"Trouble Ahead....Prepare To Meet Thy God."

               My favorite class in high school was civics....and the teacher was a Brother Michael....probably senior year....and he had a requirement in that every student had to read one current event column from each of four weekly magazines....Time....Newsweek....U.S. News & World Report....and I can't remember the fourth....pick one column....and describe it in class. This was 1968 folks....and I have been regularly reading these type of columns ever since....and in a way....I write one now in these posts....only it is almost daily....for going on two decades. 
                I know that we are in a podcast age today....but I am stuck in the written word age. Picking one columnist.....at random....Ann Coulter....she may have written a couple of thousand columns over the decades....(and there are many other columnists)....(and I don't read her anymore because she went back and forth too many times)....but she might have a couple....many....excellent and needed columns every year....the problem as I see it is that these columnists have to give something new for the reader all the time....to keep their jobs.....and their very best and most needed columns get buried for no one to see again unless the columnist writes a book of their best columns....and even that book is a one time thing.
                For all I know....Coulter may have thirty thousand and ten regular readers....which would be about thirty thousand more than me. I am the most insignificant blogger....(and it really isn't a blog anyway)....of all bloggers. One thing that I do that is different is that I bring back topics and issues and old posts....ad nauseum....because I am not trying to impress anyone....but trying to warn as many as I can....as often as I can! There are thousands of readers here who may never come back a second time....but they have heard at least once....the warning that I try to give....and those type of warnings tend to stick somewhere in the back of the mind....that can be recalled at a later time....and they have heard the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ as least once...as I lead them....the readers....time and again....to the sermons of men like Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones and MacArthur and Sproul!
                 So here is a short summary for America....ALL IS LOST! It is over folks.....two-hundred and fifty years....just about on time. Every area of our society is damaged. This is not the America that I grew up in....nor is it the evangelicalism that I was saved in. We cannot analyze anymore....nor can we distinguish between propaganda and journalism....nor stammering and debate....nor even....good and evil!
                 We....each one of us almost....have a very good opinion of ourselves....or our churches and our pastors....and our discernments......and even our honesty....and that is the problem! In the secular world....we are never going to accumulate any wisdom....until we first seek truth over riding a hobby horse....seeking to learn first before we pontificate. In our Chrisitan life....we are never going to have any discernment....until we admit that we are starting with no discernment in or wisdom in ourselves at all....at all....and only God gives discernment according to His perfect will!
                  So here are some of those.....ad nauseum....comments from over the years. AI is a death knell. There is no stopping it. Drone warfare is horror. Joe Biden and Donald Trump were and are two judgments on us from God. There was no....lesser of two evils! The Democrat Party fell first....and just as the southern kingdom followed the northern kingdom in catastrophe and judgment in ancient Israel....so have we have become that...."treacherous sister"....that returned to God only "pretense." (Jeremiah 3:10)
                   There is no turning back! Jonah gave Nineveh a window of opportunity....and they repented....for a time....and so did we....for a time....but as I posted years ago....it is the prophet Amos....(who no one reads)....speaking to us....relayed to us by Billy Graham in one of his many books that warned us...."Trouble ahead....prepare to meet thy God!"

Note: I even used this title before!
                 

Special Plea

                Roughly six years ago....Blogger.com changed its Nav Bar....to the exclusion of its previous/next link. What that meant to me and these posts is that where at one moment people all around the world who were on Blogger Christian posts....might....and did....randomly come here....now that is all gone. So I have a plea here....for any readers who  might agree with the sentiments that I post....which may only be one in ten....I really do not know....but if you do....and you have some kind of communication with brothers and sisters in Christ.....or even certain churches....in other countries....would you consider passing the web address....specialdogg.blogspot.com....on to them? Thank you for considering this!

The Problem Is In Our Perceived Goodness!

               Tim Keller said that the problem that we Christians have is in our...."goodness"....more than our...."badness." What he was saying here is not that the badness is not there or is not a problem.....but that our perceived goodness....and our...."self-righteousness".....causes the badness! He said that it changed his ministry and his life when he saw this to be the case.
                I have posted a lot on the condition of the church today....on what many of the men in the pulpits mistakenly consider their vocation to be in this modern world....and on their preaching....and on us in the pews....particularly in our grand failure to have identified a false prophet....and consequently not fleeing from him and all that he is about.
                The preaching is not telling us the depth of the sin in our heart....because it is unable to....or the heights of the glory of God!  It's definitions may answer correctly a catechism question....but it cannot cut to the core....because it does not know how deep that core goes...or how high that height of God's glory is.
                 We therefore not only do not know the true condition of our heart....but we also do not know our outward condition....the true condition of our lives.....and of the church. Consequently we cannot see the mistakes that we have made. So when we read Old Testament prophecy....the few times we do that....maybe only once a year in a 'read the Bible in a year plan....we in no way see ourselves in ancient Judah or Jerusalem or Israel....or for that matter....Assyria or Babylon of Greece or Rome....but we should....because we are there....and those prophets are also speaking to us today....no....they are shouting to us today!
                  In Collin Hansen's 2023 book on the life and ministry of Tim Keller....Tim Keller....His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation....he added this that probably would not be picked up by the average reader....at least not as much as I picked up on it. I'll explain that in a minute....
                  The author was listing the men that played essential roles in the formation of Tim Keller's ministry. Among those names was Edmund Clowny and Jonathan Edwards and R. C. Sproul and Martyn Lloyd-Jones....but then he put particular emphasis on a man named Dick Lucas....who I am familiar with because he was at times back in the 1990s a guest on Michael Horton's radio program....The White Horse Inn. What I remember most about those radio episodes with Dick Lucas was the power of this man's thoughts on the glory of God. Anyway....Collin Hansen wrote this...."Keller listened to so many Dick Lucas sermons that Kathy....(Tim's wife)....told him to be careful....because Tim was going to sound like a parrot."
                  That in itself is a needed warning....but what hit me was that Tim Keller had listened to....as the author put it...."So many Dick Lucas sermons." In these posts of almost eighteen years....I time and time and time again....tried to encourage readers to incorporate into their lives....listening to sermon from....as I always put it...."preachers of the past....or preachers today who preach like preachers of the past!" It is therefore not surprising to me that Tim Keller also gleaned from preaching of the past....and apparently quite often!
                   One last thing....while typing this I remembered a radio interview....of only a year or so ago....on Pittsburgh's Christian radio station....with Kathy Keller....where she was asked if she looked forward to seeing Tim in Heaven....which would be a quite natural question....(I wrote a whole post on this at the time....in January of 2025)).....and her answer was profound....this is what I wrote....'It's not so much that I look forward to seeing Tim in heaven....but I want to see Jesus.' And then she repeated the sentiment."
                    You see....it is our perceived...."goodness"....that makes us think first of a loved one in heaven....before the King of Kings....before the one who took the punishment for us....or else we would not be in heaven to see anyone! This 'goodness' that we see in us....negatively affects our doctrine and even our evangelizing loved ones....because we see a "goodness' in them also....so surely....God would have mercy on them.
                     Preaching....on Christ and Him crucified....and on the holiness of God that even R, C. Sproul or J. C. Ryle could only touch on....and yet it sent us to our knees....regular throughout the year....year in and year out....can cut to our core....so that we might cast away any thoughts of self-righteousness....and look past the answer that the world gives to the problems in our country....and to turn our full-attention and affection to the Lamb! So please....consider incorporating the sermons of preachers from the past into your daily life!

