In God's Perefect Design....Some Of Our Theology....Is Imperfect

I would like here to repeat a humorous story that Billy Graham once told to seminary students and faculty and guests....as he was receiving an honorary doctorate.  A man heads south for his annual hunting trip....and he asks of the proprietor of the lodge he was staying at if they had a hunting dog named....Preacher....that he could use. The owner said...."No.....I don't believe that we have a dog named....Preacher"....to which the man said...."Oh but I heard that you had an excellent hunting dog named....Preacher"....of which the owner then said...."Oh yes....come to think of it....we did have a good dog names Preacher.....but then someone came down here and called him....Doctor....and he ain't been a lick of good since."          

               You have heard the lament I'm sure....that there are so many denominations. We will say that the church is supposed to be united....one....and we have messed that up.....but I believe the issue is much more complex than that.....for example....if we had a situation today....protestant or any church...such as it was with Rome....then just as with any governing power throughout history that had absolute power....including our current president....that absolute power would be corrupted. In God's perfect design....in paradoxical form....some of our theology....a little or a lot in everyone....is imperfect.
                On Israel and the church for instance....the truths seem to be very plain in God's Word....in that Israel as a people will be redeemed at the time of the end....and that miraculously....Israel as a state will once again come into being before this happens. Now here is where the Billy Graham humor comes in....as some of the....not all....'doctors'....of the church take these simple and plain truths....and theologize them into all sorts of catechetical and confessional doctrines....that replace the perspicuity with perspiration....literal perspiration as we try to figure out what they are talking about.
                 Yes....the same covenant of grace that saves us....saved the Jews with faith in the Old Testament. No....the church did not replace them....and also no....we did not just fulfill God's promises to them. Yes the Jews were "grafted out" because of their unbelief....but we had better be careful....because God still has a redemptive purpose for them. Many Christian scholars knew this long before May 14 of 1948.
                 The world will turn on Israel in the end-times....and that is happening right now....and it will appear to be the end of Israel....but then God Himself will intervene....not through any ally....as all these armies coming to Jerusalem....will be supernaturally destroyed....and the world will be amazed! A number of the Old Testament prophets described these coming events.
                 Here is something else that is very plain in God's Word....and very basic....and also ignored or obfuscated on our side. If a nation....any nation.....blesses these people....it will be blessed....and if it curses these people...it will itself be cursed. Russia is a prime example....as it cursed the Jewish people for a long time....centuries actually....prior to and after the Bolshevik Revolution....and that nation and its people have been cursed for well over a hundred years now. Germany? Germany was destroyed for what it did. America? 
                 George Washington had empathy for the Jewish people....as did Abraham Lincon....as did Harry Truman....and many American Christians. We will be celebrating 250 years shortly....Lord willing....but the tide has turned....and we are in danger of cursing Israel. God's Word told us that Jerusalem would be a stumbling block to the whole world....but instead of seeing this as a prophecy being fulfilled....we double-down on Israel today as to having any biblical significance?
                 There are not and never were any permanent answers for the Middle East. The best that we could hope for was longer stretches of no war....but this whole paradigm shift in culture and governments and the financial system....threatens to void that empathy for Israel. The prophets had an answer for that too....in that God will hold those nations responsible for either ignoring the plight of Israel....or worse yet....laughing at....(taking satisfaction in their woes)....or even worse yet....taking part in their demise!

We Wanted A Businessman To Be Our President

                  Friedrich....later Frederick Trump was born in Germany. He came to America and then to the Klondike Gold Rush....with thousands of others....to make his fortune....which he did....only he didn't mine gold....but served the miners with a restaurant and a brothel. He returned to New York....and then went back to Germany with the intent of applying for permanent residency....but they kicked him out....because he had originally left Germany to avoid their draft. He met and married Elizabeth Christ....and returned to New York....and established a real estate business. In 1918....a hundred years before the covid pandemic....he collapsed on a New York street and died from the Spanish Flu pandemic. A hundred years later....while dilly-dallying for months in the beginning of the coronavirus....Donald did not even know that his own grandfather died in a pandemic.
                  Frederick and Elizabeth had Fred Trump....who when his father died....he partnered with his mother in running the real estate business....and then she became chairman of the board....as he became the president of the company. Over the many years....Fred....in a shady manner....took advantage of any loophole that he could. He was investigated in 1954 by a senate committee for profiteering on the many programs designed to help returning WW II veterans....and was investigated again in 1961 by the state of New York for the same reasons. There were no charges brought. In 1971 he and Donald were accused of discrimination in their many rental units by not renting to blacks. This issue was settled.
                   Over his entire adult life....Donald would con you if he had to....or schmooze you....or threaten or buy you off. He had multiple failures but would cut his losses and leave others holding the bag. He was not successful when they designed the TV show The Apprentice....but they chose Donald because of his celebrity name. Both father and son would underestimate financial figures if it benefitted them....or overestimate them if they needed a loan. That is exactly how President Trump runs his administration. We conservatives wanted a businessman for a change to be our president......well we got one.

The Wrong Communion

               I had never read....Hillbilly Elegy....possibly because of what I knew it to be....that it might hit a little too close to home....but I had a high opinion of it from what people told me....and therefore of J. D. Vance. I thought he did well in his debate with Tim Walz....in fact the whole debate was a welcome relief in this attack age. My wife and I reserved seats to hear Vance speak at a Black church....and were in the line.....about twenty people from the door....when someone came out and said that they had miscalculated the numbers as they relate to the fire codes....so we did not get in.
               I just finished.....(7AM Wednesday morning).....Vance's autobiographical new book....just released yesterday....Communion....Finding my Way back To Faith....but my opinion of our Vice President had changed quite a while ago. His temper tantrum in the golden Oval Office with Zelensky is not addressed but explained by his life. The book is maybe 50% his personal family life and religious history....30% various social issues....and 20% tops....anything related to politics. 
               I knew what to expect on his conversion to Rome....for it is a normal passage for people who are searching in all the wrong places....and I'll comment on that....but what hit me out of the blue....that I had not considered before....was that ten years ago this was a man that was still trying to mature...who had decided that being a lawyer....after Yale law school and two years of practice....was not for him....and he had made a lot of money through investing in a short period of time.....who within 17 pages of the book....where he was not forthcoming at all about the details on who helped him and how all of this happened....he went from being an investor to a candidate for the Senate....to a Senator....to on the short list for Trump's VP.....to being the Vice President! And now he is on the short list for Republican nominees for president....all in ten years? It is a sobering thought.
                 As for his religious conversion....he had a typical evangelical youth experience at various churches and youth gatherings....with no sound teaching in his life at all....except possibly a sermon here or there....and a little bit of the normal Left Behind hysteria....abandoned while in the army what little of evangelicalism he had in his system....took that emptiness into college and law school....and then....picked a religion that suited his high opinion and confidence in his own intellectual abilities and capabilities. It....(Rome)....was intellectually challenging....(that was necessary)....very tradition oriented....(something he wanted in  his life)....and he had plenty of friends and acquaintances who could encourage him in this area....but it seems none....to give him the biblical gospel of salvation.
                He apparently reads a lot....but once again....not the right books. He made this comment...."I found Lewis (C.S. Lewis)....(whom he read and quoted often)....thoughtful and compelling. But his books weren't the Christianity I'd been exposed to at him." That is an understatement about the great Oxford apologist. His books can stir the mind....but by themselves they are a soup or a casserole without all the ingredients. In another place he wrote...."As a child, I learned that the devil perfected the art of deception." Next to that sentence I put a note in the book....DJT....meaning he knew of deception....but was taken in by the greatest con man of all. I wound up putting that....DJT....for Donald John Trump....in quite a few places in the book....in areas that Vance had contradicted his own beliefs in binding himself to Trump.
                 He gives a very weak explanation on how he can go from thinking that Trump is bad....to thinking that Trump is good. So much of the book was about his wonderful and brilliant wife....so much that I once thought...."enough already".....but does he care about his wife's eternal soul?  I think that the answer to that is probably....yes....but the problem is that he knows how to be devout....and say many of the correct truths and superlatives about God....but chose a convenient method of salvation of faith and works....that does not save.
                  This is a very easy book to read. J. D. Vance does write well....maybe that should have been his primary calling. I address this issue of Roman Catholicism through novel form....and in detail....in my novella....Isaac Crockett....which can be read in a couple of hours if you are ever interested.

