Tag Archives: whitmer

Things Are Not Always As They Seem

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Grab your coffee. I have a lot to say.

I’m guessing you’ve heard the saying, “Things are not always as they seem.” Truer statements have been made throughout history. Still, this is one worth remembering, especially now that artificial intelligence (AI) has become so prominent.

Relative to images of people, to gauge their authenticity, I’ve learned to look at the hands. It seems AI has difficulty creating human hands. There was an image of Trump going around not that long ago that seemed quite real. He was on his knees in prayer in a dimly lit church. It was defended as authentic and promoted with the byline, “This is what we want in a president.” Agreed, a praying president would be nice. The only problem is that the man in the picture had twelve fingers. I’ve shaken hands with President Trump. If he had such alien-like hands, I’m sure I would’ve noticed. Although a twelve-fingered, non-woke, pro-life extraterrestrial that affirms two genders, believes in secure borders, promotes religious liberty, and understands Critical Race Theory and Socialism as the devilish ideas they are, well, I might actually vote for such a creature.

I read an article several months ago about how 20 million of the 200 million writing assignments submitted in schools last year were as much as 80% AI-generated. That’s not good, especially since many of the assignments were university and research-level work. With this as education’s trajectory, could it be that, as a society, we’re not progressing but regressing? I wonder how many of those assignments were submitted in Michigan. U.S. News & World Report shared that Michigan is currently number 41 in education in the United States. Florida is number 1. Go figure.

Within the last year, I’ve seen occasional Facebook advertisements for sermon-generating software from a company called SermonAI. I’ve started reporting it to the Facebook overlords as sexually offensive. Why? Because there isn’t a “perverse” option, and when it comes to perverted behavior, a pastor preaching a sermon written by a machine seems pretty weird. Even if the resulting sermon’s content is good, it certainly stirs concerns relative to a pastor’s call. I mean, Jesus didn’t call ChatGPT to stand in His stead and by His command. He called a human man. He called a pastor.

A few weeks back, Elon Musk shared an AI-generated video of Kamala Harris. I half-laughed and half-cried through the whole thing. With a near-perfectly generated voice, the machine said things most already knew to be true. It confessed to knowing about Biden’s cognitive decline for many years, admitting the debate in June as proof the charade was over. It admitted to being a woke DEI candidate, which, technically, Harris already admitted during a sit-down conference conversation in 2017, saying, “We have to stay woke. Like, everybody needs to be woke. And you can talk about if you’re the wokest or woker, but just stay more woke than less woke.”

For clarification, woke means things like accepting that men can get pregnant, that the only way to conquer racism is with more racism, and that it’s reasonable to put people in jail for thought crimes. If you don’t know what thought crimes are, you should look up the term, especially if you have plans to travel to England.

The AI software even mimicked Harris’ word salad tendencies, which are the rambling go-nowhere speech patterns she often falls into during unscripted Q and A sessions. I looked up “word salad” to see if it had any clinical references. It does. It’s sometimes referred to as jargon aphasia, and across multiple sources, it appears to happen for one of three reasons. First, it’s an actual disorder, and the person speaking cannot communicate sensibly. Second, it can result from anxiety medication usage. Third, it’s a narcissistic defense mechanism. People in positions of authority who don’t know what they’re talking about will do it to make their listeners think they do. There’s no question Harris is a top chef when it comes to word salads. I’ll leave it to you to decide which of the three reasons fits.

While you’re deciding, one of my favorite Harris word salads involved an attempt at off-script intellectualism during a speech at Howard University. After some toothy cackling, Harris turned solemn, attempting intellectual eloquence, “So, I think it’s very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders, for us at every moment in time, and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future.”

What? That demonstrated genuine cognitive depth akin to a twelve-fingered Trump.

I could go on, showing how this message’s first premise haunts us. Indeed, things are not always as they seem. Knowing this, discernment is necessary. However, to get there, study is required. For example, did Trump really say that there’d be a bloodbath if he didn’t win the forthcoming election in November? Yes, he did. But what did he mean by it? Was he talking about a violent uprising, as the Democrats and media keep insisting, or was he referring specifically to the economy and the effects of certain trade agreements relative to American auto manufacturers? For the proper context, skip the baiting headlines and find the actual speech. You’ll have everything you need to decide.