Today's Wordle Is......HEART

                I have family and friends that religiously....every day....play the Internet game....Wordle....and they often forgetfully ask me how many times it took me to get that day's Wordle....of which I have to remind them that I do not do Wordle....but I do Revelation 13:18....and not every day because that would point to fanatically wanting Jesus to return....what with all the increasing violence and demonic activity in the world....and that all of our pastors warn us not to get too fanatical about wanting Jesus coming back....or in reading too much prophecy....because only they can explain to us how none of it really means anything anyway!
               
                That verse in Revelation reads....in the NKJV...."Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast....for it is the number of a man: His number is 666." It's funny how in God's Word....a verse like this can initially sound so simple in its meaning....I mean it can't get any more plain....but in reality have no practical significance whatsoever!

                So I give a few minutes to this....not every day....but just about every day. For instance....one day I might calculate that since the very first Apple computer in 1976 had a retail price of $666.66....and that maybe 666 had something to do with computers? It didn't hurt that the logo that the two Steves....(Jobs and Wozniak)....chose was an Apple with a bite taken out of it....pointing to maybe....Adam and Eve and the garden?
               
                Another day I might conjecture that computer technology at least would like to go the way of carbon nanotubes over silicon nanatudes....because so much energy would be saved...and energy is the big deal today with data centers....and also that carbon has 6 protons and 6 neutrons and 6 electrons?

                And yet another day I might point out that if the letter A is given the numerical value of 6....and the letter B is given the numerical value of 12....and the letter C is given the numerical value of 18....and so on done to the letter Z....then the word in English....COMPUTER....would equal 666?

               Or I might point out that King Solomon....at the height of his riches....was getting 666 talents of gold every year....(1 Kings 10:14)....and that his riches were so great that this seems to be the beginning of his downward spiral? And that maybe....maybe....riches and power and fame has something to do with the Antichrist?
               
               Well these things have no real meaning of course....I only use them to show what 'calculating' might mean in that Revelation 13:18 verse. We all know that God wants us totally in the dark as to when Jesus will return.

                In reality....AI is mind-boggling. If you Google even a subjective question....in a nanosecond it will have eliminated all of the incorrect nuances....and discern the intent of your question....and give you a fairly spot-on answer....and all of this is new technology....and in a month it will be all new again....as it speeds forward to infinity.....and beyond!

                As for Wordle....and other daily games like it....a crossword puzzle or some other mind game....they can be a healthy exercise for the mind....and maybe even help when studying prophecy....but only God gives the necessary wisdom to discern His Second Coming....and He does so only in His perfect timing....and only to hearts that are devoted to Him! So if one is devoted to games like Wordle....or Pickleball....or other such pastimes and ventures....at the expense of being interested at all in the glorious return of our Savoir and King....then don't expect too much discernment of what is happening in the world....or on Donald Trump....or anything really.

Lord's Day Post

Preface: We went today to see the movie....The Sheep Detectives....a week after going to see the animated....Animal Farm.....which gives you an idea of the type of films we enjoy. It was fun...definitely not Christian oriented....but it made the viewer love sheep. We listened to Chapter One of W. Philip Keller's 1970 classic....A Shepherd Looks At The 23rd Psalm on the ride home....so the film presented no Christian themes....but it inadvertently may lead the viewer to meditate upon our Good Shepherd....who gave Himself for His sheep...and is coming soon to take us home with Him....forever!

This is a post from July of 2024:

       It's really a magnificent book! First published in 1970....I think that by the mid-80s most Christians read it....W. Philip Keller's....A Shepherd Looks At The 23rd Psalm. Keller led....at the very least....an interesting life....as a scientist at times....a pastor at times....a photo- journalist....and a sheep rancher & shepherd! I would never question his qualifications to speak about sheep after reading that book of his. They were not only possessions.....which he points out that he owned them....he paid for them....he raised them....they knew him....but he loved them!
              This isn't a theological treatise....and I don't know how effective of a pastor the author was.....but he knew sheep....and he perfectly correlated this to us....and himself....fellow sheep....following The Good Shepherd.....and The Good Shepherd.....watching over us!
               Folks....this book is up there with John Bunyan's....The Pilgrim's Progress....not in the great doctrines of the church....along those lines A Shepherd Looks At The 23rd Psalm is no where near the level of Bunyan's masterpiece....but on that one topic....sheep....and shepherds....it is so encouraging and informative! So many times I wanted to just thank and praise God for this wonderful design of sheep and the Shepherd that loves them....stubborn and timid....and quite frankly....stupid....as they so often are. You can easily read it just by Googling it up.
              I could write much too long of a post on the many things that W. Philip Keller wrote about sheep. I won't for your sake....but I have to give an example or two. Keller writes on how the flock will be on the way to good water....but they will often run off to drink from muddy or fetid ponds. He tells of a beautiful....perfectly formed female sheep that he once owned....that was just a delight to look at....and of who He as a sheep rancher and shepherd loved....but that ewe just had it in her to run to the fences and try to get into other pastures....even though those pastures were not as good.....and other sheep would follow her! Well Keller had no other choice....to keep the other sheep from harm....how do I put this....they probably had lamb for dinner one evening. One last humorous example....a friend arrived by car one day....and her tiny Pekingese pup jumped out and barked....and the entire flock of sheep ran for the hills in fear. Well....I been there....how about you?

                                                                    

               

  

Out With The New......In With The Old

                 The church is in the middle of God's judgment against it. Roughly four decades ago the liberal church led the Democrat Party.....slowly but surely....into a woke and progressive oblivion. The Republican Party struggled for a while until 2015....when it began to die. The Billy Graham evangelical up until the 80s....had started to politicize and became the Ralph Reed evangelical....who later had morphed into the Karl Rove evangelical....and then....because of the threat of what the Democrats were offering....in fear and rage followed a false prophet to become the Trump evangelical....which is no evangelical at all!
                 One could look at this as when Solomon died....after having squandered all the wisdom that God gave him....returned to God in his old age....but who would replace him as king? This is so similar to the path that America had taken.
                 The tribes split....and the ten northern tribes chose Jeroboam....who pronounced to them...."Here are your gods....Israel....who brought you out of Egypt"....as he had fashioned for them two gold calves! (1 Kings 12:28)
                 That is half of America today folks....led by the Democrats.....but don't celebrate too soon....because the two southern tribes chose Rehoboam. How did that work out? 1 Kings 14:24 gives us the answer...."The people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites." We had gone the way of Balaam and politics. Later....Jeremiah....and other prophets....warned Judah.....just as Graham and MacArthur and others had warned us....Jeremiah telling them to seek the old paths....or the old ways....of which they wanted nothing to do with.....nor do we want the cross and the blood anymore....but rather the statue and the flag.
                  The gospel is unrecognizable in America today....for no one anymore has to be born again....and we in the church have no idea how far we have fallen in this....for we cannot see outside of our bubble! One by one....God took away the prominent ministers who faithfully proclaimed the gospel....and had warned us for a half century! There are serious problems in some of the few larger faithful churches that remain. This chaos is the result of an increased demonic activity in our country....predictable as the Second Coming is near....as the demonic was stirred up when Jesus came to His own in Bethlehem of Judea two thousand and some odd years ago!
                   We have megachurches....with every possible ministry that you could imagine....impressive state-of-the-art websites....family churches today....with no preaching....for the glory has long since departed.....ICHABOD. No one knows any of this....because no one remembers what the glory of preaching was like!
                    This false prophet....literally destroyed the Republican Party.....for there is a new party today....bearing little to no resemblance to conservatism of the past....and although they shout God's name all the time....they are more the seven sons of Sceva....than followers of the Lamb....for this false prophet played his flute....and we followed.
                    AI has already taken over. Birth pangs....leading to the tribulation....are literally everywhere. The antichrist is an adult....if not an eighty year old adult....but we are not looking for him! We want our entertainments! We do not want to hear anything about Jesus returning! We want a Republican congress! We want power! We want warm weather and smooth sailing....but a maelstrom is coming fast....and if we do not turn and search for those old paths....'out with the new....and in with the old'....we will be taken by surprise when the volcano....so to speak....blows its top.