Addendum: Back in the 80s and 90s the debate....at times contentious and always lively....between evangelical protestants and Roman Catholics....was literally everywhere. We were all familiar with what was going on....for it was in the news often. John MacArthur and R. C. Sproul led the way with their ministries. Both are gone home now. Will the church today continue to...."Contend for the faith"....(Jude 3)....or will the current....falling away....extend even to the defense of the gospel itself?

Here is an example from this tech age that we live in....of the differences on the two gospels of salvation. You have an IT device....a thermostat maybe....with a few controls....in one set you put the desired temperature....and then there is a delete button....and then there is a save button. The instructions are to put in the temp that you want....and then save it....(faith in Jesus Christ alone)....but the instructions from Rome are that you put in the desired temp....but then you push the delete button....(adding works of various kinds)....and then push the save button! Nothing is saved....neither is anyone saved by these instructions! Fortunately....and praise God for His mercies upon us....many in Rome do not follow the instructions given them....for they just put in the temp....and then save it.

Are There Any Men Out There In The Pulpits....Men Who Have Attained Some Sort Of Gravitas....Who Will Tell The Church What It Needs To Hear?

              I feel that I need to return to this topic.....but let me expand a little on the recollections. We can go back ten years to get but a glimpse....but let's go back thirty years instead....to get more of a full-orbed view of the blessing.
              My wife and I owned and operated a Christian bookstore....about a quarter mile from our home where I am typing this...and there were at least six other Christian bookstores within a twenty minute drive. The Christian bookstore in America was a great supply line....and evangelistic tool....(I was one of its captives)....in the wonderful movement of mercy and blessing that God had given America in the 70s and 80s and 90s. There may be a few of those bookstores left....a very few....and I would now have to travel two hours to visit one....but effectively the concept is dead.....and consequently that supply line....cut off!
              We have no real effective information Christian theology source today for the uninitiated....or the seeker. No one is going to be wandering through a mall and possibly stop in a store where God's glorious truths will catch them. Christians today are no longer able to walk into a Christian bookstore....looking for a religious birthday or anniversary or sympathy card....and walk out with John MacArthur's....Ashamed Of The Gospel....or R. C. Sproul's....Knowing Scripture....or Josh McDowell's....Evidence That Demands A Verdict....or a book by David Wells or Iain Murray or Hank Hanegraaff....or a hundred others.
               Thirty years ago Billy Graham was still saturating America with his crusades...and writing his books that warned us. John MacArthur was at the peak of his influence. R. C. Sproul and his Ligonier Ministries were a solid store of knowledge. Pat Robertson's voice was strong....still shouting from the rooftops.....probably to more believers than MacArthur and Sproul combined. David Wilkerson was there for those who already knew that God's judgment was absolutely imminent. Tim Keller was there for balance. These were tried and true generals in this war. They had gravitas....and the courage to address the issues....and now they are all gone! God has....in His perfect design....removed them all....leaving us temporarily alone. There are others out there....but will they stand up?
                Christian Nationalism has devoured the church. We defend the constitution more than God's Word. Biblical illiteracy is rampant. We are recruited today without being converted....and if converted....are hardly able to share the need to be born again. Maranatha was once a Christian household word. Does anyone today even know what it means? We are an idolatrous people....and the church is not immune. False prophets are literally everywhere....one is even in the White House. We do not want Jesus to return in judgment....in fact we close our ears and run from the prophetic voice....that this generation so greatly blessed in those 70s and 80s and 90s....is the generation that will see His coming!
                 A sifting of the grain from the chaff is ahead....and it will be unpleasant....but then finally having a unity even with our theological differences will be a blessing that we have never really had....the closest being that time period of the 70s and 80s and 90s.
                  My prayer....as always....is that God will....shake the timbers....in our synods and conferences and worship services....and even our Bible studies....that veils will fall off of our eyes as when...."something like scales fell from Saul's eyes"....(Acts 9:18)....that we will see the idolatry that has us in bondage....that I will see the idolatry that weakens my already feeble efforts! May all of this be to God's glory alone! Maranatha...Come Lord Jesus!
                  
                 

An Extraordinary Turn Of Events

Preface: The people of Israel name roads after him....and gave him very special awards....for they thought that he was such a great defender of Israel. Turns out he is not. There was a meeting of some sort back in early 2017....of Trump and one of his economic advisors....and he was told that if he continues on the spending trend....that according to a model....everything would fall apart just about the time of the end of his second administration. (this would have been two consecutive terms) Trump looked and him....and in true Trump fashion....and you can see it with Iran today....he said...."So what....I'll be gone then."                 

                There is no real peace agreement....and there is no end of this war. This whole mess is a study in the absurd. No we do not know the details....but that does not matter.....because we know enough. Trump wants this to appear to be over....and now....during the World Cup and his White House gladiator battles....and before his July 4th celebration. It only has to last until the mid-terms.
                 This current conflict started on February 28....just before the Purim holiday that began two days later. What followed was a month of....shock and awe....and then came Passover....April 1-9....coinciding with Easter.....Sunday....April 5.....and texts from Trump that should have casted doubts by everyone on his sanity...."48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to God." This was an Easter message....the second is too vulgar to put up here but it does end with an odd mockery...."Praise be to Allah."
                  Something happened somewhere! Maybe powers that be....whoever or whatever those powers might be....got a hold of him and said....act like you are sane or leave now? At one moment he was threatening the entire population of Iran with extinction....a population....half of which probably supported him....and the next moment....right up to today....he was just trying to get out of this conflict? 
                  It turned out that he wasn't going to destroy the entire country of Iran....fair enough....but since then he basically gave up everything that had been gained by the....shock and awe? As I described it in an earlier post....these Iranian rulers were in effect....crawling around in the rubble....looking for air pockets....it was that bad....and somehow....they not only survived....but they seem as entrenched as they have ever been?
                  Trump had coaxed the Iranian people out into the streets....apparently....in retrospect....only to get slaughtered? How did this regime stay in power? I know I'm repeating myself....but it is truly amazing?

                  I have written for ten years now that Trump could not care less about Israel. We are no longer conservatives by any stretch of the imagination. Our....whatever we are today....our support for the state of Israel....is really in jeopardy! There are anti-Israel influencers literally everywhere....on our side! 
                  From a biblical perspective....America has....or is in the midst of....turning against Israel. If that is the case....it is the proverbial....last nail in the coffin....for us! All that God demanded of us was that we treated this nation....fairly. All that God has demanded of any nation....at any time....even in the Old Testament....was that they treat Israel....fairly! 
                  God does things in this world on Jewish feasts....and He....when He wants to....uses blood moons and solar eclipses as signs. It is something that one can look in the future to....but only with an increased alertness....and then when they do happen....which is often....one can look back on them in awe. For example....this is Trump's 80th birthday....and he was born on a blood moon....and he famously came down that golden escalator....right smack dab in the middle of evangelicalism....in the middle of that extraordinarily rare tetrad of blood moons on Jewish holidays in 2014 and 2015!
                  There will be a solar eclipse on August 12,,,,cutting a thin swath from Greenland ....to Iceland....and then northern Spain....but before that will come the Jewish fast day that looks back on nothing but tragedies to the Jewish people....this called the Ninth of Av....(Av being the Jewish month)....or as it is also known....Tisha B'Av....and this year the date is July 22. Considering the extraordinary turn of events in an already evolving maelstrom....it's a date to at least give us a solemn awareness of the times in which we live.

                  

SPOILER ALERT! This Post is On The New Spielberg Movie....Disclosure Day

OK....You saw the Spoiler Alert....there are spoilers in this post!

Did you understand the two Spoiler Alerts? 

If you are going to see the film....you might not want to read this!

