255 Advent 3: The Inscription of Sons: Building Patriarchal Leadership on the Word of God
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” ~ Philippians 4
The Inscription of Sons: Building Patriarchal Leadership on the Word of God
The sun sinks low, air alive. A boy beside his father, Bibles open.
“Do you see this?” the father asks, his finger tracing a verse. “God doesn’t just write His Word on pages, He inscribes it into our lives. He conscripts our hearts with his glory and love.”
“Inscribe?”
The father smiles. “It’s like carving stone—it doesn’t happen in a day. God inscribes His truth deeply into you over a lifetime. This IS life.”
“Think of Abraham, called to leave the familiar for a promise unseen. Or Moses, flawed and weary, leading a nation with only God’s presence as his strength. Or Paul, planting churches and raising disciples with a zeal rooted in Christ. These men didn’t chase power; they answered a call.
“Remember Proverbs?”
The boy nods.
“‘The fear of Jesus Christ is the beginning of wisdom.’ That’s not just a saying—it’s the foundation. Under God, everything else will fall into place. But when men stop fearing God? When they abandon His Word?”
The boy frowned. “Things fall apart?”
“Yes. Families fracture. Communities crumble. Men with power but no wisdom take control, and the world spirals into chaos. They don’t lead; they tyrannize.”
“How do we fix it?”
“We trust what’s never been broken—God’s Good Word. The future starts at home, with us, not with weapons or protests, but with open Bibles and bent knees. The Psalms teach us to pray. The Proverbs show us the way to walk. And above all, we follow Jesus. We worship the King.”
The father rises, steady and resolved, Bible in one hand, the other extended toward his son. There’s no dramatic speech, no rallying cry—only a man deeply rooted in God’s truth, ready to lead by living it.
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
R.J.M.F
Don’t forget! The Hebron Collegium Advent Devotional is here:
In this edition:
The power of the pardon
Scientists warn against mirror cell research
How do we define progress?
and lots more!
Please note: This will be the last MadMondays proper for 2024 as Frisby takes a short break over the Christmas season. The next edition will be out on Monday 6th January, 2025, but we are hoping to send out a couple of bulletins to keep you in the loop.
Births, Deaths and Marriages
Good news out of the UK! Puberty blocking drugs will be permanently banned for gender dysphoric under 18s, with health secretary Wes Streeting citing an “unacceptable safety risk”. God be praised! (BBC)
“It is a scandal that more fathers have not stood up and spoken out against the trans insanity. I know plenty of men who say they would do anything for their kids…Yet when it’s not their own daughter who is losing out on a medal, or risking injury in a competition, or exposed to male genitalia in the locker room, too many of these men stay silent.” (The Federalist)
Are influencers risking their souls for ‘likes’?:
A man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for sexually abusing a string of young girls in Utah, Arizona, Nebraska and Colorado. The man who set up a sect of Mormonism took “spiritual wives”, coercing and kidnapping girls as young as age 9. (AP)
Crime and Punishment
A New York jury has found Daniel Penny not guilty after returning from a weekend break. Penny was on trial after putting a homeless man, Jordan Neely in a headlock after he threatened passengers on the subway. In a strange move, prosecutors requested that Judge Maxwell Wiley dismiss the more serious charge of manslaughter after the jury could not come to an agreement. Penny was then exonerated in the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. Speaking after the trial, Penny said he could not have lived with himself if he had stood by while others were hurt. The trial was touted by supporters as a victory for do-gooders everywhere, but critics say it was a miscarriage of justice and evidence that America is deeply racist. (NBC, Mark Hemingway via X, Fox, The Hill)
Police have detained a 26 year-old suspect believed to be responsible for shooting health insurance CEO Brian Thompson. Luigi Mangione was recognized from online photos by a member of the public in a McDonalds in Pennsylvania. He had with him a 3-D printed gun and a handwritten manifesto, reportedly outlining the crime. Mangione faces extradition to New York, where he will stand trial. (BBC)
