We Need Tears In The Pulpit!

                I want to preface this Christian post with something political because they are related. It was the mid-90s or thereabouts....and it was one of the three high-profile women Democrats from California....either Boxer or Feinstein or Pelosi.....I can't remember which one and was unable to research it. She was in an interview....and the question was about conservatives who were complaining that our Constitution was not being followed. This California government official was frustrated and blurted out the comment....."What's all this talk about the Constitution?" It showed how back then Democrats did not care anything about the Constitution. Today....miraculously....they talk about the Constitution all the time....but it is a fake concern. Also today....we conservatives do the exact same thing....for we no longer care about if something that this president does is constitutional or not. That is the principle for the following:

                In 1980....(I'm just picking an arbitrary date)....our minds were fresh and inquisitive. We didn't think that we knew it all. We were not saturated with texting and smart phones and streaming and podcasts. We had three or four television stations....and Billy Graham was on all the time....and there were Christian ministers on the national scene....literally everywhere....some in retrospect may have been much better than others but they all had the gospel! Christian bookstores were literally everywhere....and Christian radio was a big thing! Everyone knew someone who had just become one of those born again Christians! 
                When we heard....and everyone would hear from one source or another....the story about Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night....and Jesus telling him that one had to be born again....born anew....born from above....it amazed us. It was new to us. The Holy Spirit saved multitudes in this type of preaching! 
                Today Nicodemus is just a name from a weekly Bible study....a quaint little story that really has no important meaning behind it. It's just like the Constitution. There was a time when it was a hallowed document....but today it is just talking point fodder.
                 The ground today is not tilled and ready for planting. The soil has been used and abused. Our minds have atrophied from lack of intellectual exercise. We are just followers today....and it is not Jesus whom we are following. We are not lambs being taken care of by shepherds....but rather calves....roped and branded. We need preaching not podcasts!!!! We need humility.....and mortification....not pride. We need stirring up....not towards anger and revenge....but of the things of God. We need to understand the visit of Nicodemus. We need mercy and forgiveness. We need tears in the pulpit!
                       

DISPATCHES

It has been ten years....today....since Trump came down that escalator. It has also been ten years of God's judgment on us! That includes Biden and his four years. Deny it if you want....but that's the norm when God judges his people. Read Malachi and see how many times the people would say in response to God's accusations....Us? When did we ever do anything like that?             

I posted on it years ago. It was in a briefing with senior economic aides....where Trump was told that the national debt....which was 21 trillion at the time....would be a time bomb set to explode about the time that his second term would end. Trump's response was...."Yeah....but I won't be here." You need to understand this about Trump....he doesn't care about the long term. His life has always been....make a few million....and then take the money and run. This is how he looks at Russia or Iran or anyone.

Trump made $57 million on Bitcoin in 2024....and that does not include his coin issued this year....and overall in 2024....Bible sales and everything....over $600 million. His wealth is spread out in a lot of places around the world. That's the main reason why he wants...a deal...and not war.

Update: Trump announced today that he will offer a 5G network....and a smartphone. He truly has proven to be the greatest ever....in many things....but not the things that he says that he is the greatest in. For he has taken the lead over Nebuchadnezzar as the greatest narcissist that ever lived....for as one psychiatrist described....he is actually a solipsist....where in his mind he is the only mind that really exists....and that he is the ultimate reference point on everything. He is proving to be the greatest conman that every lived....and until the Antichrist is revealed....which will not be long....in that sphere....of seeking to rule the whole world....Trump is right now the GOAT.

If you are around 40 years old....an adult for say twenty years....then the last ten years of your short twenty year adulthood had been a graphic novel...TV reality show....tabloid....true crime....seedy stateroom cruise down the River Styx. You have never experienced the America that once was....even in its last few decades....and you have never experienced the gospel as a mainstay in the church....or preaching that mortifies man and glorifies God. Deny that if you want....but Paul had no qualms about telling the Corinthians that they were stuck on a milk diet. Read Daniel 9....and see what a prayer for national repentance is supposed to sound like.

I knew someone like this. Most probably so did you. Over a long time....many decades....an inordinate number of minor catastrophes would happen to him....one after another after another....so many that those of us that knew this person could only sit and gaze in amazement....but what was even more amazing is that of every one of those minor catastrophes.....literally dozens of them....not one of them were in any way or shape or form....his fault! He had a long and impassioned explanation on every single one of them on why he had absolutely nothing to do with it having occurred! That is Donald Trump....no matter what could possibly happen....it was great....even if you could not see anything....it was still great....and if a catastrophe was too great to keep hidden.....it was and is.....every single one of them....the fault of someone else! Back to that person that many of us knew....I saw him the other day....something went amiss and he filed for bankruptcy....but it was the other person's fault that it happened!

These Are Not Lotto Odds Folks

                The political situation is untenable and unsustainable. A house divided cannot stand....and we are divided....it is an unbridgeable divide....and both sides are under the judgment of God. Do you get the picture I'm laying out? Your hope....is in something that cannot come. God has given us a half century of warnings....explicit warnings.....by good men....and then He took these men away....their task completed....and we in essence ignored those warnings....and then grabbed onto a false prophet....every bit a false prophet as Hananiah was to Jeremiah!
                Everyone laughed at the Christians back in the 70s when they pointed out that God's Word was pointing directly at Israel....and some kind of coming great delusion....and a world gone totally violent....and a mark on the hand if you wanted to buy something. Everyone laughed....and they were all wrong....and they still don't care as artificial intelligence is right out of God's prophetic word.
                You can go back to the Old Testament prophets....and see portraits of us in the people of Israel and Judah....and the nations of the world. It's a mirror if we have eyes to see! 6,000 years is nothing as to the entire history of man. That's only sixty centuries or 120....50 year periods! These are not lotto odds folks! This is it! There is no difference between an Ahab and a Jezebel....and leaders today. There were demons all over the place when Jesus walked the earth....and much of what is in our news today is demons.
                This that we live in is the culmination. Are you reading every day in the book of Daniel....or Revelation? At the end of Daniel....God told him to go his way....and seal up the book....forever? No....until the time of the end! That's today. And then Daniel is told that knowledge will increase. Guess what....that is AI and every other technological advance that we have had in the past 125 years!
                
                 

We Are Already In A Famine Of The Word

                It was certainly one of the biggest earthquakes in history....8.2 is the most often used numeration. There is archeological evidence galore that it indeed happened....and that it covered a large area....and probably centered in what is today....Lebanon.
               The prophet Amos....a simple herdsman....began his prophecy by writing...."two years before the earthquake".....and Zechariah....maybe 250 years later still referred to that earthquake....as being during the time of King Uzziah.
                So Amos prophesied destruction upon Damascus and Gaza (the Philistines) and Tyre and Edom and Ammon and Moab and Edom and Israel and Judah....and he detailed what they had done to get God's anger to such a degree. Amos saw the destruction in multiple visions....and wrote about this later pointing out that he had these visions....two years before the earthquake. There was no need for him to try to describe a particular earthquake....for this was truly the....mother of all earthquakes.
               Chapter six should get our attention in America....for we have been for a long time...."at ease in Zion"....proud of our power...."I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it." (6:8) Here Amos is prophesying a future judgment....and also....unbeknownst to him....another future judgment after that....which would be us today....for we also sleep on our beds of ivory....so to speak....stretch out on our couches....eat and drink and be merry....all the while having no compassion on our brothers who are not safe under the great and powerful king....commissioned by God Himself to make us great again....or so we believe.
                So is there another earthquake coming in the same area? Yes....and even greater than the one during the life of Amos....as even the Mount of Olives will split in two....and we likewise are given warnings before the earthquake....and ignoring those warnings....just as did Judah and Israel.
                 There is much more than an earthquake coming....and the judgments have already begun. As you read through Amos....if you should choose to do so....you will find some interesting verses to meditate upon. You will read in 3:7...."Surely the LORD God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to his servants the prophets"....and God has indeed though men like Billy Graham warned us for a half a century. 
                  You will read where God told the Israelites to go ahead and offer their sacrifices and pray and give offerings....in Bethel....where they set up pagan idols to worship....kind of like us with Old Glory hanging just feet away from the pulpit. (4:4, 5:5)
                  God told them that He already sent many judgments upon them....one being plagues....or in our case a pandemic....yet we still did not turn from our idols. God told them that he despises their feast days and does not savor their sacred assemblies. (5:21)
                   The people told Amoz....this mere herdsman....with no credentials....to get lost....to go back to his own land....that they had their king!
                    The Lord's hand of mercy is also extended to the people....but not before Amoz prophesied of a day...."Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God....'that I will send a famine on the land....not a famine of bread....nor a thirst for water....but a hearing the words of the LORD'." (8:11)
                    The above famine of the Word of God is today folks. How was your sermon two days ago? Were you humbled under the holiness and judgments of God? Were you warned of the evil days that we live in? Were you told to look to that day when Jesus returns in great power and glory.....revealed to the whole world as One whom they rejected? Did your knees shake at times under the message....were there any tears either in the pulpit or in your own eyes? Probably not....but there was most likely an abundance of laughter and gaiety.....signifying....evidence of....brothers and sisters....that....famine of the Word of God.