                    The film is so Spielberg. Which also means that it is very good! It's 2 hours and 25 minutes....but I think it went pretty fast. The sub-plots are not important....suffice it say that the aliens have been here for quite a while....and they are really nice.
                    There is some dialogue on why it would be common sense that they would exist in such a big universe....but surprisingly....Spielberg wasn't that imaginative. In one short dialogue....they are all short....a Roman Catholic nun tells us that in this great extensive universe....why would God put us here alone? In reality....that the universe is so big....and God then created....'man'.....(generic)....it would literally have to be that there is a solitary dot of a planet with that creation on it somewhere in the great expanse!
                    The main character....one of them....a female....is a Jesus figure of sorts in that when she gets in trouble....she can just walk through the threatening throng....and she heals.
                    Here is an interesting thing....in reality....if these many and varied sightings today of UFOs....if they are real....which they very well may be....not much different than Marian apparitions in Fatima or Lourdes....then the demonic that exists right along with us....has here taken on the appearance of aliens....UFOs....for a specific reason....Spielberg's movie thus bolstering the belief in aliens....and subsequent doubt in the Bible.
                    In this film....the aliens at first take the form of very cute animals....a fox and a racoon and an elk and a cardinal. So Spielberg actually supports the theory that the demonic could take the form of aliens!
                    One last thing....at the very end of the film....it is stated that since the existence of aliens are now known and proven....that...."The world has just changed profoundly....and you....(we)....are not alone." I have posted numerous times....from the past few years....that our pulpits have to meet this possibility head on....and prepare....(for to the Christian it would be easy to do)....prepare believers for the consequences of what our government may someday reveal.
                   The movie ended....with the main character looking into the lens of the camera....and saying...."Listen"....meaning when these aliens come out....that we should listen to what they have to say....but God's Word....through Paul....tells us that if even an angel of light....(something appearing to have goodness)....appears to us in the church....and gives a gospel other than the one that He and others had already given....(which the whole concept of aliens are)....let them be accursed....and he goes on to repeat that warning....giving it an emphasis! 

Addendum: This issue is serious on two points....one being the obvious....in that if the public trends towards an actual belief that aliens exist....and have visited us....and are visiting us right now....then there will definitely be a correlating trend away from belief in God's Word. The second point is this....if you the reader....in any way...tend to believe that indeed aliens from other solar systems may exist....then you have a very big problem in understanding the faith that you probably live and proclaim every day....and the problem will extend into otheer areas of your faith!! This issue is not negotiable. There is no alien life anywhere. You need to attempt to resolve this immediately, Many readers know me....and I would sit down with you if you want....and talk about this in-depth and at length. To the others....I can only give this recommendation....buy or stream or in whatever way you can,,,,listen to or watch  R, C, Sproul's inestimably important series from forty years ago....The Holiness Of God....for we do not have a God that you can play with....and add your own interpretations....but rather a gloriously holy God....who demands the same thing as the end of the above referenced movie....to those who have ears to hear.....LISTEN!

I will add this....we need in the church today....to come out of the world....to separate ourselves....and this current issue of UFOs may turn out to be a catalyst on identifying what evangelicals have been born again....and what evangelicals have not,

We Are A Christian Today....Because Of What....We Are Not!

                Artificial intelligence and bitcoin....drone warfare....smart phones and laptops....'me too' and 'wokism'....MAGA....the collapse of NATO....the collapse of news journalism....the podcast over the radio talk show....Tik Tok and influencers....AI songs and movies and books....pro sports contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars....a thousand billionaires in America. That is today's generation. In my generation....the transistor radio was a big deal.
                When Daniel was given a vision of the days that we are living in....he became sick and incapacitated for days....but we are told not to think too much about these things. Daniel was left with this...."But you Daniel....shut up the words and seal the book....until the time of the end....(did you catch that word....'until')....and many shall run to and fro....and knowledge shall increase." Daniel 12: 4 KNJV
                That 'knowledge'....is the first paragraph of this post. And then there is verse 10...."Many shall be purified....made white and refined....but (Elon Musk....for example).... shall do wickedly....and none of the wicked shall understand....but the wise shall understand."
                 I'll leave this post with a verse from Luke....18:8b...."Nevertheless...when the Son of Man comes....will He really find faith on the earth?" Folks....the Son of Man is coming....and we are in that falling away. We used to....really only forty years ago...."contend"....as Jude put it....for the faith against gross modern liberal theology....but today it is us....and not liberal theology....that weakens the gospel almost beyond recognition! No one today has to be born again to be a Christian....for it is what they are not....that they think makes them a Christian!

We Have A Gold Medal In The Obstacle Course

           This is difficult….typing a post on my iPhone….but it at least demonstrates how I really do not believe that we have much time left. I am sitting here with an elderly person…..taking care of their basic needs…..but watching them….literally watching them….waste their final opportunities…on things like daytime television….while it seems as if everyone else seems to think that this is just sweet! We live in different worlds….and I do not want to go back.

         We have in the church….lost….what it is to be….lost! What happened on the cross….is also lost to us. This life through which we pat ourselves on the back….is Laodicea. We think we are spiritually rich….but we are not.

          There is so much evidence that we have strayed from the evangel….that it is like an obstacle course….an obstacle course that we have become proficient….even professional….in swiftly and safely running through it.

        No one….most likely….is going to agree with me. All that I can add….is to keep the admonitions in mind…as the days pass….for in the confusion that is ahead….the answers will be in recognizing and then admitting to the mistakes that we made….in ignorance yes…. but also willfully….that will have brought all these disasters upon us.

Update....six hours later....and after a severe thunderstorm halted everyone in their tracks until it passed over: I will observe as major denominations hold yearly general assemblies....and this folks....literally decade after decade....where they do not address what the church needs to address...but rather play a little game of Robert's Rules of Order....and pastor after pastor....year and decade after year and decade....preach a lullaby from the pulpit! Why is this? Why have they so failed the sheep....to warn them or to protect them from the wolves that are everywhere? Whatever the answer to these questions....it will soon be moot. Maranatha....Lord Jesus come!

 

Ezekiel's Riddle

                Jeremiah prophesied from Jerusalem....for forty years....while a younger Ezekiel....who was forcibly taken to Babylon in the first group of exiles....prophesied from far away. Jeremiah was more simple in that God spoke to him.....and he obediently warned the people....whereas Ezekiel had more visions. Jeremiah was more....'repent or our nation will be destroyed and taken away"....whereas Ezekiel was more...."this is why all of this happened....and this is what will continue to happen.'
                 Monday morning I did my needed weekly yard work....one task was cutting back a small tree so that people walking their dog could stay on the sidewalk. I looked at the top of the tree....maybe eighteen feet high....that badly needed trimmed.....but put that off for another day. Later that day I set my mind to read in Ezekiel....starting at chapter 1....and in chapter 17....there are a couple of passages about the top of a tree being lopped off and carried away to be replanted.
                 Last evening I walked out into my yard only to see the top of that tree that I did not have the energy to trim....had been violently lopped off....with leaves scattered all over the yard....as I suspect that our local Peregrine Falcon had surprised another victim. (I have a photo of it which I will try....Lord willing....to add later)

                 Early in that 17th chapter of Ezekiel is a riddle that God had given to the prophet. It was about two eagles...that is interpreted to be political powers....that Israel had come to depend upon. The first is interpreted as being Babylon....and the second....Egypt. The vine....as interpreted as Israel....leaned or turned towards those eagles....one at a time....the first to its benefit....but with the second eagle....which the vine had also turned to....it was pulled up by its roots and left to wither.
                 Here is what came to my mind....Israel had since its inception depended upon the United States....and survived and prospered....but of late it turned to...."stretched its branches toward him"...that second great eagle.
                  These are just my thoughts....but here is what I would like you to take away....it is time....it is long past time....for Christians to delve into God's prophetic word. So please do this if you haven't already.

