STARVING THE BEAST

Notice how Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis have been quieter lately?

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is proving there’s more than one way to fight a war: cut off the money supply. That’s the entire purpose of Operation Economic Outcast.

Bessent is aggressively seizing and freezing Iranian financial assets—including roughly $1 billion in cryptocurrency and foreign accounts—while tracking down hidden assets tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Treasury is also moving to freeze specific offshore accounts in locations like the British Virgin Islands, alongside high-value luxury real estate linked to Iranian leadership.

And get this—Bessent announced that any economic or physical damage Iran inflicts on U.S. allies in the Gulf will be paid for directly out of those frozen assets.

Meanwhile, on July 30–31, 2026, Hamas agreed to a phased disarmament and weapon decommissioning plan under a U.S.-brokered roadmap announced by President Donald Trump and the international Board of Peace. Why are they giving up their arms? Probably because Iran cannot fund their war any longer. No money, no weapons and no food.

It’s true that “an army marches on its stomach.” No matter how strong, well-trained, or strategically brilliant a military force is, it cannot fight if its ranks are starving, sick, or deprived of resources. Let’s pray Bessent’s operation succeeds and the killing finally stops.

Trump and Canada are fighting over trade, and it’s not going well.

Remember when President Trump threatened to make Canada our 51st state? That was a terrible idea—mostly because adding millions of Canadians would instantly hand the Democrats a permanent majority in Congress.

Recently, Trump “renamed” Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” Naturally, online humor went into overdrive: some joked that Canada geese are now called “Donald Ducks,” Canada Dry ginger ale should be rebranded to “America Dry,” and on and on.

Our polite northern neighbor is an easy target right now. During a recent press conference addressing the collapsed trade talks, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney snapped:

“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough, and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions. It’s not constructive, but that’s their democracy.”

Actually, Mr. Prime Minister, we don’t have a “democracy”—we have a Constitutional Republic.

On second thought, maybe we should back off on the jokes. If Canada weaponizes those aggressive geese and bombards us from above, we’re done for. That’s definitely not the kind of trade surplus we’re looking for.

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DO NOT BE DECEIVED

According to Gallup, in the 1950s and ‘60s, over 90% of American adults identified as Christian. Only about 2% to 4% claimed no religious affiliation during that era.

Today, roughly 62% to 69% of American adults identify as Christian, depending on the pollster, while somewhere between 22% and 29% describe themselves as atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular” — also known as “Nones.”

The decline in true followers of Jesus is actually worse than the numbers show. The teaching of progressive Christianity has deceived many into believing a false gospel. Jesus warned about deception in the Sermon on the Mount — “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

Deception has never been more prevalent than it is today. And we must call out the deceivers when we see them.

A classic example of a false teacher is James Talarico, the Presbyterian seminarian who is now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas. Talarico has tried to use the Bible to promote his far-left ideology. He has said the Bible is silent on abortion and gay marriage, arguing instead that Jesus taught a salvation based on “treating people well.”

Wrong: The Bible is not silent on moral issues, and salvation is only by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus’ substitutionary death at Calvary.

During a 2021 debate in the Texas legislature over whether biological males should be allowed to compete in girls’ and women’s sports, Talarico voted against the restrictions. He also voted against prohibiting gender-affirming medical interventions — such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy — for minors. His reasoning: “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary.”

Wrong: Matthew 19:4 says, “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’”

The Character of God

While God is a spirit, He has explicitly chosen to reveal Himself to us through the masculine authority of King, Judge, Husband, and Master. Most importantly, He is revealed as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To redefine God’s identity to fit modern gender theory is not just an edit of the text — it is a rejection of the Creator’s own self-revelation.

Now that Talarico is the nominee heading into the general election, he’s trying to walk back his own past comments — like his claim that there are six biological sexes.

Just as the purpose of a counterfeit is to deceive, so Talarico is trying to deceive Texas voters.

Do you remember W.C. Fields? If you don’t, Google him or ask the AI of your choice. Fields’ character makes for a perfect drunken Uncle Sam.

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I filled in for the Todd Huff Show last week.

In this episode (above), I talked about my recent cartoons on Iran, democratic socialism, WNBA’s debate over what is a woman, NYC rent control, Massachusetts’ abortion law and more.

In this episode (above) I covered the Democratic Party’s embrace of democratic socialism, Anthony Fauci and the Wuhan lab-leak controversy, the historical alliance between Marxists and Islamists during Iran’s 1979 revolution and how it compares to those alliances in America today.

Support my work by visiting my online store at garyvarvel.com/store

How a Toxic Ally Is Hurting El-Sayed’s Campaign

Abdul El-Sayed has a big problem named Hasan Piker. Standing at 6’4”, Piker towers over the much shorter El-Sayed on the campaign trail. But his height isn’t the problem. His influence with young progressive voters has actually benefited El-Sayed. No, it’s Piker’s mouth that’s the problem.

Piker is constantly launching F-bombs at his favorite target—Israel. He recently said, “Eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.”

El-Sayed tried to distance himself from Piker without actually naming him, saying, “Antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms.” That’s like saying, “Don’t judge me by my close friend.” Yeah, right.

Someone should remind El-Sayed that friendships, alliances, and campaign appearances are not invisible. Nobody is saying Abdul El-Sayed agrees with every outrageous thing Hasan Piker has ever said. But when you proudly campaign with a guy—while benefiting from his influence—until his rhetoric finally blows up in your face, you don’t get to act shocked when voters notice who’s standing next to you.

And Piker isn’t some obscure internet crank El-Sayed happened to meet at a Starbucks. He’s a major progressive influencer with millions of followers who has repeatedly made outrageous statements about America, Israel, Jews, and capitalism. At some point, “I don’t agree with everything my friend says” starts sounding less like a principled defense and more like political damage control.

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Welcome Home

Dolly Parton is alive. She just went home.

I find it fascinating how she envisioned her reunion with Jesus Christ in her 2003 song, “Welcome Home.” The lyrics perfectly complement my cartoon.

On the surface, it’s a song about a father welcoming his child back from the military. But right in the middle, Dolly offers a profound message of hope for families who never got that earthly reunion:

I think of all the families that have lost a darling one
I think how Jesus died for all our sins
And I think how much God loved us to send his only Son
To live and die, and then to live again

Welcome home, Son
I hear God saying when they nailed Christ to the cross that day
Welcome home, Son
And when He sent His angels to roll that stone away

Others will write about her rise from poverty, her songs, awards, accomplishments but I chose to focus on her faith. Dolly knew Jesus. She recognized that her voice, songwriting, and talent were gifts from God, and she used those gifts to present the gospel right here in this song.

Romans 1:16 reminds us, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

The power to transform a heart for eternity rests in the gospel. Dolly pointed directly to that truth when she sang:

I hope to hear God sayin when it's my time to go
Welcome home

Yesterday, Dolly Parton heard those very words.

