'Boots On The Ground' Praying

               Roughly three million Americans served in uniform in Vietnam....with over fifty-eight thousand who died....and there are enormous numbers who were seriously wounded....or 100% disabled. Over seventeen thousand of those who gave their lives for our country were married. All the statistics together point to tens of millions of wives and children and parents....who were praying.....boots on the ground praying....as opposed to rally around the flag praying. Consequently....it was in the middle of that war that stirrings of the gospel began among young people....and it was around the end of that war that the gospel movement in America literally took off....lasting at least a decade....and possibly two decades before it had almost totally waned. All of that was surely part of that....boots on the ground praying.....and that is what we need today....and that most likely is what is ahead of us!
               If you by chance had read some of my recent posts....on the Super Bowl and idols of all kinds....you would have read some very bold statements. We evangelicals do not like these kinds of statements. We want no more than what we get in our churches....which consists of encouragements....with no real warnings of any kind.....nothing to bring us down before we leave church....mild Bible studies to assuage our conscience....and various ministries to partake in to mask the cost of discipleship that always brings rejection and ridicule and even persecution.
               Well it matters not what the prophets of today say....that great things are ahead of us....for even though we walk around today as if with blinders on....the collapse....or the landslide....or the avalanche or the tsunami....however it might be described....is already in full swing....and boots on the ground praying....will be beginning according to God's timetable and perfect will.

 

               I would like to be able to describe how the above sermon recording was made....but right now I do not know. I know that it is produced by Banner Of Truth.
               My guess is that it was around 1990....and by this time....about eight years into my Christian walk....I was in Christian bookstores all the time....and there were a lot of them near me....in fact about ten years later we owned one! Anyway....there was this one Christian bookstore in New Castle, Pennsylvania....that I and my wife and son would drive to about once a month. I was Pentecostal in my theology at the time. Well I would return home after each visit with a new book.....but there was something different about a lot of the books that were on the shelves of this Christian bookstore. They had an icon on the spine of the book....of a man in a preacher's robe....holding up a Bible with on hand. Whatever they were....they were changing my Christian theology. I soon found out that the publisher with this little man on the spine was Banner Of Truth. We would later sell those books....and promote them....in the Christian bookstore that we opened up!
               So that same publisher produced this recording of a sermon....not a sermon by Jonathan Edwards.....but it appears to be a sermon constructed around the thoughts and teachings....and other sermons of Jonathan Edwards. Whatever it is....it is profoundly powerful....as wonderful as anything that I have heard from Charles Spurgeon. By "profoundly powerful"....and...."wonderful".....I mean that the words penetrate....and like a fish hook....they do not want to pull out. Well that is how they affect me anyway. I've listened to it three times in the past week....and cannot wait to listen to it again.....but I'm wondering how these words would affect you....or if you would even listen to the sermon....but then I think that you might....for if it did not intrigue even a little bit.....I do not think that you would have read this far in this post!

I Cannot Summarize 109 Books....And Fifty Rallies....and Ten Years of Research....In One Sentence....Or Even In One Paragraph

                I had a call last night from an old friend who I had not seen in about six years....and the first fifteen or twenty minutes were fun. He knew from our past that I did not like Trump....and he brought it up....and within two minutes he was raising his voice to me. These type of conversations are all the same....as I hear....."So you do not have any problem with illegal immigration.....or "So you have no problem with crime and drugs in the streets"....they are all....'so you have no problem with this'.....or....'so you believe that.' 
                How do you answer a question on why you do not like Trump....in a minute or two? I kept the tone light....slowed his pace down a little....and said....."Well....I voted for Trump in 2016.....but a few months later I became concerned....and started to read about who this man was....and it has been over a hundred books so far....and about fifty rallies....and daily observation for over ten years now".....that was the easy part. What do I say next on what I had learned...."Trump has been a destroyer his whole life....he is either purposely destroying people....or they are destroyed by flying too close to his flame"....or...."Trump has severe mental illness?"....or...."Trump has probably told fifty to a hundred lies every single day of his life in the last ten years"....or...."Trump is a genuine biblical false prophet and enemy to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?....or...."Trump is far worse than even Biden on corruption?" I did mention a couple of things and was told that that was fake news.
                 I've posted on this before.....it may have been late 2017....and Trump had told some gigantic whoppers....so bad that even Rush and Sean and Mark could not deny them. It had to be that they coordinated within themselves....for within one week....all three....on their radio show....had admitted that yes Trump does tell lies...but added....."but that's just Trump. That's just who he is."
                 I've posted this before also....when I came into the faith....back in 1982.....for whatever reason....I went immediately into apologetics....particularly the cults. I used to put an ad in the paper in an attempt to reach some people who were being recruited into a particular cult....while they still had the ability to think on their own. So I know a little bit about cults. For one thing they all started with a charismatic figure.....who rules everything....and absolutely everyone in the cult....and that is Trump. Cults have their own scriptures....and MAGA's scriptures are FOX primetime....and talk radio....and many and various podcasters. These are who are to be listened to or read....and no one else....and if there is any deviation at all....the offender is to be shunned at the very least....smeared or fired or investigated....and certainly primaried if they are in government.
                 So we all know that Trump tells lies....we are just not too concerned about it....but if we ever should begin to question....that if Trump lies whenever he wants and to whomever he wants....then theoretically....why wouldn't he....if necessary....lie to us also....to Israel....to anyone....and if we do finally begin to think on our own again....then the power of the cult may begin to collapse?

"We Quote Them All The Time.....So We Should Know A Little About How They Preached!

               I'll name five men here. I could easily name ten....and if given some time to use Google and jot names down....I surely could come up with a hundred names.....but five will do.
               Four of these men hailed from England....three of the four from London....and one from Connecticut....a colony of England at the time. Two were Anglicans....one a Baptist.....one a Congregationalist....and one a Presbyterian. All were Calvinists.
               These fives names....in chronological order according to their births were....Jonathan Edwards....1703-1758....George Whitefield....1714-1770....J. C. Ryle....1816-1900....Charles Spurgeon....1834-1892.....and Martyn Lloyd-Jones....1899-1981. MLJ was born less than six months after J. C. Ryle was called home to his Lord and Savior and King.
                We hear today on FOX and Trump talk radio shows....and particularly from Trump himself....that America is the greatest country in the history of the world. Well....Israel of old was a nation to itself....and I'm sorry fellas.....but they get that number one rating. Even England gives the USA a run for the money....and they got rid of slavery long before we did....and it didn't take a civil war to do it....but this number one ranking is ridiculous. It's something that our culture has been hooked on for a long time....making number 1 lists. Let's just be thankful for God's mercy and provision for us as a nation for so long....and for at times such a wonderful sacrificing people when that sacrifice was needed!

Proverbs 27:2...."Let another person praise you....and not your own mouth....a stranger....and not your own lips." ESV

                Here is my point in these five men. Whether they were Baptist or Presbyterian or Anglican or Congregationalist....the glorious gospel they preached was the same! That is point number one. Point number two is that that gospel is not quite the same gospel of that which is predominant today....consequently it produces a different preaching....similar sure....but fundamentally different as to what a sovereign and holy God demands of us.
                OK....third point....we evangelicals today use the names of these men all the time....but we do not acknowledge the difference in the gospels.....because we do not know of the difference in the gospels preached. We need to find out that difference....and the only way to do that would be to either read what they wrote....or hear what they preached! You can take any one of these five men....and Google their names along with....'sermons'....and set out on a journey.....so to speak....to hear what preaching in the past was like. Most will not do this....but for those who do....it will be a blessed journey that they will not want to come back from!

