Who Are The Taliban And Isis? ~ Why Is America Capitulating?

In the past few days, in Kabul, Afghanistan, we have seen a repeat of the 1975 Fall Of Saigon.  America and our allies have been kicked out of Afghanistan by a much smaller army of militant followers of the Taliban - bringing chaos, terror, and panic - so similar to that sad 1975 day in Saigon. 

Two questions must be on the minds of all Americans and our allies in other countries:  (1) How did the greatest military force in the world, America, supported by allied nations, allow this to happen?  And (2) Would this have happened if President Trump was still in office?

Answers: 

(1) It would seem that Joe Biden has been more concerned with continued trashing of President Trump - and both Biden and his Intelligence Agencies have been caught with their pants down.

(2)  President Trump had, in 2020, initiated and signed a Peace Agreement with the Taliban.  With President Trump in office, there would have been prompt and decisive action taken if and when the Taliban broke that agreement.  Joe Biden, on the other hand, seemed to be "asleep at the wheel" and apparently was totally unaware of what was happening in Afghanistan.

The following is an article from I World News about this current chaotic disaster.  I hope it will help you better understand the situation in Afghanistan, and why it is happening:

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The Taliban And Isis: The Relationship Between The Groups Explained And What It Means For Afghanistan
By Jaymi McCann, a freelance journalist on politics and human rights living in London
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/taliban-isis-afghanistan-groups-terror-relationship-explained-1168826

  ~ ~ The "I News," a British national morning paper published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust and distributed across the United Kingdom
explains that both factions are armed Sunni Islamist extremist groups who want to impose harsh interpretations of sharia law – but they are rivals, not allies. ~ ~

Taliban Fighters Patrol In Kabul, Afghanistan  ~  In the U.S. departure from Afghanistan, China has seen the realization of long-held hopes for a reduction of the influence of a geopolitical rival (America) in what it considers its backyard.  Yet, it is also deeply concerned that the very withdrawal could bring instability to that backyard - Central Asia - and possibly even spill over the border into China itself in its heavily Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang.

August 26, 2021:   President Joe Biden Has Warned Of The Risk Of A Terror Attack In Kabul By Isis After The Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan:

 

Bill Gray Note:  Gee, you think so?

 

But what are the differences between the Taliban and Isis, also known as Isis-K in Afghanistan?  And why are they rivals and not allies?  Here’s everything you need to know.  Who are the two groups?

Both The Taliban And Isis Are Sunni Islamist Extremist Groups Who Wish To Form States Under Sharia Law:

However, they are not actually allies, and they have fought (one another) since 2015 when Isis moved into Afghanistan, forming the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (Isis-K), and attracting defectors from the Taliban who were unsatisfied with their own group’s progress, and felt it was not strict enough. 

August 19, 2021:  Taliban Fighters Patrol In Kabul, Afghanistan:

Fighting broke out between the two groups in June 2015 after then-Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour wrote to Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, telling him to stop recruiting Taliban defectors.

There was more fighting in November of the same year.  This time it was between Taliban factions over whether to join forces with Isis.

In April 2017 Isis-K captured three Taliban drug dealers selling opium to raise money in northern Afghanistan.  And 22 were killed in battles between the groups at the Iranian border in May 2017.

In the summer of 2018, however, the Taliban succeeded in clearing Isis-K out of out of the northern province of Jowzjan, and the US and Afghan armies almost completely defeated them in the following years.

IN 2020, When The Taliban Signed The Peace Deal With Then-President Donald Trump, it promised to fight extremist groups, including Isis.

What is Isis-K?  How The Terrorist Group Is Trying To Benefit From The Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan ~ Taliban leaders have committed to preventing Isis from gaining from the situation in Afghanistan, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying: “We assure you that we will not let Isis become active in the country, in the areas under our control.  As for the presence of terrorists from other countries, I completely deny this.  There are no terrorists from Central Asia or China in the country.  We will prevent them from entering the country.”

The two groups have clashed over other matters such as the drug trade, which has been used to finance militancy.  For example, Isis-K believe that opium poppy cultivation is Un-Islamic. 

What is the history of the Taliban? ~ The Taliban was formed in 1994 during the civil war in Afghanistan, which broke out when the government put in place during the Soviet occupation of the 1980s fell and various factions of the Mujahideen, which had fought against the government, then fought against each other.

One of those factions was the Taliban, led by Mullah Mohammed Omar.  It wanted to impose a particularly strict interpretation of Islamic law, and quickly took over a swathe of the country, before reaching Kabul in 1996 and establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Bill Gray Note:  It seems the whole world KNEW that the Taliban was rapidly taking over Afghanistan, piece by piece, for a long time.  Why was Joe Biden not fully aware of this happening - and put in place a means of stopping the Taliban, as we did before?  Was Joe Biden sleeping - or playing golf all this time?

When is the Afghanistan evacuation deadline?  Latest on Taliban extension talks and what’s happening in Kabul:

The Taliban regime enforced its extreme interpretation of Sharia law - and the country became a safe haven for extremists such as al Qaeda.  The Taliban’s refusal to hand over al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, sparked the invasion of Afghanistan by the US, UK, and other countries – which led to the fall of the Taliban regime.

Bill Gray Note:  With our allies, America stopped the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan before.  Why are we and our allies now meekly handing the country over to the Taliban on a silver platter?  Could that be because of Joe Biden timidity and lack of backbone, or his lack of awareness that he is currently sitting in the most powerful office in the world, the White House Oval Office?

However, the Taliban then launched an insurgency which has continued for the past 20 years – culminating in their retaking of Afghanistan, and the US withdrawal.

What Is The History Of ISIS? ~ The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), also known as Isil and Daesh, was formed in 1999 by Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.  But it did not receive global attention until 2014 when it started to gain key cities in Iraq, including Mosul.

