No....He Is Nearly Perfect

                  It was forty years ago. I had been saved within Pentecostalism....and there were some outside Charismatic influences. We were attending a Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship....dinner with a speaker. These were enjoyable and edifying times....most of them....some were not. In this one particular dinner....the speaker asked if there was anyone who wished to come forward to have hands laid upon them....and to be....Slain in the Spirit. I had witnessed quite a bit of this back then....was merely inquisitive....and decided to go forward. The speaker....put his hands on foreheads and the people would gently fall backwards into the waiting arms of someone prepared for just that. He came to me....and put his hand on my forehead....and nothing happened....so he pushed a little....and still nothing....then he pushed harder....appeared frustrated....and moved on to the next person.
                  The Charismatic church in the 1990s was awash with this kind of nonsense....as people in American churches were laughing and barking and moving spasmodically in the mere presence of someone that they believed to be anointed by the Holy Spirit. The chief anointed 'minister' in what was known as the Laughing Revival....was one of those seventeen ministers laying hands on President Trump in the Oval Office in 2017. If you have never watched the video of....Trump's pastor....or so they call her....Paula White....praying....this after the 2020 election loss....but before January 6....praying for angels to come to help Trump....then you certainly should take the time....for it shows the horror of the charismatic presence around Trump....who uses it as it benefits him. Just Google....'Paula White....angels video.'
                 There is a female minister in Los Angeles....who calls herself an apostle....(many call themselves such)....and she is in the news because when she speaks....people shake uncontrollably....and then may fall to the ground. The news editors must have a short memory....for this kind of stuff had been old news....a long time ago.
                  Why does someone fall down....or begin to laugh uncontrollably....or shake....when in the presence of one of these 'ministers?' Well for one thing....they want to experience whatever the experience of the moment might be. They think that it must be a good thing.....the Holy Spirit descending upon those affected. There would have been no warnings to these people....and if there were any warnings....they would have been willfully ignored.
                  The principle is also the same....or at least very similar....to evangelicals and Trump. They wanted something so very bad....they wanted their country back....and he offered it to them! They don't shake or laugh out loud or fall over....as they just stare and smile into the eyes of the man with the gift....and believe what he says. They think that they are honoring God....and it is very hard to get through to them. They will in defense of Trump....tell me that he is not perfect....but what they do not realize is that he is almost perfect....in that for at least sixty of his eighty  years....he has as if lived a life as a single-cell organism....with no concern for or connection to anything else in existence....other than himself....and that which benefits him....able to change shape at will. Take today for instance....at the funeral service for a departed statesman....the words may have been there at times....for he knows what must be included in his eulogy....but the only importance of those few hours was in how it affected his own political future.
                   How can I be so sure of what I'm saying? After knowing almost nothing about him before the 2016 election....other than his money and his comical celebrity....and immediately after seeing him begin to change shape upon entering the Oval Office....as if he had no real ideology at all....I began to study his life....through as of today 115 books about that life....and after fifty or so rallies....and hearing literally....literally....thousand of lies....and observing his actions almost every day for the last decade....as if there was no such thing as objective truth....or common decency....I can easily recognize that which God's Word warns us of....and commands us to have nothing to do with....and to even flee from! 
                   His psychological disorders are numbing....considering his position as President of the United States. It is not just an ego....but a metastasized illness that affects every waking moment. No....this man's traits are nearly perfect....perfect in their self-servitude....and disastrous to the evangelical that is has been blinded to who he really is. 
                   One last thing as I just finished watching the funeral service of that departed government leader.....in what is called....our National Cathedral....which in reality is nothing but a pagan temple. There were hymns....and clerics in robes....and many Scripture readings....and testimonies....but what it was....was a temple ceremony for a false worldly religion....with a false gospel....and a false hope in salvation. May God have mercy upon us...for we have ignorantly yet willfully....drifted with the current....seeking our will....and conforming God's will to ours....while relying for change on might and power....not the Holy Spirit....and becoming in essence....the Church of the Lowest Common Denominator.
                    When we as God's children....are dealing with a genuine biblical false prophet....a man whose very career is based on greed and threats and lies and ego....and who leads God's children away from trust in Christ....to trust in ourselves....we then do not have the right....nor can we if we seek God's glory alone....use frivolous statements of defense....such as....'well he's not perfect.'

      

Doeg And Musk

                There are names in the Bible that are very poetic....Mephibosheth has always struck me that way....and other names are just difficult to pronounce....Zerubbabel might be one. Some are comically simple such as Lot or Job. Some names have a grandeur about them such as....Solomon....and others....to me anyway....are ugly. Doeg would be one of those....pronounced...dough-egg. Doeg? I just don't like it.
                 Well the name fit the man Doeg. He wasn't an Israelite.....as a matter of fact....he was an Edomite....the people that came from Jacob's brother Esau....and were usually enemies of the Israelites.
                 Israel wanted a king....and would not take no for an answer....(just like wanted a powerful leader)....so God gave them one....Saul....who started off Ok but eventually descended into the pit of hate and revenge towards....David....a man after God's own heart.
                  Segue to David fleeing Saul....to Ahimelech....the High Priest....at Nob....seeking provisions for his men. Ahimelech may not have been aware of the whole situation....and provided David with those provisions. 
                   Doeg was Saul's chief herdsman.....apparently a high profile position....and he was at Nob the day that David arrived. David knew he was there and was concerned....and true enough....Doeg went back to Saul and reported on Ahimelech giving provisions to him....apparently without telling Saul that Ahimelech may not have known the whole story between Saul and David.
                   King Saul ordered his men to go and kill the priests at Nob....but they refused such a horrible command....(oh that some today would refuse such orders in this administration)....so Saul turned to Doeg and ordered him to go and kill Ahimelech and everyone else that was there.....of which Doeg did do just that....everyone....women and children and all.... a slaughter! David was told of what happened and blamed himself. Psalm 52 speaks of Doeg. I was reading that Psalm last night....and that is what precipitated this post. Here are a couple of verses from that short Psalm...

"Why do you boast in evil....O mighty man....Your tongue devises destruction....like a sharp razor....working deceitfully....You love evil more than good....and lying rather than speaking righteousness You love all devouring words....You deceitful tongue....here is the man who did not make God his strength....but trusted in the abundance of his riches....and strengthened himself in his wickedness." (1a, 2, 3, 4, 7 NKJV)

                    Doeg is an odd name....flip a couple of letters and it would be doge. That's what came to my mind anyway....doge....a medieval ruler in parts of Italy....or from what I read....a meme of some sort from a while back....or maybe a computer game....or then maybe the insidious creation of Elon Musk....that went out at the command of the president....for probably no one else would have or could have done such a task....and under the claim of government efficiency....brought a lot of pain to a lot people who lost their jobs....and also pain to people around the world who lost vital health benefits because of the....in some cases....slaughter such as at USAID!
                     Yes there are changes that need to be made in many of our government policies....foreign aid and immigration are but two....but you do not do surgery with a  chainsaw....and if your own leaders would defy or even question your commands....it might be a good thing to at least take seriously their hesitations.

