Remembering
James Robison

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The Brew: It’s Hard Not to Be Knee-Jerk When Screwtape Is Electrocuting You

By John Zmirak Published on April 9, 2025

Let me tell about a temptation that I’m fighting off right now. You probably are, too.

Remember how presidential candidate Donald Trump once joked, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” Back in January 2016 that was comic hyperbole, the kind of trolling we Queens guys indulge in all the time. On my way out of a coffee shop on the Yale campus in the 1980s, I’d loudly say something to a friend like, “But that sounds fascist … in the negative sense!” Then I’d flee the scene, to avoid the bloody shrapnel from all the exploding heads around me.

But now, after all we endured in the COVID panic, the Russia collusion hoax, the partisan lawfare, the election fraud, the January 6 persecutions, and all the filth that DOGE is now flushing out into the open, not to mention all the madness that keeps on strutting naked through the public square …

The temptation we must fight now is thinking, We’re under siege and I’m ready to use a flamethrower on everything. Whatever Trump does, I trust the plan. In fact, I hope he starts shipping rogue federal judges to El Salvadoran prisons. The Constitution? Cry me a river.

Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that if you saw Judge James Boasberg getting frog-marched off a plane in San Salvador, then having his head shaved in a supermax, your reaction would be, “Egads! What about judicial independence and other sacred democratic norms?”

Or would it be more like, “Pass the popcorn”?

Some of that response is a healthy realization of what time it is, a normal and human God-given indignation to seeing the elites who trashed all the rules and the Constitution when it suited them to do so are now running scared of the reckoning coming their way.

But like all human instincts, Screwtape knows how to manipulate that. In fact, it’s his job to make sure the pendulum keeps on swinging fierce and fast from one poisonous extreme to the other. Because, you see, Screwtape controls the pendulum. That’s why Scripture calls him “the prince of this world” (John 14:30).

We must be both “based” and principled. We must wage war and spare civilians. We must reject the Satanic evils of the Left without lurching into the Luciferian snares on the Right. Because Screwtape doesn’t care if we join him in Hell by the West entrance or the East. As a wise pastor once said, “The devil doesn’t care what you believe as long as you leave the character of Christ to defend it.”

With all of that said, let me list without too much comment some of the latest mad leftist antics the Enemy is trying to use to twist us into bigots.

Muslim Colonists in Britain Won’t Be Drafted to Save Ukrainian “Democracy”

John Roberts’ Pal Norm Eisen Confesses His Plan to Jail Trump to Keep Him Out of Office

Remember when Revolver News reported the other day that U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts spent a week in a Czech palace with lawfare expert Norm Eisen while the latter was serving as our ambassador in Prague about 10 years ago, discussing how judicial interference could “protect democracy”? Well, here’s some evidence of what Eisen thinks is an appropriate way to do that: convicting Donald Trump on made-up, lawless charges in front of a biased New York City jury and imprisoning him just before the 2024 election:

Should Conservatives Embrace Early Voting and Shut Up About Voting Machines?

All through the run-up to the 2024 elections, Scott Presler, a Republican get-out-the-vote celebrity (and son of an Obama-appointed Deep State intel agent), was putting out just that message, insisting that the voting machines aren’t rigged and claiming that talking about vote fraud is “defeatist.”

Now election-integrity specialist Brian Ference is holding a live event on X questioning Pressler’ narrative, including the claims that his grassroots efforts won Trump the state of Pennsylvania. Since Stream friend David Clements is taking part, I think this one will be worth your time.


If you want to know how Pennsylvania elections really work, check out this eye-opening report by Leah Hoopes, who has successfully beaten back incessant lawfare for exposing electoral fraud in that state, sponsored (she says) by Governor Josh Shapiro.

The Legacy of Ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, According to One Boy He Molested

Once the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and the mentor of most of the leading bishops Pope Francis picked to rule the Catholic Church in the U.S., Theodore McCarrick was infamous among other bishops and priests for sexually harassing male seminarians. Nevertheless, Pope Francis sent him to negotiate his anti-Trump alliance with Communist China in 2018. It was only after proof emerged that McCarrick had personally molested a young boy decades earlier that Francis finally was compelled to defrock him — and yet McCarrick still avoided being tried for his crime because of his supposed senility. He died a few days ago at the age of 94. 