                                                                          

The Deprogramming Of Benjamin Netanyahu

Preface: The following post is from September 30 of last year. Trump gave that absurd State of the Union address on February 4 of 2020....and then God showed him who really was in control. Benjamin Netanyahu....gave probably the weakest performance of his life on September 23, 2023....at the United Nations....which was a copy in unmerited and vainglory optimism....of Trump's S.O.T.U.....and this a couple of weeks before the Sukkot attacks! Surely by now Bibi knows that Trump is seriously unbalanced....supremely dangerous....and never....ever....to be trusted:

Bibi....We Hardly Knew Ye

             Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had always been an example of pure dedication to the security of his beloved Israel. Indeed....it was always an encouragement just listening to him powerfully and yet eloquently explain Israel's position and determination....but time has worn him down....time and his forced and subservient association with the President of the United States....Donald John Trump. Trump does this to everyone who voluntarily or involuntarily flies too close to his flame. He is the only one who survives the turmoil that he causes.

              On February 4, 2020....Trump gave the most absurd State of the Union Address....where the greatest things were going to happen all over the world....but God had other plans....as the Covid 19 virus was replicating at the time. Here are a few words from that speech.

"Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results....(of the past three years)....Jobs are booming....Incomes are soaring....Poverty is plummeting....Crime is falling....Confidence is surging....and our country is thriving....America's fortunes are on the rise.....America's future is blazing bright....our pride is restored....("Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" Proverbs)....we are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago....and we are never going back....we are advancing with unbridled optimism"....and the address ended with this...."This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Age, the American epic, The American adventure has only just begun. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising, God's grace is still shining, and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come."

              On September 19, 2023....Benjamin Netanyahu gave a similarly absurd speech to the United Nations. He had by then bought a condo on the island of Donald Trump. Here are a few words from that speech....and some of my commentary....just as Hamas was finishing preparations for the October Sukkot attack!

"Imagine the blessings of finally cracking the genetic code, extending life by decades, and dramatically reducing the ravages of old age...imagine a world with boundless clean energy." John Lennon is not the person that any God-fearing man should be referencing....but that's what he (Netanyahu) did....by name....and it disturbed me a little in how he felt that he needed to remind people of what he personally had accomplished. He did acknowledge towards the end....the dangers in this latest quest for peace in the Middle East....but it was almost as an afterthought. I also found it odd how he emphasized....first the great potential of artificial intelligence...."the most consequential development of our time"....and then immediately after....the great dangers of artificial Intelligence. Actually I found it very disturbing that he would make AI which he said is...."progressing at lightning speed"....such a major part of a major speech.

Note: "And he (Jesus) said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven'." Luke 10:18 ESV

             

           Mr. Prime Minister....if a seven-year timeframe is ever mentioned on the peace agreement....I refer you to a book that was found in a stack of books on the bed table of David Ben-Gurion....after his death....The Late Great Planet Earth....by Hal Lindsey.

Update....June 8....2026....I brought his older post back after Trump's comments about Netanyahu and Israel....in that Netanyahu better be careful....or he might have to go it alone against Iran. I would ask of you....no....beg of you....think of this whole situation....you have two nations who have been allies for 78 years now....and we supposedly have a congress....a legislative body and a senate....that weighs in on alliances.....but Trump....on his own....threatens to end that....just like he did with NATO! I have to wonder if evangelicals have a problem with this? Folks....if you just buy into this....without examining what is going on....this is cult stuff....this is mind control!

The Beginning....Of The End....Of The End

           Samuel F. B Morse took the words from Numbers 23:23...."What Hath God Wrought....in 1844....in this the first electronic communication over any sizable distance. Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines....to use that movie title....changed the world in 1903....the year which also saw the first World Series....with Pittsburgh being one of the teams....and then also in Pittsburgh....East Pittsburgh to be exact....in November of 1920....atop a Westinghouse building where both of my grandfathers may have been working at the time...for both families were Westinghouse people....the first commercial radio broadcast was the presidential election results between the Harding/Coolidge and Cox/Roosevelt (FDR) tickets.
            The world....over a short period of time....had undergone a paradigm change. We are pushing for another paradigm change right now with artificial intelligence....and we will continue until AI pushes humans out of the way to complete that paradigm change.
             Oh yes there were world wars in the past century....and probably rumors of wars....if we knew exactly what that phrase meant....but in all of this....the year 1948 was the key....with the start of the greatest paradigm change yet....as Israel miraculously became a nation unto itself once again. John MacArthur correctly stated....sometime in the past...that with Israel established...."God had put the world on notice!" His Second Coming was nigh.
             We in the reformed faith....as it is known....tend to focus so much....and rightfully so....on that glorious Nicene Creed....finalized in form in 381 A.D....that we tend to limit God....as if being unchangeable....means that He has no specific timetables....and will not in His perfect will....in due time....remove veils on the end-times.
              That Nicene Creed was a rock of doctrinal truth that had to and has to be affirmed even before we look to the Second Coming....for what good would the Second Coming be....if we were not firm in the faith....and secure in our salvation....based on those truths. But we are firm and secure in the knowledge that the blood of Jesus Christ....shed on the cross....on that hill....has paid that which we could not pay!
               So we know....or rather we can know if we desire to know....(if helps to know)....that 1948 and Israel was the beginning of the....end of the end. We just did not nor do we now know how long it would be from the beginning of the end....to the end....although we are not totally clueless. It's not going to be a hundred years! That would make no sense in line with how God has worked His perfect timing in the past....as for instance....when the people of Jerusalem were taken captive to Babylon....and then later...in God's perfect timing again....Daniel sees that the captivity will last seventy years!
               Personally....(we are allowed opinion are we not....and we are allowed to express our opinion....right or wrong....are we not?)....I think right now that once again....seventy was God's chosen time frame....as 2018 began a tumultuous series of events in which we are tumbling right now as in an electric dryer!
               The five books within Psalms....have a chronological progression to them....as O. Palmer Robertson described in his wonderful book....The Flow of the Psalms....Discovering Their Structure and Theology....from Confrontation to Communication to Devastation to Maturation to....where we are today....Psalms 107 to 150....Consummation!
                Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the entire Bible....

"Oh....praise the LORD....all you Gentiles!....Laud Him....all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us....and the truth of the LORD endures forever....Praise the LORD!"

               Psalm 118....is a Messianic Psalm....just as was the 18th Psalm....followed by Psalm 119....a Torah Psalm....just as was the 19th Psalm! And then comes the....Psalms of Ascents....Psalms 120 to 134....of which we can only speculate the exact meaning....but we should acknowledge this....that the pandemic of 2020 changed the world...and October 7 of 2023....the last day of the Jewish Sukkot....(another pattern that God seems to follow....major events on Jewish feats and fast days)....set this world on fire.
               If you don't believe these patterns...that's fine....you may very well be right....but as for me....I'm just....as Tyndale would put it...."a boy that driveth the plow"....but I see these patterns....just as I also saw that....the emperor has no clothes!
               We have been given warnings....very specific warnings....for God always warns His people....and they may indeed portend calamities ahead....but they also bring a great visceral hope...an awakening of the hope that we always had by knowing the truth....that Jesus is  coming back for His bride....and that bride will be purified in those calamities!

