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The Senate passes a rare pre-dawn stopgap funding bill to avoid a shutdown, Russian missiles kill a child near Kyiv, and Todd Blanche is confirmed as attorney general. What does Scripture say when governments cooperate — and when they fail?
The Senate votes 90-6 before sunrise to avoid a shutdown, Russian missiles kill a child near Kyiv, and Todd Blanche is confirmed as attorney general. Charles King weighs each story against Scripture — from Romans 13 to Psalm 10 to Proverbs on just weights.
Stories Covered
• Senate passes stopgap funding bill 90-6 to prevent shutdown ahead of midterms
• Russian missile attacks near Kyiv kill three, including a child
• Senate confirms Todd Blanche, Trump's former defense lawyer, as attorney general 50-49
Scripture References
• Romans 13:1
• Psalm 10:1
• Proverbs 11:1 (a just weight is the Lord's delight)
• Psalm 62:1-2
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Understand the news. Keep your peace. Follow Christ. The Gospel Briefing is a five-minute weekday Christian news decision brief hosted by Charles King. Each episode brings three consequential stories into the light of Scripture, helping you enter the day informed and steady - without panic, outrage, or partisan noise. Go deeper with Bible Copilot.
Ninety to six. Before sunrise.
The Senate just did something Washington rarely does anymore. It acted early. This is The Gospel Briefing. I'm Charles King.
Here's the question for your Saturday: when leaders finally cooperate, what are they cooperating for?
Early Saturday morning, the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through December eleventh. The vote, ninety to six. It heads next to the House, which returns August thirty-first. Federal funding expires September thirtieth.
Neither party wanted a repeat of last fall's forty-three-day shutdown — the longest in American history. With midterms less than three months away, no one wanted to walk into November explaining a closed government.
The bill freezes a White House budget office rule that would have handed political appointees more control over federal grants. Senator Susan Collins called that rule deeply flawed. It also delays, by one month, a ban on hemp-derived THC products — a fight that nearly derailed the whole thing.
Here's the honest read. This is not statesmanship. This is deadline management. But deadline management is still a mercy. A functioning government is a gift most of the world does not have.
Scripture puts civil authority in its proper place. Romans thirteen, verse one. "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
Not endorsed. Instituted. There's a difference. And Paul wrote that under Nero. Keep Romans thirteen open in Bible Copilot as you sit with that today.
While the Senate voted, a very different night was unfolding near Kyiv.
Russian ballistic missiles struck east of the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Saturday. At least three people are dead. One was a child. Three more were wounded. Garages, businesses, and apartment buildings caught fire. Emergency crews were still working the scenes at daybreak.
This came days after strikes across Ukraine killed twenty-one people. President Zelensky says allied supplies of missile interceptors have been significantly reduced this year. Fewer interceptors means more funerals.
Psalm ten asks the question every parent in Kyiv is asking this morning. "Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" Scripture doesn't scold you for asking that. It teaches you how.
Pray today for a child you'll never meet, in a country most of us will never visit. That's not small. That's obedience.
Back home, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general. The vote, fifty to forty-nine. Blanche is President Trump's former personal defense lawyer. Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski joined every Democrat in voting no.
Christians will disagree about this confirmation. Fine. What Scripture doesn't leave open is the standard. Proverbs says a just weight is the Lord's delight. The office of attorney general exists to hold that weight — for everyone, without favor.
Watch how the department behaves. Not how it was staffed.
This episode is presented by Bible Copilot. If today's stories left you with more questions than answers, open Bible Copilot and study the Verse of the Day first — Psalm sixty-two. It'll walk you through what the passage says, what it means, what it teaches about God, and how to apply it to your life right now. Three questions each day are free. Start at mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel. That's mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel, or search Bible Copilot in the App Store.
Here's your verse for the day. Psalm sixty-two, verses one and two. "For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken."
Governments open. Governments close. Missiles fall. Attorneys general come and go. God alone does not move.
Thanks for listening to The Gospel Briefing. However this weekend finds you — informed, unsettled, or somewhere in between — the fortress still holds. I'll see you Monday.