"Why Do We Need To Be Born Again"

"And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law....but Ruth clung to her." Ruth 1:14b NASB              

               A couple of the most popular Study Bibles....(Scofield and Ryrie)....long ago codified the doctrine of the Carnal Christian. In this teaching....a person could believe in Christ....and become a Christian....but in reality be the same person before and after....believing in Christ. There was a major controversy in the church in the 1990s over this. It was known as the....Lordship Salvation Controversy....with John MacArthur championing the biblical or scriptural side.
              There are numerous books written on this....and I don't want to enter into that aspect of the controversy. The answers are there for anyone wanting to know what God's Word says about all of this. I just want to simplify it.
               An evangelical is either born again or they are not. At times it is very hard to tell the difference. I'll give you one example of a man that I knew....one example out of literally hundreds that I could give. This was forty years ago....and I wasn't even an enquirer at the time....more of just an observer of these 'born again' Christians cropping up all over my workplace.
               The setting was a power plant control room. This man was the control room operator....and I was an employee of about two years at the time....an employment that lasted 37 years....and I so thank God for that blessing.
               This friend....talked about Jesus a lot....as did many others at the time.....and as I remember it....he took me behind the control panels....so as to speak more freely....on this faith that he had in Jesus Christ. I thank God also for that conversation....and the many other similar conversations of this nature that I had at the time.
                Time passed....and he went on to a new profession. I remember helping him load up his U-Haul. More time passed.....years. I had lost touch with this man but heard that he became a pastor. A few more years passed....and we had entered the computer age....and I looked up his name. It didn't take long....for right there was a television interview....as he now held a high post in a major....very liberal denomination. Apparently he was fairly well-known in that denomination.
                So I listened to the interview....there he was wearing liturgical garb....and I was saddened....because it was obvious that he did not know the gospel....or the Jesus....that he was at one time so excited to tell me about. Oh the words were still there....some of them....a very few of them....but this was a man who was very much into....church....and also sadly....into himself. My friend was the definition of a Carnal Christian. He had grabbed onto some excitement long ago....but very apparently was never grounded in the faith. He had no root. The seed sprouted....but it withered.
                Our purpose in this is not to go around identifying Carnal Christians....nor searching for tares to pull up. Our purpose is to make sure that we are not a 'Carnal Christian'....that we are not a tare....for the definition describes someone that is not a Christian at all....although they claim to be one....and may even be very religious....and probably are even confident that they are Christian. Our purpose though is also to...."contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all in delivered to the saints." (Jude 1:3) so I'm adding this sermon from John Piper that is titled...."Why Do We Need To Be Born Again?"

                                                                           

        

        

Van Gogh's Painting Went From Darkness To Light....But His Life Went From Light To Darkness

Preface: I'm bringing back this post about Vincent van Gogh....because his painting....Starry Night....has been in the news....as a team of Korean astronomers completed some research....and believe that because of the stars visible in the sky...,in the v-shaped pattern that he painted....that July 22 of 1889 would have been the evening that Van Gogh started his painting....this from a window in the asylum that he was restricted to. 

The following post was written in April of 2016 after our visit to the Carnegie Museum Of Art on The University of Pittsburgh campus.

       
Let There Be Light

          It was the spring of 1981 as my wife and I were in Paris and walking through the Louvre Museum. We stopped in the middle of a large group to look at the Mona Lisa. It was quiet as one might expect. I remember this as I stood gazing at the oil painting trying to figure out what was so great about it. I have three or four paintings in my home that are better....one with LED lights throughout it! The hush was suddenly broken as my wife blurted out "Special Dog! It's Natalie Wood!" She had turned to try to exit the group and bumped into the actress. Natalie Wood smiled as Robert Wagner continued to look towards the painting.
          Today was another day at the museum for us, the Carnegie Museum of Art in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, where there was a special showing of three of Vincent van Gogh's works and one of Paul Signac's. It was a wonderful day for us. The museum also has one of the 25 or so replicas of Augustus St. Gauden's bronze sculpture The Puritan, my favorite sculpture! OK, I only know one or two others but I gravitated to this one day in an art book and have admired it ever since.
           Actually I do have a little bit of knowledge of art as my mother painted in oils. Impressionist painting was talked about often in our home. Occasionally by request, she painted reproductions of great paintings and one of her best was Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters. If you are familiar with this you know that it is a very dark painting.....wonderful but dark. This was Van Gogh in 1885. Shortly after painting this he traveled to Paris, saw for himself the new wave of colors in Impressionist painting, and his own work would never be the same.
           The topic of this post came to me while standing before Van Gogh's Wheat Fields After The Rain. Vincent van Gogh had seminary training, was Calvinist in his theology and once preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His painting moved from darkness towards light but his life moved from the light to the darkness. Now, I know very little about Mr. Van Gogh's reasons for leaving the ministry to paint but I do know about the condition of the church at that time and it was generally a dark period in Europe. The light may or.may not  have been in the gospel he was familiar with just as it wasn't in his early paintings.
            The Reformation of the 16th century is sometimes described in the Latin phrase post tenebrus lux, or after darkness... light. My own life was darkness invaded by the light of Jesus Christ in 1982. The same descriptive can be said by all Christians! If you are Christian and cannot say this, if there has not been a moment in time or a period in your life when God's Word came alive to you, when you saw Jesus Christ as if for the very first time, when you saw yourself as guilty with no defense and heard the promise of salvation from a risen Savior.......then you must find out right now why that is the case!
             I'm Reformed in my theology. I'm not liturgical in my beliefs and therefore the word Easter brings a cringe, for every Lord's Day throughout the year is Resurrection Day. But many are liturgical and look to one day in the year as that day when Christ rose triumphantly from the grave. If the brightness of the very thought of Jesus has not caused you to cover your eyes temporarily as if looking towards the sun, if the prism of the Word of God has not refracted the brightness of grace and mercy and forgiveness and love and power and glory and majesty of Jesus Christ towards you, then you must plead to God for this for He will take the filters off of your eyes as He has done ours!
            I enjoyed the works of Vincent van Gogh today as I have always done. I enjoy music and dance (watching it that is!), literature and theatre too but it is the giver of these gifts that is the true master who brings light to His people

Lord's Day Post

The following was first posted in August of 2019.  The Covid-19 virus began to replicate in humans....in Wuhan....China....about two months later:   

               It may come in this way....the last great movement of God in America....the preacher....any preacher....many preachers across the America....arrive at church a little disheveled....as if they hadn't had any sleep the night before....for they hadn't.....in fact they have been tossing and turning all weekend trying to prepare a sermon that they believe God may have put on their heart. It goes like this....the congregation detects something as the uptempo music ends....and the preacher's shoulders are as if they are sagging. Is something wrong they wonder....has the sale for more land for the addition fallen through? The pastor begins by saying that the holiness of God is an awesome thing to be confronted with. He's not looking at the congregation while talking as he usually does but his eyes are lifted to heaven. Maybe this is the setup to a humorous but informative anecdote....he's done that kind of thing before....but his wife is sitting in the front pew....and her lips are moving in prayer. This is no humorous but informative anecdote coming! The pastor reads the Parable Of The Ten Virgins....while his eyes lower to meet those in front of him....and he begins his sermon...."Beloved....how much oil do you have available to trim your lamp.....for you may need it soon....and even if our Lord tarries in His return....we must have oil for our lamps at all times!"
               It may not happen this way....but each Monday I look for reports on how this preacher or that preacher was extremely solemn in the pulpit....and the congregation responded to his message with equal solemnity.  

