"I Am......The Code"

               Put some time into thinking about this. What would the Devil....(you do still believe in a real Devil don't you)....what might the Devil do to downplay the coming of his tool....the Antichrist? Might it not be that he would try to make the thought of an actual Antichrist seem preposterous to the general public? And might he not have prepared the way by leading multitudes of confessing though wind-driven....clouds without water Christians over the years and even centuries....to panic about everything end-times in general? Whatever his plan was....the Antichrist is here on this earth today....in whatever way shape or form that might be....and the church in general does not want to touch the topic with a ten foot pole....other than perfunctory sermons here or there meant more to end study on the subject than begin it.
               Here is a verse that you probably do not hear much about....Revelation 13:18....ESV...."This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666." Or how about this....also from Revelation....1:3...."Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."
               Now I admit that there are self-proclaimed prophesy experts all over the place. They provide blurbs for each other's books....and speak at each other's conferences....and probably get their hair coiffed and teeth whitened and suits made by the same professional Gentlemen's Quarterly class of fashion experts....but protracted and in-depth studies by the shepherds of the sheep are hard to come by.
               John MacArthur was one of the exceptions....as was R. C. Sproul....and Billy Graham....but they are gone. In the case of R. C. and Billy Graham....they were called home over eight and half years ago....before January 6 of 2021....and before the Sukkot attacks in Israel. John MacArthur took ill on January 1 of 2023....and in the two and a half years before he also went to be with his Lord and Savior and King....he continued to warn his sheepfold on what was just a head for all of us.
                So we have this Antichrist in waiting. His name may be a name that as of today we have never heard in the news.....but probably not. Gorbachev was a legitimate candidate....a man who at the time appeared to bring peace to the world....admired everywhere but in his own country....but he died four years ago. Barack Obama was and continues to be a candidate. I remember the giant white horse on the top of the stadium....(Denver's football stadium)....and the almost replica as a stage for the nominating convention....of the Altar of Pergamon.....or Satan's Throne.
                 As for Donald Trump....I've written this many times....I do not believe that he will be the Antichrist....and I hope and pray not....because we evangelicals put him in power....although that hesitation is lessening all the time. I do believe this....that far from being the Jehu or the Cyrus that evangelicals have been told.....who God sent as a blessing....that he is rather a curse....and at least the man who is crazy enough to send this world into a tailspin....that will usher in the Antichrist.
                 Here are some of the issues that make Trump a genuine candidate. He exalted himself to an almost unbelievable degree....and he does it with an arrogance that in itself is more than unsettling. He made a statement this past week that might help seeing who he really is....in that it came to light that this new ballroom....in order to meet Trump's plans....were going against building and fire codes. Trump....who never thinks before he says anything....said...."I am the code."
                  He thinks....and he has always thought his entire life....that he is above the law! He does not even have a concept of what the word truth means. That my friends is Bible prophecy Antichrist thinking!
                  This coming election is problematic in so many....even existential ways. If the Trump Party loses....from day one in January....there will be continuous and non-stop investigations and impeachment charges. Now....in this situation Trump could do things that even today we would be amazed at and confounded by. There is no telling what he might attempt!
                   And if he pulls off another miraculous resurrection....and continued to consolidate his powers....increasing them by his own imperial dictates.....then another verse from Revelation might be worth considering....13:3...."One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound....but its mortal would would be healed....and the whole earth marveled as they....(willingly or being ordered to).....followed the beast."
                   There are six weeks until that election....Lord willing. Trump therefore has those short six weeks to do something. If I would do expanded post....in outline form....with 1A and 1B and 2A....etc....subtitles....on the issues concerning Trump....one of them would be on Artificial Intelligence....AI....Or SI....Super Intelligence....as Trump is attempting to rebrand it. Trump was initially against it....attacking those who were for it.....but then he saw the money he could make....so now he is for it....attacking those who are against it....and ordering everyone below him in the administration to take up this banner! As existentially important as this is....here is something of supernatural importance. AI....artificial intelligence....is definitely related to the Antichrist that this whole post is about! If there will be a seemingly distinct independent intelligence behind AI....which the news every day seems to be pointing to....then it will not be independent....but ruled by the demonic.
                         Whether AI praises the great Trump....or Trump praises the great AI....or AI praises someone else....these things we do not as of today know....but we know this....not one jot or tittle of God's very Word to us....will not be proven true. God is revealing things to us according to His perfect timing....sometimes slowly....and sometimes in bursts. AI....is exponentially growing....exponentially growing. All of these so-called talks about reigning in AI are too late.

"Life......Life.....Eternal Life!"

                 Fifty-seven years ago today I was about a week into basic training at Fort Dix....New Jersey. My life of hot dogs and Twinkies and a Coke....had drastically changed. (note: I had hot dogs and a Twinkie and a Coke for lunch and hour ago! I kid you not.) I got out of my bunk at about 5:30 every morning. That's about the time that I was getting to bed before basic training. I didn't have any hair....no one had any hair....it was great....for we were all equal. If any of my new friends came from rich families.....I wouldn't know it. There were no cliques! Let's see....there was Broadhead....and Spedding....and Walton....(the first black friend I ever had).....and Andre....the young man fresh off the boat from Poland.
                 Fifty-four years ago today I was about a week out of the army. I had an MG.....and the G.I. Bill to go to Pitt. That monthly check in the mail.....somewhere around $350....was exactly the amount for my tuition at Pitt! Hard to believe isn't it? I worked in the library for money to live on. I went to St. Paul's Cathedral every Sunday for 6 o'clock mass...after work in the library. I got my B.A. in economics in 1976....and married my boss at the library....the ceremony was in Heinz Chapel on the Pitt Campus. We honeymooned in the Poconos and at Cape Cod and Boston and Niagara Falls.
                  My father died of liver disease on November 4, 1979.....the same day that Iranian students took the American hostages. The day was a blur to me. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery....accepted there because of serious wounds sustained from a kamikaze attack in the Pacific.
                   I had given up alcohol....totally....after my father died from it. Three years later....working in a coal-fired power plant....(all these things....marriage to a wonderful girl and giving up alcohol and getting a job that would last for thirty-seven years.....were blessings from God on a person who did not deserve any of it).....working with men getting....'saved'....all over the place at my workplace....and witnessing to me....I ran along with all of them yelling....as did Christian in Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress...."Life....life.....eternal life!"
                   It has been forty-four years now....and I am here to tell you....it has been a march....a 'pilgrimage' would be the most used word....one foot in front of the other for forty-four years....falling often....even at times get beat down....but through God's strength....getting back up.....maybe crawling for a while....and often limping....but....and this is something I want you to know....never stopping putting that one foot in front of the other....for you can worry and complain and pray every bit as much while you are pressing forward....and if you stop for even one day....you may never put one foot in front of another ever again!
                    There is no graduation in the Christian walk....there is no time when you stop learning....in fact these gray hairs only make the learning more intense....and the joy.....oh the joy....it may look a little different on the outside but inside there is no longer the need for a telescope to see the glory of eternal life....for it is as if you are standing right there at the gates.....only on the other side of the river!
                    One last thing....and it is very important....if you are up in age and as of yet have not come in humility and repentance to Christ....or if you are young and think....what's the use now....for it appears that Jesus is returning....know this....come and join us who have been in this walk for a long time....for we did nothing to deserve it....and neither will you....for we are all just sheep that Jesus came to save! So just lift your head....and listen for the Shepherd's voice....for He Himself said...."My sheep hear my voice....and I know them....and they follow me."