As 2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

Do you have that same confidence? If not, put your faith in Jesus today. When your time on earth is done, you too can hear the words Dolly wrote:

When the father and the Son
Say, welcome home

QUOTE

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Postpartum Psychosis?

Lindsay Clancy is being tried for the murder of her three children. She claims she heard a man’s voice tell her to kill her children. Driven by that voice, she took her children—ages 5, 3, and 8 months—to the basement of her home, strangled them, and then tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide.

Tell me: why are a group of women gathering outside the courthouse to support a woman who allegedly murdered her three children? Do they consider this a post-birth abortion? This is another reminder that we are living in a spiritual war within a fallen world.

Do you know what you call children of mothers who support mothers who murder their children? Paranoid. That’s the message in my cartoon.

USA Today columnist Nicole Russell wrote: “Clancy’s supporters seem to believe she’s a symbol of what they also have endured, or could have been moved to do – or, at least, that they’ve felt so isolated and overwhelmed that Clancy’s trial should motivate society to help new mothers more, through medical care, mental health support and more of a “village.”

The Bible offers a stark warning for Clancy’s supporters:

• “Whoever says to the guilty, ‘You are innocent,’ will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.” — Proverbs 24:24

• “Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked, but those who heed it resist them.” — Proverbs 28:4

• “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—the Lord detests them both.” — Proverbs 17:15

Listen, Clancy isn’t the only one hearing voices. Fox News recently reported on Royce Moser, who claimed a demon took over and instructed him to stab his 18-year-old girlfriend to death after an argument.

In 2018, Nikolas Cruz killed 17 students and injured dozens more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Following his arrest, Cruz told authorities that “demons” gave him instructions on how to commit one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

And in August 2025, Robert Westman, a 23-year-old transgender school shooter, killed two children and injured 17 others as they prayed in a church auditorium. In one profanity-laced post, Westman wrote: “Save your prayers, I am not God. I’m a demon, Illuminati, my sin. I lost them all, demons take me.”

Jesus warned us about this type of evil:

• “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” — John 16:33

When Jesus warned us about the devil’s tactics, He also promised His followers a better way of life:

• “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” — John 10:10

Clancy must face justice for what she has done, but she can find redemption if she seeks a relationship with Jesus.

QUOTE

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The Reality of America’s Debt Problem

America’s national debt just crossed $40 trillion and there’s no talk of doing anything to stop it.

How big is $1 trillion? If you spent $1 million every single day starting with the birth of Jesus, you still wouldn’t reach $1 trillion today. It would take until the year 2740 to hit that milestone.

Yet, America is $40 trillion in debt.

According to the U.S. Debt Clock, if that burden were split evenly, every American citizen would owe $116,492—or $360,794 per taxpayer.

As Proverbs 22:7 warns, “The borrower is slave to the lender.”

It took 40 U.S. presidents to reach the first $5 trillion in debt. President George W. Bush doubled that total to $10 trillion over his two terms. By the end of President Barack Obama’s two terms, the national debt had nearly doubled again to $19 trillion.

Thomas Jefferson famously warned that future leaders would be tempted to borrow money to boost short-term popularity, effectively shifting the financial burden onto future generations. Today, his warning reads as prophetic.

DEVOTIONAL

The Verse for today:

“The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression.” — Proverbs 19:11

Do you struggle with a short fuse?

As Christians, our ultimate goal is to become like Jesus. But think about how He responded when He was betrayed by a close friend, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross.

He didn’t lash out. Instead, He prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

That kind of response isn’t natural—it’s supernatural. His glory truly was to overlook a transgression.

Whenever we feel the urge to hold a grudge or strike back, we need to remember Scripture’s stark warnings: “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer” (1 John 3:15), and “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).

We live in a culture consumed by outrage and uncontrolled rage. A slight comment can spiral into violence, and “road rage” headlines leave us wondering why people can’t control themselves. The root issue is simple: they don’t know Jesus. To truly know Him is to be transformed into His likeness.

If you battle a bad temper, don’t just try harder in your own strength. Repent, ask the Holy Spirit to transform your heart and emotions, and draw closer to Jesus through His Word today.

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YOUR PROPERTY?

Do property owners in New York City really own their property? Not anymore.

Writing for National Review, John R. Puri notes that “the government has reduced landlords from owners to administrators of ‘public’ resources.” New York City has handcuffed property owners with relentless regulations. Recently, Mamdani fulfilled a core campaign promise when the city’s Rent Guidelines Board voted 7–1 to approve a two-year rent freeze on roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. Even as property owners face skyrocketing expenses, they are legally barred from raising rent.

We’ve seen Big Government socialism in action—and its name is Mamdani.

In the Men in Black movies, agents use a neuralyzer to erase memories and replace them with new ones. That seems to be exactly what Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez needs if she expects voters to forget “Woke 1.0.”

During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows when she echoed a NYC councilman’s sentiment, laughing off the movement by agreeing that “Woke 1.0 was crazy.” But what, exactly, was so crazy about it? I’d love to hear her spell that out on the record.

Don’t hold your breath for a full confession. She isn’t about to admit she was wrong; she simply wants voters to forget the radical policies she championed back when the political winds were blowing in a different direction. Take her active support for stripping funds from the NYPD’s $6 billion budget to redirect into social programs, public housing, and education.

Then there was her fierce crusade against Amazon setting up its secondary headquarters (HQ2) in Long Island City, Queens—right next door to her congressional district. That standoff effectively killed a deal projected to bring between 25,000 and 40,000 jobs to the area.

Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested that AOC’s sudden pivot means she is quietly positioning herself for a White House run. Democratic pundits will likely frame this shift as evidence of a pragmatic leader coming of age. But if she is truly walking back her extreme progressive roots, one question remains: why is she still a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America?

I had the great privilege of speaking in the morning service at Chesterfield Community Church of God last Sunday. This is my message on the Faith of the Founding Fathers.

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Death Eaters: When Applause Greets Infanticide

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed a new law that essentially legalizes infanticide, while a crowd of women behind her desk applauded. I imagine the Grim Reaper was clapping right along with them.

The law legalized elective abortion up to birth on healthy mothers carrying healthy infants capable of feeling pain.

In 1996, U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan—a Democrat, mind you—famously condemned a late-term abortion procedure, stating:

“I think this is just too close to infanticide. A child has been born and it has exited the uterus. What on Earth is this procedure?”

Whether a baby is inside the womb or outside, the fundamental reality remains unchanged: abortion ends the life of an innocent human being.

Jesus warned us:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” — John 10:10

Abortion steals God’s sacred gift from parents, kills unborn babies, and destroys the foundation of families.