Isis Declared A Worldwide Caliphate – a political and religious Muslim state, and then moved into Syria, taking the city of Raqqa.

However they lost these key cities in 2017 to Iraqi government forces and Syrian anti-Isis fighters, backed by international military support and air power, and by 2019, the “Caliphate” had fallen.

When Al-Qaeda Hijackers Killed Nearly 3,000 People On September 11, 2001 ~ the United States instantly took on a new mission as a furious and fearful nation coalesced around president George W. Bush's "war on terrorism" that would obliterate the rest of the international agenda.  Twenty years later, the world has transformed.

An all-consuming focus on terrorism has given way to a weariness about "forever wars" - days before the September 11 anniversary, Taliban militants who had been swiftly defeated after the 2001 attacks - seized back power in Afghanistan amid a US withdrawal.

Bill Gray Note:  Shades of 1975 Saigon - all over again!   Let's look back a bit:  In 1941, after Americans were attacked in Pearl Harbor - America joined the war against aggression such as Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler's attacks on our allies in Britain and Europe.  ALL AMERICANS stood with President Roosevelt and our military in defeating those aggressors.  All America was committed to the defeat of Japan and Nazi Germany.

Since then, after politicians took control of the wars, America has been humiliated over and over - for withdrawing without a victory. 

In 1950, when North Korea and Red China attacked South Korea, we went to the aid of our ally, South Korea.  But in 1953, America in effect withdrew, we accepted a Cease Fire instead of a Peace Treaty, i.e., America capitulated!   As a result, a state of war still exists in Korea, South Korea and America - against North Korea and China.

In the early 1960s, President Kennedy sent troops into Vietnam, calling them advisors.  President Johnson escalated that war - but in the end, America withdrew, i.e., America capitulated!

In 1991, when Iraq attacked Kuwait, President Bush, Sr., sent American forces into the Gulf War - with some measures of success.

In 2001, when al-Qaeda terrorists attacked America at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, taking some 3000 lives - President Bush, Jr., began America's "War On Terrorism."  That war spilled over into Afghanistan - and after 20 years and a number of victories, America is again withdrawing, i.e., America is capitulating once again!

WHEN will America stop "withdrawing, i.e., capitulating" amid political chaos?  America should either stay out of those wars - or - stay committed to winning those wars as swiftly and as absolute as possible?  Allowing the politicians to turn each war into a political football, as a means of winning elections, results in a much greater loss of lives, military and civilian.

More recently, in 2020 and 2021, Isis has staged campaigns in Africa, hitting countries such as Nigeria and Mozambique.

In Afghanistan Isis-K has expressed its desire to launch attacks on Western powers and the UN, unlike the Taliban.  There are also concerns it could try to attack Kabul.

According to the "Centre for Strategic Studies" - Isis-K boasted around 800 fighters in October 2018.  It peaked in size in 2016 with up to 4,000 militant members.

What Is Happening Now? ~ The Taliban claims to have executed the former leader of Isis-K, Abu Omar Khorasani, after releasing him from jail along with other terrorist fighters.

The group (Isis-K) is thought to be the most likely to launch a terror attack on Kabul airport, where Western forces are seeking to evacuate those fleeing the Taliban.  Afghanistan aid workers forced to hide in their homes after Taliban takeover but Red Cross vows not to give up.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Biden said Isis-K was planning to target the airport.  Biden said, “I’m mindful of the increasing risk (which) I’ve been briefed on and the need to factor those risks in.  They’re real… starting with the acute and growing risk of an attack by a terrorist group known as Isis-K, an ISIS affiliate which is a sworn enemy of the Taliban,” he said.  “Every day we’re on the ground is another day ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport."

Bill Gray Note:  Is Joe Biden "asleep at the wheel" and has been caught with his pants down?  Has the Biden administration so neutered our Intelligence organizations, that they, too, have been "asleep at the wheel" and did not know the intent of the Taliban and Isis?  Or does Joe Biden not want to rock the boat against countries who are his source of "family financial wealth" and election donations?

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My American Friends, today we had 13 American Marines killed by terrorists in Afghanistan.   What would President Trump do in a situation like this?

We all are familiar with the Christian acronym:  WWJD - for "What Would Jesus Do" in this or a similar situation?

How about a new acronym based upon that same thought:  WWTD - FOR "What Would Trump Do" in a similar situation?

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge: 

Judge Jeanine Speaks The Absolute Truth About Joe Biden And The Afghanistan Disaster!

I am sharing this on my Friends Ministry eNewsletter and also on our Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries blog site, because I am sure it will be removed from Facebook.  This is a video that EVERY AMERICAN should, and must, see.   The video and the transcript of Judge Jeanine's comments about Joe Biden and the Afghanistan Disaster,  God bless America, Bill

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JUDGE JEANINE SPEAKS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH ABOUT JOE BIDEN AND THE AFGHANISTAN DISASTER!

Jeanine Pirro torched Joe Biden Saturday on “Justice with Judge Jeanine” for “fumbling” the troop withdrawal of Afghanistan, claiming the “so-called commander in chief” was a “fumbling, lying, idiotic fool incapable of extricating innocent Americans and Afghan allies” from behind enemy lines.

Apparently, this caught the network off guard, causing Fox to reportedly interrupt the broadcast a few moments later.

“Mark this day as the day the United States of America officially fell from grace as the world’s superpower, due to the ineptitude, the incompetence, and the dereliction of duty by a so-called commander in chief. A fumbling, lying, idiotic fool incapable of extricating innocent Americans and Afghan allies from behind enemy lines in the war zone we entered 20 years ago,”  Jeanine said.

