Suggested Scripture(s): Philippians 4:4-9, 13

Suggested Scripture(s): 1 John 1:9 & Colossians 2:8-15

Suggested Scripture(s): Psalm 138

Presidential debates — even those featuring 10 or more candidates well over a year before Election Day — can tell us much about those self-confident enough to offer themselves as the nation’s next commander in chief.

It is time to remind ourselves of the Four Stages of Political Defeat and whether the losing side — in this case, the Democrats who suffered an unexpected and stinging rebuke in 2016 — will be able to recover and compete.

Iran’s corrupt religious dictators continue to talk, taunt and act as if their periodic attacks on oil tankers and cyclic threats to close the Strait of Hormuz to commercial and naval vessels still have the power to spike global oil prices, depress stock markets and economically throttle the…