Out with the old and in with the new. Yes, it’s that time of year again. The time when we flip over our calendars. For some of us it’s a time of making resolutions. For others, a time for avoiding them. In my case, it’s a convenient time to look back at the prior year in blogging as well as an opportunity to consider the year ahead.
In the first place, I would like to that the Lord for providing me with this wonderful forum for writing. Perhaps because I didn’t grow up with the internet – I’ll be 51 in March, so yes, I’m an old guy! – I’m still constantly amazed at the reach even a small blog such as this one can have. Never before in history has a single Christian had the opportunity to, quite literally, reach the whole world and never so much as venture outside his front door. There is much that is evil on the internet. As Christians, it is our job to be salt and light to the world. And through website, blogs, and podcasts God has provided an amazing tool for believers to fulfill the Great Commission.
Secondly, my sincere thanks are due to you, the readers of this blog. Even though I began writing this blog in 2009, I’m still amazed to think that anyone would take the time to read my words. It has been my honor and privilege to serve you in 2016. And it has been my prayer that this blog has, as the name suggests, helped to bring the light of Christ to the various subjects under consideration.
Now with all that said, let’s take a look at this past year in blogging.
Lux Lucet By The Numbers
Numbers, of course, aren’t everything. The fact that false teachers regularly fill large arenas are a cautionary tale against relying over much on numbers.
On the other hand, numbers are interesting and can even give us insights to how our work and how it is perceived by others.
Here’s a few basic numbers from Lux Lucet for 2016:
Number of page views: 7,793
Number of visitors: 2,907
Number of posts published: 95
The numbers for page views and visitors were up significantly from 2015 and represent a new high for this blog.
As to the 95 posts, good grief!, I didn’t realize I was so busy. Maybe I was subconsciously trying to mimic Martin Luther, who was, or so I’m told, a pretty good blogger back in the day.
About 83% Lux Lucet’s page views cane from readers in the US. Of the views that came from readers outside the US, the top ten countries were in order:
Philippines – 345 views
South Africa – 163 views
Australia – 85 views
Canada – 77 views
Germany – 76 views
United Kingdom – 75 views
Poland – 37 views
Brazil – 37 views
Indonesia 29 views
Peru – 28 views
Worth noting too, is that my final post of 2016, The
Week in Review 12/30/16, represents the 300th post on this blog.
Top Posts for 2016
As to the numbers for the individual posts themselves, here is a list of the top 10 most popular Lux Lucet posts for 2016:
Biblical Economics: The Siege of Samaria, Part 1
Christian Philosophy: Summary
Biblical Economics: The Siege of Samaria, Part 5
Book Review: The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve
Biblical Economics: The Siege of Samaria, Part 2
Immigration, Citizenship, and the Bible, Part 3: Donald Trump and Immigration Reform
Must Christians Defend the Inquisition?
The Year in Review 2015
The Week in Review 11/11/16 – Election Wrap-Up
Donald Trump v. Hillary Clinton: What is More Important, What is Less Important, and What is Not Important at All
Three of the top ten posts were from a series of posts written in June and July titled Biblical Economics: The Siege of Samaria. The main thrust behind this series was to show that a single passage of Scripture – in this case 2 Kings 6:24-7:20, which relates the details of the Syrian siege of the capital city of the Northern Kingdom – anticipates by thousands of years many of the major principles accepted by modern day economists. The Bible has a monopoly on truth, in economics and in all other academic fields. Had economists paid more attention to Scripture, perhaps they could have come to a correct understanding of economics much earlier than what they did.
Concerning the success of the Siege of Samaria series, special thanks are due to my friend and fellow Scripturalist blogger Sean Gerety, who kindly republished my posts on his God’s Hammer blog.
As to Christian Philosophy: Summary, the continuing popularity of this post has been a pleasant surprise to me. Written May of 2015 as the final post in a series on Christian philosophy, I did not expect it to figure in my top 10 posts for 2016. That is did suggests to me that I need to revisit this topic. See, numbers can be of some value.
The Creature from Jekyll Island book review was another surprise to me. Tom Juodaitis suggested this book to me back in first part of 2016. I had had the book on my shelf for some time, but at his prompting actually dusted it off and read through it. Together with the Siege of Samaria posts, this book review means that four out of my top ten posts are economics related. That’s encouraging. I say this, because I’ve long had an interest in economics. An interest that only grew stronger after first listening to John Robbins’ lecture series on the subject. Lord willing, I shall continue to feature economics as a major topic of this blog.
Must Christians Defend the Inquisition is another older post, dating from February 2015. The inspiration for this article was comments made by Southern Baptist minister Dr. Robert Jeffress on the O’Reilly Factor on the Fox News channel. In the wake of President Barak Obama’s comments at the national day of prayer in which he cited the Inquisition as an example of a terrible thing done in the name of Christ, Jeffress took to the airwaves to denounce the president and, mirabile dictu!, actually defend the Inquisition. Had Jeffress a proper understanding of the Roman Church-State – it’s the Mystery Babylon of Revelation – and the papacy – the papacy the office of Antichrist – he could have used this occasion to distinguish the true church of Jesus Christ, Bride of Christ, from the imposter Babylonian Harlot represented by Rome.