“As American families of those trapped behind enemy lines, as Afghani Americans whose families helped us, and indeed Americans of all walks of life are glued to this crisis on television. They’re met with government officials who are not only not candid, or are confused or are just outright lying.”

But, then something unusual happened.  Jeanine went in an apparent off-scripted rant against Biden, reportedly causing Fox News to interrupt the broadcasting after it.

Judge Jeanine:  Roasts Biden due to his 'ineptitude' and 'incompetence' over the Crisis in Afghanistan.  I don't think FOX was informed of her ending statement ahead of time.  View the full opening statement video below:

This is not Fox News’ first disagreement with Jeanine Pirro.  She was reportedly suspended by the network following comments she made about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) (dis)loyalty to the Constitution back in 2019.  Pirro suggested during her March 9 show that Omar’s religious beliefs were at odds with the U.S. Constitution.  CNN reported the suspension, citing an unidentified source familiar with the matter.

Watch: Judge Jeanine Goes Off Script on Biden, Fox News Stops Broadcasting After It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQCOMrgD2lg

God bless America,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge:

 

"Gender Ideology Run Amok" ~ Speech By Abigail Shrier For Hillsdale College

YOU KNOW THAT I HAVE WRITTEN FOR DECADES ~ That the goal of the United Nations and Globalist Politicians and Bankers is to use their Democrat and RINO Politician Puppets to bring America to her knees.  And I have recently written and shown evidence that Karl Marx, in his long range goal of conquering the world, stated that - to conquer a nation without guns, you need only conquer the minds of their children.  

Those Indoctrinated Children become future Child Indoctrinators and Political Leaders.  We have witnessed that in the past 50 - 100 years in America.  We have seen it in action in recent past decades under the evil influence of the Clinton and Obama administrations - and it has a full head of steam today under the Biden/Harris/Pelosi/Schumer administration.

This reprint from the Hillsdale College monthly newsletter is a bit long - but it is probably the most important blog I have written in many years.  I urge you to read it to the end, and then share it with all your FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors).  The future of our children, grandchildren, and our homeland, America, depend upon us acting now.

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GENDER IDEOLOGY RUN AMOK
Speech by Abigail Shrier
Imprimis, A Monthly Newsletter of Hillsdale College
June/July 2021 • Volume 50, Number 6/7

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Abigail Shrier, journalist and author who holds an A.B. from Columbia College as a Euretta J. Kellett Fellow - a B.Phil. from University of Oxford - and a J.D. from Yale Law School as a Coker Fellow.  She is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.  She has written for numerous publications, including City Journal, Newsweek, RealClearPolitics, The Federalist, the New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal.  She is the author of the book "Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters."

Imprimis is the free monthly speech digest of Hillsdale College and is dedicated to educating citizens and promoting civil and religious liberty by covering cultural, economic, political, and educational issues.  To receive a free subscription to Imprimis, visit "Imprimis (dot) hillsdale (dot) edu" and click on "Get your FREE print subscription to Imprimis now!"

The following article is adapted from a speech she delivered on April 27, 2021, in Franklin, Tennessee, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar. 

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In 2007, America had one pediatric gender clinic.  Today there are hundreds.  Testosterone is readily available to adolescents from places like Planned Parenthood and Kaiser (Kaiser Permanente), often on a first visit - without even a therapist’s note. 

How did we get to this point?  How is it that we are all supposed to pretend that the only way you can know I’m a woman is if I tell you my pronouns?  How did we get to an America in which a 13-year-old in the State of Washington can begin “gender affirming” therapy without her parents’ consent?  How did we get to an America in which a 15-year-old in Oregon can undergo “top surgery” - elective double mastectomy - without her parents’ permission?  And what can we do about it?

To understand how we got to this point, it is useful to begin by considering gender dysphoria - the feeling of severe discomfort in a person’s biological sex. Gender dysphoria is certainly real.  It is also exceedingly rare.  It afflicts about 0.01 percent of the population, most of whom are male.

For nearly 100 years of diagnostic history, gender dysphoria typically began in early childhood, between the ages of two and four, and usually involved a boy who insisted that he was not a boy but a girl.  Children afflicted are insistent, consistent, and persistent in the feeling that they are in the wrong body. It is by all accounts excruciating.  I’ve talked to many transgender adults, most of them biological males, who describe the relentless chafe of a body that feels all wrong. 

Historically, this has been the classic presentation of gender dysphoria.  When these children were left alone - when no one intervened medically or encouraged what we today call “social transition” - over 70 percent of them naturally outgrew their gender dysphoria.  Most of those who outgrew it became gay men.  Those who did not outgrow it became what used to be known as transsexuals.  They did not believe they were women, but they felt most comfortable presenting themselves as females. 

Today, however, we don’t leave these children alone.  Instead, the moment children seem not to be perfectly feminine or perfectly masculine, we label them as “trans kids.”  Teachers encourage them to reintroduce themselves to their classes with new names and new pronouns.  We take them to therapists or doctors, nearly all of whom practice so-called affirmative care - meaning they think it is their job to affirm the diagnosis of gender dysphoria and help the children medically transition. 

The typical first step in treatment administered to these kids is puberty blockers, which shut down the part of the pituitary gland that directs the release of hormones catalyzing puberty.  The most common of these drugs is Lupron, whose original purpose was the chemical castration of sex offenders. To this day, the FDA has never approved this drug for halting healthy puberty. 

One has to wonder why a parent or a doctor would take measures to stop a child’s puberty, given that even a child with genuine gender dysphoria would most likely outgrow that condition if left alone.  Some argue that it is traumatizing to let children go through the puberty of the sex to which they do not wish to belong.  But in many cases, puberty seems to have helped children overcome gender dysphoria.  The truth is that there is no satisfying answer, given that scientists have no way of predicting which children will outgrow the dysphoria on their own and which won’t. 