The standard leftist refrain is: “The government shouldn’t tell women what to do with their bodies.”

However, that argument ignores biological science. The baby in the womb is not a part of the mother’s body. It is a distinct human being with its own unique DNA, growing within her.

At its core, the reason so many continue to champion abortion is spiritual blindness:

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” — 2 Corinthians 4:4

While ultrasound technology has successfully opened eyes and persuaded many young mothers to choose life, many abortion proponents have hardened their hearts. No matter what scientific evidence or truth you present to them, they remain fiercely committed to child sacrifice.

Did the COVID vaccines negatively affect pregnant women? A controversial CDC study initially reported a 12.6% miscarriage rate among 827 completed pregnancies following COVID vaccination. Maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. James Thorp challenged that calculation, noting that 700 of the 827 women had been vaccinated in the third trimester—after the normal window for miscarriage. He argued that removing those women from the calculation produced an apparent miscarriage rate of 82% (104 of 127).

While the 82% figure itself is disputed because many women vaccinated earlier in pregnancy were still pregnant when the study ended, the controversy raises an important question: Were COVID vaccines pushed on the public before we had enough data to fully understand the risks, particularly for pregnant women?

Science Wants to Defeat Death. Jesus Already Did

For over a decade, scientists have been pursuing something that once seemed like science fiction: reversing some of the effects of aging and dramatically extending human life. Molecular biologist David Sinclair believes researchers may be getting closer to understanding how aging works—and perhaps how to reverse some of it.

The breakthrough involves the work of Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka, who discovered that certain proteins can essentially reset older cells to a younger state. Scientists have since been studying whether this process can be carefully controlled to restore some of the functions cells lose as they age.

Think of it like resetting an old computer. The hardware is still there, but some of the instructions that tell it how to operate have become disorganized. Researchers are exploring whether those instructions can be reset so older cells function more like younger cells.

This past June, Life Biosciences announced that the first human patient had been given ER-100, an experimental gene therapy designed to treat certain forms of age-related damage to the optic nerve, including glaucoma. It is the first treatment developed from Life Biosciences’ cellular-rejuvenation technology to enter a human clinical trial. The Phase 1 trial is primarily designed to determine whether the treatment is safe. It is far too early to know whether it will work.

Sinclair is not alone in believing science may one day conquer death.

Atheist historian Yuval Noah Harari makes the goal even more explicit. In Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Chapter 14, “The Discovery of Ignorance,” he writes, “The leading project of the Scientific Revolution is to give humankind eternal life.” Harari goes on to describe the quest for immortality as the “Gilgamesh Project”—the attempt to overcome death through science and technology.

In August 2022, Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, said, “I think that there’s a good probability that my generation is—hopefully with the advances in science—either going to be the first generation to live forever, or the last generation that’s going to die. So, we need to keep ourselves in pretty good shape.”

A Kushner aide later said the comment was intended to be tongue-in-cheek. Nevertheless, Kushner’s comment reflects a dream that is no longer confined to science fiction: that advances in science and technology might eventually allow human beings to dramatically extend their lives—or even defeat death.

But even if science succeeds in extending human life, it cannot solve humanity’s greatest problem.

Sin.

Science cannot forgive your sins.

And God is deadly serious about sin. Jesus considers lust to be adultery and hatred to be murder. Scripture also warns that we will one day stand before God in judgment.

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” — Hebrews 9:27

The good news is that God has already provided what science never can: eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Jesus can forgive our sins because He paid the penalty for them on the cross. He died the death we deserved so that those who place their faith in Him can receive the life they could never earn.

And the eternal life Jesus offers isn’t merely an endless existence in our aging, broken bodies.

It includes a resurrection body.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:52-53 that when Christ returns, the dead will be raised and our mortal bodies will be transformed into immortal bodies. No more corruption. No more sickness. No more weakness. And no more death.

And this resurrected body will be glorified.

Daniel 12:2-3 says the righteous “will shine like the brightness of the firmament” and “like the stars forever and ever.” Jesus said in Matthew 13:43, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

Think about that.

Scientists are spending enormous amounts of money and effort trying to extend human life. They may make remarkable discoveries. They may even find ways to slow or reverse some aspects of aging. And I imagine the wealthy will be the only ones who can afford the cure.

But the best science can offer is a longer life in a fallen world.

Jesus offers something infinitely better: the free gift of eternal life in a glorified, resurrected body, in the presence of God forever.

Have you received this gift by faith? (Romans 10:9)

SPEAKING EVENT

August 16th

EVENT DETAILS Topic: The Faith of the Founding Fathers

Date: Sunday, August 16

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Chesterfield Community Church of God

Address: 123 Linden Ln., Chesterfield, IN 46017

If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you there!

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BIOLOGY 101

Over the weekend, two former NBA players declared for the WNBA draft in 2027. Finally, someone is calling out the woke progressives running the league for their nonsense.

After all, Fever coach Stephanie White said, “Exclusion is not the answer.”

Well, then, the answer must be inclusion! So Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White are throwing their wigs into the ring—or, more accurately, onto the court.

In a swift and decisive move, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called for a task force of team presidents and general managers to discuss the issue of transgender athletes in women’s basketball.

A task force? Apparently, after years of playing basketball, nobody in the WNBA has figured out that men and women are biologically different.

I suggest someone bring a Biology 101 textbook to the meeting and put a bookmark on the chapter about chromosomes.

Dear task force—there are really only two options: Ban biological men and limit the Women’s National Basketball Association to women, or let men play in your league. It’s not exactly rocket science.

It’s sad when a person is walking in darkness and knows he’s in darkness. But it’s tragic when a person is walking in darkness and thinks he’s in the light.

Jesus put it this way:

“If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

The woke crowd at the WNBA thinks they are enlightened and compassionate. But the apostle Paul warned about people who were “professing themselves to be wise” who “became fools.”

Maybe the WNBA task force should put that verse on the agenda.

Below is my cartoon from last week drawn before the ex-NBA players’ announcement.

COMING FRIDAY: A Biblical view of the latest breakthrough in science’s quest for eternal life

SPEAKING EVENT

August 16th

EVENT DETAILS Topic: The Faith of the Founding Fathers

Date: Sunday, August 16

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Chesterfield Community Church of God

Address: 123 Linden Ln., Anderson, IN 46017

If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you there!

HUMOR ME

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When the Crazies Hijack the Big Tent

Establishment Democrats are wondering what happened to their party.

Perhaps they should look in the mirror.

They invited the crazies into their big tent, and now the crazies have hijacked it.

Consider some of the most radical Democratic socialist and progressive candidates who have recently won—or are competing in—Democratic primaries:

1. Darializa Avila Chevalier — New York

Chevalier defeated five-term Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the June 2026 Democratic primary.

