The Daily Briefing highlights the news of the day and research that reveals the spirit of the day.
The Daily Briefing is a newsletter sent straight to your inbox every morning that provides biblical insight on today's news.
Top News
6. Iran confirms top security chief and paramilitary commander killed (CBS News)
“Israel delivered double blows to the upper echelons of Iran’s leadership on Tuesday, killing Ali Larijani, the head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, and Brig. Gen. Gholamreza Soleimani, the leader of a powerful plainclothes militia aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Israeli military said Mr. Larijani had been killed in overnight airstrikes near Tehran. A close confidant of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader who was killed at the start of the war on Feb. 28, Mr. Larijani became Iran’s de facto leader before the ayatollah’s son Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded his father.
“The European Union — the 27 nation bloc that includes some of America's closest allies — made it clear Tuesday that it would not be racing to meet President Trump's calls for military assistance to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. "Nobody is ready to put their people in harm's way in the Strait of Hormuz," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday. "We have to find diplomatic ways to keep this open so that we don't have a food crisis, fertilizers crisis, energy crisis as well."
While many have suggested this is a forever war, a bold claim seeing as how it’s not even to the 3-week point yet, Muhanad Seloom asserts that the US is winning this war. Seloom argues that “the critics are measuring the wrong things. They are cataloguing the price of the campaign while ignoring the strategic ledger.”
The campaign has moved through 2 phases, according to Seloom: air defenses and the industrial base. America and her allies have suppressed Iran’s air defences, “decapitated its command and control, and degraded its missile and drone launch infrastructure.” According to some reports, 80 percent of Iran’s capacity to strike Israel has been eliminated. The US is now flying nonstealth B-1 bombers over Iranian airspace, signaling near-total confidence in air dominance.
Now there is the targeting of the industrial base. This includes missile production facilities, dual-use research centres, and the underground complexes where remaining stockpiles are stored. “Iran now faces a strategic dilemma that tightens every day. If it fires its remaining missiles, it exposes launchers that are promptly destroyed. If it conserves them, it forfeits the ability to impose costs of the war.”
What about the Strait of Hormuz? Seloom describes this as Iran’s "most visible retaliatory card.” Countries around the world feel the impact, including China, Tehran’s largest remaining economic partner. China also cannot receive Iranian crude while the Strait is shut. “Every day the blockade continues, Iran severs its own economic lifeline and alienates the one major power that has consistently shielded it at the United Nations. The closure does not just hurt the global economy; it accelerates Iran’s isolation.”
Beware of the grasshopper… In Numbers 13, we read how 12 spies are sent to the land of Canaan to scout the area for 40 days. 10 of the spies returned and acknowledged the land was "flowing with milk and honey," but focused primarily on the strength of the inhabitants. "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” Their fear captivated their thinking, keeping them from seeing the bigger picture. Fast forward to Isaiah 40, and the prophet draws on the grasshopper to remind his audience that “God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers." While some suggest we will be fighting forever, we know the bigger picture: we don’t fight alone, and one day the fighting will come to an end.
5. Top Trump counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigns over Iran, saying it "posed no imminent threat to our nation" (CBS News)
“President Trump's director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, announced his immediate resignation Tuesday, citing the decision to begin a war against Iran when "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation."
“Kent, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate last year, posted his resignation letter on X Tuesday morning. He claimed the war was "manufactured" by Israel. "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," Kent wrote in his resignation letter addressed to the president and posted to X. "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."
His principles have been questioned in the past, but they have been an apparent guiding force in the present. Mr. Kent isn’t alone in his resignation on principle. In 1915, William Jennings Bryan resigned over US policy toward Germany. Bryan wanted to work out the conflict via diplomacy; Pres. Wilson ended up declaring war. Then there was William Watts. In 1970, he resigned over our invasion of Cambodia. He was considered a “bleeding heart” whose views represented “the cowardice of the Eastern Establishment.”
J. Patrick Dobel suggests utilizing a “triangle of judgment” regarding such resignation decisions. In his work Public Integrity, Dobel argues that there are 3 criteria regarding ethically resigning: legal-institutional, personal responsibility, and effectiveness. If the entity is acting illegally or immorally, then a resignation may be the right move. But you must also consider effectiveness. No institution is going to exactly mirror your beliefs, so small compromises are required to achieve larger goals. However, when you are no longer securing small wins, or are being ignored or castigated, then resigning may be prudent.