"The Gods Are Always There For Us"

                It's been a brutal winter so far in Western Pennsylvania....-5 degrees as I type at 4 in the morning....after tossing and turning for hours over the condition of the American church....but then it has been a particularly rough weekend....as the Olympics began....in Italy....and people rushed home from church to sit in front of the TV....until the Super Bowl began....and here it is 4 AM....but 10 AM in Milan....so we can turn on the TV as soon as we wake up to see what skier or skater is making news! So It's like a lost weekend.
                As for me....I still haven't the slightest idea what went on or who won that football game. We were with an elderly relative in the evening....and I came home and went straight to bed....without so much as clicking on FOX or Drudge or anything....so no updates....no final score....nothing. I assume somebody won. One area of the country is happy....and one isn't so happy. Oh well....March Madness is just about here....and Spring Training....the gods are always here for us!
                I try never to let my iPhone or laptop battery go completely dead. I was told once that letting a lithium battery like that go to 0% can degrade the battery itself. Well...that is my worry for this weekend....and it is not battery life but discernment that I am worried about. You see we in the church have been living for quite some time now with very low discernment....and only a slight charge on Sunday morning....or maybe Wednesday evening....and I do not know if we can make it through the next few months....with two Olympics....and a 250 year planned birthday extravaganza....and emergencies of the mind....particularly emanating from Trump....drawing on our intellect and discernment almost every day!
                  Our....(evangelical's)....reaction to the recent shootings in Minneapolis have been disconcerting.....and the racism element with conservatives is equally disconcerting. I think that a lot of these [batteries] are already dead....for one can turn the key....and there is absolutely no compassion for anyone!
                  We lost our power for a little while over the weekend....and I have a solar-battery generator.....but we did not have to use it. Folks....brothers and sisters in Christ....God's Word speaks of the battery power more as oil in a lamp. How is your oil? Maybe you had better go and get some more....or when things start to unwind....as Jesus is returning....you may find yourself in a pickle....or on a pickleball court?

Addendum: Here is where you can go to get some oil! This is only one of six parts of this series. You can easily find the other five parts. This teaching series by R. C. Sproul was listened to or watched by just about all evangelicals back in the 80s....and that is one reason why there was as strong movement of God at the time.                                              

Addendum....later in the day: So the game is over? Was it worth it? Was it worth a month of playoffs and build-up? Was the year worth it? Are you coming down from the high? Well the Olympics will give you that boost back up....and I think that the NFL draft is either now or coming up! When I was growing up in Buffalo....the Bills were my team.....Kemp and Lamonica and Gilcrist....I could rattle off twenty or thirty names for you....and this is from sixty years ago.....and the Bills haven't won a Super Bowl yet! So for the Bills or Steelers or any team's fans....was it worth it....a whole life of NFL....and hardly an inkling of the glory of the One who was crucified to save those that God had given Him? And the Lord of Glory is coming back and you do not have a clue? Was it worth it?

'The Great Failure Of The American Pulpit'

Preface: The above is the title of the original post from March of 2021....The Great Failure Of The American Pulpit. The following is a consolidation of parts of that post....with two prefaces to that post....both from 2022. The American pulpits have failed us....aah but if you want them to finally get angry about something....just tell them that. They cannot preach anymore....and chose not to warn anymore....unless it is about Biden or vaccines or the mid-term elections. They did nothing as a wolf in sheep's clothing came in and scattered and devoured the flock!

                  There are numerous occasions in the Old Testament where God severely chastised the shepherds of His flock....Ezekiel chapter 34 being one...."Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel....Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves....the weak you have not strengthened....so they were scattered because there was no shepherd....and no one was seeking or searching for them....Behold I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hands....Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out." Verses 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 11)
               To these shepherds....every single available hour should have been spent in sweat-soaked prayer and attempting to learn something from the Spurgeons and the Ryles and others of the past! Had they done this they would not have missed the false prophet Donald Trump come right into the church. They will be called to account by God for blindly incorporating today's....lackadaisical/encouraging/comforting/make no waves/avoidance of anything that might make sheep leave the church....and deplete the collection plate....fake love/safe space church embalming tactics....this concerning the flock that vitally needs awakening and not comforting.....and warning more than encouraging. 
                Pastors....God will ask of you why you did not warn the sheep. Your certificate....or your seminary degree....guarantees you nothing....other than it will be required of you to answer what you did with such responsibility. Donald Trump is right now floating a 2024 White House run....to see the response of the evangelical. Are you going to just sit back and let this false prophet continue to raid your congregation....politicizing everything....and bringing division right smack in the middle of the pews....or will you lift up Christ as our only hope....and our only rock....and our only harbor in this coming storm?

Addendum: Consider shepherds and their flock traveling from one country to another....and they come across a glistening pool of water off on its own with pastures all around it. Off to one side is another pool of water in amongst trees and dark woods. The shepherds can lead the flock to the living waters....but if they do not use their rod and their staff....the flock will wander off into the woods. That is the church today that will lead the congregation to living waters....at 10:00 AM on the Lord's Day morning.....but will leave them alone to wander off the rest of the day....only to drink from a poisoned pool....or be devoured by wolves.

Pastors might as well meet every leaving at the church door and wish them....'Go in peace....and have fun with your other gods.'

All Is Indeed Lost.....But Instead Of Looking Back.....Look Ahead.....At The Coming Glorious Return Of Our Lord And Savior And King!

                In 1859....a twenty-four year old Charles Spurgeon was forced to move temporarily to a larger venue in London to preach....during that time of his preaching to enormous numbers of people....God did a marvelous work. Those sermons preached at that venue are sometimes considered to be 'revival' sermons. In one of those sermons....his method was simple....as he simply reminded the people of the great works of God in the past. In my own way....that is what I want to attempt to do here....for the benefit of brothers and sisters in Christ who are vexed beyond management because of the horrors that have overtaken America in the past decade....through God's judgments upon us....in giving us the two most disastrous presidents that the United States have ever had....in Joe Biden and Donald Trump....while adding to that vexation the fact that the vast majority of the church....were not only taken in by the latter....Donald Trump....but they abandoned all compassion and common sense and ethics and even decency in the process.
                 So if this is you....and the vexation is increasing....lift your head and take heart....because God has given both you and I this catastrophe....in order to test our faith....to give us an opportunity to prove that faith.
                 Have you forgotten how the disciples must have felt after Jesus was crucified.....or even as they waited in the upper room....before the Holy Spirit came? Have you forgotten how many times that Paul was brutally beaten....with many having abandoned him? Do you think that our vexation is as bad as was his? Have you forgotten how the Apostle John must have felt....serving time on a prison island....and this decades after the other apostles were martyred....and that the next thing he knew....he was given the visions of Revelation! 
                  Have you forgotten how Tyndale must have felt as he was awaiting execution? More importantly....have you forgotten that he did not lose his faith. Have you forgotten how Luther was public enemy #1 in the Holy Roman Empire? Have you forgotten how Bunyan wrote one of the greatest books ever written....while in prison? Have you forgotten how God gave this country a man like George Whitefield? Have you forgotten how he gave England Spurgeon....and then Martyn Lloyd-Jones? Have you forgotten that great movement of God....(you would have to be old enough....but surely you have read about it)....that great movement of God from the last century....where men like Billy Graham and Sproul and MacArthur and Wilkerson and Robertson and John Piper....and so many more....sprang up seemingly out of nowhere?
                 Have you ever even heard how William Carey ministered for seven years in India....before he saw a single convert? Do you know that Spurgeon and Sproul felt depressed at times over what was happening around them? Can you imagine what went through Billy Graham's mind....in his last year....when he could hardly converse anymore....and as it was obvious that his long ministry was over....and he saw his predictions of God's judgment on America taking place? Do you think about Hebrews 13:3 at least on occasion?
                  Most importantly....have you forgotten your own salvation....and how at one moment you were lost....just as these people all around us....and the next moment the veils were lifted on God's Word....and on our glorious Savior?
                  So yes....it does appear right now that all is lost....and all is indeed lost....but if you would only turn around from looking back at what is lost....and see what is ahead....you would rejoice in faith just as had Peter and Paul and John and Tyndale and Luther and Bunyan and Whitefield and Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur and David Wilkerson and Pat Robertson and John Piper!

