Letters On the Verge of Christmas

Wow! What masterful piece! Has Nancy ever seen a tongue of fire above your head as she brings you a cup of tea in your study as you’re writing?

Jack

“Are you kidding? When do they think the deep state got deep? During the last year of Obama’s presidency?”
90% of the modern dissident right have zero, literally zero, absolutely zero knowledge or awareness of political history prior to 2016. They know as much of Pat Robertson, National Review, Milton Friedman, and the intended Constitutional structure of the government as the average progressive voter understands the treasury bond market.
Its not their fault. Broadly speaking they were never taught modern political history by . . . anyone. Now they’re left to piece it together as adults with their sources being podcasters who don’t know the history any better themselves. This is why though conservatives are so surprised that anyone on the right is listening to Nick Fuentes. They legitimately don’t know that Fuentes isn’t very right wing whatsoever. A “conservative” in 2025 is anyone who doesn’t like the Democrats.

Justin

The problem with your “asking questions” about our government’s culpability in the attack on the Liberty is that no one is claiming that the CIA or LBJ are good guys. The claim from people who say the Jews are a problem for our society is that the Jews influence politicians to subvert the interests of Christians in America. In your connecting the dots scenario you are making their argument for them. Their response is so what if LBJ and the CIA were giving Egyptians intelligence about Israel’s war. The fact still remains that Israel knowingly attacked an American ship repeatedly. They came back and killed people in life boats, which is a war crime. If any other Middle-Eastern country had done that we would have declared war and invaded without a debate. Instead, people with political power covered it up. Just because the deep state is implicated in providing Israel a motive to attack doesn’t nullify the fact that our response shows we have been infiltrated by foreign interests that are at odds with the actual citizens of this country. Here is a thought experiment for your objectivity claim. If Iran or Egypt had done what Israel did to us , would you support our declaring war on them? If so, why shouldn’t we have declared war on Israel for their attacks on our soldiers? If you say our deep state or other policies created the motive for Israel to attack us then and that is why you would be against us going to war with them, then, to be consistent and objective, you would have to oppose almost every war we have been in.

