The World and Everything in It - December 15, 2021

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

President Biden’s Summit for Democracy had plenty of words, but do those words align with the administration’s actions?

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Plus the Israeli Antiquities Authority has been busy this year—even as COVID restrictions kept private groups from their dig sites. We’ll tell you what they’ve found.

And WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney on the scandal of grace.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, December 15th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Now for the news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Data indicate omicron is milder, better at evading vaccines » The omicron variant of COVID-19 appears to cause less severe illness than previous strains, but it also does a better job of evading vaccine defenses.

That according to a new analysis out of South Africa.

People who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine appeared to have just 33 percent protection against omicron, compared to those who were unvaccinated.

But Discovery Health CEO Dr. Ryan Noach pointed out...

NOACH: What is very encouraging is that the vaccine effectiveness of this double dose of Pfizer-BioNTech holds at 70 percent in the omicron wave against severe complications of COVID-19, which we measure by hospital admissions.

Discovery Health is that country’s largest private health insurer. It conducted the analysis along with the South African Medical Research Council.

The study did not look at booster shots, which are not yet prevalent in South Africa. Studies conducted by Pfizer suggest boosters improve protection against omicron.

The findings released Tuesday are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed, but they line up with other early data about omicron's behavior. But some experts cautioned that it's too soon to draw conclusions.

Pfizer confirms COVID pill's results, potency versus omicron » Meantime, Pfizer said Tuesday that a study of its experimental pill to treat COVID-19 shows it appears to be effective against the new variant. WORLD’s Leigh Jones has more.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: The company said its study of more than 2,200 people confirmed the pill's promising early results against the virus: The drug reduced hospitalizations and deaths by about 89 percent among high-risk adults when taken shortly after initial symptoms.

And separate laboratory testing shows the drug stands up well against the omicron variant.

The update comes as COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospitalizations are all rising again in the United States. Right now it’s still the delta variant driving that surge.

The FDA is expected to make a decision very soon on whether to give the green light to Pfizer’s pill and a competing pill from Merck. If granted, the pills would be the first COVID-19 treatments that Americans can take at home.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

Jan. 6 panel votes on holding Meadows in contempt » A divided House of Representatives voted narrowly on Tuesday to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress.

AUDIO: [Sound of vote]

The panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot recommended contempt charges after Meadows stopped fully cooperating with the panel.

The committee released a report Sunday evening detailing questions about the thousands of emails and text messages he has already provided.

Those messages revealed that as a mob overran the U.S. Capitol, some Trump allies and even Donald Trump Jr. sent text messages to Meadows urging him to get President Trump to do more to stop the violence.

GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a member of the Jan. 6 Select Committee told fellow lawmakers…

CHENEY: For 187 minutes, President Trump refused to act. And he refused to act when his action was required, it was essential, and it was compelled by his duty.

But Meadows said selective leaks from the committee show the proceedings are purely politically motivated.

MEADOWS: This is about Donald Trump and about actually going after him once again.

Meadows’ attorney says the former chief of staff is shielded by former President Trump's executive privilege. Most GOP lawmakers in the House agreed.

Senate votes to raise debt limit by $2.5T » The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to raise the nation’s debt limit by $2.5 trillion.

AUDIO: On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 49 and the joint resolution is passed.

That after party leaders struck a deal defusing a volatile issue until after next year’s midterm elections.

GOP senators were united against the measure, but Republicans agreed not to block the party line vote.

The vote came just one day shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to avoid the nation’s first-ever default.

That sent the measure on to the House where its approval was never in doubt. And President Biden was expected to sign the bill within hours.

Wholesale inflation jumps record 9.6% over past 12 months » More evidence of soaring inflation, Prices at the wholesale level set a new record last month. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The producer price index measures inflation before it reaches consumers. And the Labor Department said Tuesday that the index rose 0.8 percent in November from the month before.

But as compared to the year before, wholesale inflation set a new record. Prices rose 9.6 percent from November of 2020. And that was the biggest 12-month jump ever.

The cost of food, energy, goods, and services all rose in November.

The surge in wholesale prices followed news on Friday that consumer prices shot up 6.8 percent for the 12 months ending in November. That was the biggest increase in almost 40 years.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Fireball from overturned tanker kills dozens in Haiti » A gasoline tanker overturned and exploded in northern Haiti Tuesday, unleashing a fireball that swept through homes and businesses. The blast killed at least 60 people in the coastal city of Cap-Haitien in the latest tragedy to befall the nation.