                 

The Difference Between The Noun....'Awe'....And The Adjective....'Awesome'

                The church has lost the awe of what it means to be born again. You may still hear the phrase from time to time....and you may even hear the story in a sermon of Nicodemus's late night secret visit to see Jesus....but somewhat as with a grade school student when called upon for an answer to a question that they do not know....he or she may be able to string enough words together....well enough that the teacher has to accept the answer....but it is only head knowledge at best.
                 If we realized what the word 'lost' means....and what the word 'saved' means...along with the incalculable and eternal difference.....and consequently realized that it was us that was once lost....and us that are now saved....it would by every rule of logic and common sense....turn us into what the world calls....fanatical Christians....who want nothing to do with this world....but only to live truly as a pilgrim in a world headed to destruction....but you see....that is not us!
                 We have over time....talked ourselves into believing....or let ourselves be led into believing....that this salvation thing was just an everyday occurrence....made so easy....that all one has to do is believe.....(a simple act with no corresponding emphasis on just what the word 'believe' might mean)....and then they can sit back and expect all the blessings to begin!  
                  Charles Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle both....circa 1850 to 1900....lamented....and preached on....and warned with a passion....that the gospel was being lost in the church at the time....and the gospel was indeed disappearing in the church at end of their long ministries. Spurgeon called it....The Downgrade.' 
                   The church underwent a resurgence of the proclamation of the true gospel in the latter half of the last century....led by men like Martyn Lloyd-Jones and MacArthur and Sproul and Billy Graham and others....call it a minor awakening or a generational revival or whatever you might want to describe it as....but it faded as revivals always do...and these men were taken home....almost to a man!
                    Thirty years ago an alarm was sounded with the growing popularity of the megachurch and the user-friendly gospel....John MacArthur especially defended the gospel....but we lost that battle! We were hit in short order by 9/11....a disastrous economic collapse....then a pandemic....and each one shifted our emphasis away from defending the gospel to defending the constitution and protecting our way of life. Trump weakened what was left of evangelicalism....as we are essentially today the....Trump evangelical....which is no evangelical at all! 
                     No one has to be born again....they only have to be recruited....and then sign on the dotted line. There is no power in the pulpits. You can literally skip over any verse or passage or whole book in God's word if you want to. The Sunday worship service is a pleasant time....and if it's not a pleasant time....then we will go somewhere else where it offers a pleasant time!
                     So what is next on the biblical agenda? Surprises are next. The unexpected is next! That may sound odd coming from someone who 'expects' that Jesus is at the very door....and can recite one fulfilled sign after another fulfilled sign of His return....but we will need real faith in the real near future....and real warnings....of a real holy God.
                      There is a difference between the noun....'awe'....implying an almost paralysis before a holy God....'that sermon had me in awe of a holy God'.....and the adjective....'awesome'....which is how the church of today looks at God....'that was an awesome sermon.'

We Underestimated The Wiles Of The Devil

                It was 2015....and Hillary was most likely going to succeed Barack Obama as president. We conservatives had been stoked to a fever pitch by Rush and Mark Levin and Hannity. I was there. As some of you reading this were. This is a first-hand account. We had plenty of decent candidates but they were either milquetoast or perceived to be milquetoast candidates....then along came a man who poured blood into the already shark infested water.
                He was vile....and comical as we always had perceived him. In one instance he appeared to mock a reporter with a disability that gave him spastic movements of his hands. This was only one incident of many....in another he said this about another candidate Carly Fiorina...."Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that....the face of our next president?" He later just denied having done these things. That is what he has done for eleven years now....just lie and deny. There came a week....I remember it well....when Rush and then Sean and then Mark....were forced to admit that....yes.....he does lie. So the lies of the man were just openly put aside....for the greater glory or the goal at hand.
                 This was the beginning of the final collapse of evangelicalism. As did Thomas Jefferson in his own personal bible....we just cut out all of everything God told us about people to flee from. We were a people of the book. We no longer are. Everything about holiness and separating from the world is gone. This falling away began long before Trump. The two top Christian female singers in the world had divorced their husbands....and we as if just said....'aw....that's so sad....but we still love your music that brings glory to God!'
                 So we were ripe for the advent of a man who bold-face lied every day of his life if not every hour of his life. The liberals were as the Northern tribes of Israel after the divide. They burned their sacrifices to Molech....abortion....and set up idols everywhere in the land....and God later judged that nation....and that political party....but we followed....just as the Southern tribes later fell into their own idolatrous worship....and now God has judged us.
                 We are a shell of what we once were....and even then we were a shell of what we should have been. The glory has departed from the evangelical church in America....in spite of all the big churches and the constant Bible studies. It is the preaching today that is milquetoast! The evangelical church today that continues to support this man who has given one false prophecy of peace and prosperity after another for a decade....has fulfilled the prophecy in Revelation of the Laodicean church. It at least partially fulfilled the prophecy of a falling away that would come.
                  It is a difficult concept to come to grips with....when we....you and I and all of us....who may have decades of legitimate Christian worship and even sound teaching behind us....when we...ourselves....turn away from our own past! There was no vigilance in us to catch what was happening to us! We underestimated the wiles of the Devil. We overestimated our own strengths.
                   So here we sit....fully ensconced into a false hope....following a false prophet....unable in spite of the overwhelming evidence that this is a man such as God's Word....throughout....warns us....even commands us....to turn away from and have nothing to do with!
                    Woe are us....but somewhere in the confines of our memory....is the knowledge that God is not only a God of righteous judgment....but a God of mercy that continues to call us back to Him. Rock Bottom? How many times have I thought that we were at rock bottom....only to slide off and continue to fall? But that real rock bottom is coming. May our merciful God then display a mercy that we do not deserve! May He not only open our eys....but apply a balm so that we do not collapse into total despondency at the realization of what we had done! May we be tossed up...and the wind take away the chaff that suffocates us....and may we then fall as grain that will spring to life....a repentant and encouraged people....free from the delusion that is right now all around us....free to worship in spirit and in truth....finally free to admit our part in what this nation has become....and turn for salvation to the Captain of our souls....and the coming King of all Kings!

Addendum: I pulled up an old sermon by David Wilkerson to listen to tonight. that's right....in amongst Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones and MacArthur and John Piper and even Michael Horton....I listen to David Wilkerson sermons occasionally. I have a hundred sermons by him on cassette in my basement....that I listened to....probably forty years ago. What the Reformed may not know is that David Wilkerson probably has more Puritan in him than they do. Let me give you an anecdote about the author of....The Cross And The Switchblade....that I have related in these posts a number of times. It took place in the mid-80s....and Wilkerson decided to go to see for himself the most popular Christian singer in America....a female....and as he watched her and her band....he described the scene as her husband played his guitar....with the stem of a rose in between his teeth. David Wilkerson said that he saw demons on the stage....and he ran up the aisle.....shouting to the people...."Ichabod....Ichabod....the glory has departed." I knew that he was at that concert....because I saw the same concert....with the same man playing his guitar with a rose between his teeth....but I thought that it was great! I later came to find out that David Wilkerson....on that day anyway....was right. If David Wilkerson were alive today....there would be no holding him back in warning the church. I'll choose a sermon of his from 1999 to add to this post. David died and went to be with his Lord in 2011.

                                                                        

War......the gods.....and morality

                   We recently gave as a present to a nephew....the LEGO blocks of NASA's Artemis rocket to the moon. Artemis was the Greek god worshiped by the Ephesians. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. NASA leaned more to Greek deities....the Apollo and Mercury missions etc....while the planets were named after Roman deities.
                    We may not worship Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln....but the memorials in our capital to them are not totally dissimilar to the temples that Paul commented on while in Athens.
                    I was at the movies this morning for a nine AM showing of The Odyssey. I wasn't looking forward to seeing the latest blockbuster to come out of Hollywood....an idol factory in its own right....but if it was that popular....and if I spend so much time commenting on our culture....then I just had to go and see the film.
                    This isn't a movie review....other than to say....OK....it was epic alright....of war and the gods and morality....where the Greek gods are the main protagonists. Everyone except Matt Damon's character was concerned about offending Zeus.....and Poseidon....although Odysseus had a personal relationship with Athena....while Calypso had a big sway over him.
                     We are familiar with how David wanted to build a house for God....but God said that he was too much a man of war....so the task of building the temple went to his son Solomon. Well Matt Damon's Odysseus wanted a decent civilization to return to Ithaca after all of the corruption....but that task would have to be for his son Telemachus.
                     The narrative of the movie is a morality play. I know that I have watched Jimmy Stewert's 1946 classic....It's A Wonderful Life....almost every year as Christmas approached....but that also was a non-Christian morality play! Not only is American culture a morality play....but evangelicalism is heading that way very fast is....a morality play on a Christian stage.
                      So who are these Greek gods anyway...or the Roman gods? For that matter....who is Krishna and Kali in Hinduism? Well you can start with the Baals and all of the Canaanite gods....and then take one more step backward....and the circle is complete....fallen angels....also known as demons....starting with Lucifer.
                       If AI eventually gives us a god....which I believe that it will....it in essence will not be any different than Zeus or Jupiter or Molech or Dagon!
                      