              

The Greatest Show On Earth....vs....The Greatest Story Ever Told

              It was an 80 year open mathematical problem in....combinatorial geometry....whatever that is....that was recently solved by AI. There are numerous unsolved mathematical problems that remain out there. I'm still working on how it is possible to always....over the decades....have at least six unmatched socks in a sock drawer? Another mystifying problem is....how is it possible to purchase at least six combs a year....over decades....yet often have trouble finding one?
              Revelation 13:18 is very clear...."Here is wisdom....Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast....for the number is that of a man....and his number is six hundred....and sixty six." NASB
              That verse is for every believer since the day it was written by John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Since the Reformation....the Roman Pontiff has been the usual suspect....but there have been other candidates over the years....most recently Mikhail Gorbachev....and who can find fault with that....for that man had a mark on his forehead....and in a very short period of time....dissolved the Soviet Union....supposedly bringing peace to the world?
               Barack Obama was a legitimate candidate....and probably still is....for here is man whose nominating convention was held in Denver's football stadium....with a giant white horse on top of it....and on the field was a speaker's dais that eerily resembled Pergamum's....Throne of Satan! (You can easily look up the photos of that ancient altar now in a German museum....and compare it to Obama's convention.)
                Apparently....God did not want the idea of an Antichrist completely out of the mind of believers....particularly those who in whatever age it would be....would experience this phenomenon. Can the verse in Revelation be abused? Of course it can....as so many verses in God's Word can be terribly abused....but we do not pretend they do not exist as we do with Revelation 13:18!
                At this time I do not believe that Donald Trump will be the Antichrist....and I certainly hope that he is not....because if he is....then the church ushered in the Antichrist....but he is this....at this time....the chief visible and identifiable candidate!
                I say this primarily because....after studying him for over ten years....and reading over 110 books about him....and watching about fifty rallies....and observing him almost every day over those ten years....and graduating cum laud from Trump Derangement Syndrome University....the most striking characteristic is that he is an empty vessel....ready to be filled with something....with no real ideology....and no compassion....(if evangelicals read about him like they should have....and didn't buy into the fake news nonsense....they would know this)....and absolutely no relation in his life or his businesses or his politics....to the concept of truth. He lies as easily....and almost as often....as most of us blink our eyes.
                He thinks that he is the greatest thing in the world....we all know and recognize that....and he will destroy anyone at the drop of a hat. How many political adversaries did he purposely and maliciously take away their secret service protection....just to get at them?
                His is the greatest show on earth. His first term was relatively normal....an amateur who got in a lot of trouble....and then got out of it....but January 6, 2021 has proved to be one of the most damaging events in the history of our country. There was really no campaign for the second nomination. Something had changed in this man....seriously changed....and for the worse....which seemed hardly possible. The rider on the white horse from Revelation 6....comes out...."conquering....and to conquer?" There may be no more definitive description of Trump since the first day of his second inauguration than that.
                 So we have the most well-known name in the world....who thinks that he is the greatest person in the world....who crushes his opposition....and has built a loyal buffer zone....(mostly out of fear)....and raised....(appointed)....a kennel of attack dogs. He names all kinds of things after himself.....and builds monuments to himself....and has turned the Oval Office into a gilded...white house of ill-repute....of visitors who want something....from someone who wants something from them.
                All of the above is just a primer. AI....artificial intelligence....will be involved....if not the actual False Prophet from Revelation. It shouldn't have to take an Adrian Monk to figure that one out! There will most likely be major surprises here. What is important is for us at least to be vigilant. My main purpose with this post is actually to impress upon evangelical readers that the mere fact alone that Donald Trump is a legitimate candidaate....(let alone possibly the prime candidate)....and that it was us that put him there....should shake us to the very core of our being!
                It should be mentioned....and I have mentioned it before....that whoever turns out to be that man of sin....will continue to gain power for quite a while. It has been 5 1/2 years now....since the deadly insurrection....when in the immediate aftermath it appeared that Trump's power over his people....and their power over the Republican Party....and particularly over evangelicals....was over....but it wasn't over...which is an amazing and astonishing and ominous thing to have witnessed.

Why Am I Astonished?

                 It is sad....so very sad....discouraging and even frightening in the ramifications. This is a common occurrence with me. I will be talking to a Christian friend who has not discerned the false prophet and enemy of the gospel in Trump....and a topic will come up concerning Trump....an atrocious action of some sort actually....only the latest....and it is as if in my friend's mind that someone has wiped the slate clean....or erased the tape....and there is only today....just this issue....no past year and a half of constant threats.....no past ten years of constant turmoil....and certainly no past seventy years of belittling others and exalting himself.
                We have long ago reached the saturation point with Trump. Gone is all the previously recorded data. We have witnessed too many gross temper tantrums....read too many insane texts....heard too many examples of revenge. The threshold has been reached and all additional data no longer computes!
                 So if he says something repugnant....or does something dangerous....the continuity and totality of it all doesn't even register! This might be blasphemous comment number 1,000....but the gauge stopped reading years ago! The long-term memory is completely gone....so there is no recollection of a thousand threats....or ten thousand lies....or the horror of January 6th!
                 I will look into the eyes of my Christian friend and it's like we do not even know each other any more. I used to hear Sproul or MacArthur or Billy Graham speaking through their words....but today I hear the voice of Mark Levin or Jesse Watters or Greg Gutfeld. Edification has been replaced by agitation....renewing of the mind by repeating the talking points....listening for a trumpet sound by listening for Trump to sound off.
                 If Trump is caught red-handed....which is all the time....the horror of an 'anti-weaponization' slush fund no longer even the latest....it is pointed out that the other side does these things also....end of debate. All of this....I believe....revolves around our lack of both knowledge and interest in what God's Word describes....literally everywhere in Scripture....on what it will be like...and what to look out for....and what to flee from....as the Second Coming becomes nearer and nearer.
                 I have written this many times....we....the church....deep down....do not want Jesus to return right now. We want more than anything else that America becomes 'great' again....lying to ourselves in that all of this is for God's glory and the free proclamation of the gospel. We want our life back....(He who finds his life will lose it.) We want our future back! The solemn tolling of the death knell of AI has not reached our ears. The red flags on Israel's existential security....with a collapsing alliance of once strong allies....has not caused us to meditate and ponder God's Word on prophecy. Evidence of 'aliens'....and the demonic everywhere in our society....has not harkened us back to when Jesus came the first time.
                 Yes....it is frightening and it is discouraging....but most of all it is astonishing! Trump's resume is exactly what Paul and Peter and John and Jude....and Jesus....told us to flee from...and yet we ignore the warnings....but then....why am I astonished....for God's Word said that at the end many would fall away....and follow false teachers and false prophets?

           

All Of The Branches Of Our Government Are Equal.....Only One Branch Is More Equal Than The Others!

                The recent animated film....Animal Farm....seemed to bend over backwards to avoid implicating current politicians....while attempting at the same time to retain our current political climate of chaos and absurdity. In other words....this is my take on it anyway....the director wanted to stay out of the fray....and hoped that the viewer could do his or her own thinking.
                I hadn't read George Orwell's classic since high school....from which I graduated fifty-eight years ago....and I hadn't retained a whole lot of the story....other than some of the themes. Orwell of course wrote an allegory of the Bolshevik Revolution....and how the moderated human desires of the people were hijacked by the brutal Bolsheviks who became as bad as the Tsars.
                I easily recognized Trump as Napolean....the pig....who wiggled his way into power....never really caring about the plight of the other animals....only to be changed and become a genuine tyrant....(first term vs second term)....no different than the humans that were expelled from the farm.
                Although I closely followed Trump's rise since 2015....and long ago saw the con and then the shakedown....it is still amazing on a daily basis to see the boldness of his actions....and equally amazing if not more so....to see how evangelicals....many of whom are blood-bought redeemed children of the King....squirm a little....but still refuse to see that they had been taken in....hook....line....and sinker!
                As in Animal Farm....Trump is no different and no better than the corrupt politicians that his movement replaced. That is the political aspect of all of this....but there is a spiritual aspect....a biblical aspect also....much more sinister than mere rebels who claimed to be fighting for freedom....only to impose their own tyranny once they get the power....for we are dealing here with a genuine biblical false prophet...,end-times delusion....a great falling away....and possibly even worse than that!
                Where I was in my eighteen months in Vietnam....this fifty-six years ago....there were two mountain ranges surrounding the river delta....with a quaint town...with really no major buildings to speak of. The communists....through murder and torture...won the day....and today that panoramic scene of a tree line....only yards off the waves slapping against the sand....with old French colonial buildings for the town....and a shantytown and a fishing village on the edges....looks like the Riviera! There are beautiful tennis courts right where my barracks were. That was no ideological freedom seeking war by the communists....only their attempt to be the ones to rule the 'farm.'
                Trump wants to turn Gaza into the Eastern Med-Riviera....and I'm sure he has plans for Cuba. All of this alleviating pain and freedom and liberty stuff....and protecting Israel....is no different to him than being in a Manhattan council meeting where he has to shmooze the council members to get the permits to build and make money....only later to ignore all the promises that he made to keep the traditional flavor of the neighborhood.
                 Back to Orwell's book and the film....Napolean the pig....slowly weaned puppies to become his personal attack dogs. That would be the secret police for the Bolsheviks....but to us today....right now....it would be his personal Justice Department....and many and varied intelligence agencies....and his Republican Party....and now his hijacking of our national media....one company at a time.
                  The book ended with the old guard and the new guard....so to speak....indistinguishable from one another. The most recent film has the animals disposing of Napolean....and returning to their original ideals? In reality....there is not much difference today between the Progressive Left and the MAGA Right....for both just want total control over the minds of those doing the work on the farm.