President Biden has pardoned 39 “non violent” offenders who have shown “successful rehabilitation”. He also commuted the sentences of 1,500 others. They may be non-violent but many of the crimes are not insignificant. Among those who received clemency are Chinese spies who trafficked in child porn and state secrets and a comptroller who embezzled $53 million from her town’s coffers. A judge who got kickbacks for sending 2,300 kids to privately-run prisons was also given a commutation of his sentence, angering families of the victims. Death row prisoners and their advocates are also hoping President Biden will commute all sentences down to life without parole before he leaves the White House. The President has already set new records for pardons, even with a few weeks of his term remaining. The presidential pardon was inherited from English common law, when there weren’t so many avenues of appeal as we have today. With this latest round of clemency comes a fresh discussion about whether the pardoning power afforded to presidents needs reforming. (US News, Just the News, CBS, The Guardian, The Week, Herald Net, Vox)
A new report from the Justice Department inspector general about the events of the Capitol riot, January 6th 2021, has revealed that 26 confidential human sources in the crowd, but only three were paid by the Bureau to be there. Corporate media has long dismissed the claims that informants were present and Bureau spokesmen have evaded answering when questioned directly. It is not clear yet what the sources were doing there that day, but conservative commentary has suggested from the beginning that government agents were agitating for Donald Trump supporters to enter the Capitol. (Fox, The Federalist)
The Capitol Police officer who shot and killed protestor Ashli Babbit on January 6th had been recommended for termination after lying to superiors about attending a card game when he was supposed to be on duty. (The Blaze)
Ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov has pled guilty to making up lies about the Biden family. (Just the News)
A woman who falsely accused three men from Duke University’s lacrosse team of kidnapping and raping her in 2006 recently admitted she made it all up and asked for their forgiveness. (The Blaze)
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Politics
You can’t fire me, I quit. The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has announced he will step down before Donald Trump takes office next month. Although Trump appointed Wray during his first term, the former president has made no bones about wanting to install Kash Patel in the role. The Bureau’s director position is supposed to run for ten years to avoid political turmoil, but Trump’s promise to “end the weaponization” of the intelligence apparatus may have clashed with Wray’s ideas about the purpose of the FBI. Reports say that Wray is promoting loyal “establishment figures” within the organization as he leaves, in an apparent bid to create quagmire for the incoming administration. (WNG, Washington Times)
The GOP-led Committee on House Administration has found that a major Democrat fundraising platform took illegal campaign donations from foreign sources in the form of gift cards. (The Blaze)
The strange case of drones in the night..
Coming to America
It would seem that the Biden administration is in sour grapes mode, selling off yet-to-be-used border wall materials at auction. (Daily Wire)
Health, Medicine and Food
Dozens of scientists have called for research on “mirror molecules” to be outlawed. “Many molecules are chiral, which means they exist in a left-handed and right-handed form…The term “mirror molecules” refers to molecules with the opposite chirality from the form most commonly found in nature. Unnatural mirror molecules such as right-handed amino acids or left-handed sugars have been made in labs.” While the synthetic cells could lead to discovery of treatments unknown, scientists warn that dangerous “mirror bacteria” could also arise. (The Scientist)
New dietary guidelines from the US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services were released last week, recommending Americans reduce red meat and eggs in their diets, while placing no cap on the amount of processed foods. Journalist Nina Teicholz says that the advice is quite backward, with studies showing ultra-processed food provides no health benefits. (Unsettled Science)
While the common assumption is that everyone needs 7 - 9 hours sleep per night, recent research reveals that some folks can get by with a lot less. Scientists found that the ability to survive on less sleep often runs in families, identifying “seven genes associated with natural short sleep.” One researcher says: “The bottom line is, we don’t understand what sleep is, let alone what it’s for. That’s pretty incredible, given that the average person sleeps a third of their lives.” (Knowable)
