AGENDA Weekly Brief Week of May 25-31 of 2024 by Curtis Bowers

Dear Friends,

D.L. Moody once said, “The man that is popular with the world is not a friend of Jesus. You cannot serve two masters. The world hates Christ, and if you are a friend of the world you cannot be a friend of His. You may be sure that something is wrong with you when everybody is your friend.”

1. TRUMP CONVICTED IN SOVIET-STYLE TRIAL: The Federalist reports, “A jury selected from a pool of New York City voters that gave President Joe Biden nearly 90 percent of the vote in 2020 convicted Donald Trump on 34 counts of bookkeeping fraud on Thursday, following a trial that many legal experts said was improper and rigged against the former president from the beginning.”

The “hush money” trial was presided over by Biden donor Judge Juan Merchan, whose daughter has raised millions off the trial for clients. Incredibly, Merchan told jurors that they did not need to agree on what specific crime Trump committed; they only had to be unanimous that a record-keeping violation had been committed. For more, see Judge’s Problematic Jury Instructions in Trump’s Hush Money Trial.

Donald Trump responded to the verdict, stating, “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people. And they know what happened here. And everybody knows what happened here.”

Joe Biden openly celebrated the weaponized justice against his opponent, with his campaign stating, “In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law…” But Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. warned, “This will backfire in November. Even worse, it is profoundly undemocratic.”

While legal experts predict Trump will win on appeal, overturning the conviction could take months. Judge Merchan scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 11, three days before the GOP Convention. Donald Trump Jr. responded, “They’re not even trying to hide the ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!!”

2. RESPONSES TO THE VERDICT: John Rich wrote, “Only Communists put their political rivals in jail.” William E. Wolfe predicted, “It’s not going to stop with Trump. If the Left gets their way, they will do the same thing – use fake charges and a show trial – to destroy every Christian and conservative in America.” Elon Musk warned, “If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate.”

Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) asked, “Why was a Judge whose family has gotten rich off of Democrat Party fundraising allowed to preside over this thing in the first place?… We can not just sit on our hands…We have to be willing to fight back…We should be subpoenaing Judge Merchan and his daughter.” Constitutional Attorney Robert Barnes noted, “I respect impartial juries fairly representative of the defendant’s community, a right that stems from the Magna Carta. Trump’s jury was a lynching jury deserving neither respect nor deference.”

Attorney Mike Cernovich observed, “Stalin sent political prisoners to gulags after a show trial before regime stooges. We saw the Soviet Union as monstrous. We were America. Here we are now. Our country as we know it ended today.”

3. IS THE CONVICTION BACKFIRING? CNN senior political contributor Scott Jennings related, “Well, if my phone and the text messages I’m receiving are any indication…people who are decidedly non-MAGA, not Trump fans are blowing up tonight saying this case never should have been brought, this is ridiculous charges. It was an egregious use of the criminal justice system. And I mean, I’m hearing people say I had no intention of voting for Donald Trump, and now I am…”

Following the verdict, the Trump campaign brought in a record $34.8 million, much of it from small donors. The massive level of traffic even temporarily crashed the website’s donation page.

4. VERDICT AN INDICTMENT OF A FECKLESS GOP: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote, “Today’s conviction was a weaponization of the judicial system, but there is more to come. Alvin Bragg is funded by the state of New York, but Jack Smith is funded by the U.S. Congress led in the House by Mike Johnson, who refuses to defund the next sham conviction of Trump.” Rep Chip Roy (R-TX) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) likewise called out Republicans for refusing to defund leftist tyranny.

Former Trump official Russ Vought stated, “While Trump has sat in court, elected Republicans have been feckless and weak, sending out harsh tweets to distract from their tools to defund these prosecutions. We see them, and we seethe…We have not been vanquished. They cannot yet make more than 80 million people and growing by the day, go away. But this isn’t just about winning an election to shift the see-saw toward our agenda. It’s about demanding that our leaders destroy this threat at every level with every tool. And if you can’t rise to that level of historical awareness, then simply put, you are not needed.”