Proponents of “affirmative care” also argue that allowing puberty to occur is dangerous, because suicide rates for trans-identified youth and trans adults are very high.  Therefore, they say, we need to start treating children with gender dysphoria as soon and as dramatically as possible. 

Yet there are no good long-term studies indicating that puberty blockers cure suicidality or even improve mental health.  Nor are there studies that show puberty blockers are safe or reversible when used in this manner.

What we do know is that puberty blockers prevent the development of secondary sex characteristics, sexual maturation, and bone density.  Indeed, because of the inhibition of bone density and other risks, doctors don’t like to keep children on puberty blockers for more than two years.

We also know that in almost every case when a child’s healthy puberty is medically arrested, placing the child out of step with his or her peers, that child proceeds to cross-sex hormones.  And when puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are administered to a girl, she becomes infertile.  She may also have permanent sexual dysfunction given that her sex organs never reach adult maturity.

Given this, the claims made by so many doctors and gender activists today that these medical transition measures for children are safe and reversible - that they are a “pause button,” without serious downsides - are not only dishonest, but destructive. We would not accept this sort of glib salesmanship in any other area of medicine. 

Trans Identification among Teenage Girls:

As I mentioned, for the nearly 100-year history of scientific study of gender dysphoria, it has been diagnosed almost exclusively in young children, and mostly in boys.  But over the last decade, large numbers of teenage girls have begun to claim they have gender dysphoria. 

Prior to 2012, in fact, there was no scientific literature on gender dysphoria arising in teenage girls.  Dr. Lisa Littman, then a Brown University public health researcher, used the phrase “rapid onset gender dysphoria” to refer to the subsequent sudden spike in transgender identification among teenage girls with no childhood history of gender dysphoria.

This spike is not unique to America - we see it across the Western world.  To offer just one statistic, there has been a decade-to-decade increase of over 4,400 percent in the number of teenage girls seeking treatment at the United Kingdom’s national gender clinic.   Across the West, teen girls are now the leading demographic claiming to have gender dysphoria. 

What is behind this is social contagion - the spread of ideas, emotions, and behaviors through peer influence, one more instance of teenage girls sharing and spreading their pain.  There is a long history of social contagion with this demographic - anorexia and bulimia are also spread this way.  And we know that teen girls today are in the midst of the worst mental health crisis on record, with the highest rates of anxiety, self-harm, and clinical depression. 

The teen girls susceptible to this social contagion are the same high-anxiety, depressive girls who struggle socially in adolescence and tend to hate their bodies.  Add to that a school environment where you can achieve status and popularity by declaring a trans identity.  Add to that the teenage temptation to stick it to mom.  Also add the intoxicating influence of social media, where trans activists push the idea that identifying as trans and starting a course of testosterone will cure a girl’s problems.  Put those together, and you have a fast-spreading social phenomenon. 

I’ve spoken to families at top girls’ schools who attest that 15, 20, or in one case 30 percent of the girls in their daughter’s seventh grade class identify as trans.  When you see figures like that, you’re witnessing a social contagion in action.  There is no other reasonable explanation. 

These teen girls are in a great deal of pain.  Almost all of them have at some point dealt with an eating disorder, engaged in cutting, or been diagnosed with other mental health comorbidities.  And now they’re being allowed to self-diagnose gender dysphoria by a medical establishment that has decided that its job is to affirm and agree with trans-identified adolescents.

Turning a Blind Eye:

You may not know the name Keira Bell.  She is a young woman in the U.K., very troubled in adolescence, who was rushed to transition in her teen years and came to regret it.  She underwent double mastectomy and spent years on testosterone, only to realize that her problem had never been gender dysphoria.  She sued the U.K.’s national gender clinic, and last December, after the High Court of Justice examined her case and the claims of similarly situated plaintiffs, she won. 

The Court examined the medical protocols applied to Keira Bell - protocols identical to the ones we have in the United States - and was horrified that a young girl had been allowed to consent to begin a process of eliminating her future fertility and sexual function at an age, 15, when she could not possibly have gauged that loss.

Hailed as a “landmark case” by The Times of London, The Economist, and even The Guardian, Bell’s victory was widely viewed as a serious condemnation of the effort to fast-track teen girls to gender transition.  One of the appalling things the Court noted was that the national gender clinic had been unable to show any psychological improvement in the adolescents it had treated with transitioning hormones. 

If, as I suspect, you haven’t read or heard about the Keira Bell case, that’s because America’s legacy media decided to pretend the case didn’t happen. Similarly, they continue to ignore or dismiss the stories of the thousands of “detransitioners” - young women who underwent medical transition, later regretted it, and attempt to reverse course.  A lot of the treatments these girls have undergone are permanent, but they do what they can to try to reverse some of the effects. 

Thus it is that in the United States, this crisis among teenage girls gets treated as a political issue - a conservative issue - rather than a medical one.  And so perhaps the greatest medical scandal of our time is dismissed as a conservative preoccupation.

Bill Gray Note:  When it fails, blame it on the Conservatives!  All part of the "Blame President Trump" syndrome. After many decades of Leftist Democratic failures in all aspects of American life, they still push the Big Lie that all bad things in America are the fault of a 4-year  President Trump administration.  Folks, the greatest sickness in America is the Democratic Party.

The Assault on Women’s Sports and Safe Spaces:

No discussion of gender ideology can ignore the ongoing movement to eradicate girls’ and women’s sports and protective spaces.  Many or most of the people pushing this are not transgender themselves.  But they are activists, they are energized, and they seem to be winning. 

This movement promotes dangerous bills like the Equality Act, which would make it illegal ever to distinguish between biological men and women - and thus to exclude a biological male from a girls’ sports team, or a women’s protective space, whether it be a restroom, locker room, or prison.  We have these laws now in California and in the State of Washington - and as you might imagine, one result is that hundreds of biological male prisoners, many of them violent felons, have applied to transfer to women’s units.