           

"Only One Life....'Twill Soon Be Past....Only What's Done For Christ Will Last"

                    There are a couple of days a week that I have some duties to perform....and today was one of those days....and I was a little worn out as I got into my truck....and thought that I might just drive the twenty-five minutes home in quiet....and then I thought again.....for it has been my habit for many years now....maybe 90% of the time....to listen to a sermon on any ride of any length at all....from as I like to put it....either.....men from the past....such as Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones....or men today who preach like men from the past....such as John MacArthur or R. C. Sproul or John Piper. So...I Googled a sermon....let's see....maybe Jonathan Edwards today....and picked the first sermon on the list....and as I often do at times like this....I had to laugh.....for the sermon was on not wasting our precious time. Here is that sermon if you are interested....

                                                                            

Note: From a passion for the game....cricket....to a passion as a Missionary for Christ....the title is the last poetic stanza of his famous poem....One Life....C. T. Studd (19th century)

"All Is Vanity"....Is The Same As Saying...."All Is Idolatry"

"She tempts people by promising great power and wealth to those who serve her." Those are words from Ligonier Ministries on Mystery Babylon from Revelation 17.

                The two great lights in not only London and England....but by extension the whole of Christendom....this in the latter half of the 19th century....were the Baptist Charles Haddon Spurgeon....and the Anglican ....Bishop J.C. Ryle.
                 Ryle may be most well-known for his book....Holiness....but he also wrote and preached extensively on the Second Coming....not just in a scholarly textbook fashion....but with a passion....warning his listeners....and pleading with them to take 'end of times' prophecy seriously....or suffer the consequences of not knowing what to expect.
                 One thing that J.C. Ryle tried to instill in the reader and the hearer was that idolatry was the key ingredient in all of our sin. Everything that was not worship of God and His Christ....was idolatry. Now driving to the mall might not be thought to have anything to do with worship....but that car we drive to the mall might be worship and therefore idolatry....or that which we are going to purchase might be worship or therefore idolatry!
                 At one moment we tend to look at these examples as....'Gee....another thing that we cannot do'....whereas we should see them and ask...'Oh my....am I worshiping this thing as an idol?'
                 John Calvin said...."The human heart is a perpetual idol factory." Anything can be an idol....wonderful and good and blessed things can be turned into idols. This is no small thing....in fact it seems to be the essence of Mystery Babylon!
                 That which evangelicalism today has fallen for....as it pertains to Christian Nationalism....can be described as a....falling away....from the truths of the gospel and the gospel itself....and is centered around pride and greed. All of this America First stuff is ultimately idolatry....all of the...."Winning, winning, winning" and the new golden age we are promised....is idolatry! Everything about Trump's rise was based squarely on idolatry! We evangelicals were led in this direction....and we just followed the pied piper..
                   In that Mystery Babylon whose destruction will come in one day....it may entail all that we hold as idols today? I recall something else that J.C. Ryle wrote in one of his books....at a different time....on a different subject....that in his extensive experience at being with many older people at the time of their death.....he stated that...."Old people tend to die....as they lived." In other words....the nearness of death....and no longer the need for possessions....did not free people to look to God....for they now had possibly a new idol....pride....in their refusal to admit that they may have been wrong....their entire life!
                   Idolatry is our problem in America and the church today. Idolatry is my problem. These posts can be idolatry....and I am sure that at times they have been. It is an insidious sin within us.  J.C. Ryle was an extraordinary preacher and man. It is amazing to think that both he and Spurgeon preached to London at the same time. Another area that he is well-known for is his preaching on the...."Old Paths"....from Jeremiah 6:16

"Thus says the LORD: 'Stand by the roads....and look....and ask for the ancient paths....where the good way is....and walk in it....and find rest for your souls....but they said....(which is also us today)....'We will not walk in it'."

                        If you are a student driving home after the semester and the year has ended....may God give you traveling mercies....and may you consider listening to the words from J. C. Ryle...

                                                                         

                                                                             

   

Birds Of A Feather

             The saying goes....birds of a feather....flock together. Ted Turner and Pat Robertson were definitely birds of a feather....and may have flocked together so to speak in their youth....for both were raised in upper class households....had elite schooling....both fulfilled their military commitment....and then both went on to found literal empires....Turner in cable news....and Robertson in Christian cable television.
              Ted Turner gave a lot of money away as a philanthropist....but as far as I can tell....maintained his belief that leaned towards universalism to the end. He supposedly became a 'born again' Christian in school....through the preaching of Billy Graham....but like well over 80% of those who go forward at crusades....it was only a temporary moment of emotion..
              Pat Robertson on the other hand....shouted the gospel.....from the rooftops....until he went to be with his Lord in 2023 at the age of 93....Ted Turner died today at the age of 87.
              Here is something that might shock the reader here....and then again it might not. CNN is probably the most vilified by the Right....and by evangelicals....of all the news networks....and over the past decade or so I would have agreed with that vilification.....but in an odd quirk of fate....my opinion here only....it seems to be the best news network out there right now!

               I'll give you a few minutes to come to grips with that statement from a 44 year conservative....repubican....veteran....Tea Party....evangelical! 

               I didn't say that it was great....just that of all the rest....ABC and CBS and NBC and FOX Trump Network....it was the closest today to actual news....other than Drudge. What I don't like is that you have to subscribe to get a lot of it....(which I don't....but I may some day?) Fox news is sad because it was once the very best....and fair and balanced....but Trump did to it what he does to everything that gets too close to him....he destroyed it's integrity in telling the whole truth....and nothing but the truth!

The College Campus

                 It was part trip down memory lane....and part meditation.....as I was on a college campus today....only for a few minutes.....leaving my books of the bible book markers....hoping that they will be picked up and a few students will wind up visiting these posts. This is the first warm day we have had in a while in this second year in a row of chilly to cold springs. I only had to walk a hundred yards through the campus....and a hundred yards back to my truck....but oh the memory as I thought back fifty some odd years where I was the same as these young people that were sprawled out all over the grass....catching some sun....with an open laptop or book next to them....(only in my case without the laptop....and possibly without the open book.)