DISPATCHES

Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear knows very well how Trump almost pathologically....without letup....and without mercy....sics his law enforcement people on present and past political opponents. We can through this gets some help in understanding history....for we should be able to better understand how the Bolsheviks disposed of their enemies....and how the National Socialists also quickly disposed of present and potential enemies.

Both Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin....whose love of....and support of....the nation state of Israel....have within the last few hours....(I'm typing this at 4 PM on Monday)....called for the release of the US/Iran document. Both calls were succinct....with no opinion....and both can be interpreted as containing some concern.....for they themselves want to know what is in the agreement.

Update on Shapiro and Levin. Ben Shapiro correctly stated that the beginning of this war was done with precision and purpose...(my words)....but this document appears to be a disaster.....(appears?)....he then said that the Vice President as chief negotiator did not serve the president well. You've got to be kidding me Ben....no one in this administration does anything without specific instructions! On Levin....he doesn't often....crumble....but he crumbled here.....as he said that the 60 days continued negotiations better make some changes.

"The traditional American pastime of gathering at a local sports bar to watch Sunday football is being strangled by a technical and financial bottleneck, one restaurateur is warning." That is the title of a recent news article. Yes it is a "traditional American pastime" but many more people just stay at home and watch football. 1933 was a key year in the transition of the NFL from Saturdays to the Lord's days....and we have paid the price.

The Super Bowl though is nothing compared to the World Cup. In America we can't go but a couple of weeks throughout any year without some major sporting event....and this year is a particularly bad year for Lord's Day idolatry.....even the gladiators at the White House was a Lord's Day event. . Many of the soccer players....football players....baseball players....love to point to heaven after a score....but the competitive spirit has long since turned into full-blown idolatry. "As in the days of Noah"....can be today meaningfully yet peripherally rendered....'as in the days of Tiger Woods or Tom Brady.'

The Carolina Hurricanes just won the Stanley Cup. Normally this would be a front page....even top of the front page news....but numerous articles on this tiny nation or that nation....and what they did in their first World Cup game....have dominated the headlines. Are we that interested in soccer....or are we that addicted to any type of sporting news?

Is it called....UFC....I believe it is? There could not be a more fitting example of the total collapse of American culture and society and what we liked to believe was the....American Dream....than the coming (now completed) spectacle on the White House lawn, Boxing was once known....over a hundred years ago....as the gentleman's sport. This that has risen to the top today is violence more than sport.

It was Thanksgiving Day....November 27....2008....and our beloved dog....Special....came in the house....and lay down and died. In my grief....as I buried him with the rain masking my tears. I needed something to occupy my time. I had heard about these things called 'blogs'....and later that night published my first post. That was going on eighteen years....and almost four-thousand posts ago. God had used the grief to turn my life in a new direction.

Jesus had just spoken in parables on the final judgment....and the tares and the wheat....and He then told the disciples how he would have to go to Jerusalem to die....(and be risen)....but Peter was not going to accept that. God's Word....if you can see it....is speaking to us in America today. Judgment is coming....but we like Peter will not accept that. We should read again the admonition that Jesus said to Peter....for it is to us also...."for you are not setting your mind on God's interests....but man's. (Matthew 16:23b NASB) This Christian Nationalism....and all the politics and the power....including the false messiah....or wolf in sheep's clothing....or false prophet....championed by so many....is not in God's interests....but our own!

AI is a genie that cannot be put back into the bottle. It is a done deal....and a death knell. Christian ministries are still debating the pros and the cons. If they knew the nearness of the Second Coming....they wouldn't be playing this little game. This is Bible prophecy on display for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear.

The new film....Pressure....presents a different take on the D-Day invasion....focusing almost solely on the difficult weather forecast on which the status of the landings rested. There were very few war scenes....but it retained emotion through the descriptions of those who would perish....even if the seas were calm. What I liked most about the film was that it presented the frailties of all in that war room....Eisenhower and Montgomery and other real-to-life characters....without ridiculing them....or tarnishing their reputations....and that there was a true unity of spirit at the end.

Ben Shapiro is an Orthodox Jew who graduated from high school at 16 years old and at 20....in 2004....wrote a critique....Brainwashed....on the American higher education system....of which I read at the time. He quit Breitbart because of ethical reasons....and became ultra-popular with his website....Daily Wire. He was a Cruz man in 2016....as I was....and did not vote for Trump....but did vote for him in 2020....and has gone back and forth a few times. His ideological enemies are gloating right now because his empire is declining fast. Trump spawned a number of horrible influencers. Shapiro seems to be the odd man out right now....or....a conservative between two evils. What he does not realize is that his declining popularity is a blessing....because to be popular in this cultural and ideological climate....means one would be doing something wrong.. 

I know next to nothing about NASCAR. Somewhere back in the mid-60's....my uncle....a Catholic priest....took me to the Michigan 500....(maybe that is what it was called)....and we saw a race where Cale Yarborough beat Leroy Yarborough by a nose....or whatever they call it. This week saw the passing of one of NASCAR's big names. I viewed a tape of him only a week before....after winning a race....and smiling and waving to the fans in the stands....pausing only to lift his arm and cough into his sleeve. We....none of us....knows what a day might bring....and we acknowledge that....but not so much for America....as we are sure that God will keep us. This confidence that we do not deserve....has kept us from humbling ourselves in repentance.

Eventually....Trump money making schemes using the power of the presidency will catch up to him. As with this and everything else about how Trump has conducted himself in this second administration of going out...."conquering....and to conquer"....what is most incredible about it is that evangelicals threw away all of what they knew from God's Word to be warnings and admonitions....to go after money gold and silver and other things that perish.

We Have Found A Way To Defend Ourselves

 "And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals."

              This is Judges 2:11....ESV....but the phrase....or a phrase very similar to it....occurs dozens of times in the Old Testament. At times it boggles the mind....as in the case of Gideon....after he had through most dramatic means....saved the people from the yearly plundering of the Midianites....but no sooner was he gone than the people turned to the gods of the Midianites again! Time and time again we read that Israel was saved from enemies....and then again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD!
               I'm writing from personal experience of forty-plus years of reading these verses....that I tended to view the people of Israel as some strange ancient people that obviously had a problem remembering what God had done for them....and then....incredibly....they followed the gods of the peoples around them....and even wound up sacrificing their children to these demon gods!
               I lived a fairly normal life in American evangelicalism....not realizing that I had also forsaken the God of our fathers in the faith....and followed the Baals! No....there were no little statues that I prayed to....nor did I find a tall sturdy tree under which to set up an altar to one of these gods....indeed I continued to read the Old Testament....and the testimony of the history of God's people....and set myself above them....until I over time became saturated with the preaching of men from the past....Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones and the like....and men today who preach like preachers from the past....MacArthur and Sproul and Piper and others....and the Word of God as presented from these men....cut deep....and I then could see my own idols that I had set up!
               We are known as pro-life....anti-abortion....an abomination that is the same as sacrificing our children to pagan gods....but as the frog in the kettle was slowly boiled....we came to sacrifice our children in different ways....through entertainments primarily. There is an old and purposely comical fundamentalist phrase....certainly not heard any more....'I don't drink....smoke....or chew....or go with girls who do.' Well that's kind of like what we have become. We don't do drugs....or use foul language....or gamble....or steal from others....or lie or curse others....and we go to temple....(church in our case)....and offer sacrifices of doves and lambs....(everyone has a ministry of some sort)....and we keep the ceremonial laws of Advent and Easter....and rally around the flag....and have our regular Bible studies....but we have our own....and numerous they are...idols that we worship. The little religious figurine became the trophy....and the high hill under a terebinth tree became the megachurch....or the denomination....or our church with a pastor that would never offend anyone by actually telling us that we are sacrificing to idols and have forgotten the old paths of our fathers.
                We have found a way today to defend ourselves....vicariously....by defending our church or our pastor. It makes us appear humble....when in fact we are anything but. So....the Midianites and the Amalekites are here again....plundering....and we are crying out to God. There is no Gideon....and God has taken away most of those men who preached as preachers from the past....but we are not left as orphans....for we can still cry out....Abba Father....have mercy upon our backslidings....and restore us....not as a Christian nation of which we never were....nor as a glorious church....of which we never were....but for Thy glory and Thy namesake alone!
        