Hours after the explosion, officials at a local hospital pleaded for basic supplies and more medical staff as patients overwhelmed the facility.

The tanker explosion comes as Haiti struggles with a severe shortage of fuel and spiraling gas prices. That shortage has recently temporarily shut down gas stations, schools and businesses and has even forced hospitals to turn away patients.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: President Biden’s summit on democracy.

Plus, the scandal of grace.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 15th of December, 2021.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. It’s time for Washington Wednesday.

Up first: an effort to unite the free world.

Against the backdrop of China’s rise as an emerging superpower and Russia’s regional strong-arm tactics, the White House organized what it called the Summit for Democracy.

EICHER: President Biden held virtual meetings at the State Department with leaders from more than 100 free nations, along with some non-governmental organizations and businesses.

Some say it was an important first step to counter rising authoritarianism. Others dismiss it as a mere photo op.

REICHARD: Joining us now to talk about it is Dalibor Rohac.

He’s the author of the book In Defense of Globalism. He’s testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and he’s briefed the U.S. Helsinki Commission. Good morning to you, sir!

DALIBOR ROHAC, GUEST: Good morning. Great to be with you.

REICHARD: Let’s start with the guest list for this summit. Some lawmakers criticized the Biden administration for leaving out certain countries. For example, GOP Congresswoman Maria Salazar specifically wonders why Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras were left out. What should we make of that?

ROHAC: Look if you are making a summit on this scale, the guest list will always be a judgment call or a matter of controversy. There are many borderline cases on the guest list for the summit. Poland, which has been democratised in some ways, was part of the summit. But Hungary was not invited. Pakistan and Congo were included, Sri Lanka and Singapore were excluded. To me, the main point rather is not so much about the individual choices of countries but rather with the challenges associated with having a format that includes, as you said, 100 countries. And the lack of a clear strategic focus, together with holding the meeting online, which really meant that the discussions were necessarily held at a very high level of abstraction and generality. And I suspect that the smaller more cohesive group, perhaps you could see more tangible progress on things like financial transparency, corruption, pushing back against China and Russia.

REICHARD: We’ll talk about what the summit did or did not accomplish in a moment. But I want to ask you about what it was designed to accomplish. Some have dismissed it as political theater. But others say the administration is trying to unite free countries in the face of a rising China, along with continued threats from Russia and others. What do you think this summit was designed to do?

ROHAC: Since he arrived in office, President Biden has been very keen to signal that America was the whole back, as he puts it, and that U.S. foreign policy going forward, unlike during the Trump years, is going to be based on values such as democracy and human rights, and freedom. And I think that's generally laudable. The problem though is that those sentiments remain to a large extent disconnected from day-to-day policymaking. And you can see with examples such as the mishandling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was done unilaterally. You can see it with the fallout from the nuclear submarine deal with Australia. And, you know, our allies and adversaries sort of know that there is this disconnect between rhetorical flourishes and the reality of policymaking. They do notice it and this summit was never really going to fix it.

REICHARD: Given that, what do you think the summit itself ultimately accomplished last week?

ROHAC: We saw in the build-up to the summit, the release of the White House's new strategy on corruption and kleptocracy, which also was featured prominently at the summit. I think having this conversation with America's allies is important, holding especially advanced Western liberal democracies, market economies to high standards of financial transparency so that we don't become really a safe haven for dictators and their money is a worthwhile goal. But again, there is a sort of disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality. Because just hours before the summit, Congress actually killed all of the proposed anti-corruption and anti-kleptocracy bills that were in the legislature. So, again, that sort of signals to our friends and foes alike that maybe America's political class is not quite as committed to this idea of pushing against authoritarian regimes as the summit would like to signal.

REICHARD: What will it take in the long run for the United States to bring allies together to outcompete China and beat back authoritarianism around the world?

ROHAC: I think being aware of the importance of democracy and human rights as a sort of values, foundation for foreign policy is a good thing. Most political scientists, international relations specialists would agree that it is not a coincidence that Russia and China, our most significant adversaries are authoritarian regimes. However, that recognition is only the beginning of the conversation and it's certainly not, can’t be a replacement for, you know, having a strategy, having priorities, knowing where to push back, and knowing where we can make less of a difference. And this struggle between democracy and authoritarianism is not something that sort of happens in the abstract or in a vacuum. It's really about very concrete settings, fights over influence and power, you know, in Eastern Europe, in Central Asia, in the Indo-Pacific. And I think what is lacking in the U.S. foreign policy outlook is really a sort of clear strategy sense of priorities and a path forward that sort of takes into account the realities of these different countries. It really still remains at a sort of very abstract, very general level that it currently stands, this pro-democracy agenda is unlikely to sort of get much traction on this on its own unless accompanied by this more strategic and to some extent, ruthless set of priorities and tools.