Bill Gray Note:  Can you imagine?  A violent criminal, i.e., rapist, sexual predator, murderer, etc. - only has to "claim to be a women" and he can be transferred into a women's prison where he has a large harem of female prisoners at his disposal.  Think of that - a young woman in prison for a mistake, suddenly finds that she has a male rapist or sexual predator - as her cell mate!  That is now the law in California and Washington - and being pushed for all 50 states.

For activists pushing this, it is not enough to create unisex bathrooms, a separate category for trans-identified athletes, or separate safe zones in prisons for trans-identified biological men.  No, they are working to abolish all women’s-only spaces and they want to abolish them now. 

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The common thread running through these topics is that the truth is being obscured by gender ideology.  Lies are told about the risks of the transition treatments administered to young children, both to play down the dangers of those treatments and to exaggerate the degree to which those treatments are known to be helpful. Lies are told about the researchers and journalists who attempt to report on the crisis of social contagion among teenage girls undergoing transition treatments.  And lies are told about the movement to eradicate women’s protective spaces. 

The gender ideology behind these lies is a sibling of critical race theory.  While critical race activists are teaching kids that they are largely defined by their skin color, gender activists are teaching kids that there are a great many genders, and that only they know their true gender.  And just as families who object to racial indoctrination in schools are told that their denials of racism are proof of racism, young women who object to biological males participating in girls’ sports are told that their objections are proof of transphobic bigotry. 

These mendacious dogmas have corrupted our K-12 schools, our universities, and our legacy media, as well as our scientific journals and our medical accrediting organizations - the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, etc.  To give you a sense of how far things have gone, I was informed late last year by a member of the National Association of Science Writers - an association of journalists with scientific backgrounds - that a member of the association’s online forum had been expelled for mentioning my book on the transgender social contagion among teenage girls.  He hadn’t even read my book.  He just mentioned that it sounded interesting, and for that he was banned as transphobic. 

Similarly, endocrinologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and researchers who are concerned about the risks of gender interventions report that they struggle today to get their research published.  And public and private funding of research is almost entirely restricted to researchers who promote gender transition and downplay the risks. 

There are phalanxes of young doctors now, many of them in pediatrics or child psychiatry, who are open about their belief that their primary job is “social justice.”  They unreservedly celebrate the increase in transitioning treatment of young people and are inexcusably complacent about the risks of those treatments.  The Washington Post recently quoted some of these doctors to the effect that puberty blockers are fully reversible - which is not something that any honest doctor can claim to know.  We simply don’t have the data to know whether puberty blockers are fully physically reversible when applied to halt healthy puberty - and they are certainly not psychologically reversible.  We’re seeing a startling politicization of medicine and science, which is symptomatic of a larger woke corruption of American society.

* * *

Now, there’s something I make a point of saying whenever I speak, and I say it for the simple reason that it is true: transgender adults are some of the soberest and kindest people I have met in my work as a journalist.  Many of them seem to have been helped by transition, and they are leading admirable and productive lives.  They have no desire to harm women or to push transition on children.  The gender ideology activists do not represent them. 

My understanding of freedom includes a belief that society should allow adults to make consequential decisions about their lives, which includes choosing to undergo sex reassignment surgery.  And whenever I am asked by a transgender adult, I use his or her chosen name and pronouns.  This seems to me the courteous and the right thing to do.  But - and this is a big but - I never lie.  This means I never say, and I will never say, that trans women are women. I think reciting this lie leads, as we are seeing, to unjust and dangerous consequences for women and girls.  It is not courteous or right to parrot these lies. It is the cowardly surrender of women’s welfare to the woke gods.  And it is wrong.

I’m also often asked why it is that the gender ideology activists are doing what they are doing.  What possible justification could there be, for instance, for telling small boys that they might be girls - and small girls that they might be boys?  My best guess at an answer occurred to me while talking to detransitioners.  I heard repeatedly from these young women that while they were transitioning, they were angry and politically radical.  They often cut off relations with their families, having been coached to do so online by gender activists.  Related to this, if you look, you’ll notice a disproportionate number of gender-confused people among the ranks of Antifa in cities like Portland. 

In other words, chaos is the point, and these troubled girls become prey for those who seek to recruit revolutionaries.  Just as the destructive objective of critical race theory is to divide Americans racially - that of gender ideology is to disrupt the formation of stable families, the building blocks of American life.

So what do we do about it?  How do we push back?  First and foremost, we must oppose the indoctrination of children in gender ideology.  There is no good reason for it, and it does real harm.  We can absolutely insist that all children treat each other kindly without indoctrinating an entire generation in gender confusion. 

Second, we must overcome our squeamishness and speak the truth in public.  Wherever we find ourselves, we must refuse to recite lies.  And we must always clearly distinguish between transgender Americans, generally wonderful people - and the ideological transgender movement, which seeks to warp children and weaken families. 

This is a movement that would turn our children against themselves because its advocates know there is no greater harm - no quicker way to bring America to its knees - than by driving our children to do themselves irreversible damage.  The people pushing this ideology have gotten a head start on us by perhaps a decade.  But now I think they have awakened a sleeping giant.  The success of my book is one indication.  The many state legislatures that are now debating these issues is another. 

These are our kids and grandkids. Our future depends on our winning this fight.

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Once more I ask you to share this blog with all your FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors).  The future of our children, grandchildren, and our homeland, America, depend upon us acting now.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

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This Is A Lesson Every American Should Be Thinking Hard About Today In 2021.