R. C. Sproul has a wonderful YouTube video available on Amos and Hosea....Dust To Glory....Amos and Hosea.

                                                                            

                 
               

The Hibiscus

                 How gracious is our God....and how merciful and longsuffering! I cannot at times but look back at 75 years....and wonder what the angels think about such mercy and forgiveness to someone as I! The blessings have just continuously overflowed....from a wonderful wife....to a wonderful son and his family.....to 37 years in one job....to a home....of which I am sitting on the patio right now....in 53 degree weather with a small fire pit....six inches in diameter....throwing a warm airy blanket over me.

                I thank God that I was given every opportunity in the world. I thank Him that I was not given some great gift....athletic or musical....where today I would be in some hall of fame....or asked for autographs when I am in a restaurant....for I would not have handled that well. I thank Him that I was not given too much or too little.
                What if I had not been born in the United States? No one would have been telling me of Jesus Christ at work....unless I was born in some impoverished country like the Philippines. I know and love a family that lives there. The one daughter FaceTimes with my brother-in-law every day. A hundred dollars is a lot of money to them....more than just a lot of money. They have devotions every morning in the sweltering tropical climate.
                There is a former professional baseball player who we know....whose name most everyone reading this would know....and he was given a $15,000 signing bonus at the time! It was a different country than it is today. My uncle....a Catholic priest....would take me to ball games in my youth....oh the sound of that ball hitting the bat....and a scorecard that I could record everything....and a hot dog....maybe two....and a Coke. They were heroes of a sort back then....but the sports.....all of them....are filled with idols today.
                 We have no leaders to speak of anymore. The few that survived up until about a decade ago have either died or slinkered down to being mere footstools to a different American way of life....a way of life that grabs....and protects what it has grabbed....living in fear that they may have to join the rest of us.
                 The pure exhilaration back in the early 80s of being born again is still in my memory....with Christian bookstores everywhere....and Billy Graham crusades on television throughout the year....and a humble man like Ronald Reagan in the White House!
                  That is all....gone with the wind.  There is no way that you could understand that unless you were there....and even that is no guarantee. The entire 19th century has been one of technological progress. It turned out to be nothing but suicide. God gave us a hint of this with the Tower of Babel. He knew where man would go....and He slowed it down so that the Son of Man would come....and gather up a motley crew....like Phil Robertson....(and me)....and turn him into the Phil Robertson that just went to his real home. 
                   Well Jesus was taken up into the clouds that day on the Mount of Olives....and He will soon return in the same way....and every eye will see Him. Even billionaires will try to hide in the rocks. His glory will be revealed....to everyone!
                    I don't deserve to know Him! I didn't deserve to live past those many times in my youth when I tempted fate. Off to my right on this patio is a hibiscus plant (tree) that I purchased just the other day. Are you familiar with the beautiful bloom of that flower? It lasts often for only one day....and then it closes up....and drops off! There are two blooms on the plant right now....there were about six two days ago....and there may be six a week from today. 
                    We are as those blooms....the only difference is that God takes of those blooms those who for some reason He has chosen....the 'one day' of the hibiscus is as the seventy years of the man....and we simply close up and drop off also....but He whose promises are true will resurrect our bloom....without imperfections.....never to close up and drop off again!
                     Are you one of those blooms! Do you want to be one of those blooms that God will preserve? Do you know that it may be a day or it may be a decade but you will eventually close up and drop off? Only you are not a plant that is and then is no more....for you have an eternal soul. Have you no concern what will happen to that soul? Ignoring the issue won't help. God did not leave us in the dark. He gave us His written word....and He gave us His Spirit. You are but one....humble and penitent cry away....from having your eyes opened! If it can happen to me....it can happen to you.
                  

I Always Keep An Eye On The Jewish Feasts And Fasts

Preface: The Jewish fast of The Three Weeks....begins this year on July 13....and ends on the Ninth of Av....August 3. This is to be three weeks of mourning in remembrance of catastrophes from the past:  

               God fulfills prophetic events on the Jewish feasts....and He uses blood moons and solar eclipses and comets as signs. Donald Trump was born on a blood moon. It was an ominous....in retrospect....warning to us. In other words we did not know it at the time but we can look back at it. Do you remember all the fuss about the 2014-2015 tetrad of blood moons? They came and went....and naysayers said....'See....nothing happened during that time"....but once again looking back on them.....right in the middle of them....Donald Trump came down that escalator right smack dab into the middle of evangelicalism.....prophesying nothing but great things for America....only the latest being the coming Golden Age....all of these prophecies being the exact opposite of what God's Word tells us is going to happen!

                No one really cares about this because God had judged His church first....and taken away our discernment. Nationally known ministers....including some of our best ministers....fell under the power of this false prophet. In five days it will be ten years to the day when Trump came down that escalator....and the last ten years has vexed and ripped evangelicalism to shreds. It's been like living the O. J. Simpson murder trial in the news every day for the last ten years! It has brought us down and sullied everything about us...so much so that when they have this military parade in a few days we will be cheering....as if tanks and planes and soldiers are our strength....oblivious that God told Gideon to get rid of all those soldiers....and trust in Him....and also oblivious to....Zechariah 4:6....which used to be a memory verse for us...."This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel....'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the  LORD of hosts'."
                 Returning to the Jewish feasts. The upheaval in the world today....began on October 7, 2023....the last day of the Feast of Sukkot. Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech to the United Nations on September 22, 2023....and I posted on it that it was...."wildly overly-optimistic." He boasted about the plans for peace that were in the making....and I added...."Whatever the details are....and we do not know them now....they may on paper be sound....maybe even genius....but they will not succeed. This is like trying to build a house of cards with an oscillating fan that will eventually pass the house of cards and blow them all down." Two months before the Sukkot attacks I reviewed the new movie that was out on Golda Meir....on the 1973 Yom Kippur War....and posted that Israelis should take notice because things like this could happen in the near future.
                  Tisha B' Av....otherwise known as....the ninth of Av....the Jewish month Av....is a solemn day every year for Jews who observe their feasts. God has used that feast in the past to judge Israel....and He will do it again. These things are just so obvious as to How God chooses to work. The Ninth of Av this year begins at sundown on Saturday....August 2.....and ends at nightfall on Sunday....August 3.
                   The purpose of God using the Jewish feasts to fulfill prophecy is not for us to expect something on this particular feast or that particular feast....but to strengthen us at the time....such as after the Sukkot attacks....in knowing that God has every day in the future mapped out....which includes the tribulation....and the great delusion....and the rise of the antichrist....and the nations surrounding Jerusalem....and His taking His church up....and His return in judgment on the nations and those who did not believe in Him!