               It has been over seven years since I wrote that last sentence....and I still look for clues with friends....'Did anything unusual happen in your church service'?....I might ask....or most of the time....as recently as this past Monday.....a simple...."How was your church service yesterday?" And then I have my own pastor's sermons that I put on this grid.
               Do you have certain prayers....or even one certain prayer....that you might pray.....every day of your life? Most of us do....I would think. I am very regimented in this. I have a litany of names that come into my prayers each and every day of my life. One of those prayers is this.....almost but not quite verbatim...."Lord....I lift up all of Thy faithful shepherds to you....that thou might have mercy upon them....and bless them....that we in turn might be blessed!"
               Please notice the words...."faithful servants....for that is who I am praying for....good men....far more faithful Christians than I will ever be....but primarily because of the church age that they live.....they are ignorant of many things that they have never been taught. So they may indeed sweat while they plead with God in their prayers....for wisdom in the sermons and in their pulpits. I know that they do this....but they still need the Holy Spirit to move over them....and thus we should desire the Holy Spirit....in His perfect timing....to move over these faithful men....all over America....as a strong wind on the wheat field....forcing the flower head of the stem to bow down.
                 Why do I know these things about preaching....and they do not? First of all....I am not alone....in fact I am at the end of a long line of pilgrims marching towards the Celestial City....who knows that....not everywhere....but generally....the glory has departed from the American evangelical church pulpit. Secondly....there is always a remnant....with remnant preachers like John MacArthur and R. C. Sproul....and many others of whom their names you would recognize.....and tens of thousands of others....whose names you never have....nor ever will hear.....for they preach in smaller or seemingly insignificant churches....that are hard to find....but still exist....maybe at least one....in every large community in America.
                 So maybe it will be tomorrow that God has chosen to begin to awaken many in this generation? Maybe not? Maybe it will take a national catastrophe to shake us to an awakened state? If so....that may not be long at all. In the meantime....here is a sermon by John Piper....that I haven't heard since I added it to this original post back in August of 2019....but I think that I will listen to it again right now!

                                                                       

 

"Avoid Such People As These"

2 Timothy 3 begins with this....

"But realize this...that in the last days difficult times will come."

              So we know that this passage focuses in on what it will be like when Jesus returns.

"For People will be lovers of self..."

               This post is about what God tells us to do about people like Donald Trump. Yes....we are all afflicted to one degree or another with this love of self....but is there anyone you can possibly think of in the entire world that this description might pertain to more than Donald Trump?

"lovers of money"

Is there anyone in the world so consumed with accumulating riches?

"boastful"

Is there anyone in the world more boastful?

"arrogant"

               As you read the rest of these character traits....keep in mind that at the end of the list....Paul wrote....under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit...."Avoid such people as these."

"slanderers...disobedient to parents...ungrateful...unholy...unloving...irreconcilable...malicious gossips...without self-control...brutal...(do you not see Trump everywhere in these verses)...haters of good...treacherous...reckless...conceited....lovers of pleasure...rather than lovers of God...holding to a form of godliness...("We are one glorious nation under God")...although they have denied its power..."

               I submit to the reader here....that all over America....evangelicals make a big deal about their plenteous Bible studies....quoting ad nauseam all the verses that suits their purposes and personal goals....but they totally ignore a passage such as the above! God's Word should have convinced us from the beginning to stay far away from Donald Trump....but we would have nothing of that....as we wanted our king....and our prosperity! False teachers labeled Trump as another Cyrus....or as another Jehu....and that was the doctor's Rx that we needed to be cured of Paul's warnings in 2 Timothy! 

Addendum: For eleven years Trump played the role of a prophet....telling us how grand and glorious everything was going to be....the Russia war would be over the first day he took office....and we were already beginning a 'Golden Age' for America. Look around folks....at our Golden Age. He was every bit the false prophet that was Hananiah....as that false prophet....also for political purposes....opposed the warnings of Jeremiah to the king.....saying that Babylon would be defeated within two years.  I can't remember a single time where a pastor labeled Trump a false prophet. The apex of all this nonsense was on February 4....of 2020....just as the pandemic was beginning to expand....and Trump was downplaying it because it was an election year. The following is part of his State of the Union address....given to wildly gleeful cheering Republicans. Read these words....and then look around again....

"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."

                   Then the pandemic became full-blown....and then came January 6....and we learned nothing....nor were we humbled.

                                                                

    

               There are eleven days left until the mid-term elections. I did basic flyer distribution for Bobby Kennedy in 1968....and was totally devastated on that horrific day in June. I walked away from my supermarket stock boy job....and it took me a while to recover....so I know how the youth in the Charlie Kirk movement felt. I shook Jimmy Carter's hand as he was campaigning in Pittsburgh back in 1976. I did volunteer phone work for Ted Kennedy in 1980.....calling every Democrat in one of our townships....and apparently it was very successful....because I was a good talker....and I went to a $100 a plate dinner for Pat Robertson in 1988. As I look back on over fifty years of watching elections with a great deal of interest....I was never better than 50% at predicting elections.....but I got this one right....for after traveling across Pennsylvania a few times in the summer/fall of 2016....and seeing the Trump signs everywhere....I knew that he was going to win. I voted for him....and celebrated the morning after.
               I was a Kennedy person since before my adult life....as I remember waving to John Kennedy as he passed by our Catholic grade school in Cheektowaga, New York....as a Senator from Massachusetts....this in 1959 I believe. Honeymooning on Cape Cod in 1976 was no coincidence....for I wanted to see the mythical Kennedy Camelot.
               When I became born again in 1982....if I was indeed born again at that time....much of my life in politics changed. To this day I still love Bobby Kennedy. He was the most compassionate man in politics that I have ever witnessed....but my worldview changed at the time. Within a short period of time I came to love Ronald Reagan.....and still love the memory of this kind man.
               Looking back....it was a major mistake supporting Ted Kennedy. I really should have known better....and Pat Robertson's quest for the Republican Party nomination....although sincere and honest....was not wise....neither was I in being a part of it.

                May I segue a little bit here....for as I type....with the Bose on softly in the background....the 60s channel....the 1962 smash instrumental....Telstar....by the English band Tornados is playing. Telstar....was that breakthrough communications satellite launched in July of 1962....that sent major communications....television and telephone and telegraph....through space.  They used keyboard synthesizers on the instrumental....and some other very imaginative methods to produce those eerie sounds as if emanating from space. It's been sixty-four years since then...."Will you still love me when I'm sixty-four"....well I still like listening to that instrumental....but there are over 16,000 satellites orbiting the earth today....and 3,000 dead ones....and the thrill is gone....replaced by great concern.

                 The supposed professionals in polling are predicting a sure Democrat takeover of the House....and possible takeover of the Senate. They may be right....and maybe not. It is a lose/lose situation. America....the America of the Telstar age....is functionally gone. Democracy is shot to blazes. It's all money and mind manipulation today. Journalism is all but gone. A free press is on the way out....and free speech is being threatened...."threatened" being the key word.     
                 First of all.... we still have to go through these eleven days without major existential events....and if Trump somehow is resurrected once again....there is absolutely no telling how far he will extend his tyranny over the people....and the minds of his supporters. If he loses....and can only look forward to two years of intense investigations....again....how far will he go in suppressing the constitution and the rule of law? What would he do with Russia....or Israel....or evangelicals....who sooner or later are going to see who they have put into power?

Job......A Guide For Us In The Coming Days?