Of course, had Jeffress done this, he would never have been asked back on any television show on any major network, but he would have honored the Lord Jesus Christ with his faithful witness. As is was, he sowed confusion, and by his defense of Rome’s atrocities actually implicated not only the Southern Baptists, but all Evangelicals, in the outrageous crimes of Rome.
Three 2016 election related made the top ten for 2016: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Bible Part 3, The Week in Review 11/11/16 – Election Wrap-Up, and Donald Trump v. Hillary Clinton. That election oriented posts would figure large among the year’s articles is not surprising. That would be true in any ordinary election year. And 2016 was certainly no ordinary election.
Immigration, Citizenship, and the Bible Part 3 was a look at Donald Trump’s immigration platform. In short, some things were good about it – the assertion that immigration policy ought to be formulated for the benefit of all Americans, likewise the call for ending birthright citizenship – and some were bad – Trump’s signature proposal of building a wall along the US-Mexico border and the call for eVerify.
The Week in Review 11/11/16- Election Wrap-Up written in the wake of the surprising, at least to the mainstream punditocracy, Trump victory in the 2016 presidential election. In this piece, I lauded the alternative media led by Julian Assange of Wikileaks for its role in exposing the profound corruptions of the Hillary Clinton, her campaign, the DNC and the media. I also noted the arrogance of the political, media and corporate elite who did everything in their power to derail the Trump Train…and lost. In my view, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people.
Finally, in Donald Trump v. Hillary Clinton I attempted to make the case for Christians to vote for Trump. This article was prompted by the increasingly hysterical calls (see here and here) from leading Evangelical publications for Trump to step down as the Republican nominee, calls that were prompted by the release of the notorious Billy Bush video that showed Trump engaging in what the candidate termed “locker room talk.”
As it turned out, Trump won about 85% of the Evangelical vote. This lopsided turnout among Evangelicals for Trump exposed the great fault line that exists between the supposed spokesmen for Evangelicals, people whom World Magazine called “Evangelical Insiders“, and the 99.9% of the rest of us who, apparently in the view of World Magazine at any rate, are lowly “Evangelical outsiders.” It would seem that the same problem that exists in the world generally – a top down “lord it over them” mentality among the powerful – also exists in the professing church.
A Look Ahead for 2017
Since I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, I generally shy away from making predictions. But when considering the coming year, there’s nothing wrong with making a few educated conjectures as to the sort of events that may figure large over the next 12 months.
US politics very likely will loom large again this year. On January 20, Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. How the populist outsider will fare with implementing his agenda should prove more than a little interesting.
In Europe, big elections loom in both France and Germany. France goes first, holding it presidential election in April. If anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen wins, a breakup of the EU likely will follow. Growing anti-EU sentiment in Germany could force Angela Merkle out as well. Were the EU actually to come to an end, there likely would follow significant political, economic and social effects not just in Europe, but throughout the world.
Climate change will probably factor into this year’s news. Donald Trump, to the shock and horror of all right thinking people everywhere, has publically stated “nobody really knows” if climate change is real. It wouldn’t surprise me if you see posts on this issue appear on the blog in 2017.
The LGBT agenda almost certainly will continue to be a topic of interest to Lux Lucet. Aggressive, anti-Christian homosexual rights activists have for years been going from strength to strength. And now that same-sex marriage is the law of the land, the danger to Christians has increased even more. Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton may somewhat slow the long march of the gay rights crowd through the institutions of this nation, but it by no means represents their defeat.
Immigration likely will continue to be a major topic of this blog in 2017. In late summer 2016 I began a series of posts titled Immigration, Citizenship, and the Bible, a few installments of which already have been noted above. The series, which attempts to apply Scripturalist principles to the subject of immigration, has been interrupted but not forgotten. Lord willing, I plan to finish out the series later this year. As of this writing, there will be at least two more posts in the series. One of them will be subtitled The Refugee Racket and will expose the flawed and largely unknown workings of the refugee system. The final post is intended to set forth the Biblical case for immigration and citizenship. In short, the Bible requires,
Open immigration
The elimination of the welfare state
The elimination of taxpayer funded refugee resettlements
The elimination of birthright citizenship
The establishment of citizenship requirements based upon the Presbyterian model of church membership. This means citizenship is acquired in one of two ways: 1) by a child having at least one parent who is a citizen, and 2) by an adult who takes a credible oath of citizenship.