Among her past positions and statements, she has called for abolishing the police, prisons and borders and has advocated seizing private property. She has also said all deportations are wrong and has made anti-American social-media posts. CNN’s report on Chevalier’s deleted posts

She also participated in a pro-Palestinian rally in New York on Oct. 8, 2023—the day after Hamas attacked Israel—and defended her participation nearly three years later. The Times of Israel’s report

2. Zohran Mamdani — New York

Mamdani is an actual member of the Democratic Socialists of America and won the 2025 Democratic mayoral election. DSA celebrated his victory as a historic socialist electoral triumph, saying the victory was “a rejection of the Democratic Party political establishment.” DSA’s statement on Mamdani’s primary victory

Mamdani has supported defunding the police, refused to condemn the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” and has declined to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. He has also called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes. The Guardian’s report on Mamdani and Netanyahu

3. Abdul El-Sayed — Michigan

El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Aug. 4, 2026, Democratic Senate primary. The Forward’s report on El-Sayed’s primary victory

Among his more controversial positions, El-Sayed has called Israel a “rogue state” and accused it of genocide and apartheid. Jewish Insider’s report on El-Sayed’s “rogue state” comment

He has also said he “often struggle[s]” with the question of whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state, questioning whether such a definition is consistent with liberal values. Jewish Insider’s report on El-Sayed’s comments

And during the campaign, El-Sayed appeared with controversial left-wing streamer Hasan Piker. 13 ON YOUR SIDE’s report on the campaign appearance

4. Francesca Hong — Wisconsin

Hong’s Democratic gubernatorial primary is still undecided as I write this, but she has already attracted national attention for some decidedly unconventional views.

In a 2020 post, Hong called for Thanksgiving to be canceled, describing it as rooted in colonialism. She has also faced scrutiny over past support for abolishing or defunding the police and abolishing prisons—positions she has since sought to distance herself from as a gubernatorial candidate. Vox’s report on Hong and Thanksgiving

You get the idea.

The Democratic Party’s establishment may be wondering how it got here.

But perhaps the answer is simpler than they think.

To paraphrase cartoonist Walt Kelly’s famous line from Pogo:

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

The Infrastructure for Revelation 13

Revelation 13:16–17 describes a global authority led by the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Together, they will enforce absolute control over commerce and society, prohibiting anyone from buying or selling unless they pledge allegiance to the system and receive the “Mark of the Beast” on their right hand or forehead.

Enforcing this degree of control on a worldwide scale was once technologically impossible. Today, high-density camera networks, automated license plate readers, real-time GPS tracking, and centralized artificial intelligence supply the exact monitoring infrastructure required for total population oversight.

In Daniel 12:4, God instructed the prophet: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

We are witnessing the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy in our generation. For thousands of years, human travel was limited to foot or beast of burden. Today, millions traverse the globe daily by air, rail, and motor vehicle. At the same time, the exponential expansion of human knowledge and AI technology enables instantaneous global communication.

While these technological advances are morally neutral in themselves, Scripture reveals the nefarious purpose for which the Antichrist will ultimately employ them. The rapid construction of massive data centers worldwide to support AI computing power represents the clear “stage setting” for the final acts of biblical prophecy.

As believers, our focus must remain steadfast in sharing the Gospel with urgency, pointing others to Jesus Christ—the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)—who alone rescues us from the coming wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

SPEAKING EVENT

August 16th

EVENT DETAILS Topic: The Faith of the Founding Fathers

Date: Sunday, August 16

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Chesterfield Community Church of God

Address: 123 Linden Ln., Anderson, IN 46017

If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you there!

HUMOR ME

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Radical Islam (often called Islamist extremism or militant Islamism) is a political ideology that interprets Islamic teachings to justify seizing state power, enforcing strict religious laws, and often using violence to oppose Western influence, secular governments, and rival beliefs.

Iran is a Shiite Muslim clerical establishment since the 1979 revolution, serving as the largest state sponsor of political Islam and regional militant groups in the world.

The Red-Green Trap

The modern concept of the “Red-Green Alliance”—the political coalition between Western leftist/Marxist movements (”Red”) and Islamist or pro-Palestinian groups (”Green”)—shares striking structural similarities to the coalition that reshaped the Middle East in 1979.

Jesus said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand." So it is when a political relationship is built solely on shared hatred rather than shared values, it inevitably dissolves into bloodshed.

A Marriage of Convenience: The Overthrow of the Shah

The 1979 overthrow of Iran’s Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was achieved by an unlikely pairing: religious fundamentalists and Marxist/leftist factions.

They joined forces against a single Common Enemy. Both Islamists and Marxists despised the Shah’s autocratic rule, his rapid Westernization policies, and his tight alliance with the United States.

While in exile in France, Ayatollah Khomeini intentionally veiled his ultimate intention of building an absolute Shia clerical theocracy. Instead, he spoke in broad strokes about “freedom,” “social justice,” and “anti-imperialism”—themes that resonated deeply with the Iranian left.

The Miscalculation

The Marxist leadership assumed they could ride Khomeini’s populist wave to depose the monarchy and then easily sideline the clerics to establish a secular socialist republic. It was a fatal miscalculation.

The Betrayal: A Three-Phase Purge

After the Shah fled and Khomeini returned in February 1979, the alliance fractured almost immediately. Khomeini and his inner circle monopolized power. Viewing atheist and secular Marxists as ideological parasites, the new regime systematically dismantled the Iranian left in three phases:

1. Phase 1: Disarmament (1981)

   Khomeini demanded that all guerrilla factions lay down their arms. When they refused, the regime unleashed the newly formed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Revolutionary Courts. Thousands of leftists were executed in summary, extrajudicial trials.

2. Phase 2: Eliminating Loyalists (1983)

   The pro-Soviet Tudeh Party remained loyal to Khomeini during the initial purges, foolishly believing that an Islamic state was just a temporary phase preceding a true socialist revolution. In 1983, the regime banned the party anyway. Its leadership and thousands of members were arrested, tortured on state television into making false confessions, and imprisoned or executed.

3. Phase 3: The Mass Executions (1988)

   Khomeini issued a secret fatwa ordering the systematic execution of political prisoners. Incarcerated leftists were brought before “Death Committees” and asked brief questions to test their theological beliefs, such as “Do you believe in God?” Those who maintained their Marxist convictions were lined up and hanged.

Human rights organizations estimate that between 2,800 and 5,000 political prisoners were systematically murdered in a matter of weeks and buried in unmarked mass graves.

How Today Reflects 1979

The ideological glue holding both the 1979 Iranian coalition and today’s Red-Green alliance together is a shared enemy: Western civilization and power.