                A word that I read a lot in describing the book of Job is....'profound.' We all know the story....Job had it all....and then lost it all....and then three friends....(with friends like these....who needs enemies)....three friends came along and basically just tell Job to accept it all and go to God and confess his sins that brought it all on. Then along comes a young guy....Elihu....who lets the old guys go on and on for a while....in respect for their age....and then takes over....and criticizing Job....(rightfully so....for Job was getting more and more self-defensive as time went on)....tells him to just trust in God. Finally....God enters the conversation....and slam dunks the three friends.....never mentions Elihu....and says that Job at least acknowledged the greatness of Almighty God. These things are part and parcel of the blessed main message that Job has been to at first Israel and then the church....but as in many other parts of Scripture....there is often a second message....and that second message in Job....I believe....is in end-times prophecy....and how the church will react as the tribulation comes upon it.
                Now if you are one who believes that the Rapture will take place.....before the tribulation begins....then you may not get much out of this. I am not of that belief....we are going into the tribulation....and it may already have begun! So I take a different tact on Job. I hadn't always....but I do today. Maybe it is because I put so many things on a different grid....an enhanced grid.....transparent....placed on top of the grid before it....a grid that is for this generation....us....the generation upon which Jesus will return. There is prophecy everywhere in God's Word....all over the place in Psalms....and I believe....in Job also. 
                 So Job had it all....as we did at one time....and it was taken away....as it is being taken away from us in the church....and in America.....right now. What are we going to do? It is getting worse....and as the pains got worse and worse with Job.....so much so that even his wife told him to...."Curse God and die"....they are and will continue to get worse for us!
                 This is where the book of Job may come into play for us....as we move into the tribulation? We might at first acknowledge the sovereignty of God in all things....and then....quite naturally....begin to wonder if God has forsaken us? If so....the book of Job will be for us.....as the fallen away church....deluded and deceived....while following false prophets....accuses us....and even family abandons us.
                 Then there is this....the two beasts that rise up in the book....Behemoth....the land beast....and Leviathan....the sea beast. Yes the message is there as we in the church have always interpreted it....that if we cannot contain these creatures....how can we question God who created them? So....there may be....through these beasts....another message for the last days....can we tame Lucifer....and the Dragon....no....but we can through all of this proclaim the greatness and the majesty and the glory of the One who not only created all that there is....but controls all that there is....and will come....even shortly....in power and might....to rescue those who are His!
                 These are only thoughts that go through my mind. The difficult thing about writing in a blog....is that if you and I were sitting in a Starbucks...drinking lattes....and just exchanging thoughts on the end-times....and I were to say the things that I wrote here....it would be no big deal....just conversation.....but put it in a blog post....and it is as if it has become official teaching! What are your thoughts? Do you have a blog? I'd like to see it if you do.....or I would like to sit with you in a Starbucks....(I would prefer a Dunkin).....and we would just talk and talk about the glorious majesties of our God....and pray that in doing so....we might edify one another!

"Then It Is Time To Fall Face Down On The Ground....And Plead With Jesus To Return"

                  They called it the....Great Appalachian Storm of 1950. I was only nine months old so I can hardly remember it. OK....no....I don't remember anything at that age....but I remember a lot of big snow storms over the years. This one in November of '50'....came up the East Coast....with some gusts reported at 110 mph....and sustained winds in some places in the 80 mph range. Pittsburgh got 30 inches of snow....followed immediately by floods....but I was born in Buffalo. You would think it would be worse there....but it wasn't.
                    I do remember the America of the 1950s and 1960s. I remember when everyone watched....Leave It To Beaver....or....Father Knows Best. I remember afternoons around the kitchen table with both the younger generation....us cousins....and the older generation....our parents....singing along with the same songs on the radio....where it might be Frank Sinatra....or the Beatles. I remember Disney's....Davy Crockett....and Johnny Tremain. In short....I remember very well what it was like to be an American.             
                   I remember the handsome young president....who most everyone loved....and I was 13 years old when someone on a grassy knoll....behind a picket fence....shot the back of his head off. Oh I remember a lot. I may not know right now where my keys might be....but I remember everything about an America that once was....and is no more....the events leading up to what we have today....probably beginning on that day in November....in Dallas....and I just want to weep....and weep....and weep some more....at what we have become!
                    Ezra recorded it....in chapter three....a remnant of the people had returned from Babylon....and with much trouble....they began to rebuild the temple....and the foundation was complete....and all the people gathered around....and the younger generation....."shouted for joy"....at what they saw.....not knowing what the former temple looked like....but the older generation.....the 'my generation' of that day...."wept with a loud voice."
                    Young people....it is not so much that you do not know what America was once like....for there were times in the 1960s that were even worse than the Paris riots are today....and it is not so much that you have no real concept of a sermon where the glory of God is preached from the pulpit....for even I have to go back in time to old books for that....it is rather that you do not know the existential extent of how bad it is today....and the real and present delusion and deception that is everywhere! If you could....then you also would weep!
                    When a once proud Benjamin Netanyahu....can call a diabolical....never-ever to be trusted...with anything....Donald Trump....a...."warrior".....and when an American negotiator....a representative of the President of the same country that gave us George Washington and Abraham Lincoln....can call a mass-murdering dictator like Putin.....a...."humanitarian".....then it is time to fall face down on the ground....and plead with Jesus to return.....for we surely have become...."as in the days of Noah."

The Temple Mount

                To anyone who stays in tune with Christian news....they would know that the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem have already prepared an altar for sacrifices....and all of the vestments and instruments needed....including the red heifer. They may also know that whereas only years ago....Jews or anyone else could not pray on the regulated visits to the Temple Mount....that today a lot of people pray up there. They might realize that a temple....a building....is not absolutely necessary for sacrifice on the Temple Mount....which during a total upheaval of some sort in Israel....could start....almost immediately!
                What many of us do not realize....is that any sacrifices that would be performed on the Temple Mount....and they surely are going to take place in the not-too-distant future....that those sacrifices are not ordained anymore by God! That this would simply be a resurrection of a religious system....by a rebellious Jewish people who have rejected the resurrection of their Messiah....two-thousand years ago.
                Many of us in evangelicalism believe that sacrifices on the temple mount would be a wonderful thing....whereas in biblical reality....it would just be one more step in the prophetic return of King Jesus!
                This is important because to believe that God would be pleased with Temple Mount sacrifices....shows a dangerously low Scriptural knowledge on the atonement....and the cross....and salvation! This is also important because although we should....pray for the peace of Jerusalem....although there is no lasting peace coming....and pray for the Jewish people not only in Israel but all over the world....for their salvation....that we should not in any think that the Israel that exists today....miraculous as it has been....is the same Israel that once existed. 
               We need to work through this issue if we are confused in any way. There is no Jew or Gentile anymore....in other words....there is no Jewish sacrificial system that God has ordained and delights in....for it has been gloriously and totally fulfilled....but there remains a promise....that God will have mercy upon the rebellious Jewish people....at the end of days!
                Politics enters this....and the results are not good....and can even be terrifying if we realize where it might lead. A man has arisen portraying himself as a savior to Israel....and much of Israel has exalted him as such....and also much of evangelicalism. The gospel has been for ten years now....essentially forgotten....or temporarily put aside....for the greater glory of making our country great again....whereas we should not simply want to go back to the Reagan 80s....or anything even stronger.....as we perceive 'strong' to be.....safe while playing our games....and making our money....and playing church....for at that time we still had men of God who were warning us....(they are now mostly gone)....warning us that not only the return of Jesus was near....but so was the wrath of God!
                Israel is going to be deceived. This we know for sure....but I am one that believes that they have already been deceived. There is a false peace coming...."saying peace....peace....when there is no peace"....and...."peace and security".....after which....."destruction will come upon them....(all of us)....suddenly,"
                 The coming election in Israel means as much....or as little....as the coming election in the United States....for just as I posted on November 1 of 2020....days before the general election...."This election....with all the hype....is essentially meaningless. That we on our side use God's name all the time....is but....'clanging cymbals'....in His ears. There will be a winnowing in the church....there must be....for those who are vexed at what has transpired will find unity....and those who fell for the lie that we are....'one glorious nation under God'....will only get worse."

We All Need To See This Film At Least Once

              I chose this shorter montage of the film....A Great Awakening....to put up here....rather than an official trailer. We evangelicals in America need to see something of what makes a George Whitefield....and we need to see that it is the freedom of the gospel of Jesus Christ that man needs....more than any other freedoms. This relationship between Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin is not new to evangelicals who are also history buffs. There is a 2015 book out there....The Printer And The Preacher....by Randy Petersen....and there are numerous biographies and conference talks available on YouTube. You can stream the film or purchase the DVD from Amazon. Youth groups need to see this film. Pastors need to see this film!

What Is The Axis......And Who Are The Allies?