REICHARD: I’m wondering what the Biden administration’s record is so far in terms of supporting democracy. Have Biden's policies been consistent in that regard?

ROHAC: Well, as I said, there is a disconnect between the rhetoric of flourishes and the reality, right? So we've heard over recent weeks talk of an unwavering commitment of the United States, the Ukraine sovereignty, for example. Ukraine is being threatened by its neighbor to the east, Russia. Its territorial integrity has been challenged since 2014. Under President Obama, under President Trump, under President Biden. Supposedly the United States and other Western partners are committed to Ukraine's democratic and (self?) sovereign future, yet we seem to be unable or unwilling to really lift a finger in its defense. President Biden's very vocally ruled out the possibility of America's sort of boots on the ground or sort of more significant military resistance in case Russians do invade or do escalate the military presence. So against the background of a reality in which authoritarian adversaries of the United States get away with increasingly more and more, much of the rhetoric, I'm sorry to say, rings hollow.

REICHARD: Dalibor Rohac has been our guest today. He’s a foreign policy analyst and scholar and now a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute. Thanks so much!

ROHAC: Thank you for having me.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER:Tunisian leader extends emergency order—We start today here in Africa.

AUDIO: [Man speaking Arabic]

Tunisia’s president extended his rule for at least another year on Monday.

Speaking on national television, Kais Saied said the country’s parliament would remain suspended until elections in December 2022. He also announced a time of “popular consultation” to draft a new constitution. Reform measures will be put to a national vote in July.

Opponents rejected the announcement as a blow to democracy and another extension of Saied’s one-man rule.

Tunisia is the only country to emerge from the 20-11 Arab Spring uprisings with a democratic government. But Saied seized control of the country a year ago, amid a political and economic crisis.

Canary Island volcano erupts again—Next we head just off the coast, to the Canary Islands.

AUDIO: [Announcement in Spanish]

Officials in the Spanish territory ordered more than a third of La Palma’s residents to shelter indoors on Monday. That as the Cumbre Viejo volcano rumbled to life again after several days of quiet.

The volcano spewed ash, smoke, and toxic gas into the air. Officials urged residents in nearby towns to seal themselves into a room as far from the outside as possible.

The Cumbre Viejo began erupting in September. No one has died but the massive flows of lava have destroyed nearly 3,000 buildings.

Israeli PM travels to UAE—Next to the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates on Monday. He was the first leader of the Jewish state to visit the Arab nation.

BENNETT: I want to thank His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed for very warm hospitality throughout this visit. Throughout the day we had meaningful, in-depth and straightforward talks about our two nations, about the region and about our economy and technology and what we can do together.

The UAE’s official news agency quoted the crown prince as saying he hoped Bennett’s visit “would contribute to further cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries and the peoples of the region.”

The UAE forged diplomatic ties with Israel 15 months ago as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords. During Monday’s meeting, the two leaders discussed investment, trade, and development.

It’s also likely they talked about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The UAE’s national security advisor met with the Iranian president last week ahead of international nuclear talks in Vienna. Israel strongly opposes those negotiations.

Belarus sentences opposition leader to 18 years—And finally, we end today in Eastern Europe.

A court in Belarus has sentenced opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky to 18 years in jail. He was convicted of galvanizing a protest movement against strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko last year.

His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, spoke out against the verdict on Tuesday.

TIKHANOVSKAYA: No, I'm not going to cry the whole day because of this, I'm not going to be panicked because of this because I understand that we don't have time you know, to cry, we don't have time to think about it too much. 'Oh wow, 18 years'. No, it's the question: what else you can do.

Tikhanovskaya took over the opposition movement after her husband’s arrest. She ran against Lukashenko in last year’s election. Although Lukashenko claimed victory, outside observers widely believe Tikhanovskaya won the vote.

Lukashenko orchestrated a brutal crackdown on his opponents, jailing hundreds and forcing many more to flee the country. Tikhanovskaya remains in exile in Lithuania.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: The National Film Registry has announced 25 new films to be preserved in the Library of Congress.

So far, about 800 films are in and every year the librarian picks new ones. Films have to be at least 10 years old to be considered and they have to have cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance.

