Bibi In The Dock

                 Benjamin Netanyahu's great strength over the past forty years has been defending his beloved homeland. His great weakness over the past decade was in failing to see that Donald Trump was a lifelong conman.....and an amateur at everything other than staying a step ahead of the law. In his defense on this great weakness....he is in with a very large group....some of them very distinguished....Former Republican Senator and conservative firebrand Jim DeMint for one....and Rush Limbaugh for another.
                 The Israeli opposition leader....Gadi Eisenkrot....has been given the mantle....and 28 days to try form some kind of government in Israel. If he fails....Israel will head to another round of elections....which takes a lot of time. Meanwhile here in the United States....Trump has 55 days left with Republican leadership in Congress.
                  A few days ago I posted on something that has been gnawing at me since April of this year. The US/Israeli attacks on Iranian military and leadership were....shock and awe...where I previously described those Iranian leaders as if crawling around in the rubble....looking for pockets of air. Then came that Easter/Passover weekend....where Trump appeared in his late night posts to have finally lost his mind. Remember the text..."Praise be to Allah?"  But then within a week....the pressure was taken off....and the leaders....those that were left....were back in business. Why?
                 Why? How did this change come about? In six months I hadn't even heard that question asked....until yesterday....when a foreign policy specialist in past Republican administrations....at least commented on that which has mystified me. Here is his quote...."The political problem wasn't standing with Israel....it was giving Tehran a diplomatic escape route after Israel had it on the run."
                  Trump is now making strange comments....one is that he thinks that the immigration raids may have been too tough? Folks....ten years of study....and 117 books on this man.....have shown me very clearly that he has absolutely no conscience. All of these comments are a ploy. What is foremost on his mind right now....is the coming congressional investigations....and as usual...shifting blame on others. 
                  Israel is in the middle of all of this. One of the charges that has been leveled against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that the October 7, 2023 Sukkot attacks were successful because the Prime Minister was not vigilant. That would be unlikely from a man whose whole life was the defense of Israel....but....he gave a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 22 of 2023...only a couple weeks before the Sukkot attacks....and I posted on it at the time....because the Prime Minister was too optimistic. Here is that full post from September 22....

1 Thessalonians 5:3 "While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."

              Benjamin Netanyahu is calling it the potential for an historic peace...."Peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia will truly create a new Middle East." He presented his case to the United Nations for a peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He used the words "peace and prosperity." He contrasted the "blessings" of peace with the "curse" of terrorism....war....and Iran. He pointed out that four Arab neighbors had already made peace with Israel....and if Saudi Arabia follows them in making peace with Israel....than the Palestinians should recognize that they would have no choice but to make peace with Israel also.
                The speech was mostly optimism....wildly over-optimistic at times....he wasn't trying to hide that. He has to pursue peace....we all do....but just as it was decreed that Peter would fail....so will fail this latest attempt at building that...."new Middle East."
                Whatever the details are....and we do not know them now....they may on paper be sound....maybe even genius....but they will not succeed. This is like trying to build a house of cards with an oscillating fan that will eventually pass the house of cards and blow them all down.
                The Israeli Prime Minister's speech was laced with biblical themes. All of Benjamin Netanyahu's speeches are intelligent and clearly understood. It's a great gift of his....and English is his second language....whereas Joe Biden and Donald Trump stumble and bumble all over the place....but a speech is only a speech. Trump's February 4, 2020 State of the Union Speech....written by others....was eloquent and powerful....it could rival JFK's or Reagan's words....but it was also arrogance and deception and false prophecy! It meant nothing as the world was just beginning to experience the ravages of the coronavirus.
                  Netanyahu's speech was starting to resemble Trump's State of the Union in the great changes that were ahead as he said...."Imagine the blessings of finally cracking the genetic code, extending life by decades, and dramatically reducing the ravages of old age...imagine a world with boundless clean energy." John Lennon is not the person that any God-fearing man should be referencing....but that's what he did....by name....and it disturbed me a little in how he felt that he needed to remind people of what he personally had accomplished. He did acknowledge towards the end the dangers in this latest quest for peace in the Middle East but it was almost as an afterthought.

                  Surely....Benjamin Netanyahu is no longer even optimistic....and his rival....Gadi Eisenkot....also seems to realize the existential dangers that Israel is in right now....but both of them....are dependent upon what will happen in the American media....in the next 55 days.
               

Lord's Day Post

             There is more than one way to look at 250....as in a 250th anniversary..... as to America. In one way it is a celebration....a pause....long enough....either to be arrogant or be thankful....it matters not....for both are fully intent on continuing on after such a pause. Please consider these underlined words spoken by President Trump....on February 4....2020....(as I....celebrated....my 70th birthday....a nice round number)....at the then most recent State of the Union Address....and ask yourself....should not the pride and the arrogance in the scripted teleprompter address jolted us just a little....or struck a chord of warning....so that we might actually critic the boasts....and put them on the gird of Holy Scripture?

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

              Another way to look at a 250th anniversary....would be as a finale. God often users whole numbers divisible by 10....such as 40 and 70 and 120 and 400 and a thousand....or ten-thousand.
              We are as a nation right now....a wreck. There doesn't seem to be any discernible wisdom being used anywhere.....none in our government....or in our society or culture....and little at most in the church. 
              I would think that there would be a name for this....when a country or an individual is in grave danger from every side....but mostly from within....and yet none of it seems to be acknowledged? Blindness certainly describes part of it....but pride and obstinance are present also. Surely you have heard the idiom....or maybe even used it yourself....'rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic'....for that is what we are doing if we think that peace is coming to this world....for there is no longer a window for America to repent....only individuals within America....yet tomorrow....ten thousand pastors....in attempting not to upset their listeners....which seems to be their chief vocation in this modern evangelicalism....will tell them that Jesus may not return for a hundred years....but God has not left us blind as to that glorious return....rather He....to those who desire to see it....has given signs....signs that encourage and give hope....and animation to our faith....fervency to our prayers. Oh if only your pastor tomorrow....and many pastors around America....would give their benediction....and then look upwards and say...."Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come"....wherewith we all in the pews would respond...."Amen!"