A new study concludes that although the average lifespan of Americans is expected to increase in the next couple of decades, the gains will be modest compared to other nations. Americans currently rank 49th for average lifespan, but that is expected to drop to 66th in the world by 2050. (Epoch Times)
Straight Outta J-School
Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns the LA Times is trying very hard to win back public trust in his newspaper. Apart from appointing a conservative to the paper’s editorial board, the paper will soon see an AI-driven “bias meter” added to articles to give readers “both sides” of a story. (CNN)
Rupert Murdoch has been scolded by a Nevada judge for trying to change the terms of a family trust which would see the media empire shared equally between his four children upon his death. Murdoch is now wanting to give control to his son Lachlan, who is reportedly keen to keep the right-leaning paradigm of the corporation, as opposed to his more liberal siblings. (New York Times)
The Digital Age
Google’s has announced its new Willow quantum computer which it claims is a game changer. Commentary seems a bit underwhelmed, despite Google’s fanfare about its computational speed. More impressively, it has the ability to detect its own errors, which has been a known problem for mega-fast computers. But it is still not clear what use it is: Critics want to know “whether it can meet the goal that all other quantum computers are also chasing – to reliably compute something that is useful but not possible on any conventional computer.” (New Scientist)
As with virtual spaces and media files and digital assets are inherently fickle. The makers of an $800 robot companion marketed to kids has announced the toys will be shutting down as it is going out of business and can no longer offer support (or a refund either). (ArsTechnica)
Gaming consoles may have reached their “final form”. A former Playstation boss says the hardware innovation is “sort of maxed out.” (Techspot)
Money, Markets and Jobs
The US House has passed a massive $880 billion annual defense package for 2025, which “includes a 14.5 percent pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5 increase for all other members.” Democrats blasted the restrictions placed on funding transgender procedures for servicemen and women. The Bill will now go before the Senate for consideration. (The Hill)
Amazon has partnered with car dealerships to sell new cars, trucks and SUVs through its online marketplace. The initial roll out is available in 48 US cities and only includes Hyundais but will expand its range and locations in coming months. (TechCrunch)
A judge has blocked the bankruptcy purchase of Alex Jones’ Infowars site by liberal satire site The Onion. Judge Christopher Lopez put a stop to the sale, ruling that the sealed bidding arrangement amounted led to unreasonable “fire sale” offers, not reflective of the company’s true value. (Not the Bee)
LinkedIn research says that a fifth of young workers have not held a conversation with any older colleagues in the last year. (Fortune)
Religion and the Church
Archeologists have found what they believe might be the grave of Saint Nicholas in Antalya, Turkey. (EuroNews)
The Pope has debuted an all-electric popemobile because: climate change. (Not the Bee)
Sotheby’s will auction off the oldest inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments, believed to be about 1500 years old. (Sotheby’s)
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Hearts and Minds
What is progress and how is it to be measured? Is the goal to recover Paradise or to build Paradise? The debate will rage on until techno-optimists and techno-primitivists define their terms more clearly. “A vision focused on extrinsic progress, on choosing the best means for achieving one’s goals, is naturally enamored of technological solutions — this is where technology can be especially useful. A vision focused on intrinsic progress, on pursuing the kind of life that is inherently rewarding, is naturally less interested in technology — instead, it tends to recognize that certain technologies at certain scales diminish our sense of reward.” (The New Atlantis)
Rather than appearing pleasantly informal, using abbreviations in a text message may be mistaken for laziness or insincerity. (Science Focus)
Ways to cultivate confidence. (Nice News)
Our sprawling information ecosystem leads to bad habits – we consume endless amounts of information without actually thinking about it. “When I’m focused solely on consuming, my ability to produce naturally decreases.” (Siberve Punk)
A Dull Mens’ Club? (BBC)
Lessons learned from playing Minecraft. (RevFisk)
Every zombie needs Jesus..