                         How can one man steer an entire nation....away from what they have always known to be right? Putin is responsible for at least two million deaths.....most in this war....but many others through poisonings and throwing opponents out of windows....and various other means....but I'm not talking about Putin....I'm talking about Trump.
                          I know the outward explanations....an election is coming up....and these men and women in the Republican Party....are no longer the types of men and women who sacrifice for the good of the country. They have successfully turned their collective minds over to a charismatic charlatan. If they should say anything even slightly against him....then their own heads are on the chopping block.
                          Trump today....(I would like to go a day without posting on Trump....but hardly a day passes when he does not shock in the things that he says....when he does not show himself to be egomaniacally possessed....and devoid of common decency)....today he and Putin....and the Communist Chinese president....are conspiring against....against an ally? This is history in the making folks. This is the 1930s again.
                           I have always had the highest regard for Benjamin Netanyahu. He has always been....contra mundum....against the world.....in his defense of his beloved homeland. Evangelicals have also....always been on the side of Israel....but there are times....mundum inversus....when the world has been as if....turned upside down. 
                           When the Israeli Prime Minister....smilingly....and even glowingly....on world-wide television....talks on the phone with a man without an ounce of truth or character in him....a man who is tearing apart the greatest ally that Israel has ever had....and calls him...."a warrior"....then the Israeli Prime minister in as much as says....that all evangelicals and Americans....are of no importance to him!
                           Yes....he has had to say a lot of things over the past decade about Trump that he would normally never even think....but there is an Israeli election coming up....and he needs the votes of the Israelis who have been blinded as much as the MAGA Americans....but there has to come a time when a president....or evangelicals or conservatives....or an Israeli Prime Minister....declares their trust in God....alone....and even in the most dire of circumstances....refuse to call to to an evil world to save them.
                           Yes....in a very real way the world has indeed been turned upside down....where there is no right and wrong....where good is called evil....and evil is called good....and we are there right now. May God have mercy upon us....and open our eyes....and prepare us for what is right ahead....and may He....apply a balm along with the discernment....on where we are...and how far we have fallen....for it going to be very painful....to finally see and admit....and repent of....what we have done!

Putting Your Chips On The Table

              OK....what I am going to put in this post is way above my pay grade....which is zero by the way....and if I ever make a penny.....while there still are pennies....I'll stick it on the wall.
              Quantum computing is years away....but if it ever comes about it would revolutionize the business of computers....but there is a company in France....its name is....C12....which I presume is named after the purest isotope of carbon....that has six protons....and six neutrons....and six electrons....666 to make it easier to remember.
               They have developed....and it is already in production....a process where carbon nanotubes....are synchronized with regular silicon chips....and according to the company....it works....with less 'noise' that contributes to errors....and it is faster....and I believe...uses less energy because of the amount of data that can be stored....and the quicker they progress....the more revolutionary will be the result. I hope I described that somewhat accurately. Please do your own research if you are interested.
               China is doing its own research....in a different direction....and I believe that it also may be in production....that also would be revolutionary....in the attempt to find alternatives to silicon....which has been used exclusively now for 70 years. South Korea....I believe....is also involved in research along these lines.....and the United States is heavily involved in research on the carbon nanotube replacing the need for silicon chips.
               I look into these things because I am convinced that the computer....the Internet....and everything or anything associated with computing....particularly AI....is not only biblical prophecy being fulfilled....but biblical prophecy concerning and related to....in some way....the Antichrist....and the False Prophet.

Lord's Day Post

                                                                                   

             John Piper has this offering today on his ministry website....desiringgod.org. As you may pick up God's Word this evening....or certainly tomorrow....this message on William Tyndale may cause you to read with  more of an intensity....and thanksgiving!

God Prepared A Great Fish....And If God Prepared it....It Would Serve God's Purpose!!!

                What's not to like about an hour and fifty minute movie where half of it is about a young man trapped inside a whale? My wife really didn't' like it. She wanted to leave half-way through the film....but I had warned her beforehand that half the movie would be with a guy's head stuck between a whale's spleen....and the giant arm of an octopus.. 
                The film was the newly released.....Whalefall....with Josh Brolin. I wanted to see it for two reasons....as I knew that it was about a father/son relationship....and secondly....I seem to remember another story somewhere about a man swallowed by a whale....or a great fish....which was probably a whale.
                Now....can a man survive inside of a whale? The consensus seems to be no....but there is a story from the 1800s I believe....where a man did just that. So....I don't know if a man can survive being swallowed....even for a short time.....but I know this as truly as I know my own name....Special Dog....that God....prepared a great fish....and if God prepared the fish....then the whole White House National Security Council could survive inside....and be spit out safely!
                Actually....I liked the film. Not only wasn't it a Christian film....but the philosophies were more pagan....but the father/son relationship....and Jonah....as that big elephant in the room....were worth the price of the seats we were sitting in....that shook every time the whale passed by.
                I posted these words a month ago....when I heard that this film was coming out...."Now I would expect that neither the movie....or any of the reviews forthcoming....would give any (reference) to Jonah....but I don't care....for the concept alone of a man swallowed by a great fish....at this biblical time in history....put before the American public....is encouraging. May God if it be in His perfect will....make us think through this film....no matter what it might try to say!"
                I haven't heard Jonah mentioned anywhere in the reviews....yet....but I'll tell you....at some point the people seeing this film.....will think about Jonah....and when they do....may God if it be His will....bring back to them the whole story of Jonah.
               We are Nineveh folks....not in that when God instructed the prophet to go to Nineveh and warn them....that he was also thinking about a future United States of America....but that the story warns every single nation....or even every person....that there will be a judgment....and it is coming soon! I posted the following in October of....2011....
               "There indeed was a great fish that swallowed Jonah only to vomit him alive on a shore....and that man went on to give a warning to Nineveh....the America of it's day. That nation heeded the warning but years later another man was sent to Nineveh....(Nahum)....and this time not with a warning but a proclamation of impending judgment. Our prayer today, in America, should be 'God let us hear from Jonah and not Nahum but if it be Nahum, give us strength to go on'."
                Those sailors that threw Jonah overboard....had heard the whole story. With no cargo anymore....they probably returned to Joppa....that would be Jaffa today....Tel Aviv. That story would surely have spread like wild fire....especially the part where the sea calmed down as soon as they threw Jonah into the water....and it would have reached Nineveh. The young man in the film today looked pretty bad...(spoiler here....but not really)....as he finally got out of the belly of the whale. As I wrote above....the theater seats vibrated....but there was no way for the audience to smell the stench of a man who just came out of the belly of a fish  The people of Nineveh would have figured it out by looking at him.
                We here in America have had plenty of Jonahs....at least forty years of them....Billy Graham and John MacArthur and David Wilkerson and many others.....but we did not listen....and God took these men home....and is now sending others....Nahums....no longer telling us of this great window of opportunity....but rather telling us to prepare....prepare!
                It is 8 PM as I type this....about twelve hours before men start entering their pulpits. My God....if it be His will....cause them this night to toss and turn....and fill their beds with sweat....as they would rather take a slow boat to China then go into their pulpits and give the message that God wants them to give....may they then fall out of bed....as Jonah was thrown out of the boat....and resign themselves to tell their congregation what He wants them to hear!