THIS IS A LESSON EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD BE THINKING HARD ABOUT TODAY IN 2021.  Has the Left done what the Civil War and 600,000 deaths could not do in 1861-1865, create a fully Divided America?

Just last night, my wife, Dory, and I were talking about the Great Divide which is occurring today, 2021, all across America.   Looking back to 160 years ago, over 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War (or as some refer to it, the War Between The States) to end slavery - and Americans have worked hard in the ensuing 160 years to erase the division between Americans based upon skin color.

And we were achieving that goal - until the Leftist saw that their agenda to destroy and control America was not doing well.  Americans were beginning to work together as fellow Americans with the goal to build a stronger America, based upon abilities, not skin color.  Yet, the United Nations, Globalists, and Leftists have an agenda, to control the world - and they knows that to conquer the world - they cannot fight each and every nation separately.  That would deplete their resources.

So how can they accomplish their agenda of world control - without depleting themselves.  Simple.  They must go after and defeat the strongest nation first - and then most likely all the rest will fall in line without a fight - the Domino Effect.  That is the agenda, the strategy, of those who would dominate the world and establish their One World Government.

I grew up in the South, Alabama, in the 1930s/40s/50s when segregation was rampant - but I have never been prejudiced.  I guess because racism and prejudice were never taught nor practiced in my home.  My mother was an intelligent but uneducated woman who grew up poor - and never considered herself better, nor worse, than anyone else.  Especially based upon skin color.

In my lifetime, I have had friends of all races and I have dated women of all races.  Yes, brown, black, yellow, white - I have made friends and dated many without even noticing the color of their skin.  In my Air Force Radar/Electronics Tech School class, Denver, in 1955-56, my main competition for number one in our class was a black kid from Chicago, Albert Hawkins.  He won and I was number two, not a problem.

In Korea on my first deployment in the Air Force in 1956-57, my best friend was Bob White, a black kid from Detroit - who, by the way, after the Air Force became a founding member of MoTown's inhouse band, The Funk Brothers - a pretty great accomplishment, and I was so happy for him.

My late first wife, married in 1956, was a beautiful Hispanic lady.  My wife today of 44 years, is a beautiful Filipina.  No, I did not look at skin color - only what was inside each of them.  External beauty was there, but inner beauty won my heart.

Yet today, I must admit that I am starting to feel resentment.  Not against anyone based upon their skin color - but against the Politicians and Big Corporations who are allowing themselves to be used by the United Nations, Globalists, and Leftists who see their only way to achieve their goal of world domination - is to create DIVISION among all the people of America - based upon skin color.

Have you noticed that virtually ALL the TV commercials created within the past year plus - are 90% black actors?  Pay attention when you watch television now.

When hiring anyone for a job - the first and main criteria should be: ABILITY, SKILL, KNOWLEDGE of the job - NOT skin color.  Yet today, those evil people of the United Nations, the Globalists, and the Leftists have created another Equal Opportunity Nightmare worse than that of previous years when students vying for admission to college - were chosen by their skin color, not their academic and scholarship abilities.

When the EVIL LEFT can cause ME, who never felt prejudice in my life -  to involuntarily feel resentment toward folks in a TV commercial because I know they are there because of their skin color - that scares me.  Virtually all of them are good or great actors - but you and I know that this flood of all black commercials is not based upon abilities, only skin color - and toward one goal:  Create Division.

And that is exactly the condition the EVIL LEFT has been working so hard to create.

My Friends. we who are Conservatives and love America - MUST begin to retake our homeland.  And the best way to do that is to start working overtime to get out the CONSERVATIVE VOTES - and to force the passing of honest Voter Protection legislation.   I thank my nephew, Brad Gray, for sharing this Abraham Lincoln graphic today emphasizing what has been very heavy on my heart and mind lately.  God bless America.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

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Let's Talk About Heaven! - Response And Rebuttal

Recently I wrote a blog titled "Let's Talk About Heaven" and posted it on my Friends Ministry eNewsletter, on our Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries blog site, and on Facebook.  The next day I received the response below from a man who has been on my mail list for quite a while.  I am not sure why he has chosen now to respond in this manner.  He tells me he is a Christian believer and I have no reason to doubt that he is indeed a Christian brother. 

His social media tag line tells me he is:  "Husband, Father, Artist, Democrat, Voter."  If I were to apply such a tag line to myself, mine would have to read:  "Husband, Father, Grandfather, Christian Writer, Conservative Republican, Voter."  I certainly have no problem with his tag line, nor with applying such a tag line to myself, even though I do not.  But I pray the descriptive tag line is not why he has asked to be removed from my mail list after all these years.

First I want to respond to his comments to make sure we are speaking on a level playing field.  Then if he still want to be removed from my Friends Ministry eNewsletter mail list, I will sadly comply with his wish.  Below is his response and my rebuttal:

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Subject:	RE: LET'S TALK ABOUT HEAVEN!
Date:	Wed, 28 Jul 2021 18:59:17 +0000
To:	Bill Gray <billdory@pacbell.net> From: A Long Time eNewsletter Friend

My Friend:  Please remove me from your (e)-mailing lists.  The sadly-composed, narrowly presented, WASP messages you spew are nothing about the Jesus I know.

Bill's Response:  You tell me I am a WASP.  I presume by that you mean "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" or "White (Caucasian) American Protestant."  If so, I am guilty.  I am a Caucasian male, like you.  I am an American from the South, like you.  I am a Conservative Baptist-flavored believer, a Dispensationalist who believes in the PreTribulation Rapture of the church and a PreMillennial Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 

So I guess you could call me a WASP, however I prefer to just be called a Conservative (religiously and politically) Christian believer who believes that the Christian Bible - the inspired, inerrant, literal, written Word of God - is the sole and final arbiter, the ultimate authority, for the Christian faith.