             
             

Preachers From The Past....And Men Today Who Preach Like Preachers From The Past

 

               Michael Reeves is a professor and a college president....in Great Britain....Wales to be precise....an author....and a preacher....who preaches like men of the past. Try listening to this sermon....and see if you have ever heard anything quite like it.

Two Assignments

                 I just finished a book....the subject of which was a particular Secret Service agent. The time period was many years ago....so possibly the duties and responsibilities of Secret Service agents have changed....but that is not important to this post.

                At one time this particular agent was assigned to a president....and at another time to a vice president....and another time to the wife of a president....and yet another time....again to the president himself....a different president.
                When an administration changed....the agents would be told what their new duties would be....if any....in a new administration. They didn't have any choice....were not asked for any preferences....and did not question their assignments.
                So....the administration changes....and they know that their life for the next four years....maybe eight....may change drastically....as it might be protecting the President of the United States....or it might be going to kindergarten with a child of the Vice President of the United States. So....how is this going to be a Lord's Day post?
                On the particular topic of this post....which is peripherally the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior and King....Jesus Christ....I have lived two lives....or to use words earlier in this post....as with this Secret Service agent....I have had two different assignments. For a long time....oh thirty years maybe....I thought that Jesus was returning soon....but that 'soon' could be anywhere from a few years to a few decades.....in other words there was absolutely no imminence about it....certainly nothing particularly special....and no need to adjust my lifestyle in any way. I have lived the last....oh....just estimating....twelve years or so.....knowing....as much as any Christin today can truly know....that Jesus is coming back in my generation...of which is just about over!
                 That Secret Service agent experienced both....riding a pony with a child....and being a bodyguard for the most powerful man on earth. He greatly desired the latter. I want the latter also! There is no comparison at all in rejoicing and praising in the two alternatives. The former....'hey it might be fifty years till Jesus comes back'....not really knowing or even caring....is almost a life without purpose....more of a holding pattern. The latter is the trumpet sound!

                  I am not saying that everyone has to or even should hear....as Billy Graham once titled a book....The Approaching Hoofbeats....[of the]....Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I am saying that that sound is the heavenly sound of the return in glory and power of our Lord and our Savior and our King....and it should be preferred....and viewed.....(even if the Lord should tarry)....as the sun is greater than the moon....to a veiled....even remote....off in the distance....coming hope! I have my assignment....and it is in making ready the return. Have you really checked to see what your assignment is!
               

The Evil King

                 I witnessed first hand....was part of....and contributed to....the collapse of America. Now today we like to bandy about the word 'America"....apply it wherever we want to....a body of water or news source....and mythologize or demonize it....but it for two hundred years pointed to a people....not a land mass....but a peculiar....melting pot of a people.

                Like a great lake it might be calm as a puddle of rain water....but at times as on the Sea of Galilee....a great wind would come down off the hills of the Golan and produce a tempest where ships would capsize and fishermen would die....but the teeming life beneath the waves would go on as usual....and this would continue on any sea until the waters were polluted by industries....or over-fished....or some other species would invade the lake.
                In 1960 the cars changed and the music changed....we were a Barbie and a G. I. Joe world....and we became as that mythical Camelot....until the industrialization and the exploitation and the invasive species appeared and began to devour everything good in sight.
                I was as easy to manipulate as anyone. If they said....'buy this'....to make you appear more manly....I would buy it....or 'drink this' to be something that you are not but you want to be....I would drink it....and then in 1982....and thereabouts....before and after that actually....God told his fishermen who were catching few fish to cast the net on the right side of the boat....and there was so many of us that the net almost capsized the boat.
                 Then we became the fishers....or rather the hunters instead of the hunted....for a time. We would build our own version of Camelot....with Christ as the King. There was a great round table....with noble knights all around it....Sir William and Sir Robert Charles and Sir John And Sir David and Sir Patrick....and many more....but eventually the barbarians came....the barbarians always come.
                  We grew fat. I grew fat. The King had long since departed....withdrew....because we seemed to forget that he was there....so we summoned a new king....conjured up would describe it better....a king like the other nations had....only stronger!
                  We didn't know that he was an evil king....nor did we really care....for he flattered us so. There was no Magna Carta or constitutions with this king.....no parliaments or congresses....and then a light appeared in the distance....and a sound!
                  Those of us who through shame had retired far enough away so as not to be forced to listen to the bellicose voice of the new evil king....could hear....and can hear.....can't you hear it also....the sound of a trump....a real trumpet....not just a powerful horn!
                   We are slowly coming out in the open....walking right through the parades....towards the light....and looking up....for therein has always been and will always be our only true hope....our King....the King of all kings....coming back in power and glory!
                
                

Walking On The Moon......And Then On Mt. Ararat

                 James B. Irwin was a remarkable and an interesting man. Born in 1930 in Pittsburgh.....he was the pilot of Apollo 15....and the 8th astronaut to have walked on the moon. It was he that stooped over and dug out what was later to be called....The Genesis Rock. That flight stirred something in him about God....and very similar to Pete Maravich after leaving the NBA....he became a Christian after leaving NASA  and committed his life to the things of God.

                Among those commitments was his search for Noah's Ark. In one of his many expeditions to Turkey his team discovered an interesting land formation that looked like it could be the Ark....but nothing could be proven. I remember those days....and the photos....the same photos that are in the news today as it appears that Noah's Ark may indeed have been found....and that that land formation that was in the shape of a boat....of the correct dimensions....could very well be it. We will have to wait for more scientific evidence....but right now it is looking pretty good.
                Colonel James Irwin had heart issues while on the Apollo 15 mission. A lack of sleep and heavy physical work showed up on his heart monitor back in Houston. The doctor said that if he was on earth he would be in ICU....but the 100% oxygen atmosphere and zero G in space was as good as being in ICU. James Irwin died of a heart attack at sixty-one years old....after heartily declaring the glories of God in what was the remaining years of his life.
                I was this morning listening to a sermon by Jonathan Edwards....and in that sermon....the title of which was....The Manner in Which the Salvation of the Soul is to be Sought....he  spoke at length about Noah. His message could have been to James Irwin....being a follower of Christ is going to cost you all you have...bring to you great ridicule,....and take you through the end of your life.
                We have lost today the gravitas that is demanded of the disciple of Christ. The gospel seems to be but a part of who we are. We seem to have lost the concept of the holiness of God....and the glory of God has certainly departed the sanctuary.