How about the plot to kidnap Michigan’s Governor Whitmer? Was it really the brainchild of right-wing extremists? Look into it. Having graduated from the FBI Citizen’s Academy in June and experienced first-hand the Bureau’s prejudice against conservatives, I found it interesting that many in the extremist group were actually FBI informants or agents. The others were mostly exonerated. Those who weren’t—the handful who pled guilty—also pled entrapment, insisting they never would have come up with the idea, let alone acted on it, had it not been for the government’s influence. In other words, they were set up. Considering the timeline and its significance, the notably stalwart-against-right-wing extremism, Gretchen Whitmer, was handily re-elected, and both legislative chambers flipped from Republican to Democrat. A massive shift like that hasn’t happened in Michigan since 1983. It seems awfully Reichstag-like. What do I mean by that? Search “Reichstag Fire.” Even the first few paragraphs of the Wikipedia article will tell you everything you need to know.

How about the inconceivable idea that Planned Parenthood, as a commercial gimmick, might provide free abortions during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week? “That’s blatantly untrue,” were one friend’s stern online words. “That’s spreading misinformation!” Except, it isn’t. A Planned Parenthood branch—Green Rivers in Saint Louis—announced they’re taking their mobile clinic to Chicago, where they’ll park during the convention. “Here we come, Chicago!” they tweeted joyfully. “Our mobile health clinic will be in the West Loop… Aug 19-20, providing FREE vasectomies & medication abortion. EC [emergency contraception] will also be available for free without an appointment.” The post included a link for online reservations.

How about an easier one—a question that requires no investigation but instead begins with mere sensibility?

Should I trust the science? Should I get this vaccine and take that pill and wear this mask and have that procedure performed simply because the doctors and scientists—the experts—said I should? I wouldn’t even buy shoes without doing some research. I certainly wouldn’t do it simply because the shoe salesman—the product expert—said so.

In all things, investigate, discern, and then act. For Christians, the ultimate motivation for this is faithfulness to and alignment with God’s will. That’s the Bible’s uncomplicated direction. And why? Well, for one, only God truly has our best interest at heart. Therefore, we ought not to prefer above God those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matthew 10:28). We ought not to live in alignment with the world in ways that contradict His Word and trade away our eternal future (Mark 8:34-38). We must be “wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19). Indeed, in all things, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Knowing this, we dig deeper. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, King Solomon urged, “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly” (Proverbs 15:14). Fools post images of 12-fingered Trumps, vehemently arguing the image is real. Hosea insisted, “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them” (Hosea 14:9). Saint John warned that Christians ought to test each spirit before believing it (1 John 4:1). Still, people blanketly believe that as an ELCA Lutheran, Tim Walz is a genuine Lutheran Christian. ELCA Lutheranism is more cult than Christian. It is in no way Lutheran. Genuine Lutheranism does not deny God’s Word is inspired, inerrant, and immutable. Genuine Lutheranism does not support nor promote abortion, transgenderism, social causes that fundamentally reject the Gospel while allowing cities to burn, and all the other leftist ideologies Walz and his beloved ELCA endorse.

The writer to the Hebrews described mature Christianity as the kind with “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). Saint Paul reminded the Church in Philippi to pursue the kind of love for God and one another that abounds in “knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10). He said the same thing with fewer words in 1 Thessalonians 5:21, writing, “But test everything; hold fast what is good.”

I’ve already gone on long enough, and I think you get the point. So, how about I close with this?

Things are not always as they seem. Therefore, investigate. Become familiar with the characters’ names and the mechanisms’ histories. Read a transcript on occasion. Watch a congressional hearing. Read a little about the actual differences between LCMS and ELCA Lutheranism. Consider the various details you just can’t get in a two-paragraph article or a 30-second news clip. Finally, make sure you’ve answered your own nagging questions about whatever it is you’re investigating. Those questions may actually be unspoken warnings to keep digging.

When you’re finally ready, act. Put your knowledge to work. I’ve heard it said that knowledge must be put where people will trip over it. The Bible speaks similarly, noting that those who have the Word of God and the knowledge it gives will practice it. Those who do not ultimately deceive themselves in ways that could result in their unfortunate judgment (James 1:22, 2 Peter 2:21-22, Hebrews 10:26-30).