               

National Prayer Abomination

              I've posted a number of times over the years on the National Prayer Breakfast at our nation's capital....and the history of it....but for this short post....what I'm watching this morning....is an abomination....offered up by the president of the United States....in what is supposed to be....a Christian prayer setting.
             Earlier in the proceedings....around the time that the....genuine....biblical.....false prophet....Paula Cain....introduced fellow....genuine....biblical.....false prophet Donald Trump....an announcer on the dais asked everyone to sing along with the next Christian hymn.....but these folks in the audience....which includes about all of Trump's cabinet....just talked and laughed through the hymn.
             Often over the years during Trump rally speeches....I would shorthand comments....(my shorthand)....for a later post....but in this speech I could not possibly keep up with the dozens of outright deceptions and absurdities and lies that Trump has been telling. It is an amazing thing to watch....the power of the delusion....over a supposedly evangelical audience! 
             Evangelicals....in the historic and biblical sense of the word....are a remnant today....a minute remnant in America....and a remnant in evangelicalism....and even a remnant in Christian churches and denominations. This is biblical prophecy unfolding and being revealed before those who have eyes to see....and ears to hear. May God let others follow this man and this world....but if it be in His will to have mercy upon us who do not deserve that mercy....may He open the eyes and ears of His children....that we might easily recognize each other....find each other....and join with each other....in the tumultuous days ahead....of great delusion....false signs and wonders....and false promises of peace and security.

"Teach Us....[O LORD]....To Number Our Days...."

               I had dinner with a friend last evening....and halfway through dinner I remembered that today....would be my 76th birthday....Lord willing....and then I added a little anecdote. In the leadup to this year's birthday....(and it is the same every year)....when it comes to mind that a birthday is coming up....I purposely block out of my mind....that number....so in this case....last evening....I would not let the number 76 enter my mind.
               My friend smiled and said that he knows what I mean....but I had to interject....because I block that upcoming number....not because an added year in getting older might bring a groan....but because even a day before that birthday is subject to God's perfect will. My friend instantly knew what I meant....and added that either one of us might not make it through the meal we were eating.
               Psalm 90 begins the fourth book within the book of Psalms....and it is the oldest Psalm written....for Moses himself composed it on the leading of the Holy Spirit....and a beautiful Psalm it is! Here are a few of those 17 verses....

Psalm 90: 2b......."Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
                 3......."You turn man to destruction, And say, "Return, O children of men."
                 4......."For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past."
                 10......"The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength
                             they are eighty years."
                 11......"Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You. so is Your
                             Your wrath."
                 12......"Teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom."
                 13......"Return, O LORD! How long?"

                 In verse 12....."Teach us to number our days"....God is reminding us that we do not live in this body....in this state.....forever! So we are in effect to ask of God that He might make us aware....not only of the shortness of this life....but of our sins in this life....that we might return to Him....as we call out to Him...."How long"....as to when He would return to us!

Addendum: I want to recommend an extraordinary book to you....it's ten years old....O. Palmer Robertson's....The Flow Of The Psalms. The Psalms are obviously not in chronological order.....but....but there is a distinct chronological order to the five books within the Psalms....and according to the author....the Jews moved from....confrontation in Psalms 1-41....to....communication....in Psalms 42 to 72....to devastation....in Psalms 73 to 89....to maturation....in Psalms 90-106....and finally....in what we are living today I believe....consummation....in Psalms 107 to 150!

A Feast Fit For A King

              The White House today released an updated graphic of the latest ballroom design. Although the total square footage of the new building may be around 90,000....the ballroom itself should be about 20,000 square feet. Trump originally said that it could seat about a thousand....although the official capacity announced is about 650 people. Trump....as you know....will reside only a short walk away in the White House. In an interview with Laura Ingraham....Trump boasted that it will be the greatest ballroom in the world! 
              We are not sure of the exact relationship between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar although the terminology in the fifth chapter of Daniel used the word...."father"....for Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon was under siege from the Medes and Persians....but apparently Belshazzar felt secure enough to hold a great feast....in Nebuchadnezzar's South Palace....only a short walk away from where Nebuchadnezzar....(and later Belshazzar).....lived.  A thousand of Belshazzar's lords were invited....about the same number that Trump said would be full-capacity for his new ballroom. The square footage of Nebuchadnezzar's South Palace ballroom was about half that of Trump's new ballroom....but they also probably used the adjoining palace courtyard....of approximately the same size.
               Well you all know the story....Belshazzar brought in the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem....that were apparently stored away.....and they drank from the vessels....and partied. Fingers of a hand then appeared on the wall of the ballroom....and Daniel....who was probably in his eighties by then....interpreted the words....and that very night....believe it or not....the Medes and Persians came in under the city walls....because they had diverted the waters....and historians descriptions of what the conquerors did to the Babylonians....was graphic....and terrible.
                We do not know what a day brings....which is why we should always try to preface remarks on the future....even if it is just a day....with...."Lord willing"....or...."if God wills it"....but if Trump eventually gets the new and glorious ballroom that he wants....and he holds his first feast for a thousand or so dignitaries....some present might want to keep an eye on the walls....for fingers of a hand....writing something....might appear....telling those in the feast....(and all of us really)....that after a half century of intense warnings by many men......not the least of which was Billy Graham....that our days also have been numbered....and we also have been found wanting....and our kingdom also....has been divided and given away!

The College Chapel Service......Redux

   

Preface: I'm bringing back this older post....from one year ago....January of 2025....because I was on college campuses recently....and as I always do....scattered Books of the Bible bookmarks with this website address on them. This post is a challenge to the college student on how they view the weekly chapel requirement. Probably it has been done....but just in case....this desiringgod.org episode would be a wonderful chapel service in itself!                                                                                   

             Last evening my wife and I dined with some Christian friends....a husband and wife....and I discovered that the gentleman....who is a couple of years older than I am....was a graduate of Wheaton College! My mind went back to an extraordinary episode of....desiringgod.org....John Piper's ministry....where Pastor John....twenty-two years old at the time....was in the audience of 2000 students....this was in a Friday morning chapel which was mandatory....and the date was September 22, 1967....where the college president....V. Raymond Edman....spoke for eleven minutes....and then collapsed and died at the pulpit! I texted the above link to my friend this morning....and I'll wait to see if he had matriculated to Wheaton at the time....or if he was a year away?
            The eleven minutes of Dr. Edman's sermon were profound....and in retrospect they were breathtaking....in that Dr. Edman spoke of one day standing before the King of Kings....and in eleven minutes he himself would do just that! Why would God do something like this?
            Yesterday afternoon while rearranging books in the many bookshelves of our basement...an old yellowed paperback fell to the floor....a book that I had read forty years ago....Through Gates Of Splendour....a first-hand account by Elizabeth Elliot of the martyrdom of her husband and four other missionaries in the jungle of Ecuador. Why did God permit that? Well...that book probably had sent thousands of people to their knees while reading it....and many others to the mission field....as it humbled me greatly yesterday in just reading parts of it. John Piper's telling of the death of V. Raymond Edman in the pulpit....with his commentary on the topic that Dr. Edman was preaching on....probably  greatly encouraged and motivated and humbled just as many believers today? Maybe it will even do so to you?
             On the topic itself....Dr. Raymond Edman was describing how he once met Ethiopia's king Haile Selassie....and how extraordinary measures were taken to be given an audience with this king....so he was asking the Wheaton student body back then in 1967....(and it is the same today)....how it was that Christians enter into the presence of the King of Kings....(college chapel in this instance)....often laughing and joking....not taking seriously who we are meeting with? 
             I personally don't have much of an alternative....because we are with an elderly loved on the Lord's Day....a loved one who needs 24/7 care.....so we stream our services....but in a way I thank God for that....because I don't have to deal with the gaiety and the laughter....(honest and good as that at any other time may be)....that the average American church service gives us both before and after what should be a meeting with the....KING of KINGS!
             The glory has indeed today departed in much if not most if not all of evangelicalism....particularly when politics is involved. We nonchalantly summon God in our prayers....and we throw around....'God bless America'....as if we believed that we were the new Israel...and folks....believe it or not....there are those who believe just that! There are few warnings anymore....no burning bush....nor taking off of sandals for the holy presence that we are in....no mortification from the sermons....and no falling prostrate before a Holy God! May He have mercy upon us and restore to our pulpits the awareness of what happened on that sandy beach in Ecuador....and in the Wheaton pulpit....and may He do this for His name and His glory alone!