"There Is Something Missing...."

Preface.... So Stephen Miller will replace Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff....just when you thought things could not get much worse. The following post is from August 8 of 2020. The book on Stephen Miller can be purchased on Amazon for $14.95....or Barnes & Noble for about $18.95.....           

             So many have left the Trump administration on bad terms....to say the least.....some fired on twitter because the man whose career was saved from oblivion by The Apprentice....where he fired someone on television every week....and who in real life cannot empathize nor is he compassionate....delegates or distances himself from the dirty work.
             Mnuchin has survived but there is no surprise there for both he and Trump have only one practical interest....that being money....and Vice President Pence has too many evangelicals behind him....but there is really only one man who has the same killer instinct as Trump.
             To look at him you would think that he is in his 40s....but it wasn't that long ago that his political aspirations started to bud in high school with talk show host Larry Elder as his mentor....and later started to blossom under David Horowitz. SNL portrayed him in their skits as a Cobra popping up out of a wicker basket. We all know his name....and hear his words come out of Donald Trump's mouth....Stephen Miller.
              I passed up the book when it first came out as the title....HATE MONGER....Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda....seemed a little over the top....and I already had a book in hand at Barnes & Noble this past Tuesday....when I decided to give it another look....and picked it up. I'm well over seventy books now on Donald Trump....(It is 117 books today)....books for him....books against him....books by him....but this one by Jean Guerrero is a must read to more fully understand Donald Trump's rise to power.
              Guerrero appears to be the Left's version of Branden Darby....both passionate....both well informed. She interviewed more than 150 people....most who were either Miller "friends, family or colleagues." If they said something good about Miller it was in the book....if they gave opinions on why Stephen Miller is who he is.....or if they are outright critical....it's in the book also.
             The author starts way back with Miller's lineage....with an emphasis on the maternal line....in nearby to me....Johnstown Pennsylvania....but Miller's high school days in Santa Monica are where the man was created. We see him....with the notoriety he garnered from his high school protests....head off to Washington....move up the ladder....wind up with Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions....become involved with Breitbart....controversies all along the way....and finally....and extraordinarily....become candidate and President Trump's chief ideological marketer. 
             We see Steve Bannon go....but Stephen Miller stay....which meant that Donald Trump would never grow into the job....but dehumanize it. Bannon marketed ideas....but Miller marketed fear. Watch him at your leisure on YouTube....as his continuous pounding of factoid after factoid...done with either a condescending smile or verbal attack....this apparently going all the way back to high school....is more a power show than a debate. 
             You can see Miller in the supposedly great speeches that President Trump has given....the inauguration....state of the unions....and Poland. President Kennedy had great speechwriters....as did President Reagan....but the patriotism was real with these men....with Donald Trump it is but a marketing strategy....for there is something missing in Stephen Miller....the same thing is missing in Donald Trump....something that has to come with maturity....something that works to fend off disastrous consequences. 

              

The Rechabites

                   There have been various religious sects and organizations in the past that aligned themselves with the Rechabites of the Old Testament. A main teaching of these sects is that they do not imbibe alcohol in any form. Some of the temperance organizations used this biblical theme of the Rechabites....but alcohol....although a prominent topic in Jeremiah 35....was not the message that God was giving!
                 In the 35th chapter of Jeremiah....God told the prophet to go and gather the Rechabites in the Temple....and place cups and wine before them....and tell them to drink. Jeremiah would have known what the response from the Rechabites would be. They refused to drink any alcohol....because their patriarch....200 years earlier....had command them never to drink alcohol. (There were some other commandments also.)
                   God then told Jeremiah to go shame the people of Judah....because the Rechabites held firm to the command to abstain from alcohol....a command from a patriarch....and this 200 years previous....but Judah....given commands over many years to forsake their idolatry....and return to the LORD....and these commands given to them by God Himself....they ignored!
                   The Rechabites were not ethnically from the loins of Abraham....but they feared God....and lived among the Israelites....as nomads. The Jews had the temple....and all of the great teachers....while the Rechabites were a simple nomadic group that simply wanted....to stay away from temptations. So in today's terms....the Jews had all the pomp and circumstance....while the Rechabites were the simple and small....fundamentalist types....dotting the hills and the deserts..
                  I posted on this thought before....for to me....it is as if God looks at us....as we in turn look down upon all of the small country fundamentalist churches dotting the inconspicuous valleys and hollows and mountains....and Fundamentalism in general....for they are obviously not theologically educated as we are. But it is us....and our megachurches....and grand seminaries....and our cable television networks....and our lucrative  merchandising....and our publishing houses....and our million man rallies....and our celebrities....and our clerics who regularly pray over a president in our White House....it is us....and not the 'Rechabite' fundamentalist....that did not remain vigilant....and it is us that compromised the gospel of salvation to fit in with the world....and us that elected a false prophet to be our leader....and us that has to have every entertainment under the sun.
                   God....through Jeremiah....gave a promise to those Rechabites that remained faithful to their fundamentalist principles and beliefs....that they would always have a place before the LORD. The fundamentalist of today....and over the past hundred years....might have to struggle to be awarded a Master of Divinity degree at a Reformed seminary....but they are strong on the fundamentals of the faith and salvation....and cautious to a fault....on the dangers of living in the world.

