Sky Links, 11-14-19

An Official Record of the Trump Presidency—Doug Wead

Today we sit down with Doug Wead, a bestselling author who has interviewed six presidents, first ladies, and their families. Earlier, he served as a special assistant to President George H. W. Bush.

His newest book is titled “Inside Trump’s White House: The Real Story of His Presidency.”
-Jan Jekielek

Victor Davis Hanson: Spygate, Impeachment & the Assault on Trump For Undoing the Progressive Agenda

In this episode, we'll sit down again with historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the author of The New York Times bestseller “The Case for Trump.”
-Jan Jekielek

Domestic Violence Against Men: No Laughing Matter
-Rob Whitley, Ph.D.

A recent UK government survey indicated that 9% of males had experienced some form of partner abuse, which amounts to around 1.4 million men. This includes stalking, physical violence and sexual assault. Indeed, a seminal US study found that male IPV victims are often slapped, kicked, punched, grabbed or choked by their partners.

Interestingly, a growing body of international research indicates that men and women experience IPV in similar proportions. For example, a recent survey from Canada’s national statistical agency concluded that “equal proportions of men and women reported being victims of spousal violence during the preceding 5 years (4% respectively).”

The aforementioned surveys indicate that small proportions of men (less than 20% of victims) will tell the police or a health professional about their victimization. This may be due to well-grounded fears that they will be scorned, ridiculed, or disbelieved by these authorities. 

How Traffickers Brainwashed Me Into Selling Myself—Courtney Litvak

Today, our guest host, Epoch Times senior reporter Charlotte Cuthbertson, sits down with Courtney Litvak, to hear her exclusive firsthand account of surviving the horrors of sex trafficking. 

Full Interview: Barr Criticizes Inspector General Report On The Russia Investigation | NBC News

In an exclusive interview, Attorney General William Barr spoke to NBC News' Pete Williams about the findings on the Justice Department Inspector General's report on the Russia investigation and his criticisms of the FBI.

If you want to kill a big dream, tell it to small-minded people
-Gbenga Adebambo

Mark Twain said: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. When you are seeking to bring big plans to fruition, it is important with whom you regularly associate.”

The most important thing after dreaming big is actually the people you tell it to. Joseph in the Bible had a big dream, but he shared it with shallow-minded people and it almost cost him his life. The Bible says in Genesis 37:5: “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.” Telling your dreams to the wrong people can cost you the life of the dream and sometimes your own life. If not for God’s intervention, Joseph almost lost his life.

The moment you tell your dream to small-minded people, they would discourage you, belittle it, steal the idea or become your competitor. Your dream is not to be shared with everybody, especially with small-minded people, who would make you see several reasons why the dream cannot work, but blinded to the reasons why it would work.

Joy Break: Man Sings Nothing but the Blood of Jesus at the US Capitol Rotunda in Viral Video
-Nancy Flory

When new recording artist Edward Byrd toured the U.S. Capitol last week he didn’t expect to sing in the Rotunda. Now a video of him singing the hymn Nothing but the Blood of Jesus has gone viral.

To learn more about Edward Byrd’s music, click here.

Willow Creek Community Church- “It’s The Culture, Stupid!” (Sorry, Too Harsh)
-Dr. James Bedell

Willow Creek Community Church (WCCC) reflects the dualistic split of an organization that promotes a public mission, while it has been dominated by a shadow mission agenda for a long time. This is because the architect of the culture is driven by a shadow mission of brokenness that unfolded the church culture around his results oriented focus on numbers, programs, looking good, building income and buildings. Its public mission may be about inclusive involvement of all members of the body of Christ, while its shadow mission culture values top-aligned concentration of power and the exclusion of any true ownership by the common laity.

Although I could go into a detailed analysis of the culture of WCCC, one specific area that is clear to me,and has resulted in the frustration of any attempt at change, is the strategy of hiding truth. Many people have appealed to the elders and leaders to reveal a long history of treating anyone that threatened the exterior image of WCCC with expulsion and shame based rejection. Although it is clear in scripture (I Timothy 5:20) that there is a redemptive value in publicly exposing sin, and particularly the sin of those who have a greater influence in the church (pastors/elders), the culture of repression has trumped every effort. In a culture of truth and transparency, sin gets exposed, not to shame individuals, but to purify the church of all the hidden works of evil.

A Jesus-based culture would have a profoundly different true mission, with Biblically validated values and strategies that are loving, redemptive, and restorative. A Biblical culture lives in the light of Truth and exposes the works of darkness. The culture of WCCC has been more about staying in the darkness and protecting the image. Calling those who have been so immersed in the culture of WCCC to see the unhealthiness of the “tree” seems to elicit the response “what tree?”. Culture is so powerful and self-sustaining.

Waiting on God
-Roger Thoman

Sometimes we wait. We don’t know what the next step is. We wait on God.

• We have left a church situation not knowing what is next, and now we wait.
• We want to connect organically with ‘house church’ people, but for today it has not happened, so we wait.
• We have promises God has given to us. Awesome promises. But, for now, we wait.
• We need a provision, or a healing, or a breakthrough. But up to now… we wait.

Though I personally do not like these times of waiting, I am in such a season now and this is not unusual. These are prime times in God’s economy in which He shapes us, re-shapes us, and most importantly, draws us close to Him.

God, let me use this season well. The purpose of waiting is not to deprive me, but to fill me with a greater abundance of You which is, in the end, the greatest gift of all. May I walk with you through to this fullness of Your life and presence that You desire for me and that truly meets each and every need of my heart and life.

_______________________________

Photo Credit: Spacebridge by longobord CC 2.0