                   

We Are All Familiar Today With NEOs....Near-Earth Objects

               In February of 2013....in Chelyabinsk, Russia.... a meteor....15 to 18 meters in length....appeared unannounced....a surprise....and caused an explosion....the reports of which went all around the world. There is a good bit of video available on this if you are interested. It was the largest meteor strike since the famous 1908....Tunguska Event....also in Russia. Only the day before....NBC Nightly News reported on an asteroid that passed by the earth.....this asteroid was expected and announced beforehand.
              In the  book of Revelation....evangelicals have always talked about what are known as the....Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse....from chapter six....and the first four....seals....but the seventh seal....beginning in chapter eight....introduces the....seven trumpets. In the first three trumpets we see....hail and fire....hurled to earth....and then a great mountain....burning with fire....hurled into the sea....and then a great star....burning like a torch.
               Over the past five or so decades....as  biblical prophecy began to be studied in earnest....when evangelicals would come to the trumpets of Revelation....there wasn't much they....(we)....could do except to speculate with a fair amount of confidence that these things hurled on the earth were meteors and asteroids of some sort. It was obvious to us....and in retrospect....it appears that we were correct.
               Today.....NEOs.....Near-Earth Objects....are in the news fairly often. In September of 2022....NASA completed an experiment where they sent a spacecraft to slam into an asteroid....close enough to earth to do this....but not near enough to be a concern of a direct hit. To be more specific....this asteroid was given a name....Didymos....and it was a binary asteroid....in that it had a smaller moon with it. The NASA spacecraft hit the asteroid's moon as planned....and the effects were recorded as best as could be done. There is another spacecraft....this time from Europe....that is scheduled to meet the binary asteroid sometime in November....just to see exactly how much damage or change was done to the asteroid from the first collision. All this of course is part of the efforts to determine if an asteroid on the course of a direct hit....can be be deflected.
                We have a sixth armed forces group today that is called.....Space Force....and part of their responsibility will be to follow-up and implement these experiments....in possibly protecting the earth from asteroid and comet and meteor hits.
                This whole issue gets complicated a little more in that in 2004 a huge asteroid....(450 meters by 170 meters)....was discovered.....that will fly very close to earth on April 13 of 2029. The asteroid was eventually given the name of Apophis....the Greek god....the "uncreator....an evil serpent that dwelled in the eternal darkness."
                One particular scientist....(his theory has not been accepted)....made a lot of news by saying that the accepted calculations of....Pi....are slightly incorrect....and that with the real calculations applied to Apophis....there might very well be a direct hit on the earth in 2029.
                 Either way....whether Apophis is a threat to earth or not....we know that asteroids can appear out of nowhere....giving little warning if they would be headed to earth. Chelyabinsk was an example of that....and an asteroid like Apophis....as you can see from the above....is much bigger....and would cause much more damage....particularly depending on where it would hit on the earth.
                 So....what can learn from all of this? If I might segue a little here....sixty years ago evangelicals repeated and memorized Scripture about an end-times....mark on the hand....where you could not buy or sell without it....a chip if you will....and they were laughed at....but today that chip is more than a theory.....but a fact....being developed as you read this!
                 It's the same with asteroids. Sixty years ago we just theorized that Revelation was pointing to asteroids of some sort....but today....with all the research being done on NEOs....we all should be able to understand that a literal interpretation of Revelation chapter eight is entirely possible!
                 
           
                
                

Something Did Happen On The Tetrad Of Blood Moons......And The World Has Been Changed!

                A lunar tetrad is when there are four total lunar eclipses....called blood moons even by NASA....roughly in six-month intervals....over a period of about a year and a half. They are not rare....as we will have....should the Lord tarry....about eight in the 21st century....although the cycle is such that 300 years may go by without one. What is extremely....even extraordinarily rare....is when those four blood moons all fall on Jewish feasts or fast days. What makes it more interesting is that major events seem to happen on those extremely rare occasions....for example....the Six Day War of 1967....and the establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 before that....and 1492-1494 when all of the Jews were kicked out of Spain....before that!
                So....there was another rare tetrad on Jewish feasts
in 2014-2015....and there were books written beforehand about it. That tetrad came and went....and nothing major seemed to happen....and it seems as if everyone forgot about that theory....but something did happen....something that changed the entire world....for during that tetrad....on June 16 of 2015....Donald Trump came down that golden escalator! This is a different world today because of him.
                 I would ask the evangelical....think about what it was like before 2015? We had Hillary to worry about. Had she won it would have been a rough four years....but it was not an existential situation. It would have been another Clinton administration...with Bill as an advisor....and plenty of the same people that advised him. The same pandemic would have come....and Hillary would have been gone....and we would have had a republican president in 2020.
                 Conservatism and evangelicalism were ripe for what at the time was just the bluster of a Donald Trump. It was a scam no different then getting a phone call from a con artist....and losing most of your life savings. Any Republican president at the time....after the Obama years....would have had a booming economy. The first impeachment was the result of an amateur in the White House who had no idea of things that he could not do. We were no longer just ripe for the picking....for we by then we had become full-blown followers in a cult of personality. Rush and Sean and Mark Levin were sucked in. Fox was no longer Fox. Evangelicalism was no longer....evangelical. 
                 I tuned in that morning of January 6, 2021....just to see what this rally was like. I did what I had done in the past....and that is....type as I watched....with the intent of going back later for a possible post....but what I saw at on that ellipse was.....to use the word I used at the time...."unsettling." This president....and others at the microphone....were stirring that crowd in a very dangerous way....so much so that I had to turn the television off!
                 It was pure horror....what happened at our Capital. Something happened that day with Trump....and maybe it began a few weeks earlier. Life in America....from that time forward....would no longer be the same. Joe Biden was terrible....and bad as he was....Kamala Harris would have been worse....both were judgments upon the Democrat Party and America....but Trump is a curse....an existential judgment....and a judgment upon the church....upon you and me!
                 He changed the world. As dangerous as it it was....it is now far worse. In America....the two sides literally hate each other. Friends can no longer even talk about the issues of the day. Families are torn apart. Pastors have been neutered of their calling. Strong alliances against the evils of Putin and communism and radical Islam have been torn apart. We no longer have a legitimate press....let alone a free press. We in conservatism have followed to a tee the tactics that gave the National Socialists power in Germany. AI has won the day. Racism is back....even in evangelicalism....and antisemitism is now a worldwide threat to Israel and to Jews. (for more on this topic National Socialism see my posts on February 2...and July 18)
                  It is a new world....heading to a new world order....and it all began on June 14 of 2015....on that golden escalator....during that tetrad of blood moons. Trump himself was born on a blood moon. The Great American Eclipse of April 8....2024....extraordinary in its path....was a harbinger or an omen. As I wrote back then in a similar post...."John MacArthur once said that in May of 1948....'God put the world on notice.' This is not date setting! This is....mind setting....'Set your minds on things that are above, not the things of earth.'." (Colossians 3:2 ESV)
                  In evangelicalism....we have....as Jude....inspired by the Holy Spirit....in the book placed just before Revelation....tells all who it pertains to....that they have...."gone the way of Cain....and for pay they have given themselves up to the error of Balaam." Jude 13....NASB

Then You Must Drop Everything And Find Out!

