The Brew: Jesus Calms the Storm, But Not Before We’re Good and Scared and Seasick
In one of the Trump administration’s welcome returns to decency, sanity, and respect for the faith of our ancestors, an historic painting of Jesus calming the storm is being returned to display at a U.S. maritime service academy. As The Western Journal reports:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy received enthusiastic and prolonged applause from midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy when he insisted that a painting of Jesus Christ, relegated to the basement by officials in former President Joe Biden’s administration, must return to its former place of honor.
“Let’s bring Him up!” Duffy thundered.
— Steve (@HopedealerSteve) April 9, 2025
“Could we bring Jesus up from the basement?” the secretary asked as he concluded his remarks, looking at someone in the audience.
The midshipmen erupted in cheers, which told Duffy that he had hit upon something important to them.
“Let’s not put Jesus in the basement!” he said, barely audible above the cheers. “Let’s bring Him up!”
Those cheers continued for a full 30 seconds.
I don’t just mention this so we can do a brief victory dance over a small symbolic victory. That painting evokes a critical Gospel passage, which in these vertiginous times we might do well to remember. After preaching to crowds, Jesus
got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a storm of wind came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in danger.And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; and they ceased, and there was a calm.He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even wind and water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:22-25)
As we’re buffeted by current events, bewildered by betrayals, and cajoled by the Enemy at every turn to embrace one kind of evil as a remedy for another, opposite evil, it’s good to stop. To clear our minds. To use what Ignatius Loyola called the “composition of place” when meditating on the Gospel.
That founder of the Jesuits created a technique for biblical reflection that many Protestants copied — including the poet John Donne, who employed it in his sermons and even his poetry. The method entails engaging each of our five senses to put ourselves in the place of those who listened to Jesus. What did being in that boat feel like … look like … sound like … smell like … even taste like? What would any of us have experienced as the waves buffeted our vessel? When Jesus arose and rebuked the storm, then rebuked us for lack of faith, would our faces have burned with shame?
What lesson can we draw from that anecdote for what we face today — and what we may fear tomorrow? Ask Him, and He will guide you just as He guided the boat to shore.
Now that we’ve reminded ourselves Who is at the helm and where He’s taking us, let’s track some of the choppy weather we’re facing.
Thirty Pieces of Silver?
One of the many ugly secrets the new administration is dragging out into the light is the role Vice President Mike Pence played in the lawfare aimed at Donald Trump and his team after 2016. Remember the Russia Collusion hoax and the subsequent false impeachment, which threatened General Mike Flynn and several others with prison? That hoax was only possible once Flynn had been removed via a backroom coup from the task Trump had given him: cleaning out the Deep State as Director of National Intelligence.
Newly declassified documents expose the decisive role Pence played in forcing Flynn out of the way so Trump could be targeted:
While the Russiagate binder mostly contains information we already had in some form, parts of it — like Andrew McCabe’s contemporaneous notes about his various interactions with Trump officials — serve as a timely reminder of the horrible people Trump was surrounded by in his first… pic.twitter.com/zpVBfW8YeE
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) April 11, 2025
Keep that nasty piece of lawfare and malicious prosecution in mind the next time Pence steps forth and claims to speak for Christian conservatives.
American Missionary Kidnapped at Gunpoint During Sermon
Remember how the transition to multicultural democracy in South Africa was held up as a model for “decolonization” and “diversity” worldwide? Now white farmers are being hunted and driven off their land, to the point that President Trump is considering granting them refugee status. That’s just part of an epidemic of lawlessness in that country. That same chaos is affecting the Church, CBS News reports:
Gunmen in South Africa have abducted a U.S. missionary from his church as he was delivering a sermon, police and a colleague said Friday.
Pastor Josh Sullivan was abducted late Thursday at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell outside the coastal city of Gqeberha in what appeared to be a kidnapping for ransom, a colleague told AFP.
Kidnappings, including by criminal gangs that target people for whom large ransoms can be demanded, have been increasing in South Africa in recent years.
“It is alleged that while a sermon was conducted at the church, four armed and masked male suspects entered the church,” police told CBS News. “They robbed two cell phones and then took the 45-year-old male pastor with them and fled the scene.”
A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department told CBS News that they were aware of the kidnapping of an American citizen in South Africa. The agency said it has no further information to share at this time.