John 10:27 ESV
                    

             So it was a nice get-a-way to Virginia Beach....but no sooner did we get there than the nor'easter hit....and my wife and I had to hold each other up for two days.....for the winds were so strong. It was the biggest week of the year for Virginia Beach as they held...or tried to hold....their 52nd annual....Virginia Beach Boardwalk Neptune Festival.
            We stayed on the boardwalk about fifty yards from that giant statue of the Greek god Neptune....the equivalent of the Roman god Poseidon....and it was sad watching all the people taking selfies of themselves with that colossal statue.
             The beach itself really took a hit from the storm....through erosion....and the forming of ridges....and the black minerals brought up from the churning of the bottom of the surf.....but sadder still was all of the talented crafters who expected three days of income.....but probably only sold half of what they expected to sell as the venue moved to the convention center. Sadder even still is the havoc that the storm played as it moved up the coast.
             Forty-three years ago I was mercifully brought by grace alone....through faith alone....in Christ alone....into the Christian faith....and no small part of this was Pat Robertson's 700 Club. I wore a 700 Club pin on my ball cap for years....and we actually vacationed twice at the Founders Inn on the burgeoning campus of CBN University. So this past week we fit in a trip back to what is now Regent University....and Regent Law School....along with the 700 Club studios.
              Pat Robertson was an extraordinary man....a senator's son....and marine Korean War vet....who could have been making martini's with the upper class....(and he did for a while)...but chose to live off of soy bean recipes....while beginning his ministry....he and his wife DeDe....that fit their budget.
              Pat resurrected a small non-functioning UHF radio station in Portsmouth....and it eventually became a multi-billion dollar media empire.
              Now those on our side....reformed and reformation traditions....can and do look down on the ministry of Pat Robertson....and I could type for a while here on a number of his beliefs that I wish that he did not have....but God used this odd man in not only bringing multitudes into the Christian faith.....and I was one of them.....but also in helping the physical needs of many more through his Operation Blessing.
              So when in these posts I lament the fact that God has taken home just about all of our shepherds who had enough gravitas to get the attention of the America public....men like John MacArthur and Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul....and Tim Keller....I include men like Pat Robertson....and David Wilkerson....for God uses all different kinds of men....whose hearts are devoted to the proclamation of the Gospel....but even these men who accomplished so much....need to be careful of getting too big....for as evangelical history seems to show....the bigger and more successful the ministry....the harder the founder often attempts to hold on to it....as If God needs the ministry.

Lord's Day Post

Preface: I came across this post from June of 2017....and thought it interesting enough to bring back. Jeremiah....in one of his many Jeremiads....told the people of Jerusalem....not to keep saying....."This is the house of the LORD....the house of the LORD....the house of the LORD." They thought that simply by having the temple in Jerusalem....that God would protect it. Well....we seem to think similarly by always repeating.....'God bless America....God bless America....God bless America'....that He will always protect us because.....because we are America! As bad as we were in 2015....after all of our attempts to rid America of evil....it does seem like....seven other spirits more evil than the original one have returned. 
      
"Who Are You?"

               The book of Acts in the 19th chapter details the actions of seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva who saw the miracles that Paul was doing....evil was being expelled....surely they could do the same thing by using the same name of Jesus. Candidate and now president Trump was going to come in and do miracles. He would use the formula 'God bless America!'
               The seven sons of Sceva demanded, using the name of Jesus, that an evil spirit come out of a man. The evil spirit looked at them and said..."Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize-but who are you?" The evil spirit then overpowered them all and the seven sons ran away naked and wounded.  President Trump has the forces of hell against him right now. They're in effect saying..."Jesus I know, and we recognize a once God-fearing America-but who are you?'
               An interesting thing happened to the people of Ephesus where this had taken place...to both Jews and Greeks, as Acts puts it...."Then fear fell on all of them, and the name of Jesus was magnified." Many had become believers and even many others burned their Harry Potter books. They had had enough of magic in light of the power of the name of Jesus through his emissary Paul. Acts concludes this passage with...."In this way the Lord's message flourished and prevailed."
              There's also a passage in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus tells of an evil spirit that leaves a man only to return later to an empty house with..."seven other spirits more evil than itself"....an empty house.... as Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary....where Christ is not there to keep them out!
              If President Trump has success for a time but we remain a nation without God then that evil would return many times over. Our prayers thus should not be that President Trump makes America great again.... but that Christ once again takes residence in the hearts of its people. This should be our primary concern!

'You Foolish Galatians....(Evangelicals)....Who Has Bewitched You?'

                Republican voters....conservatives and evangelicals.....everyone actually in the Republican Party....have not had a choice in anything....since Ted Cruz dropped his nomination in May of 2016....and his campaign's defeat in the Indiana primary. Kasich stayed in for a little while....but if was a done deal....Trump would be the nominee. No other candidates had a chance in 2020 as Trump threatened and twisted arms and didn't even show up for debates....claiming....lying as usual....that pending legal issues prohibited him. 
               At the convention in Cleveland in July of 2016....Cruz was given his time for a speech.....as the second place finishers always are....and as he was speaking....(I watched this on a split screen on the TV)....Trump purposely walked into the arena.....and the arena erupted....and Cruz was given his final humiliation.
               Since that day....actually about a year before it....when Trump paid people to stand there and cheer as he came down that golden escalator....all of us in America have been subject to a continuous barrage of threats and exaggerations....and hate and anger....as he exalted himself above everyone else on earth.
               For those who were MAGA from day one....it has been initiation into a full-blown cult....complete with a Messiah....and its own holy scriptures of Fox cable commentators and formerly conservative talk radio and podcasters....and purges and excommunications. For Christians who came to see very quickly....such as myself....for I voted for Trump in the 2016 general election....we have been increasingly vexed! It has been a struggle within the soul. For other Christians who refused to recognize a serious problem....they have been changed for the worse...where they show little to no compassion for anyone except American citizens....and even there nothing is guaranteed....and they....we....have shown ten years now of increasing trends towards racism....all in the name of patriotism.
              Donald John Trump....born on a blood moon on June 14 of 1946....and having begun ascending to the pinnacle of power in the middle of that 2014/2015 extremely rare tetrad of blood moons....may be the worst thing ever to happen to America. He....as of now....literally destroyed the Republican Party....and conservatism in general....and neutered evangelicalism. He has serious and significant psychological disorders....so much so that it appears now that he may have lost his mind. So this basket case of hate and anger and perpetual revenge-seeking is the most powerful man on the entire planet! That I believe qualifies for being a candidate for the worst thing ever to happen to America.

Note: As I saw in the news a few minutes ago....if you can believe Fox....as Trump's plane flew over the stadium in Knoxville....there was a thunderous ovation. This is the heart of the Bible Belt.....and evidence....if you are willing to accept it....of what has happened to evangelicalism and the church in America...and thus America itself....in the past ten years.