Just A Mental Exercise

 Preface: The following post is from June of 2023. We know about Isaac Newton's reputation as a great mind....but if I remember correctly....and I think that I do....the Encyclopedia Britannica once described Jonathan Edwards as the greatest mind in America in the 18th century. Edwards studied much on prophecy....and that of the "times of the Gentiles." God's Word encourages us....indeed commands us to stay awake as far as the signs of the times. The following is just a mental exercise....which is the title that I gave the post at the time:

               

               [Isaac] Newton's brain was certainly in a league with only a few others.....and during his life he wrote more about religion than any other field of study....not more than all of them combined....but more than any other individual field of study.
               I'm writing this post because I saw an article earlier today on Newton....and his calculated prediction that the year 2060 would be the key end times year. Many of you are probably familiar with this aspect of Isaac Newton's personality and character. Newton essentially took the 1260 days from Daniel 12:7....time, times, and a half a time....and turned them into years....1260 years. He chose the year 800 A. D. to add those 1260 years to....and that is how he came up with 2060. He chose that year....800 A. D....because it was the revival of the Roman Empire and beginning of the term Holy Roman Empire
               OK....that's old news to those who study prophecy.....1260 days as 3 1/2 years. I had in the past exercised my mind slightly differently. Daniel also tells us in Chapter 12 verse 11...."And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1290 days." Why now the 1290 days. We can speculate but we do not know. To complicate things more....Daniel goes on in verse 12...."Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days."  Why the additional 45 days? Once again....we do not know.
               What is that daily sacrifice as it relates to this passage of Daniel? We may be dealing with when Antiochus IV sacrificed a pig in the temple at Jerusalem? It may deal with when the Antichrist takes power during the Tribulation....and it may also include something altogether different? I'm posting this thought just to keep us thinking. Jews....small bands of various Jews....apparently would offer a burnt offering on Mount Moriah for centuries after the temple was destroyed.....but once the Mohammedans built the Dome of the Rock on the former temple mount....which still stands today....there would be no one sneaking up there to offer any sacrifices. The year of completion for the Dome of the Rock varies somewhat....but Wikipedia has it as 691-692. Adding here the 1335 days of Daniel 12:12 would be 2027. Just something to think about....I'll have another cup of coffee please.

Afterthought: We have to mix in a few things when studying Bible prophecy. We need to be careful not to be overconfident with the concept of times and seasons....but then we have to mix in with that the Bible's command to us to search the scriptures and be aware of the seasons and the signs....for even Revelation says that those with wisdom....at some time....will...."calculate the number of the beast"....but there is another thing to mix in here. We are familiar with when Bela Lugosi as Dracula in old films would....as he approached a victim....that victim might hold up a cross....and the vampire would immediately shield his face and leave. Well....that is what we often do today when someone mentions prophecy....as it is as if we immediately form a cross with our two forefingers....and back away in fear.

Hosanna To The King Of Kings......For He Restoreth My Soul

                 For decades....a half century really....I had a fascination with the ocean. I never saw it until I was 19 years old in basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. An oceanfront on vacation was always a particular blessing. My wife and I have been on a few cruises and my favorite spot on the ship was the promenade deck that extends from bow to stern on both sides of the ship....often with the lifeboats hanging above. I would sit there for hours upon hours as my wife was at the pool....gazing through the deck's railing....over the polished teak....once on a cruise to Bermuda....imagining how many great leaders of the past had viewed the exact same scene.....everyone from Churchill to JFK.

                So I am on the last day of a vacation right now as I type....a table pulled over to the sliding door of the suite overlooking the Atlantic. It will be cloudy today....and a little cool....69 degrees....my favorite weather. We decided on something a little different this time....a few days at Hilton Head....and then a few days a little north at Myrtle.
                While at Hilton Head...I thought that my fascination with the ocean was finally over. I'm getting too old for the hot sun and hauling the umbrella and chairs down to the sand. The beach was crowded....with umbrellas to our left and right and before and behind us....with women of many ages....and sizes....wearing swimsuits that would fit into one of those little travel poncho bags. 
                 Where had God's creation gone....the heat alone was making me weary as I stayed out from under the scorching sun? There was no poetry in my soul as there so often had been. Oh I had my Bible under the umbrella....and a good Christian book that I finished....and my headset to listen to....I think it was Spurgeon....but I was an interloper....an odd outcast who may as well have set up a sandwich board next to my chair with a sign....'the end is near!'
                 And then we drove north for a few hours. Some clouds were coming in....and the temperature was a little lower....from the low 80s to the high 70s. Save for the lifeguards....and a scattering of families....we were almost alone. The sun was not scorching....the people were more interested in looking for shark's teeth than walking a fashion runway....and lo and behold....with all praise to our wondrous and merciful Lord and Savior and....coming King....the glory of God's creation returned to my soul.
                 So I sit here typing....monocular at the ready to zoom in on dolphins or maybe a whale....breaching and giving glory to God in its own way. The world is in utter chaos and collapsing....right on God's perfect schedule....but all is well with my soul.....for the Father is in absolute control....and the Son and His mighty angels are approaching with a brightness that no mere celestial orb of a star can give....and the Holy Spirit is here....to pick up and encourage even the most frail as I. 
                 Looking back....reflecting on a half century of fascination with the ocean....I don't think that it was the power of the waters and the waves....or even the beauty....that so moved me....but the lack of man and his machinations. As I finish this post I see an expanse of gray water....a thin layer of clouds....ten green umbrellas set up....an unoccupied lifeguard stand....and a protective sand dune with it's overgrowth....oh and one other thing....palm trees...O if I could but reach out from this third story setting....and pull off some those palm branches....and spread them over the sand....to prepare the way for the return of the Creator of everything before me!.

God Has Taken Away The Spokesman

                 So today Franklin Graham is the default chief spokesman for the church in America....more accurately for evangelicalism in America. I do not believe for a moment that Billy Graham would have fallen for this false prophet in the White House. Yes....he voted for Trump in 2016....so did I. According to Franklin....Billy did not speak much at all in his last year....he died in February of 2018 and did not get to experience 1/100th the real Donld Trump. I can only imagine the visions that Billy might have had on where we were going....but it was too late for him to do any more to warn us than he had already done over so many decades.

                 There are other....'spokesmen'....out there....usually mega-popular authors such as Jonathan Cahn.....or Eric Metaxas....or Robert Jeffress. We have passed the day when we had a number of men who for good or maybe at times not that good....had a great influence upon the church. Pat Robertson was one....and I believe that by now....with all the horror that we have witnessed with Trump....he would be shouting a warning from the housetops....but his son also went the way of Franklin Graham.
                  God had taken Tim Keller home....and He took R. C. Sproul home.....both of whom would be pleading with us now to return to trusting in God alone. David Wilkerson would be denouncing Trump as the false prophet that he is....and pointing to the demons all around him. 
                   There are more names of men that are still with us. John MacArthur made the biggest mistake of his ministry when he endorsed Trump in 2020. I checked the website of his church only an hour ago....as I do every week at this time....to see if he will be in the pulpit this Lord's Day....for he announced a month ago that he is ready to come roaring back....but it will not be this week. Please pray for him....not only that God might restore him to his very visible pulpit....but that he has come to see that Trump is the very false prophet that he so effectively warned us about for almost a half century! 
                    Alistair Begg was another minister who was often in the limelight. He made one mistake in judgment....and we in effect banished him. John MacArthur said at the time that he hated to see a man's ministry of so many years end in such a way. I thought at the time....'what....why is this man's effective ministry ended?' Alistair Begg is retiring from his pulpit....too young....but still has his ministry of Truth For Life. May God give him wisdom and courage to speak in the days ahead. It has been my opinion that the extraordinarily harsh reaction to Alistair Begg's mistake was politically motivated....(although none of these men realized it)....because it was the election year....and Trump had to be elected....and we needed to keep the pressure on for Christians to vote against the woke policies of Joe Biden....while the effect of Alistair Begg's great sin would dampen that political motivation.
                    That leaves John Piper....second only to MacArthur in his influence. I have added many of John Piper's sermons and conference talks to these posts over the years. I check his ministry....desiringgod.org....every day. He is a prodigious author and a few years ago published a monumental textbook tome titled....Providence....of which I gave as a gift to our son. I do not know what he is up to today. I hope and pray that it is not a health issue....but as wonderful as his writings have been....I hope that it is not another book....because right now.....we need from John Piper....his voice declaring the sovereignty God....on the airwaves....and in conference halls....and in a pulpit!
                    It seems as if God has taken these men away from us for a purpose....to let us fall away.....to go the way that we really want to go. Jonah warned Nineveh....and we today are as a Nineveh....and they as you know repented....for a time....and we from time to time....for a time....humbled ourselves....but God eventually sent Nahum to the same Nineveh....and there was no warning this time....only a declaration of impending judgment. It appears that is where we are today.
                     Nonetheless God is always there....and He is there for us today....however many of us finally humble ourselves....and He will restore us....not as a nation....but as a separated people....ready to give glory to God at the revelation of His Son....upon His return in righteous judgment!

