Everyone wants the truth. Until they don’t.
And usually, they don’t want the truth when it conflicts with what they believe. But just because the truth goes against one’s preconceived notions does not make it any less truthful.
And when truths we don’t like are presented, we fall back on the idea that we don’t like the truth because of how it is presented — even though we hate the truth regardless of presentation.
I get it. It’s human nature. Life would be exceptionally simple if we could truly all just get along. But the reality is we can’t.
And this may make some people upset or uncomfortable, but again, the truth doesn’t care about your feelings.
I know the criticisms of my work…
It’s mean…
It’s not loving…
It’s inflammatory…
The tone is too harsh…
Yada. Yada. Yada.
Instead of dwelling on feelings and presentation, perhaps asking “is it true” should be more important.
Here at The Iowa Standard we only deal in public life. We do not go trudging through private life matters in attempts to hurt people. That’s just unnecessary. But when things are said publicly or done in public, then they’re fair game.
Now, I get it, confrontation isn’t for everyone. Considering the state of American churches, few people actually grasp the concept of righteous anger anymore. Instead, they have had their thinking warped into some lovey-dovey thing that would never criticize, never judge and never rebuke.
It’s a causality of conscience and castration of courage.
Rather than go along with the lovey-dovey, kumbaya, sola feels sort of fluff-stuff offered by many American churches in 2022, reflect on righteous anger.
Let me remind you that in this country we have innocent unborn babies being legally murdered, children being manipulated to mutilate their bodies and “change” genders, a push to “destigmatize” pedophilia, a complete redefinition of “family,” a political agenda set out to divide “oppressors” from people who were historically oppressed, an education system that rejects traditional beliefs and Christianity, as well as leaders who refuse to do the right thing.
I’m sorry, but if you cannot get on board in 2022 with the idea of righteous anger when your little granddaughter has to use the bathroom stall next to a 40-year-old man who thinks he is a woman, then I’m not sure what you’re waiting for. And I certainly don’t have time to play to your “feelings” when the world is seemingly, perhaps somewhat literally, going to hell in a handbasket.
How many more stories do we need to hear like the one from the bathroom in California where the 10-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the bathroom? Or the stories from Loudon County (Virginia) of girls being sexually assaulted in a school bathroom by a biologically male student?
Does it need to happen in Iowa for you to care first? Does it need to happen in your county? In your town? In your school? In your family?
Or isn’t it enough to simply spot evil and call it out for what it is?
I do not believe we have the luxury of time when it comes to standing up for what is right. How much worse does it have to get before fellow Christians begin to not just get upset but start actually doing something about it?
Again, to recap:
*Innocent unborn babies are being legally murdered
*Child sex trafficking fails to receive near the attention it needs
*Family has been completely redefined
*Children are having their bodies mutilated and lives permanently impacted due to gender confusion caused largely by the education system and/or relatives
And, by the way, if you don’t support, tolerate, accept and celebrate the evil in the world you are the problem.
There is a lack of urgency within the church, within the Republican Party and within the country when it comes to confronting the wickedness being not just committed, not just tolerated but outright celebrated.
There maybe was a time to call out the evil things taking hold in America in a Mister-Nice-Guy sort of way. But that time has long since passed.
We have a lot to clean up. Things are messy. As messy as they have ever been.
For some people, perhaps they aren’t too far off the beaten path where just a friendly nudge will set them straight. For others, it may take a pretty harsh dose of reality to bring them back into the good graces of sanity.
But I have kids who are going to grow up in the world I leave behind for them. And I cannot be more concerned with the “feelings” of people today than I am the future for them.
It is important for Christians — mature Christians — to understand criticism isn’t hate and a harsh tone isn’t unloving.
Sometimes criticism and correction are the most loving things we can provide.
Look, we’re all human. None of us is always right. I get it. And my style may not be your style.
But don’t let preference get in the way of professing the truth. One person’s way of accomplishing things may look drastically different than the next person’s method.
That’s just how this works.
It’s easy to sit back and be an armchair quarterback when it comes to dissecting how someone else takes on the evil that is literally all around us. It is quite another for people to get up, stand up and speak up against it in their own regard.
As a great pastor once said — I like my way of doing something better than your way of doing nothing.
Great article Jacob. Love the part of not digging up dirt on people. I don’t like it when the establishment in both parties do it. How can we be calling for something better if we do it ourselves?
Well stated, Jacob. Only thing I’d probably modify “righteous anger” to “righteous cold anger”.
From Sundance at The Conservative Tree house, in September 2018:
Cold Anger does not need to go to violence. For those who carry it, no conversation is needed when we meet. You cannot poll or measure it; specifically because most who carry it avoid discussion… And that decision has nothing whatsoever to do with any form of correctness.
Cold Anger is not hatred, it is far more purposeful.
We watched in 2012 as the Democrat party thrice denied God during their convention. The doors to evil enterprise opened by official proclamation and request.
Cold Anger takes notice of the liars, even from a great distance – seemingly invisible to the mob. Cold Anger will still hold open the door for the riot goer. Mannerly.
We’ve watched our borders being intentionally unsecured.We know what lies hidden behind “cloture” and the UniParty schemes.
We watch the 2009 $900+ billion Stimulus Bill being spent each year, every year, for seven consecutive years. Omnibus, Porkulous, QE1, QE2, Bailouts, Crony-Capitalism. We know exactly how this works, and we know exactly why this ruse is maintained. We don’t need to stand around talking about it…. We’re beyond talking.
We accept that the entire Senate voted to block President Trump’s ability to use recess appointments in 2017. Every.Single.Democrat.And.Republican.