Title....Galatians 3:1

Trust In God....Yes....But Trust In His Word Also....Specifically In The Warnings Of His Word!

               On September 19, 2023.....three years ago....Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations. It was an almost empty hall....just as it was yesterday. His speech was pure optimism....with only a few caveats. He talked about the Abraham Accords....and a new Middle East on the horizon. I posted this at the time....that began with some of the Prime Minister's words....

"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 (Netanyahu) 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. (Where did he learn that tact?) 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. I also found it odd how he emphasized....first the great potential of artificial intelligence...."the most consequential development of our time"....and then immediately after....the great dangers of artificial Intelligence. Actually I found it very disturbing that he would make AI which he said is...."progressing at lightning speed"....such a major part of a major speech."

               Yesterday....gone was the optimism.....in Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to the 81st United Nations General Assembly! It was the Benjamin Netanyahu as I remember him....before Trump. It was a very hard-hitting speech....and realistic....optimistic only in the outcome of this war....not in the future.
                Did you notice the date....September 19....2023....the day of the first speech....the optimistic speech....that it was only 18 days before that which was...even as Netanyahu pointed out yesterday....the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust! So there was this optimistic speech....September 19 of 2023....which I thought at the time was absurd....and 18 days later there were the Sukkot attacks....and the world changed!
                Israel is surrounded by enemies...."seven fronts" is how Netanyahu described it yesterday. Really folks....you can  ignore or even ridicule this stuff....denying that the problems today with Israel...and America....are like they never have experienced before....but you will only fool yourself. Every pastor ought to be bringing these things up....the warnings in God's Word....and how they fit us today so perfectly....for that is what shepherds do!!!! I hear this all the time...."Just trust God"....yes Lord....thank you Lord....increase our trust and our faith....but what they miss is that they evidence no trust....no trust....in God's warnings to us from His Word!

 

Note: "And he (Jesus) said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven'." Luke 10:18 ESV

Some Good News

               My wife and I have been in the habit over the past six years of going to Southern Gospel concerts.....groups such as the Booth Brothers and the Isaacs. A few days ago it was Triumphant. This was a smaller setting....a church maybe twenty miles from our home. We had visited this church....oh....twenty years ago at least.....and it was for a Christian concert....Steve Camp if you remember this popular Christian singer from the 80s and 90s?
               We had also attended worship services there a few weeks....and I have always had a good feeling about the church. More recently the congregation went for quite some time without a pastor. We have friends who are members and whose son was on the search committee....so we had heard that a new pastor had been installed. I saw him the evening of the concert. When we returned home.....I looked up his bio....and was in for a shock....for he and his wife enjoy the outdoors.....and history....and reading the Puritans....and listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermons!
               Folks....if you are at all familiar with these posts of mine....I am always recommending....and even pleading with people to listen to older sermons from.....as I always put it....'preachers from the past....(men like Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones)....and preachers today who preach like preachers of the past!
               Well....their first service is two hours earlier than our service....so I streamed it. This young man....I'm guessing he is about 33 years old....is a graduate of John MacArthur's....The Master's Seminary....and the sermon was rather wonderful....as I could see John MacArthur's mind working there.
         

"Jesus Christ Is The Same Yesterday And Today And Forever"

               Mark Biltz gave this topic three pages in one of his books....but to me it deserves more....for in my four decades of evangelicalism....I don't think that I ever heard of this possible scenario. The setting is Jerusalem....on Passover. There might be two million people in Jerusalem....as it is one of the three feasts that Jews were required to attend. It was Nisan 14....Passover....and the first day of the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. Each day....three times a day....at nine and at noon and at three in the afternoon....the people would almost in unison sing from what is known as the....Hallel....Psalms 113 to 118.
                Now picture this....as Jesus is being nailed to a cross...with upwards of two million people attending the feast....He may very well have heard these words from inside the walls being sung...."God is the LORD. which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." (Psalm 118:7) 
                 Every movement of the cosmos is according to plan....every crack in the earth's crust....or burst of wind! The same God that had Jesus on the cross as the people in Jerusalem sang the Hillel....is the same God that uses familiar numbers all the time....forty years or forty days so often....or four-hundred years....or seventy years....or seven years....and the same God that has us here at almost exactly six-thousand years of creation....and the same God that told Jeremiah that the captivity in Babylon would last seventy years....and told Daniel that sixty-nine weeks into the seventy week prophecy....from the decree to leave Babylon would lead to Messiah the Prince being...."cut off!"
                John MacArthur once said of 1948....and the beginning of the state of Israel....that God had put the world on notice....the last of the last days had begun! How many years exactly we would not know....but we would know that as sure as Jesus came in His first incarnation....right on time....just as His Word had said....that He will in like manner return....right on schedule....as we are right now seeing more clearly all the time!

Note: Title....Hebrews 13:8

Ho-Hum

               From what I have read on the reasons for the collapse of the towers on 9/11....the extreme heat from the fire deep down into the elevator shafts......weakened the support beams....causing them to bend....and the top floor eventually collapsed onto the floor below....adding to the weight....which caused the domino effect all the way to the bottom of the towers. I imagine a lot of people did this....over the 25th anniversary of the attacks....looking back at documentaries? What surprised me a little bit was that it seemed to affect me more than it ever had before....possibly more than when it happened....but shock may have numbed the senses at the time. There was one movie/documentary....I believe that it was called....World Trade Center....Flight 11....that focused on the restaurant at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center....Windows on the World....and the people working that day....and then focused also on the firefighters walking....up....up....in an attempt to help others....and also on the possibly hundreds of people who had no choice but to jump. Twenty-five years later and it is still difficult to think about that day.
             I begin with the above paragraph....for a reason apart from 9/11....rather....the bending of the support beams of our country....that may result in the same domino effect.... for as I look at America today....I see support beams that are bent so far from the heat of the sacrificial fires on our altars to foreign gods....that I have to wonder what is keeping that top floor from starting the domino effect?
             Every single 'beam' is seriously weakened....and bending out of shape....as our federal government is in total disarray....with the political side ethically corrupt....and as the First Amendment is under attack....and our legal system ineffective against the financial resources of billionaires....and as our churches remain oddly detached....as if the gospel has nothing to do with false prophets and greed and vengeance and power-mongering....and as hatred of Israel is raging....along with racism....and you can hardly turn on the television or the computer without some fantastical commercials on how you no longer have to go to Las Vegas....but you can just sit in your seat and gamble your life savings away.
             Russia attacking Europe....ho-hum....China attacking Taiwan.....ho-hum....Israel all alone in the world....an asteroid heading right for us discovered at the very last minute....AI going berserk....another pandemic....this time with no one brave enough or knowledgeable enough to shut down the spread of it....a civil war in England....or Germany....or here in America....all of it and much more....ho-hum!
             Folks....we were given sixty-six books in God's Word. There is no way to know exactly but it might be safe to say that a quarter of God's Word to us relates to telling us what will happen....and what to look for before and during the Second Coming. It is just sitting there....waiting for us to....tolle lege....'take up and read'....but this is 2026....and we are not interested in 'doomsaying'....as we see it....but we want our own prophets tickling our ears.
             Right now I cannot think of anything worse in Bible reading....than following one of those....read the Bible in a year schedules. There may have been a time in the past when these things served a purpose....but not today! I cannot think of a worse plan for preaching than be limited from hearing from the Holy Spirit by spending multiple months at a time on one book....let alone six months to a year. Once again there may have been a time and a place for this....but not today! 
              Pastors....what does Jesus want you to preach to His flock this coming Lord's Day? I believe that it would be a trumpet call....call an assembly....consecrate a fast....for enemies are right now ascending ladders on our bulwarks. What are we to be reading....every day....throughout every day....as often as we can? I believe that it is where the Holy Spirit would lead us....as we ask of Him directions....plead with him for wisdom....and not something like....'chapter 15 through 33'....on whatever that read the Bible in a year might give for that day!
              Jesus gave the people of Jerusalem a prophecy that their generation would see every stone of the temple and the temple mount be torn down. We today essentially had been given that same warning! We need our pulpits at this time. We need these men to say...'take my pulpit away....my position....I will not sit back and watch....I will defend the gospel....and my sheepfold as long as their is breath in me....for that is my calling!"

