Articles by PGF

This post is somewhat incoherent, being about three different random thoughts, but hopefully, it connects together, and somebody will benefit. Christ is the final authority in matters of the State, family, and Church, but this post is only loosely connected to those three domains.

“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” – 2 John 1:9

First, God is the final authority on Himself. Second, the Holy Bible is the final authority on all things about God; it’s God’s word. Third, God is also the final authority on you, the individual, and all that men do and say.

Most people have only minor problems with the first statement. Many have issues with the second, but this third drives men to anger, landing them finally in hell. God made everything, and it’s His.

God is holy. You are a sinner. You are made in God’s image.

These three things cannot be simultaneously true. If God is holy, perfect, sinless, and righteous, but we are sinners, how can we be made in His image? Something must have happened that changed or destroyed the original likeness that God created when He made man.

In Luke 5:1-11 Simon (Peter), James, and John, with him, are shown to be professional fishermen. They are experts in all things pertaining to fishing in those waters. For at least two generations, their families had fished that sea. Peter had fished all night to no effect proving the fish were not in that area. Jesus is a carpenter by trade and asks Peter to launch out into the deep and cast his net. In verse five, Peter answers, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.” – Luke 5:5. By faith in the word of God and trusting in His power alone, a great haul is taken up in the net.

Covenants

The word of God are His covenants with men and, indeed, all living things. You should seek to understand these covenants, especially the New Covenant; civilization and your very life hang in the balance of obedience to God by keeping the contract He made with man. Time and again, given as an example to us in the Holy Bible that we might learn to obey Him, men break covenant with Holy God, and a ruinous future proceeds to unfold.

Instruction

To be honest, I would have to say many sections of Scripture bother my conscience deeply, convicting me of God’s righteousness and my helplessness to stop sinning against Him. Sometimes this also happens when I listen to preaching. I don’t like it when that occurs, but it’s true, and I know I need to hear the point being made at that time. It’s my job and yours as adults to adjust to reality or suffer the consequences. It’s a matter of personal integrity before God Almighty.

The situation of Western Civilization, now a godless empire going astray, is not unusual, but adults rejecting reality is historically irregular and deeply problematic to our day. It’s what the judgment of God looks like; everybody is running blindly from the truth. It’s not only an adult’s job but a distinctive marker of human maturity, in general, to adjust to any reality, including the word of God, as set forth in the Holy Bible.

Society is rife with young adults and even middle-aged adults who reject the reality of how life is on earth; they renounce God’s created order and the state of man as violent, wicked, sinful creatures. I fear we’ve been handed over to darkness.

The situation has infected the churches. The young and old alike reject the word of God yet claim salvation. This is a problem of Christian maturity. In every instance, when shown what the Bible says and how they are commanded to serve Christ, they cite feelings, time, cost, or many other excuses to avoid doing the hard work of bringing in the Kingdom of God. A maturing Christian sets his feelings and dislikes aside, mortifying the flesh, and, by faith, follows Jesus through keeping the commanded instruction in the Holy Bible.

“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”- 1 Samuel 15:22

Through salvation in Christ, the consequence of eternal damnation for sin is off your shoulders, but if somebody told you that being Christian was easy, I’m sorry, they lied. Crucifying self daily and following Christ to the cross is demanding. In your own strength and spirit, you don’t want to do it.

Maturity in Christ is not a function of physical age; it’s a matter of believing what God says in His word and acting upon that knowledge. A man may not reject His word and claim to be a disciple. God even puts His word above His own name.

And, in reality, we must question the faith of those who won’t pray, read their Bible, serve within the body, and witness to lost sinners; these four duties are the basis and foundation of the New Testament instruction in building the Kingdom of God which brings glory the Father through His Son Jesus Christ.

The maturity problem is so pervasive that the churches have stopped teaching that men are sinners. The people don’t want to hear it because they are whiney little babies with poopy diapers who would rather have a pacifier than coming off the milk onto the meat of the word of God so that they may grow thereby into Christian adulthood. They hate God’s word, and brothers, if you hate God’s word, you hate Him that wrote it! Loving Holy God means trusting His word over your understanding (Proverbs 3:5).

Witnessing

Romans 10:17 explains why we open our Bible and show the lost sinner what the Scriptures say.