                Life was so good back then....not in reality because the Vietnam War was still going on....and Watergate was roaring....and the job market for new graduates was not good....but to a young man as I was....(I was a little older than the average student because I had just got out of the army)....with nothing to do but get adequate grades and head off to the Wooden Keg to drink pitchers of beer while talking philosophy to other guys also missing the real point of higher education....it was idyllic....or so it seemed at the time.
                At 76 years old....walking slow....with papers in my hand....I sometimes wondered if students think that I might be one of the professors. I liked it....as fake as it was. One of the students on the grass studying for finals called out my name....and I went over to tell them that I hoped that God would give them the calm and the ability to do well in their finals.
                 As I looked around at all the students enjoying the sun....If I took a snapshot....(and actually turned it into a glossy photo)....and compared it to one of the photos that I might have of my days on Pitt's campus....I don't think that one could readily tell which photo was 2026....and which photo was 1973! The grass and the walkways would be the same....as would students in t-shirts and shirts. OK....if you looked closer the computers might be a giveaway....and there surely were not as many guys with shoulder-length hair....(even I....only months out of the army....had hair to my shoulders)....and for those walking to and fro....the backpacks might be a giveaway....for we tended to just carry our load of books around campus....or stuff them in a bag.      .
                   So it was a bittersweet jaunt....across the campus. I felt happy for those students....enjoying what I still remember as a really pleasant way to spend time between classes....(although today was in-between finals....so much for a pleasant experience)....but knowing what I know about the day and the age that we live in....a day and an age far more dangerous than even when I was young....there was a bit of heartbreak in that short walk.
                   The most simple logic should tell all of us that when Jesus is at the very door in His glorious return in power and righteous judgment....and from what we read from God's Word....there will be just as many young people....with all their dreams. There will be that generation....of young families....and college students....with a new and exciting life just ahead of them. It wasn't my generation...and it wasn't some of the alphabet generations that we have had in the past thirty years....(Gen X and Gen Z etc.)....but it looks to be this  generation....whatever the current title might be.
                    If we only look at this as I have described in these few paragraphs....then it might very well be considered sad....but if we look at it as Christians should....whether as old as me or as young as these students....there is a glory ahead....a glory beyond anything we can imagine....even with all that God's Word tells us! 
                    I will....Lord willing.....after I publish this post....go out and mow my grass. God's word is very clear in this....keep working....and even keep planning....and yes even keep dreaming....but all of that work....and those plans....and even those dreams.....are baseless if the glory of our Savior is not front and center! Even the dream of a family....should be in raising that child or those children to know and love Jesus! If we stay centered on Jesus....keeping oil in our lamps....with some to spare....and stay vigilant and awake....we can do our everyday tasks....and make plans....and dream dreams....secure and confident in the design of our God....to give us at times both pleasant meadows....and dark valleys....knowing that He is with us....and His way is perfect!

        
           

Special Dog's Commencement Address

Preface: I posted the following in May of 2014....and have been bringing it back every year since then!

Special Dog's Commencement Speech 

               Once again another year has passed and I wasn't invited by any college or university to be their commencement speaker! So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden....(Vice President at the time)....was to be the commencement speaker at Harvard University but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage.  The Ivy League school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name....Special Dog....they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to a give a commencement speech....then I woke up. So I sat down and penned the speech that I would have given had I in fact been invited by Harvard to give their commencement speech. Maybe next year! Here is that speech.... 

               

"A little bit of trivia.....President John Kennedy would be 97 years old today....(he would be nearing 106 today)....if he were still alive....but his 46 year old face in the last year of his presidency is what we remember. I had the privilege of seeing him in person as Senator Kennedy and then presidential candidate Kennedy passed by our Catholic grade school....as they herded us all out to wave to him. (This is 1960)

I recently viewed an old interview with then Governor Ronald Reagan that was taped on June 5th of 1971. The interviewer asked Governor Reagan if he was going to run for president in 1972. Reagan replied....'No....Lord willing I'll complete my second term as governor.' That would make two United States presidents....in a row....Carter and Reagan.....who could naturally use the phrase....'Lord willing.' Abraham Lincoln spoke a very similar phrase in his second inaugural address. No surprise there. 

(Today we tell God what we are going to do....'We're going to keep on winning....winning....winning!')
           
Your parents would remember this....well maybe your grandparents....that magazine sized book....Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy. I think that just about everyone had it back in the months and years following that tragic day in November of 1963. In that book the editors reveal what were....'President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas.' John Kennedy was to give this speech but never did... for assassins (plural) ended his life.....SPOILER....it wasn't Oswald.

That speech never given by our 35th President concluded with these words....the last official words of President Kennedy....The righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this....Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it. So the full verse is:

Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was nominally religious as was I. He would have respected the Bible and believed those words....but he could not have truly understood their significance,....nor timeliness....nor even seen his own part in attempting to build a city (a country) without the LORD. The 60s were an absolute disaster....the effects of which nearly brought my own life to an end. They produced college professors for the next few decades who gave us many of our problems today. They gave us Barack Obama and the Clintons....two Bush presidents.

(and Donald Trump....Joe Biden....and now Trump again)

It was drizzling and a bit chilly as my wife and son and I walked Cambridge University back in the spring of 2001. I wanted to see where many of the Puritans were educated....one of them was John Harvard....and I wanted to see some of the places where scenes from the Academy Award winning Chariots Of Fire were filmed. The building that housed the White Horse Inn on the grounds of Cambridge was long gone but a small blue plaque hung in the nearest spot possible to that location. That inn was a 16th century English pub where students, Dons and travelers discussed the works of Martin Luther, and out of this discussion came a passion for the hearing of the Word of God which resulted in the English Reformation. 

Young people...find your own White Horse Inn!

(hint...try....whitehorseinn.org)
            

Surely somewhere in America on that bleak or snowy Saturday in early December 1941....a young man sat looking out of a restaurant window....or maybe a coffee shop....with a young lady at his side who was his new bride. They had the world at their fingertips as he was just awarded that treasured college diploma he worked so long and hard for....and she wore the wedding band she had dreamed about since they first met in grade school. They looked into each other's eyes with hardly a care in the world. Oh, the plans they had so much fun making....a small cottage with a white picket fence that someday would keep little ones and maybe a puppy dog from straying as they play.
             

And then the morning came and as they walked into church the somber faces took their joy away for they had not heard the news from that group of islands where the sun shown year round and warm surf slapped the white beaches. America was in the war against evil that they had only given themselves minutes a day to reflect upon. The young bride knew immediately that their dreams would now be put on hold....if they would ever come true. Surely the prayers of all present in that worship service were salted with tears.
             

Not every generation has its hopes interrupted as this generation did on December 7th, 1941....but your generation today may indeed be another one. Love is disappearing in the world....no....worse than that....it has been hijacked by greed....tortured by pride....and what is left is directed to ourselves....and we in America are paying dearly for our dalliances.
           

Do you sometimes feel a void of passion in your life...a meaninglessness that cannot be satisfied by the picture that you paint on your Facebook page? Well, a river of passion flows right by you! Cup your hands and drink from it. Let mercy and peace pass over your palate. A political election will give but one night of elation but the coronation of the King of Kings provides every morning and every evening with a ceaseless ardor that will make you forever thankful. 

If you happen to really see the trouble that we are in here in America....that vision is from God....and He will also give the balm....supply the strength and provide the wisdom to see the joy of redemption even in the darkest hours of this world....and to plan ahead with the full trust that if it be His will it will happen....and if it not be His will you would not want it to happen! Here is the only true hope and change...... "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." 2 Corinthians 5:17." (end of the address)

One does not have to be a PHD, or a celebrity, a statesman, general or financial wizard to relay God's wisdom to graduates. I certainly didn't plan it this way but my later adult life....whether while working or in personal relationships....has been one of taking joy in training or teaching when I was able. The greatest joy of a father is in conversations with....in my case....a son....passing on what I have learned....taking advantage of so much experience and so many mistakes....and most of all pointing him to the most blessed and beautiful majesty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!


"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Animal Farm

                 It had been sixty years since I had to read George Orwell's....Animal Farm....in high school....and other than a recurring quote from the book that would come up now and then....I had not thought that much about it....not as much as his other classic....1984. Today I saw the new animated film....Animal Farm....at the theater....so this very short review....is on the movie alone....and not how it relates to Orwell's book. Having said that here goes....

                The reader here is probably more familiar with the director than I am....actor turned director Andy Serkis. The voice cast was impressive....with Glenn Close and Woody Harrelson....and Seth Rogan....who I am also not very familiar with.
                The reviews that I have read so far have not been that good....but not only does that not influence me here....a terrible review at times might make me want to see a film. It depends on what the subject matter might be....for liberal Hollywood tends to pick apart conservative movies.
                 I thought this Animal Farm was a terrific animated movie....and highly I recommend it....but here is what you might think odd....idolatry was more the message than ideology! As I watched the film....neither the Bolshevik Revolution nor Stalin nor anything really that Orwell was commenting on in his book....came to my mind.....for all I saw in my mind was the world today....and leaders and greed and ignorance on both sides!