The Man Who Dropped Dead In The Pulpit....That We Might Read About It Today....And Amend Our Ways

                                                                     

               John Piper was twenty-two years old at the time. The place was Wheaton College. The setting....chapel services for about 2,000 Wheaton students at the Edman Chapel....of whom John Piper was one. The speaker was V. Raymond Edman....who had two years previous retired as president of Wheaton College. They had already....while Edman was still president....named the chapel after him....such was the respect that he had!
              The topic of Mr. Edman's chapel message was....In The Presence Of The King. About eleven minutes had passed....V. Raymond Edman was still speaking....you can hear all of this on the link above....when Mr. Edman dropped dead behind the microphone!
               A few years ago....four or five maybe....my wife and I were visiting the campus of a military academy....a university....I won't mention the name....and we walked into a building with a large auditorium. The entire student body was there....in uniform....and they were being scolded by one of the university leaders. It was a bit of a shock. Maybe a minute or two into this....a young man....apparently one of the student leaders as he was standing in the back....came up to us and very politely said that we probably should not be there at that time. So I apologized....and we left.
               Well in this chapel service that V. Raymond Edman was giving to students on September 22 of 1967....almost fifty-nine years to the day from today....he was scolding the students! They had apparently forgotten that when they enter a chapel for a service that they are entering the presence of a king....not only a king....but the King of Kings!
                Tomorrow....roughly twelve hours from my typing this....evangelicals will be entering their worship service....and it will not be as if they were entering the presence of a king. There will be laughter....and chit chat....before and after the service....and maybe talk about today's football games....or the ones on the schedule for tomorrow. Such is the America that we live in.
                 May God....if it be His will....and if it be to His glory....have mercy upon all of us....and upon me....as I also struggle in this Vanity Fair that we call our home. May His Holy Spirit tomorrow shake timbers in our churches....as Samson....in a blinded state as we are in today....shook the pillars.....not that they would collapse.....but that we would be rudely awakened to an existence that God gave....and that we let grow with weeds....and that now stands in judgment! May he have mercy upon these pastors who have neglected their duties to warn us....so that we who neglected to demand that they feed us all that we need....might then also receive mercy....and that all of us might finally come together in spirit....wherever we are....in whatever nation we are....not merely for fellowship....but for worship....and praise....and thanksgiving....and that we might amend our ways....and call out....Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come!

"The God Whom We Serve Is Able To Save Us......But Even If He Doesn't...."

            I thought that it succeeded....and I recommend it....the film....released just today....Daniel....and the Fiery Furnace. The unfortunate part of it is that it took a lot of poetic license....storylines that are not in God's Word....but in the essentials....it is a powerful film.
            It was a superb portrayal of Nebuchadnezzar! Everyone else was just good. Jeremiah had more than a cameo appearance....and the portrayal of the weeping prophet....was not that of a prophet weeping for his people and Jerusalem. The graphics....from a distance....of the walled city of Jerusalem....and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon....were alone worth the price of the ticket. The fiery furnace was done very well....and the idolatry....even of child sacrifices....to the Babylonian god....was effective....while the statue that Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego would not bow down to....although probably not accurate at all....proved to be very effective filmmaking. The musical score was also good....I thought anyway.
             To see the film without being solidly grounded in the books of Jeremiah....and Daniel....is somewhat problematic. So if you are planning to possibly see the movie....I would recommend that you first watch this 1998 movie....Jeremiah....that starred Patrick Dempsey as Jeremiah....and Oliver Reed as a fictional general of King Zedekiah. This film also took a lot of poetic license....but at least it presented the weeping prophet in a more accurate light. Daniel and the Fiery Furnace....had....and missed....an opportunity to show what a false prophet was....when Jeremiah appeared before the king with a wooden yoke on his shoulders. The Jeremiah film did a very good job with this vital passage of the book of Jeremiah....because we have the very same false prophets today....telling us how great and glorious times are just ahead!

                                                                    

"Where Is My Roy Cohn?"

               In the mid-1950s Roy Cohn was one of the most famous people in America. My being born in 1950....I seemed to have known about him forever. He was the chief counsel in the various McCarthy hearings. Senator Joe McCarthy was right in his concern about communists in our government....and he has since been vindicated in that general charge...but the problem was in how he went about his business of rooting out communists. It's similar in a way to Trump immigration deportations....as he also is right in that there is a major problem....but likewise very wrong and even unconscionable in how he has gone about dealing with that problem. Robert Kennedy....RFK....Bobby Kennedy....was an associate counsel....(until he resigned)....second to Cohn....and they utterly despised each other.
                 When Cohn's time in working for the Congress was done....he went to New York City....and became almost equally famous as a divorce lawyer....and a personal lawyer to the elite...in many cases mob elite. His tactics were always the same....attack....and take no prisoners....deny any and all charges....never ever admit to anything....and he was often criticized as....displaying no decency whatever toward other human beings. He met Trump in the early 1970's. They took an instant liking to each other.....and Roy Cohn saved Trump's bacon on a number of occasions When Trump and his father were facing federal charges of discrimination in their rental properties....it was Cohn who told Donald to fight the government. Cohn saved Donald a lot of money over the years. It was in Trump's first term....when he was facing all kinds of accusations....that he famously uttered in desperation...."Where is my Roy Cohn"....in other words....where is my unconscionable attack dog lawyer like I used to have?
                 I put off doing a post on Roy Cohn....because this was a public figure with a long life....with every decade filled with high profile controversial exploits. How can I attempt a short post on such a figure? And I would have avoided it altogether....but I wanted very much to bring up this one identical similarity....(there were many)....that Donald Trump has....and that Roy Cohn was known for....and here it is....
                 Everyone who knew Roy Cohn....and most in Washington and New York who only knew of him....knew that he led a very public and accepted gay lifestyle. He did not even try to hide it....but here is the thing....he denied it to the day that he died....in 1986! It wasn't in that he was gay....for it could have been anything. He was always walking around the room....and occasionally being stepped on....by the elephant in that room! How can I adequately emphasize this point? It is a very important point! Cohn....on anything that he chose....the topic matter not being the important thing....no matter how obvious it was to anyone who knew anything about the subject....simply....calmly....and confidently....seemingly without a care in the world on it....just looked into the camera....and denied it....and he did this regularly with many things....for it was the plan....and it worked! Extraordinary....the boldness...and the arrogance....and the effectiveness of it!
                 I do not think that I have even come across anyone....in public life or in my own life....or even for that matter in literature....who....as if they were giving the time of day....or the day of the week....could not only tell a lie....but the polar opposite of the truth....that almost everyone would know anyway! To make this even more astounding....the two men who could do this....not only knew each other....but were fiercely loyal to each other....with Cohn in fact having been the chief mentor of Trump!