January 6......Praise God For That Blessed Day

              January 6......praise God for that blessed day! The year was 1850....almost a hundred years to the day before I was born. The place was Colchester, England....and there was this beautiful and glorious blizzard. There was a young man....15 years old to be exact....whose father and grandfather were ministers....yet he struggled every day with the knowledge that he was a sinner....and did not want to give up his sins....but at the same time knew that Almighty God frowned upon him.....so he would try to fight these temptations....and he would pray....O would he pray....but all to no avail.

            On the same Lord's Day as the blizzard there was this man....maybe in his fifties.....a shoemaker possibly....or coach driver....some honest profession that did not require an education. He was a deacon in his church....a small fundamental church. I'll call him....George....and his wife.....Elizabeth. They lived only two small English town blocks from the church so the walk in the blizzard to the church was bearable.
            As George struggled with the heavy wooden door....and held it open....with snow pelting his exposed face....Elizabeth....her face covered with only enough vision to be able to see the doorway....was able to barrel into the comfort of the foyer. A much younger Mr. Bellows rushed up to George and said...."George....the pastor has not showed up. The snow always makes it hard for him to get off of his farm.....George....you will have to be the preacher today!"
             Anxiety pangs immediately came upon George for he was not a man of words....nor could he even correctly pronounce many of them. He did have a memory though....of many passages of Scripture....and Elizabeth encouraged him to pick a verse and just talk to the people as he did to her so often at the dinner table.
            There may only have been a dozen people who could make the worship service in the snow....and Deacon George determined to....preach....on one of his favorite verses of God's Word....Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 22...."Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."
             The congregation....small though it might be....knew and loved their faithful deacon....that was no problem. George walked slowly up the steps to the pulpit....praying as he was walking. As he turned to face the congregation....the same door that George and Elizabeth entered the foyer opened. A strong gust of wind and snow came in....along with a young man....almost a boy. George waited as the young man looked around and entered the sanctuary.....hesitant....but seemingly happy to be out of the cold.
              As he took a seat in the very last pew....George....shouted out that verse from Isaiah...."Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth!" It took the people a little by surprise....and especially the young man in the last pew.
              In what was Deacon George's sermon.....he kept repeating over and over...."Look....look....just look! Everyone can look! One does not have to enter university to learn how to look!"
              The man....whose given name was Charles....Charles....Haddon....Spurgeon....had determined to visit many of the churches in his town....to see if someone might preach to him something that would give him the true conversion that he pleaded to God for....but not necessarily this small Primitive Methodist Church....or maybe it might be last on the list....but this day in the blizzard it was the closest.            
               Friends....brothers and sisters in our precious Lord and Savior and Coming King....Charles Haddon Spurgeon was converted....saved on that gloriously wonderful and snowy day....and the whole world....beginning back then....in the decades between....and today.... praise their Savior more faithfully....because that young boy became through God's grace....the Prince of Preachers....and so many....multitudes....have themselves been saved by way of his preaching!

              Please....dear readers....it's the Lord's Day....this isn't a day for sports or remodeling the house....give this day to your beloved Savior....for if you are indeed a Christian then you would call Him something like....your beloved and precious Savior! Please go to the link below and view this wonderful one hour and nine minute movie! The above scene will be opened up to you in a much more beneficial and edifying way! I dare say....at 75 years old I've seen a few things....you may never be the same....for God works through the efforts of filmmakers like this....and even by way of simple and insignificant bloggers like myself.

                                                                        

Annie Get Your Crown

The following was first posted in April of 2017:                

             Consider two women if you would. I'll call one Anne....and the other Annie. They are both 70 years old. Anne was born into money....private schools....a debutante ball.....Sarah Lawrence College....all of that. Her net worth has been in the billions....or today's equivalent of it....all of her life. Anne was physically beautiful...and still is as she had all that money could buy for various expensive cosmetic surgeries and beauty products to keep her skin soft and wrinkle free. She also is very healthy....as every sign of illness was addressed immediately by the best doctors in the world.
             Annie was born in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not far from the steel mills. She started smoking at fourteen because she didn't know any better. She began working as a cleaning woman at the historic Westinghouse Air Brake when she graduated from high school at 18 years of age. She has never had a thousand dollars to spare in her entire life. She still cleans banks and schools at 70 years old. There is no discernible shape or style whatsoever to her hair. Her skin is wrinkled and pasty....and she is not well although she really has no personal doctor to diagnose anything.....rather she will go to the emergency room when necessary.....which had been two or three times in her life. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of fairness to life as it concerns Anne and Annie.
             God had humbled Annie early in life as she made a mess of it with men....and never married. There was a large yellow brick church on a hill that Annie would always admire when she was on that hill. One particular Sunday while in her thirties, she bundled up on a cold winter day, walked through the red doors, and sat in the last pew. It was as if God dragged her out of bed that day and pulled her up that hill. She heard something from that old man in the pulpit that she had never heard before. It was like water that starts to boil and then one has to hurry and turn the heat down on the stove to keep the water from boiling over the top of the pot.....as if Annie reached out that morning to grab the robe of Jesus....and been raised to life from the spiritually dead.....and has ever since echoed praises to her Savior and her Lord off of those cold bank marble and tiled cafeteria floors. Her body may often ache but her soul is comforted in the pure joy of grace bestowed....and of knowing that a crown awaits her!
               Anne married the perfect man....handsome and richer than her. Her children are all highly successful and have provided a dozen beautiful grandchildren. Anne attends a majestic glass and steel church but she has never once heard the words that changed Annie's life. They were similar words that she heard but sterile....lacking power....and she has no idea that something is even missing. Anne gives more money to the church every Sunday than Annie makes in a whole year....but knows only a name....and not a reigning King. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of fairness here either....for God had humbled Annie....but never Anne.
               Granted, there have been many examples that are the exact opposite where the poor woman had a chip on her shoulder against God her whole life....while the rich woman's sole purpose was in using her wealth to help others and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My point here as it concerns riches and a life of ease....or poverty....is that both are temporary.....with an eternity to follow! Surely there is someone within fifty yards of where I sit right now who is an Annie......and who has been blessed so as to make all the wealth of the richest man in the world appear as nothing but a gilded dung hill.
               What is of everlasting importance is whether Anne or Annie.....who having been born either in riches or poverty....had also since been born anew.....born from above.....or as we hear most often.....born again.....adopted into God's family.....forgiven.....made heirs of an eternal inheritance.....and given God's Holy Spirit to know all these things.....and to rejoice in them.....and to have faith in that which cannot be seen....and strength to persevere.....and if it applies.....to discern the dangers that lurk within riches. This highlighting here of the temporal in no way lessens our concern for the Annies of the world....it rather does the opposite.....for whether one is born into money or not....they are both born into a spiritual deadness......and to be raised from this to life.....makes one almost immediately reach for the one not yet raised.....as if to pull them up also.....whether it be an Annie....or an Anne.

  

Removing The Rubbish....Before The Well Can Give Water.