My Friend:  Do you, as seemingly reflected in the sharing of the message below, plan on loosing your relationships or idea of “family”?  If one is not to have a marital companion, then what is so special about family relationships that they are preserved as well?  You suggest a mindless relationship with your jesus who will expect nothing less than total devotion to him and him only.  Forget about any true redemption.  What you speak of is total mind-control, not true agape love. 

Bill's Response:  My Friend, I am confused by your comment above.  Do you believe there will be marriage in heaven?  (see Matthew 22:30)  

You ask, "What is so special about family?"  Yet from Genesis to Revelation, Scripture shows that family is very important to God, to Jesus Christ.  Exodus 20:12, "Honor your father and mother. . ."  

If you examine the Ten Commandments, you will see that the first four commandments show your relationship with God, the last six commandments show your relationship with family and neighbors.   So family and neighbors must be important to God - six of the Ten Commandments relate to family and neighbors.  How is that attitude to be considered "total mind control" when it comes from the Bible?

My Friend:  You, as well, seem to speak of a jesus that still remembers our sins.  Remembrance of sin has a suggestion of it being held onto by your jesus, to be used for leverage toward those who remain behind in this world.  My Jesus gave himself, sacrificing himself for my past, present, and future sins and they ENDED there forgiven, in total, on the cross.  Do keep in mind that the sins of man, my sins, were forgiven in total, there and then.  I do not have to worry about my Jesus suddenly remembering them, to even need to keep them secret from those in your heaven.

Bill's Response:  I agree with you that Jesus' death on the cross atoned for all sins, past, present, and future, for all who will believe - offering each believer total forgiveness and eternal life.  However, as long as we are in this mortal body - we will still sin. 

As the very true saying tells us, "In this life, we are merely 'forgiven sinners."  Romans 3:23 tells us that, "we ALL sin and fall short of the glory of God."  Notice that this Scripture verse does NOT say, "we all USED to sin and fall short of the glory of God" - but it assures us that, "we ALL STILL sin and fall short of the glory of God."

First John 1:8 tells us, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."   My Friend, are you saying you do not sin now in this mortal life because you are a believer?  Romans 3:22 tells us that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us in this life.  Not that we are righteous, but that He is righteous and that His holy righteousness covers us like an umbrella, hiding our sins from the eyes of God. Yet even we believers are not sinless, only forgiven.

My Friend:  There are no “secrets” in Heaven.  Do you think, as well, of when in your heaven, not remembering someone as White?  POC?  Poor?  Hungry?  Different?  Having “Other” beliefs?  This is an opportunity to joyfully REMEMBER, not simply forget, our former life, along with our forgiven sins, to joyfully REMEMBER just how totally we were blessed, as a variety of people and beliefs, to have a Jesus that does not seek to keep secrets, keep us apart from others or our loved ones.  Express that love and forgiveness NOW, here in this world.  Do not wait on getting to Heaven.  What a missed opportunity to share this concept of love, forgiveness, and blessing here on this world.  We will take it, that love, blessing, that forgiveness to Heaven with us.

Bill's Response:  My Friend, first let me assure you that in this life, when my mother was alive, I did show her great love.  But now that she is in heaven, I cannot do the things I did before, I can only hold her memory and our love in my heart.  And one day I will be reunited with her, my brother, and all my other loved ones and brethren in heaven - a glorious heavenly Family Reunion.  Yes, I believe we will still be "family" in heaven.  Scripture only tells us that we will not "marry" in heaven - but it says nothing about negating our love for family and special friends whom we knew on earth.

Regarding your question of White or People of Color, or earth or in heaven - God is color blind - and He expects no less from us.  In this mortal life and when we believers get to heaven, He sees only one race, the human race.  

We read in Scripture: Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."  AND in Colossians 3:11, "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all." 

My Friend, do YOU see "people of color" when you go to church - or do you only see Christian brethren?

You mention people who are "different" who have "other beliefs" - I am not quite sure what you mean by that.  When you say "different" are you referring to race, ethnicity, culture, or religious beliefs?  What is "different" to you?  Christ only sees believers, those yet to believe, and sadly, those who will never believe (Matthew 7:13-14).  You and I need to concentrate on "those yet to believe" and guide them toward becoming believers. 

When you say "other beliefs" are you referring to different denominations within the Christian family?  Or are you referring to religions other than the Christian faith? 

My Friend, whether you are a Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, etc. -  OR - if you a are Calvinist, Arminian, or somewhere in between - OR - if you are a Dispensationalist, as I am, or a Covenant believer - no matter what your eschatological belief, no matter whether you believe in salvation by grace or salvation by works ~ IF YOU believe in Jesus Christ and hold to the Essential Christian Doctrines: (1) The Bible is the Written Word of God - (2) The Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit - (3) Jesus Christ is the only Way for anyone to have eternal life - (4) We are saved by grace through faith, alone - (5) We have two Ordinances left to us by Jesus Christ that we must not forsake, baptism and communion - (6) All people will be Resurrected and will live eternally, either in heaven or in hell.  If you believe and live those Essential Christian Beliefs or Doctrines, you are my Christian brethren.

If by "other beliefs" you mean the many world religions other than Christianity, I realize that many folks around the world do worship in those religions.  However Jesus Christ tells us in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me."  And by NO ONE, He means that NO other religion can bring a person to heaven, give that person eternal life. 

That is obtained ONLY through Him and the Christian faith - and not through any world religion.  So, if by "other beliefs" you mean the many world religions, you may smile at a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Hindu, or any of the many other beliefs/religions - but if you do not tell them about Jesus Christ, that He is the ONLY way to eternal life, you are short changing them eternally.