The economy likely will be in focus throughout the year. In January 2016, I posted an article titled The Fed, Fiat Currency, and Feckless Keynesian Economics, which warned of a coming economic collapse due to these three destructive forces. To date this has not occurred. And with the election of Donald Trump and the “Trump-flation” meme that has spread far and wide, a sort of irrational exuberance has taken root among many, even among some who counted themselves preppers throughout the eight years of the Obama administration.
But for all that, it is my opinion that we face the real the possibility of a major economic dislocation in 2017. I do not say I know it will happen, only that the possibility exists. Consider the following,
US debt is at a record $20 Trillion.
President elect Donald Trump’s economic plan calls for tax cuts and increased spending, a combination that guarantees exploding deficits and debts at the federal level.
Corporate earnings continue to decline.
The retail sales of heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar have declined for a record 47 months in a row. Caterpillar is widely viewed by stock market analysts as the bell weather stock for the state of the world economy.
According to economist John Williams of Shadowstats, were unemployment calculated today with the same method the government used prior to 1994, the unemployment rate would be north of 20%, putting it at depression era levels.
In this author’s opinion, it is very likely that the US has been in a recession for some time. And the principle reason behind the soaring Down Jones and S&P 500 indices is not related to great business fundamentals, but market rigging by the Presidents Working Group on Financial Markets, aka the Plunge Protection Team (PPT). According to Dr. Pippa Malmgren, a former member of the PPT, “there’s no price discovery anymore by the market…governments impose prices on the market.”
With rickety fundamentals and an illusion of prosperity via a “wag the dog” scenario of governmental market and statistical manipulation, not to mention growing social and political unrest in America and Europe and rising international tensions, all the kindling needed for a major economic conflagration is already in place. It would not surprise this observer at all were something to occur to set the match it sometime in 2017.
And last but not least, the scourge of “fake news” likely will be a major theme for the upcoming year. Fake news is a term we’ve heard a lot of over the past two months. It seems that the powers-that-be simply cannot get over the fact that their candidate lost the election and have decided the blame is to be put, not on Hillary Clinton, but on Russian hackers and their dupes in “fake news” alternate media.
Actually, the elites full court press to squeeze and ultimately silence the alternate media – the alternate media is the loose collections of independent bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers and non-mainstream news organizations who do not answer to bought-and-paid for corporate overlords – began before the election took place. In a speech delivered in October 2016, president Obama remarked,
We are going to have to rebuild within this wild-wild-west-of-information flow some sort of curating function that people agree to…
There has to be, I think, some sort of way in which we can sort through information that passes some basic truthiness tests and those that we have to discard, because they just don’t have any basis in anything that’s actually happening in the world..
The answer is obviously not censorship, but it’s creating places where people can say ‘this is reliable’ and I’m still able to argue safely about facts and what we should do about it.
In other words, the president is calling for a real life Ministry of Truth. But it’s not censorship, mind you. It’s just a truthiness test to help people determine what is reliable. This is truly Orwellian nonsense. And it must be opposed.
The war on the alternate media is has already begun, and your mind has been drafted. As Christians, we have to take our stand for the truth. And that means speaking out against those who wish to use the power of the state to silence opinions that run counter to the mainstream narrative. You have my solemn pledge that, Lord willing, Lux Lucet will continue to take a bold stand for the free speech throughout 2017 and beyond.
But I would also encourage the readers of this blog to get in the fight as well. The fact that you’re reading these words goes to show that you already know there’s a problem with the mainstream press, whether Christian or otherwise. If you seen something you like on this blog, like it, share it, reblog it. And do the same for other writers whose work you appreciate. Believe me, you encouragement matters.
And if your one who is inclined to make new year’s resolutions, and if you’ve thought about starting a blog or podcast or video channel but just haven’t gotten around to it, well, there’s no time like the present to get started. Don’t wait around until you have the perfect idea for the perfect post on the perfect blog. Just get out there and start writing. As Jason Hutchinson, the pastor of my church, once advised the congregation about how to approach Christian service, “Jump in and get started. If you’re terrible at it, then you’ll know that God hasn’t called you to that work.!” I think that’s not bad advice at all.
For those who are interested in starting a blog but have questions about how to do it, please feel free to contact me using the comments section of this or any other post.
Closing Thoughts
The longer I blog, the more I become aware of the great responsibility that comes with using words. That old adage about the pen being mightier than the sword, it may sound a bit trite, but it’s also true.
And it is my prayer that the words I use glorify God and edify his church. If I am faithful in this charge, I shall have succeeded in doing what I set out to do, even if only a few people read my writing. If I fail at this point, even if my posts were to go viral garnering millions of views and making me famous and wealthy, I would be judged a failure, not in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of Christ to whom I must give account.
It is my hope that the words I wrote in over the past year were in some way helpful to you and I very much look forward to serving you in 2017.
In closing, I wish you all a happy and blessed 2017 and pray that the Spirit of truth guide you in all truth as you read and study the Word of God.