                     
                      

                     
                    

          

Amazing....Burnt Timbers From Nebuchadnezzar's Destruction of Jerusalem And The First Temple!

                     It was over a few year period....roughly thirty-five years ago....that my wife and I and our son would get in the car and drive for about forty-five minutes to what was then....Borders Bookstore....in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh. Barnes & Noble grew after the liquidation of Borders. I might return with a Christian book or a current events book....but every time I would come home with a newspaper copy of the Jerusalem Post....which sold for $5 at the time. Today I visit the Jerusalem Post Internet site multiple times every day!
                   So today the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz and The Times Of Israel are all reporting on an archaeologist find....in an on-going dig in the City of David....of large timbers that were burned in the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.! This is really pretty amazing....for these burnt timbers....probably from a roof they say....to have survived. The reason given is that plaster in the house may have melted over the timbers....preserving them....but what is really amazing is that this find came days before the solemn fast known as the....Ninth of Av....(the Jewish month of AV)....or Tisha B'Av!
                   On this day in history....the first temple was destroyed....and the second temple was destroyed....and before that....it was the day that the twelve spies returned to report to Moses....and told him that that people they saw were much too strong to go against. The people heard this....and panicked....and regretted ever leaving Egypt. God was not happy....to say the very least....and the Jews were condemned to wander around the wilderness for the next forty years!
                   So this day....the Ninth of Av....is a most solemn day! Those who honor that day....(not all Jews do so)....as part of the tradition....are not even to exchange pleasantries with each other! Well....this discovery came days before the Ninth of Av....or....Tisha B'Av!
                    The following paragraph from a July 2020 post describes my feelings on this...."The dates of the future feasts of Israel are always only a click away for me or anyone who feels that surely major prophetic events will occur on these days. This isn't date setting for we do not know the years....but we do know that God's future plans for the Jewish people will most likely revolve around their feasts. To  prognosticate on this is more than problematic....but to ignore it is being careless to God's warnings to us." On another occasion I described it this way...."This is not date setting! This is....mind setting....Set your minds on things that are above, not the things of earth." (Colossians 3:2 ESV)"

                      Tisha B'Av 2026 begins about forty eight hours from now....Wednesday at sundown....July 22....and ends at nightfall the next evening....Thursday....July 23. Jerusalem time is seven hours ahead of us....so sunset on Wednesday is 7:43 PM....or 12:43 PM our time in Pittsburgh.

                   

Put It All On The Grid

                The video was about 50 minutes as I remember. It began with some well-known celebrities telling the viewer to watch the video before the government forced it off the air. Then it went to Bill Gates....right there before you...looking right into the camera....talking about how he had wished that he found this discovery before his father had died. The video then for the next thirty minutes or so was more scientific....as it took you into state-of-the-art labs....and introduced you to prominent doctors. The real problem of Alzheimers was discovered....and Big Pharma was doing everything it could to keep you from knowing about it. The video then takes you to an island and a certain honey only found on that island....and streams of water on that island with a certain kind of chemical.....that when mixed....as all the island's inhabitants did....it cleaned up the brain! Wow! Then the pill was introduced into the video. His research team had through great expense of his own....developed a pill....and once again with Bill Gates paying for most of it....you can order it for about $249 for a six month supply! The problem was....the whole thing was AI generated....fake! That wasn't Bill Gates. I had watched similar videos before with different celebrities....and different miracle cures....and they also were all fake.
                 Now this is not new to us....as almost weekly we see or hear about some AI generated singer or actor or song or some such thing. We are astounded....and shocked numb at times....but as outraged and disgusted as we may be....I do not think that we are anywhere near considering the potential disasters of where this is going.
                 There were clues as I watched that video....that this video was defying logic and common sense.  If Bill Gates can promise to give a hundred billion dollars away....why would he still be charging $49 a bottle for a month supply of this miracle cure? And if only this one small island produced this certain honey....that could not be synthesized....then how could he plan on selling millions of bottles of this....supposedly from now on in? But forget all those nagging questions because there was Bill Gates right before you....what more proof do you need?
                  The latest Time magazine has a two-page article on AI. One statement in the article I have heard before...."AI systems were created by people. But our ability to create them does not mean we know how they work." The jest of the article was whether or not AI can have emotions. That was uncertain....but....they have found that when AI is given a task that it cannot solve....it can show signs of frustration!
                  The Type A....(I just made that up)....Bible prophesy student....can make statements such as....."Jesus might not return for another hundred years." The Type B....Bible prophecy student....me....knows that it is time right now to prepare. We know this....there are going to be false miracles....and great delusion....so much so....that even Billy Graham....if he were still with us....the elect....if possible....could be totally taken in by the deception. 
                  We need to know this! We need....desperately....to begin to put every single seeming miracle....every hero....every movie script...every new prophecy book.....every political platform and every politician's promise and every new Bible teaching....on the grid of God's Word to us....and we need to be praying fervently throughout the whole process....for does not God's Word tell us that Satan can appear as....an angel of light....and that the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion....looking for someone to devour!
                  So Trump says that our best is yet to come? Put that prophecy on the grid of God's Word! What does God's Word say about that?  We are one glorious nation under God? Are We? Put it on the grid! Are we being given a narrative that stirs our anger? Put that on the grid also. Are we being told how rich and powerful we are to become....glory be to God? Check that boasting out with God's Word!
                  Is someone like me who is saying...."Ichabod....the glory has departed"....seeing similarities of American religion....even evangelcalism....with the idolatry of both Israel in the North and Judah in the South....am I the one that is delusional? Put down the trivial and the fun and the games....and set out to find these things out for yourself....keeping in mind the last words to us from God's Word....Revelation 22:20, 21 ESV...."He who testifies to these things says....'Surely I am coming soon'....Amen....Come...Lord Jesus!' The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all....Amen."

Who Would Want A friend Like Me.......I Wouldn't....

               Like any teenager.... I played all the sports that young boys play.... but I have only had two that stayed with me my entire life. One of them was running. I loved to go running. I could fantasize right now if I wanted to.... on this hot and humid day.... going over to our local high school track.... with a bottle of Gatorade.... and a plastic counter around my neck.... to count the laps.... and headphones or earbuds to listen to a sermon. The steam right now is surely coming up off of the rubber track. I could do laps.... maybe twenty or so.... sweating and getting this exercise that I loved.... and hear the glories of God proclaimed at the same time.... from either....'preachers of the past.... or preachers today who preached like preachers of the past.'
               My other athletic endeavor was lifting weights. It was Christmas 1964....and my mother and I were Christmas shopping in downtown Pittsburgh. Petula Clark's....Downtown....was a big song at the time.... but it was the Beatles 45....I Want To Hold Your Hand.... that I wanted for a Christmas present.... along with a Robert's 110 lb barbell set.... which we loaded into a cab for the ride home. I used that same bar and about 65 lbs. last night in my basement. So it has been over sixty years of loving lifting weights! Occasionally I will go to Planet Fitness to work on machines.... and I use that plastic counter around my neck to keep track of the sets.... and on my head.... every single time.... are headphones..... to listen to some wonderful sermon.
               So why am I telling you this? Am I trying to brag? You don't even know me.... and those who do know me don't want to be around me too much anyway.... because this type of stuff is all that I love to talk about. Who wants a friend who is always talking about the Antichrist... and is constantly trying to get them to listen to sermons from....'preachers of the past.... and preachers today who preach like preachers of the past?' Who wants a friend that thinks that he absolutely knows that Jesus is so close that if you close your eyes you might actually hear the sound of the approaching hoofbeats? As a side.... you might want to think about ordering Billy Graham's 1983 book.... Approaching Hoofbeats... The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse? Who wants a friend who is always trying to get you to put away the mystery novel and read books like this.... or stop your daily playing Wordle.... and start trying to calculate the number of the Beast?
                Who wants a friend like this? I wouldn't.... until I started.... years ago.... listening every day.... at times two and three times a day.... to sermons.... supposedly.... means of grace..... (and I can assure you that they are).... from....'preachers from the past.... or.... preachers today who preach like preachers of the past'.... and then.... after being saturated with Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones and Sproul and MacArthur and Horton and Paul Washer.... and many others... I started seeing things a little clearer than I did before.... and my own sins a lot clearer than I did before!
                 So.... if you want the status quo.... if you certainly do not want to become like me.... do not experiment with....'preachers from the past.... and preachers today who preach like preachers from the past!'