   

Lord's Day Post To Cecelia And Lilly And Jeff....And A Few Others Whose Name I Did Not Get

Preface: The following was first posted on July 4th of last year....ten days before God took his faithful servant John MacArthur home. I bring it up here as a Lord's Day post. I met some nice people on vacation who I was able to give the URL to these posts....and I hope that they might listen to this wonderful sermon....on this day....the Lord's Day"

           In the afternoon of January 1, 2023 I booted up John MacArthur's church's streaming sermon....but he had taken ill. It was reported a few weeks later that there was some artery cloggage....a procedure was done....and the pastor would need a few weeks of rest. It has been 2 1/2 years since that day....and he has hardly been in the pulpit at all....as one new procedure would follow another.
           I check every week to see if he might be back in his pulpit....and I pray every day that he his lungs would function well enough for him to preach. I'm doing this in faith that God would....if it be in His perfect will...give us back the old John Macarthur as in the sermon YouTube that is below....which is pure John Macarthur...and one of the strongest evangelical sermons that I have ever heard him preach!
          John MacArthur is not perfect....nor was Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or any of the great preachers of the past. He fell for the lure of politics about six years ago...and he missed the false prophet that he had been warning us of for the past for decades....but God is merciful....or a wretch like me would not be typing here right now.
          We in evangelicalism are essentially shepherdess right now. God has taken most of his faithful shepherds home....Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul and Tim Keller and many others....men who would not have shrunk back and refused to warn....as all the others have today.
           It may be that John MacArthur would return to his pulpit....and not be the warning that I would expect him to be. That is in God's hands. As for me....I know that evangelicalism right now is in the dark....and they need a voice of warning....a trumpet!
           Have you come here and read my pitiful posts on the gospel of Jesus Christ....and been frustrated because it is not sinking in? Are you a long-time church goer and frustrated because you have never understood what all the fuss was about. Are you about to give up? Give it one more try....listen to this sermon by John MacArthur....because it is for you!

Our Pulpits Are....As The Saying Goes....'A Day Late And A Dollar Short'....In Warning Us Of What Is Going On

               Steven Spielberg has a new blockbuster alien movie coming out soon. The American pulpit is years behind preparing believers for the challenge of dealing with UFO and alien disclosures. In fact.... Disclosure Day.... is the title of his new film.... but then.... those pulpits are ten years behind warning about a false prophet and enemy to the gospel of Jesus Christ that has captivated the mind of the evangelical..... and they are also not only behind in warning about AI.... but using it on their websites.... thinking that it is God's blessing.... and they are decades behind in proclaiming and describing the holiness of God..... and they are over seventy years behind in pointing out....that as John MacArthur once said of May 14, 1948....that God put the world on notice on the nearness of the Second Coming. The following post is from last October:

O That We All Knew That Jesus Was Near!

             OK.... we know this.... that before the Lord returns.... there will be a falling away.... (1 Thess 2:3).... that is the church folks..... us.... there will be a falling away.... in the church! Matthew tells us the same thing.... in the words of Jesus.... in the Olivet Discourse.... 24:10...."at that time many will fall away."
              I submit to you that what we see in the church right now..... with Christian nationalism reigning over the gospel of salvation.... is part of the falling away. When is the last time that you heard that a friend or a neighbor or a relative was.... born again? Depending on your age you may have never heard it! You may have heard that so-and-so is now a Christian.... and surely there are instances of this.... but not born again.... for salvation today is of a different substance..... as it is more political.... works related.... and conservative on social issues.... and now patriotic. We are in that falling away!
              So immediately after that verse in 2 Thessalonians we are told that a man of sin.... the son of perdition..... will be revealed. That doesn't necessarily mean that he will be identified.... but only that he will come onto the world's stage. What are we told about him? Well we are told that he...."exalts himself." Eventually.... in this megalomania.... he will put himself above God.
              All of this is in the second chapter of 2nd Thessalonians.... which also mentions a...."mystery of lawlessness." If we knew exactly what it was it would not be a mystery. Whatever it is.... it is chaos over order.
              There is someone who...."restrains".... at the present time.... so that this man of sin does not move on to a full-orbed domination of the entire world. Most think that he who restrains.... is He who restrains.... the difference of a lower case 'h' and a capital "H"..... in other words..... it would be the Holy Spirit.... which would be in the very end.... of the end times.... or the last of the last days.... in the opinion of many.... and I include myself.... well into the tribulation. (a mid-trip rapture is what I have evolved into believing)
               We are told that...."The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders".... but that it is those who are perishing who will fall for these deceptions.... and as Paul wrote...."And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie." (Aliens may turn out to be that delusion?)

Folks.... are you hearing any of this in your church? No you are not.... because that also is part of the falling away! Few are being warned. A short decade ago we had a number of men in the church and on the world scene.... men who warned us.... so that the Christian could hardly help but hear it.... but in God's perfect providence.... they are all gone.... or just about all gone. Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur and Tim Keller and even Pat Robertson and David Wilkerson.... are all gone! It's like we had our chance.

 O that you younger people could know what it was like in the church forty years ago! O that I knew what it was like in the faith hundreds of years ago! O that we all believed like the early Christians who were truly set apart from this world.... and looked.... (you can see it all through the New Testament if you but look for it).... and looked for the glorious returning of our Lord and Savior and King!

                  

History...Romance....Biography...Fiction...Science...Teens....Self-Help....Current Events...Business...Travel...True Crime...Mystery...Poetry...Cookbooks...Religion....And Much More

                     Fortunately.... neither my family nor my friends read my posts.... so they won't read this. I wouldn't even mention these thoughts to them.... because there is probably no one who would not be even a little bit offended. I've been a book lover most of my long life.... married a librarian.... and together we owned a Christian bookstore. In addition to that.... I have been a defender of the written word in an age of the image. Add to that.... I am in a Barnes & Noble almost every Tuesday of the year to look over the new releases.... and there is a women's book club that regularly meets in our home.
                     Let me start by saying this.... it's not every time.... it's not even most of the time.... but it is often that as I walk through B&N.... and see the people browsing.... knowing what people read all the time today.... that I just have to fight back a tear. Now these reading habits have been and will continue to be the habits of people who are not Christian.... and those who just think that their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.... but it is my brothers and sisters in Christ.... who really make me want to weep.
                     God's Word tells us in Hosea 4:6....." My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." That is the American church today. The old paths are gone.... long ago covered over by weeds from lack of use.... replaced by a pickle ball court.... or a Starbucks.... or even a Barnes & Noble. The pastors today do not even know where those old paths were.
                      So.... I see my loved ones.... and dear friends....day after day.... week after week.... year after year.... decade after decade.... reading the world's diary.... mysteries and love stories.... self-help books and history.... biographies of those who are not Christian.... and admiring the fame and the dedication it took to get that fame and/or accomplishment. I will hear them.... (and this is often).... tell each other about a great book they just read....although these books generally are pure poison to the believer.... when Pilgrim's Progress....that can direct them to the path where they will be safe in this tempestuous and tempting world.... and will glorify God.... will never be picked up..... for they claim to have read it once when they were young.... even though Charles Spurgeon.... the greatest preacher of the gospel.... possibly since the Apostle Paul.... wrote that he had read Bunyan's classic.... at least.... 100 times!
                       I am as I type this.... in the cool.... looking out through glass at swaying palm trees.... with a blue ocean in the background. It is not vacations.... or pickle ball.... or sitting down for an evening to read The Great Gatsby that destroys us or kills our discernment....but rather it is the lack of moderation....evidenced by where our true desires are. I have been here for close to a week....been out to dinner with my family....enjoying every minute of it....along with sitting under an umbrella on the hot beach....but there has been no moment when my mind strayed from a beautiful world....fallen into what we read in the news every day. There has been no waiter or person who I said hello to in passing....that I did not wonder....do they know Christ....or more succinctly....does Christ know them....and I pray....a short prayer though it may be....but a thought that keeps me on the old path....and praising God for His mercies on the absolute least deserving of any mercies at all! 
                        Maranatha......Lord Jesus Come!