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Because Christ has been given all power in heaven and in earth, we have the authority to make the kingdoms of the world His kingdoms, as soldiers of our King. In the operation of God in salvation, the Holy Spirit brings conviction as the lost sinner hears and understands God’s word; this builds their faith. As soul winners, we seek to determine if the lost sinner trusts God. Establishing the honesty of God and the integrity of His word is essential to faith and trust in God.

When witnessing, I ask lost sinners, rather starkly and out of the blue, is God a liar? And also ask them, is the Holy Bible true? (Alternately: is what I’m showing you in the Bible true, or do you believe what the Bible says to be true?)

The lost sinner must confess that what they are being shown in the Holy Bible is accurate and that God does not lie. There are verses of Scripture for both of these questions, but demanding to know what the lost sinner says of his own accord, belief by faith is being tested. If the lost sinner is under conviction, they will confess correctly. (This isn’t the only question we ask, and his salvation is with God alone, we are merely witnesses of the truth.)

If the lost sinner does not verbally confess and admit to the integrity of God, they do not believe in His authority as the judge of men or the authenticity of His word. Salvation is to those chosen in Him before the foundation of the world by faith in the atoning death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, plus and minus nothing.

If a man doesn’t believe the Holy Bible as God’s words, it’s not our job to convince them, and trying to do so may damage the seeds that God is planting and watering in their soul. They are not being saved if they don’t believe, trusting in God by faith. The conversation with the lost man is over if they, sadly, reject the integrity of God.

It may be a wonderfully interesting conversation among believers to discuss the source and authenticity of the Holy Bible, but here’s why I’m not a fan of apologetics as a manner to reach the lost. Weaving specific facts or illustrations into a conversation with a lost man is essential, but it’s not our job to convince people of the genuineness of the Bible. If a man wants to argue the authenticity of the Bible, an important question is whether they have read it.

Those under the influence of the Holy Spirit will seek by faith. A function of the Holy Spirit is to convince men of their sin and that the wrath of hell abides on them and of God’s salvation by grace. A lost man can’t understand the Bible. Convincing him of its historical origins can be a waste of time with a lost sinner when he needs faith.

Most men who argue against the Bible’s authenticity are really saying that they deny God, and if you press them on this, you’ll find it’s true. If somebody, whether they confess belief or not, doesn’t believe the Holy Bible is God’s word, we’re hard-pressed to see how they can be a Son of God. If somebody has read the Bible and doesn’t believe it, share some more Scripture with them, perhaps, or tell them to read the book John praying to God for understanding.

The Problem

God is holy. You are a sinner. You are made in God’s image. As stated at the top, these three things cannot simultaneously exist; how can the likeness of a perfect God be a sinner? Something is logically incorrect, or somehow one of these things became untrue.

“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” – Proverbs 20:7

The break happened in the Garden when Adam, given a mind and will of his own by the grace of God, sinned against his Creator. Subsequently, all men became cursed with death and sin for Adam’s disobedience to God’s covenant. Your sin will also affect not just you but your family, church, and nation for generations to come.

That’s what sin does; it destroys our connection in relationship to Holy God. When Adam sinned, he broke the image of God in himself, and when you sin against the Almighty, the person God wanted you to be is also damaged; and it’s too late; you’re a sinner.

Conclusion

God will restore this damage from sin to a far superior condition than Adam in the garden could ever have imagined. The day of the resurrection and judgment is coming. You must belong to Holy God through faith to be entirely remade into the likeness of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. If the Bible troubles your soul, this is an extraordinarily marvelous thing; praise God, for He seeks to speak with you.

The data are held for a year; 2021 was the last full year for which data has been released. 2021 represents a 19 percent year-over-year increase from 2020.

The latest statistics from federal regulators point to a big jump in production for the most recent year available.

The current Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report, released by the ATF late last month, covers the 2021 calendar year. The finalized AFMER is purposely a year behind to protect industry secrets and to allow for all of the data to be compiled. The total figures for 2021 amounted to 13,129,493 firearms of all types– pistols, revolvers, shotguns, rifles, and miscellaneous.

The data from the source includes the top 10 pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotgun companies and a catchall miscellaneous category. Ruger may be the top overall firearms manufacturer in the US that year and is the top rifle manufacturer. Surprising is Maverick Arms of Eagle Pass, TX, owned by Mossberg. I would be interested to know what folks who own or have shot a Maverick think of them.

Svalbard is the world’s northernmost town. Norway is its sovereign.