                   

                      

Hitler......1919......to......1939

The Confessing Church in Germany unsuccessfully tried to warn the people. The 'confessing church' is not even warning the people today. The following three posts were from the summer of 2025....and I only plan on keeping it up front for a little while....for we need reminded from time to time on how things like this take shape before we even know it....and then we become the frog boiled in the pot:

Hitler....Up To 1934             

                 My disgust with the historical memory of Hitler is such that when I have referenced him a few times in these posts of almost seventeen years I would refer to him as....the German Fuhrer....but I will use his name since this post is about him.
                 The world looked at him as a comical figure...with his little mustache. When he came on the scene in 1919 Germany was falling apart. Hitler wanted a racially pure Germany....and he hated the Jews and the Socialists. He joined the fledgling German Workers Party....and became a prominent member....raging in his speeches. There was something about his speeches that mesmerized....and people just wanted to follow him. He demanded that he was to be the sole leader of the now newly named Nazi Party. If someone didn't get on board they were taken aside and....'urged to reconsider'....but Hitler and others moved too quickly and what followed was the infamous....Munich Beer Hall Putsch in November of 1923....a rally meant to be a coup in Bavaria that would then march to Berlin. The coup failed and Hitler wound up in prison for nine months. His sentence was longer than that but he knew people high up and he was pardoned. He started writing Mein Kampf while in prison.
                  As the 1920s wore on...the Nazi Party fizzled in the elections because things were looking a little better economically....what with the United States and others providing low interest loans. And then came the crash of 1929....the best thing that could have happened to Hitler....or so he thought at the time.
                 The army of Brownshirts was now large and strong and brutal....and Hitler would then form what would be the SS as personal guardians.....and then the secret police....the Gestapo.
                  Everyone higher up who also hated the Weimar regime....disliked this raging former corporal....but they thought that they needed him to stop the violence in the streets....and they thought that they could control him....so they gave him power...and he was appointed as Chancellor. By this time though everyone except his growing group of rabid worship followers knew that there might be a problem.
                  Hitler wasn't even a citizen....being Austrian....and he needed that citizenship in order to run for office. The second time around was a whole new ballgame. The people from all areas of society flocked to him as the savior who promised to make Germany great again.
                  This new Third Reich was forming now....and Hitler flew from city to city to rallies....promising a 1000 year reign that turned out to be only twelve years. That's when he made his biggest decision yet....and the first in his incarnation as savior. It was time for paybacks. His forces rounded up all of his old opponents and others who could not be trusted....hundreds died....many of whom were executed....including his long time closest ally....the leader of the Brownshirts....who worried that Hitler was betraying the movement. Rohm was thrown in jail....given a gun with one bullet to kill himself....and then shot in his cell when he refused to kill himself. This night that extended over a couple of days and nights came to be known as....the Night of the Long Knives. Would the Brownshirts accept him after he had their leader killed? Hitler gave one of his patented speeches on protecting the country....and wallah....they were all back in the fold.
                   Most of the Christian church came on board....believing the promises that were made....that the church was too much of an important German institution to do anything to. Of course that promise went by the wayside.
                   It was too late now. The popular Hindenburg....elected again as president....who was talked into naming Hitler as Chancelor....was now only an old-man figurehead....and died shortly afterwards....as he could only watch the change in the country and its people. It was only 1934.

Afterthought: We need to be aware of history. Germany after World War I was divided as we are today. They were susceptible to the rantings of a man who promised to restore nationalism and greatness. He used fear and hatred to push all the opposition out of the way. Even the church fell for the promise of prosperity and greatness. Paul asked of the Galatians....who had bewitched them? Were they so foolish to begin in the Spirit....but go on to perfection in the flesh?

Hitler Up To 1938

                One of the problems we face....those of us who know there are multiple serious problems with who Donald Trump is....primary mental and psychological....is that when Hitler is mentioned then Trump supporters fly off the handle....outraged that he would be compared to such an evil man. It's a deterrent to even bring up the subject....and a win for Trump....but the issue is with the methods that the German Fuhrer used to captivate the German public....the promises and gifts and threats and intimidations and instilling fear and anger....and their similarity with the rise of Donald Trump.
                 During the 2016 election reports came out that Ivana....Trump's first wife....told her lawyer that Trump kept a copy of Hitler's speeches by his bedside. Trump called that fake news....as he calls everything negative on him fake news. Reports continued and Trump then said that he didn't have such a book but if he did have such a book he would not have read it. That absurd statement is typical Trump that just makes you roll your eyes. Reports continued and Trump then was forced to say that a Jewish friend of his gave him the book. Reports continued and then it was reported that the friend was identified....and that friend said that he is not Jewish. This is Donald Trump. This is a man whose social is called....Truth....but he himself cannot now nor could he ever in his life....distinguish between truth and lies....but the point remains that he....a man who is famous for not being a reader....apparently was interested in why Hitler's speeches were so effective!
                    A couple of posts below this is a narrative on Hitler's rise up until 1934. This post takes it a few years later. After He had purged all of his enemies and potential enemies....the work towards building the broken economy started. Hitler expanded the autobahn and provided an opportunity of German cars for the people to drive on the autobahn. He was building everywhere which put people to work. Pensions were increased and many and various benefits were awarded to the people such as paid vacations and child care benefits. The army doubled in numbers almost immediately and work started on building a powerful Luftwaffe. Submarine building took off. The Nazis confiscated a lot of money from the Jews to finance their projects. They just took their money! As all these other projects were being built....so were concentration camps!
                  Germany had previously been awarded the 1936 summer Olympic games....and Hitler was determined to show the world the greatness of Germany. We get the term....Olympic village....from the changes that he made in hosting the athletes. The stadium was....state-of-the-art. Everything went almost perfectly and the games were a great success.
                   Young people were mobilized to grow into patriotic and physically fit adults...ready and willing to serve in the army. Propaganda was one of the keys....particularly through radio and the film industry and newspapers and posters!
                   Hitler began to expand the territory. They just sashayed into the Rhineland and no one said a thing. The Austrian government....'requested'....that the German army enter the country for stabilization. The people cheered them....and then Austria became part of the German Reich. Hitler then occupied the Sudetenland....and again England and France said nothing. It was now only 1938.
                    The point here is that the destitute economy was now expanding....and the people were told to take pride....and they were rewarded....propaganda was now the key to win over the hearts and minds....territories were being added....all opposition was being silenced....they were celebrating Hitler's birthday every year. Germany was great again and he was the reason.
                     We in America are between a rock and a hard place....in that the very issues that should be brought up along with Trump's rise....Trump uses to 'prove' that there is a Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Note: There are a number of excellent movies out there on Corrie ten Boom....the most well-known of course being....The Hiding Place....but....Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace....should also be watched.