Among those newly chosen movies, I’m optimistic you’ll know at least a few

AUDIO: The emperor does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation.

REICHARD: Ah, Return of the Jedi

EICHER: Right! Disney and Pixar’s WALL-E was another inductee. And this blockbuster…

AUDIO: The fellowship awaits the ring bearer.

The first in the Tolkien Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring.

And it wasn’t just well-known works, the most interesting has to be a 1930s silent picture made by African American evangelist James Gist—Hellbound Train—and I’m telling you, it’s not subtle.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 15th.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we are so glad to have you along this morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: uncovering the past.

For more than a year and a half, archeologists working in Israel have been stymied by COVID restrictions. Still, the Antiquities Authority has been busy during that time.

Here’s WORLD’s Paul Butler with a survey of some of the most significant finds of 2021—and—a preview of a significant dig site about to re-open.

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: Anyone familiar with the Indiana Jones franchise has a certain image of an archeologist. No offense to Harrison Ford, but he’s got nothing on Scott Stripling. The bald-headed, 59-year old with a wide smile looks more like a wrestling coach, or drill sergeant, than a pastor and theologian turned archeologist and apologist.

STRIPLING: If I seem defensive, maybe it's for good reason, because the Bible is constantly under attack, and it's guilty until proven innocent.

Scott Stripling is director of excavations at Shiloh for the Associates for Biblical Research—or ABR.

He says secular academics often take Egyptian literature, or Babylonian literature, at face value and assume it’s a true record, but when it comes to the Bible, they automatically read with suspicion. Stripling is committed to sound Biblical archeology to provide Christians with additional confidence in the Scriptures.

STRIPLING: We have not uncovered anything in the archaeological material that contradicts the biblical text.

In early 2020, Israel shut its borders and locked down the country. International archeologists had to close up their dig sites and leave. Most have still not been allowed back in.

That’s not to say there haven't been interesting archeological discoveries this year. Just a couple weeks ago, the Jerusalem Post ran a story about an 11-year old girl who found a rare silver coin from around the time of the destruction of the temple—probably minted by the Zealots. This summer, a farmer found a large, unbroken stella—or stone memorial—60 miles from Cairo. It provides evidence of Hophra, an Egyptian pharaoh from around the time of the Babylonian exile. He is one of only six pharaohs mentioned by name in the Old Testament scriptures.

When the Israeli government began loosening COVID restrictions this year, the Israel Antiquities Authority—or IAA—went back to work on a number of projects. Scott Stripling says a few of them led to significant discoveries. The first is a synagogue in Magdala.

STRIPLING: Just a few days ago. Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee, between Tiberius and Capernaum, produced a second synagogue. And so this is the first New Testament city to have two synagogues, dating clearly to the first century from the time of Jesus.

That’s important because in recent decades there’s been a growing number of historians claiming the gospel references to synagogues are made up. The fact that the IAA uncovered the most recent 1st century synagogue goes a long way to reinforce the Biblical record.

Nine months ago, the IAA also uncovered more Dead Sea Scroll fragments in the Qumran region. They were found in a previously unknown cave.

STRIPLING: And these fragments date to the Bar Kokhba period, or the second revolt, but the fact that new scroll fragments, and these come from Zechariah, and Nahum, they come from the book of the 12 Minor Prophets, is just very significant...

Stripling says there are many caves in the area that have collapsed due to earthquakes. He believes there will be more discoveries there in the years to come.

STRIPLING: And so it's many times by happenstance that these things get revealed, maybe even another earthquake comes along and, you know, move some of the stone and you can see that there was an ancient cave there. I think there are more unexplored caves than there are caves that we've already explored.

Another important find from 2021 comes from Lachish—in the Judean foothills. A milk-bowl there provides evidence of the Hebrew language appearing earlier than many secular scholars have been willing to acknowledge.

STRIPLING: It appears to be the oldest alphabetic script found so far. And so these discussions are going to be very interesting, but at the least it tells us something about literacy in that time of the conquest...

Not all archeological discoveries with Biblical importance this year occurred within Israel. Stripling describes a recent find that helps us understand Roman crucifixion:

STRIPLING: About a week or two ago, we had a very interesting find out of Great Britain. And this is a crucifixion victim. And it probably dates to the third century, its middle Roman period, with the nail still through the heel.

Not only does it shed further light on the process of crucifixion, but it also illustrates that victims could be buried in private graves afterward. Something past critics said would never happen, calling into question the crucifixion account in the gospels. It may not be a slam dunk, but it’s one more piece of evidence that supports the Biblical record.