                                                                             

             

DISPATCHES

Friday morning....February 6....another racist meme....and another absurd excuse....and then after defending the meme....they displayed anger over who put it up? It is not as much who put that thing up....but rather that this is the trend for ten years now of the Republican MAGA and even evangelical culture. I see it often.... this power and pride and profit over compassion....even this morning....as an evangelical defended the shooting of Alex Pretti....and then repeated a smear of Pretti that has been debunked! Do you remember Trump campaigning in 2024.....at a rally....when he said....(I'm watching it again right now)...."I think that suburban women like me a lot....(cheers from the crowd)...."why wouldn't they".....and then he told them that he was keeping low-income housing away from their suburban homes! He was keeping criminals away. He thinks of low-income people as criminals! On that day....in August of 2024....after that rally....evangelical pastors should have totally disassociated themselves with Trump....but of course that did not happen.

What would it take for the average everyday pastor in America to admit that Donald Trump was a false prophet? He has 'prophesied' great things for ten years straight...every day....and directed primarily to evangelicals....of which they believed....when God's Word warns that judgment is coming! Pastors cannot admit that right now because their only excuse for not speaking out against Trump is...."We elected a command-in-chief and not a pastor-in-chief." If Trump is identified as a genuine biblical false prophet....then there goes their only excuse!

Note....today is my 76th birthday...and I already received a birthday from a good friend from my days before retirement....and his text was this...."Happy Birthday 🎂Have a MAGA DAY." Many of my best friends...and my remaining cousin relatives....are MAGA people....(probably)....we just do not let it get between us. 

When a ministry has become so big that it can no longer handle feedback and questions....then it has become too big....and when the minister behind that national ministry starts to protect that ministry over protecting the truth of the gospel....because he thinks that God needs him....then it and he....has become too big.

When we start to protect religious freedom so much....that we make alliances with he who may appear to champion religious liberty....but who at heart is the biggest tyrant of all....then we start to prove the warning of Martin Niemoller who said in effect that he stood by while they arrested others....but eventually they came for him!

The elephant in the room has always been.....what if a madman....whether a physiological madman....or mental....or political....or even spiritual (demonic) madman....became president of the United States? Well we may not know which one....or what combination....but unfortunately we do now have growing evidence on what would happen.

There is morbid irony in the fact that Donald Trump....whether his name would be on the structure or not....would be represented in the towering arch proposed for the plot of D.C. land overlooking the cemetery dedicated to America's fallen heroes.

Another monstrosity is being hastily constructed in place of the torn down East Wing of the White House. One of the hundreds if not thousands of controversies in the past ten years was when Trump called the White House...."A dump." When confronted with this....he denied it and called it fake news....but as in the other thousands of supposed fake news stories....it was not fake.

This is one sentence from a recent post from only a couple days ago...."The reason that I think that Christians should pay the money and go see the film....[Melania....as I did]....is that they need to see....how far we have fallen....in our Christian walk....in our intellectual state....and in compassion and wisdom and common sense."

And another monstrosity in the making....Trump took over the board of the Kennedy Center....put his name on it....saw a number of entertainers cancel their appearances because of the name...and did what he always does....strike back....planning a two-year renovation project.

No one on planet earth knows more than Donald Trump....that if his praetorian guard in the congress....formerly known as the Republican Party....should lose their committee power....then he will be investigated with multiple special counsels and even impeachments....particularly in investigating if he used the White House to amass billions of dollars in personal profit. 

The prophet Daniel warned about a man who would serve a "god of fortresses"....(Daniel 11:38.) Trump is a man who serves a god of towers....whether they be in NYC or Washington D.C. or Dubai or Abu Dhabi or proposed in places like the Gaza strip.

I have been a conservative....evangelical....republican....for forty-four years....a veteran and a Reaganite....avid conservative talk show listener....Tea Party before Tea Party was cool....who voted for Trump in 2016....but today you could not pay me to vote for any republican....who did stand up and challenge what is going on with Trump. Do you think that serious and experienced republican polling operatives might be interested in my comments?

I want to wax....biblical prophecy....for a moment. Veils are being lifted as I type....not that we have answers all of a sudden to many things....because we do not....but there is a glimmer of light being detected in our....(by "our" I mean everyone who seriously and humbly and in the desire to see Jesus return)....in our studies in God's Word....and one glimmer is on the woman in Revelation who rides the scarlet beast. This 'Babylon' is increasingly appearing to be all of the money ventures...'ventures' being attempts to seek riches....in the world....throughout the ages.....everything today from Elon Musk....(and the other multi billionaires)....to all of the money made through entertainments....to crypto to Wall Street....to Ayn Rand to smartphones....to pro sports contracts to gambling and drugs....to gold and silver....all of it....the "love of money"....as the 'root" or foundation of "all sorts of evil." (1 Tim 6:10) If this is the case....(and this love for exorbitant wealth is growing exponentially)....then this system is surely coming down....and something would have to bring it down.

Franklin Graham....Billy Graham's son....has been extraordinary on at least two counts....one being his wonderful longtime ministry of Samaritan's Purse....but another in his longtime lack of discernment on his own father's warnings about politics. I don't know that a week has passed without him praising the false prophet Donald Trump on Facebook. In a post today he began with...."Like most Americans, I've enjoyed watching the Super Bowl." It is one thing to fail to see that a....Lord's Day....exists today for Christians....for many have....and we all err in ways of which we will find out later....but it is an altogether different thing to use that particular error on God's Word....to actually sit down for hours on end....and be taken in by the idolatry of....Super Bowl Sunday....or the weekly NFL season for that matter. A glass can only take so much liquid....fill it up even halfway with one substance....(let alone it being poison!)....and you can only add so much more of anything....in this case....the means of grace of hearing God's Word preached on The Lord's Day. This principle goes for any Christians reading this. It may not be a....'killer'....as to salvation....but it is a yearly....or even weekly dallying on....as it were....The Enchanted Ground....from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....where Christians dangerously fall asleep! To put in today's Everyman's vernacular....if this is the way that you spend your time....whether you be a seminary professor or a ploughman like me....do not expect much discernment of the day we live in....and the nearness of the return of our Lord and Savior and King.