Update: One major MAGA reviewer wrote this in his review...."God bless America....it was humiliated at the box office." He called the film...."anti-capitalist"....I don't see it that way. I saw it as anti-grift and anti-greed. I could give more opinion on the possible intent of the film but I won't. See it for yourself.

Shavuot......Or Pentecost

                 It's an old joke that I first heard maybe thirty years ago.....there is a community ministerium meeting in an auditorium....and a number of denominations are represented. A fire breaks out in the kitchen.....and a Baptist minister jumps up and yells...."Fire!"....followed up by a Methodist minister who jumps up and yells...."Water!"....followed by a Presbyterian minister who jumps up and yells...."Order!"

                We Presbyterians like to maintain order in everything.....especially Reformed Presbyterians. So we have confessions and catechisms and protocols and rules for this and rules for that. They work out very well....but they have limitations with God who is not confined to everything that we write down. One of those things is with prophecy....and the Jews....and Israel....not to mention blood moons and solar eclipses and Jewish feasts!
                 God uses Jewish feasts and fasts....more after-the-fact than to predict anything. Both Jewish temples were destroyed on the ninth of the Jewish lunar month Av....therefore known as the...Ninth of Av....or Tisha B'Av.....and a lot of other disasters happened on that Jewish date over the centuries and millennia.....and this emphasis on Jewish feasts by God continues....as the massacre in Israel leading to upheaval in the world....happened on the feast of Sukkot. Even this war going on now....which is also bringing turmoil to the world....began only hours after Passover.
                  Donald Trump....was born on a blood moon....and he famously came down that golden escalator into evangelicalism....in the middle of that equally famous tetrad of blood moons on Jewish feasts in 2014/2015. So....scoff if you want....and jump up and yell...."Order!"....but God will continue with His perfect order of things.
                  So having laid the groundwork here....which I do fairly often....the next Jewish major feast begins on Thursday....May 21....it is a one-day feast.....and ends on Saturday....May 23 at nightfall. The feast is commonly called Shavuot in the Hebrew....(three syllables)....or Weeks....the Festival of Weeks.....celebrating two things....the giving of the Torah....or the law....on Mount Sinai....and also the first issues of wheat. The term 'weeks' comes from the feast being fifty days from the sabbath after Passover. It is therefore fifty days. Is this beginning to sound familiar? It is celebrated as Pentecost to Christians....when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the upper room!
                   Jerusalem at the time was filled with Jews from all over.....celebrating Shavuot....but many of them would go home different.....first fruits of redemption! Whether God uses this Jewish feast in prophecy or not....may He....if it be His will....and to His glory alone....move in our pulpits....and all of us in the pews....to His glory....and our benefit as a people in need of His mercies and graces and discernment!

  

Tuesdays With Special Dog

 

In the Fall of 2016 I had the idea of having two Christian men meeting occasionally at a Starbucks in Manhattan....just getting together for conversation and fellowship. I planned on possibly writing this post as a series but have only done a half dozen or so....always under the title....Tuesdays With Special Dog....a take on the popular 1997 book....Tuesdays With Morrie. What I am doing here is using an older beginning....with a new subject....the timing of the rapture of the church. I'm doing this because I wanted more of a conversational than doctrinal tone on this topic:

Tuesdays With Special Dog

Special Dog already had his latte and was sitting at their favorite table by the window of the Starbucks. John had texted that he was running a few minutes late because there was a big brawl on the subway. A few minutes later Special Dog could see him turning the corner....

John gave a hand signal of some kind to the barista after sitting down and turned back to Special Dog.

John......"So....how you been?"
S.D......."Well....I don't like this retirement."
John....."Still"
S.D......."Yeah still. I wake up at six and write on the computer till about ten....then eat breakfast....and take an hour nap.....and it's already the afternoon." (I actually do this folks)
John......."How's the blog going?"
S. D......."Tough. It seems that every other one I do.....which is every other day....I finish and just ask the Lord if that was the last one. It occupies almost every minute of my day....it's in my mind all the time anyway....and then I check the news and some dog does something funny....they put it on Tik Tok....and it gets a million hits....while I pray over every visitor I get." (and I experience this also)
John......"Well I still read it....and so does Laura."
S. D......"And you're not mad at me yet?"
John......"Oh yeah.....I get mad at you about once a week.....but not Laura.....she thinks you are smart."

Special Dog laughs. 

S.D......"Only one other person in my life told me that I was smart. I was working at the Pitt library while in school....along with another library page....that's what they called us....we had to work at the Pittsburgh Playhouse for a few weeks....sorting material that was donated.

Special Dog took a sip of his latte as John said....

John......"I can't wait to hear this...."
S.D......."Anyway....they had this giant original mural on the wall done by Al Hirschfeld....and were very proud of it! Typical of his work....there were about twenty different caricatures of famous people. The Playhouse director was showing us around and told us a little about the mural that had been there for decades. Every celebrity figure was identified.....except the one in the middle of the top row.....no one could ever figure out who that might be. I looked at it.....and to me it was either Dagwood Bumstead or King Edward VIII.....the king who abdicated. I opted for the king....and the director's jaw dropped upon seeing it clearly. Then the girl I was working with looks at me and said....."You're smart! She went on to be a university professor and author while I went on to work in a coal-fired power plant!" (That is a true story....and I wouldn't have it any other way)

The barista came to take their orders. Three Frappuccinos and two lattes later John and Special Dog had covered about everything in their lives and families....laughed an awful lot....until John said....

John....."OK.....it's time for my Bible lesson."

John knew that their conversations were always going to start easy and then hit the heavy stuff at the end. Special Dog knew it two.

John....."I'll start it out.....question....'Are you pre or mid or post trib'?"

Special Dog looks out the window while trying to get serious and gather his thoughts....which weren't helped by what he saw....as two women walked by....

S.D....."John....are they in their underwear?"
John......"It's the style S. D....I don't know if it's underwear or not."

Special Dog looked up at the church spires across the street....and then back to John.

S.D....."I think that it is important that the Christian does not hold to a pre-trib rapture....because in doing so...it becomes problematic for much of the rest of Scripture. For thirty-five years I had held to what is called a....pre-wrath rapture....which means the rapture is sometime later than the mid-point of the tribulation."

John..."Is this stuff all that important?"
S.D....."Yes and no. Let me try to explain it this way. I had believed for quite some time....that as the Second Coming nears....God will reveal the meaning in a lot of end-times prophecy. Another way of putting it would be that He will remove layers of veils....making it easier to see what God's Word says....kind of like that Playhouse director all of a sudden seeing King Edward VIII."

A man came into the Starbucks wearing a neon vest and a harness and a sign on his chest and on his back that read....'SERVICE PERSON....DO NOT TALK TO HIM'....as he had a dog on a leash. Special Dog....used to these off things by now....just looked back at John....and continued....

S.D......"What I am not saying is that we necessarily will understand and know all the answers....but rather that we will have more faith because things are becoming more clear!"

They both took a sip of their drinks and Special Dog continued....

S.D....."So John..., after forty years of studying this....I have come to believe more in a mid-trib rapture of God's church. In this mid-trib rapture....the church goes through a lot....but then the church is gone....and what remains is another three and a half years where....all hell breaks loose."

John....."You know I've thought about the church being raptured....and I've watched movies....but I don't see how the rest of the world just goes on with business?"