The purpose of this video is to be educational regarding the laws and regulations around polar bear protection on Svalbard. Both Christoffer and I have a license to carry polar bear protection issued by the government on Svalbard. All the information regarding the laws and regulations mentioned in this video, come from the government’s website, and all the shooting practice is done at the official shooting range with the proper equipment and knowledge.

The video starts slow but builds into a sad tale of putting animals above humans, gun control, and agreement with government regulations. Alaska has no such problems right now, but that could change. Why care about this? Because what happens in Europe seems to infect America.

This is horrifying, and why I hate (yes) the NRA. The Second Amendment defines itself. The entire purpose of the 2A is the definition of what’s allowed and the specific purposes for the allowance. The NRA is just awful. They always set a false premise that’s designed to reduce your freedoms. Everything they touch gets worse for Americans while they and the politicians get rich. The NRA must be destroyed.

A coalition led by the National Rifle Association this week sued to stop the Biden administration’s bid to regulate AR-style “pistols,” an effort that could prompt the Supreme Court to finally define what is allowed under the 231-year-old Second Amendment.

While its suit is specifically aimed at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and its flip-flop on regulating and taxing guns, it has the potential to both smoke out the court on what is legal under the Second Amendment and end years of practice by federal agencies and states to make up rules that Congress is supposed to set.

That’s where the AR pistol suit comes in. Until this month, the ATF said the guns equipped with arm braces to steady the firearms, especially for the disabled, were OK to buy with just a background check. But they have redefined them as a weapon covered by the Al Capone era National Firearms Act that requires a lengthy application, registration, photos and fingerprints, and a $200 tax.

In challenging the politically-charged flip-flop by ATF, Cotton hopes the case will land in the conservative and somewhat pro-gun Supreme Court and that it will be ruled unconstitutional. He expects that because the Bruen case reasoned that courts have to decide what is allowed based on what the nation’s founders meant in 1791 when virtually nothing was off-limits.

“Outside legal circles, Bruen is known primarily for holding correctly that citizens’ right to self-defense means they have the right to have the tools to defend themselves outside of their home. You can carry that self-defense firearm outside of your home,” said Cotton.

“But what a lot of people don’t realize is it also set a standard for how all gun laws, federal, state, and local, have to be evaluated in terms of does it pass constitutional muster. And that standard is we roll the calendar back to 1791 when the Second Amendment was adopted, the technical words are ‘is there a historical analog for the proposed current law or the existing current law.’ That’s just a fancy way of saying, ‘Was that type of restriction in existence in 1791?’ If it wasn’t, then it can’t be now,” he said.

Cotton added, “That’s why so many of the things are falling right now.” He cited gun control laws in New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Maryland, and elsewhere that are being pulled back to conform to the recent rulings.

He predicted that a fuller definition of the Second Amendment by the court could come within two years because so many new gun cases are being filed and likely headed to the high court.

The good news is that the NRA is not the lead plaintiff. The West Virginia and North Dakota AGs appear to be the lead on this, which may answer the prior question; why file in North Dakota? Not sure if the disabled veteran, who is also a plaintiff, is a resident of North Dakota, which may also explain that decision.

Whatever you do, dear friends of liberty, keep the NRA lawyers out of the courtroom if you want to keep your rights!

From the NRA page, there are no usable details other than this.

The case is captioned Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc.[FRAC], v. Merrick Garland and was filed in the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota. Other plaintiffs are: SB Tactical, B&T USA, Wounded Warrior Richard Cicero, and a coalition of 25 states led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley, also including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.

I don’t know anything about FRAC. It appears to be a lobbyist group that seeks consistent regulations. I’m not a fan of industry lobbyists suing over the Pistol Brace. They are not suing on behalf of individual rights under the 2A; they are suing for consistent regulation. I don’t want consistent regulations; I want none!

The clock is ticking on this; we’ll have to see if any of the suits can get traction and resolution in the remainder of the 120 days.

Herschel has been tracking this prior:

Six Pistol Brace Lawsuits

Complaints in the Case of ATF Pistol Brace Rule

“26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. 27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” – Proverbs 14:26-27

In the fear of the Lord, not with or because of the fear of the Lord. Salvation is likewise in Christ, not with Christ. It’s not our might or our grace; it’s His to those that are in Him.

Though your faithfulness to God is required, and though your service brings glory to the Father through His Son, none of your yields are sufficient to merit forgiveness for sin. So very frustrating to hear is the man that claims His duties in service of God as warrant for the grace presented as freely given only by belief in Jesus Christ. To suppose works could save your eternal soul is to remit payment due to Holy God: what a perilous chasm to hang yourself over; God owes no man.