1. The Anti-Imperialist Framework

Both far-left and Islamist movements view global politics through a strict binary lens: the "oppressor" (primarily the U.S., Israel, and Western democratic powers) versus the "oppressed." Because both factions view the West as their primary adversary, they willingly overlook their profound moral and cultural contradictions—an uneasy alliance that now comfortably resides within the modern Democratic Party's "big tent."

2. Irreconcilable Beliefs

Just like in 1979, the modern progressive agenda is fundamentally incompatible with Islamic fundamentalism:

• Religion: Marxism is explicitly secular/atheistic, viewing religion as “the opiate of the masses,” whereas fundamentalist Islam commands submission to divine law.

• Social Norms: Progressive activists champion LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage, while fundamentalist Islamic doctrine strictly forbids them—making groups like “Queers for Palestine” an ideological paradox that critics famously compare to “Chickens for Chick-fil-A.”

A Coalition Built on Destruction

The Red-Green alliance in the West is a coalition defined entirely by what it wants to tear down rather than what it wants to build.

Together, they oppose capitalism, Israel, Western tradition, and the U.S. Constitution. While Democratic Socialists advocate for dismantling constitutional structures like the Senate and the presidency, Islamist factions seek the implementation of Sharia law. These goals cannot peacefully coexist.

If a coalition built on mutual opposition ever succeeds in neutralizing its shared adversary, the faction with the most absolute power will invariably turn on its partner.

Remembering Franklin’s Warning

We would do well to remember the words of Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787:

“I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”

Franklin proposed daily prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven before proceeding with the monumental task of building a nation. When asked what kind of government the delegates had created, Franklin famously answered: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Two and a half centuries later, keeping that Republic requires recognizing the historical patterns of destructive alliances—and imploring Divine assistance from Heaven.

When asked about biological men competing in women’s sports, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White immediately punted. Claiming she wasn’t "educated enough" scientifically, she nonetheless declared that "exclusion is not the answer".But logic dictates that if you oppose excluding biological males, you are inherently advocating for including them in female sports. Where is the mainstream feminist movement in all this? They’ve been silent on defending women's spaces since the debate reached ladies' restrooms. Among her peers, Fever player Sophie Cunningham seems to be the only one with the courage and common sense to speak up for biological reality.

SPEAKING EVENT

August 16th

EVENT DETAILS Topic: The Faith of the Founding Fathers

Date: Sunday, August 16

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Chesterfield Community Church of God

Address: 123 Linden Ln., Anderson, IN 46017

If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you there!

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THAT SINKING FEELING

All aboard the Democratic Socialist Party ship!

Sure, it carries a tragic track record of poverty and political repression, but it’s all the rage on college campuses these days.

If you think “democratic socialism” is just about Scandinavian-style healthcare, think again. During a recent interview on Fox News Sunday, DSA National Co-Chair Megan Romer confirmed the core planks of the group’s updated platform, titled “Workers Deserve More.”

According to their vision, the following institutions are on the chopping block:

• The United States Senate

• The Presidency

• The Supreme Court

• The Pentagon

• The Border & ICE

• Prisons

• The U.S. Constitution

This isn’t John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

This is the party of “Ask how you can dismantle your country and re-engineer it into Maduro’s Venezuela.”

Socialism’s Track Record

Russian-born philosopher Ayn Rand captured the core distinction between total government control and free-market liberty:

“There is no difference between communism and socialism except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave a country by force, socialism by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.”

And what is the actual body count of this economic model throughout history? Historians generally place the worldwide death toll from communist and radical socialist regimes between 60 million and 100 million people.

Let’s pray there are enough American voters left with enough common sense—and knowledge of history—to steer clear of this Titanic.

Nothing says “I’m guilty” quite like pleading the Fifth 111 times. Dr. Anthony Fauci learned the hard way that diaries should be handwritten and kept under lock and key after entries from his government computer were made public this week.

Evidence suggests he knew early on that a lab leak was a credible possibility. As NIH director, he had funded coronavirus research—described by critics as gain-of-function—at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through grants to EcoHealth Alliance. What did taxpayers get for their money? Nearly 7 million dead worldwide.

To cover his rear, Fauci paraded an army of lawyers into Sen. Rand Paul’s congressional committee hearing and proceeded to dodge questions on the advice of counsel. He once famously claimed, “I represent science,” but his lasting legacy may well be “Dr. Death.”

SPEAKING EVENT

August 16th

EVENT DETAILS Topic: The Faith of the Founding Fathers

Date: Sunday, August 16

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Chesterfield Community Church of God

Address: 123 Linden Ln., Anderson, IN 46017

If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you there!

HUMOR ME

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Fetterman calls out his party

Last week, John Fetterman told several media outlets that if his party becomes the “anti-Israel party,” that’s when he’ll walk away.

He’s also taken direct aim at Democratic Socialists, pointing out that people who actually lived under state control know that Americans romanticizing socialism need a severe “reality check”—calling anyone “morons” who embrace an ideology that brought nothing but political and economic nightmares.

Face it: Fetterman running out of patience with his own party is the ultimate sign that the inmates are officially running the asylum. When a guy known for wearing gym shorts to the Senate floor becomes the only visible adult in the room, you know the Democratic Party has completely lost its mind. He’s looking at a caucus obsessed with redefining basic biology, romanticizing failed economic ideologies, and cozying up to anti-Israel extremists, asking the obvious question: When did common sense become a fringe position?

If standing up against literal antisemitism and refusing to pretend that men can compete in women’s sports makes him an outlier, then the problem isn’t Fetterman threatening to leave—it’s that the rest of his party left sanity behind a long time ago.

Addendum

We are witnessing a political party devolve into moral madness. The Democrats’ embrace of socialism is just the latest in a long line of failed, anti-Biblical philosophies. When a political movement rejects God and His Truth, it inevitably begins to champion what is evil. Today, the modern left openly promotes abortion, same-sex marriage, and transgenderism—all of which stand in direct opposition to God’s created order.

Too many common-sense Americans and faithful Christians have remained silent in the face of this decline. But Scripture gives us a clear command in Ephesians 5:11:

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

Our culture has become dangerously desensitized to sin. Someone once traced the tragic, five-stage progression of how evil gradually conquers a society:

• First, we overlook evil.

• Then, we tolerate evil.

• Then, we legalize evil.

• Then, we celebrate evil.

• Finally, we persecute those who still call it evil.

The Bible foresaw this exact endpoint in Isaiah 59:15:

“...whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.”

God issues a stern warning to any nation that reaches this point of moral inversion in Isaiah 5:20:

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

"Pray for God’s mercy, and ask Him for the courage to warn those we love of the coming judgment. In the end, every one of us will stand before God and give an account of how we lived."

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The Biblical Mandate to Stand with Israel

Zohran Mamdani is actively looking for a legal loophole to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Calling Netanyahu a “war criminal” guilty of genocide, Mamdani threatened to arrest him when he arrives in the Big Apple this September for the United Nations General Assembly.