                 

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

Preface: The following was first posted this past July:                 

                  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 eliminate any real concern for human life or for doing what is right.

The Ghost In The Machine

               There is hardly ever a day where I am not doing some kind of research on the Internet. It is 8 AM as I type.....and I haven't even had a sip of coffee yet....and I was already Googling Robert Kennedy's book....The Enemy Within....to see the exact year it was published. It was 1960. I woke up with that book on my mind....most likely because last night I had finished a biography on Roy Cohn....the mentor of a young Donald Trump....and an archenemy of RFK....for as an early teenager....maybe 14 years old....I remember walking into the Turtle Creek library....a few miles outside of Pittsburgh....where I was staying with family for the summer....and borrowing that book....and reading it! Strange....for I wasn't a reader at that age....but I picked out this intense book on corruption inside America? It was probably because I already had a fascination for JFK....and his brother RFK....this because I was a Catholic youth....and they were my heroes.
                I use Wikipedia often. It's very easy and simple....as you ask it a question about a date or names or any kind of fact at all....and if the topic is in Wikipedia....you can get your answer....and Google was much the same way....only Google would direct you to where you could find an answer.
                 Well that has changed with AI. On occasion it has seemed to know what I was going to ask....before I complete my sentence! It might correct me....and ask if I'm sure that I didn't mean this....or didn't mean that. It can be like Dorothy sitting before the Wizard of Oz....where the entity behind the curtain and the machine winds up giving wisdom....instead of an actual heart or a brain. Right now....MAGA....or much of MAGA....is defending AI. They are like the winged monkeys sent out by the Wicked Witch. 
                 Will AI eventually kill humans? This much is sure....AI will definitely kill the jobs of humans. So there are legitimate concerns....some of them great concerns....some of them existential concerns....but then....AI will make money for the rich....so case closed. This is all a hoax!
                  In Oz there was a man behind the curtain....behind the machine so to speak. With AI....we still have a machine....and there may be a man behind it....coding and directing. it....data in....data out....but that is changing rapidly. The man is being taken out of the equation. There is enough data for the machine to 'think' on its own....and that is indeed potentially a great problem....but there is something more....something much more sinister that most people do not even believe in.
                  In the New Testament there were demons everywhere. Jesus and His disciples were casting them out all over the place. So where are these demons today? Where have they been for the past two-thousand years?  Well they have always been there....but it does seem that just as this realm was stirred up to great agitation when Jesus first came into the world....that they are being stirred up again as Jesus nears in His triumphant return.
                 How does this relate to AI? This much seems certain....AI will be part of the end-times deception. I think that Christians that know their Bible....and have read diligently in God's Word warning of various things that will take place....recognize....easily recognize....that AI must be part of all of this!
                 So will AI....or the lack of the United States becoming the primary developer of it....would that have a disastrous effect on the economy....and the national defense....considering how China and others are going full-steam in this? Even if the answer to this might be in the affirmative....I pose this question to the Christian....compare it to Satan himself behind that machine....behind AI? 

Note: The title here is a phrase that was coined in 1949 by Gilbert Ryle as he contested the supposition of Descartes that the mind and the body were separate entities. There has been a book and a film with the same title.

"But Also Those Who Have Loved His Appearing."

                 It seems that most of the prophecy teachers that are everywhere today.....on television and through podcasts and their books....and all their conferences....believe in and therefore teach a....pre-trib....rapture of the church. If you are not familiar with this....it means that the church is taken up....in the twinkling of an eye....and then the seven year tribulation begins. This teaching is relatively new....mid-19th century. We may not know....indeed we do not know....the exact timing of when the church will be taken away....but it is safe to say this....it will not be pre-trib.
                 It was a different church when this eschatological doctrine came into being. We did not have all of the toys and entertainments that we do today. It is a totally different world and church than it was a hundred and fifty years ago. The problem with pre-trib was not nearly as stark back then as it is today. People were serious about their faith....and were actually born again....and not just recruited in an attempt to get back their socially and economically conservative country.
                 If there would be a pre-trib rapture....then those being taken up would by-and-large be Christians who read regularly and believed all the Bible verses that talk about a straight and narrow way. Today....well let me give you this anecdote....forty years ago their was a popular T-shirt in Christian bookstores.....with an imprint on it of a pair of sneakers....empty sneakers....in what was obviously some kind of sports arena stands....and the person had been taken up....you could tell this from the graphics....while there were legs all around the sneakers....of people still cheering the game. The message was that we in America could go right on enjoying all of our pastimes and entertainments....and when we get zapped up....well....we get zapped up.....who cares which team might win the game.
                  So....I don't think that we today should even want a pre-trib rapture....because we are not ready....and we are not really even that concerned about beasts and bowls and seals and trumpets and oceans and rivers turning red....because we will have been gone....taken away. The alternative is daunting....and humbling....for if these things may be just ahead....then we had better be in serious self-examination on whether or not we are even slightly prepared....and whether we have plenty of oil for our lamps....and whether or not we would even be among those taken up!
                  Here's one thing that we are good at....we are good at saying how we just have to trust God in whatever may be ahead. The problem is that we do not have a corresponding trust in God's warning about whatever may be ahead! Therein is a great difference friends! We might try this....we might actually put ourselves into the situations that God's Word describes....about even family members turning on us....for that is coming folks....for even if we consider the issues in the news today....particularly political issues....the confusion and delusion and anger and hate that abounds literally everywhere....we should be able to discern that there would be very difficult times ahead!
                  There is a verse....another one of those many verses that we have conveniently pushed off to the side...."Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness....which the Lord the righteous judge....will award to me on that day....and not only to me....(Paul)....but also to those who have loved his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:8 ESV
                  "Loved His appearing"....these are believers who are earnestly looking forward to the appearing of Jesus....the crown is for those who want and desire and plead for His appearing. If we take this literally....this might....and maybe should....shake us to our very core....in that Jesus might not be coming for those who outwardly profess belief....but inwardly retain a greater love for the world! 