Lord's Day Post

               One of the many things that are lacking in evangelicalism today....when actually evangelizing....is telling plainly the listener....of the cost of discipleship. We may have....and in fact we did get away with this twenty and thirty and forty plus years ago....but it is more important today than ever that we tell those who have an interest....that it is a soldier's vocation that one is being called to....and a soldier means battles.....and wounds....and at the very least.....great difficulties!
               The doctrine has always been the same....it's just that today....I'm writing this on January 31, 2026 but it could have been any time in the past seven or eight years...today we are heading....if we are not already in....that seventieth week of Daniel....otherwise known as....The Tribulation....as opposed to....tribulation....which has always been a possibility for the believer.  
                I would have liked just to put a YouTube up of this sermon from R. C. Sproul....for it would have been easier....but a YouTube is not available on this particular sermon of 28 minutes....but please consider putting the URL that is below on your address line....and be blessed by a sermon from this man who went to be with his Lord and Savior and King....eight years ago. R. C.....who may be the finest of all teachers that God had given the church in the past fifty years....was also a Pittsburgher.

https://learn.ligonier.org/sermons/cost-discipleship-luke-weekends

All In The Family

                My hope and recommendation is that all born-again Christians....(that is no longer a redundant term)....my hope is that they all go to see the new Melania documentary....as I did this morning....at a 10 A.M showing....to a full house....albeit in one of the smaller theaters!
                There were no surprises....except one....which I will state in the next paragraph....but no specific controversial revelations.....probably because there is practically nothing to the hour and forty-four minute documentary....narrated by Melania....a film that she produced and certainly had her own imprint on every frame.
                 The reason that I think that Christians should pay the money and go see the film....is that they need to see....how far we have fallen....in our Christian walk....in our intellectual state....and in compassion and wisdom and common sense.
                  Melania obviously has no embarrassment in revealing this lifestyle of the super-rich and famous....of which I could easily understand it if she were only a celebrity....but not the First Lady in America's White House? It was real odd in that she considers her meticulous perfection in every quarter-inch of her inauguration gown....or the band on her inauguration hat....or any of the crown & jewels protocols in a Trump White House....(as opposed to a frumpy Kamala or Jill.....or Barack without Michelle....who make passing appearances)....to be a superior character trait? 
                  Donald himself is in the film a fair amount of the time once 20-day pre-inauguration time period gets closer to that day....and there are certainly no surprises there as Donald Trump is so one-dimensional. This is same persona of....The Donald....from the 70s/80s....to the man in The Apprentice boardroom of the 90s/2000s....to the evangelical conservative's Jehu/Cyrus in the last decade. 
                  To anyone who might think that Melania just puts up with her husband....the film makes it very clear that she had coveted this throne as much as he did. So....if the born-again evangelical were to see the film....they would have to sit there for almost two hours....as opposed to just watching a Hannity interview....or a rally speech....or an Oval Office....thirty pastors laying on of hands video clip....and it might just be enough of reality....to turn off FOX....no longer just streaming biased news....and opening God's Word...."As a deer pants for flowing streams..."
                

Two Prayers......Nine Years Apart...."The Vile....Has Become Diabolical"

Preface: The following post is from this past October....and consists of an opening paragraph....a prayer for Donald Trump....written down as you will read in December of 2016....and the prayer that I would give today. Since March of 2017 I have read 109 books on Donald Trump....even some of his own books....and plenty of those books think that he is great. I've watched at least fifty of his rallies....and as a news hound....I read everything that I can find time to read on him every day:

                 I posted the prayer that is directly below in December of 2016. You can clearly see from it how I looked at Donald Trump at the time. I voted for him....although I admit that I did not like him....and celebrated his win! Only four months after this post....this prayer....it was March of 2017....Trump started doing some things that candidate Trump gave us no clue of. I started reading....and watching....and taking notes....and researching.....right up to today....[nine years]....later. I mention in this prayer that Trump in his first term had some people around him....and some in his cabinet....who were humble and God-fearing....and a wonderful and capable Vice President....but that is not the case this time....not with his appointed loyalists....or with his cabinet....or with his vice president. President Trump in his first term was just bad....an amateur and an egotist....but something happened to him from the day of the 2020 election to January 6 of 2021. He is not the same person....for the vile has become diabolical. How can I use such a word? When someone in essence enters into the church....the American church....the conservative evangelical element of it anyway....and leads them like a pied piper....away from trust in and obedience to Christ....and when the result is a decimated evangelicalism....with a gospel of works and patriotism....lacking compassion for those who have not been given what we have been given....when in this case that man....strongarms and threatens....and then carries out those threats.....and causes pastors to cower and remain silent....then the word diabolical applies. Shame on evangelicals....not for making this mistake....for we are all sinners who err....but for ignoring the compelling every day evidence that show this to be a troubled and despotic individual....who will do what he has done his whole life....and that is deceive and destroy.

 Posted. December of 2016:

            Lord I lift this man up to you who is to become our president.... for mercies upon his soul Lord and for wisdom that might in turn lead to mercies upon we your children. I see myself in him Lord, not the fame or wealth or great abilities in business but in his blindness and even arrogance. I see myself when I was cast off from your blessings of grace and knowledge of your majesties....I see myself even now in need of the same mercies. Lord, you permitted him to attain that which this world calls great success...show him that it is but a dung heap. He finds himself in a position that he believes talent and purpose has brought him....maybe even fate as he perceives fate to be. Surely his countenance of supreme confidence must dissipate at night when he has nothing to do but lie in bed and contemplate what has happened to him in the last year. Surely Lord the responsibilities must unnerve him. Does he marvel Lord? I pray that he doesn't, for he would not marvel at what you have done for he has shown no inclination to consult you, therefore he would have to marvel at what he perceives he himself to have done....just as Nebuchadnezzar had marveled. In whatever is in store for him in this exalted position he is to assume I pray that if it be thy will that his eyes would be opened to the realities surrounding him...the realities of a world that has rejected its Creator and will therefore be judged by its Creator...and the reality that he also has fallen under this prideful self-exaltation and is in need of the mercy of redemption. Cause him to tremble Lord....at your holiness....at his sinfulness....and if it be in thy plans to have mercy upon us then cause him to humble himself before you just as you did so with us.... and that the accompanying eternal and unsurpassable blessings would also be his as they are ours. I ask not Lord for him to be the champion that he projects himself to be, for you alone Lord are our champion...our captain...and our king. I ask not Lord that our nation would merely be granted more time to move further away from you... but that it would...in whatever time you give us...display clearly to the world a refusal to follow the schemes of those whose plans are for building a new world in total antithesis to you its Creator. Lord, this man is not alone in need of mercy for we ourselves have failed miserably. Show us this Lord....and set us apart once again....for your purposes. If you should will it that we return to you then no force on this earth or in the heavens can thwart our return. Lord, this man has advisers all around him. Some acknowledge that only you cause nations to rise and to fall but most do not acknowledge you. Blind this man who will be called the president to those that are blind to you Lord! Give this man no strength apart from trust in you Lord, for any other perceived strength is worthless and deceiving. Then should turmoil come, we shall have perfect peace Lord...not necessarily peace as man views peace...but peace in the midst of travail....our minds set upon you who not only created the heavens and the earth but controls everything and everyone in this your creation.....and if peace should come....as man views peace....we could do nothing but gratefully acknowledge that you have brought order out of chaos for thy glory alone.

My prayer today:

         Lord.....if it be Thy will....and to Thy glory alone....I pray that Thou might open the eyes of Thy children to see who this man truly is. Have mercy upon us for going the way of Balaam....for profit. Have mercy on our pulpits for not warning of this false prophet....and on us for not demanding that they warn us. Lord....we forgot that Thou and Thou alone hast protected and sustained us over these many years and even centuries. We have thus went to Egypt for help. Bring us back as prodigals Lord....for Thy name's sake! Use this falling away for good....in winnowing us....that we might come together.....repenting together.....hoping and trusting together....free from the bondage....with the fog lifted that restricted our view of Thy imminent return....and the doldrums replaced by gales of wind from Thy Holy Spirit....guiding and empowering us even in our weakness....that we might show that Thy mercies are as great as Thy judgments....and Thy staff as gentle as Thy rod was harsh!