                He had vomited on the bowling alley restaurant counter....and I had to clean it up. It was probably between ten and eleven in the evening. I'm guessing....for it was almost sixty years ago. We returned to the car...a red VW.....Bug....and he drove the four or five miles towards home....because I did not yet have my license. We had both consumed too much alcohol. I was resting in the passenger seat....on the highway....my eyes closed....when I heard the VW's horn. My friend's head was buried in the center of the steering wheel....where the VW Bug horn was located. I grabbed the steering wheel....and somehow steered off into a parking lot....while waking him up enough to tell him to step on the brake....and then I carried him up a steep hill...to his parent's house....and dumped him off....and then walked home.
                That could be story number one.....many more would follow. God has surely had mercy upon the lowest of the low.  I came across some old letters that I had sent my mother while in the army....this back in 1970. At the top left hand corner of every letter.....written diagonally across the tip of the corner....was the word.....or the name....Jude....and it was underlined. I wore an attractive St. Jude medal around my neck....gold....with blue on it....this from about nineteen....to somewhere in my early twenties....until I lost it....probably while in a scuffle of some sort....while inebriated. St Jude was....and probably still is....the patron saint for....hopeless cases.....and that would be me....and that is why I wore it....for I knew no other way.
                When exactly was I born again? I don't know. It was sometime between.....1982....and oh....1995 maybe? I was an evangelizing professing Christian over those years....but I'm not sure if I had been born again. Maybe....maybe it was early....maybe not. John Wesley and George Whitefield both would admit that they were well into their ministries....before they were actually born again. With many Christians.....there comes a time....when they see something in the gospel....something about themselves....and it may not be that they realize that were not at that time born again....but more that they saw the ugliness and the horror of their own sin....and the glory of the cross of Calvary....all this for the very first time....at least to this degree....and in the unspeakable joy of the moment....they know the ecstasy of knowing that all of their sins....past and present and future....were paid for.....in blood.
               It was in the late 1980s....say 1986 to 1990.....and I was a very talkative professing Christian....and at work....through that constant....witnessing....I led seven men into saying a sinner's prayer. They would say the prayer....and I would call other Christians around....and we would welcome them as brothers in Christ....and that was that. Who's next? I had no idea what I was doing....as I did not have a full understanding about salvation. I only hope that I did not harm these men. There was another man....a black man....about six foot three....and somewhat intimidating....who I only knew by name. He came to me one day....he came to me because I was this big mouth born again Christian. He put it right out there on the line....he was going to drug rehab for the second time. He had a wife and two children....and was in jeopardy of losing his job. He needed to know Jesus. I prayed with him....and he went to rehab....and eventually became a deacon in his church....and today he writes on the Internet of the glory of Christ....just like I try to do.
                Whether you have been a Christian for only six months....or have been a Christian for sixty years....there must have been a time when your heart was regenerated....when the dead heart began to beat....and when you then could see the gospel....and your need for the gospel...and you believed unto salvation! If you are not 100% sure that you have been....born again....born anew....born a second time....from above....then drop everything and find out! Googling....'John MacArthur....born again'....or....'R. C. Sproul....born again'....or....John Piper....born again'....would be a good place to start.
                

How Did We....Almost Overnight....Go From....'Shock And Awe'....To...."Let's make A Deal'

                When John McCain was running for president....with Sarah Palin....back in 2008.....he had this little ditty as you will remember....inspired by the Beach Boys song...."Bomb bomb bomb....bomb bomb Iran." As I have mentioned many times in these posts....my father died on November 4, 1979....the day that Iranian students took hostages in Tehran. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery....and when I visit his grave....I usually stop by the grave site of Robert Dean Stethem....which is nearby....who was murdered during the hijacking of TWA Flight 847....by Hezbollah terrorists....this in June of 1985....such is the impact this young man had on me at the time.
                When Trump....and Israel....began bombing Iran on February 28 of this year....it was total....'shock and awe.' As I mentioned before in these posts....it was as if the Iranian leadership must have been crawling around in the rubble looking for air pockets to breath. Surely....everyone thought....at the very least....all of these nuclear negotiations with Iran were finally over.
                On or about Easter weekend....which coincidentally overlapped with Passover week this year....a very strange series of events began. Easter morning was the day that Trump....ranted on social media with profanities against Iran....that they will be...."living in hell'....all of which strangely concluded with this...."Praise be to Allah." A week later....on April 7....a temporary cease fire deal with Iran was announced....and Israel wasn't even included in that negotiation? 
                Early on....in January...as Iranian protesters were filling the streets....Trump told them...."We have your back"....and..."Help is on the way." A week or so ago....Trump in one of his rallies....said that 75,000 Iranian protesters have been killed so far! 
                The focus of this post is not on the war in Iran itself....rather it is on a nagging question that I have had for almost a half a year now....'What happened on that Easter/Passover weekend?' Something must have happened to go from 'shock and awe'....to the almost daily..."We are close to a deal?" 
                A deal? How did these terrorist leaders dig themselves out of the ruble....and get themselves back to where they were before this war began? I have to ask myself....what am I missing?
                Right now....the Saudis are under occasional attacks....and tankers still getting hit in the strait....and the midterms....which are not looking good for this president....are only three weeks away....and Israel's election will take place before that!
                What usually happens when one administration leaves....replaced by a new one....is that the books come out....and if we follow that same pattern....oh will the books come out....for all of these cabinet secretaries and advisors and admirals and generals are free to describe what happened behind closed doors....and we may find out why the strategy suddenly changed....and we went from....'Jeopardy'....to....."Let's make A Deal."

Note: I want to point out that the only total lunar eclipse blood moon of 2026 occurred on March 3.

A Rare....Newly Recovered....Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermon For You

 

I have in these posts....added the very last sermon by R. C. Sproul....I believe that it is posted about a week ago....and I've posted the last sermon of John MacArthur....and Charles Spurgeon. There is something about....last sermons....for all of the wisdom of so many years of ministry is behind them. The sermon YouTube above....is not Martyn Lloyd-Jones' last sermon....but it is one of the last....given as he returned in 1977 to his first pastorate....to commemorate 50 years of Ministry. The sermon that he gives in this YouTube is on the same verse....2 Corinthians 2:2....that he gave in that first sermon at Sandfields. 

DISPATCHES

Trump has chosen Russian diesel oil over Canadian. He chose Russia over the Ukraine....and he chose Russia over European allies? From day one....no....from well before day one....the concern in American intelligence agencies was that Trump had been prime Russian kompromat material for....first the Soviet Union...and later Putin. These intelligence professionals....many of them....lost their careers....and were threatened with jail....because they took that concern of Trump to an extreme. We can clearly see today....that those concerns were justified!

It is 6:50 PM Saturday and just about every news outlet....with the probable exception of Breibart....has reported for twenty-four hours now how Trump waved much of Lindsey Graham's Russia sanctions. Fox has it....here is how to get there and read it....go to Fox news.com...then at the top of the page go to your right until you get to the three little dots....hit on that....and then choose Business....go there....and page down a little bit....and there it is! Fox was once the best...actually....fair and balanced....but oh how far they have fallen!

If a person represents himself in a trial....is he then a lawyer? Well I guess the answer is....no....but he (she) would sure look like one.....calling witnesses and asking them questions....not to mention objecting and all the other things that he or she might due in the course of the trial. Flash Of Genius was a 2008 movie starring Greg Kinnear....who played the man who had invented the automobile's....intermittent wiper. Ford Motor Corporation took the credit....and the film is about the long ensuing legal battle....where Kinnear's character eventually winds up representing himself. I loved the film. So....is Katie Zacharia a lawyer? Once again....I guess not....from what I read about it. In my opinion....this young lady is very fortunate....to have been relieved of what would have been a soulless job. I watched the White House press conference....finally....just now....Friday evening....and for a first time....with everything just thrown at her....I thought she did OK....nervous yes....but she would probably be a lot better on the second day....and again on the third. I had put it this way in these posts for ten years now....Trump is a destroyer....either purposely destroying people....or people are destroyed simply by flying too close to his flame.

Roy Cohn was Trump's hero personal lawyer for a long time. There wouldn't be a President Trump today without Roy Cohn. Trump famously said....in his first term....in frustration...."Where's my Roy Cohn?" Cohn was disbarred shortly before his death in....I believe....1986. Was he a lawyer in the last few weeks of his life. Technically no.

I would guess....(I'm doing a lot of guessing in this post)....I would guess that some of the very best law school professors in the country....may have their J.D. degree....but are not even lawyers.

Conservatives and evangelicals have been rewired to think of the name of Bill Gates and begin to attack....and yes....his philosophy and ideology....if he has one....are often antithetical to ours....but he is also one of the many AI people who are very concerned about AI. He made a comment in an interview over the weekend that we....whoever 'we' entails....have to decide what jobs to reserve for humans. That is a fact folks....AI is taking and will continue to accelerate taking jobs! Everyone who right now thinks that AI is really a neat thing....are going to change that opinion. This is why the elites of this world often talk about a four day work week....and worse yet....a situation where most of the people do have employment or professions....but they just stay home and the government issues them a monthly check. On AI....Gates said that the existential dangers of AI may be a few years off....but right now the problem is that 'bad people'....will hijack....(I forgot what word he used)....will hijack AI and use it for their own dangerous purposes.