And even if one paid all they had, shall you try to best the crucifixion of Jesus; can you sacrifice greater than He? No outcomes can get you life with God nor keep you heaven bound to stand with Christ forgiven. Cast off your reliance on self and gaze upon the cross with the faith of a child; the strength and confidence of the saved sinner rest solely in the Lord.

Jesus Christ is the propitiation: the favor and goodwill of the Almighty to sacrifice His own Son as payment rendered in blood to appease His perfect law for your sin-guiltiness. Assurance of eternal life comes with peace of mind knowing the safest assumption you’ll ever make is in the superiority of reliance on Jesus Christ.

When looking to your right hand and finding no man, no help or pity or care from this world, and none cared for your soul, cry out unto the Lord, call upon your portion and your redeemer, the bringer and giver of life, the God of salvation. Sing aloud of His power, sing aloud of His mercy in the morning, for He is a strong defense.

Jesus rose from the tomb on the third day, and by His power over the grave, you can depart from the snare of death and hell that pursues every man. Never to see outer darkness and the torment of hell; in Christ Jesus is life everlasting to those that are given by the Father to be His eternal prize. “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” – Psalm 91:2

Buried with Christ through trust in God and raised in a new and Holy Spirit of eternal life, placed in the family of God as His child, having shelter from damnation, nestled snug to His bosom in eternity, kept by the power of God through faith is the sanctuary in the Lord our King.

Though God owes men nothing, yet with one drop of that water, clear as crystal, a fountain of life from the throne of God and of the Lamb, a man may have the gift of salvation so thorough, so complete, that in the fear of the Lord, nothing can pluck you from the Master’s hand. But it’s not one drop; the river of the water of life flows freely to all who seek in confidence the Just One as their new and holy city of refuge.

Modularity, interchangeability of parts, and accessorization is a big market with lots of dud entries. Shooting endurance while maintaining accuracy is probably how to find what works. That can be an expensive proposition. Word of mouth can be good, but there are also a lot of bad products that have good marketing. Noticeably absent is the Ruger 10/22, which probably has the most after-market parts and accessories of any weapon platform.

Number one on the list is the AR15.

The easiest mention in our list of modular weapons is the AR-15. Ever since the sunset of the Assault Weapons Ban in 2004, the AR-15 has dominated the market. There seem to be hundreds of companies pumping AR-15s at all price points and in all configurations. Alongside their popularity, an entire industry of accessories and parts has sprung to life. This allows shooters to build the rifle they want from parts and pieces. Users can swap out each and every part of their rifle if they so choose.

The modularity of the AR-15 also makes changing calibers easy. You can swap an upper and change calibers with ease. You can take a Multi-Cal lower and use anything from 5.56 to 9mm, and even .410 shotgun shells. Swapping calibers takes no real work, and at most, you might have to switch out buffers when you swap uppers.

Beyond that level of modularity, you can get pretty crazy with your AR-15 modifications. This year at SHOT, a company displayed a bullpup conversion kit to turn your favorite AR-15 into a bullpup platform. It’s an interesting concept and surprisingly well done. The AR-15 certainly takes the top slot as the most modular weapon on the market.

This is one of his older videos and is interesting in that the rounds show similar results. With nearly the same weight in selected ammo, they have comparable velocities. Shooting the cinder blocks, it appears the .40 may even have a slight edge, but concealed carry isn’t for shooting cinder blocks. Watching Mr. Harrell shoot the blocks was a good reminder not to point your weapon at anything you’re not willing to destroy. There are a variety of examinations conducted. One thing is for certain; he’s a pretty good shot.

Meet Fletcher Rifle Works’ 11/22: The Easily Disassembled Ruger 10/22!

“For over 50 years, the Ruger 10/22 has been one of the most popular rimfire rifles in the world. While a pleasure to shoot, anyone with a 10/22 knows they are a nightmare to disassemble and clean.”

(Photo: Dave Luu/Guns.com)

The article could be more extensive. Interesting design. I’ll have to examine one closely to see whether it’s worth buying. Ease of disassembly is undoubtedly an issue with the Ruger 10/22, but the original has a significant number of upgrades and modification parts and kits. With this Fletcher, you could lose substantial flexibility in changing the weapon to your needs.

More pics at the link.