                It's been a while....years actually....and I thought that this might be a good time to post a small biographical sketch....a little more than is in my profile. Lord willing....in six days I will turn seventy-six years old....Lord willing again....for we do not know what a day brings. 
                I was born in Buffalo, New York. My father worked at Westinghouse in Buffalo. He was born in 1921 right smack dab on the land that the Battle of the Monongahela was fought....where George Washington had bullets go through his coat....that in 1755....on what was known for a time as Braddock's Field....in Braddock, Pennsylvania....about eight miles south of Pittsburgh. My father was severely wounded in a kamikaze attack at Guadalcanal....received extensive medical treatment....and met my mother at Braddock Hospital....they moved to Buffalo as Westinghouse opened a new plant. He and my mother separated when I was nine....my mother and I moved back to her home in Pittsburgh. My father died on November 4, 1979....the day that Iranian students took the American embassy in Tehran....and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
                 It is entirely possible that both of my grandfathers were working at the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh on November 2, 1920....when KDKA had the first commercial radio broadcast from the top of the building. That broadcast was the election returns of the Warren G. Harding/Calvin Coolidge....James M. Cox/Franklin D. Roosevelt contest.
                 I attended Catholic schools through high school....joined the army....served a year and a half in Vietnam as a morse code intercept analyst....returned home....graduated from Pitt with a major in economics....and met and married my wonderful wife. We have a wonderful son....and a wonderful daughter-in-law....and a wonderful grandson. Isn't life wonderful?
                 I abused alcohol and my own body....and collaterally other people....over a torturous five years. No....life could not be described as wonderful....not because I would roll around as a drunken bum fighting in the street or a bar....and not because I was no help to anyone....but rather because even though I was religious.....attended church and wore medals around the neck....and prayed to Jesus for things I wanted....that kind of thing....I was totally lost....without Jesus Christ....whom I did not know even though I prayed in His name....for to me He was only a token....a sacred name that I would actually nod my head when I uttered it....unless it was in a curse.
                 I had nothing going for me. I deserved to fall off of that water tower while drinking a bottle of vodka....(I didn't fall off)....I climbed down and fell asleep on the ground. (I could give  numerous other examples like that) Time passed....I got out of the army and was married....my wife was patient....I quit alcohol....(only God could cause me to do that)....God gave me a job that I did not deserve....and then that truly wonderful day came when my wife was shopping for curtains....and I was bored....so I walked the shopping center concourse....and because of that boredom....decided to walk into a Christian bookstore. What was this stuff....(fifteen years later we would own and operate a Christian bookstore)....and I walked out with an odd book....written in an outline form....Josh McDowell's....Evidence That Demands A Verdict. (I saw that same book last week....forty-three years later....on the shelf at Barnes & Noble!) Praise God!
                  In that book I learned that there is all kinds of evidence....amazing evidence....for the reliability of the words in those Bibles that just about everyone in America owns but hardly ever reads. There is evidence that Jesus was the expected Messiah. There is archaeological evidence of those towns and battles of the Old Testament....and Noah's Ark....and the Tower of Babel....and the temples on Mt. Zion....and on the fulfilling of hundreds of prophecies....and of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus....and the accuracy of the various manuscripts that have come to be used to compile God's blessed Word to us in this these sixty-six book Bibles!
                  Life was not wonderful yet....for I only knew....and acknowledged....or assented to....the truths in God's Word....but it was the beginning! I became through God's grace....like a child....in that I knew that I had a heavenly Father....and that I had rebelled against Him. I then knew that I wasn't nearly as smart as I thought that I was....in fact I knew that I was ignorant. This was terrible! There was no way out....for I knew who I was....and there was no answer....until there was an answer!
                 Could this be as wonderful as it seemed? Everything that I had done....and everything that I was....could be forgiven? These days were a blur. I was telling everyone that I could about this Savior....Jesus....and not doing a very good job of it....but then I was only a child. So I kept running towards this Light that beckoned me....and I stumbled a fell quite a few times....and had people laugh at me because of it....but I knew that there was no where else to go....for I had seen something of this glory and this majesty. Those same words in the Bible that I had read in religion class in high school....were now leaping off the page....informing me of the greatest story ever told!
                 Forty-three years now? How could He have had such patience....and keep me? How could that glorious gospel....become even more glorious as decades passed? How could the Bible....be like the ever-present fish in those baskets that fed the five-thousand.....and keep on feeding and feeding and feeding me? Doesn't that revelation ever end? How is it possible that even the joy could increase and increase? I'm seventy-five....I can't even remember where I put my keys....but I remember all of His promises....is there no limit to His mercy?
                  So that is me....evidence that God can have mercy on the lowest of the low....and the most unlovable....(I think I used those words in my profile....It's hard not to repeat them over and over and over!) What about you? Maybe you are seventy-five years old? If God calls you this day....I will have absolutely nothing at all on you even after a forty-three year head start....for it doesn't work that way! I didn't choose to have faith....I would never have chosen to have saving faith in the gospel....or in the shed blood on Calvary....or the empty tomb....unless He conquered me....and gave life to my dead heart....that it might beat....for His mercy once extended even on the thief on the cross next to Him....extended to someone as I! 

"There Is A Way That Seems Right To A Man....But Its End Is The Way To Death."

                   It is a major flaw in the human character....in that whatever time period of history....man does not seem to detect the dangers....so he fails to prepare for them. I cannot remember the exact quote....nor even the person who said it....but in essence it said that every man sees himself as the only eternal being....everyone else has an end. It is the type of a thought that might be immediately rejected upon hearing it at first....but if you meditate on it for a while....a little bit of truth in the statement begins to show itself.
                   We all are familiar with this Latin axion....carpe diem....'seize the day'....as it has found its way into our culture from time to time over the past century. There is an iconic and haunting song from the 60s...."Let's Live For Today"....by The Grass Roots....but it is pretty accurate as to how we do not want to face the potential problems that may be ahead of us.
                   This is and has always been Trump's problem....and may turn out to be his Achilles heel....in that he has always went after the big project....a tower or some other major endeavor. It often failed....and he bailed....cut his losses....while others were not so fortunate. 
                   This....Make America Great Again....was the biggest project of all. In his first term he ran into all kinds of snags....including impeachments and a pandemic....but this time around it was go for broke....greatness or bust. Working for him for a time was that he was given the reigns of great power....and a great military. What chance does Venezuela have against this technologically powerful beast? 
                   He never could....and never wanted to....in fact he was never interested at all in the long term....or in consequences.....or in collateral damage. Everything is the present to him....such as an adolescent would think.
                   He has always hated NATO....for whatever reason is not clear. He was wined and dined in Russia back in 1987....came home....and spent a lot of money bashing allies in newspapers. He wields all these new powers that he has with abandon....he threatened Canada again yesterday....with 100% tariffs....and he also threatened South Korea. Our former allies are forming new economic alliances. It is sad....that a man who basically ridiculed military service his whole life....and conveniently had a medical draft deferment....is threatening the whole world as commander-in-chief of  America's powerful military.
                    The Republican Party....as of today....January 27, 2026....is no more.....for it is now the Trump Party....where everyone in congress had better just obey what they are told....or they will get threats of being primaried. He threatens even strong conservatives because he has no...and has never had....any discernable ideology....for it is all just him....and consequently everything America....or anything Israel....is transactional....from the dealmaker....for he may do a great thing for you one day...and stab you in the back the next!
                      Evangelicals....historically the most valuable segment of American society....are not even evangelical anymore....and have little compassion left. Their discernment is all but gone....and there is no power in their pulpits.
                      It was Obama who scared us all when he said just prior to his first inauguration...."We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America"....but he never did....as it was Trump who has fundamentally changed us! Everything it seems has been turned upside down....and changes all the time. America is hardly recognizable at all.
                      Our strong alliances have been broken. To Trump it is only this hemisphere....and he could care less what happens to Europe. This also is sad....as I had been to Europe a number of times in the past....and it was always that these are our friends! There are visitors here to these posts from Canada and the United Kingdom. I feel like we betrayed all of them!
                       God's Word speaks clearly and often about what I so poorly tried to describe above on the flaws in the human character. We can see the rebellion to God in Israel of old....and Judah....and us today....where we all had or have a way that seems good to us....but it only leads to destruction.
                        The Cuban Missile Crisis....in retrospect....was absolutely nothing compared to the dangers today....that are increasing every single day....but we have politics on our mind....and elections....when not entertaining ourselves:
                         
