My Top Six Posts of 2024

Thanksgiving for a good year and prayers for a better 2025

This year, 2024, was a good year for liberty in the United States. Conservatives and Christians are relieved and breathing easier when they profess support for President Trump, less government, and applying God’s Word to public policy. Sure, the critics are still out there—both in the general culture and the evangelical church, but at least for the time being very few people are paying attention to them. They are mostly talking to themselves as they watch their influence and audiences decline.

This doesn’t mean 2025 is going to be perfect. We’ve already seen some small fissures in the coalition that President Trump has built with Musk, Ramaswamy, and apparently Trump coming out in support of the H1B visa program. And despites the great promise of DOGE and other expectations for the Trump Administration, it is unclear how successful it will be in the face of entrenched swamp dwellers and the enemies of freedom and God in both political parties in D.C.

Yet hope is in the air, as it should be. God is good, He is in control of all things, and He has promised us victory over sin:

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb! Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126)

Here are my top six posts from 2024:

1. Politicians Can’t Stop Spending Our Money

Let me point out one thing that underlies the discussions that took place at the Texas Capitol yesterday: politicians cannot stop spending our money. Resistance to lowering property taxes comes from politicians who would rather spend our money on something else than giving it back to us.

2. New Resources for the Study of God’s Word

I love to examine public policy from a biblical perspective. But I always have to remind myself that the Bible is much more than another resource for my policy work. It is the very Word of God, which brings light to those in darkness, makes found those who were lost, and brings life to those who were dead. I should study the Bible to know how to better love God, my family, and my neighbors, be strengthened in my faith, and learn where I need to repent. So here and there I develop Bible studies to assist me and others in this work.

3. Texas Electricity Prices Continue to Climb

Texas had the highest wholesale electricity prices in the U.S. over the last three years, according to a new report released by the Energy Alliance. From 2021 through 2023, the wholesale price of electricity in ERCOT, which covers about 90% of Texas’ electric grid, averaged $117 per megawatt hour. The next closest region was New England, where prices averaged $81. California came next, with the average price at $80.

4. Lying, Cheating, Double Dealing, Mean, Mistreating Democrats

My problem with the lying Democrats is not really with them. There is no doubt in my mind that as a party they are breaking just about every law, command, precept, and testimony of God. But that is what I expect from people who hate God, who seem to make up the majority of Democrats these days—at least the ones we see in public. What does get me worked up are those people who claim to be on God’s side but find reasons for maintaining fellowship with these Democrats.

5. Resisting Injustice

The American legal system is rife with injustice. Federal prosecutors boast a 95% conviction rate, with most cases never going to trial because even the innocent often plead guilty. Christians and conservatives are essentially no longer afforded their constitutional right of trial by a jury of their peers in most major cities, while in many of the same cities radical fascists/leftists and common criminals are not charged for their crimes. As the church faithfully pursues a better understanding of the biblical authority of and limits on civil government, it will be better equipped to fight government injustice and other issues we face in what Aaron Renn has aptly described as “a new and unprecedented era in America, one I call the negative world.”

6. Politicians and the Ninth Commandment

In response to rapidly rising property taxes, Texans started clamoring for property tax relief back in the late 1990s. Since then, property taxes have increased from $18.9 billion (1998) to $82.6 billion. This provides the backdrop for why many state leaders and members of the Texas Legislature might want to obscure the truth about property taxes: after almost thirty years of requests from Texas voters, Texas politicians have provided no property tax relief. If Texas voters truly understood this—like they did about school choice and the Ken Paxton impeachment this year, it might be harmful to the reelection efforts of a number of incumbents.