Preface: I'm bringing back this April of 2024 post as a Lord's Day post:              

                I specifically went to the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust....(mljtrust.org)....to look for a sermon on revival to listen to....and came to one where the announcer informs you that the tape recording sustained significant damage over the years. He apologized in that it might be a little difficult to listen to. Well....what I thought when I heard that was the possibility that the Devil particularly did not like this sermon....and tried to destroy it. That's how my mind at times operates. So I listened to the sermon....and I may have been correct in my speculation for it is a needed and a wonderful sermon.
                The title of the sermon is....The Modern Philistine....and you can easily Google it. The Doctor....as he was known to many of those who knew him.....for he was an accomplished young doctor....on the Royal staff....when he decided to go into the ministry where he would work to heal men's souls....instead of healing their bodies where they just go back to the world....anyway the Doctor began by describing Isaac in need of water for his people....but the Philistines filled in all the wells with their rubbish.....so he first had to dig out what the Philistines had put there....and he related this directly to our seeking revival.....where that which is in our lives of the Philistines....the rubbish in our lives....has to go first. In other words to seek revival without repentance and self-examination is useless!
                I've posted on this concept at times....for as with all of our efforts for revival in America....we may show much enthusiasm and passion.....but little to no mortification. Lloyd-Jones dwelled on the fact that dwelling on Jesus....on who He is....and what He has done for us....and on his glory and magnificence and power....is what revival stems from. He then spent a significant portion of the sermon on the authority of Scripture and the wrath of God of which we have little interest in....and on the Holy Spirit.....warning us never to refer to the Third Person of the glorious Trinity in any way other than God the Holy Spirit!
                Well....the sermon is there for you....(here for you)....if you should so desire. We are looking for revival....but we are not really looking for Christ. Martyn Lloyd-Jones greatly lamented the condition of the world in these revival sermons from the 1950s....but we are so much more lost today. I can't really even imagine him commenting today on the world or the church.....nor can I imagine Charles Spurgeon envisioning just how bad we are....even though he put his own health in jeopardy warning so intensely of where the church was going in the decade of the 1880s!

Note: I listened to the sermon twice more as the day wore on....and in booting it up....the warning on the condition was not there? I have no explanation for that...nor am I that interested in finding out why. I found this sermon and that is enough.

                                                                          

                As most everyone knows.....Brian Wilson....the founder of the Beach Boys....died a few days ago. In April of 2007....Republican candidate John McCain....when asked a question about Iran.....sang a couple of bars of Barbara Ann....only the words were...."bomb bomb bomb....bomb bomb Iran." On November 4, 1979....Iranian....'students'....took over the American embassy in Tehran. It meant little to me....for I was at the hospital bedside of my father as he died....and was later buried at Arlington.
                Israel bombing Iran was long overdue. As we today read reports of what transpired yesterday....what is most apparent is the subterfuge that was employed....in order to inflict the most damage. Iranian generals were lured to initiate an emergency meeting....and that meeting place was then bombed. 
                The questions that go on in my mind on something like this....where Israel is relying on us....are questions of which I have no answers whatsoever....only inclinations. We obviously knew what Israel was going to do....and when they were going to do it. We went out of our way to point out that we were not directly involved....which is a little concerning. Trump is still talking about Iran making a deal....which doesn't make a whole lot of sense since Iran never keeps to their deals.
                 The questions that are really always in my mind concern promises that Trump made to Israel....and the dates that he may have made them. I've tried to glean as much as I could on the many meetings over the past eight years that Trump had with Netanyahu....for the day is coming.....sometime....when he will have to keep those promises.....if they were indeed ever made.
                 Yesterday was only the beginning. Christians need to be praying fervently at this time! Will this Lord's Day....finally....be the day when our pulpits awaken? I've asked that so many times that I'm tired of saying it....but it has to be our hope....that the baubles....which means the entertainments.....of this world....will finally be seen by us as what they are....and we will finally take our place as the peculiar people that we should be....set apart....distanced from the temptations of unwise boasting of....making America great again....and instead seeking to glorify God in whatever is ahead.

                

DISPATCHES

There are cogent arguments for staying out of the Israeli conflict. By cogent I mean that there is logic there....but all that logic disappears when you consider that Iran is another Nazi Germany. There was no appeasing that monster. There is no appeasing or dealing with the same hatred that the Iran government has. There was no avoiding the Nazi aggression. So when discussing what to do with Iran....there is no....'this is dangerous'....or....'that is dangerous'....for not confronting Iran is not only the most dangerous option of all....it would be a....guaranteed....catastrophe. There is supreme evil in the world....Russia 1917 was one instance....Germany 1933 was another....and Iran today....and for quite some time now....is yet another. I posted the following paragraph in December....2012:

"Everything is going along fine, according to the plan, Ahmadinejad's plan. We are nearing the end of December, the time allotted for Iran to prove that it will comply with the United Nation's demand to exchange its low-enriched uranium for fuel rods that could not be further enriched for making a bomb. Iran gave a proposal to start the exchange, with some modifications, modifications that would further delay the total exchange of uranium promised. Increased sanctions may be immanent. Iran may choose a few months of sanctions in order to enrich enough uranium for some kind of weapon. There are two parts to this problem. The first is Iran's attempt to join nations such as Pakistan with nuclear weapons capability. Sanctions seem to address this problem. There is a second problem though. Should Iran be able to make just one bomb, or a few smaller devices, this would be enough to destroy Israel or inflict enormous casualties on an American army. It also has to be considered that a ballistic nuclear attack by Iran would immediately be identified whereas terrorist activity using these devices leave room for denials of any involvement. Iran is delaying, and even a total capitulation to the demands at this late date would be somewhat unsettling."

May God if it be in His perfect will....awaken those who truly know Him....as to who this man really is....and how he is an enemy to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole world may follow him....along with millions of evangelicals in America....but may God relent in judging His church....and bring us together for what is ahead.

Generally....at events such as a military academy or yesterday at Fort Bragg....soldiers....marines....etc....tend to cheer Donald Trump as a hero. If they knew who he has been his whole life....if Vietnam veterans knew who this man is even today....they would sit or stand stone-faced in his presence.

Generally....evangelicals believe that Donald Trump is somehow furthering the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It they knew the ulterior motives of this man....if they understood what truly furthers the gospel and what hinders or distorts it....and if they recognized that every warning in the New Testament on what type of people to avoid at all costs and not to have any fellowship at all with....pointed directly to Donald Trump....they would not let other Christians be fooled by him without at least a challenge....and pastors would not let his name be mentioned under the church roof.

Fox news....and all these radio hosts and commentators and podcasters....are killing you....figuratively speaking....it is poison that they are giving you. You need to back away and ask God for wisdom on what is going on. Forget your Steelers and your US Open and your plans....and hone in on what is most important. Well....you're not going to do that....but keep it in mind for when you see that the problem is bigger than you think.

A military parade....coinciding with his birthday. This is something that only Putin or Xi or Kim Jong Un would do....probably only Kim Jong Un. I wonder if Trump will line them all up on the grandstand....Rubio and the rest....that's what Putin does The estimates are just about 7,000 military personnel. That's an interesting number for when Elijah was threatened by Jezebel he took off for the hills....where God reproved him for thinking himself all alone....and told him that He had reserved 7,000 that had not bent the knee to Baal. There surely are 7,000 pastors today who have not bent the knee to Trump.

It is truly an odd feeling.....watching.....and experiencing as an empire collapses....America being that veritable empire for most of a century.....absurdities coming out of the mouths of absurd leaders....living and breathing idols worshipped in almost every home....violence so commonplace that each new attack only affects us for fifteen minutes to a half hour of our time....unless it's celebrated on Dateline or something like that where it gets our attention for up to two full hours. Cameras are everywhere. I saw a man drive by just today....well the car was driving....and he was sitting there with his arms folded! You can pick your gender. With all this and more going on....pastors in every city and town and rural route in America take the mic at the pulpit.....supposed shepherds....and warn of absolutely nothing. All the Dr. Frankensteins are warning about the artificial intelligence monsters that they created....they should know....but no one is listening to them. Drones deliver pizzas....it won't be long until they deliver a warrant for your arrest. Big Brother is finally here....

