Gospel Briefing — Apr 28: Faith, Force & a Yacht That Slipped the Blockade

This is The Gospel Briefing. I'm Charles King. Today... a man who tried to kill the President wrote to his family first. He said he was doing it for Jesus. We need to talk about that. Plus — a superyacht slips past a blockade, and millions of American homeowners are quietly going without insurance. Headlines... Heartbeat... Hope. Let's get into it. [TRANSITION] The Justice Department has filed formal charges against the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this past Saturday. His name is Cole Tomas Allen. Thirty-one years old. From California. Highly educated. And according to documents now confirmed by federal prosecutors, moments before he allegedly aimed a weapon at members of the Trump administration... he sent messages to his family. In those messages, he tried to justify what he was about to do. He framed it as an act of faith. He said he was defending the oppressed. He wrote to Christians, specifically — people who knew him, people from his college fellowship group — and he tried to make them understand. NPR spoke to one of his former classmates, who described a young man who had once sat in Bible studies with her. I want to say this clearly. What he did was not Christian. It was the opposite of Christian. Jesus stood in a garden the night before His own death. Peter drew a sword to defend Him. And what did Jesus say? Matthew 26:52. "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword." The Lord of heaven and earth — who could have called twelve legions of angels — chose to be arrested. He chose to suffer. He chose the cross over the sword. That is the pattern. That is the way. Anyone who picks up a weapon and claims they are defending the oppressed in the name of Jesus has misread the Gospel so completely that they have inverted it. The cross is not a tool you wield. It is a place you go to die to yourself. Pray for the people in that room Saturday night. Pray for Cole Allen, who will now answer to a federal court and to God. And pray that the watching world does not confuse the actions of one man with the heart of Christ. [TRANSITION] Story two takes us to the water. Specifically — the Strait of Hormuz. A Russian superyacht. Four hundred and sixty feet long. Linked to a close ally of Vladimir Putin. This week it sailed straight through one of the most heavily monitored waterways on earth — despite an active blockade meant to stop exactly this kind of vessel. It just... cleared the strait. And kept going. Now, there is a lot we do not know yet. Who looked the other way. Who was paid. Who decided that the rules apply to ordinary cargo ships but not to a yacht the length of a city block. The story is still developing. But here is what struck me. Proverbs 22:7. "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." Three thousand years ago, the writer of Proverbs already knew that wealth bends rules. That power finds doors. That the same blockade which stops a struggling fisherman somehow parts like the Red Sea for a billionaire's toy. This is not new. It is ancient. And Scripture does not pretend otherwise — it names it. There is a coming day when the Judge of all the earth will do right. Genesis eighteen, verse twenty-five. Until then, Christians do not have to be shocked when the powerful slip past the rules. We have been told. What we are called to do is keep speaking the truth and keep trusting the One whose justice no yacht can outrun. [TRANSITION] Story three. Closer to home. And quieter. NPR is reporting that millions of homes across the United States are now completely uninsured. Premiums have soared. In some states, by double digits. Year after year. And homeowners are doing the math at the kitchen table and concluding they simply cannot afford to protect the largest asset they own. At the same time — separate reporting — a wave of lawsuits is accusing State Farm, one of the largest insurers in the country, of secretly working to reduce what it pays out on hail damage claims. State Farm denies the allegations. The cases are still working through the courts. But put those two stories together. Coverage is getting more expensive. Payouts, allegedly, are getting smaller. And families are caught in the middle. This is a stewardship story. And it is a justice story. Leviticus 19:13. "You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning." Scripture is relentless on this point. When someone owes a worker, pay them. When you have made a promise, keep it. Withholding what is owed is not a clever business strategy in the eyes of God. It is theft. For Christians making decisions about coverage right now — pray for wisdom. Talk to people you trust. And remember that your house, however much it is worth, is not your treasure. Matthew six tells us where our real treasure is. It is not under any roof you can insure. [TRANSITION] A few quick briefs. President Trump is preparing to host King Charles at a moment of real tension in the U.S.–U.K. relationship. Trade disputes. Disagreements over Ukraine. Royal visits used to be ceremonial. This one matters. Romans thirteen reminds us all governing authority comes from God — including the ones we did not vote for. A twenty-one-year-old Austrian man is on trial this week accused of plotting an attack on a Taylor Swift concert last year. Prosecutors say he received training from Islamic State on handling explosives. The plot was foiled. Tens of thousands of young fans went home safe. Thank God for that. Literally. Florida lawmakers are making a last-ditch effort this week to roll back certain childhood vaccine mandates. Christians genuinely disagree about this one — about the role of the state, about parental authority, about public health. That is okay. What Scripture does make clear is that we love our neighbor and we honor our children. Both of those have to stay on the table. And Dominion Voting Systems still has pending lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell over the twenty-twenty election. The wheels of justice turn slowly. Ecclesiastes three — there is a time for everything. Including, eventually, a verdict. [TRANSITION] If any of today's stories made you want to dig deeper into what Scripture actually says — that's exactly what I built Bible Copilot for. It's a Bible study app that uses the same inductive method trusted by pastors and seminary scholars — five study modes that help you observe the text, interpret the original meaning, connect it to theology, and apply it to your life. It's free, no ads, no data collection — you get fifteen questions a day, no account needed. And if you want unlimited access plus guided reading plans, Pro is five bucks a month. Search Bible Copilot in the App Store — link's in the show notes. Today's verse is Romans 12, verse 21. "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." A man tried to kill a president and called it faith. A yacht sailed past a blockade. Insurance companies and homeowners are tangled in court. The temptation, in a day like this, is to meet the chaos with more chaos. To grow cynical. To grow hard. Paul says no. Overcome evil with good. Small good. Faithful good. Quiet good. Thanks for listening to The Gospel Briefing. If today's episode helped you think more clearly, send it to one friend who needs a steadier voice in the news. I'll see you tomorrow. Until then — God's Word still gets the last say.