Jsm

Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
October 22, 2003
Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, United States Navy, (Ret.)
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Raymond G. Davis, United States Marine Corps, (MOH)[1]
Former Assistant Commandant of The Marine Corps
Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, United States Navy, (Ret.)
Former Judge Advocate General Of The Navy
Ambassador James Akins, (Ret.)
Former United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
We, the undersigned, having undertaken an independent investigation of Israel’s attack on USS Liberty, including eyewitness testimony from surviving crewmembers, a review of naval and other official records, an examination of official statements by the Israeli and American governments, a study of the conclusions of all previous official inquiries, and a consideration of important new evidence and recent statements from individuals having direct knowledge of the attack or the cover up, hereby find the following:[2][3][4]
That on June 8, 1967, after eight hours of aerial surveillance, Israel launched a two-hour air and naval attack against USS Liberty, the world’s most sophisticated intelligence ship, inflicting 34 dead and 173 wounded American servicemen (a casualty rate of seventy percent, in a crew of 294);
That the Israeli air attack lasted approximately 25 minutes, during which time unmarked Israeli aircraft dropped napalm canisters on USS Liberty’s bridge, and fired 30mm cannons and rockets into our ship, causing 821 holes, more than 100 of which were rocket-size; survivors estimate 30 or more sorties were flown over the ship by a minimum of 12 attacking Israeli planes which were jamming all five American emergency radio channels;
That the torpedo boat attack involved not only the firing of torpedoes, but the machine-gunning of Liberty’s firefighters and stretcher-bearers as they struggled to save their ship and crew; the Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Liberty’s life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded;
That there is compelling evidence that Israel’s attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew; evidence of such intent is supported by statements from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball, former CIA director Richard Helms, former NSA directors Lieutenant General William Odom, USA (Ret.), Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret.), and Marshal Carter; former NSA deputy directors Oliver Kirby and Major General John Morrison, USAF (Ret.); and former Ambassador Dwight Porter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon in 1967;
That in attacking USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against American servicemen and an act of war against the United States;
That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the U.S. Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty by recalling Sixth Fleet military rescue support while the ship was under attack; evidence of the recall of rescue aircraft is supported by statements of Captain Joe Tully, Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, and Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis, the Sixth Fleet carrier division commander, at the time of the attack; never before in American naval history has a rescue mission been cancelled when an American ship was under attack;
That although Liberty was saved from almost certain destruction through the heroic efforts of the ship’s Captain, William L. McGonagle (MOH), and his brave crew, surviving crewmembers were later threatened with “court-martial, imprisonment or worse” if they exposed the truth; and were abandoned by their own government;
That due to the influence of Israel’s powerful supporters in the United States, the White House deliberately covered up the facts of this attack from the American people;
That due to continuing pressure by the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, this attack remains the only serious naval incident that has never been thoroughly investigated by Congress; to this day, no surviving crewmember has been permitted to officially and publicly testify about the attack;
That there has been an official cover-up without precedent in American naval history; the existence of such a cover-up is now supported by statements of Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, USN (Ret.), former Judge Advocate General of the Navy; and Captain Ward Boston, USN, (Ret.), the chief counsel to the Navy’s 1967 Court of Inquiry of Liberty attack;
That the truth about Israel’s attack and subsequent White House cover-up continues to be officially concealed from the American people to the present day and is a national disgrace;
That a danger to our national security exists whenever our elected officials are willing to subordinate American interests to those of any foreign nation, and specifically are unwilling to challenge Israel’s interests when they conflict with American interests; this policy, evidenced by the failure to defend USS Liberty and the subsequent official cover-up of the Israeli attack, endangers the safety of Americans and the security of the United States.
WHEREUPON, we, the undersigned, in order to fulfill our duty to the brave crew of USS Liberty and to all Americans who are asked to serve in our Armed Forces, hereby call upon the Department of the Navy, the Congress of the United States and the American people to immediately take the following actions:
FIRST: That a new Court of Inquiry be convened by the Department of the Navy, operating with Congressional oversight, to take public testimony from surviving crewmembers; and to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the attack on the USS Liberty, with full cooperation from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence services, and to determine Israel’s possible motive in launching said attack on a U.S. naval vessel;
SECOND: That every appropriate committee of the Congress of the United States investigate the actions of the White House and Defense Department that prevented the rescue of the USS Liberty, thereafter threatened her surviving officers and men if they exposed the truth, and covered up the true circumstances of the attack from the American people; and
THIRD: That the eighth day of June of every year be proclaimed to be hereafter known as
USS LIBERTY REMEMBRANCE DAY, in order to commemorate USS Liberty’s heroic crew; and to educate the American people of the danger to our national security inherent in any passionate attachment of our elected officials for any foreign nation.
We, the undersigned, hereby affix our hands and seals, this 22nd day of October, 2003.
Thomas H. Moorer
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General of Marines Raymond G. Davis, USMC, MOH[1]
Merlin Staring
Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, USN, Ret.,
Former Judge Advocate General of the Navy
James Akins
Ambassador James Akins, Ret.,
Former United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
IN MEMORIAM: General of Marines Raymond G. Davis, one of America’s most decorated military heroes (including the Congressional Medal of Honor), Vice Chairman of this panel and one of the principal members of this Independent Commission of Inquiry, passed away in Conyers, Georgia, on September 3, 2003.
Captain Ward Boston, USN, JAGC, Ret, the chief Navy attorney for the 1967 U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry into the Israeli attack, has recently come forward to repudiate the Court’s conclusion that the attack was “a case of mistaken identity”.
Captain Boston has revealed that all available evidence, in fact, pointed in exactly the opposite direction—that it was a deliberate attack on a clearly identified American ship. In his affidavit dated October 9, 2003, Captain Boston states, “Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack, which killed 34 American sailors and injured 173 others, was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew.
I am certain that the Israeli pilots that undertook the attack, as well as their superiors who had ordered the attack, were aware that the ship was American.” [See Exhibit attached]. Captain Boston stated that he has personal knowledge that Admiral Kidd found the attack to be “a case of mistaken identity” in 1967 only because he was under direct orders to do so by Defense Secretary McNamara and President Johnson.
Lieutenant Commander David E. Lewis, USS Liberty’s chief intelligence officer (who was severely wounded in the attack) has reported a conversation with Admiral Lawrence R. Geis, the Sixth Fleet carrier division commander, who visited Lewis after he had been medically evacuated by helicopter to the aircraft carrier USS America.
According to Lewis, “He (Admiral Geis) said that he wanted somebody to know that we weren’t forgotten” attempts HAD been made to come to our assistance. He said that he had launched a flight of aircraft to come to our assistance, and he had then called Washington. Secretary McNamara came on the line and ordered the recall of the aircraft, which he did. Concurrently he said that since he suspected that they were afraid that there might have been nuclear weapons on board, he reconfigured another flight of aircraft—strictly conventional weaponry —and re-launched it. After the second launch, he again called Washington to let them know what was going on. Again, Secretary McNamara ordered the aircraft recalled.
Not understanding why, he requested confirmation of the order; and the next higher in command came on to confirm that “President Johnson . . . with the instructions that the aircraft were to be returned, that he would not have his allies embarrassed, he didn’t care who was killed or what was done to the ship “words” to that effect.
With that, Admiral Geis swore me to secrecy for his lifetime. I had been silent up until I found out from Admiral Moorer that Admiral Geis had passed away” [transcript from NBC’s Liberty Story, aired on national television 1/27/92].
This statement by Commander Lewis has recently been corroborated by Tony Hart, a Navy communications technician stationed at the U.S. Navy Base in Morocco in June, 1967. Mr. Hart connected the telephone conversation between Secretary McNamara and Admiral Geis and stayed on the line to keep them connected. Hart has been recorded as saying that he overheard Admiral Geis refusing McNamara’s order to recall the Sixth Fleet rescue aircraft while the ship was under attack. Mr. Hart reported that McNamara responded, “we are not going to war over a bunch of dead sailors.”
New evidence of intercepted radio communications between attacking Israeli pilots and the Israeli War Room, recorded by a U.S. Navy EC-121 spy plane, in which the Israeli pilots report seeing Liberty’s American flag flying, has been collected by investigative author James Bamford—for 9 years the Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings (and author of Body of Secrets, which includes a chapter entitled Blood about the attack on USS Liberty). A similar radio message was intercepted by the EC-121 from the Israeli motor torpedo boats.
This corroborates statements by surviving crewmembers, by Ambassador Dwight Porter, and by senior National Security Agency officials concerning NSA intercepts of Israeli pilot communications identifying the ship as American.