While the pro-Palestine, socialist politician admitted it’s unclear whether he even has the authority to order the NYPD to make such an arrest, the reality is clear: visiting foreign leaders hold diplomatic immunity under federal law. Furthermore, local city politicians are not the President, and they would do well to stay in their lane.

Immediately following the October 7th massacre of 1,200 innocent men, women, and children in Israel by Hamas terrorists, I wrote in this newsletter that antisemitism would rise dramatically worldwide. Like a mind-virus, this hatred of Israel spread rapidly from college campuses to high-ranking political offices.

Let’s set the record straight: America must continue to support Israel’s right to exist because it is a Biblical imperative.

The Promise to Abraham

In Genesis 12:3, God declares to Abraham:

“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that this promise applied solely to Abraham, consider how God explicitly extended this covenant down his family line.

The Covenant Extended: Isaac and Jacob

When Isaac speaks God’s blessing over Jacob in Genesis 27:29, he uses this exact formulation:

“May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you... May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

God reaffirmed this same perpetual promise directly to both Isaac and Jacob:

• To Isaac (Genesis 26:3–4): “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you... and in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”

• To Jacob (Genesis 28:14): “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth... and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Later, the prophet Balaam reaffirmed this exact blessing over the entire nation of Israel in Numbers 24:9:

“May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!”

Has God Rejected Israel?

Some might object: “But Gary, don’t you understand that God rejected the Jews after they crucified Jesus?”

The Scripture disagrees. The Bible makes clear that Roman authorities physically executed Jesus, but fundamentally, the sins of all humanity put Him on the cross. As 1 Peter 1:20 reminds us:

“God chose him (Jesus) as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.”

Furthermore, the Apostle Paul addressed this exact question in Romans 11:1:

“I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.”

Notice that Paul specifically identifies “God’s own people” not as the New Testament Church, but as the Jewish nation—referencing his own lineage as an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin.

God Does Not Change His Mind

The promise God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse her remains fully in effect today.

As Numbers 23:19 reminds us:

“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

Standing with Israel does not mean we must blindly approve of every policy or political action the nation takes. However, we must be exceedingly careful never to curse Israel, because God’s overarching plan and covenant for that nation have not changed.

They have eyes, yet miraculously manage to stay completely blind. You could drop a mountain of cold, hard evidence right on their desks, and neither Democrats nor the media would bat an eye about election integrity. After all, these are the very same sharp minds who fell hook, line, and sinker for the Russian collusion saga and insisted the Hunter Biden laptop was pure fantasy. But actual evidence of Chinese interference or non-citizens voting? Suddenly, they’re far too busy to care.

And inquiring minds are still waiting for a plausible explanation for how Joe Biden magically pulled 81 million votes out of a hat in 2020. This is a guy who barely ventured outside his own basement, leading “rallies” where the handful of attendees stood six feet apart and still couldn’t manage to pack a local CVS parking lot. Yet, somehow, we’re expected to believe he smashed every all-time vote record in American history. Makes complete sense.

SPEAKING EVENT

In case you missed it. This is my message on the Apostle Paul given last Sunday at Harmony Baptist Church in Avon, IN.

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Getting Squeezed

Remember when the old guard Democrats chanted “blue, no matter who”? Well, it looks like they’ll be wearing communist red instead. Their big tent has officially been overrun by card-carrying socialist snakes, and they are about to squeeze the life out of the geriatric donkeys.

Party centrists are discovering the hard way: if you feed the snake, eventually the snake feeds on you.

Look no further than Ethiopian-born politician Melat Kiros, who recently won her primary for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District. She bluntly proclaimed:

“There is a shift in the global world order that exists today. And a fundamental shift that we have to have going forward… That means getting more immigrants into office.”

Is that really what America needs?

Deuteronomy 17:15 issued a clear warning to Israel:

“Do not place a foreigner over you.”

Furthermore, in Deuteronomy 28, God lists the severe consequences brought upon Israel for turning away from Him—including drought, disease, and pestilence. Then verses 43–44 spell out the social turning point:

“The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower… They will be the head, but you will be the tail.”

With the recent onslaught of foreign-born candidates rising through the ranks, one has to wonder if America is experiencing a similar judgment.

The U.S. Constitution explicitly requires the President to be a natural-born citizen—a sensible requirement designed to safeguard our nation from leaders with divided loyalties. Why shouldn’t that same restriction apply to every high office governing our land?

This is my message on the Apostle Paul given last Sunday at Harmony Baptist Church in Avon, IN.

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Never Giving Up

Trying to finalize a permanent peace deal with Tehran has always been an exercise in futility. The Iranian mullahs are as stubborn as the Black Knight in the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail shouting defiance while their geopolitical limbs are hacked away. Despite decades of high-stakes negotiations, crippling blockades, and the occasional "kinetic feedback" in the form of joint US-Israeli airstrikes, Iran’s leadership remains deeply committed to its underground hobbies.

Recent analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery confirms that no amount of military pressure can disrupt their schedule. At the Parchin military complex, crews are actively repairing the Taleghan 2 facility, pouring fresh reinforced concrete over massive roof punctures left by recent airstrikes to hide their work. Meanwhile, at the secretive site known as Pickaxe Mountain, heavy equipment is operating around the clock, tunneling hundreds of feet into the rock to build an indestructible, deeply buried uranium enrichment plant. No level of economic ruin can compete with the regime’s obsession with enriching uranium and keeping the West permanently on edge.

Tehran’s Nuclear Groundhog Day

Of course, this persistent refusal to sign away their nuclear ambitions is neatly wrapped in the establishment’s favorite marketing campaign: the cosmic struggle to destroy the “Great Satan” (the U.S.) and the “Little Satan” (Israel). While the fiery revolutionary rhetoric about eliminating the infidel plays beautifully to the hardline IRGC base, it also serves as an incredibly convenient smokescreen for practical regime survival.

For the ruling elite, agreeing to a final peace deal that completely dismantles their nuclear infrastructure would mean giving up their unholy mission.

President Trump recently declassified key intelligence documents pointing to what he describes as major vulnerabilities in our election system. According to these files, Chinese intelligence services began targeting 220 million American voter records starting in 2020, even establishing a dedicated data exploitation unit for the project.

Trump asserted that U.S. spy agencies discovered voter data across 18 states had been bought, stolen, or hacked by Beijing—information he claims was actively kept from him during his presidency. He pointed to a mid-2018 CIA report indicating the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy was to leverage any domestic or foreign elements opposed to his administration, which allegedly included identifying and funding anti-Trump journalists to drive negative media coverage.

Furthermore, reports from outlets like Townhall highlight raw FBI intelligence suggesting Chinese operations even attempted to facilitate the production of illegal ballots for Joe Biden. Compounding these security concerns, the Department of Homeland Security reportedly flagged 270,000 noncitizens registered on U.S. voter rolls.