Addendum: As I mentioned above....'prophecy teachers"....are literally everywhere. It's almost like a good gig for a lifework....where you go around telling people about this from Daniel or that from Revelation....and write all these books....and go to all these conferences....and you do not have the responsibilities of being a pastor....but there are a lot of pastors who do preach and teach on prophecy....the difference it seems so often is that prophecy teachers today.....most of them....are just a little too cheery....with a few too many smiles....as they teach about the Antichrist and the Tribulation....whereas if they realized that when Daniel became ill just seeing the vision....that it will be more than a vision to us....and to them....if they are indeed secure in the mercies of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

"Set Your Minds On Things That Are Above....Not The Things Of Earth." (Colossians 3:2 ESV)

            It was the best-selling non-fiction book of the 1970s.....Hal Lindsey's....The Late Great Planet Earth. That's not only quite an accomplishment in publishing....but it says a whole lot about what the American public was like back then. The evangelical....Born Again....awakening was in full-swing....in no small part because we as a people were becoming animated as to the day and the age that we live in as it relates to the Bible. I've read the anecdote a few times....it may or may not be true....but the report was that Israel's first Prime Minister....David Ben-Gurion....had a copy of Hal Lindsey's book by his death bed.
            Prophecy....'teachers'....and they came out of the woodwork....talked about a chip in the hand in order to buy or sell....and a ten-nation end-times European confederacy....and a coming Antichrist....and wars and pandemics and cosmic and geological signs....and particularly great delusion and a falling away in the church....and they were mocked....but as it turned out....these things not only have begun but they are increasing at a greater and greater pace. Recently....a month ago....ten European nations signed a defense compact....and I haven't even heard anyone mentioning the possible significance of that.
              AI....artificial intelligence....has been an issue long before the recent spate of news reports. It has been a done deal for quite some time now....for there is no stopping it. The warnings from a couple of tech execs are too late....and Trump's comments of it being a hoax are the rantings of an unstable mind that will change allegiances in a moment if his grand plans of personal exaltation demand a shift.
             The Lord is near. It's as simple as that. We failed to see the signs. The evangelical fervor of the 70s and into the 80s....did what all revivals do....it waned. I once posted a long time ago....that the Billy Graham evangelical became the Ralph Reed evangelical....that became the Karl Rove evangelical....which was no evangelical at all....and we have since become the Donald Trump evangelical....following a false prophet....and maybe even worse.
             That niche stills remains in evangelicalism....with Bible prophecy teachers everywhere....some good and some bad and some ugly....but overall the pulpits are leery of being tagged some kind of end of the world date-setting fanatic....but as I posted in the past....God does not have us date-setting....but He does want us to be....mind-setting.....setting our minds on the return of the King of Kings....to a world that if we would but open our eyes....we would see all of the prophecies....as God deems it our need to know....from all over God's Word....being fulfilled....here and there....increasing in frequency and intensity....and we would be living as did those reading the letters of Paul and Peter and Jude and John....living day-to-day....in both joy and trepidation....fulfilling our responsibilities....but at the same time looking up for our redemption which surely draweth nigh!

              Forty-some years ago mercy was extended upon the least worthy of it....myself....and I was given faith unto salvation....as if I was pulled up in a net with thousands of other fish! Why? I will never know in this lifetime. Since that time....I had been conscious of one overwhelming responsibility....as God had also blessed us with one child....a son....and it was therefore my responsibility to raise him in the training and admonition of the Lord. God provided here also....as our son....now grown....knows his Lord and Savior....and he choose a wife who also follows Christ....and they have a son being raised in the heavenly graces of God's promises. It was not my responsibility that our son would be born again....for only God determines that....and many men....much more faithful than I....were not given that blessing....but it was my responsibility to pray.....fervently....and to care for the spiritual life of our child. So now I am old. Too old maybe to man an oar.....or to pull up a net full of fish....but not too old to hear the command....and then to toss the net over the side....and tell the younger men to pull...."Pull....the net will be filled when you just pull! I was once in just such a net....and so were you! Trust the One who gave the command to throw the net into the water!
               

Lord's Day Post

                  I was reminded a few days ago of this old Peanuts comic....Snoopy was on his dog house typing as usual...."It was a dark and stormy night"....when Lucy rocked his world with...."That's a terrible way to start a story....all good stories start with....'Once upon a time'!" Snoopy thought it over and then typed...."Once upon a time....it was dark and stormy night."
                  It may not be in every single post....but generally....no matter what the topic....I will try to remind or inform the reader in some way....that judgment is coming....soon....like right now. In yesterday's post for instance....a remembrance of 9/11....the last sentence was from the Olivet Discourse in Luke 21....on the coming judgment.
                  On September 7 of 2023....my wife and I had gone to see the new movie....Golda....which revolved solely upon the few days of the Yom Kippur War of 1973....and I gave a short review of the film....that ended with this...."It's more than a good primer on the October 1973 war....and Helen Mirren's characterization of Golda Mirren was incredible....but the reason that you might want to see this movie is that Israel may be in a similar situation in the very near future." Less than a month later was the Sukkot attack.
                    On September 14....on the eve of Rosh Hashanah....I posted this...."It seems that very few people in America know the seriousness of the situation that the world faces right now....and surprisingly it seems that the people of Israel are as every bit in the dark. It's surprising because their very existence is a day by day situation....but they are more worried about losing some personal individual liberties."
                   I'll beat a dead horse a little bit here....the movie Gettysburg....which was released on October 8 of 1993....began with a scene of Brigadier General John Buford....looking over the future battlefield....and telling his aide something like...."Deven....I've led a soldier's life....and I've never seen anything this clear....I can see it like its already happened." Well that's kind of like what Christians think who have studied Bible prophecy over years and even decades. We can see it clear....that Jesus is at the very doorstep....because God's Word makes it very clear....but it doesn't matter how clear the scene....if you do not open your eyes to see it! 
                    How may times have I thought this prayer....and even posted on it....that if it be in God's perfect will....and to His glory alone....that on this night before the Lord's Day....as pastors are going over the prepared text of their sermon to be given the next morning....(I believe that there is a big college football game tonight....on TV....Ohio State and Texas....hopefully these shepherds have been on their knees tonight...pleading for the safety of their sheep....and not in their Lazy Boy....watching a game)....as these pastors turn out the light beside their bed....that the Holy Spirit might cause them to toss and turn all night....with the feeling that they may have missed something....that they may be failing their sheep in some way....and that by morning these same pastors will enter their pulpits....without their prepared texts....saying a prayer for the Holy Spirit to give them an unction...and words....to not only feed their sheep....but strengthen and prepare them....for what they are now realizing must be just ahead!

Looking Back......And Looking Up

                The Jerusalem Post has an article on its website right now about a young man....31 years old at the time....Daniel Lewin....an Israeli/American who had made aliyah to Israel....served in an IDF counterterrorism unit....and whose career was up to that time a brilliant mathematician and entrepreneur....and who was the first victim on 9/11....as he was a passenger of American Flight 11....stood up to confront the terrorists....and was attacked from behind and killed. There are as I type only a few hours left...in Israel....of Rosh Hashannah....the Jewish New Year....and beginning of the High Holy Days....the Ten Days of Repentance. Rosh Hashanna 2001 was six days after the attacks.
                 I've travelled over much of the world....but have not been in New York City since the New York World's Fair in 1964....odd....I passed by a dozen times but never went into the city. So....I have never been to Ground Zero. On September 10 of 2011....the tenth anniversary....as my wife and I attended the opening of the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville....and as we were walking the 'miles' back to our car....extremely tired but at times walking faster than the long line of cars exiting the Memorial....one car with two men in it stopped to offer us a seat....we thankfully accepted....and they gave us fruit drinks. They were two of the four children of Flight 93 passenger Joe Driscoll. It made a special day....a little more special.
                 It has been twenty-five years since 9/11....and it is still difficult to think back on the people in the planes....or jumping from the buildings....or rushing up the buildings trying to save others. It is also difficult to think back on the over 58 thousand Americans that died in Vietnam....or the 200,000/plus Vietnamese boatpeople who died at sea....trying to escape the horror coming from the north....or Iraq and Afghanistan....or the Sukkot massacre of October 7....2023....or the Christians being killed in Africa....or so many other horrors of war and killing.
                  There is a verse from God's Word that comes to mind as I look back....Luke 21:28....this from the NKJV...."Now when these things begin to happen....look up and lift up your heads....because your redemption draws near."