Science
New images and data collected by the James Webb telescope have poked a hole in the standard model of an expanding universe. (Hub)
Arts, History and Sport
What is The Matrix chord? (The Art of Storytelling via YouTube)
Italy’s “fruit detective” examines old paintings to discover produce that has gone extinct or been transformed over time. (Smithsonian)
The history of G-ratings for movies and why there aren’t many any more. (Tedium)
All the dictionaries have released their words of the year. Merriam-Webster went with “polarized” while Oxford nominated “brain rot”. Most selections were connected with tech-centred, online trends. (Scientific American, AP, Oxford)
Women’s basketball star, Caitlyn Clark, has shrugged off criticism over the attribution of her success to being white. The WNBA’s rookie of the year told reporters: “I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege.” Disappointed fans worry she is capitulating to woke ideas but Clark says she needs to share her “truth.” Sounds like internalized racism.. (The Blaze, Daily Mail)
Small spoons, discovered near Roman-era battle sites across Europe are believed to have been used to inhale stimulants by soldiers. (PopSci)
Last week in history:
1911 Roald Amundsen wins race to the South Pole. (Royal Museums Greenwich)
1979 Smallpox is declared officially eradicated. (History)
War and Rumors of War
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed contact with the group of rebels that ousted the Assad regime from Syria. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is designated a terror group by the US terrorists but is setting up camp as the new government. Western authorities appear to be waiting to see whether the new regime will bring stability and freedom to the nation or whether it is more akin to Frontpage’s summary: terrorists liberating terrorists from other terrorists. (BBC, Frontpage Mag) Listen to a potted history of the last 15 years leading to recent events in Syria.
Germany and Austria are freezing the processing of Syrian refugees. Politico reports that Germany is encouraging Syrians to return home voluntarily and Austria will give money to those who want to leave. (EuroNews, Politico)
Stories from Far Away
🇮🇱 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has testified in his own defence during a long-running trial against him. Netanyahu denies charges of bribery and corruption calling the case an “ocean of absurdness”. (CBS)
🇭🇹 Over 180 people, many of them elderly have been brutally murdered in Haiti after a warlord blamed their practice of voodoo for his son’s illness. (ZeroHedge)
🇦🇷 Austerity reforms in Argentina have been brutal, but President Javier Milei has announced his measures have eliminated the nation’s budget deficit. (ABC News, Fox)
🇨🇦 Canada will boost its presence at the top of the world to combat threats from Russia and others seeking to dominate the Arctic. “The government envisions the deployment of new patrol ships and navy destroyers, ice breakers and submarines capable of operating beneath ice sheets, as well as more aircraft and drones.” (The Guardian)
🇹🇩 🇸🇳The African nations of Chad and Senegal have asked for France to remove troops and military bases from their respective borders. “Between Chinese infrastructure investments, Russian private military contractors and Turkish affordable drones, West African and Sahel countries now have alternatives to meet their needs.” (Middle East Eye)
🇬🇧 A UK man is going to prison for 12 years for spiking a pregnant woman’s drink with an abortion pill. The woman lost her baby within hours of the poisoning, two years ago. (Yahoo)
🇦🇫ISIS has killed a Taliban government minister in Afghanistan. (Dawn)
🇳🇿 New Zealand will ban greyhound racing in 2026. (The Guardian)
🇬🇪 A tablet inscribed with an unknown language has been discovered in Georgia. (Newsweek)
🇬🇧 A thief in UK has stolen 2,500 fancy pies. Although the robber abandoned the delivery van, the food was spoiled and had to be thrown away. (AP)
🔥 Beautiful Sanborn Fire Maps drawn before the 1920s to help insurers assess risk
👀 A city in Oregon has requested that whoever is putting googly eyes on statues around town to kindly knock it off
🇳🇿 A New Zealand man has won Scrabble championships in Spain though he doesn’t speak Spanish.
🎷 Stranded passengers were grateful for this man and his saxophone
🔨 How gang-nail plates gave rise to McMansions
🌻 Crocheted flower bookmarks turn books into gardens
💡 An artist who uses drones to make “light paintings”
Looking for Christmas gifts? You can contribute to the House of Fisk oikonomia by visiting Studio31twentyfour for something lovely and handmade.
Jonathan laid out some questing challenges on last week’s Starfall2029. Get into the Psalms and speak into the dark places! Watch on YouTube or Rumble or listen here.
If you missed it, Meridith put out a call for anyone who would like to make a quilt for men who stay at the Hebron Collegium. If that is something you would be interested in helping out with, please reply to this email or send a message through madpxm.com/contact.
Our disclaimer: These are some resources the Fisks have found edifying, but when dealing with human-authored texts, apply discernment liberally!
This Week Preached:
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Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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