Michael

I wrote to you (and you graciously answered) in this edition of your weekly Letter Q&A: https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/march-letters.html => (Law/Gospel Remains a Thorny Issue)
Since then, I have now begun giving Covenant Theology a serious look namely through “Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four views on the continuity of Scripture” by Parker and Lucas. In the essay on CT by Michael Horton, he spends much time talking about the Law/Gospel distinction (hence my reference to the earlier letter) and I wondered where you answer and opinion fit into it all. I think I have found an excerpt that describes your position on this issue…
“Some conservative Reformed theologians have also criticized the federal scheme. Unlike Barth, John Murray was eager to maintain the distinction between law and gospel. Yet for Murray, there is no covenant between God and humans that is not gracious. This meant rejecting the idea of a covenant of works with Adam. Despite Murray’s clear commitment to the traditional doctrine of justification, the warnings of the older Reformed theologians proved to be accurate: Murray’s successor at Westminster Seminary, Norman Shepherd, came to conflate law and gospel as well as justification and sanctification. Influenced by Shepherd’s views, a movement emerged in conservative Reformed and Presbyterian circles during the 1990s. Known as Federal Vision, this relatively small but vocal circle of writers challenged the traditional Reformed (federal) system, particularly its distinction between law and gospel and the covenants of works and grace. What all of these critiques of federalism have in common is a theological aversion to a law-gospel distinction and a suspicion that one must choose between a unilateral gift of grace and conditions for enjoying its blessings. Herman Bavinck stated well the view that most federal theologians would affirm when he said that the covenant of grace is “unilateral in its basis and destined to become bi-lateral in its administration.”
Is he (in part or obliquely) talking about you/your church? And is this a fair representation of your doctrinal stance? Any clarification would help me get a lay of the Reformed land that I am so foreign to…
Much thanks and Merry Christmas