S.D....."I would agree if there were as many Christians in America as everyone says....that would be a lot of people all of a sudden gone....but what might confuse you more is if you think about what Jesus and Paul and the others said about giving up everything to follow Jesus...and then look around at America....and the church....and think about how few in comparison might disappear? It might not be as big a deal to the world?"

Both John and Special Dog could hear the name 'Jesus' shouted.....and the word 'Bible?' They looked out the window....and a man....very shabbily dressed....was holding up a Bible and apparently trying to street preach....and being laughed at primarily because of his appearance. A young man came up behind him and flipped his old beat up hat off. Special Dog and John both could hear the words he was saying....and they were sound....but the more he said....the more the people laughed. It angered Special Dog....and he went out.....pulled out his own pocket Bible....stood shoulder to shoulder with the man....and shouted at the top of his voice....

S.D....."Awaken you sluggards! How long will you mock God? If you do not repent....then you will later look at this man in the bosom of Abraham....and plead that he be sent to you with but a sip of water!"

The scoffers were no longer laughing....just growling their words....and then they dispersed. The street preacher and Special Dog shook hands....and then hugged....and then parted....and Special Dog came back in the Starbucks....sat down with John....and simply started again from where he had left off

S.D......"Everyone has Bible verses....to....prove their point....but God wants the heart first. He wants our desire to see Him....even though we will stand before Him and answer for everything that we have done. That being the case....we won't be looking for a pre-trib rapture in the middle of a Steeler game....on a Lord's Day....and we won't be experiencing His wrath on the world at the end....surely man's wrath towards us we will have....but not God's wrath....that's what finally got me on this John."

As happens every time that they met at Starbucks....they laughed for an hour....and then talked softly for an hour....and then prayed....embraced each other....pointed up to the sky....and parted.

      

Woe Are Us

                 I don't know that the American evangelical ever actually desired to see Jesus return....but we definitely do not look at it as a serious possibility at this time. It is really right now just a catechism question....and answer....an assent to a doctrinal truth....with no emotion or passion or even personal preference involved.

                Salvation itself to the evangelical today is really just being a good person. God will find a way to save that good person. All of that which is written in God's Word about being born again is subjective.....and all the commands about abiding in Christ and separating from the world and everyone experiencing persecution is just part of a narrative meant more to reflect upon than to actually interpret as God's real no-nonsense directions.
                God's holiness....of which back in the 1980s we would sit in awe as we listened to a sermon or a teaching on it....is long gone. That is why we today went the way of Balaam....and have no discernment of our own guilt in this culture and society....and why pride and greed and even hate guides us as we want for America what is ours.....for we are tired of not getting what is ours.....and if anyone disagrees.....we will in one way or another.....destroy them....with our great military might if necessary! We no longer care about anyone else.
                 Folks....this is a falling away from the gospel. This is God having judged His church....first. We are as was Israel....and Judah her treacherous sister. Our pulpits only warn slightly. Our itching ears have chosen the false prophets that tell us what we want to hear. Our churches....far too many of them....are white-washed sepulchers. Our own personal idols litter our homes and our minds. We cannot discern the coming of the Lord....because we are more interested in our own lives! Woe are us....for we have been destroyed for lack of knowledge....trusting in broken cisterns....and in our distress not looking to God for our help.

A Foray Into The Eleventh Chapter Of Daniel

                As one reads through all of the marvelous words of the book of Daniel....of the beginning of the Babylonian captivity....and the visions and the lion's den and the fiery furnace....and Greece and Persia and the prophesies of what was going to happen in the future....there is always that eleventh chapter that must be dealt with. Although some of the chronology is hazy....time passes and different Seleucid and Ptolemaic kings come and go and do this and do that.

               It seems that history books alone can identify much of what is happening....but where is it all going. Is it as easy as at times it seems? It does seem so right up until the arrival on the scene of one of the Seleucids from the 'North'....one called....Antiochus IV Epiphanes....this roughly 175 to 164. 
               This man is called "vile" by Daniel. From the time that he gained the throne it had been all "intrigue." He goes to war against the Ptolemys of Egypt a couple of times....victorious mostly.....(which can help us if we look at Egypt as the world in general)....and then each time he has to pass through the "glorious land" on his way home ....and deal with the Jews in Jerusalem....and he seems to win some of them over to his Hellenistic ways....flattering and bribing them....and leading them away from their own Jewishness.
                I think that we have all heard the story of how Rome at one point had had enough of Antiochus IV fooling around in Egypt.....and sent a representative....(remember this is the power of Rome we are speaking of).....and that representative lays down the law to Antiochus....'go home'....and Antiochus tells him that he wants to think about it....of which the representative then draws a circle in the sand around Antiochus....and tells him to make up his mind before he leaves the circle. It's an awesome display of the power of Rome....and the humiliation of Antiochus IV Epiphanes....who is now already mad as he passes by Jerusalem again....where some of the Jews rebel against him....which leads to.....as we all know of....that which God's Word calls the....Abomination of Desolation!
               And that is it with Antiochus IV Epiphanes....for he has served his purpose....and thus in God's perfect design....gives all of us today....a glimpse through Antiochus IV Epiphanes of another that would come.....at the end of time....(this beginning in verse 36)....of which Antiochus IV was but a type!
               It is odd in that not much is said about the Antichrist in what is left of Daniel. It's as if God in the book of Daniel....wanted us to see what this Antichrist would be like....more than what he would do....for Scripture elsewhere tells us more of that. So what do we know? Well we know that the man will be...."vile"....that he will sit down at a table with another leader....and they will both tell lies....as he is that type of man....and that he will flatter and bribe....and if you cross him he will....if he can....even if you are an ally....utterly desecrate your religion and humiliate you!

Addendum: We know one more thing....that he will be successful....in that no matter what conflict surrounds him....no matter how vile he might be....and how mystifying it might be that he can retain his power....he will continue!

Evangelicals Do Not Know Who Donald Trump Is

Preface: Trump knows that if the mid-terms do not go well....then it is all over for him....for they will be investigating his crypto investments....and all the other sources for the billions that he has made in his second term. He needs a dramatic win....somewhere....Iran or Cuba....anywhere. I have studied every aspect of his long life for the past ten years now. He hasn't changed an iota since his twenties. It has been the longest lie and the longest con....maybe in the history of our country. My daily prayer....is that God....if it be His will to have mercy upon His church....and to His glory alone....that He might open the eyes...and take off the veils....of His children....on who this man is....that the world may continue to be subject to his machinations....but that Christians will see their mistake....that all of us might see our mistakes....that I might see my mistakes....and that we will be able to identiy each other....and bond together in the troublesome days that are surely ahead!