Investigate, discern, and then put your knowledge to work. Start tripping people with knowledge. And not only the identifiable (and beneficial) boundaries of right and wrong, truth and untruth, but also the better facts of sin and grace—namely, the life, death, and resurrection of Christ for the world’s rescue. As a Christian who knows stuff, you may only be working part-time if that’s missing from your efforts.

State of the State

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I was privileged to attend the State of the State address this past Wednesday in Lansing. Well, perhaps privileged is not the right word. Senator Jim Runestad invited me to be his guest. Therein lies the real privilege. He’s a good man and a faithful servant. It’s too bad he’s in his last term. We need more like him.

Overall, I suppose the event was worthwhile. Even though I crossed paths with people I’d just as soon avoid altogether in the future, I also met others in leadership I now consider friends. I had a chance to hide for a few minutes in Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt’s office with my friend, Jeff Wiggins, and Senator Michele Hoitenga. They were great company. During the address, I sat beside Bridget Dean, the Mayor of Berkley, Michigan. I enjoyed the pre-speech conversation with her. I hope to see her again. Interestingly, my chair was on the House floor beside Representative Matthew Bierline’s desk. Matthew is one of two LCMS Lutherans in the House of Representatives. It was a pleasure visiting with him, too.

On occasion throughout the evening, some conversation partners wanted to hear firsthand why I would engage in the public square the way I do. I gave only the biblical reasons. For the ones asking from a position of genuine honesty, I get the sense their apprehensions were disarmed, even some who are likely to oppose my efforts.

We’ll see what comes of the conversations.

In the meantime, I could probably sit here tapping away at this keyboard all morning and never run out of stories to tell you. During the Pledge of Allegiance, I noticed several Democrat legislators refusing to speak. I asked Representative Bierline if that was normal. He couldn’t recall seeing that happen before.

Governor Whitmer’s speech was as I expected. She boldly opposes everything the Church holds dear. And yet, strangely, no small number of Michigan “Christians” helped choose her for Governor. The pastor she invited to give the invocation illustrated this. His prayer was not to God—not the real God, anyway. Instead, it was a prattling list of high praise for things the Bible would call sin. Worst of all, he prayed for continued blessing upon these warped endeavors. I don’t know if any roaming cameras caught it, but I’m pretty sure I was the only one in the room who turned and faced the other way during the prayer. It was clear the Invocator does not worship the same God I do. Let this be known.

The address was held in the Michigan House Chambers. As I mentioned, I had a floor seat rather than the gallery. I watched Whitmer ascend the rostrum like a determined preacher. While awkward with her colloquialisms, she exuded confidence that her administration was instrumental in recreating Michigan as a winning state.

I agree if she means Michigan is now winning the race toward dreadfulness.

She touted Michigan as a state that lets teachers “do what they do best: teach,” making it the envy of teachers in other states. And yet, U.S. News and World Report just released the state rankings in education. Michigan is number 37. Last year, we were 36. Our trajectory is by no means skyward. I wonder if this is because far too many of our school boards spend more time dividing learning communities with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives while, at the same time, the classroom teachers are doing all they can to destroy spectral patriarchies and confuse genders rather than providing students with skills to be productive citizens in a functioning society built on objectively true things. By the way, when you add crime, fiscal stability, and other determiners to the ranking’s equation, Michigan drops to number 41. We’re nine spots short of being the worst state in the Union.

Conversely, there are categories in which we truly excel. I mean, Whitmer is quite proud that since Proposal 3 was passed in 2022, Michigan has become a top travel destination for those seeking an abortion. Proposal 3 memorialized in our state’s Constitution a woman’s right to kill her unborn child up to the very moment of birth.

If these things are what Whitmer means by winning, then she’s right. Relative to everything awful, we’re top-tier. Few can contend with us in the race to irreversibly damage our children physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Even fewer can keep with our pace to become America’s genocidal capital.

I walked away from the before- and after-speech conversations having experienced both optimism and dismay. I was optimistic about conservatism’s potential future. I met a young man with conservative aspirations. But then again, I always have such high hopes for starry-eyed conservatives, only to see those hopes dashed as they’re absorbed into what really is a power-hungry system. Not all can be Jim Runestads and maintain a steady course. Still, some good people are doing some great things. If their efforts are allowed to take root, my chief concern—religious liberty—will remain secure for at least a few days longer.