                   

I Thank God......For The Many Hours Of Toil With The Leaf Blower

                 When I was young.....thirty or forty.....we had five large maple trees on our double lot in town....and I would some years wait until all the leaves had dropped...and then blow them all to the curb in one long day....but I am no longer young....and even though we now only have three large maple trees....I have to space the blowing of the leaves.....today for example being the first day with the leaf blower.....and if I look up into the trees.....it's as if not a single golden leaf has as yet dropped! So I have.....Lord willing....thirty or more hours of leaf blowing before I can look at my trees and my yard and say....it's all done for another year.

                 There is a great blessing to me with leaf blowing.....an eternal blessing I even believe....because whenever I am out there.....(and lawn mowing comes under this great blessing also)....I have my headphones on.....listening to a sermon from either....a preacher of the past....or a preacher today who preaches like preachers of the past! So I am talking about at least a hundred wonderful and powerful sermons a year....just in the blowing of leaves and the mowing of grass. Praise God....for the blessing....in this regard anyway....for the smart phone....and the headphone....and the many hours of blowing leaves!
                   So today I laughed.....as I so often do....and it gave me the idea for this post....for I began my leaf blowing....and called on my iPhone for a John MacArthur sermon....and as the noise of the leaf blower was outside of my headset.....inside MacArthur's sermon was on the leaves of the fig tree....and how we can tell by the world around us.....when the coming of our Lord and Savior and King....will be ripe to happen! 
                    That sermon ended....and automatically the phone started a different sermon....this time by a preacher of the past....Charles Spurgeon....and his sermon was on the falling of the leaves in the fall of life....and how we might not be as sprite in our endeavors as we once had been....but we are no less as determined.

Addendum: It is such a great and wonderful and powerful blessing....to sit down....and open the Bible....God's very word to us....to wherever we choose to read....and read the first verse....and think about it....and read the second verse....and think about it also....and so on and so on and so on! It is also a great blessing to sit down...and maybe close your eyes and even bow your head.....or raise your head....and lift your hands....and just pray to God as a child....to their father....but the greatest blessing may be....to sit in a pew....or on a stump in the forest if need be....or through headphones while blowing leaves....and listen to a man called by God to preach....as he preaches God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit!

Tick Tock....The Sound Of Time Passing...."Redeeming The Time....Because The Days Are Evil"

                  I am going to show great naivety here. I know that. You will most likely be very familiar with this. Whether it was TikTok or some other platform....I don't know. I was just doing normal news research....and a video popped up out of nowhere....a large sea bird....maybe fifty yards off the coast....where driftwood was rising four or five feet about the water....and on one of the limbs....that sea bird.....fishing line wrapped all over its long beak....was suspended....looking lifeless....as a wet flag might hang on the flag pole. The video was being taken by the operator of a small craft that spotted the bird. The next ten....or maybe even fifteen minutes showed that fisherman....gently holding on to the bird's neck....and with a scissors he freed the bird....that now as if came to life....looked a little stunned....and then flew away!
                  The video was fascinating....and as soon as it ended....another video appeared....I'm not sure what this one was.....it might have been something to do with animals....or it might have been a magician on a stage. There was one with....in short order....one scientific experiment after another....using simple household items. It fascinated so much that I took my own video of it on my iPhone.....to show our grandson.
                  An hour passed.....I'm guessing....and as I came out of it....the hold that it had on me....I was shaken....I think almost to my very core....because I know that this type of entertainment media has an overwhelming hold on not only the youth of our nation....but adults also....and on us in the church!
                  There wasn't a morally offensive video in the two dozen or so that I watched. I would have turned that off. It was the mesmerizing hold that it had on me. I have a lot to do today. I was about to sit down and begin to write a post....but I was....through my own lack of vigilance....waylaid for an hour or so.
                   It is not news....the American mind....and the evangelical mind....has long since decayed. Coincidently....although there is really no coincidence....last evening....I pulled a book off my shelf to page through. It was a 1993 publication by a renown American theologian....David F. Wells. He had written a number of excellent books a few decades ago....and I had read them all....and this book I also sold in the Christian bookstore that my wife and I once owned. The title of it is....No Place For Truth....Or....Whatever Happened To Evangelical Theology? We in the church read books like this thirty and forty years ago. Another book that I have from the same time period was 1994's....The Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind....by Mark A. Noll.
                    Whether it is in the church....and the errors that we have fallen for with Christian Nationalism....and actually falling for the deception of a genuine biblical false prophet....or the general inability of the American public to logically debate or even converse in current events....we have....through many means....including the mesmerizing trivialities that I mention today....or through the idolatry of sports....or through greed or pride....or the building of large comfortable churches where the glory has long since departed.....all of them above really....we find ourselves in the situation that we are in today.....leaderless....and feckless in doing anything about it!
                     Some physical danger....a world war for instance....or another plague....or a complete collapse of the economy....these things can be greatly fearsome....but there is something even more fearsome....I believe anyway....and that is when the devil attacks the mind....where we do not even know the danger that we are in.
                     Coincidently again....and again I know that there is no coincidence in God's universe....I started on this post....took a break to do a chore that needed to be done....and booted today's episode on John Piper's....desiringgod.org....to listen to while doing the manual chore. It is too soon to give you a direct link to John Piper's message for today....but you can easily listen to it by going to his website....and tapping on today's message titled....How Evil Works.