This isn’t good news for ranchers and residents. Of course, the government, either purposefully or through incompetence, was dragging its feet.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will study delisting populations of grizzlies near Yellowstone and Glacier national parks

Idaho’s audacious bid to strip grizzly bears of Endangered Species Act protection was rejected by the Biden administration Friday.

But its neighbors Montana and Wyoming had better luck. Responding to delisting petitions from all three states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said bear numbers in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems may be strong enough to qualify as distinct populations that can be considered for delisting. The agency will spend the next year collecting data to determine if each of those populations are indeed healthy enough to move from federal to state management.

The service dismissed Idaho’s much more expansive request that grizzly bears across the country be stripped of their threatened and endangered status. The decision came just a day after Idaho Gov. Brad Little threatened to sue the agency for failing to act on the state’s petition, submitted last March, within the required 90 days.

“The response is seven months late, and it took a threat of legal action from the State of Idaho to simply receive a response,” Little said in a prepared statement. “While we continue to evaluate the decision from (the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), this is another example of federal overreach and appears to have a disproportionate impact on North Idaho.”

There are about 1,000 grizzlies each in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems, which are centered around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.

[…]

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” – Romans 5:12

Inherent sin is provable, both in nature and from Scripture.

There was a video recently in which the speaker claimed that there is no inherent sin in man because the young are unaware of their sinful acts. I won’t link the video; we’ll stay attached closely to the truth lest we wander. But in this video, his children were acting up very near the beginning. He told the camera that his two-year-old is always doing bad things, but their behavior is not sin because the child does not know right and wrong.

Brothers and sisters, he disproved his point at the outset. One does not have to teach a child to strike another and take his toy. What made the child like this? To claim they are not sinners is to say that God made them rebellious, which, when you realize all men are sinners, is a claim that the source image of man is also a sinner; this is blasphemous! With no prompting or instruction whatsoever, children are sinners. Nobody had to teach them this. Even upon reprimand, children will continue to bear false witness, disobey a mother, steal, assault without good cause, and worse. They do this because they were born this way!

We are sinners, born of the seed of Adam, wholly wicked and depraved, even without remorse. It takes 12, 14, or 18 years to train a child in the way of Jesus Christ. Even then, much to his own dismay, though he would not, an adult born altogether anew by the Spirit of God sent from Heaven by Christ continues to flout the law of God in his heart, in his mind, and in his actions.

In fact, before salvation, the lost sinner may have some vague and darkened sense of right and wrong, but it’s almost always applied comparatively to other men. Man is born a sinner; unless and until the Lord opens their eyes, they are blinded by the devil to God and Christ; yet, created by God, they are His, without excuse before the throne on high. To acknowledge your sin, you must have knowledge of it, which is the miracle of salvation in Christ; that He is opening your eyes, showing your need for forgiveness and fear of hellfire. But Heaven help you, refusal to acknowledge your sin, even in ignorance feigned or actual, shall not save you at the final trumpet when Christ returns.

As to our verse at the top, the Scripture does not lie. Sin entered into the world through disobedience to God by the first man Adam, causing death. For this was the devil’s claim in the lie to the woman; “Ye shall not surely die.” But dead in sin, naked and afraid before Holy God, became the first man and his wife, and indeed his body expired, returning to the dust from whence he was taken, which was the very curse of God pronounced upon him for his rebelliousness. Disobedience to God is now in every man from his birth, so death passed upon all men, every single one, from Adam down each generation until today. There is no more clear evidence of sin than that every man’s life is but a vapor, appointed by God once to die; depravity of sin and the inevitability of death torments us all, for all that are in the world and the very earth itself are cursed by God for this sin.

But spoken in the word of God by the prophet Hosea, portending the day of Christ: “O grave, I will be thy destruction.” And later in the New Testament: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” For what need a man of Christ if he is not a sinner bound to death unto the weight of the curse? Jesus himself said He came to save sinners. That you needn’t have to, Jesus tasted death for every man, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That’s right; payment has already been made; accept it and call on Jesus.

Admit your depravity, abandon your pride, and seek forgiveness from God through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus died on the cross, to pay your sin debt to Holy God. And now, Jesus having risen from the grave; by the very mercies of God Almighty, you need not die. Though your body will expire and be eaten by worms, those raised with Christ by the Spirit now will be raised again in the body, and with Job, we can proclaim to all the world: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth…yet in my flesh shall I see God.”