DISPATCHES

Evangelicals were so excited when Mike Johnson became the Speaker of the House. I also thought that it might be a good thing....but today....all you should have to do is look into his confused eyes....and listen to his defense of Trump....and see a man totally led by the nose. His most recent submissive act was to call concern for AI....a Chinese psyop. 

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

If it wasn't so real....and so important....I would likely read the headlines....and just laugh at the absurdity. Trump shouts China's criminal actions from the White House rooftops.....and then he honors their leader in a state visit? Communism matters in this midterm race with talking points....and with Cuba....but not today with the Chinese leader?  This man....the man who became a legend by calling everything fake....is the biggest fake of all! Yes there are political and practical reasons in dealing with any foreign leader....but that is not what we witness with Donald Trump. The truth is....Donald Trump has never had an ideological belief in his entire life. 

The project coordinator....(former project coordinator.....as he resigned)....of the new ballroom....told Trump that there were problems with what he wanted....as some things were not according to building codes....number of exits and fire protection for example. Trump didn't want to hear that....and told the project coordination...."I am the codes!"

UNGA....the United Nations General Assembly today begins hearing from representatives of roughly 130 Nations.  Trump will speak this morning....and will meet with Zelensky and the new Prime Minister of Great Britain. Netanyahu is scheduled to speak tomorrow.

Yom Kippur....the Day of Atonement....is the holiest and most s in his entire olemn day in the Jewish year....and it begins this Sunday at sundown....and ends Monday at sundown. Sukkot is a week of celebrations and gratitude....and begins this years on September 25....and lasts until October 2. It was on the last day of Sukkot of 2023....that the world changed....with the attacks on kibbutzim on the other side of the Gaza protective wall. I always have the Jewish lunar calendar in the back of my mind since I have for along time been convinced that God often uses signs in the sky....and....Jewish holidays....for His prophetic purposes. These things serve as alerts....reminders....that God has used them in the past....and will certainly do so in the future.

In God's providence....forty years ago....I came into the church with a passion for apologetics. I learned this right away....that you have to know the genuine....before you can identify the fake. I have a very uneasy feeling for what we in the church may be about to experience....and we are not grounded nearly as much as we were forty years ago....and even then we were ripe for false teachers in the church! We have already fallen for the fake in politics....in Christian nationalism....but "another" gospel may be coming that will seem uniting....a gospel more of the image than the word....but the only thing it will unite are the modified and compromised doctrines of salvation already out there.... gospels of salvation....that do not save!

Donald Trump yesterday told his supporters....(surely that base must be shrinking!)....don't...."kill the golden goose!" He also called concerns over AI...."Sick"....and said that we do not need guardrails....that all we need is a...."strong and smart president." We evangelicals gave America this man as president. It is irony upon irony that our falling away is responsible for what evangelicalism had warned of for over a half century. Trump was originally against AI....and then he saw the money that could be made....so he was then for it....and indeed made a lot of money....and now he calls long overdue concerns of AI....a sick conspiracy!

 I am so often....so very sad....in that many nations....that were once strong allies....for example where a Canadian was almost as a brother...have become almost enemies to us....because of one man....whose bloodlust for greed and personal glory....destroyed that trust and friendship! May God have mercy upon us....for seeking our glory....and not God's!

The idiom has been around for a long time....between a rock ad a hard place....but it is as if imagined for us today. If the Democrats win the House and/or the Senate....to use another idiom....there will be the devil to pay....but if Trump keeps his congress Praetorian Guard in place....can you imagine....can you even imagine....where his political and egomaniacal bloodlust will take him? 

Jonah and the whale....and Nineveh....and us: There is a new movie scheduled for an October 16 release. We do not what a single day brings. I do not know what the next hour may bring....but I will look forward....Lord willing....to seeing the Josh Brolin film....Whalefall....where a scuba diver is swallowed by a sperm whale....and has an hour of air to escape. Now I would expect that neither the movie....or any of the reviews forthcoming....would give any credence to Jonah....but I don't care....for the concept alone of a man swallowed by a great fish....at this biblical time in history....put before the American public....is encouraging. May God if it be in His perfect will....make us think through this film....no matter what it might try to say!

There are thirteen friends and former fellow workers and family that I know of....that died because of Covid. Fauci and Redfield and Deborah Birx are professionals at the top of their field....and did yeoman's work in a most difficult situation. They wanted testing....Trump did not.....the professional's opinion vs the politician's need. What we are viewing with Fauci is a show trial....just one of many things to be ashamed of in America today. Trump took the fifth more than 400 times in his civil fraud investigation....but our taking the fifth....and our whistleblowers....are good things.

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...

                                                                    

If there were once want ads put out for any nation who wanted to lead the free world....it would say something like....'there are perks....reserve currency.....things like that....but there are also sacrifices that will have to be made.' We answered that ad long ago....we got some perks....and we also made some sacrifices....but Trump acts like...since he didn't sign the initial agreement....it means nothing! He wants the perks....but with no sacrifices.

The Trump/Musk show at the beginning of his second term was a political con....trying to make it seem like they were cutting significant debt....when all they were doing was firing civil service employees and taking benefits away from people who needed them. It was reported....by what we were always told was the 'fake news'....that in Trump's first term he carried around with him an official looking box. In it were not important documents....briefing notes....or anything like that....but news clippings of himself! His first ghostwriter once said that when he first met Trump...Trump's desk was stacked high with various magazines....all with Trump's picture on the cover.

If someone wrote a novel about a president that does the things that Trump does....putting his name and his picture on everything that he can....it wouldn't be a believable book....instead it might be read like one would read....1984....or Brave New World....something that might be titilating....but could never really happen.

I remember the video....seeing it on the day that it was in the news....it was 1995....the scene was a beauty parlor....and when the radio announced that OJ Simpson was found not guilty....the ladies under the hair dryers cheered. Today we have been witnessing another high profile trial....and it seems as if again....we are calling what is evil....good....and what is good evil. That phrase is from the fifth chapter of Isaiah....and the essence of the chapter was on the coming judgment of the people....the actual verse....verse 20...."Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil....who substitute darkness for light....and light for darkness."