Title....Ephesians 5:16 NKJV

"Something Is Rotten I The State Of Denmark"

 "Our intelligence agencies, officially, have stated that the earliest Iran could produce a bomb would be around 2013, while various independent scientists have said that they have the capability right now. The latter were right, but it's no big news! Iran has the capability to go from 3.5% to 20% enrichment through the centrifuge process. This is the breakout. Advancing to 80% or 90% enrichment is simply a matter of time and this is not a long process. The reliability of Iran's centrifuges is the only hindrance in their producing enough enriched uranium for one bomb now and many others in short order. This is assuming that Iran does not have secret facilities, and that is in no way out of the question. What we have known all along is that Iran has a problem with quantity of uranium to be enriched. Before you relax, the problem is that they do not have enough uranium for uses in nuclear power plants, but they do have enough for producing quite a number of bombs."

                 The above was posted in February of 2010....over 16 1/2 years ago....and they are still saying that Iran could get the bomb any day now?

The following was first posted only 19 days ago....Am I the only one pressing for an answer on how the war in Iran went from....shock and awe.....to....let's make a deal.....in one weekend?

    "When Trump....and Israel....began bombing Iran on February 28 of this year....it was total....'shock and awe.' It was as if the Iranian leadership must have been crawling around in the rubble looking for air pockets to breath. Surely....everyone thought....at the very least....all of these nuclear negotiations with Iran were finally over. On or about Easter weekend....which coincidentally overlapped with Passover week this year....a very strange series of events began. Easter morning was the day that Trump....ranted on social media with profanities against Iran....that they will be...."living in hell'....all of which strangely concluded with this...."Praise be to Allah." A week later....on April 7....a temporary cease fire deal with Iran was announced....and Israel wasn't even included in that negotiation?  The focus of this post is not on the war in Iran itself....rather it is on a nagging question that I have had for almost a half a year now....'What happened on that Easter/Passover weekend?' Something must have happened to go from 'shock and awe'....to the almost daily..."We are close to a deal?" A deal? How did these terrorist leaders dig themselves out of the ruble....and get themselves back to where they were before this war began? I have to ask myself....what am I missing?"

              We need right now to be going into corporate prayer for what is happening with Iran. The plans for a resumption of war are complete....that much has been told to us. One Senator who has heard the plans described them as a...."devastating escalation.' 
              Alternatively....if Iran is aware of this...."devastating escalating"....and chooses to finally make a deal....what on earth kind of deal would that be anyway?

Title: Hamlet....Act 1....Scene 4

"Regrets?....Yes....No Doubts Though."

The following was first posted November 4th, 2013. I bring it back on this date occasionally....the reason for which is in the below post.

        November 4th, 1979 is a day forever etched into my mind. I sat at the side of my father's hospital bed and watched as the bleeps on the heart rate monitor came slower and slower...and then stopped. That day and the immediate days after were a blur to me and I really can't remember much of them.  I weighed fifty pounds less on November 4th, 1979 then I do sitting here on my recliner writing this post. I was a runner back then but my Jim Fixx... Runner's Day-by-Day Log and Calendar shows nothing from those days other than miles ran, weight and occasional comments on the weather or the run.
        I did volunteer phone work in the Pennsylvania primary for Ted Kennedy's run for the presidency in the 1980 campaign. I had been a supporter, a fan is probably a better word, of the Kennedy family for as long as I can remember and can recall being whisked out of our grade school classroom to line the street and wave as then presidential candidate John Kennedy's motorcade drove by on his visit to Buffalo. Robert Kennedy's death affected me greatly....and Ted Kennedy....well it was just natural to support his campaign for President. My father is buried in Arlington Cemetery a few hundred yards away from the graves of these three brothers.
         I wouldn't find out until days later that Ted Kennedy's campaign for president began to collapse the very day that my father died as the Senator from Massachusetts sat for a disastrous interview with CBS newsman Roger Mudd. This was three days before his run for the White House was even officially announced. Senator Kennedy was asked the simple question "Why do you want to be president?" Had I been watching this interview live my head would have sunk into my hands as the Massachusetts Senator stammered his way through a vacuous answer that gave doubt to all those watching of his qualifications to be president. There was a long way to go in that campaign but Kennedy never recovered from that infamous interview on November 4th, 1979..
         It was another news story that dominated on that day in 1979 and I did at least catch those headlines but no one could foresee the earth shaking reverberations the event would have over the coming years right up until today. President Jimmy Carter had effectively turned his back on the Shah of Iran who was in the United States for medical treatment. Iranian students who were supporting a revolution in their country seized 52 American hostages from the American embassy in Tehran. This hostage crisis would last 444 days and not be resolved until the very day that Ronald Reagan took the oath of office as Jimmy Carter's successor. It has been 35 years (47 now) since that day, and Iran is now a threat to Israel, to the United States and to world peace.
         Six weeks after my father died I started a new job, the same job that I returned home from just a few hours ago. (and the same job I retired from eleven years ago....yes....I retired  8 days before Donald Trump was elected in 2016) Within the next three years (of November 4, 1979) I went  from being a lifelong Democrat volunteering in political campaigns to an ardent conservative Republican. I went from wearing a suit to work to wearing a hardhat and steel-toe boots, and I went from being a rather non-religious occasional church goer to a cross pin in the hat...Bible in the back pocket... born-again Christian. My great regret is that I had, and thus have today, no idea if my father had considered his eternal soul in his last days. This I don't know for I had no clue as to my own eternal soul at the time.
         November 4th always brings back these memories, sometimes a tear or two, and thoughts about my life before redemption....by grace alone...through faith alone.....in Christ alone. I did come across a comment that I made in my Jim Fixx running logs that helps explain those days a little bit. It was on March 5th, 1982...."Saw Chariots Of Fire today." The comment was out of place among years (nine years total) of only running comments. The fortitude and determination of Eric Liddell, as depicted in the film, made me question my own life....I remember that.... and I would find answers to those questions before the end of the year.
          There is a scene in that Academy Award winning film where Eric Liddell is asked if he regretted not running his Olympic race that was scheduled on the Sabbath. His answer was...as well as I remember it....."Regrets yes....no doubts though." It was an answer that begs for some further explanation which I cannot give other than to say that I also have many regrets in my Christian walk.....but also.....no doubts.......no doubts on the Lord Jesus Christ, on His majesty, His mercy, His kingship, on the infallible Word given to us in the Bible, and on His resurrection, ascension and Second Coming in power and glory along with all the saints that have passed on...including Eric Liddell.

