James Plank

The unrelenting attacks on Erika Kirk are not natural--this is demonic stuff.

“In so far as any man has the remains of indwelling sin in him, he has opposition to holiness within him. We heard a minister say not long since that ‘he found something in himself that kicks against holiness.’ We did not doubt it, carnal nature always ‘kicks against holiness.’ When men are opposed to holiness it is because holiness is opposed to them.” — John Allen Wood

HSBC Press has just received the second printing of Apologetics! The initial print run sold quickly, and we are grateful for the enthusiastic response to the curriculum. It is encouraging to see the growing impact these resources are having in Christian education.

Elon Musk memorized the entire Encyclopedia Britannica as a child. Not parts of it. The entire thing. His brother Kimbal said he would read for ten hours a day. Not children's books. Encyclopedias. Physics textbooks. Science fiction. Anything he could find. By the time other kids were learning long division, Elon had read more than most adults read in a lifetime. His mother Maye said the other children called him the encyclopedia because he would recite facts nobody asked for. At dinner. At school. In the middle of conversations that had nothing to do with what he was reciting. He couldn't stop. The information came in and it needed to come out. This is the part of the Musk origin story that everyone skips because it's not dramatic. Nobody makes a movie about a child reading. Nobody writes an article about ten thousand hours in a library. But that library is the foundation under every rocket, every factory, every company. The man who argues with NASA engineers about propulsion chemistry learned that chemistry from a book he read at age eleven. Most people who want to be like Musk study his companies. His management style. His tweets. They skip the reading because reading doesn't look good on camera. The secret was never the rockets. The secret was the ten year old who read the entire encyclopedia and never stopped.

I walked past this monument every day for two years while I worked in the Senate. The monument was boarded up with plywood and the area was overrun with drug addicts that would constantly accost congressional staffers on their way to work. In 2024, it became so bad that on several occasions I saw staffers attacked and had their bags ripped away from them. We reported this to Capitol Police but they legally couldn’t go beyond the congressional buildings to secure the area. Every day it felt like I was walking among ruins of a once great people. The change today is undeniable. The area is safer than it has been in years and our statues have been brought back to life. Decline is a choice. Civilization is a choice. It’s great to see this change. For reference, here’s a photo of it I took after work in 2024. Notice the plants growing out from behind Columbus. Quite an improvement today!

James Talarico: "Jesus never talks about abortion. The Bible is silent on abortion.” Thoughts?