Since 2017, Associates for Biblical Research has overseen a large excavation site at Shiloh. That’s the location where Joshua set up the tabernacle in the promised land. In 2019 Stripling and his team believed they’d uncovered enough evidence to prove they’d found the exact location. They sealed the site to return in early 2020 but weren’t allowed back due to COVID restrictions.

Stripling was finally allowed in to examine the site a few months ago, and it appears to be untouched. He’s anxious to return with his team—something he’s scheduled to do in just a few weeks.

STRIPLING: We were supposed to be open a couple weeks ago. And then with Omicron, that was postponed until December the 22nd. I have a team ready to fly out on December 31st and start working on January 1. So as we speak, it's all still up in the air.

Even with so many other pressing needs right now, Stripling is committed to digging into the past.

STRIPLING: One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 102: “Blessed are those who love your dust and cherish your stones…” and for me, this is a sacred thing that we get to do. Like Romans 1 talks about general revelation in nature and creation. And of course, the Bible is a special revelation, but I think we have a third witness, if we can interpret it correctly. And that's the material culture. So for me it's very meaningful and I see no need to bifurcate my faith from my scientific work in the field.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 15th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Here’s WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney on the scandal of grace.

JANIE B. CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: There’s a fascinating piece of graffiti in the Palatine Museum of Rome. It dates from around 200 A.D. and shows a man with one arm raised, his face in profile looking up at a figure on a cross. Crosses were pretty common in the Empire, so passersby would have recognized what the caricature represented: the most shameful sort of execution any criminal could face. But to add to the ridicule, the figure has a donkey’s head. There’s even a caption, scratched in primitive Greek letters: “Alexamenos worships his god.”

This is the earliest known depiction of Jesus on a cross. It reveals a common view of Christianity at the time: it was scandalous. A crucified God was bad enough, but even more outrageous, perhaps, was what it meant: unearned forgiveness. The Christians called it grace.

Two millennia of Christian influence has made the West more comfortable with unearned forgiveness, at least enough to make it seem admirable when somebody else does it. The Amish parents of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, who reached out to the mother of the man who killed their daughters in 2006, earned universal admiration. So did the Charleston church members who forgave Dylann Roof for mowing down their brothers and sisters with a Glock 41.

But grace itself is still a scandal. According to the ancient pagan economy that still rules the world, you pay for what you get, and for what you do. “Getting away with it” was as outrageous then as it is today. Karma will catch up with you if the law doesn’t, or else there’s no such thing as justice.

Skeptics ask, if Josef Stalin, who murdered millions, had repented and trusted Christ with his last gasp, would he be saved? If the Emperor Nero, who used Christians as torches, had seen the true light in his final moments, would he be praising God along with the believers he tortured? Though it’s unlikely, given what we’re told about hardened hearts, the answer is yes.

As for the rest of us, we’d like to think we’re not that hard to forgive, but we may be so far removed from holiness that mass murderers are only a few degrees beyond. Grace is the only way for anyone to be forgiven, but it does come at a price someone has to pay.

And here the scandal gets personal: since we’re saved by grace we are expected—even required—to practice it. That business partner who betrayed me, that church member who slandered me, even that talk-show host who mocks me and my donkey-headed God: I may withhold trust, but not grace. Justice may be due, but if it’s not forthcoming, I bear the cost, because Jesus bore the ultimate cost.

It’s not the way the world works, but it’s the only way the world can heal.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

If you’d indulge me, I want to linger on that point about how the world works.

And I imagine the world-weary journalist hearing this, the cynic who’s seen it all, who raises a word of protest. I imagine an unbeliever saying something like this: “You know, with this insistence on grace, WORLD turns a blind eye to cold, hard reality.”

But the truth is, that’s got it exactly backward: The only reality is the world as God made it. Without understanding the reality of grace, you hardly have what it takes to report on this world accurately.

That’s what we mean by Biblically objective journalism. The Bible is where we begin and end.

This month is WORLD’s December Giving Drive and I hope you’ll continue to support our brand of journalism. We rely on you to make it possible and we simply cannot do this work without you.

Would you visit WNG.org/donate and make a gift today?

That’s WNG.org/donate.

I hope you experience the reality of God’s grace this Advent season.

And thanks.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: tornado recovery. We’ll talk to some of the churches and aid groups bringing help to the hurting in Kentucky and neighboring states.

And, prison history. We’ll take you to an unusual museum in Texas.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him; bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Go now in grace and peace.

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