I.

The Day After

               In any other time period....with any other president....the remarks would be encouraging and appropriate....but not with Trump. He called into CBS....to congratulate the Democrats on their win. Twenty-four hours earlier they were a party of communist Jihadists! It is far more than political blindness....as it is a serious psychological illness....for him to look at what happened in yesterday's elections....and say that the problem was that he was not on the ballot....but that's what he said.
               Woe are us. All of our moorings that had kept us from drifting into the rocks....and this for centuries through storms...have frayed and been ripped to shreds....setting us adrift with the mother of all storms already bending the palm trees down in worship to the god of the wind and sea.
                My goodness....twenty-four hours ago this president....on his own....and lying and bending the truth along the way....he probably would not even have mentioned it if not asked about Israel.....he reversed United States foreign policy on aid for Israel's defense....in the process bringing a lot of added criticism of Netanyahu in Israel....as they are trying to form some kind of government....and also in the process....causing other allies in the Middle East to wonder if they are next? Woe are us because of the lack of leadership and wisdom that we have in our White House....and both aisles of our Congress.
                Somewhere along the line in this long and drawn-out collapse of America....the point may come when pastors see that they actually have a responsibility to lay out God's warning in end times prophecy to those in their pews? The situation may become so dire that they no longer worry that someone might call them a date-setter? It may be that the decision to warn and an attempt to awaken may be taken out of their hands....that a mere occasional mention of lifeboats available on the promenade.....is replaced by a quickly listing ship.....panic and whistles and directions to enter the lifeboats?

"Within Ten Years"....Is All Of A Sudden....At The End Of The Year

Election day....Trump is on Fox & Friends.....and he stuns with the announcement that the $4 billion in aid to Israel will stop at the end of the year! At the beginning of the year....Netanyahu made an off-hand comment that he would hope that someday Israel would not need financial aid from the United States. The comment was taken for what it was....a hope and a goal that in the future Israel would not need that aid. He said that aid should begin to decrease immediately....and maybe....within ten years it would be at zero. I did not see the Fox & Friends....but apparently the stunned and determined Fox interviewer came back again and again and again to the issue of dropping aid to Israel at the end of the year. They wanted to know....'let's get this straight....does this mean no more military aid to Israel?' Trump avoided the question. His reasoning is that...."They don't need it." Well....folks....this whole thing is only a couple of hours old....and we will see what the response it. The following preface and post are from July of 2020...

Trump And Israel

Preface: Would it shock anyone....the thought that an actual enemy of Christ.....might come in sheep's clothing? No....that's not the problem.....we acknowledge that....the problem is that for an enemy of Christ to come in sheep's clothing.....that that alone indicates that there must have been some delusion involved. No one is going to come into the church and say.....'hello....I'm an enemy of Christ....and a false prophet....won't you let me lead you astray?' We....evangelicals....generally believe that God has given us Donald Trump to fight the forces of destruction in our country. The fact that he himself is and has always been a force of destruction in other people's lives is not relevant to us. I don't think that deep down within he gives a hoot about abortion or marriage or Israel or anything else directly related to the evangelical wing of his base. Using only his words and his promises....it would appear that I could be wrong...and indeed if he can swing it he will indeed give us progress in these areas...but taking his whole life into consideration....right up until he started with those words and promises....there is a big tail dragging along out from under that sheep's clothing. I am not conclusively saying that he is purposely an enemy of Christ....or even that he cannot in time change....but I am saying that he is a false prophet that has entered the church through his evangelical political base...."We are one glorious nation under God....whose best days are yet to come.....and we are going to keep on winning...winning...winning." All things considered....his lifelong propensity to lie and deceive and cheat....(propensity being an understatement)....and his growing tendencies towards authoritarianism....with an iron fist....it is at best unwise....and at worst....irresponsible....to not only refuse to read about him....or critique him apart from the Democrat alternative....(the fear of which drives people to him)....but to offer to him four additional years to bring out the worst in all of us....opponents....supporters.....everyone.