Should we classify this as “persecution of Christians”? Maybe not. When you hand over a country to Marxist parties and mutually antagonistic tribes, the result is more of a general persecution of every citizen, Christians included. Think back to the chaos unleashed in 2020 by the George Floyd hysteria, now echoed in many European nations by Muslim mobs, and you’ll see that the leftist playbook is the same all across the globe.
Public Authorities Enabling Anarchy
As per that playbook, the governor of the sovereign state of New Jersey has committed himself to flouting our just, democratically enacted laws. And at last, the federal government is acting to rein in his criminal abuse of power, Gateway Pundit reports:
Alina Habba has opened a criminal investigation into New Jersey Governor Chris Murphy.
Habba, who worked as Trump’s personal lawyer before recently being appointed U.S. Attorney for the state of New Jersey, announced during an appearance on Hannity on Thursday evening that Murphy was actively obstructing efforts by law enforcement to deport illegal aliens.
Her warning came after Murphy and New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin instructed state troopers to ignore thousands of arrest warrants listed on a federal database….
New Jersey is one of many Democratic-controlled states that is actively resisting the Trump administration’s efforts to deport the tens of millions of illegal aliens currently residing across the United States.
Just today, President Trump threatened to withhold federal funds from so-called “sanctuary cities” that are protecting illegal immigrants from their lawful deportation.
Pro-Abort Arrested for Bashing Pro-Life Journalist
Speaking of Caesar wielding his sword in service of justice, The New York Post informs us:
The woman who sucker-punched a pro-life activist during a street interview has been arrested for the brazen on-camera attack, according to the NYPD.
Brianna J. Rivers, 30, was arrested Thursday on one count of second-degree assault for her callous beating of activist Savannah Craven Antao during a street interview on the topic of abortion last week, according to the NYPD.
“Just got word from detectives Brianna J Rivers was arrested! God is good!,” Craven Antao wrote in an Instagram post, adding in the caption,”#BlueLivesMatter #JusticeIsServed #ThankYouGod.”
This is good news, of course. The next question is: Will a New York City jury convict a pro-abortion thug for beating a pro-lifer? Last year I might have been pessimistic, but the acquittal of subway hero Daniel Penny, and Mayor Eric Adams’s subsequent defection from the Democratic Party, gives me a glimmer of hope for my old hometown.
One Deep State Rook Gets Taken Off the Board
In more justice news, Western Journal and The New York Times report that an FBI agent who helped interfere with the 2020 election is facing consequences:
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel is targeting the deep state.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported Patel placed supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten on administrative leave.
Auten has been involved in several controversies during his time at the FBI, including trying to discredit Hunter Biden’s laptop as “Russian disinformation.”
According to RealClear Investigations, “whistleblowers have alleged that Auten tried to falsely discredit derogatory evidence against Hunter Biden during the 2020 campaign by labeling it Russian ‘disinformation,’ an assessment that caused investigative activity to cease.”
Per the Times, Patel wrote in his book, Government Gangsters, that Auten tried to “discredit any derogatory information about Hunter Biden by falsely claiming that none of it was true.”
It’s good to see the tail of the snake getting lopped off. But Patel must find its head: Who in the FBI ordered this campaign of U.S. disinformation?
State Department to Quash Anti-Christian Bias
The writers at Politico could barely conceal their outrage when they were constrained to report that
The Trump administration has ordered State Department employees to report on any instances of coworkers displaying “anti-Christian bias” as part of its effort to implement a sweeping new executive order on supporting employees of Christian faith working in the federal government.
The department, according to a copy of an internal cable obtained by POLITICO, will work with an administration-wide task force to collect information “involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration” and will collect examples of anti-Christian bias through anonymous employee report forms.
Politico found an employee willing to anonymously denounce this straightforward initiative, warning that
it could create a culture of fear as the administration pushes employees to report on one another. “It’s very ‘Handmaid’s Tale’-esque,” said one State Department official, who was granted anonymity because the individual was not allowed to speak openly about internal department affairs.
Just try to picture Politico reporting that way about an initiative to purge racist, sexist, or Islamophobic bias. You can’t: It’s like imagining God creating a rock too heavy for Him to lift.
Along The Stream…
Later this morning, hear from fearless election-integrity warrior David Clements about the role crooked machines played in recent key elections, including a pivotal one in Wisconsin that might throw control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats and cripple Trump’s second term in office.
This afternoon, challenge yourself to do better by listening to Pastor Shane Idleman’s latest exhortation: “To weaken your pursuit of sin, you must strengthen your pursuit of God.”
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.