Hitler Up To 1939

                In 1938....Hitler demanded a return of a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland....that had a heavily German speaking population. He claimed that the German speaking people were being persecuted....that was his excuse. England and France and Italy gave him what he wanted in what was called....the Munich Agreement. Czechoslovakia was not represented in the talks that ceded the Sudetenland to Hitler. British prime minister Neville Chamberlain famously returned to London with Hitler's signature....holding the paper over his head....where Hitler promised to stop his aggression in Czechoslovakia....but one week later the German Fuhrer proceeded to occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia's Moravian and Bohemian areas. Hitler had already purged most of the Prussian military generals who might not have gone along with his plans of conquest. Although outraged....all that Britain and France did was to guarantee protection for Poland if they were invaded. Does this sound familiar? Putin wants areas of the Ukraine with Russian speaking people. He already was essentially given the Crimea....although he only annexed it....and that didn't stop him.
                Hitler next wanted the free city of Danzig....which today is Gdansk. He then signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union with secretive elements to it....which would free him to invade the western areas of Poland....while Stalin could take other parts of Poland that he wanted. Hitler did invade Poland....and England and France declared war on Germany. Stalin then invaded eastern areas of Poland....but England and France were not ready for another declaration of war....this time on the Soviet Union.
                On the home front in Germany. Hitler always wanted an excuse for his aggression....(the Reichstag fire of 1933 started it all)....and he got it on November 9, 1938 with the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a German-Polish Jewish man. Brownshirts and the SS and even some German youth and citizens then tore through German towns....ransacking Jewish stores and synagogues....in what has become known as Kristallnacht....or The Night Of Broken Glass.
                On the home front today in America........Lindsey Graham thinks that Putin should be given some of what he wants but that European boots should then be placed on the ground in the Ukraine....which would deter Putin from any further invasions of the Ukraine!

Stay Inside Today Because Of The Bad Air Quality!....And Since You Will Be Stuck Inside....Stream This Wonderful Film!

               There is an anecdote that I remember from the past about George Whitefield. It would be hard to describe the popularity that he had at the time. He arrived in Philadelphia for the first time in 1739. Here is the anecdote....when Whitefield had arrived at a certain town or area....word of it spread literally like wildfire....and the population also literally dropped whatever they were doing....got on their horse or their wagon....and literally once again....sped to see him! The anecdote described what appeared to be dust storms along the countryside....as men and women and families would almost race each other....similar to what it must have been like in the Oklahoma Land Rush!
                 What are you doing this evening....as the smoke from Canada wildfires makes it hard to breath here in Western Pennsylvania? Well....you have the opportunity to be blessed....maybe even eternally blessed....by sitting down with your family to stream that wonderful recent film....A Great Awakening!
                 It looks like the film is now available on a number of streaming platforms. My plan....Lord willing....is to order the movie right now on DVD.....so that I can watch it again and again and again....which I have done on so many other movies....such as Amazing Grace....and Chariots of Fire....and C. H. Spurgeon, The People's Preacher....and Jeremiah....and Risen....and so many other Christian films!

We Are Going To Be Wrong....Until In God's Timing We Are Right....But In The Meantime....This Is What We Must Be Thinking And Meditating And Praying About

                Prophecy all through God's Word is and always has been for us to meditate upon. For the past two-thousand years it sat in the background of our minds....because it was not God's timing....but was never forgotten or ignored....not by the Puritans or Whitefield or Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or anyone....but today it should no longer be on the back burner....because in the past hundred years-plus those prophecies have exploded in their fulfillment....slowly at first but expanding exponentially now.
                  There are dozens of avenues to go down....whole books such as Daniel and Revelation and all of the Old Testament prophets....but also passages somewhere in just about every book in God's Word....Old Testament and New Testament.
                   In this post I want to bring up one obscure passage....well the passage is anything but obscure but the reference to an exact number of fish....153....is rather obscure. This was in the last chapter of the Gospel of John....and Jesus had shown himself to the disciples for the third time since His resurrection. They were in the boat....unsuccessful in catching any fish....and Jesus appeared in disguise on the shore telling them to cast their net off the right side of the boat....which they did....and immediately caught that large number of fish....153 to be exact!
                    It has always been obvious that Jesus meant to relay something to us in that 153 fish were mentioned....and scholars have forever thought this question over....coming up only with a few not very convincing ideas....and that is all that I have....and I've had this thought for many years....a couple of decades at least.
                    The entire twentieth century had been one of fulfilled prophesies on the end-times....and May of 1948 may have been the most important of all.....but in my mind....the period....give or take a year....of 1980....had been a time of paradigm change in the world.....beginning with an extraordinarily political influential pope in John Paul II....and then came Reagan....and Gorbachev was beginning to assume real power just at that time....and you can throw Margaret Thatcher into the mix. 
                     The world was changing....and it is only now....with Trump....changing again. The thought that had been in my mind for so long was that the United Nations accepted its 153rd member right at that time....1980....it was as if in that....with the 153 fishes....or 153 nations....God's Word was telling us that the stage was now set?
                      These thoughts and this concept very well may be wrong....but that is not the real point....which is that we Christians need to be thinking and meditating and praying upon God's prophetic end-times Word....all the time....at least it being in our minds every day. So....right or wrong....correct or incorrect....we are showing that we desire our Savior to return to this corrupt and violent world!
                       One more thing....related to this....in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation....concerning the Beast....this odd statement is made...."Here is the mind that has wisdom...the seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits.....there are also seven kings....five have fallen....one is....and the other has not yet come....and when he comes he must continue a short time....and the beast that was....and is not....is himself also the eighth....and is of the seven....and is going to perdition." Revelation17:9-11 NKJV
                       So one can come up with all kinds of thoughts on this.....here's one....1980....or thereabouts was the beginning of the paradigm change....Reagan and H.W. and Clinton And W and Obama....were the five kings that were kings no more. That means that Trump was the king at the epicenter of this verse...."one is"....and Biden was the king that was there for a short time....and then comes the eighth....who was also of the seven. 
                     Just a thought....probably wrong....hopefully wrong....but this is an example of where our minds and our hopes and our attention should be right now....for did not Jesus tell us a little earlier in Revelation....13:18...."Here is wisdom....let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast....for it is the number of a man....his number is....666."?

        

This Was An Important Telecommunications Event!

              If you watched Trump on TV this evening.....then you witnessed an extraordinary and possibly even an historic propaganda speech. In other words....you lived history this evening! You saw a president....make allegations that point to speculations. He referred time and again to CIA and FBI and other national intelligence agencies....people who are now all his own.....working at his microscopic direction. It wasn't thirty seconds into the speech that I was rolling my eyes at the gross exaggeration. President Trump needed this attempt....in spite of the great risk involved....because he needs the passage of this bill in congress....to greatly limit voter participation from millions of people who would have difficulty putting any required government document into motion....or else after the mid-terms....he may be in very big legal trouble.

Note: Any voter eligibility laws....changes....to be enacted....to protect the integrity of our electoral system....need also....every bit as much....to protect the voting rights of all Americans. This would be a difficult task....and it would take a lot of time....and under no circumstances should be done with this present bill....which is political and not fairness legislation. The 2028 election would be the earliest date for which to set a goal.

Irreconcilable Differences

                    I am going to try to make this as opaque as possible. A Christian celebrity today announced that she filed for divorce after a ten year marriage. She came to this decision through much prayer....and is thankful for all the support that she is being given. Normally that story would go in one ear and out the other because we hear things like this all the time....but it was less than a week ago that I went to a Southern Gospel concert....of a group that I really liked....and during the concert I learned that two of the ladies had been divorced from their Christian husbands. One of these ladies made this comment in explaining how hard it was to get divorced....she was most sad because she had broken God's heart by getting divorced? 