Journalist Julie Kelly observed, “Republicans stood silent for three years as Biden’s DOJ/FBI investigated, raided, charged, prosecuted, and incarcerated 1,400+ Trump supporters for Jan 6. They not only tacitly endorsed it but funded it. Of course, this unprecedented conviction of Donald Trump would be the natural result. Today’s verdict is as much an indictment of GOP weakness and cowardice as it is the lawless Marxist tendencies of the Democrats.”

Ed. Note: For more, see After Trump’s Conviction, Republicans Should Do To Democrats What They Did To Him and How Red States Should Respond to Trump’s Conviction.

5. LIBERTARIANS NOMINATE OPENLY GAY FORMER OBAMA SUPPORTER: Openly homosexual 38-year-old Chase Oliver won the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination, edging out a more hard-line Mises Caucus candidate, Michael D. Rectenwald, by less than 1 percent. Oliver ran for U.S. Senate in Georgia in 2022, formerly supported Barack Obama, and supports abortion, gay marriage, Drag Queen story hours for kids, Black Lives Matter, COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates, men in women’s sports, and open borders.

Before Oliver prevailed, Rectenwald warned that an Oliver win would signify an embrace of the “authoritarian, totalitarian ideology” of “wokeness.” Rectenwald said, “It kind of turns (the party) into a referendum, sort of, for a particular kind of status ideology, one that is interested in protecting special identity category…people. That is, effectively woke. Woke ideology.”

Following the nomination, Libertarian activist Jeremy Kauffman announced, “Tonight, the Libertarian Party nominated a gay race communist for president. With those choices, I’m standing with Donald Trump.”

6. JAPANESE RESEARCHERS WARN OF CONTAMINATION TO BLOOD SUPPLY: A recent meta-analysis from Japanese researchers warns of the dangers of using blood from mRNA-vaccinated individuals and calls to protect the global blood supply. The authors write, “…many countries around the world have reported that so-called genetic vaccines, such as those using modified mRNA encoding the spike protein and lipid nanoparticles as the drug delivery system, have resulted in post-vaccination thrombosis and subsequent cardiovascular damage, as well as a wide variety of diseases involving all organs and systems, including the nervous system…”

The researchers “strongly request that the vaccination campaign using genetic vaccines be suspended and that a harm-benefit assessment be carried out as early as possible…” Dr. Joseph Mercola notes, “Additionally, the researchers call for widespread testing of both jabbed and unjabbed to assess the potential transmission of spike proteins through exosomes (so-called shedding).”

7. NEW STUDY FINDS OVER 1,200% INCREASE IN DEATHS FOLLOWING COVID VACCINATION: A new study co-authored by Dr. Peter McCullough documented a 1,236% increase in death in King County, Washington, where 98% of residents received at least one COVID “vaccine,” from 2020 to 2023. From the study: “Our analysis revealed a 25.7% increase in total cardiopulmonary arrests and a 25.4% increase in cardiopulmonary arrest mortality from 2020 to 2023 in King County, WA. Excess cardiopulmonary arrest deaths were estimated to have increased by 1,236% from 2020 to 2023, rising from 11 excess deaths (95% CI: -12, 34) in 2020 to 147 excess deaths (95% CI: 123, 170) in 2023…”

8. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION THREATENS NATIONAL SECURITY: A Turkish national who illegally entered through the Southern border told Fox News’ Bill Melugin, “American people is right. Completely true. Who comes into this country? They don’t know. “I’m good, but how if they’re not good? How if they’re killers, psychopaths… no security check, no background check.”

The Maritime Executive reports, “The U.S. Navy’s base security personnel are catching and evicting a steadily increasing number of foreign nationals – particularly Chinese citizens – who are attempting to glean national security secrets, a top U.S. admiral said in an interview over the weekend. Many of them have proper papers allowing them to visit the United States as tourists or students, but their presence on a military base is not authorized – and in many cases, may constitute a criminal offense.”

CBP data through April reveals that at least 434,800 illegals have been flown directly into the U.S. through Biden’s CHNV mass parole program. Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) recently admitted that “our ultimate goal” is to give U.S. citizenship to every illegal in America.