Trump And Israel

                   It's a big deal to evangelicals....I'm an evangelical....it's a big deal to me....but I don't see it quite like the rest of evangelicalism. I don't trust Donald Trump with Israel as far as I could pick him up and throw him. Why? Seventy books on Trump's entire life....(it is 117 books now!)....and his three plus years in the White House....pro-Trump books....anti-Trump books....neutral books....his own books....this and how I have seen him conduct himself for the past three plus years....tell me unequivocally that he is never....ever....to be trusted. Take what you can get from him....what he is forced to give you....but never put your trust in him. No ethics....no truthfulness....a lifetime of cheating....and no empathy or compassion....tell me to watch every move that he makes.
               I think it's fair to say that most people....regardless of their opinion of Israel....respects the intellectual acumen of their decision makers. They built a powerful and beautiful nation out of a barren desert. They are not easily fooled....having out of necessity been vigilant to tee. (turns out they were easily fooled)
              I've watched carefully from the beginning how Prime Minister Netanyahu reacted to President Trump....having the advantage of knowing who Donald Trump really is....this because right off the bat his actions sent out warning signals....flashing warning lights that Benjamin Netanyahu does not have on his control panel.
              I know how Donald Trump operates. I know the schmooze he puts on....and how he can lie as easily as he breathes. Under these circumstances...the insight is night and day between Netanyahu and those of us who have already been conned by Trump....and seeing this clearly....I want to shout a warning from the rooftops....and hope that the warning is at least considered.
             President Trump's meeting with Netanyahu in Davos....in January of 2018....particularly concerns me. He had been in office one year.....had the formula down pat for keeping his devotees in line....and the aura presented to Israel must have seemed an almost miraculous gift after eight years of Barack Hussein Obama. They let their guard down....the euphoria of the moment fooled even Israel and Netanyahu.
              We can watch again the post Davos press conference....but we do not know what went on in the private meetings between Trump and Netanyahu. Trump likes to operate this way....and we saw it a number of times in his deferential meetings with Vladimir Putin and in his reality show bromance with Kim Jong-un. He surely told the Israeli Prime Minister that he has seven years left in office....and surely promised him that he would be there for him the whole time....for this is Donald Trump. To those of us who know never to believe Donald Trump....we would have advised to take anything he promised with a grain of salt....but Netanyahu's adulating smile wasn't encouraging.
               Yes he gave Israel the embassy decision they wanted. He made that decision when he badly needed a 'get out of jail' card....the same with the Golan....but cracks could be seen in the early days of Jared Kushner's peace process. (My head tilts back and I roll my eyes even writing that phrase....Jared's peace process) Even if I'm wrong in my not believing Trump's genuine concern for the state of Israel....his impetuousness....and constant wobbling....(as Bolton so clearly described)....and that everything ultimately revolves around his own exaltation....and that he has no ideology....no empathy....and no wisdom to speak of....all these things and more should make Israel cover themselves in case Donald Trump finds a better deal somewhere.
               It's not that I fully expect President Trump to abandon Israel at the first sign of trouble. It's that I know that Trump will support anyone who is of benefit to his agenda....and will abandon any others who can be a danger to that agenda....and evangelicals would be wise to realize this....for he could very easily drop us like a hot potato in a second term....no longer needing our support.
               There is little wiggle room for any nation in respect to their dealings with Israel. You don't have to love them....or even try to advance their Zionist cause....but you had better not stab them in the back. The state of Israel is not God's chosen people....for they are in rebellion to Him every bit as much as we in America are....and evangelicals would also do well to realize that Israelis need Christ every bit as much as any other human beings....but God's promises are clear in that He will call them back to Him in the very last days....after the nations rage against them....and after even supposed allies turn away. 

Two Prayers......Six Years Apart

Preface: The following are two prayers that I offered for Donald Trump....the first after I had....through what I thought was political necessity.....voted for Trump in 2016....and celebrated the victory....the second....nine years later. Trump was by then no longer just vile....which we had known back in 2016....but diabolical. How do we pray for our....'leaders'....as instructed in Paul's letter to Timothy? Does...'one size fits all'...apply? In other words...are we to pray for every leader in the same way....whether it be Tsar or Furher or Emperor or King or President or Prime Minister? Are we to pray for every leader in the same way throughout what might be a drastically changing life?

Prayer for President-Elect Donald Trump....posted in 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....posted in October of 2025

         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!

Addendum: After posting this....and while doing some vacuuming around the house....listening to a sermon on my headphones as I always do with such tasks....I came across an 1886 sermon from Charles Spurgeon. So here it is for you.... a sermon from the man rightfully known as....the Prince of Preachers....a sermon given six years before he went on to be with his Lord and Savior and King....thus after thirty years of humbly serving as a shepherd.....which turned out....in God's will....to be somewhat of a shepherd to tens of million of sheep....all over the world....over the past 134 years since he went on to glory!

                                                                         

"God Helps Those....Who....Can't....Help Themselves"

                After my mother and I moved to Pittsburgh....I was 13 at the time....beginning eighth grade....God provided an apartment on a quiet street about eight miles from downtown. I spent my summers a couple of miles away at my cousin's home....in a town called...Turtle Creek....home of the Vogues. They were wonderful memories. Little did I know that a young preacher who would have a big impact on my life....had at one time....a few years previous....lived on the same street as did my cousin....and....his future wife was raised only a few streets from where my mother an I lived....and....I would in those summers....pass many times.....a church where this man's father-in-law pastored a congregation....a big yellow church is all that I remember of it. This minister's name is David Wilkerson....author of....The Cross And The Switchblade....and founder of Times Square Church....in the heart of Manhattan. I still have 100 cassettes of his preaching....(and just as many of John MacArthur's....and R.C. Sprouls).... We needed cassettes before the Internet. 
                Let me segue a little bit. I was listening to a John MacArthur sermon few days ago....something I do fairly regularly....and this sermon was probably....from the sound of John MacArthur's voice....at least forty years old. It was a wonderful sermon....but in it he said something that bothered me just a little bit. As he was preaching....in his strong expository style....he gave an anecdote. He had met a famous Pentecostal preacher....and it may very well have been David Wilkerson....who was about the most famous Pentecostal preacher at the time....and he asked this preacher if he used....Vine's Expository Dictionary....in his studies. The Pentecostal pastor responded....."What's that?" Here is where I have a little problem....MacArthur related this in his sermon....actually ridiculing it....that this well-known preacher did not even know about Vine's ExpositorDictionary! The people in the church laughed?
                This is a pitfall that is common among the seminary trained Reformed pastors of today. They at times....think so highly of their formal training in the languages....that they forget that God used the untrained John Bunyan....and the untrained Spurgeon....and the untrained Moody....and in this case also....the untrained David Wilkerson....in ways that many of those who had been....seminary trained....could only hope to be used.
                The fact is....I feel confident is saying....that God uses any man that He desires to use....whether they be brilliant and eloquent....as in the case of MacArthur....or passionate and pleading....as in the case of David Wilkerson. We are all in this together....and praise God in that an uneducated fisherman....Peter....and an elite educated Pharisee....Paul....could be used to change the world at that time!
                   So....Lord willing....I might listen to MacArthur today....or I might listen to Spurgeon....or I might listen to Martyn Lloyd-Jones...or David Wilkerson. I am adding here a sermon of David Wilkerson's that I already listened to this morning....titled....Stand Still And See The Salvation Of The LORD. We need all of these men. We need the rigorous study of a Jonathan Edwards....and we need the direct power of the Holy Spirit in preaching as through a Charles Spurgeon. We need the brilliant mind of an R. C. Sproul....in the classroom....and we need the brilliance of a George Whitefield....in the public square. We need seminary trained ministers at John MacArthur's The Master's Seminary....and we need the simple Bible College.