Jonathan

I’ve admired and followed your work going on a year now, and you’ve significantly encouraged me in my devotion to Christ. Thank you.
Although this letter is not in reference to a particular post, its subject is in line with one of the core focuses of your teaching, raising children.
For context, I am 27, male, and approaching 7 years of marriage. I also serve as the part-time Youth Pastor in my church.
My reason for writing this letter now follows.
I love children. One of my greatest dreams in life is to have a full family. But, I do not have children. My wife doesn’t want to have children, at all. For her, it is simply not an option. I could give many examples of hundreds of conversations we’ve had on the subject, but suffice to say she does not want to have a child and emphatically reinforces every time the subject arises that she will never change her mind. Her reasoning is largely selfish, as she doesn’t want a changed lifestyle, the increased responsibility, and the change to her body from child bearing.
I do not mean to be gruesome in my next detail, but I feel it adds context. In one such discussion about children after marriage, she told me that if she way to get pregnant, she would have an abortion. Upon hearing this, I obviously rebuked this as evil. She responded by saying that if this were to occur, she would hide it from me, and I’d never even know about it.
We discussed having children once before marriage, and in that conversation she begrudgingly agreed to have one child despite me wanting many. She also cried in this conversation, which in hindsight should have obviously caused pause. Nevertheless, we married.
Shortly after our marriage she informed me that she was not going to have a child, and thus here I am. This is a huge issue for us, pushing us almost to the point of divorce on several occasions. I am now at a loss. I don’t know what to do. I’ve sought the advice of every trusted man of God I know, received a couple of marital counseling sessions from our Pastor, and all has been merely a band aid on the gaping wound in my marriage.
For other reasons, I fear my wife’s spiritual status is not as it should be. She is currently estranged from our church where I serve and not attending anywhere following the death of her mother two months ago.
My question, relatively simple as it may be, is what am I to do? I feel a biblical mandate to raise children. Am I justified in divorcing? Seemingly not. Not only does Paul & our Lord forbid it outside of adultery, but also in my understanding a divorce I initiate would disqualify me from eldership according to Paul in his letters to Timothy & Titus. Nevertheless, what am I to practically do? Run the race set before me? Take up this as my cross and follow Him? I do not write these words sarcastically, but rather practically. Are they and such like them the only answer I may find? I need help, Pastor Wilson. I’m nearing the end of my rope. I am terrified of waking up at 37, 47, and 57 realizing I will never have a child. I am more terrified of standing before our Lord on Judgment Day and being confronted with disqualifying myself from the ministry in some way and thereby being charged as an unfaithful servant.
I want to build the Kingdom of God and raise a family.
I ask that if this is used in anyway publicly that you hide certain identifying aspects such as my name, age, length of marriage, etc.
Thank you for your time. Any help or advice you could offer would be extremely welcomed and dutifully followed.
In Christ,

Ethan

I am writing today to ask you 2 questions.
Here are the aforementioned questions;
Would you consider a man for pastoral office in your church that believes that the world is flat?
Would you remove a man from pastoral office in your church if he began espousing that the world is flat?
Thank you for your time

Adam

Could you provide an update on the JEEP fundraising campaign? Have they met their budget needs for 2026?

Josiah

I recently began How To Be Free From Bitterness. Immediately I realized that I was harboring bitterness against my father. I am so thankful that God brought this to my attention so I could repent. Still working through the book.
I had to confront my father on some very serious sexual perversion and he became very angry with me because of this. He said many cruel things and still angrily posts about me on his social media.
This was what the occasion for me to choose to harbor bitterness. I am free now thank the Lord.
My question is—Does forgiving mean you have to be reconciled to that person? My father currently wants nothing to do with me. I’ve tried on 2 separate occasions to reconcile with him. Do I keep pursuing him?
He claims to be a Christian. He hasn’t been a member in church for many years. So I just don’t know how to move forward. Do I tell him that I forgive him for his anger against me? Or is this something I just keep between myself and the Lord.
Thank you for your time,

Ashley

My son has recently started a great new job in structural engineering, and is doing very well. He’s doing so well, in fact, that at 19 years of age he’s already being considered for a supervisory role and a pay rise after only two weeks in the job.
He told us that their next big project in the new year involves working on a new Buddhist temple. His mother and I aren’t so happy about it, but he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
Trying to find some solid arguments for and against are proving hard to come by, and I thought I’d ask some people who have a proven record of thinking about stuff.
Greetings from New Zealand

Johannes

I have been following you for a long time and your ministry has had a big impact on me. First, thank you.
Second, I was rewatching your (I believe 2004) debate with Andrew Sullivan on Civil Marriage of homosexuals and I was just struck with how correct you ended up being about the path that it would set. Obviously you didn’t have what all would happen twenty plus years in the future but it is shocking to look back with hindsight. I think Sullivan has come out against some of the consequences of this movement on gender ideology, “radical” LGBTQ+ etc. however it is just interesting to ponder the wisdom you had on what would happen if the wagon was unhitched from the horses (marriage from God’s Word) where we would go. It would be an interesting “Doug Reacts” video for you to revisit clips from the debate
In Christ,