                         I'll conclude this post with this paragraph from a preface to a 2019 post. Billy Graham wrote his book Storm Warning in 1991....and it was updated and revised in 2010. I think that these comments came from the 2010 revision....because Billy Graham's ministry had changed in the latter years of his ministry....as he became even more sober-minded....and more humble....and more concerned about the judgment of God coming to America.  "I look back on my many years as an evangelist and wonder, Have I made the Christian faith look too easy......in my eagerness to tell the world about the greatest gift that comes from God....I ask myself if I have comprehended the price He paid for our freedom....Have I adequately explained the price we must pay in humbling ourselves, turning our backs on pride, and sacrificing our earthly desires out of obedience to the Lord"....and he concluded his book with this...."[This] storm warning carries a booming jolt of truth--Trouble Ahead; Prepare to Meet Thy God." 

 Pors Title....Proverbs 14:12 ESV

I Can't Remember Pontius Pilate's Favorite Team

Preface: The following was just an addendum of the post below this but I decided to make it a post in itself:

                It was not a Christian produced film....just as Chariots Of Fire was not a Christian produced film....but it has one of the strongest Christian messages in movies....2016's....Risen....with Joseph Fiennes in the part of a Roman Tribune. There is a scene in the film where the tribune and Pontius Pilate are in a hot bath....and Pilate asks the tribune what god he prays to. Fiennes answers....Mars....Pilate responds....as best as I remember...."Ah....the god of war."
                I can't remember Pilate's favorite team! That's not a mistake....the word team. There were all different kinds of pagan idols that both the people of Israel and Judah would serve. With some you had to go up on a mountain and with others you just put a statue in the house...or maybe went on top of the house?
                Here is what should be hard news for the Christian to take....sports....not sport....singular....not exercise....not even moderation in sports....not even the Olympics....but the Mount Olympus of American gods....the pantheon of all of our gods....very particularly NFL football....and super-particularly....Super Bowl Sunday....is one of the major idols....or gods....of Americans who think that they can serve God and Milcom at the same time.
                Christian men....this is why you do not know....or pant for....or even desire....the return of Jesus in glory and power....along with His mighty angels....or for that matter....it is one reason why you do not recognize Trump as a genuine biblical false prophet. The idolatry of sports....whether on a mountain or in a stadium or on a raceway or in front of TV....has blinded us to the glory of God....and the commands and warnings of His Word....and stopped our ears to the voice of our Shepherd and coming King!
                As for the NFL....it is Apollo and Jupiter and Bacchus rolled into one.....whether it be with the man who only attends worship service a few times a year....an avocation more than the devout with whom sports consist more of a daily mass....to one degree or another over the entire year....spanning not only decades but as I have witnessed....over whole lifetimes....to be buried in the team's jersey....which I also have witnessed a number of times.
                We have no one to tell us this today. Pastors will not touch it. How do I know these things? Well I spent my time in downtown Pittsburgh after Super Bowl wins....but by God's grace on the absolute least and weakest of all....He took that desire away....and as He so often does....He uses the most unlikely....to show the most educated....the way....and all praise and honor and glory be to Him....now and forever more!

Addendum: This isn't an easy thing to write on....which is why....as I added  above...."Pastors won't touch it." Many men view the NFL almost as a family experience...a father taking his son to a game....or watching their home team on television every week. Add to that....Christian football players thanking God....in on-the-field interviews after a win....but ignorance....no matter how sweet it can come off as....is no excuse. This supra-phenomenon has built up since January of 1967 and the first Super Bowl....of which at the time I was a big sixteen year old AFL fan. Not only has it essentially destroyed any hope that we had in the church of returning to honoring the Lord's Day....but it's financial growth....(just think of the Super Bowl commercials).....has taken it to ungodly levels....as the whole football year dominates from August to the following February. And add to all of this....that we are in....'the last of the last days'....or the....'end of the end times'....which means that we need all of our spiritual resources to not only prepare ourselves...but prepare the way of the return of our Lord and Savior and King as best as we as individuals can do. If we cannot even give up....professional football....then how can we expect to spot the great delsuion of the last days?

                 It was in the Ministry of Love.....where Winston Smith was being tortured....in the classic book....and many movies....of George Orwell's....1984. You can easily Google up a clip on the scene where O'Brien....extends fingers of his hand in front of Winston....and asks him how much is 2 + 2....upon which Winston correctly says...."four"....and is given an electrical shock. This continues until Winston finally says....what O'Brien wants him to say...."five"....so 2 + 2 = 5!
                  Some say that it was a Joseph Goebbels quote...."if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it....people will eventually come to believe it." Whoever said it first....it has in the past proved to be a true theorem. We've seen it a number of times in the past ten years....one example would be....'The Russia Hoax'....for the investigation was anything but a hoax....but most of those on the one side have come to believe that it was indeed a hoax.
                   We are seeing this method play out in Minnesota....where certain individuals will calmly speak to the camera and microphone....and state what videos prove to be incorrect! It has been a few weeks of this....since the first horrible incident....and it doesn't seem to be working that well....because the people....as Winston Smith did at first....know what they saw in the videos....and even Republicans are starting to challenge the narrative. We will just have to see how long this narrative will be continued....or if it will be decided to spin the situation in another way.
                  
 
                 