9. CHINA’S SURVEILLANCE STATE RAMPS UP: Beijing-based New York Times correspondent Vivian Wang reports, “The Chinese Communist Party has long wielded perhaps the world’s most sweeping surveillance apparatus against activists and others who might possibly voice discontent. Then, during the coronavirus pandemic, the surveillance reached an unprecedented scale, tracking virtually every urban resident in the name of preventing infections. Now, it is clear that Mr. Xi wants to make that expanded control permanent, and to push it even further.”

The CCP is seeking to head off all resistance by reviving Mao-era surveillance measures, recruiting citizens to be its “extra eyes and ears,” color-coding apartment units based on the compliance of individuals, and appointing “safety consultants” in the workplace. Wang writes, “The goal is no longer just to address specific threats, such as the virus or dissidents. It is to embed the party so deeply in daily life that no trouble, no matter how seemingly minor or apolitical, can even arise.”

10. GLOBAL DEBT HITS $315 TRILLION: CNBC reports, “The world is mired in $315 trillion of debt, according to a report from the Institute of International Finance. This global debt wave has been the biggest, fastest, and most wide-ranging rise in debt since World War II, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic.” The figure includes $164.5 trillion in business debt, $91.4 trillion in public (government) debt, and $59.1 trillion in household debt (mortgages, credit cards, student debt, etc.). Futurist Dr. Chris Martenson recently warned, “Yes, I am worried about the whole system going down, and that leads to all sorts of speculation…”

11. ALMOST HALF OF GEN ZERS SAY THEY’RE LIVING A “DOUBLE LIFE” ONLINE: Study Finds reports, “A survey of 2,000 Americans, split evenly by generation, found that 46% of Gen Z respondents feel their personality online vastly differs from how they present themselves in the real world…27% of respondents across all generations share this feeling, with 38% of millennials, 18% of Gen Xers, and 8% of baby boomers claiming to live ‘double life’ online.” One in five Americans said they’re hiding their online persona from family members, including 31% of Gen Z respondents and 27% of millennials.”

Philosopher Charles Eisenstein observes trading “living breathing relationships” for digital reality “plunges people into a hell of separation.” He writes, “Social media immersion is a new stage of a course of misery – the decline of village and community, clan and extended family, and connection to place…The replacement of real childhood adventures with vicarious pseudo-adventures on screen…”

12. YOUNG AMERICANS INCREASINGLY REJECTING BIBLICAL MORALITY: “A majority of adults accept lying, abortion, consensual intercourse between unmarried adults, gay marriage, and the rejection of absolute moral truth as morally acceptable,” according to the latest release from George Barna and the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University. Further, “Less than half of all adults embrace the Bible as their primary guide to morality. A minority believes that every moral choice either honors or dishonors God. A large minority of adults accept the notion that as long as you do no harm, you may do whatever you wish.”

The release states, “What Millennials began, Gen Z is accelerating, regarding the generational transformation of the nation’s moral landscape.” George Barna noted, “Millennials and Gen X have largely dismissed Christianity as irrelevant. Yet, they’re coming to the same conclusion as the Bible: that people are not basically good. We’re sinners. Sin distorts our minds and hearts, producing bad choice after bad choice. Repentance and reliance upon Jesus Christ are the solutions – an antidote that people also dismiss as ‘old-fashioned’ or ‘foolish.’ But Biblical truths are the only reliable truths, and they serve us best.”

Ed. Note: Jeremiah 17:9 declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