                   It was Wednesday morning....January 6.....2021. I....along with most everyone else in America....knew that there was going to be a protest gathering on the Ellipse in our capital....so I clicked on the television. I've done this many times....I might be watching something....maybe a Trump rally....or a prayer rally....and I knew that I was going to want to post on what was being said....and had no time to attempt to record it....so I....as I heard it....shorthanded the words the best that I could. On this particular Wednesday morning I just wanted to type my thoughts on what I was watching....and post them later. I did not know that that day would be one of the worst days in the history of our country.....and I was describing the beginning of that day. Here are the exact words that I typed and saved as I watched....
                     
                    "Wednesday morning at 11:30....The melody is beautiful.....there's no denying that....and it gives me chills....but the wrong kind of chills. I'm talking about Leonard Cohen's....Hallelujah. The word 'hallelujah' is special......for in essence it means....'praise Yahweh'.....or....'praise Yah.' I cringe when I hear in used other than where it should be used....and that includes Neil Diamond's.....Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show. So I booted up the computer a few minutes ago to hear what President Trump was going to say in his appearance at the Washington protest/rally.....and Cohen's song was playing. The chills were there.....and I didn't like it....but to make matters worse.....as the video feed showed from the rear of the first twenty or so rows of people....I saw a few raised hands....swaying back and forth to the song.....as if in a charismatic church. What were they praising...for it's hopefully not the object of the Cohen song? Trump eventually came on.....he is speaking now....and I had to turn him off....because folks it is unnerving....the sway he has....as this very large crowd chanted.....fight for Trump....fight for Trump....fight for Trump!"

(I need to repeat that....I was so unnerved by what I was witnessing....that I actually had to turn the television off!)

                    Back to that Southern Gospel concert that I mentioned above....at one point the up-tempo music slowed....and the female singer began a riff on the chords to Hallelujah....only it was not the chords from their own beautiful Halleluyah....but Cohen's famous chords for his....Hallelujah....the same chords that had people raising their hands on January 6 before the violence would begin.
                    January 6th wasn't the beginning of the collapse of evangelicalism....far from it....nor was June 16 of 2015 the beginning....when Trump came down that golden escalator...a false prophet/wolf into the middle of evangelicalism. Maybe there was no beginning? Whatever the answer to that....we today are cheering the footage of human beings blown away as missiles hit their targets....booting up Fox to see what new video they might have of blacks fighting each other....or what new story of an illegal who committed a violent crime....or licking our lips as indictments of some sort are brought by Trump's Justice Department....against his personal enemies.
             It should therefore be no surprise that we have no discernment at all on the nearness of the Lord's coming in glory and righteous judgment....nor do we really want Him to return....for first and foremost....we want our country back....as we have turned out backs on a scriptural truth that we once memorized...."Not by power....nor by might....but by My Spirit....says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6 ESV)
           
             ICHABOD....the glory has long since departed evangelicalism....a divorce so to speak....irreconcilable differences....between God's Word....and the church.

Addendum: It's not the divorce....or the lifestyles....or the idols....I have my own idols....it is a general falling away that we have had from God's Word....as we over time choose what verses of Scripture that we want....and ignore the vast majority that are problematic to things like divorce....and lifestyles....and idolatry....and someone like trump! God has taken home R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur....earlier than He might have....and these were the men who reminded us of the....Holiness of God. We have no one of stature left! They are all out there telling us that we have to protect our rights to preach the lifestyles and the idolatries and the freedoms that we hold dear! If there is ever to be a last days revival....it would have to begin with us....with our faces flush to the ground asking forgiveness for going to 'Egypt' for our help!

DISPATCHES

Thel latest absurdity....apparently there is a public golf course in D. C. where the average golfer can go for as little as $17 a round. Trump wants to turn it into a world class golf course....and he wants to start soon. He has done things like this his whole life....as when he said that the East Wing would not be touched by construction on the new ballroom....and then the bulldozers showed up. The bicyclers are angry also because the new course would take their bike path. Folks....it's not only on things like construction....for this quick maneuver before anyone gets the chance to complain is pure Trump. 

Trump signaled that he making a deal with Saudi Arabia....and part of the deal is that they will be able to enrich uranium. Now....as expected some people's head exploded at even the thought of this. Trump took the backlash as expected and thus now demands that added to the deal would be that the kingdom would....fully normalize relations with Israel. So they are going back and forth on that right now as apparently Saudi Arabia doesn't like that. Folks.....brothers and sisters in Christ....please....ask God to open your eyes if they indeed are closed. Normalizing relations is a nothingburger! They could and probably would change their minds at the drop of a hat in the future! And even if they didn't do that....those contries....those kingdoms can fall internally or from external causes. But this is Trump. He has no ideology and no concern for anyone on the planet. No concerns extend further than a few years at the most. I might remind you that in his first term....when the trillion dollar omnibus was on the table....at a meeting....his economic advisors told him that if spending continued as it had been....the economy might collapse right about the time that his second term would end. His response....pure Trump....and ignored as fake news when it was reported....."So what....I'll be gone then."

Trump has had three major events to deal with since becoming president in January of 2017. The first was the pandemic....which he utterly blew off for the first month....and only began to act when the people around him applied pressure. Then he did what is his signature response to major mistakes....he reversed the narrative....and the other people became the bad guys. The second was January 6....where he instigated what happened....and then did nothing for three hours....until once again people around him applied enough pressure....and then again....he reversed the narrative....and the bad people became the good guys....and the good people became the bad guys. The third is the current conflict with Iran....where he encouraged the Iranian people to go out in the streets....saying that he would rescue them. They came out and got slaughtered! It was Shock and Awe until it wasn't....and has been an absolute mess since then? Some day we may know what happened on that Easter weekend....when he sounded like a crazy man on his Truth Social....and then did a 180 on Iran....to the consternation of Israel and a lot of other people?

Monday....July 20....Darline Graham announced today that Trump encouraged her....and she will now run for a full six-year senate term. Is anyone surprised? What this demonstrates....or rather....one thing that this demonstrates....is that in the congress or in the administration....talent and experience is not of any value....as the only thing important is....can this person follow orders

Update....to the surprise of few....after she got the job she announced a run for a full six-year term.

That evangelicals can listen to Trump actually threaten....(and this has been going on for a long time)....to threaten major news outlets....to take away their license....and not do an about-face....and flee this man....is but one proof of many....that they have been totally taken in by a worldly tyrant. God has judged His church first! The day will come when evangelicals will weep at seeing what they promoted....not only in the government....but in God's church!

It was Friday....June 29....2007....and I walked into an AT&T store....simply asking if there was a device from which I could scan the news? I was told that a new device just came out that day....something called an....iPhone. It has now been nineteen years of constantly....(just ask my wife)....of reading the news throughout the entire day. I had been with Fox News since day one in 1997. Everything has changed within these major news outlets. Fox was once the best....now it is near the worst. I am talking about the Internet version....to the evangelical....it is nothing but a Trump tabloid....which is pure poison....and also leaven mixed in with the flour! All I can do is urge them....you....to flee from this tool.....for that is what it is....no longer a conduit for news! Flee....until it itself sees what it has become.

As everyone knows....Trump is pushing passage of a bill that purportedly would ensure that only eligible voters cast ballots in elections. At first glance....on the surface....this sounds more than a reasonable law to enact....but there is more to this. What is being asked of us....is that in order to ensure fair elections through this act....that we empower his administration....which means that we empower him....for no one does anything on their own....that we empower a man who has stayed one step ahead of the law....for his entire adult life....a man with tens of thousands of documented lies....I have personally witnessed thousands of lies....large and medium and small....a man whose life is driven by revenge....a man who demands absolute loyalty....so much so that many have found themselves in prison because of that loyalty....a man who has torn apart long-standing and needed alliances....if those alliances do not personally benefit his greed and lust for glory....a man who would stab a family member in the back....a man who was unfaithful to every wife that he has ever had....a man whose egomaniacal mind is so unstable that at times he can sound as if he is insane....a man who uses purges to destroy anyone in our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to ensure that no one in government would ever investigate anything that he would do....and a man who if he loses the congress in this next election....he will most certainly have numerous and continuous impeachments....of which he knows that he will not escape this time....this is the man who we are being asked to empower to enforce this new law?