             I need to remind myself from time to time that evangelicals do not know much about Donald Trump's earlier life at all....at all! If they did....if they had read 110 books on the life of Trump as I have read....the situation would be completed reversed....and they would flee as fast as they could from the influence of this man.
             Donald John Trump was born on a blood moon on June 14, 1946....so he has an 80th birthday coming up. He started in business with his father....and then his higher ambitions for building in Manhattan sent him off....sort of....on his own. Generally he would find the spot that he wanted to build....see what the city officials would demand for a permit to build....and then if he had to....lie to them until they signed onto the permit.
              This is kind of what is happening at the White House as Trump said that he would not touch the East Wing....got an OK....and then began immediately to tear it down. There was one instance in the past where Trump was buying a famous old hotel....and they would sell it to him but did not want the famous front fresco to be destroyed....so he promised to take it down and then put it back up somewhere else....but as soon as he started the project....they came in and destroyed the fresco....oops!
              It has been a lifetime of this. He builds....and maybe his name goes on the building or not....and maybe he keeps the building or not....and maybe it is a success....or not! And when it is not a success....which happened often....he gets out as quick as he can....and lets others pick up the pieces! So over time he has some impressive successes and some terrible failures....but his name stays on the successes....while the failures and catastrophes are soon forgotten.
              His involvement in casinos was one of the disasters....but if it wasn't....he would still have them today....and I have often wondered.....would Christians still have voted for him for president....or even voted to give him the nomination....if he was making money in a profession....gambling....that destroys lives. I personally know men....and a few women....who had been gambling addicts their whole lives.....and today....as I turn on FRNDLY....television....(that is a cable TV station that I subscribe to so that I can get the Weather Channel)....the fanciest commercials are for online or gambling on TV! It saddens me every time I see one....which is just about every day!
              So Venezuela is a project....nothing more....and he wants Cuba to be another project....and Iran is a big project....and he has high hopes for Gaza to be a resort some day. With Iran or the Ukraine....he will complain that the project was dumped on him. Surely you have heard that....probably as recently as this morning or last night. Everything is a project....and as with his former life....he knows that some projects will fail....that's just how it is in big business. The crypto stuff is a big-time money-making project....as is AI....whereas at first....on both of them....they didn't show great promise to make a fortune....but then things changed!
                As I said at the top of this post....I need to remind myself that....probably you the reader here.....never heard any of these things....and if you did....you were told immediately that it was fake news! Well it isn't. The thing is that in the past....when Trump abandoned or sold a failing venture....that the people he drew in with him....that could not just cut-and -run to another project.....remember him later....and there are a lot of those people out there....and most likely Evangelicals will be like that....sitting there....wondering how they could have possibly been naive enough to have bought into this grand business plan of his for America?

             

DISPATCHES

May 13.....Trump is scheduled to land in China in about an hour of this posting. The following paragraph is from a 2025 post...."On February 21, 1972....my plane took off from Tan Son Nhut Air Base outside Saigon....I was headed home. The same day President Nixon...on Air force One....landed in Beijing. His reason for the trip was to make war with Red China less likely. On April 30, 1975....Chinese variations of the Soviet T-54 tanks....rolled onto that tarmac of Tan Son Nhut Air Base. We watered China as if it were a plant from which we would receive fruit. Well that plant proved to be of the invasive type....that competes with our plants for....as Wikipedia puts it...."moisture, sunlight, nutrients and space."

May 11.....Trump told an interviewer that he told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu....that Israel was a "great ally"....but what he does with Iran is...."My business and not anyone else's." Folks....I am on book number 112 right now on Trump....how many times have I posted here....Trump cares about Trump....and no one else.....and never has. He is a con man....with no foreign policy expertise....and in his second term not even good advice around him. It's all about Trump....not you or anyone else. God has taken all discernment away from evangelicals today concerning Trump because we became more concerned with our entertainments than guarding our own minds from deception.

Trump also assigned some in Congress to push for a resolution....that would expunge the two impeachments....in other words....make it like they never happened. Evangelicals...put away the games and get down to business. You were decieved....taken in... and it is time to admit it. You can blame it on your pastors if you want because they gave you absolutely no warning at all....that is between them and God....but ultimately we all failed in our responsibilities to one degree and in one area or another. It is long past time for all of us to fall on our knees at what has happened in America....and in the church....and in us....and I am first in line.

The cage match is scheduled for Trump's 80th birthday....June 14....on the South White House  lawn....with 4,000 to 5,000 on the lawn....and maybe another 100,000 watching from....where else....the famed ellipse. Cry for America if you want....at what we have become....for there are plenty of us already doing it.

Just a little snippet here on the four horses of Revelation six...or more accurately the four riders on the four horses of revelation six....and actually only the first three of them. The general teaching in the doctrinal tradition of which  I am a part believes that the rider on the white horse is Jesus. After over forty years of studying this....I just cannot see that. It makes no sense to me....and seems more to be a fashioned interpretation in order to fit with other doctrine. No....it seems to be someone coming out....as it says...."Conquering....and to conquer." So then comes the rider on the red horse.....and that is pretty clear....war. Now that could mean a third world war....or a nuclear war....or something like the four years now of steady war with Russia and Israel and now Iran. And then comes the rider on the black horse....famine....and if you go now and spend just a little time perusing it....you will see concerns about famine in Asia....and the Sudan....and quite a number of other places....the concerns are there primarily because famines are generally started because of war. We need to be studying prophecy folks....and there are a number ways of doing it....this just being one of them.

The six 'conservatives' justices on the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act that was a successful attempt to ensure that Blacks primarily would have ethnic representation in Congress. Technically....I'm sure they were correct in their ruling. Morally....it may be a different story. It took less than a day for Republicans to start planning new districts in time for the mid-terms. In the mid-twentieth century we as a people had somewhat come to grips with what we....(our ethnic forefathers)....did to an entire race of people. The answers we came up with were not perfect....and in some cases pretty bad....but at least they were an attempt to help an ethnic minority that we....(we can't get away from it folks....we enjoy white privilege....please....please read my post on this that is down at the bottom of this page titled....White Like Me)....an ethnic minority that we sentenced to seemingly everlasting lower class status at best. We are doing the same thing with the immigration deportation debate. Technically....many are here illegally. Morally....we let those who want to use racial hatred to stay in power in Congress....and the White House....incite us into doing things that we as conservatives would not have done decades ago. There was a better way to address these issues....but we chose the drumbeat with no compassion. 

The ballroom was initially to cost $100 million.....then ballooned to$400 million....but supposedly paid for with donations. After the events of this past week....Trump.....through Lindsey Graham's advancing the issue....wants the government to pay for it now....because an underground military bunker and communications center is needed to protect against....as Trump mentioned...drones. Forget the ballroom....and give them the money to build the bunker. As for drones....I have warned for years now that the drone problem could only get worse....and Trump apparently seconded that warning. There is no limit to what evil minds can think of to do with a drone! 

Have you read James Comey's book....or Andrew McCabe's account....or Christopher Steele's....or any of the other first account books on the....'Russia hoax'? Probably not....for we have been good cult members in not reading what our own personal Watchtower tells us is fake news. These men....did what they were required to do when an American celebrity becomes a prime candidate for Soviet or now Russian kompromat. Trump today brought new charges against James Comey. This is a sick illness of revenge....unequaled as far as I know short of Soviet show trials....and evangelicals do not just ignore this assault on truth and justice....they....far too many of them....celebrate it!

Trump's whole life has been one of threats and power bonds and litigation. MAGA fits nicely into this constant animosity that he thrives on....but to the rest of America it is a constant churning vexation of the spirit.

Surely you have heard or read of these famous words from a poem by Martin Niemöller...."First they came for the socialists....and I did not speak out....because I was not a socialist....then they came for the trade unionists....and I did not speak out.....because I was  not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews....and I did not speak out....because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me."

Hitler Derangement Syndrome....Winston Churchill had it....and England should thank God that he did.