                                                                           

Note: The title is a quote from  within this sermon.

The Enemy Within

              The book....Seven Days In May....was published in September of 1962. President Kennedy read it....and was taken by it so much that he encouraged that it be made into a film.....and went so far as to return to Cape Cod for a while so that he would not be in the White House when parts of the film were staged on the street in front of the White House. It was also reported by his top speech writer....Ted Sorensen....that JFK wanted everyone in his administration to see the film when it was completed. Of course....JFK never got to see the movie that starred Burt Lancaster as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was behind the delicate and well planned out coup that was to take place in seven days
               The film came out in 1964....62 years ago....so there is no need to give a spoiler alert here. Four members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff conspired to remove a president who they thought was too soft on the threat of the Soviet Union and Communism. It would have worked but a main character in the story....a colonel who had a high job for the Joint Chiefs....saw something suspicious....one thing led to another....and the president discovered the plot.
                Here is why I am doing this post....when the coup was discovered....and stopped....the public was never told about it. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and others were allowed to resign....the reason given was that their differences with the president were so great that it was thought the best thing to do was for them to just leave!
                Are you possibly a golfer....maybe a painter in oils....or some other life-long passion? Well I have spent at least fifty years in the study of what happened on the day in November of 1963. Not a year has passed when I did not at some point binge for a while in research. What has always bothered me was that our own government could so successfully cover up what really happened....but just as in the movie....it was thought that the public should not know....because they might panic!
                There is another reason for posting this. It is highly likely that rogue elements of our government somewhere....were involved. It is an absolute definite....that Oswald was chosen....and maneuvered....as a patsy....to take the blame. We the public....and we evangelicals....need to know what some in America are capable of. We need to know how passion....along with complete confidence that they are right on some issue....thinking themselves the good guys....and the real patriots....what they are capable of doing!
                 The 1964 film starred Kirk Douglas along with Burt Lancaster. There was a TV remake movie made in 1994....under a different title....The Enemy Within....with Forest Whitaker in Kirk Douglas's role....Jason Robards in Burt Lancaster's role....and Sam Waterston as the president. Interestingly...that title....The Enemy Within....is the same title of Bobby Kennedy's 1960 autobiographical account of the Kennedy brothers work in the Congress....against organized crime.

The 'Intelligence' May Be 'Artificial"....But The Warnings....Are Genuine

               The excuse given in letting AI be AI....is that there is an important technology race going on between China and the US and others....but there is another 'race' concept'....'race' almost in ethnic terms....or the algorithms almost as a distinct race of intelligent beings. Last evening we had Halloween in our township. Multitudes of Christians partake in this because....(they would not admit this because they do not realize it)....along with Santa and the Easter Bunny and fairies....they think that demons are not real....maybe they were when Jesus walked the earth....but not today in our enlightened evangelical society. Oh....give them a Sunday School quiz question on demons and they will get it right....but give them Halloween....and it is all just silliness.
              The battle with AI is lost....as we all went for the money. Economist Paul Krugman has an article out today....(you can find it on Drudge. The title is....Hack Apocalypse Now.) Krugman....admits a couple of times that he is not a technologist. Maybe that is what we need right now....just common sense applied to the onslaught of AI? His comments are simple and to the point....AI will kill jobs! Get ready for this.....and it is already happening. The rich will get richer....and they will do their best to keep us in food and entertainments. 
               Krugman's other points are that the unsustainable growth of AI in the economy....and the warning signs already appearing.....are a recipe for an economic collapse just as enormous....and that hacking alone....in this very susceptible environment....can take away all the growth potential that AI proponents are counting on.
                AI is here....it is too late to stop it....it has catastrophe written all through its algorithms....it will have a personality if the demonic aligns itself with it....and it is not only biblical....but end-times prophetic....currently with very few in pulpits warning of it....for they are more concerned with praying for our mid-term elections....of which our side is the biggest proponent of the great riches that can be had through AI!
               Krugman added a reference to a 1984 book that began a cultural shift in science fiction....the book by William Gibson....Neuromancer....but I would prefer the book 1984....itself....or more importantly the book of Daniel....where he was told that knowledge would increase at the very end of times....and the book of Revelation....or....The Apocalypse of John....that describes in detail....the meanings being increasingly revealed to us by God all the time....that speak and warns of images and encryptions....and possibly AI itself?

DISPATCHES

The Israeli president has officially asked the opposition to attempt to form a government. As Yogi once said...."It ain't over till it's over"....but it doesn't look good for Benjamin Netanyahu. This is no time to change leaders....in the middle of a war....but....there seems to be no wisdom anywhere in the world anymore.