John Trapp noted that our conscience is “God’s spy and man’s overseer.” Our conscience tells us not to do wrong, but it doesn’t tell us what is wrong. It must be informed, edified with truth, and renewed by that which is good and right. While the conscience can’t always be trusted, it should be continually informed. (Heb. 10:22, 13:18, 1 Pet. 3:16)
4. Chief Justice John Roberts warns personal attacks on judges have 'got to stop' (NBC News)
“Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday said that personal criticism of judges is dangerous and urged prominent figures to dial down the rhetoric just days after President Donald Trump launched his most recent broadside against the Supreme Court.
“Roberts, the head of the federal judiciary, said in public remarks at Rice University in Houston that critiques of the substance of Supreme Court rulings are part of the job but that some more pointed comments have gone too far. He did not mention Trump specifically. "The problem sometimes is that the criticism can move from a focus on legal analysis to personalities. And you see from all over, I mean, not just any one political perspective on it, that it's more directed in a personal way, and that, frankly, can be actually quite dangerous," Roberts said.”
We all suffer from naïve realism, according to Julia Minson. In her forthcoming book, How to Disagree Better, Minson shares how we all have a natural tendency to believe we see the world objectively. "When we disagree with someone, we're quick to assume they're misinformed, irrational or even acting in bad faith — while giving ourselves the benefit of the doubt."
Enter the inquiry mindset. Instead of writing off the other person, we should press in. “The inquiry mindset approach is: “I know you're disagreeing with me, but I don't understand why you're disagreeing with me.” You have a different set of facts, or you have a different set of priorities, or you have a different perspective, so I am going to try to understand what it is that I don't know about the problem. That’s because if there's something that I don't know that I could learn from you, that's incredibly valuable and I want to garner that value.”
You may disagree with your neighbor politically, but you have been called to love them biblically. Saul repeatedly tried to kill David, but David continually honored Saul. If politics is keeping you from loving your neighbor, you may be idolizing a political party more than following a resurrected king. (1 Sam. 19-24)
Cultural News
3. Viral ‘Iris’ trend brings new generations of fans to the Goo Goo Dolls
“The Goo Goo Dolls' song 'Iris' has become a centerpiece of the latest internet trend where people share photos and videos of themselves in the 1990s, set to the band's 1998 hit. Frontman John Rzeznik says he's 'thrilled' to see the continued popularity of the song and to connect with a younger audience discovering the band's music.
“The '90s nostalgia trend reflects a broader yearning among younger generations for the pre-digital, more tactile experiences of that era. As Gen Z and Gen Alpha drive this viral moment, it highlights their fascination with the cultural touchstones that defined the decade, including the music of the Goo Goo Dolls.”
“Nostalgia is history without guilt,” according to Svetlana Boym. In her insightful book The Future of Nostalgia, Boym distinguishes between 2 types of nostalgia: restorative (desire to rebuild the lost home) and reflective (savoring the bittersweet nature of time and loss).
“As for time, it is forever shrinking. Oppressed by multitasking and managerial efficiency, we live under a perpetual time pressure. The disease of this millennium will be called chronophobia or speedomania, and its treatment will be embarrassingly old-fashioned. Contemporary nostalgia is not so much about the past as about vanishing the present.” For Boym, she writes how nostalgia is less a feeling and more a place in time. It “goes beyond individual psychology. At first glance, nostalgia is a longing for a place, but actually it is a yearning for a different time - the time of our childhood, the slower rhythms of our dreams. In a broader sense, nostalgia is a rebellion against the modern idea of time, the time of history and progress.”
Don’t spend too much time on the cucumbers… Nostalgia operates in a tension within the biblical narrative: the sacred command to remember and the spiritual trap of dwelling. Recollecting the past often fuels hope and comfort in the present, compelling the soul to press forward to a richer future. However, there is an element of nostalgia that looks to the past and believes the best days are the past days, remembering that “the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.” There is nothing wrong with looking back; there is something good and right about pressing forward. (Phil. 3, Num. 11)
News You Can Use
2. 5 Types of Naps
Watch it here. “Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.” (Pro. 20:13)
1. Museum curator uses slang to reach Gen Z
Watch it here. “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22)