God's Perfect Design.....With His Imperfect Church

             I don't usually use the word but I have always had heroes....and the most long-standing of those may be Joni Eareckson Tada....that wonderful Christian woman about my age who at 17 years old became quadriplegic from a diving accident. I am always in awe at her faithfulness and her testimony. Probably next to her would be more recent....in the former Senator from Nebraska....Ben Sasse....who has a terminal cancer diagnosis....and has since given a testimony of faith that should humble all of us!
             Ben Sasse speaks with an intellect and wisdom that is more than rare in American government. He would be the top candidate for the next Republican nomination were it not for his illness. If you listen to the recent 60 Minutes interview you will hear strong opinion on AI and other issues that need to be tackled in the Senate.....but are not.
             This isn't a political post....for as strong as Ben Sasse is in what would be the leadership that we desperately need....he does have an area where he is lacking....for his theological foundations....which are the same as mine....is unable to see that the Second Coming....is now. He....we....are generally blinded to it....but there is a reason for this.....for God's design is perfect....and in amongst that design there are discrepancies and even doctrinal disputes.
              I have understood this for a long time....not perfectly....but rather that God must have a reason that we have these differences....and permits us to continue to defend that which we believe.....without compromising this gospel! We....all of us who still hold the gospel of Jesus Christ and the absolute need to be born again as central....we may push against each other in some areas....but ultimately we balance each other out....and constantly challenge each other....forcing each other to have some humility.....and not letting any of us get too arrogant.
               So some of us know that the church is under judgment....that delusion and end-times deception is everywhere...and that 1948 set things in motion without a turning back....and some of us do not know that.....even deny it....but those others have their own strengths! This may not be perfect theology for anyone.....but it is perfect in that God will bring us all together at the perfect time....which is not far away. Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come!

The following is a breathtakingly beautiful interview with Ben Sasse and Michael Horton:

                                                                           

"How Do You Turn This Thing On?"

Preface: I remember typing the following post....it was early October....a few months ago....the day after my wife and my 49th anniversary....and it was in a hotel room in Virginia Beach....right on the concrete boardwalk....only thirty yards or so from the famous boardwalk statue of Neptune.....the god of the sea. My wife was sleeping while I was working under a desk light....covered up with a shirt or something....to keep the room dark. What should I write about. The following is what came out...

"How Do You Turn This Thing On?"

The crowd applauded as John Rigby left the microphone and moved to his seat to the left of the podium. Micah Taylor stepped back up to the mic and said this....

"Thank you Mr. Rigby. And now let us hear from"....he looked closer at the paper before him...."Let us hear from.....Special.....Dog?"

The crowd laughed....as Special Dog walked up....and kind of looked at the mic from both sides....as if he had never held one of these before.

"I never talked into a microphone before...."

The crowd giggle

"That was a very nice presentation by Mr. Rigby....on the....positives....of Donald Trump. I disagree with just about everything that he said though. So here is my resume. I'm 75 years old....(76 now). I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh back in 1976....that would be the football team's national championship year. I spent three years in the army....half of that in Vietnam in signal intelligence....and I did some graduate work when I was fifty years old. I voted for Donald Trump in 2016....and celebrated when he won. About two or three months into his term I could tell that there was something wrong....seriously wrong....terribly wrong....so I started reading about who this Donald Trump was....other than that which we all knew....the comical supermarket tabloid character....and TV show host....of which I never saw a single episode. I just started the 108th book on him.....(I just finished book 109....STOP In The Name Of GOD....Why Honoring The Sabbath Will Transform Your Life....Charlie Kirk's last book)....books for him and against him....and supposedly by him.....books on every decade of his life....and books on single topics like Mar-a-Lago and golf and of course.....Russia.....lots of books on Russia! So that's my resume....not a whole lot of letters after my name....and no experience at all in speaking before people."

Someone from the back shouted out...."Get closer to the microphone!"

Special Dog looked at his watch.....

"Well....I have thirteen minutes left so let me get right to the topic a hand. I do not think that Donald John Trump has changed an iota in the past....seventy years....he is someone with no compassion for anyone....and who cares only about one person....himself....it is all lies and flattery and threats."

Someone again from the back shouted out...."You're a communist!"

"Hey....that's an interesting comment. I have studied for fifty years now on communism....and saw first hand....in Vietnam....how communists come in and brutally murder people....before taking over the country and turning it into a capitalist resort. I've been warning Americans about communism for a long time. No....I'm not a communist. That is my opinion on Trump from what I have gleaned in the past 8 1/2 years....(now 9 years)....of reading and observing and researching in any way that I could....watching just about all of his rallies....(the latest being today's TPUSA rally in Phoenix)....which were the exact same...methodology....that that German Fuhrer used to get power in the early 1930s. 

The Donald Trump show is the greatest show on earth. In a fifteen minute talk I have to pick and choose what to point out. In his first term he picked some pretty good people for his cabinet....and then alienated most of them. They know today all too well who he really is. Yes....the pandemic did him in in the 2020 election....without that he would have won....but he lost. I watched television that morning of January 6....2021....and had to turn the set off because the rhetoric was too disturbing....and unsettling. He did nothing to stop what was going on.....in spite of his people begging him to do something....and then almost immediately....even before the dust settled....began a campaign to turn history upside down....so that it appeared that he did nothing wrong on that day....and that Anthony Fauci and others were the truly bad people. In retrospect....all of this is kind of unbelieveable....but what was truly mind-boggling was that intelligent people....evangelicals....seminary trained pastors even....actually believed the lies they were being told." 

Special Dog used the few cat calls to take a deep breath

"Trump then began to brow beat everyone in the Republican Party into supporting him. The approximately 30% or so of true believers behind him were enough to beat off all of the opposition. He didn't even debate in the primaries....lying as usual....saying that legal matters prevented him from doing so. So he won....and formed the worst cabinet in American history....filled with loyalists....and a couple of nut-cases who needed paid back for their support....and the usual suspects of attractive women who has always liked to keep close by.

So here we are today. The Republican Party is gone....replaced by the Trump Party. Evangelicalism is gone....replaced by Christian nationalism. What exactly happened to Donald Trump from November of 2020....to January of 2025....when he was inaugurated for a second time....I really don't know. Some people say that he learned his lesson from his first term. Others say that the radical right finally convinced him to be bold. I lean to something more supernatural....for this is a new man that has come out in the second term...."conquering...and to conquer"....as Revelation puts it in the sixth chapter....concerning the rider on the white house....excuse me...white horse.

I would ask you....especially evangelicals....and very especially pastors....do you really think that a golden age is coming? Hey....maybe you do? Maybe you think that Jesus is behind all of this....and that men like Jonathan Cahn are correct? Well....that view is going to be severely tested in the days to come....thank you."

Note: An hour ago I watched a few minutes of the last day of TPUSA in Phoenix. I watched a few minutes here and there over the past few days. Vice President Vance was the speaker....and I thought about all of the evangelical youth that must be in the audience. Please excuse my naivety....but Nicki Minaj was the previous speaker....and I do not know anything about who she is....but I listened...and this was a compromised and very modern testimony....but everyone seemed to love it. Anyway....I listened to JD Vance finish. This is truly scary stuff....that evangelical youth can be taken in like this. Personally....the Vice President has been the biggest disappointment that I have ever experienced in politics.....(and I have had some big disappointments)....everything pointed to this being a man of integrity....who would tell it like it is....and not be drawn into the web of personal advancement....but it turned out to be the opposite.

Update: Today....Friday....April 17....2026....I watched Trump speak at the latest TPUSA rally....again in Phoenix! As Trump ridiculed NATO....these young people....many of them evangelicals....booed NATO....which means that they booed the people of England....and France....and Italy...and Poland....and Canada! These member nations....and many others....were our allies and our friends....before Trump changed all of that!

Addendum: I have an interesting....and personal....anecdote for you. It was November 4 of 1979....and I sat at my father's bedside as he died. The 2012 Academy Award winning Best Picture....ARGO....a Ben Affleck film....began on that day....in Tehran...as Iranian students took 52 American hostages at the American Embassy....but six American employees slipped into the city. The film is about the successful rescue of those six Americans. That rescue could not have come about had not Canada made a very dangerous decision to hide those Americans....and then help them escape!