Donald Trump has been in Putin's pocket since June 15, 2015 when he came down that golden escalator....and everyone knows it....everyone that is except those who refuse to accept what is right in front of them. Trump was a concern to all of our intelligence agencies from the very beginning of his involvement with Russia back in the mid-80s. The hideous German Fuhrer wrote that if telling a big lie was...."colossal enough'....people would begin to believe it....and that big colossal lie....of the past ten years has been....'Russia hoax'.'

Bitcoin people were excited when Trump came out big for crypto....and the CEOs here are still happy....but Trump came out with his own coin....and hyped it big time....making 3/4 of a billion on it.....but he himself had nothing invested in it. The coin sold to....from what  I read....almost 800,00 meme coin accounts....and then the value dropped 97%....to almost nothing....and now all these people are pretty mad. Meanwhile Trump made his money on it....and that is all that is important to him.

We visited Regent University today....formerly CBN University....the 700 Club. It bought back wonderful memories of forty years ago when we vacationed there a couple of times....with a 700 Club pin on my ball cap....at the Founders Inn. God used Pat Robertson in a extraordinary way. None of these men were perfect folks....not MacArthur....Not Sproul....not Billy Graham....not even Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Another thing they have in common is that they are all gone....gone to be with their Lord and Savior. Right now God has essentially left us shepherdless....temporarily blinded.....because for a long time now we wanted to do it our way....which led to not only Christian nationalism....but Christian nationalism with a genuine biblical false prophet as its head!

Paul Washer spoke at John MacArthur's....Shepherd's Conference....back in March of this year. He raised some eyebrows of the 5,000 plus men in attendance when he somberly but matter-of-factly said...."John MacArthur is dead." He then paused and repeated that statement...."John MacArthur is dead." You might just be eternally blessed if you listen to that message! I'll add it here for you...

                                                                    

 

        

 

Where There Is Little Water To Drink......Go To Where The Water Is.....(Lord's Day Post)

Preface: Tomorrow is the Lord's Day. Typically....we will enter church and laugh and share stories as we meet friends....even as we are in the pews....until the pastor calls the service to order. There will be four or five hymns or praises choruses....defending on what church we are in....and prayer....some take notes on the sermon....which will end....and there will be more laughter and sharing as we all exit the church....with many of us hurrying home to catch the beginning of whatever the big game is in our area. This is modern American evangelicalism. The glory is long gone from our pulpits....but we do not know it. Preaching is to cut to the heart. This is where we get discernment on what we are doing wrong....and what we are missing....because we can fool ourselves if we are not directly challenged! The only way for you to find out if this last sentence is true....is to read or listen to what it was like in the past.

Where There Is Little Water To Drink...Go To Where The Water Is        

             I'm sure that most parents would rather have their adult children live close by....but if they do not....then those times of the year when they are together can be special times....as opposed to seeing your son or daughter every day....and just saying...."Hey....what's up?" Our son knows that when we do get together for a day or more....that in that time....I will at some point strongly give the same advice. I say it to our son so often that it is down to three words...."Remember son....incorporate!"....and he will know exactly what I mean.
             As a matter of fact....I do not personally know a single brother or sister in the Lord that I would not give this advice to. Let me explain that advice....just about all of us that I know have wonderful pastors.....good men who sincerely desire to serve the Lord in the best ways that they know how to. The problem is in what they do not know.....because of the church day and age that we live in.
             As spiritual children of God....we need spiritual food....nourishment. I imagine that a man can live for months without food before he would die.....but spiritually we can live most of our lives without this spiritual food....and maybe not die....we might physically even be a perfectly healthy person....but we would be susceptible to all of the wiles of the enemy....and have little to no discernment....and be easy prey for wolves in sheep's clothing!
             Bible reading is spiritual food....certainly....sufficient for all of our needs....but God designed it that there is one primary and indispensable food....and that is the preached Word! They call it a means of grace....but we tend to accept that and pass over it without really knowing what it means....or the importance of it! There is a needed power in hearing God's Word preached that is greater even than reading the Bible. If this were not so then we would not even need preachers....for we could just stay home and read God's Word for ourselves.
             That being said....it is not a contradiction that we go to God's Word to verify what the preacher is telling us....but this man...this shepherd (hopefully) is given a gift....in preaching with power! To a certain extent we all are in our own way to seek this gift...."Pursue love....and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts....especially that you may prophesy...." (1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV) When I am doing what I do....and when you are doing with others what you do....hopefully we are partaking in the commands of that Bible verse from Corinthians!
              This post is getting a little bit too long....so to summarize....when there is little or no water to drink....go to where there is water! Incorporate into your weekly and even if possible your daily routine....preaching from....(a phrase that I have used so often over so many years)....preaching from preachers of the past....or those preachers today who preach like preachers of the past. Spurgeon sermons on YouTube and other venues....and sermons from Martyn Lloyd-Jones....and John MacArthur....and John Piper....and Michael Horton....and Sinclair Ferguson....and Derek Thomas....and Paul Washer....there are so many....are easy to find and listen to....and if you do the work....and search for them....you will find them. INCORPORATE their sermons into you spiritual life! 

Addendum: It is 11:53 AM as I type this. I had to do an emergency errand this morning....and was able to listen to almost two John MacArthur sermons in the truck. I had my breakfast earlier....so I physically received nourishment to go on in the day....but I also had spiritual nourishment....that I will surely need!

The Social Reckoning

 The reviews are so-so....but it's a very good movie.....The Social Reckoning....the follow-up....sort of....to the 2010 movie....The Social Network. My opinion on why the mediocre reviews is that revelations about Facebook.....and the 2021....hearings in Congress on Facebook....are old news. We've moved on.....and today it is Zuckerberg and Trump....and their weird reciprocal relationship that commands our attention. We don't want to go back to those dull and insignificant days of accusing Facebook and all of the socials of in effect....'algorithmizing'....the minds of our children.
              Back around that time of the first film....2010....three of my five weekly posts might be on warnings about Facebook....and even on the terrible potential of the Facebook News Feed. I warned churches not to be a part of this mess....as if God needed Facebook....(look at the results....we lost all discernment and put a megalomaniacal false prophet in command of our nation)....and I warned families who thought it so wonderful to share family photos on Facebook....not to be taken in.
              Well that may be water under the bridge....but this movie is valuable in showing us how Facebook....(and others)....villainously lead people through algorithms....even to radicalizing websites....in order to keep the company....(now Meta)....growing. No...the new film does not have the glory of the Harvard campus....and a young Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg....and the Winklevoss twins....and Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker....but it does have an...."All The President's Men"....type of mystery about a whistleblower....and a Wall Street Journal investigative reporter....that is just as compelling....if you keep your mind trained on the importance of the investigation.

Note: This thought came to mind as the above post is about how Facebook's use of algorithms served to radicalize many viewers. Indeed the film....The Social Reckoning....begins with this concept....as a young woman....in a racist rage....is arrested. Another young woman....a data scientist who works at Facebook....saw the video of the arrest....and recognized the young woman as a friend from years past.....a friend who at the time was kind and compassionate? What had happened to her? What caused this change? Thus the film develops. Anyway....I have a good friend....a strong Christian of many years....a friend who we at one time could both commiserate on what is going on in our country. Well....one day.....about a year or so ago....she....out of the blue....said that she began watching Fox Cable....and we have not been able to have a political conversation since....for everything today to her is illegal immigration....and stopping other countries from taking advantage of us. I do not think that it is a coincidence that I have quite a few other friends....who admit that Trump is vile....but explain it away simply by saying that God sometimes uses people like this....and all of them get their news from Fox. My point is that 'we' have our own ways an radicalizing people. 
    

"You Cannot Take A Pause From Your Hobbies....And Give A Glance At God's Word....And Expect Him To Reveal Anything To You!