What Might Be That "Foreign God" Of Daniel 11?

 "To everything there is a season....a time for every purpose under heaven."

               That's a famous quote from the Byrd's song....Turn Turn Turn. I'm only halfway kidding here because we do in this American culture of the day know more about the Top 40....than the Bible....and I'm not immune to that....because I could go on and on about that song....song by Roger McGuinn....who played around with Buddhism as a young adult....(as I did with TM)....as many of us did....then a guru gave him advice to change his first name to Roger....eventually on to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame....and then to the every lasting praise of God....he like you....(hopefully)....and me....was given mercy and grace and faith to believe.....and one last thing...he became a self-proclaimed....Never-Trumper.
               So that quote is King Solomon from Ecclesiastes 3....great king and lover of God....gone baby sacrificer....(what a message on wisdom that is to all of us....that wisdom in itself is no guarantee)....a time for this and a time for that and a time for a lot of things....well guess what....this day and age that we live in....is the time to read God's prophetic Word on the Second Coming!!!!!!

                In this post let's go again to the eleventh chapter of Daniel....which timewise....is where we are today. Please read verses 29 to 39....over and over again...day after day....until it takes hold of you....or rather the Holy Spirit takes hold of you on this.
                I am only going focus here on three verses. Verse 37 tells us that the Antichrist will magnify himself. Ask yourself....what person in this world today....magnifies himself.....more than any other person in this world today....and verse 38 is this....

"He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these....(the gods of his fathers)....a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver....with precious stones and costly gifts."

                I found the word 'towers' included in the etymology of the word 'fortresses'....but either way....this personage of the Antichrist will indeed have a god....one of power and maybe associated with towers?  I'll mention this also....is it not a world famous news story in how Trump changed the whole Oval Office....to revolve around precious gold? And lastly there is the following verse....verse 39a....

"He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god...."

                I submit to you that Artificial Intelligence....AI....as it is evolving every day....may be that foreign god!
                

Surely This Cannot Be As Bad As It Seems?

                I'm going to purposely write the beginning of this post as an innocent....a child....naive at to the weightier matter of the topic. I haven't posted much on the Iran conflict because that is our military out there. Even here I'm giving some benefit of the doubt.
                The United States military took it to Iran with a vengeance at the beginning. It was truly shock and awe all over again. What was left of the top echelon in leadership in Iran was probably crawling for air pockets.....and then came Easter....and the insane texting....and then a strange pause....and now....they are talking about negotiating the Strait of Hormuz....and who knows what else....with those who must have found some air pockets? How do you go from crawling for air pockets to the negotiating table?
                 I'm trying to think of an analogy....here's one....John and Mary are engaged to be married. The wedding day is a week off...the house they will live in is already furnished...and then someone tells you that John quit his job and moved away....and Mary is entering a convent! What....What? What's going on here....they were two love birds just about to get married? It's a poor analogy I  know....but maybe it describes a little bit the confusion on how things can change so fast?
                Something is going on....and it started when he was threatening to wipe out all of the people of Iran....even though half of them or more were probably on his side. How did Iran get the upper hand in this mess? 
                 Normally I would add that....'the books are going to be written....oh are the books going to be written.' What I mean by that is that books always come out....after dozens of investigative reporters pry information out of hundreds of insiders more than happy to say what went on behind the cameras and behind closed doors. This is what happened with the so-called....Russia Hoax....where there are dozens of books out there written by the actual people involved....showing exactly what went on....and that it was no hoax....but in this particular case with Trump and Iran....it may be too late to wait for the books!
                 It does not appear that Trump knows what he is doing. Regime change seems to be gone....even the nuclear issue is still on the table? Trump urged all the people of Iran to come out in the streets and protest....for he was going to rescue them. Some rescue....for how many tens of thousands are probably dead....and he's still negotiating?
                 He made a big mistake with this anti-weaponizing nonsense. Finally someone in the former Republican Party stood up to him! It was a classic case of the guilty....projecting the same crime onto others....in order to sow confusion.
                 Netanyahu recently said that he wants United States aide to Israel to drop to zero. This wasn't a kind gesture....for he is probably tired of Trump threatening to take it away if he doesn't perfectly toe the line.
                 So I'm looking at this day after day....thinking to myself that surely there is some kind of plan....surely this cannot be as bad as it seems?

If We Only Realized....How Few Are Saved...

               God's Word tells us that in this life we will have tribulation.....and persecution....and that we will be hated. Tribulation is not....flying to Hawaii only to have the airlines lose our luggage....nor is it having the water pipes break only to ruin a bathroom or a kitchen or a basement....nor is it in not getting a job that we want. Nor is it living with a Democrat party that calls good evil....(as bad as that is)....nor is it being in a Republican Party that calls evil good....(as vexing as that is.) Everyone is to have tribulation and be persecuted and be hated....but not all of us have all of these things happen to us to the same degree or in the same way....but all of us should wonder why we have not at least experienced them.
                Martyn Lloyd-Jones would explain that these things prepare us for glorification. That is a profound thought and not something that we normally would come up with on our own. There have been times in history when all of this was moot....and there are places around the world at all times when believers are suffering tribulation and persecution and hatred.
                All of this also....will be moot in due time....and that due time is soon. The church in America is the frog in the pot. The water slowly boiled and did us in. We are literally filled with idolatry....little statues and high hills and worship under trees in ancient times....but primarily entertainments today....little desires and high thoughts and vain worship under church roofs.
                As an observer....of America and how God's Word describes the marks of a true believer....and a participant....there cannot be.....great denominations....giant churches and all....10% of the American people that are saved! The two simply do not match up! And only match up if we neuter hundreds of truths from God's Word.
                If we realized.....how few are saved....if we realized this alone.....we would be shouting from the rooftops....warning our loved ones....and it would result in tribulation and persecution and hatred....but we simply do not realize that few are saved. We have been misled by shepherds who over time became nothing but hirelings....who would feed the sheep enough to survive....and herd them into to the sheepfold at night....but they want nothing to do with confronting wolves....only confronting sheep telling them that the wolves are in the sheepfold.
                 God will have a prepared church....prepared for our glorification....purified through tribulation and persecution and be hated. It is not a happy thought....but it is a medicine that heals.

First He Came For Those In Congress

What I want to do here is paraphrase German Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem....as it relates to this president. We evangelicals just sat back and watched as his purges and show trials and corporate boardroom takeovers and primarying eliminated all of those who had ever stood up to him....because this was going to make our country great again....just like Niemoller thought that das Vaterland was going to be great again....but now the veils are slowly being taken off of our eyes....and we are finally seeing who this man is....and when we begin to speak out against him....which will eventually happen....he will surely come after us....who thought that God had sent him to us!

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist.

First he came for those in Congress
And I did not speak out
Because I was not in Congress

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then he came for those in our intelligence agencies
And I did not speak out
Because I was not in the FBI or the CIA or the Justice Department

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did out speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then he came for the journalists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a journalist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then he came for the disadvantaged and underprivileged
And I did not speak out
Because I was not disadvantaged or underprivileged.

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

Then He came for the evangelicals
And there was no one left
To speak out for us.