13. NOTEWORTHY STORIES:

• The Post Millennial reports, “A Kentucky high schooler was reportedly denied his diploma after he gave thanks and praise to Jesus Christ in his graduation speech last week. His speech received roaring applause from the audience packed into an arena at Northern Kentucky University.”
• A new survey from The Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life found that nearly 40% of professing Christians in the U.K. do not evangelize and agreed with the statement, “I prefer not to tell people about my faith or religious belief.”
• Reclaim The Net reports, “The Biden administration is pushing for sweeping measures to combat the proliferation of nonconsensual sexual AI-generated images, including controversial proposals that could lead to extensive on-device surveillance and control of the types of images generated.”
• Fox News reports that while Target is scaling back its Pride collection, Walmart is promoting new Pride apparel with this Instagram message: “Not just a slogan. #PrideAlways is a reminder to lead with love.”
• Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra announced a new plan to solve “racial inequities” in the organ transplant industry by rewarding hospitals that prioritize low-income patients.
• Life Site News reports, “A comprehensive new study provides unequivocal evidence that those who undergo so-called ‘gender reassignment’ surgery put themselves at a vastly increased risk of suicide – an astounding 12 times that of the general population.”
• Italian MEP Francesca Donato, who opposes COVID-19 vaccines and the Ukraine War, revealed her husband was murdered after he was found dead in his vehicle with something wrapped tightly around his neck.
• 73% of Americans say the nation is on the “wrong track,” according to a new poll from Hart Research/NBC News.

14. NOTEWORTHY QUOTES:

• “I love the simplicity of the idea of God coming to Earth as a man to experience what it is to be human and to sacrifice Himself, because that’s the only sacrifice that could bring us hope, that could give us the opportunity for redemption.” –Russell Brand
• “When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals.” –Edward Snowden
• “If you send your child to college, you are playing Russian Roulette with his or her values.” –Dennis Prager
• “During times of war, political leaders have serially restricted the media from simply telling the truth. During the American Civil War, President Lincoln shut down some 300 newspapers and arrested some 14,000 journalists who had the audacity to contradict his statements to the public. As extreme as that may sound, this practice has been more the rule in history than the exception.” –Jeff Thomas
• “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.” –Mark Twain
• “By demanding our campaign meet different criteria to participate in the debate than Presidents Biden and Trump, CNN’s debate violates FEC law and is a large prohibited corporate contribution to both the Biden and Trump campaigns.” –Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• “A legislative war is being waged against European food producers, such as in the Netherlands, in order to force citizens to start eating insects and artificial meat grown in laboratories in the near future. Normal citizens who want to live normally must defeat such policies.” –Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakušić
• “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.” –George Mueller

FAITH, FAMILY, & FREEDOM REPORT

1. WHO PANDEMIC TREATY SIDELINED: In a victory for freedom, negotiations fell through for a “pandemic treaty” at the World Health Organization’s World Health Assembly. Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense, declared, “It is a huge tribute to civic action that the WHO treaty and regulations have apparently failed…This is great news for the world’s citizens and shows us how powerful we can be when we work together creatively.”

2. CHARGES DROPPED FOR MICHAEL CASSIDY: Hate charges have been dropped against Christian veteran Michael Cassidy after he beheaded a Satanic statue in the Iowa State Capitol. According to Cassidy’s attorney, David Younts, “It is because of the people that came to his aid and an outstanding legal team that we were able to back the prosecutors into a corner and get this resolution.” After destroying the statue in December 2023, Cassidy said, “I saw this blasphemous statue and was outraged. My conscience is held captive to the Word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted.”

3. CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST NEW JERSEY BUSINESS OWNERS: Gym owners Ian Smith and Frank Tumbetti have been cleared of all charges after they refused to comply with COVID-19 lockdown orders in 2020. Smith responded, “This victory opens the battlefield again and gives us options to continue to push back and bring justice to the treasonous actions of [Governor] Phil Murphy…”

4. TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL FIGHTS ELECTION FRAUD: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) spoke about his efforts to combat election fraud ahead of the 2024 election, stating, “My primary concern really is not focusing on what’s happening after the election, it’s primarily focusing on winning the election and making sure they don’t steal it. Because there’s no way that Joe Biden beats President Trump given what Biden has done to the economy…”

5. LOUISIANA MAKES FORCED ABORTION A CRIME: In a 64-29 vote, the Louisiana House passed the Abortion by Fraud Criminalization Act, making it illegal to coerce a woman into taking abortion-inducing drugs. Sarah Zagorski of Louisiana Right to Life responded, “We thank the House for taking action to protect women…and keeping these abortion pills out of the hands of predators who want to harm women and unborn babies.” Governor Jeff Landry (R) has signed the bill into law.