                  It happens every time....a hurricane is on the way in....and the news media shows the empty shelves at super markets. People on the gulf are now nailing up the plywood and filling the sand bags....and even evacuating. Modern meteorology can give us almost exactly where the hurricane will land....and what the wind speeds will be....and how high the storm surge will be. What did we do without these warnings?
                  Jesus told the Pharisees that they could discern the signs of a storm....but they could not discern the signs of the times. That comment was meant for us also. The only way that I know that Jesus is coming back right now....is because to begin with He had mercy on the least of the least and the worst of the worst. He then....as He often does....chose the weakest and most unlikely vessel for some impossible task....and that task is to tell you....and the few others than I can reach....and to take it to heart myself....that He is coming back in all of His power and glory....and for us the games are over....and warnings are about over....and the warning to the United States of America....and to Israel again....and to the world is....Amos 4:12...."Prepare to meet your God!"
                  God's Word tells us of a 'falling away' of the church before Jesus returns! Jesus Himself said....of Himself...."when the Son of Man comes....will he find faith on earth?" We are a remnant folks! It is a narrow gate and a straight way....and few find it! Here is a piece of good news if you will accept it....if all it took for a person to be a Christian was to be a nice person....and say yeah I believe....then the God they would go to would just be a nice God! It makes no sense folks....that Calvary would happen....so that all we had to do was to be nice.....and as if to....vote for Jesus! The good news is that God is holy....so holy that no one could ever even stand before His glory!  His sacrifice for us was beyond anything in its love that we could ever even imagine! His power is an almighty power....and His wrath is final and devastating! 
                       No....this is no silly salvation of a silly God to silly people! Read in His Word of what the angels do in His presence! There is not one of us that would not collapse in fear in His presence! So the warnings are in His Word....evidenced all around us....and explained just enough that we need to know right now!  Warnings like this were given numerous times to the people of Israel and Judah....but God's Word says that.....they would not obey....and they would not listen!
                     So for us today to say ridiculous things like....'We won't know when Jesus will return"....is pretty much the same thing that condemned Israel and Judah. The evidence is there....but you know what....I know a lot of Christians who can give a memorized rebuttal to all of this....and I also know this....they really have no interest....and hardly put any work....any study into God's Word on any of this....as they spend their free time on sports or any one of a number of modern day pastimes or hobbies or personal goals. The evidence is there....they really do not want to know....and therefore they won't....until it can no longer be ignored. You cannot take a pause from your hobbies....and give a glance or two God's Word....and expect Him to reveal anything to you! You have to put the effort in. You have to show a desire to learn what God is telling us!

                   

He Can Do No Wrong

                It was one of the more difficult books.....of the now 117 books on or about or by Trump....that I've read. I was in Barnes & Noble two days ago....on my normal Tuesday....(new books release)....my normal Tuesday run through....not expecting to see anything....but I saw this book....and just shook my head....for I have to read it which means that I have to buy it...$27.99....and I know that it going to be nonsense.
                 Roughly my first ten years in the Christian faith were spent with a high priority on Christian apologetics. Why? I'm not sure....maybe it was because the first book that I read that led to my conversion was Josh McDowell's classic apologetic....Evidence That Demand A Verdict. Before this period was over I had been putting ads in our local newspaper....trying to contact people who were in or just beginning to study with the Jehovah Witnesses.
                 There was one day that I remember....when two typical JWs came to our door.....and at the end of our talk I held out a copy of a book that was written by a former member of their own Governing Body of Jehovah Witnesses....a man who had come to see the error....and was excommunicated....leading to the book. The man's hand went straight up in the air. There was no way that he would ever read that book. That is part and parcel of what life is like in the cults....and unfortunately that is what so many of us are like today....for we dutifully read or view Fox along with our other sources....and then....(hands up in the air!)...(fake news!)....refuse to read anything else.
                 So back to this book that I had bought this past Tuesday....the MAGA movement is a cult....a personality cult....there is no doubt about that....but it is different in that most of these people are not....Christ-denying people such as in the JWs or the Mormon church....people who have never understood the gospel of Jesus Christ....and thus just followed a false gospel....but rather people who had heard and embraced the gospel....and then....not being sound enough in their faith....or rather....never having been ground solid enough in the faith....they went astray and followed a false prophet....and came to believe the false gospel and false prophecies of a charismatic cult leader.
                This book was particularly bad. It actually put forth Donald Trump as....that which will restrain the Antichrist! (2 Thessalonians 2) I literally had to pause and catch my breath after that. The message in the book is that God gave us Trump....to buy us time for revival....by delaying the coming of the Beast! People like this are just totally blinded of discernment. Trump is described as another Moses....or David....or Gideon. It is hard to read this stuff.
                 There are too many absurd quotes that I could give.....for the book is full of them. The authors quote Nostradamus....and Jesuit scholars....and they have visions. It is typical charismatic nonsense....but I do want to bring one particular issue up. The authors know that Artificial Intelligence is associated somehow with....the image of the Beast....and they know that Trump has....as they put it....put AI on steroids....so how do they handle this.....their hero is the one helping to bring about the image of the Beast? Well....they sweep it all away with this...."He's doing what he believes is best for the future of America in the global race for AI dominance....we believe Trump is primarily concerned about the role of AI...and the race for AI supremacy." That is how cult members typically defend the egregious actions of their leaders!
                 

"Are Few Saved?"

                Consider these contrasts....the follower of Jesus in Rome....late first century....and the follower of Jesus in Asia Minor....Turkey today....the cities of the seven letters to the seven churches of Revelation. In the former....persecution and martyrdom was state sponsored and rampant. In the latter....the followers had various persecutions in different cities but their dangers were different....more of a danger to the soul. Now look to us in America in 2026....with multitudes claiming to be Christian....where our peoples are secure in our walled cities....safe in our towers....protected by our great armies....and counting our profits. ...drunk with our entertainments. We are utterly unable to even imagine what it was like....and what it could be like for us....to live as pariahs....hated by all....even within our own families...with only a few....with only a 'few' regenerated unto salvation....among the great multitudes whose hope is in a false peace....and a false salvation. We can read words in God's Word....and even repeat them....or place a check in a multiple choice exam on what life in the end times will be like. They can even be preached from the pulpit....but they cannot be felt.
                   All of the above might help us to understand why....when faced on paper with the prospect of horror....it does not affect us as horror should! It should give some explanation on why when God's Word screams to us....'stay awake....stay alert....be vigilant'.....that we as if just say....'yeah....yeah....I'm awake....I'm alert.....I'm vigilant'.....when we are nothing of the sort!
                   I have attempted a few times to sit down face-to face with a brother....and try to get through to them on how bad things are going to be at the time of the end....but my warnings as if go in one ear and out the other....as they say.....'Special Dog....we just have to trust God"....and the conversation.....and my attempt to awaken them....ends....as I have failed again to make someone understand that the time will come when hearts will fail because of what is happening all around us....and much of the church at that time will cry out to God....'Oh God....why have you left us?" 
                     We are not separate....we are not warned from our pulpits....in fact we as a church.....evangelicalism....have entered that prophesied...."falling away." Oh yes we say that we must trust God....but we utterly refuse to even consider....let alone trust....His many warnings to us in His Word....and related to us over the past half century....by men who had remained faithful to their calling as shepherds.

Addendum: If I remember correctly....at the beginning of Billy Graham's crusades....he believed that as far as his ministry could tell from follow-up....about 12% of the people who had gone forward...had actually been saved on those evenings. Later on in his ministry....once again if I remember correctly....he narrowed that down to possibly only 3% of those who went forward....continued on in the Christian faith. And folks....this is an estimation of people who took the time to go and listen to a Billy Graham crusade! I think its fair to say that as we look as all of the 'college revivals' that we read about in the news today....that the same low percentages would apply. The following is an odd video presentation....only a little over 13 minutes long....of R. C. Sproul teaching on....'few being saved'....and to complicate it a little bit more....you will have to twice hit on the....'Skip This Ad"....link that will appear.