While critics will undoubtedly dismiss these findings, to many, this newly declassified intelligence offers a compelling explanation for how Joe Biden—despite a highly unconventional, low-profile campaign—managed to secure a record-breaking 81 million votes.

Christmas in July

Looking for an uplifting Christmas movie the whole family can enjoy in the summer heat? My son, Brett Varvel, stars in the new film The Trouble with Christmas Mistletoe, now streaming on Pure Flix and airing on Great American Family. Filled with heart, humor, and holiday spirit, it’s the perfect feel-good movie for the season. Check it out!

TWO SPEAKING EVENTS

🇺🇸 Join Me Saturday, July 18, 2026

I will be speaking at the upcoming God and Country Conference.

If you are passionate about faith, freedom, and the future of our communities, this is an event you won’t want to miss. Guest speakers include 43rd Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill and Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith.

📍 Event Details

• Where: Abundant Life Church (7606 East 82nd Street, Indianapolis, IN)

• When: Saturday, July 18, 2026

• Doors Open: 10:30 a.m.

• I’m scheduled to speak at 11:45 a.m.

🎟️ Registration & Tickets

Secure your spot early to save on admission!

• Advanced Registration: $25

• At the Door: $30

Ready to attend? For more information and to lock in your tickets, head over to the Hoosier Freedom Caucus website to register today.

Join Me Sunday, July 19, 2026

As part of the sermon series, Faith and Courage: Lessons from Real Men of the Bible, I will be speaking on the life of the Apostle Paul at Harmony Baptist Church, 5693 Broyles Road in Avon, Indiana. The service begins at 10 a.m.

I look forward to seeing you there.

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Why John Adams is Repenting in Heaven

If the Founding Fathers had known that voters in 2026 would elect Democratic Socialists in recent primaries, they’d likely demand a few more restrictions on who could serve in government.

Having risked the hangman’s noose to escape a distant king’s heavy-handed control, they would be utterly bewildered to watch their 21st-century descendants voluntarily line up at the ballot box to vote for more government intervention, state-managed redistribution, and bureaucratic oversight.

This new generation of ill-informed voters seems completely oblivious to the warning Ayn Rand made so devastatingly clear:

“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.”

Seeing the public enthusiastically embrace the very collectivism they spent their lives trying to prevent, John Adams would surely point us directly to the exasperated letter he wrote to his wife, Abigail, in the spring of 1777:

“Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.”

If Adams could see us now, he’d be looking for a pen to sign his apology to King George.

On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham died at 71. The media filled the weekend with tributes about his life. But Franklin Graham said it best when he told the Fox News viewers:

“This time yesterday, Lindsey Graham didn’t know he’d be standing before God…death comes for all of us and we need to be prepared. There is no person who is going to escape death. The Bible says, “It’s appointed man once to die and then the judgment. And the only way God will receive us is if we come to Him accepting His Son, Jesus Christ and following Him and making Him the Lord of our life.”

We all have an expiration date but we don’t know when. Therefore, now is the time to prepare for that appointment with God by repenting of your sins and receiving the “gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Christmas in July

Looking for an uplifting Christmas movie the whole family can enjoy in the summer heat? My son, Brett Varvel, stars in the new film The Trouble with Christmas Mistletoe, now streaming on Pure Flix and airing on Great American Family. Filled with heart, humor, and holiday spirit, it’s the perfect feel-good movie for the season. Check it out!

TWO SPEAKING EVENTS

🇺🇸 Join Me Saturday, July 18, 2026

I will be speaking at the upcoming God and Country Conference.

If you are passionate about faith, freedom, and the future of our communities, this is an event you won’t want to miss. Guest speakers include 43rd Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill and Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith.

📍 Event Details

• Where: Abundant Life Church (7606 East 82nd Street, Indianapolis, IN)

• When: Saturday, July 18, 2026

• Doors Open: 10:30 a.m.

• I’m scheduled to speak at 11:45 a.m.

🎟️ Registration & Tickets

Secure your spot early to save on admission!

• Advanced Registration: $25

• At the Door: $30

Ready to attend? For more information and to lock in your tickets, head over to the Hoosier Freedom Caucus website to register today.

Join Me Sunday, July 19, 2026

As part of the sermon series, Faith and Courage: Lessons from Real Men of the Bible, I will be speaking on the life of the Apostle Paul at Harmony Baptist Church, 5693 Broyles Road in Avon, Indiana. The service begins at 10 a.m.

I look forward to seeing you there.

HUMOR ME

HUMOR ME: Fix my cartoon with a snarky remark. Email your entries to gary@garyvarvel.com. Winners announced in Friday’s newsletter for paid subscribers.

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PLATNER’S OUT

It turns out there is a limit to the Democratic Party’s “Big Tent.” After Jenny Racicot leveled a new sexual assault allegation against Graham Platner, party leaders finally showed him the exit.

For months, progressive leaders like Rep. Ro Khanna, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Chris Murphy, and Gov. Tim Walz looked the other way during Platner’s morally bankrupt campaign. They brushed off a Nazi-era Totenkopf chest tattoo as a “drunken military mistake” and hand-waved aggressive tweets as “PTSD.” His history of toxic sexting, erratic behavior, and a deleted post about becoming a communist were easily dismissed as the charming quirks of a working-class oyster farmer.

But the high-minded establishment finally clutched their pearls in sudden shock. It wasn’t the behavior that offended them; it was the sudden realization that a candidate with this much baggage might actually lose.

Now, Platner is bowing out with a defiant, eleven-minute video blaming “the system.”

Yeah. How dare they do a background check.

A POSTSCRIPT TO PRIDE MONTH

Understanding the Symbols: The History and Theology of the Rainbow

Hat-tip to Pastor Josh Howerton.

Have you ever wondered why the LGBTQ+ community chose the rainbow as the core symbol for their identity?

The original Pride Flag was designed in 1978 by artist and activist Gilbert Baker for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each color of the traditional six-striped flag (ordered from top to bottom):

• Red: Life

• Orange: Healing

• Yellow: Sunlight

• Green: Nature

• Indigo / Blue: Serenity

• Violet: Spirit

It is worth noting the inclusion of “spirit” at the foundation of the flag. Scripture teaches us that no holy angel or Spirit of God aligns with what the Bible defines as a sinful lifestyle. If the spirit driving this movement is not the Holy Spirit, we must look closer at its true origin.

Which Rainbow?

While most people immediately associate the rainbow with Noah’s Ark, there is another biblical connection that sheds light on the deeper spiritual dynamics at play.