             

We Are Incapable Of Discerning The Vanity Fair That We Live In

Preface: It's been a wild year....starting off with the Super Bowl and the college football championship. The World Cup took two months of our time....the NFL Draft was in Pittsburgh this year....and then there was the....World Baseball Classic....which was a ridiculous concept to begin with. We had the 250th anniversary that kept going on and on....with very patriotic things like a Grand Prix race in D. C.....and a cage fighting match right on the White House Lawn! The attack on the reflecting pool....well maybe it wasn't an attack after all....kept us spellbound for a week or so. Caitlyn Clark kept us white folks interested in the WNBA....and March Madness was stuck in there somewhere. Scottie Scheffler kept us Christians rooting for him just about every Lord's Day. The Winter Olympics were held in February....and to be honest....with all the excitement going on....I can't even remember them! I don't remember who won the NBA or the NHL championships. We've already had all four golf majors....and I believe we are right now on the last of the tennis grand slams? We have been in a war since February. We just finished up a long trial....where a mother strangled her three kids....but in a hung jury...only one juror voted for conviction? I guess we already had the Oscars and the Emmys. The new ballroom and the arch and the Smithsonian and Lake America keep us occupied...and now we have a...mid-term Republican Convention? I know that I probably forgot about a dozen events that occupy our minds....but a new year....within the year has started....with football! It was probably never really said by the Duke of Wellington...."The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing field of Eton"....insinuating that the discipline and fraternity and loyalty learned on college athletic fields built the character of the nation's self-defense....but such would have been the case here in America....before college sports were torn apart by greed and vanity.  The thing is....we are today utterly incapable of discerning the Vanity Fair that we live in! In Bunyan's classic....he wanted to get out of there as fast as he could....and Faithful didn't even make it out. Here is an anecdote for you to consider....Charles Spurgeon....the Prince of Preachers....wrote that he had read Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress....100 times in his life! The book was once the biggest selling book....other than the Bible....in the world! Do you think that maybe we today ought to go back that book....in humility and repentance maybe....for what we have become? The following post is from July of 2020 and is on my humor page:

Come Lord Jesus......Just Not Right Now!

Lord Jesus 

As you know....for this blessing is from you....
        our son Kyle has a full football scholarship....
        at an SEC school....GO DOGS!
        and you have also blessed us with a beautiful daughter....
        whose wedding is planned for next year....
        and we need every minute of this year to prepare for it....
        so yes Lord Jesus....come....just not right now.

I know that America has strayed far from you...
        but that's really the Democrats Lord...
        I was just talking to the pastor the other day...
        at the pot luck after the service....before the game
        and he says that we are going to get the House back....
        and then we are going to throw Hunter Biden in Jail...

They're making us wear masks Lord....
        just like they put a crown of thorns on your head!
        our wonderful freedoms are being taken away....
        bless Donald Trump Lord....and Ron DeSantis....
            and Matt Gaetz...and Marjorie Taylor....I can't remember her last name....
                and the My Pillow Guy.

May I ask one more thing Lord....
        when you do come....
        can you call first...and leave a message
        to see if we are home....
        what with Bible studies and pickle ball and all
        a grandkid on the way....
        it's going to be a busy decade or so.

So all praise to you Lord....
        Come Lord Jesus....
        With all your mighty angels....
        In Power and glory....
        And righteous judgment....(on the Democrats)....
        Just not right now.

Just one last very personal request Lord...
        just in case Billy Graham was right
        and you are indeed coming real soon....
        could you possibly schedule the rapture....
        in early April.....
        just after March Madness if possible
        so I don't have to break my back...
        unnecessarily spreading all that mulch....
        and fertilizer?

        (I missed the first week of last year's
        church golf league because of it....
        because I couldn't bend over to putt)

           No....this is definitely not an optimum year for evangelicals for the tribulation....or is it? To me it seems just like what God's prophetic word says it will be like....will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He returns? We've got enough oil for a tiki torch but none for our lamps. Delusion is everywhere....along with false prophets....the chief of whom evangelicalism fell for hook, line and sinker.

THIS IS NOT A TEST!

                We are a land and a people of idols....personal idols. I am a man of idols. This is not a small thing. The idols are different than those that we read of in God's Word....but are nonetheless god's that we have crafted. They could be sports or entertainments of any kind....or money or vanity. They kill discernment and set up enmity to God. They are hard to detect....and harder to decide to deal with if detected. The pulpits should be warning us all the time of idols....but that is a habit of a day that is long gone in American pulpits.
                 This very second....as I typed....in the last paragraph....the period after the word...."pulpits"....my iPhone....sitting right here on the table....blared an annual test....repeating itself...."TEST ONLY"....for the local nuclear power station....and right now...as I type this....I can hear the siren....an odd siren....different from the regular fire alarms that we often hear. And now it is over....until next year....nothing to worry about.
                  This that I'm putting forth in this post....is not a test....THIS IS NOT A TEST! We in the church are no longer a "peculiar  people".....and hardly a "holy nation." The only thing that sets us apart from anyone else in America is our conservative politics....social issues primarily.
                   I could list my own idols....and maybe I will do that....but I have wanted to broach this topic for quite a while. At my age....76....and with a strong background in books....from working my way through college at the library....to meeting my future wife in that library....and her becoming a librarian....to our owning a bookstore for a while thirty years ago....to haunting Barnes & Noble almost every Tuesday to scan the new arrivals....I witness women....most of them older women....reading their books.....and loving their reading....to a passionate degree that rivals any sport that a man might be attached to.
                   They are passing books to one another all the time....and recommending books....and talking about their book clubs...seemingly every time that I am around them. Now as I mentioned....I read all the time....more than half of them Christian books....and the rest done for research....on the culture....or on history as it relates to day that we live in. Rarely do I read a book simply for enjoyment....for I have my own idols
                   From what I have witnessed....and this going back decades....the books that these....wonderful ladies....devour literally all the time....are books that take them directly away from the faith that they will so joyfully tell you that they have. They do not know what is happening here. No one warns them....their pulpits do not warn them....and life passes ever so quickly....as the nation crumbles....and the church languishes!
                   My idols are many and varied. I spent an hour the other day researching the extraordinary music and personal relationships of possibly the best rock n' roll band of the late 60s....CCR....Credence Clearwater Revival. Oh yes I subjected much of what I read to God's Word....as I lamented the fact that these men had the whole world....so to speak....but missed the greatest thing in that whole world....Jesus Christ. I can try to excuse my research....but I know that something like this extends into my own fascination....if not memory of love....to the 60s generation.
                   It is a daily struggle....against a fierce and powerful opponent. I may lose as often as I win. I am at times but a wandering lamb....straying over to an intriguing thicket that hides predators....but there is hope even in all of this....for we are about to lose many if not all of those idols. God's winds are blowing right now....sifting and threshing and winnowing....and His angels are waiting....mounted....swords not yet unsheathed....but as though waiting with baited-breath for the command of the Lord of the armies....the LORD of Hosts!

"....A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand?" Mark 4:21 NASB

" (Jesus)....Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him will more be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." Mark 4:24,25 NASB 

                   Folks....this is telling you to be careful where you have all your attention. If you show little interest in the things of eternity....(reading and playing all the time)....then the little discernment you have will be taken away....(and that is much of this political church today)....but the more you pay attention to God's Word....the more discernment you will be given!