6. SOUTH CAROLINA PROTECTS KIDS: South Carolina became the latest state to protect children from transgender drugs and surgeries after Republican Governor Henry McMaster signed the Help Not Harm Act into law. McMaster said the bill “protects our state’s children from irreversible gender transition procedures and bans public funds from being used for them.”

7. GOP HOUSE PASSES ANTI-CBDC BILL: The Republican-controlled House passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance Act, a bill that would “amend the Federal Reserve Act to…prohibit the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy, and for other purposes.” Congressman Warren Davidson (R-OH) stated, “Why would we enable [a digital currency]? We don’t want them to design it. We don’t want them to build it.”

8. TRUMP PLEDGES TO PROTECT CRYPTO AND FIGHT CBDC: In his speech at the Libertarian National Convention, President Donald Trump promised, “I will ensure that the future of crypto and the future of Bitcoin will be made in the USA, not driven overseas. I will support the right of self-custody…And I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency.”

9. TRUMP PROMISES TO PARDON SILK ROAD FOUNDER: Donald Trump told attendees at the Libertarian National Convention that he would pardon Ross Ulbricht, founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road, on day one of his presidency. Ulbricht responded to the news, stating, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. After 11 years in prison, it is hard to express how I feel at this moment. Thanks to your undying support, I may get a second chance.”

10. PORTLAND DISTRICT ATTORNEY VOTED OUT: Voters in Portland, Oregon, ousted their woke District Attorney Mike Schmidt. Nathan Vasquez, the new DA, stated, “The voters have made it clear that they are ready to take our county in a new and safer direction. I am committed to…rebuilding the broken relationships between the DA’s office and the community, and to ensuring that victims are the number one priority of my office.”

11. “LET TRUMP SPEAK ACT” INTRODUCED: Congressman Barry Moore (R-AL) co-sponsored the Let Trump Speak Act, a bill he said would stop “any judge from issuing a gag order to the defendant in any criminal or civil proceeding and guarantees a right of action to defendants who are issued a gag order in violation of this Act.” Moore exclaimed, “…it’s time to stand up for Americans and their First Amendment rights.”

12. HUNDREDS OF HOSTAGES FREED IN NIGERIA: In God’s providence, 135 women, 206 children, and six men were freed from the Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria. The Worldview in 5 Minutes reported, “Many of the women – who were widowed, kidnapped and held hostage for years by the Muslims – now have no homes or livelihoods to return to. And some have several young mouths to feed…”

13. TRUMP PROMISES TO NULLIFY POSSIBLE WHO PANDEMIC TREATY: Donald Trump warned, “Joe Biden’s minions are in Geneva, secretly negotiating to surrender more of our liberty to the World Health Organization…I will protect American sovereignty from the creeping hands of global government…“I will rip [the treaties] up and throw them out on day one of the Trump administration.”

14. LOUISIANA GOVERNOR SIGNS ANTI-GLOBALIST BILL: Republican Governor Jeff Landry signed a bill banning any “rule, regulation, fee, tax, policy, or mandate of any kind” from the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum, or the United Nations. Landry explained, “We have a wonderful document – it’s called the United States Constitution – that dictates how our government structure is run and exactly who has the ability to affect the lives of American citizens and here in Louisiana as well.”

15. CHIEFS KICKER CONTINUES STANDING FOR THE TRUTH: Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker defended his statements at Benedictine College condemning abortion and homosexuality and encouraging women to make a difference in the home. Butker stated, “Our love for Jesus and thus our desire to speak out should never be outweighed by the longing of our fallen nature to be loved by the world. Any courage I’ve shown will lead to some small suffering. And it will lead to some people maybe never liking me, but that could be God’s will.”

HYMN OF THE WEEK

Praise The Savior, Ye Who Know Him

Praise the Savior, ye who know Him!
Who can tell how much we owe Him?
Gladly let us render to Him
All we are and have.

Jesus is the name that charms us;
He for conflict fits and arms us!
Nothing moves and nothing harms us
While we trust in Him.

Trust in Him, ye saints, forever!
He is faithful, changing never.
Neither force nor guile can sever
Those He loves from Him.

Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us cleaving
To Thyself and still believing,
Till the hour of our receiving
Promised joys with Thee!