Brandon Leone

My 3 takeaways from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal: 1. Notice the nature of sin— Sin makes you stupid. Lust, envy, and selfish ambition arrests our thinking. Satan works by overplaying the benefits of sin while downplaying its consequences. Many powerful people were drawn into Epsteins web by promises of access, influence, and pleasure. Few likely intended to join a criminal enterprise, but through small compromises, they found themselves connected to an evil person and practicing evil themselves. 2. Recalibrate your definition of success— “Man’s rejection is God’s protection.” What if the raise you didn’t get, the promotion you didn’t receive, the campaign you didn’t win, the friend group or party you didn’t get invited to was actually God protecting your soul? What if God knew that that thing you desired would actually end up harming you and hindering you spiritually? That promotion or party may not have put you in the echelon of Epstein, but maybe it was going to put you in cahoots with the wrong people or encourage pride or covetousness in you. God cares more about our holiness than our happiness, and He will stop at nothing to accomplish His will in us. 3. Be grateful for a Christian civilization— The only reason we have a rightful aversion to Jeffrey Epstein is because of Christianity. Disgust toward pedophilia and preying upon minors is not self-evident nor universal. There are Jeffrey Epsteins throughout history and across cultures. In many non-Western nations today, child marriage or raping underage girls is not seen as perverse or criminal. Unlike Islam, the model for marriage in the Bible is between one man and one woman, who are tasked with being fruitful and multiplying, which can only be done post-puberty. This is the standard Christianity set. The revulsion to Jeffrey Epstein and his ilk, whose actions are common throughout history, is evidence of the vestiges of the Christian conscience that forged the West.