in His wonderful face!
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.