Lucifer, before his fall, was an angel created in perfect beauty. As detailed in Isaiah 14, he became filled with pride, desiring the worship reserved only for the Creator. He boasted, “I will make myself like the Most High.”Having access to the heavenly courts, Lucifer knew exactly what surrounded the throne of God.

In Ezekiel chapter 1, the prophet is given a glimpse into the heavenly throne room and observes something profound:

“A brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown…” (Ezekiel 1:27-28)

The very brilliance of God’s glory is described as a rainbow. Given Satan’s ancient desire to mimic God and steal His worship, it is highly plausible that this same adversarial influence inspired the co-opting of the rainbow to represent a lifestyle rooted in pride.

As believers navigating today’s culture, we are called to stand firm on biblical truth and remember the exhortation found in 1 Corinthians 6:18:

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”

History repeats itself

President Trump is learning the same lesson Thomas Jefferson learned in 1786. At that time, American merchant ships were being captured and crew members enslaved by Barbary pirates.

When Jefferson confronted them, they explained that the Qur’an justified endless conflict with all nations that refused to acknowledge Islamic authority. Realizing diplomacy was futile, President Jefferson ultimately chose war over tribute payments. In 1805, he sent a small detachment of U.S. Marines and several hundred mercenary troops 500 miles across the Libyan desert to capture the strategic Tripolitan city of Derna—an audacious campaign that inspired the line “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marines’ Hymn.

While that victory paused the raids, the Barbary States eventually resumed their piracy. In 1815, the U.S. Navy returned for the Second Barbary War and permanently crushed the network for good.

Today, Donald Trump faces that exact same structural barrier: an Islamic theological edict that mandates the destruction of the “Great Satan” (America) rather than coexistence. It is a reality that renders any paper peace deal instantly obsolete.

TWO SPEAKING EVENTS

🇺🇸 Join Me Saturday, July 18, 2026

I will be speaking at the upcoming God and Country Conference.

If you are passionate about faith, freedom, and the future of our communities, this is an event you won’t want to miss. Guest speakers include 43rd Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill and Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith.

📍 Event Details

• Where: Abundant Life Church (7606 East 82nd Street, Indianapolis, IN)

• When: Saturday, July 18, 2026

• Doors Open: 10:30 a.m.

• I’m scheduled to speak at 11:45 a.m.

🎟️ Registration & Tickets

Secure your spot early to save on admission!

• Advanced Registration: $25

• At the Door: $30

Ready to attend? For more information and to lock in your tickets, head over to the Hoosier Freedom Caucus website to register today.

Join Me Sunday, July 19, 2026

I will be speaking on the life of the Apostle Paul at Harmony Baptist Church, 5693 Broyles Rd. Avon, Indiana. Service starts at 10 a.m. I look forward to seeing your there.

HUMOR ME

Read more

The First Chaplain’s Fatal Flaw: A Revolutionary Tale of Faith and Fear

In my last newsletter, we looked at Reverend Jacob Duché’s powerful prayer that opened the Continental Congress. Distributed widely through newspapers and pamphlets, his words gave the colonists a massive boost in morale.

This was an immense act of courage for Duché. As an Anglican clergyman and official representative of the Church of England, siding with the Patriots put him directly at odds with the British Crown.

Sadly, despite delivering that legendary patriotic prayer and being named the very first Chaplain of Congress, Duché’s conviction faltered. When the British captured Philadelphia in September 1777, he lost faith in the American cause.

Duché was quickly arrested by British forces for his ties to Congress, though he was released the following day. Whether shaken by his imprisonment or convinced the revolution was doomed or coerced by the British, he made a fateful choice. On October 8th, Duché penned a letter to General George Washington, urging him to surrender the “hopeless struggle” and bitterly condemning the American leadership as the “Dregs of a Congress.”

Washington was unimpressed. He handed the letter straight over to Congress, noting he suspected Duché “was induced to it by the hope of establishing his interest and peace more effectually with the enemy.”

Congress wasted no time publishing the letter in the newspapers. Branded a traitor by his countrymen, Duché fled to England.

After the war, in 1783, a defeated Duché wrote to Washington again—this time begging forgiveness for his “error in judgment” and asking permission to return home. Washington replied that while he held no personal enmity, the final decision rested with the judges of Duché’s home state. It wasn’t until 1792 that Duché finally returned to America. Broken by a stroke and isolated by his past, he lived a lonely existence until his death on January 3, 1798.

Duché’s story is a striking reminder of just how bleak the prospect of American independence from Great Britain actually looked to the people living through it. When all seems lost, we are generally left with two choices: respond in faith, or respond in fear.

Duché chose fear.

A Bible Lesson: Grace for the Faltering

A crisis of faith is not unusual. In fact, scripture is filled with giants of the faith who stumbled under pressure:

• Elijah boldly defeated the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Yet, the moment Queen Jezebel threatened his life, he ran into the wilderness, collapsed in depression, and wished for death.

• John the Baptist powerfully preached repentance, baptized Jesus, and declared Him the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Yet, languishing in Herod’s dungeon, doubt crept in. He had to send his disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

• The Apostle Peter confidently told Jesus, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” Yet, hours later, intimidated by a servant girl, he swore three times that he never knew the man.

Circumstances have a way of testing our courage. But the beauty of God’s grace is that He can still use our moments of willingness, even if we falter later. Jacob Duché’s God-focused prayer inspired the Founding Fathers to trust in the Almighty at a pivotal moment in history.

Unfortunately, when the walls closed in on Duché, he allowed fear to dictate his pen—writing a letter that would cast a shadow over the rest of his life.

When your circumstances look bleak this week, remember Duché, Elijah, and Peter. Take a deep breath, look past the immediate threat, and choose faith in God’s grace over fear.

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The Treaty of Paris and the Faith of the Founders

On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War. Notably, the document opens by explicitly invoking the Christian Deity, reading:

“In the Name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity.”

The text continues by attributing the peace to a higher power:

“It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the Hearts of… the King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland… and of the United States of America… to forget all past Misunderstandings and Differences that have unhappily interrupted the good Correspondence and Friendship which they mutually wish to restore.”

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay represented America in negotiating this historic agreement. While Adams was renowned for his public declarations of faith and Jay—the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court—explicitly called America a Christian nation, even Franklin signed it. As one of the least traditional or religious Founders, Franklin’s signature on a document with such explicit spiritual framing suggests that the Founders, as a whole, possessed a deeply ingrained understanding of God that differs significantly from modern perceptions.

For generations, secularists have argued that religion has no place in public governance. They frequently cite the phrase “separation of church and state”—drawn from Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists—to argue against religious input in government affairs.

However, if total secularism had truly been the Founders’ intent, they likely would not have woven references to Divine Providence so deeply into the nation’s foundational documents.

The left likes to mock President Trump hugging the American flag. Well, it’s a lot better than the flag the left is hugging these days.

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