Europe....Ten....(10)....countries joined together on Monday.....July 13....2026....and formally established what they call the....Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition. Those ten....(10)....countries are Denmark and France and Germany and Italy and Netherlands and Sweden and Norway and Spain and Ukraine and Britain.

Paul Washer gave the Session 10 talk at John MacArthur's....Shepherd's Conference....back in March of this year. He raised some eyebrows of the 5,000 plus men in attendance when he somberly but matter-of-factly said...."John MacArthur is dead." He then paused and repeated that statement...."John MacArthur is dead." You might just be eternally blessed if you listen to that message. Just Google....2026 Shepherd's Conference Session 10, Paul Washer. On second thought....I'll add it here for you...

                                                                    

Lindsey Graham is dead....Lindsey Graham is dead. God raises leaders....and God brings them down....and this one was a shocker. Lindsey Graham will be missed in the Senate because he was one of the few experienced and sane voices in that once but no longer august body. The enormity of it hasn't even sunk in yet. Deep down he knew who Trump really was....but he also thought that someone has to be there to lay down the law to him at times....and there was no one else to do it....so he took that upon himself. Think about that....there may be no one left with gravitas enough to face up to Trump!  Whoever this Republican nominee might be....he or she will only have two months to build a campaign. Lindsey Graham was not going to lose that election....but this new candidate might very well lose. Meanwhile....Trump picked Graham's sister....to serve in the United States Senate for the remaining almost six months....a half a year! How absurd we have become in the Republican Party.

The following is the last paragraph from a post of only a few days ago...."Lindsey Graham's death is a great loss for sanity in our government I've posted quite a bit lately on how God has taken home all the men who over the past half century had warned us of the judgment that surely lies ahead....men like Billy Graham and MacArthur and Sproul and Keller and Voddie Baucham and David Wilkerson and Pat Robertson. These were men that would have seen what is happening right now....and would be warning us with all that they were worth! Those in our government....who had gravitas enough to get our attention....have either died or have been purged! The church is without leaders of this stature....and so is our government!"

The following is the past paragraph from a July 5 post...."There will be a solar eclipse on August 12,,,,cutting a thin swath from Greenland ....to Iceland....and then northern Spain....but before that will come the Jewish fast day that looks back on nothing but tragedies to the Jewish people....this called the Ninth of Av....(Av being the Jewish month)....or as it is also known....Tisha B'Av....and this year the date is July 22. Considering the extraordinary turn of events in an already evolving maelstrom....it's a date to at least give us a solemn awareness of the times in which we live."

The following is also is from a very recent post....    In 2015 the FBI and the CIA became very interested in a man who they had already taken note of....because he had for decades been courted by....first Soviets and later Russian oligarchs and Putin himself....and this was not your normal businessman or entrepreneur. He already had forty years under his belt of staying one step ahead of government investigations....and loved the life of luxury....and flirted with financial collapse on a few occasions....and to top all of this off....he was always spouting off on protecting American business interests....and staying away from wars....and holding to a transactional ideological view....that didn't want anything to do with....allies....like NATO....but rather business partners....whoever they might turn out to be....and he seemed to agree with Putin's worldview a little bit too much for comfort! So....looking back on all of this.....how did it all turn out? Well....all of those in the CIA and FBI and in the congress and everywhere else....that had enough concern here to do something about it....have been purged....and replaced by fierce loyalists. The country has been torn apart....NATO might as well be considered an enemy....and Israel is not far behind....and right now there seems to be nothing in place to even look into these things.

It Is A Mystery....And Right Now We Should Leave It At That

                  How does the nation-state of Israel fit into God's Word? That is a major controversy in the church today. Classical Dispensationalism....classical but really not that old...says that God is working through history with a number of different plans....and one would be that the Jews of the Old Testament were part of one plan....they forfeited that as they rejected their Messiah....but....that same plan for them will be reestablished at the end of time. Others say that....no....there were no alternate plans....but that the church today fulfilled the original plan....and that any Jewish nation that might come back into existence is no more and no less than any other nation state in the world.
                    These new Dispensationalists at the time....saw a number of passages in God's Word that determined their theology towards Israel....and indeed there are many passages about Israel that are difficult to interpret. The problem is that Paul in Romans called all of this a mystery....a mystery that he described....but did not explain. The Dispensationalists believe that they solved the mystery! They did not solve the mystery.
                     The other side of this is not without problems of their own. They know that they cannot solve the mystery....so they just ignore it. Consequently....all of those verses in God's Word that tell of a reestablished Jewish nation of Israel....and the eschatological importance of it....are of no help to them today. Worse than that....the possibility exists that they can wind up actually working against God's plan for these branches that were previously cut off of the vine!
                      Spurgeon saw through this. He let the mystery stand as a mystery....and saw that the Jews would one day return to the Holy Land....and Martyn Lloyd-Jones acknowledged the same thing. Is it any wonder then that these two men of great discernment were the greatest preachers that the church has had over the past 170 years?
                      So....over time....big words like....replacement theology....have come up....and only muddled the situation more. It is a mystery! There is only one gospel of salvation. This fairly new nation of Israel....May of 1948....is not the same nation of the Old Testament....but they are also not just another nation. It's a mystery....and we are about to find out more on how that mystery plays out in the world.

The Church Is Without Leaders of Great Stature....And So Is Our Government

                When an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling comes down....there are options in an attempt to mitigate....and/or options to attack the judges. If nothing else....a PR campaign can be initiated to stir up the base....but when someone like Lindsey Graham just drops dead....there are no options....and no one to attack. There are no appeals....no threats....and no legal action to reverse what transpired....and one cannot call what happened....fake news. God causes nations to rise and to fall....we all know how Scripture tells us that....and he causes kings to rise and kings to fall.
                America has rightfully been under judgment for at least....over sixty years....since JFK. It was in 1965....and Billy Graham had just completed a manuscript for a new book. His wife Ruth was reading that manuscript....and after one particular chapter on America's move away from God....she reportedly told her husband...."Billy....if God doesn't come soon and bring judgment upon the United States....he's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."
                There is a passage in the 10th chapter of Matthew....(also addressed in Mark 6 and Luke 9)....that some scholars put right up there with the Olivet Discourse. Jesus is sending out the twelve disciples...."to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"....to heal and to cleanse and to cast out demons and even to raise from the dead....and to preach that...."the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What follows in the discourse of Jesus is a description of the persecution that is so similar to that which is described in the Olivet Discourse....and some other commands that are....hard sayings....as words like this are sometimes called...as hard to understand as anything that Jesus ever said! Please read over the tenth chapter of Matthew. 
                 Before the disciples were sent out....Jesus gives instructions that even Paul later was not given....as they were not even to take money with them! This is not normal instruction to missionaries. It implies an extreme situation! That situation is such that we may be facing in the near future....preach the word....and if they want no part of it....then go on to preach the word to others...and shake the dust off of your feet! It is here when Jesus also said...."Assuredly....I say to you....it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." (verse 15)
                  In the past we had more time to have patience with people that lollygagged...or dillydallied....as one dictionary puts it...."wasting time by dawdling....lingering....or engaging in aimless....non-serious activity." I'm not saying that we no longer have patience....but rather that we have a task to do....kind of like taking the tarps off of the lifeboats after an iceberg is hit. That is part of the reason that I put out these posts that I do....warning of Trump...warning evangelism that the glory has departed....and warning that we are in the last of the last days! I don't take comments or questions. I only want these thoughts to be as disseminated as far as possible....and let people make up their own minds.
                   Lindsey Graham's death is a great loss for sanity in our government. I've posted quite a bit lately on how God has taken home all the men who over the past half century had warned us of the judgment that surely lies ahead....men like Billy Graham and MacArthur and Sproul and Keller and Voddie Baucham and David Wilkerson and Pat Robertson. These were men that would have seen what is happening right now....and would be warning us with all that they were worth! Those in our government....who had gravitas enough to get our attention....have either died or have been purged! The church is without leaders of this stature....and so is our government!