Cold Anger absorbs betrayal silently, often prudently.
We’ve waited each year, every year, for ten years, to see a federal budget, only to be given another Omnibus spending bill by “CONservative” Speaker Ryan.
We’ve watched the ridiculing of cops, the riots, and the lack of support for laws, or their enforcement. We’ve been absorbing all that. We’ve been exposed to violence upon us by paid operatives of the organized DNC machine. We know; the media trying to hide it doesn’t change our level of information.
Cold Anger is not hatred, it is far more purposeful.
We watched in 2012 as the Democrat party thrice denied God during their convention. The doors to evil enterprise opened by official proclamation and request.
Cold Anger takes notice of the liars, even from a great distance – seemingly invisible to the mob. Cold Anger will still hold open the door for the riot goer. Mannerly.
We’ve watched our borders being intentionally unsecured.
We’ve watched Islamic Terrorists slaughter Americans as our politicians proclaim their uncertainty of motive. We know exactly who they are, and why they are doing it. We do not need to stand around discussing it…. we’re clear eyed.
Cold Anger evidenced is more severe because it is more strategic, and more purposeful. Eric Cantor’s defeat, Matt Bevin’s victory, Brexit, Donald Trump’s highest vote tally in the history of presidential primaries or Mark Sanford’s 2018 primary dispatch might aide your understanding.
Cold Anger does not gloat; it absorbs consistent vilification and ridicule as fuel. This sensibility does not want to exist, it is forced to exist in otherwise unwilling hosts – we also refuse to be destabilized by it.
Transgender bathrooms are more important than border security.
Illicit trade schemes, employment and the standard of living in Vietnam and Southeast Asia are more important to Wall Street and DC lobbyists, than the financial security of Youngstown Ohio.
We get it. We understand. We didn’t create that reality, we are simply responding to it.
Deliberate intent and prudence ensures we avoid failure. The course, is thoughtful vigilance; it is a strategy devoid of emotion. The media can call us anything they want, it really doesn’t matter…. we’re far beyond the place where labels matter.
Foolishness and betrayal of our nation have served to reveal dangers within our present condition. Misplaced corrective action, regardless of intent, is neither safe nor wise. We know exactly who Donald Trump is, and we also know what he’s not. He is exactly what we need at this moment. He is a necessary glorious bastard.
He is our weapon.
Cold Anger is not driven to act in spite of itself; it drives a reckoning.
When the well attired lady leaves the checkout line carrying steaks and shrimp using an EBT card, the door is still held open for her; yet notations necessarily embed.
When the U.S. flags lay gleefully undefended, they do not lay unnoticed. When the stars and stripes are controversial, yet the foreign flag is honored – we are paying attention.
When millionaire football players kneel down rather than honor our fallen soldiers and stand proud of our country, we see that. Check the NFL TV ratings – take note.
When a school community cannot openly pray, it does not mean the prayerful were absent.
When a liar seems to win, it is not without observation. Many – more than the minority would like to admit – know the difference between science, clocks and political agendas.
Cold Anger perceives deception the way a long-term battered spouse absorbs the blow in the hours prior to the pre-planned exit; with purpose.
A shield, or cry of micro-aggression will provide no benefit, nor quarter. Delicate sensibilities are dispatched like a feather in a hurricane.
We are patient, but also purposeful. Pushed far enough, decisions are reached.
On the drive to and from the East Coast, I paid attention to the billboards and bumper-stickers. Folks, the people in “Fly over” country are PISSED, from the guy that guides hunters, to the mayors of towns and cities, to state senators congressmen and Governors who are voting to arrest and imprison federal law enforcement officials for enforcing federal gun laws that don’t agree with state law … The political pendulum has never, in the history of humanity, stayed on one side of a swing. The back lash from over reach has always been proportionate to how far off center it went before coming back … right now we’re staring at a whole hell of a lot of the country (about 80-90% of the land mass, as well as about 50+% of the population) that is FED UP. You really don’t want those guys to decide that the only way to fix it is to burn it down and start over…
Right now, through November, every day is Saint Crispins day.
The awakened American middle-class insurgency, led by Donald Trump, is an existential threat to the professional political class and every entity who lives in/around the professional political class. Their entire political apparatus is threatened by our insurgency. The entire political industry, all of governance, is threatened by our force, through Donald Trump.
Decision time.
You know why the entire apparatus is united against President Trump. You know why the corrupt Wall Street financial apparatus is united against President Trump. You know why every institutional department, every lobbyist, every K-Street dweller, every career legislative member, staffer, and the various downstream economic benefactors, including the corporate media, all of it – all the above, are united against Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is an existential threat to the existence of a corrupt DC system we have exposed to his disinfecting sunlight. Donald Trump is the existential threat to every entity who benefits from that corrupt and vile system.
Global elites now stand with jaw-agape in horror as they witness our horde. The value of multi-billion dollar contracts dispatched at our leisure. Trillion dollar multi-national trade deals full of scheme and graft, left nothing more than tenuous propositions smashed asunder from the mere sound of our approach.
The fundamental construct within decades of their united global efforts to tear at the very fabric of our U.S.A is being eliminated. They too have nothing to lose; their desperation becomes visible within their apoplexy; and they’re damn sure displaying it.
Do not look away.
Throw aside the sense of discomfort and bear witness to the evil we oppose. Do not turn your eyes from the hatred focused in our direction. Stand firm amid the solace of our number and resolve to the task at hand.
Those who oppose our efforts are merely vile parasites quivering as they stare into the Cold Anger furnace of righteousness.
Who fuels that furnace?
…..US !