Unfortunately, the dismay I experienced was relatively familiar. Essentially, far too many of our leaders, once elected, begin demonstrating an inability to sense bare contradictory foolishness. Conservative or liberal, it doesn’t seem to matter. I’ll give you a few examples of what I mean.

Outside of the House Chambers, I happened to be standing very near to someone praising the radical gender ideologies cemented by Governor Whitmer and enforced by Attorney General Dana Nessel. I didn’t speak to her. I just listened. She emphatically announced, in short, that if a man decides he’s a woman, then he is, and for anyone to say otherwise is bigoted. In the same conversation, this person noted Michigan’s wintertime landscape as the best in the country, describing it as stunning. Thirty minutes before this, down in the Heritage Hall Stateroom, I was greeted by another gent who recognized me. I know he supported the vote last spring to redefine the word “sex” in Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include “gender identity” and “sexual orientation.” Attempting to schmooze, and somehow aware of my whisky endeavors, he asked me which I preferred to drink more, scotches or bourbons.

So, how do these obscure instances demonstrate contradictory foolishness?

Sight is a biological function. A person does not observe Michigan’s snow-covered landscape through one’s clavicle. The eyes are the organs for sight. Drinking is a biological function. A particular clergyman does not decide his Scotch or Bourbon preferences through his elbow. When the body is functioning as it should, the mouth receives whisky.

These two policy influencers go about their lives unquestionably submitting to biological realities while absurdly asserting that gender—the ultimate biological reality that produces humans capable of sensory perception and consumption—isn’t fixed but flexible, that it isn’t biological but rather a social construct. However, to fully realize this ideology (which they’d say can be changed at will) means extreme biological manipulation. And yet, if the mind determines gender, why is there a need for hormone therapy or surgery? Unless, of course, gender is actually rooted in biology.

I mentioned these conversations to Mayor Dean while awaiting the address. I told her the behavior reminded me of George Orwell’s “doublethink” concept, where individuals stake simultaneous claims on conflicting premises. Orwell described doublethinkers as those who will eventually be found telling a man they love him as they’re torturing him.

Governor Whitmer is a doublethinker. She stirred a standing ovation for Proposal 3’s passing. She immediately followed her words by demanding that we care for our “sweet and precious children” by guaranteeing them free school lunches. She added, “When kids are unsafe, they can’t reach their full potential.” Indeed, and amen. And yet, when does the child become precious enough for safety policies? Apparently, this is determined by location measured in centimeters.

Whitmer can tell children she loves them while making it possible to grind them to bits in the womb.

Doublethinkers are very dangerous. But in the end, the real danger is not just that they accommodate untruth. Instead, like Governor Whitmer on the rostrum, they enthusiastically preach untruth’s darkness. A lie gripped by an enthusiastic hand is the worst kind. If that hand also holds power, societies will unravel, and lives will be destroyed.

Following a few of these interactions, I couldn’t help but whisper, “God help us.” When I left the House Chamber following the speech, one person from the Democratic side of the aisle asked me what I thought of Whitmer’s words. I said I felt like I needed a shower.

Still, during the moments of deliberate conversation, I did what I could to convert and convince my discussion partners to something better.

In closing, I must confess I don’t belong in these circles. I said as much to Mayor Dean. I told her that the more I experience them, the less I want to. But I added that this is precisely why I steer into them whenever I’m invited. As a Christian who cares, I have something to offer. You do, too. Therefore, if you can chat with your local, state, or federal leaders face-to-face, do it. But again, only if you care. If you don’t care, stay home and enjoy what winning means to those who would just as soon push the Church into the shadows. If you do care, engage. Find your elected leaders. Ask them questions. Answer theirs. Praise what they’re doing well. Challenge what they’re doing wrong. Do what you can to invalidate untruths in ways that can’t be deleted from an email inbox, thrown into a trash can, or hung up on.

But there is something you should probably keep in mind. When you do this, be ready to be uncomfortable. Be prepared to experience trouble. In my experience, trouble is often the price exacted for faithfulness. And yet, as Christians, rest assured that we’re already built to endure the kind of trouble the world might inflict upon people like us. That’s because we’re not inheritors of this world. We’re inheritors of the world to come. We are set apart as Christ’s holy ones who know they have nothing to lose but Christ, making engagement with the world all the more possible and even more so necessary.