Nathan

I attend a faithful Reformed Baptist church, and one of the elders is by all accounts a Godly and upright man, seeking to faithfully lead his large family and shepherd a larger flock.
In one of his sermons, he openly admitted to murder. Specifically, in his fornicative younger days he unsurprisingly managed to impregnate a woman not his wife, and then consented with her to have this child killed. (Ante-natally, but we both know that to be irrelevant.) Now this was not illegal by the laws of these United States, but certainly is under the unchanging law of God.
In the full flowering of Christ’s kingdom on this earth, what should his punishment be? If this pastor admitted that long before he knew Christ he brained a neighbor boy with a shovel and buried him out in the woods I don’t think we’d shrug and say let bygones be bygones; even in this present world he would need to face criminal judgment. In your writing on Charlie Kirk’s killer you stated he could evince true repentance by accepting without complaint the death penalty rightly due him.
Murder is murder, and the church need not wait for secular laws to catch up, in the same way that an adulterous pastor today experiences ecclesial consequences while legally there are none. I realize our law has nuances of degree and culpability for homicide, but setting those aside and abstracting to the principle, how should this be handled?
If Charlie Kirk’s murderer can’t come to Christ and then go on to become a faithful preacher of the Word, why can this pastor? Our feelings can’t be the answer here, and the perfect law of God should admit of no edge cases.

Jan

To the saints in Moscow, Merry Christmas!
I was going down the YouTube rabbit hole as one does when I happened across a military history channel.
The author made a really interesting claim in one of his videos. That the company (roughly 150 men) is the largest unit size where one man is expected to get to know all of those under him.
The claim and his evidence seemed reasonable to me, so I began to wonder if that wisdom could be relevant to the church.
I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any.
[Video: Infantry Companies—another natural size of unit by Lindybeige]

S

I am not sure what to make of governmental figures who are not Jews recognizing Hannukah and lighting a menorah as part of the recognition. My intuition is that it is benign as it doesn’t appear to be something perpendicular to Christian teaching or practice, but I would like to hear your thoughts on it.

Daniel

Just in case you haven’t already seen this on the SBC sexual abuse investigation:

Kenneth

Passing along a book recommendation you may enjoy.
Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, by Alvin Plantinga
I’m several chapters in, and the author, although Christian, examines from a simple theist stance the atheist claims regarding evolution and shows just how far out over their skis they are to claim that they’ve “disproven God.” They really are globbing together a good 5 or 6 immense assumptions that they insist we all swallow whole to get to their conclusion.

Ian

This is not a response to one particular article, but just a question on the conversations and writings you have made about AI.
It seems like you think it has many lawful purposes for “mule work,” but also a lot of demonic potential—that it is one thing to say, “Turn these numbers into a spreadsheet,” and another to say, “Give me five observations on Hebrews 5 for me to use in a sermon.”
I agree with the point broadly, but do you think AI is lawful to use in creative or spiritual endeavors? I am a teacher myself, and I do find it useful to help streamline the research process. I think that saying, “Make me a lesson on Napoleon,” would clearly be an abdication of the job, but to use the AI to learn about Napoleon, or to use AI to bounce ideas on which of the 7 Laws of Teaching might not be within the lesson plan before you start, seems to me lawful. But many classical educators want to put a moratorium on AI for any educational purposes for fear of diluting the spiritual quality of the work. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Best,

Jeff

Here, I have what it takes to make it all better. Just get the government to call the drug runners Gazans and then there will be no issue with cart blanch bombing them. If a few innocents get waxed in the process just say the drug runners were using them as human shields. If the government has the means, instead of drone strikes (that is so 2010) come up with a more clever way to dispose of the miscreants, such as exploding pagers or whatever, that way you will have the added benefit of fresh material for next year’s NQN. I truly believe, if these few tweaks were made to the narrative fed to the populace, most of the current conservative Christian conscience would be assuaged. “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).

Benjamin

I sincerely want to thank you and Canon Press for the generosity shown during NQN. I took advantage of many free of the books that were offered and was also able to order My Dear Hemlock for free as a gift for my wife.
Simply a blessing.
Please pass along my gratitude to the whole staff at Canon Press.

Tyler