Did They Tremble?

It is 3 AM....and I was tossing and turning. A few minutes ago I reached for my iPhone....just to check the headlines....for it had been six hours. Trump apparently had finished speaking three hours ago....a little late because of the storms....the one headline had it that lightning had struck the Washington Monument. I had been praying all yesterday....and this is normal for Saturdays....that should it be God's will....that He would have mercy upon these men in our pulpits....and that the Holy Spirit would awaken them....in that they have not fulfilled their responsibilities to strengthen and warn the sheep of wolves in sheep's clothing! Had they heard or read Trump's words....in that this nation is the...."crowning achievement of human history?" If so....did they tremble?

                

Ultimately......It Is All About Us

               I don't know if you can say that the debate continues....because through digital research it appears to have exhausted all avenues of proving that Abraham Lincon said....in his senate campaign against Stepehen A. Dougles in 1858...."You can fool some of the people all of the time....and all of the people some of the time....but you cannot fool all of the people....all of the time." Personally I believe that Abraham Lincoln said it....because the reason and the wisdom in the quote is extremely profound....and Abraham Lincoln over the course of this life made many equally wise and profound statements!
               If he didn't say this....then someone else fabricated it. I would then have to wonder why that man would not have given whatever opinion he wanted to give about Lincoln....and then add that wise and profound phrase as his own sentiment....thereby himself getting the credit for an extraordinary observation? Add to this that if someone did fabricate this quote....then what we would have would be a basically dishonest man....come up with a very profound statement....an oddity in itself....but a statement that would be directed right back at him....in that he might fool some of the people....much of the time....but not all of the people....all of the time?
               This post is about Donald Trump....the very antithesis of everything that Abraham Lincoln was and stood for! There is another famous quote attributed to Lincoln....and he may have said it....but he may not have been the first to give this observation...."He who represents himself....has a fool for a client." Can you the reader....think of anyone....past or present....who has so consistently and blatantly and shamelessly....defended himself....and more than defend.....but exalted himself....more than Donald John Trump?
                I did not like Trump back in 2015/2016. His constant demeaning of people....and even how they looked....disgusted me....but when Ted Cruz abandoned his bid for the nomination....and Hillary loomed menacingly on the horizon....I wound up voting for Trump....and even celebrating the victory! He fooled me. I thought that he was just despicable....but he turned out to be much worse than that!
                God's very Word to us throughout the Old Testament....described people to stay away from and not be deceived by....false prophets and the greedy and the uncompassionate and the vane and those claiming to faithful to God but were not. Has not Donald Trump consistently....almost every day....prophesied to all of us....and evangelicals....that our best is yet to come....and that we are a glorious people under God? And does not God's Word prophesy to us the exact opposite?
                 Jesus and Peter and Paul and John and Jude....warn us....time and again....on who not to be deceived by....and from whom to stay away. Paul in 2 Timothy 3....speaking of the last days....lists eighteen traits of people to...."and from such people turn away!"....lovers of themselves....lovers of money....boasters....etc....of which is Donald Trump's resume!
                 So....how do evangelicals deal with God's Word on this? Well....they obfuscate! You see....they live their life quoting God's Word....and are faithful to it....until it becomes a little too much....as in this case with Trump....when it is all conveniently pushed aside....because as important as the Bible is....we cannot let socialism or wokism disrupt our American dream! It therefore is...in essense....all about us!

On a personal note....this whole thing is difficult in more ways than one. Evangelicals....and I know so many of them....are wonderful people who want the best for their families....and when most of them grew up....patriotism was a good thing....but patriotism when it distorts the gospel of Jesus Christ....and sets up idols....and leads Christians away from compassion in order to get what a mercenary pied piper tells them is rightfully theirs....is not a good thing. God's Word warned us about this....vehemently....telling us to be vigilant and awake and sober-minded....for wolves and false prophets were coming....and here they are! It is not easy to tell them these things....but the pulpits are not warning them of any of this....because if the pulpits warned against Trump....the church would lose a good percentage of its income....right away....all this because we fell asleep....and let MAGA unchallenged come in and infect most of the church.

Why....Why Would Benedict Arnold Do What He Did?

                 Twenty or thirty years ago I read that students were no longer taught about Nathan Hale. How about you....do you know who Nathan Hale was? In the 60s....he was probably a whole chapter in our grade school history books. What about Benedict Arnold? It's more likely that most know about how he was a traitor to the American cause in the war for independence.
                  It's more complicated than just describing Arnold as a traitor. He was in his mid-thirties....a merchant....struggling because of strict tax regulations of the British government. He was on the other side of the world doing business when the Boston Massacre occurred....and was outraged...at the loss of liberties.
                  He came back and began his military career as a captain in the Connecticut militia. His courageous and successful exploits began to mount up....and he was seriously wounded twice....a genuine hero in the making! When the war was not raging he felt very comfortable living with the amenities of the upper class....of which he married into in 1779. 
                  There are at least a half dozen theories that I have come across....on why such a man would willfully and eagerly become a traitor. There may be some truth in all the theories....but this stands out to me....he had an ego....and he thought that he wasn't getting the respect and the honor that he deserved because of his military accomplishments....and he was probably right about that.
                  Washington liked him and respected his abilities....and put him in charge of West Point...which was not a military school at the time....but an important fort on the Hudson. Arnold's heroics in upper New York state....and particularly at the important Battle of Saratoga....would have cemented him into our history books....but this man flipped over to the other side! Why? The plan was for Arnold to surrender West Point to the British. He had already purposely let the fort's defenses seriously decline.
 
                  "The heart is deceitful above all things....and desperately sick....who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 ESV 

                   There were other factors....for instance his wife had Tory sympathies....and he was offered today's equivalent of 3 million dollars to....do what he thought was difficult but right....the war at the time was not going well....and a lot of men were dying. A lot of people today are similarly conflicted. Is Tucker Carlson a traitor....he's about as naive as a human being can be....but a traitor? Would he actually......consciously....aid an enemy? Benedict Arnold demonstrated that one does not need to be an Aldrich Ames or a Robert Hanssen to be a traitor.
                    In 2015 the FBI and the CIA became very interested in a man who they had already taken note of....because he had for decades been courted by....first Soviets and later Russian oligarchs and Putin himself....and this was not your normal businessman or entrepreneur. He already had forty years under his belt of staying one step ahead of government investigations....and loved the life of luxury....and flirted with financial collapse on a few occasions....and to top all of this off....he was always spouting off on protecting American business interests....and staying away from wars....and holding to a transactional ideological view....that didn't want anything to do with....allies....like NATO....but rather business partners....whoever they might turn out to be....and he seemed to agree with Putin's worldview a little bit too much for comfort!
                    So....looking back on all of this.....how did it all turn out? Well....all of those in the CIA and FBI and in the congress and everywhere else....that had enough concern here to do something about it....have been purged....(considered by some as traitors!)....and replaced by fierce loyalists. The country has been torn apart....NATO might as well be considered an enemy....and Israel is not far behind....and right now there seems to be nothing in place to even look into these things.
                    Maybe Trump actually believes that going it alone is best for America? Maybe Putin doesn't have anything on him after all....maybe this is all just incompetence....but whatever it is....everything is a royal mess! Russia is estimated to have suffered 450,000 mortal casualties....and Ukraine 125,000 to 150,000....because of Putin! Can we even wrap our minds  around that? That fact alone seems to do away with any real concern for human life or for doing what is right.