Catholic children’s advocate Elizabeth Yore writes of him:

While McCarrick visited several presidential oval offices, he continued to prey on vulnerable seminarians around the world, seemingly unchallenged. He even received a Presidential Award and global acclaim for his frenetic humanitarian advocacy.

McCarrick was always flush with cash and connections. He proudly displayed his little black book full of private numbers of presidents, prime ministers, financial titans, Hollywood celebrities, royalty and politicians. One victim disclosed that before Ted molested him, McCarrick showed him his little black book with the names of Bush, Hillary and Bill Clinton. The threat was very clear: McCarrick is powerful, untouchable and very connected. Don’t cross him.

Ironically, McCarrick reigned as the most prominent prelate in the Catholic Church, yet he remains shrouded in secrecy.

The sources, amount, and location of his vast financial empire are unknown.

Here’s a powerful testimony from James Grein, the man whom McCarrick molested as a boy, on the legacy he and his cronies have created in the church.

McCarrick victim James Grein tells @JoeDMcClane McCarrick’s general predation began in 1965

“he infiltrated many families – he befriended each family & wormed his way into it & destroyed children”… pic.twitter.com/BMo3O3groj

— Michael Haynes (@MLJHaynes) April 8, 2025

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On the Brighter Side

Remember, we can’t let Screwtape goad us into mindless rage and reaction. That’s one reason we need to take time to smell the flowers that faithful Christians keep planting, and offering prayers of gratitude for all the good things that still keep happening. Here’s one example: young men using their free time to show respect for the God-given dignity of even the most forgotten souls:

St. Ignatius High School, a Catholic school, in Cleveland has a ministry serving as pallbearers for individuals with little or no family, ensuring they are honored at their funerals. Known as the Arimathea Pallbearer Ministry, it involves about 400 students who assist at 150 to… pic.twitter.com/DyRggVb2zG

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) April 8, 2025

Intercessors for America, a wonderful organization of prayerful citizens, report on some more hopeful developments, adding prayers of gratitude we ought to join them in offering:

We have previously covered [Russell] Trubey, a chaplain who was punished for preaching a biblical sermon that some found offensive. Now, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins has sided with him, rescinding all punishment and affirming explicitly biblical and Christian sermons.

From The Christian Post:The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has confirmed that chaplains can preach sermons with obviously Christian content at affiliated medical facilities and has rescinded a letter of reprimand after a chaplain was punished last year.

God, we thank You for protecting the religious freedom of Russell Trubey and every other chaplain in America. We pray Your Word would never be silenced or censored in America!

IFA also points out how refreshing it is to have a White House press secretary who’s attuned to the cosmic moral conflict that’s driving world events:

In a recent interview, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, a devout Roman Catholic, said she felt “spiritual warfare” around President Trump.

From The Christian Post: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a recent interview that she has seen spiritual warfare during her close proximity to President Donald Trump, but that she believes God has raised him to his position despite “evil forces” coming against him.
Father, we thank You for raising up a godly woman to serve as the White House press secretary. We ask You to protect her, the president, and everyone in the Trump administration from the attacks of the enemy.

And it’s not all bad news from the Supreme Court, either, as the worthy NTD News (linked to The Epoch Times) reports. The Trump administration has just won a battle against judges trying to micromanage the executive branch of government:

Also from SCOTUS: Trump’s deportations under the Alien Enemies Act may resume, though targets must still have their day in court:

Along The Stream…

Don’t miss Michael Giere’s thoughtful analysis of the demonic ideologies that have captured modern man’s soul, and how they still dominate our elites today.

Pastor Shane Idleman offers a powerful message urging us to go “all in” with God, however tough the times get. In fact, that may well be why God allows times to get so tough: to grab our full attention.

 

John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream and author or coauthor of 14 books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. His newest book is No Second Amendment, No First.