It has only been three days since Trump shocked everyone by announcing that US aid to Israel will end at the end of the year. The Prime Minister's office finally released a weak statement....that our relationship is now more of a partnership"....but Netanyahu himself has not....as far as I know....been heard from. He may very well finally come out smiling with some sort of statement....but in reality he is probably still reeling over the mind-boggling announcement.

Trump today officially asked Dana White....the head of that ultimate or caged fighting or whatever it is....to be....his new press secretary. (he declined) More republicans are begin to speak out against Trump....thanks for nothing....for it is too late. The spreading of the Trump pandemic may be ending....but that also would be too late.

For the first time in history....a Roman Catholic Pontiff has voted in United States elections....so there may be in whatever Illinois county....a Recorder of Deeds....or a Clerk of Courts....who has letter in the mail....from almost the other side of the world....from the Pope....voting for them.

As I opined in a recent post....this election is a....lose/lose.....situation. If Trump loses his House protection....what might he be emboldened to do as he would have less chance than Nixon had to remain in office....and if the results go totally against what the polls are saying....which would be almost a resurrection of political power....what would Trump be emboldened to do with that power?

We have all read in God's Word the many instances of false prophets. Well....to us today....Jonathan Cahn is one such false prophet. I've read all of his books....and this message in the video below....which he himself released....is believed by multitudes of evangelicals....and Christians....(there can be a difference)....and probably most of the Charismatic movement. I believe that this message was given after the successful 2024 election....and Donald Trump was in the audience. Rabbi Cahn highlights June 14....1946....as Trump's date of birth....but doesn't mention that it was a blood moon that evening. He says this to Trump...."There are so many mysteries to your life." That may indeed be true.

                                                                

The Name Above All Names

                 It was in September of 1963....the 15th to be exact....in Pittsburgh....Forbes Field to be exact....when three brothers.....the Alou brothers.....Felipe and Matty and Jesus....played in the San Francisco Giants outfield at the same time....the first time....and to this day the only time that three brothers played in the same outfield....on the same team....in the same game. I don't think that I was at that game....I was thirteen at the time....but I saw the Giants play the Pirates a few games that year....as my uncle....a Catholic priest....Father Dan as we all knew him....took me to many Pirate games. We in America who speak English....know the youngest brother's name....only in the Spanish vernacular....pronounced as....hey-soos....so it doesn't quite have the same effect on us. Nowadays....2026....the name of Jesus is used as a curse word in many movies....and on television....and in the life of many Americans.
                At that time....and in my whole life probably up to my early 20s.....as a Catholic youth....whenever I would utter the name of Jesus....in a religious context....maybe over Christmastime or Easter....whenever I would utter the name....I would do a quick dip....or bow....of my head. That's what we all were to do....as far as I remember. Do they still do this today? I have no idea.

                                                                 JESUS

                                                                 JESUS

                                                                 JESUS

                Oh that name! Oh that blessed name today....to one such as I....or anyone of us who were taken out of that number who were lost....and headed to perdition! Oh the power of that name....to those who believe in the Son of Man.....the Son of God....the Christ....the Son of David....the Lion of Judah....the Prince of Peace....the Rose of Sharon....the Lily of the Valley....our Savior and our Lord....and our King!
                 I'm sure that you heard other similar anecdotes as what I am going to relate here...it was 1973....and I was out of the army for about a year. My bedroom in the small apartment that my mother and I lived in was off to itself....with a door to the kitchen....and another door to the apartment building hallway....an entrance which was never used. I was sleeping....and....(I know the alternatives....such as dreaming)....but to the best of knowledge at the time....I was sleeping....when something sat on the end of my bed. Now both of my doors were always locked at night. I tried to turn quickly....as anyone would do....to see what was there....but I could not turn my head. I struggled for who knows how many minutes....literally soaking my bed in sweat....until I....struggling just to do it....uttered that glorious name...."Jesus!" It felt like someone had rose from the bed. That's it folks....just a memory since that day.
                 Something else happened on that Sunday....September 15 of 1963....in Birmingham, Alabama....at the 16th Street Baptist Church....as four beautiful African-American young girls....Addie Mae Collins....Carole Robertson....Cythia Wesley....and Carol Denise McNair....ages 11 to 14....were the victim of a bomb blast....from pure and unadulterated hatred..."As in the days of Noah."
                  As we all know.....another victim of the hatred of God....Stephen....as they were stoning him....uttered that glorious name above all names...."Lord Jesus....receive my spirit"....and then he prayed this before he "fell asleep"...."Lord....do not hold this sin against them."
                  Well there was at least one who that prayer was directed to....for Saul....later Paul....was standing there....approving of it all! Actually there were many others who were forgiven....me....and hopefully you....and if God continues to have mercy upon us....many others who will hear it proclaimed...."For from Him...and through Him...and to Him....are all things....to Him be the glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:36 NASB).....and to all who believe...."John to the seven churches that are in Asia...Grace to you and peace from Him who is....and who was....and who is to come....and from the seven spirits who are before His throne....and from Jesus Christ....the faithful witness...the firstborn of the dead...and the ruler of the kings of earth....To Him who loves us and released us from from our sins by His blood....And He made us into a kingdom....priests to His God and Father....to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." Revelation 1:6 NASB)
                  

"Why Do We Need To Be Born Again"

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

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

                                                                           

        

        

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

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

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

       
Let There Be Light

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

Lord's Day Post

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

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

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

                                                                       

 

"Avoid Such People As These"

2 Timothy 3 begins with this....

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

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

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

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

"lovers of money"

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

"boastful"

Is there anyone in the world more boastful?

"arrogant"

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

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

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

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

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

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

                                                                

    

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

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

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