According to us....January 6 was a peaceful protest. Their protests are all violence. Our whistle-blowers are all brave and honorable. Their whistleblowers are all liars. Our inspector generals are all honest. Their inspector generals are all political. Our subpoenas have to be obeyed. Their subpoenas should be ignored. Our special investigators are heroes. Their special investigators are traitors. Our journalists are fair. Their journalists are to be purged. We no longer have any intellectual integrity or ethics....nor do we defend from the high ground anymore. The king has by decree outlawed all protest....unless we happen to protest something.

                                                                          

So who am I to report....the polite waiters that have always served me Mexican food....or the hard workers doing lawn service in my town....or the group of men putting a new roof on....or the man who is working fast every morning to fill the milk and butter refrigerators....or the gracious ladies who work in every hotel that we stay in....or maybe a woman and the child in the stroller....who is praising God in Spanish for the new life for her family? Most of these people are probably living in fear right now. A few centuries ago we were the....'invaders.' Answer me this....all the families that were torn apart to ship the healthy over here to be slaves....and only half of them made the voyage alive....they were not invaders right? God gave us a poster....so to speak....Leviticus 19:34...."You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."

There is cutting out waste in government....and there is destroying multitudes of lives....that won't be a drop in the bucket on the debt....but will continue to keep captive the once but no longer rigorous mind of the conservative voter. There is finding and arresting and deporting violent gang members....and there is destroying multitudes of lives....the numbers of which won't be a drop in the bucket....but will continue to stir up the fear and anger in the once but no longer rigorous mind of the conservative.

"You Have The Right To Remain Silent...."

         'Learned ignorance' or possibly ' intellectual paralysis'.....these are two  takes from 'battered women syndrome' ....those actually being....'learned helplessness and psychological paralysis.' The following was originally posted in April of 2017! Notice that over 8 years ago I linked Elon Musk with Donald Trump. Notice also how Trump eventually did purge all the true conservatives....and true republicans....and as it is turning out....true Americans....as a constitutional republic is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Wow....I even mentioned the press briefing room!

Miranda Rights

         Miranda and Cosmo marry in the city's biggest high society event of the year. Miranda had an inheritance while Cosmo had the Hollywood looks. Family members of both took bets on how long the marriage would last because everyone knew who Cosmo was, but there was no dissuading Miranda, for she thought the world of him. They honeymooned in outer space courtesy of Elon Musk.

         Back in their new home, the matrimonial bliss lasted only a few months before the arguments started. "They were right".....thought Miranda...."everyone....in their warnings that Cosmo was a bore, an egotist and not a nice man." Cosmo got what he wanted out of the deal and Miranda was humiliated, but the marriage essentially ended the night that while in the midst of an argument....Cosmo put a finger in Miranda's face and yelled...."I only married you for your money....I never loved you....Go ahead and divorce me....I'll fight you for every penny.'

         Folks this is a microcosm of what happened in the last election. We had what Donald Trump wanted while Trump courted us as a king would his future queen to get an heir. The defining moment when the marriage essentially ended between Donald Trump and true conservatives came in his tweet threatening the Freedom Caucus after the Obamacare establishment scam went down.

         Friends....you could put him back on his pedestal if you want....(and we did)....but you will someday wind up as a battered spouse....(and we are)....the only reason that Donald Trump is not this day building another tower somewhere or working on a television show is because of conservatives like those on the Freedom Caucus.....and us....and probably you. This has been a long battle.....and yet newcomer to the conservative cause Donald Trump tweeted....during the honeymoon...."The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, and fast....We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!" Let me interpret this inane tweet for you...."I only married you for your money....I never loved you....go ahead and divorce me....I'll fight you for every penny." (He was only in office a couple of months and was already attacking those who put him in office!)

          Now if you want, you can accept Cosmo's roses and candy and a card with a poem inside that reads.... "My sweet Babboo....we must make up, fast....or Obamacare will stay and tax reform will....will...I can't think of anything that rhymes with fast, but it will be really really bad." But the next card you receive will probably read..... "Pursuant to the provisions in the Republican Party platform URSCRWD 2017, you are hereby given an eviction notice to vacate the Oval Office, the NSC, all those congressional chair thingamajigs and the White House Press Briefing Room."

Note on your Miranda Rights....You have the right to remain silent....anything you say can and will be used against you...for these people do not fight fair. You have a right to an attorney....a mediator....you cannot pay him.....unlike Cosmo he will never leave you or forsake you.....His name is Jesus Christ!

        

Beware Of False Prophets

        

                                                                         

Dateline Trump....20/200

                Evangelical voters just completely blew it with Donald Trump. They all put him in office and kept him in office in spite of January 6, 2021. Are these too harsh of comments to make? The man is a genuine biblical false prophet....and as John warned us of...'an'....antichrist! What does it take for evangelicals to defend their own faith over their 401s and some high school swim meet? 
                My own pastor today....in a totally unrelated sermon....mentioned the bad Lamech from Genesis....(as opposed to the good Lamech)....the one from the line of Cain....the one who God's Word doesn't say much about but what it does say is that Lamech was big into revenge....and bragged that he would take revenge seventy-seven times over if someone wounded him...."If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold....than Lamech seventy-sevenfold." (Genesis 4:16-24) Trump bragged often in print and in speeches....even Melania repeated it....that if Trump gets hit....he would hit back ten times harder. It's one of Trump's calling cards. As our preacher....once again totally unrelated....preached very well on this....but I found myself praying that God might put Trump in the mind of the hearer at the mention of the word 'revenge.'
               One example....that's all I'm going to give here....one example out of hundreds....Trump has everyone believing that this was a great comeback that he made....as if it was a fair campaign and he just won. That is not what happened. After January 6, 2021 Trump should have been rejected....forever.....but he called in every debt owed him....made all kinds of promises to those who would or might support him....and defend him....threatened absolutely everyone that had the audacity to even question his nomination....(he is still firing anyone who doesn't completely toe the line).....and he didn't even show up at any of the Republican debates....lying about it....using....'current litigation' as an excuse....and then holding rallies and interviews while the debates were going on.
             Part of the problem is people like best-selling author Jonathan Cahn....who did more than anyone else to help Trump fool evangelicals....as he came up with the ancient mystery that Jehu....of Ahab and Jezebel fame....was a type of Trump....or vice versa. That sealed it for Trump as evangelicals were told that Jehu was a Rambo....blurt out anything he wanted....bull in a china shop....step on anyone's toes type of guy.....and so was Trump.
             We conservatives put out a help wanted ad for a president decades ago. We gave detailed descriptions of what we wanted. Plenty of good men and women applied....but then Trump came in like Bull Goose Looney Randle McMurphy from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I don't know the percentage....thirty percent maybe....found their hero. The rest of us have spent the last six years saying....'Hey I don't like the guy....but he is the lesser of two evils."
              In a bit of a segue....I am not a fan of the ultra-popular crime investigation shows. They dominate television for two hours every Friday and Saturday evening....and what they do is saturate multitudes....not the least of who are Christian women....with sordid and lurid capital crimes. Over the years this has a negative influence on the viewer. It is the polar opposite of....edifying. In other words it hurts us. Well Trump has for ten years now dominated the news and dragged us down in his own personal swamp....and right now we kind of like the putrid and fetid smell.

Lord's Day Post......Redux

                 Do I ever get of tired of this particular type of Lord's Day post? No I never get tired. I don't even get frustrated. I know that God will eventually wake all of these shepherds up....or at least all of them that are truly faithful shepherds. And I know that it will be soon. I just do not know if it will be this Lord's Day....June 1....2025.