My Friend:  I believe we will (wish to) continue to pray in Heaven.  Not only pray, but to be able to take those prayers to the very presence of Jesus himself, commune with him, having no veil of death between him and myself.  What is the point of experiencing that joy of prayer, redemption, and forgiveness from us by being cut off from the truth?  Do not make this only about you as a sinner, making your jesus sad.  He knows that it was already forgiven and expected it. Use, instead, your opportunity to share his already given, total forgiveness.

Bill's Response:  When we are in heaven we will be worshiping God joyfully.  Whether you wish to do that in prayer, in person, in song, in joyful dance - I believe we will have many ways to worship and fellowship with Jesus Christ and the Father, for eternity.  But I also believe we will be doing satisfying and constructive tasks on the glorious New Earth, in the beautiful New Jerusalem, and since we are no longer bound in these earthly bodies - we may be able to move around in the New Heaven. 

After all, Jesus in His glorified body moved easily between heaven and earth during the 40 days after His resurrection.  And the Bible tells us in 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."   In other words, we will have glorified bodies like His, so I would imagine we will be able to move between spatial dimensions as He does.  Won't that be exciting?

Another realization that is exciting - do you realize that you and I will be learning, for eternity?  Yes, we will constantly be learning from the Master Teacher Himself, eternally.  I realize that must raise the question, "When will we graduate, stop learning, get our Divine Doctorate Degree?"  And the only possible answer:  NEVER!  For if we stop learning, i.e., if we know all things - then we would be equal to God. And we know that will never happen.  Lucifer made the mistake of trying to accomplish that - and look what that got him and billions of angelic beings who followed him.

You tell me, "Do not make this only about you as a sinner, making your jesus sad."  First, He is not my jesus - He is my Jesus Christ, my Savior, Lord of all.  Does He see me as an individual?  Yes, I sincerely know that He does see me, you, and all people as individuals, that we are all saved as individuals - and that is why the Holy Spirit indwells each and every believer at the moment of believing. 

The Holy Spirit indwells each individual believer and will never leave that believer, i.e., a believer has eternal life, until the "day of our redemption" the day we die or are raptured (Ephesians 4:30).

You say "I believe we will (wish to) continue to pray in Heaven."   What is prayer?  Prayer is our personal conversation with God, with Jesus Christ.  In this life we talk with Him, ask His blessings, we seek the special needs of others and ourselves, and most important we seek His forgiveness for the sins we commit daily. 

Yes, believers do commit sins daily.  But what are we really doing when we go to Him in prayer, seeking His forgiveness?  God is omniscient, He knows our sins even before we commit them.  So why do we confess our sins when we pray for forgiveness - since He already knows our sins?  Good question.  Glad you asked.

When we confess our sins, it is not so that God will know what we have done.  He already knows.  Our confession is so that we will understand and own our sins, so that we know what we have done that has grieved the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and the Father (Ephesians 4:30) - and ask Him to forgive that transgression - and give us the strength to not repeat those sins. 

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My Friend, and since you tell me you are a Christian believer, I have to believe you are my Friend and a Christian brother whether we communicate in the future or not.  I pray that I have clarified and corrected any misunderstandings or misconceptions there may have been between the two of us.  And I sincerely would love to keep you in my Friends Ministry mail list.  But that is up to you.  I will honor you wish.

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From: Bill Gray
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2021 8:22 PM
Subject: LET'S TALK ABOUT HEAVEN!

 Hi to all my Friends,

LET'S TALK ABOUT HEAVEN!  ~  Today a Christian sister, Krista Brewer, posted an interesting question on Facebook: 

"Will we have a Companion for 'life' in Heaven?  Obviously we won't be married, the Bible states that word for word.  But I heard two Pastors (one last night) say that there were indications in Scripture that we would have an eternal companion.  I'm gonna look it up and write something on it once I figure it out."

And I responded on her post:

Hi Krista Brewer, Personally I believe that in heaven we will have love for all the saints, but we will still remember and hold close the special relationships we had on earth.  Below is a post I wrote on Facebook in 2002 which alludes to this same subject:

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TODAY, I CRIED  -  January 3, 2002

Today as I was ironing my shirts and levis, a male survival skill taught me as a youth by a wonderful mother, I was listening to a Good News Radio, a Christian radio station in Riverside, California.   The song they were playing, "I Bowed On My Knees And Cried Holy," sung by the Heritage Singers, really touched my heart.  The words spoke of meeting loved ones in heaven.

I thought of my mother who went home to be with the Lord in 1994.  A thought came to me, possibly the Holy Spirit, which made me cry.  I thought about those loved ones, especially my mom, who have gone ahead and I wondered if they know about me now.  I found solace and sadness in the fact that the Bible teaches us that there will be no more tears in heaven.  So my mother's pains, her unhappiness, her heartaches were all left behind when she went home to be with the Lord.

But I could see a picture of her in heaven, with Jesus, and she is always smiling.  She is always happy.  Then I remembered the question that many have asked, "Will my loved one, my mother, my father, my brother or sister, my wife or husband, my child - will they know what is happening to me here on earth, what I am doing, how I am living?  Will they know the many times I have failed to act and walk as a Christian should?  Would my mother be happy with what I am today?"  And I saw, what to me was the answer.

I see Jesus, every time I do something right, going to my mother and telling her what I have done that really pleased Him.  Oh, I know how happy that makes her.  But what about those times when I do things which I know will not please Jesus?  What does He tell my mother then?  The answer, He tells her nothing.  Because He wants her to be happy, so He tells her only the good things about me, the things I do which will make her happy.

That is when I cried.  Because I know that the things which He cannot tell my mother far outweigh the things He can tell her.   And I knew then that, once again, I have made Him very sad - and once again He alone has carried my sins upon His wonderful, cross-scarred shoulders. Once again, He alone has borne my stripes.  That is why I cried.

God bless you and your family,

Bill 

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