The Coming Storms

               Do you really just hope that things will settle down....and America will prosper financially...so that you can continue with the goals that you have set? That would seem to be an easy question to answer....of course....everything about it sounds good....and it might be good.....with one exception.
               The above description is totally void of what God has been telling us for quite some time.....and it is totally blind as to what is going on in this world....and in our country. In other words we are in essence saying....'God....we've got this under control....we'll call you if we need you.'
               In my normal scanning of news and Christian sources....I watched a three-minute YouTube from Jonathan Cahn. He is trying to distance himself from Trump in a way....by telling his listeners how it is not Trump or governments that can save us....but only God. It's too late.... for he and others built Trump up as the hero that God sent to us....ignoring everything in God's Word about people that we are not to follow or put our trust in!
                I like to use the time period of fifty years....but it is actually longer.....but then it is increasing in intensity....so 'fifty years' will suffice....that God has incrementally taken veils off of our eyes....to let us know that the countdown has begun....to examine ourselves....and to be extra vigilant....and to prepare for what is ahead!
                Well we obviously were not vigilant....or even awake....because we were taken in....hook....line....and sinker by a....genuine....biblical....false prophet....in Donald Trump....who has promised us now for over a decade of how great things were going to be. With the help of his speech writer....he could wax eloquent.....(without the teleprompter he can hardly speak)....wax eloquent on the marvels that are coming our way! All of it was and is false prophecy....and this is why the first paragraph in this post is not a valid hope.
                To be a little more specific....AI is going to do us in. As with so many things....drones as another example....Facebook another....if people can make a lot of money on something....then all of a sudden they will become constitutional free enterprise patriots! Trump has become a typical strongman tyrant. His second term is right out of Germany in the 1930s. The church....also just as with Germany....has bought into the deception....and only a confessing remnant remains.
                Trump has destroyed the common bond of the West that has served us well since WWII. Most of our old allies now almost hate us....and with good reason. Trump has been Putin's advance man since day one....in getting rid of the hated NATO....and neutralizing our congress....and countermanding the dictates of our constitution....and neutering the church....while threatening and ridiculing and purging anyone who dare question him on anything.
                 Israel and Netanyahu were taken in every bit as much as we were....and they may finally be seeing that Trump has always only had dollars signs in his eyes. This new Board of Peace that Trump will lead is the most grotesque idea that he has even come up with! 
                 So Jonathan Cahn and others talk about a great revival that we need! They lead us away from the gospel as they call for a revival? Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day....and multiple if not most if not all church services will have to be streamed....in much of America anyway....because of the approaching storm. May we use the solitude at home to examine ourselves....and how absurd is all this talk about a golden age....when God is telling us to prepare the way for the coming King...and to prepare ourselves....and to humble ourselves....and to flee this nightmare distortion of what true prosperity and peace rally is!
                  May we see in this winter snow and ice storm....by how many of the shelves are empty in the grocery stores....that there comes a time when harsh realities set in. May we begin to see....and only God can do this....the storm that is approaching out of the book of Revelation. May we shake off the effects of the last ten years. May we turn off these incendiary voices that call us to hate. May we...as sheep who have strayed....hear the voice of the Shepherd....and run to Him!
                 

"You've Got To Walk...That Lonesome Valley....You've got To Walk It by Yourself..."

Preface: The song was a hit for the Kingston Trio back in 1963....O how America has changed....and Johnny Cash covered it in 1981...."The Reverend Mr. Black." It's only the message that I'm posting on here:         

                   From the meanderings of my own mind....and observations over a half century....it is evident that we....maybe all of us at one time or another before the gospel was opened up to us....and mercy was extended upon us....as we were saved....by grace through faith in Christ....that we might use someone else....someone greatly respected....as an excuse for not humbling ourselves before God and repenting. It would usually go like this....we have a friend....or someone in authority over us.... a teacher or a professor possibly....a good person and well-respected by all....who had no need for religion! If that's good enough for him then it's certainly good enough for me. Or it might very well be a celebrity....handsome....popular....admired by multitudes....and he....(I'm just using the male gender here)....he has done very well for himself his whole life....of maybe eighty or ninety years....and has died or is dying with dignity! We psychologically cling to these other people....essentially trusting our eternal soul....(should we really have one we ponder)....in their decisions....in someone else's decisions....and there is absolutely no lack of candidates such as this to cling to!

                   It most likely will not transpire like this....I only use it for effect....but God could if He should so desire....when an unrepentant soul is judged....God could show that unrepentant soul an image of that good and well-respected friend....or that mega-celebrity....show an image of them suffering in hell! Think about it....pick that favorite movie star of yours from the past....or that favorite entertainer....or that friend who was nothing but success his whole life before he died! If they were profane and unrepentant their whole life....then they are in a place where those looks....and that talent....and all those riches....and that adoration from the masses....no longer means anything....and that friend or celebrity themselves would wish to have but one more day on this earth....to throw all of their gold and silver and celebrity away!
                     OK....maybe I didn't relate all of that too well....but I can add a YouTube here of someone who does present an evangelical message with power....and I will do that....a little differently than I usually do....for the sermon that I am adding here....is from a very young Charles Spurgeon. It was November of 1957....and he as only 23 years old while speaking in this great London venue. If you are still trying to understand my words....to figure out what I was trying to say....please listen to this gifted preacher....using his own examples.
                     Here is what I'm going to do that is different. Spurgeon was only 23 as he preached this sermon. I'm going to....in a few days....Lord willing of course....add a sermon here....of a 57 year old Charles Spurgeon....only months before he went to be with his Lord....the same message....only 34 years apart. See if you can discern a difference. I know that I can!

                                                                          

Just An Inclination....

                  It was after the flood....(by the way.....it appears that Noah's Ark really has been found)....it was after the flood that the people attempted to build a tower up to God. What kind of worship were they involved in? Surely astrology of some kind....and we just do not know what else....but God had enough....and the next thing they knew....they couldn't even communicate with each other anymore....so they separated.
                  It is more likely than not that a ziggurat some 90 miles south of Baghdad....called....Etemenanki....was that Tower of Babel. The ziggurat needed repairs by the time that Nebuchadnezzar came on the scene....and he did some. Alexander the Great was another who planned repairs.....but died just as he was about to begin those repairs.
                  There is a depiction of it on the Tower of Babel Stele....(top photo)....and it is not what we normally think of the tower of Babel from classic oil paintings....for it is a square structure....very....very.....bottom heavy.....about 91 meters high....or almost 300 feet....about the size of the Statue of Liberty. Daniel would have seen it....as would his three Hebrew friends. So today....we have a mound of what is left of....possibly the Tower of Babel....and we have a mound of what is left of Noah's Ark!
                   Babylon! I'm not even going to guess how old I was....but it was young....OK I'll guess....maybe six years old....and my mother took me to New York City....and we stayed at the New Yorker Hotel. A couple of years ago I purchased an artist's drawing of that New Yorker Hotel....just for the memory....for I remember that trip and the hotel. (today it is the Wyndham New Yorker). It was and is in a way....dimensions anyway....so very bottom heavy....that to me it resembles the depiction of the Tower of Babel. (bottom photo) 

                                                                       

                        We are a nation of towers....a society and a culture of towers....and a world of towers. When the Antichrist is mentioned in Daniel 11:38....it says that he relied on a god of fortresses....which can be interpreted also as towers.
                        While at Davos....Jared Kushner presented the Trump plan for the Gaza strip....along with a colorized graphic....that makes Miami Beach look outdated. He said there is room there for 108 skyscrapers....or towers!
                        Revelation chapter 18 describes the fall of something called Babylon. There are a lot of different opinions on what this Babylon might be. All I have is an inclination....thinking....so to speak.....out loud. Revelation describes this Babylon as a...."habitation of demons".....and....."the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury".....and...."for in one hour such great riches came to nothing." I used the King James here.
                        I have a choice....I can read and choose the interpretation that seems best....there is nothing wrong with that....or I can go with my inclination for what Babylon might be....which is everything from the New Yorker Hotel that my mother and I stayed at so many years ago....to all the skyscrapers in New York....and London.....and Paris....and Shanghai or the United Arab Emirates....or anywhere and everywhere....all of the riches that the rich of this world seek to increase....and in the case of this new Gaza....all of the solutions that we believe that riches will bring.
                        I'll recommend a January of 2020 book....published right at the beginning of the pandemic....that you might want to pick up at your local library....to see who is leading the world right now....for it describes two families....of the many families in this world....where riches are everything.....American Oligarchs....The Kushners....the Trumps....and the Marriage of Money and Power.
                        Chapter 18 of Revelation also has this...."Come out of her....my people....lest you share in her sins....and lest you receive of her plagues." In this view of mine I'm not thinking about a man....or a group of men....who build a large company....corporation....to provide a service or sell a product....but I am referring to Zuckerberg and men like him...and also this quest ever since the Empire State Building....to build the biggest skyscraper....with all of the gold and silver adornments....(the golden escalator and gold everywhere....and waterfalls of the Trump Tower for example)....and all of the entertainments and gambling that we literally fill the earth with....of which.....God may be giving us a warning here.....that we might realize what we have built as an economic society and culture....and flee from it?