                The pandemic and 9/11 both showed us that catastrophes do not necessarily lead to awakenings. What we do is we change....for a little time....forced to think about serious things....until those concerns just fade away.
                We do not choose to be saved. If we did then yes maybe a major catastrophe might bring on an awakening. God does all the saving. If I thought that I personally had anything to do with my salvation back in the early 1980s....then I would think that God owed me something. But I know that God took the lowest of the low....and regenerated my dead heart....and then drew me towards Him....with an....irresistible draw. So much then for God owing me anything....but rather I owe Him everything!
                Men will enter their pulpits this Lord's Day....and their mission will be to encourage the saints.....bless them....and comfort them. They will preach a Bible Study. They will take verse by verse and explain what we could see and understand with our own eyes. They took over our own responsibilities to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord....freeing us to pursue other comforts in life....and providing they themselves with....maybe no longer a vocation....but a profession at least.....with the title reverend or pastor or minister so-and-so.
                 Preaching is believed to be....by many of us....a primary means of grace. Something supernatural is to be happening here! This makes sense when someone is born again through the preaching....as was Charles Spurgeon on that cold winter day in 1850....when an unlearned man was forced into the pulpit.....and he preached as best as he could on a verse in God's Word....and Spurgeon was regenerated right then and there. "Means of grace" does not make sense in a Bible study. There is no miracle in understanding basic Bible doctrine or the efficaciousness of the Sermon of the Mount. There is though a miracle in understanding that we were lost but now we are found. There is a miracle in falling before a Holy God. There is a miracle in having faith and trust and hope. 
                  So again....men will enter their pulpits this Lord's Day....or they will walk behind their plexiglass lecterns....there may be thirty people or there may be thirty thousand before them....instruments and music and even praise may....'raise the roof'....so to speak....but on the whole in America....and for a long time....there has not been....and there generally is not now....no matter how many are falling in the aisles....and how perfect our doctrine may be....and no matter how many good works the church may do....the glory of the LORD descended in the sanctuaries.
                   Lord willing....and Lord willing only.....we have absolutely nothing to do with it....the Holy Spirit will this Lord's Day have mercy upon all of us....you and I....humble us and strengthen us through this....'means of grace".....and bring us together....and give us discernment....both miracles. Otherwise....if it not be His will to have mercy upon us....maybe it will be next Lord's Day.....June 8.....2025....or in 2026....but it will not be long....for the steady hearing of the preached Word by either men from the past....such as Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones....and those men today who do preach like men of the past....has made it clear to me that not only is the coming of our Lord and Savior and King near....but also that of our great need of His near return!

Afterthought: This is for those readers.....and I am confident that some of you are here....who have attended church many times in your life but just cannot see what all the excitement in some people is all about....I have this advice for you. Google either....hopefully both....Spurgeon sermon YouTube or Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon You Tube....and listen to a few of these sermons from men who had preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.....so powerfully and so effectually....that not only did they make a mark on the church in their time....Spurgeon in London in the latter half of the nineteenth century....and Lloyd-Jones in the same city in most of the twentieth century....but their ministries to this day....(I am but one example)....bless the entire church in the whole world!

If I haven't yet led you to listen to these men preach....you might try this....for it is tremendously enjoyable....on your computer or on Roku you can watch the 70 minute docu-drama....Charles Spurgeon: The People's Preacher.

                

I Heard Them Speak....And I Saw The Crowd Reaction....And It Was....Unsettling!

                 I never watched ten seconds of the fifteen year running of the television show....The Apprentice. I had no desire to see this comical tabloid figure fire people on television....but we have had ten years now of almost forced indoctrination on who he is....how he acts...and common phrases that he uses.
                Yesterday on Trump's news network....his director of the FBI hammered two former directors of the FBI. Trump divides and he destroys....always has....always will. There are quite a few books that have been published by these men from the FBI and the CIA on what actually transpired over the past eight years. You should sometime try reading what these men said happened and how everything transpired.
                So yesterday Trump's FBI director promised that some shocking things were going to be revealed about January 6. After ten years of researching Donald Trump I can recognize phrases that originate with Trump...and some 'shocking things' to be revealed is one of them. How many times have we heard about the JFK or the RFK or the MLK or the UFO reports that were going to be revealed? This is Trump's MO....or modus operandi....or method of operation....divert attention! It does not matter if anything is ever revealed....for the effect is already in the mind of the true believer.
                I remember January 6, 2021 quite well....and I posted about that day....on that day. First of all what did MAGA people believe was going to happen? Did they really expect the Congress was going to ignore election results and refuse to put Biden in office. This was a sick plan to begin with.
                I turned the television on just before Trump began to speak on that morning and was upset on how evangelicals were waving their arms and hands in the air....in praise....as Leonard Cohen's very distinctive song melody....Hallelujah....was playing over the crowd. Hallelujah is transliterated....not translated....let us praise Yah. This is not a Christian song. It is essentially an anti-belief song....extremely secular.....and evangelicals were swaying and praising to it because its melody is mesmerizing and Trump picked it. Trump also used it at the 2020 RNC Convention.
                So I listened to a few speakers and then Trump came on....and as I posted at the time....I had to turn the television off....because the whole thing was so...."unsettling"....was the word that I used at the time! It was making me ill watching it because he was stirring up the people for something that could not be good!
                So now the new director of the FBI....who is Trump's puppet....is going to tell me that what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears....did not happen! I sat there and watched for the rest of the day....all of the....horror....that Trump and the other speakers had so very clearly instigated!
                Lindsey Graham and others were rightfully....done with Trump....after that day. What kind of spiritual force could lead people....and evangelicals....back to him after what we all witnessed on that day?
                Folks you have to break this spell of not questioning what Trump does! We had a mind of our own in conservatism at one time....and we in evangelicalism at one time prayed to God for wisdom and discernment!

The Worst......And The Second Worst

               Not only the worst president in the entire history of the United States of America but the most destructive force ever on this nation....not the least because he utterly decimated the biggest strength in America....that being evangelicalism....in other words Christianity in America....had been and continues to be....Donald J. Trump.
               The second worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the second most destructive force ever in this nation....has been Joseph Biden! This and this alone should set the Christian thinking about the meaning of judgment on America!
                Now it must be said that Joseph Biden....the second worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the second most destructive force in our nation's history.....is the reason that the worst president in the history of the United States of America was reelected to a second term of disaster. 
                So it might therefore be said that because Joseph Biden was the second worst president in the history of the United States of America and the second most destructive force in America to begin with....and that he was the reason that we now have the worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the most destructive force in the history of our nation....that....Joseph Biden might be considered the worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the most destructive force in our nation.....therefore evangelicals were correct is saying that had no choice other than to vote for Trump?
                 This though is a logical inconsistency and cannot be the case because in spite of how bad of a president Joseph Biden was....it was and is Trump who destroyed Christian discernment....alienated a chief strength of America in our allies....is fundamentally changing us from a constitutional republic to a pied-piper monarchy....with no set law.....govern by executive decree....purge all opposition....led by the unqualified who were given responsibilities because they were considered safe bets against ever voting for impeachment....and an attempt at a new world order where the only truth in the universe is that he who has the most money....has the most power....and therefore wins!

                  Folks....brothers and sisters in Christ....the church has been judged first....just as God's Word said would be the case. We have had our two worst presidents....by far the two worst presidents....as our last two presidents! We have had a pandemic that not only killed people but killed discernment and common sense. Our woes directly affect Israel. They are in more trouble right now than ever before....not only beset upon from all sides....and as rebellious to God and divided as we are....but now without the surety of a strong hand of an ally behind them.
                  We have AI....that is a threat of biblical proportions. We have methods of war....and mass killing....that are almost over-the-counter products today. Our defenses are down in spite of how much bragging is being done on how much money is being spent....and how many woke individuals are being purged. Our intelligence agencies have been severely compromised for political gain. We have weakened our defenses against a future pandemic. Trump is trying to make billions for himself....while the poor and needy in our country are going to be put on belt tightening restrictions....all for the love of money....by those who have the most....and those who care first and foremost only about themselves.