Mind Setting

Preface: I thought That I would bring back this August 15 of 2023 post...seven weeks before the October Sukkot attacks in Israel. Any Christian....reading his or her Bible as if they really believed that it was the very Word of God....would have known....or should have known....many years ago....that war was coming....and that a false peace was coming. "For you will hear of wars and rumors of wars..."....we don't know how many wars....or even how many times they will falsely say "peace." There are at least a hundred very specific verses in God's Word that identify the day and the age that you and I live in. John MacArthur....who is mentioned many times in the posts preceding this post....once said that in May of 1948...."God put the world on notice." 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)

For Whom The Death Knell Tolls            

               Many of us....possibly most of us.....but certainly not all of us....have some kind of defining characteristic on how we lead our daily lives. My wife's would be in that she is always making a note of something that she has to do. She is famous for it....and it works out very well. Jonathan Edwards was famous for that also as he would take long horseback rides....to meditate...and when he returned it looked like it had snowed....for all of the white pieces of paper that he had pinned all over his clothing.
               Well I also have a very strong characteristic. I need to at all times have a constantly updated view on the big picture of things. I need to more than occasionally go over the many possible changes that life can present. For example....there may not be any imminent household expenses....a new furnace....or a new roof....but provision has to be made anyway for those possible emergencies. That characteristic dominates these posts.
               There is war ahead. One has to be able to step back to see this. It can't be stopped. The dies have been cast. If there is another virus....we have already shot ourselves in the foot....vaccinations are bad....scientists are bad.
               When Jesus said that...."If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand"....He was letting us know what it was going to look like at the end. When He said...."Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth"....He was describing this world today....for as much as we say....'God bless this' and 'God bless that'....our faith has dwindled down to nothing more than those trite phrases. The carnival barkers have our attention today.....pointing to the clowns....or the bearded woman....or the world's strongest man....or the world's smallest man.
               AI alone....is a death knell! Drone warfare is a death knell! Our division is a death knell! Hemingway's famous words were...."For whom the bell tolls....it tolls for thee." Only God's Word gives us hope...."Jesus said to her....(Martha).... 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."

Tomorrow....(Today)....Is Finally the Day

UPDATE: Michael Reeves just finished his General Session to close out the first day of the Shepherd's Conference. To think that these men present....so many of them....were fed in such a way....is too humbling for me even to think of what it might mean....but I am still hoping that the pillars might shake! You may be able to go to....2026 Shepherd's Conference....and listen to it right now....for the recording may very well be there already. Surely it will be there tomorrow. You can easily listen in live at....shepherdsconference.org....tomorrow at about 9 PM our time in the East when John Piper preaches.....and Friday at 10 PM our time when H. B. Charles General Session concludes the conference....and also on Friday....in the second to the last General Session....at 6:30 PM....Paul Washer will preach! 

Preface: The following post is a week old.....and tomorrow is the day....the day that 5,000 to 5,500 shepherds....men in some way in leadership in their churches....will convene at John MacArthur's church....to begin the annual Shepherd's Conference. The speakers are surely all there by now....checked into their hotel rooms....and the probably hundreds of volunteers have their assignments. May....if it be God's perfect will....and all to His glory alone....may the Holy Spirit at some point in that conference....come down as on that first day of Pentecost.....may the speakers speak words not on their notes....may the music....usually so impressive and such a blessing to the shepherds in attendance....may it be almost as an annoyance....so that the speakers can speak again....and the Holy Spirit can come down heavy on the hearts of these men....who need it....so that they can go home to us and come down heavy on our hearts....and my heart....who so desperately need something to shake us awake. May the pillars....so to speak....of the church....may they proverbially shake....so that the men might cry out to God for mercy....so that when they come home and preach to us....we might also cry out for mercy!

The 2026 Shepherd's Conference          

                It is only nine days until the first day of the 2026 Shepherd's Conference....at John MacArthur's church in Sun Valley....near the Northridge section of Los Angeles. This is probably the top Christian conference in America. There will be over 5,000 'shepherd's' present....all men....either pastors or in some way in leadership of their respective churches.
               Somewhere in the bowels of my basement....I probably have about a hundred cassettes of John MacArthur's teaching ministry....and maybe a dozen or so his books....one signed at a conference about twenty years ago....and at least two of his Study Bibles.
               Pastor John....for over half a century....had a voice where he could talk very quickly....and very clearly....which really added to the effectiveness of his teaching ministry....but since he had taken ill on January 1 of 2023.....that voice became significantly slower....and what surprised me was that I liked it better....because I could think a little longer on every sentence.
               He had numerous strengths....which praise to God is a great understatement....not the least of which was that he warned very effectively against false teachers and false prophets....and he had a number of books out over those decades on that subject.....all of which I read by the way. Way back in the early 80s he did a series titled....Beware of False Prophets. It is on the Internet......and I have added it to these posts on numerous occasions. As the graphic for the series.....someone at Grace To You had added a man figure in a suit....white shirt....and red tie....holding up a sheep's face mask on a stick....used to hide the head of a wolf. Maybe I will add it here? As you will notice immediately....by the suit and the tie.....it resembles Trump. GTY.org does not use that graphic anymore for the Beware of False Prophets series.

                                                  
                   I am getting long-winded here....so I am going to cut to the chase. This year's Shepherd's Conference....the first since John MacArthur went to be with his Lord and Savior....is titled....Servant Of The Word....The Life And Ministry Of John MacArthur....under the circumstances a perfectly normal conference topic....but in my opinion the last thing that we need.....5,000 plus shepherds coming to L.A.....just as biblical end-times prophecy is unfolding almost every single day....and focusing on a particular minister.....great and marvelous blessing that he was! So my hope is that as March 4 rolls around....and the shepherds gather at Grace Community Church....that God would figuratively....shake the pillars somehow....and change the direction of the conference....that it would not be a vacation conference....and not a basic training conference....but an....out in the woods....last days....survivalist training conference.....by men who are to go back and warn and lead!
                   Well I have said as much as this for the last few years....same thoughts on the shaking of pillars....and it has never really happened.....but these are not normal times. John MacArthur himself put it very clearly and forcfully.....in that in May of 1948....when Israel miraculously became a state in itself.... that God had...."Put the whole world on notice!"....on what time period that we ourselves lived in.
                   So....Paul Washer will be one of the speakers at the conference. I believe that he will give the final talk! Have you ever heard Paul Washer.....or even know who he is? His preaching is unlike just about anyone's today....with the possible exception of what David Wilkerson was like. He pleads with the listener....and warns as if the bus that was about to hit them had just now turned the corner....and it was no time for niceties.....but shouts and pleas! How will Paul Washer handle his assignment? Well this is a man who I think that I would walk thirty miles to hear preach the glories of Jesus Christ.....(which he always does....as far as I know)....and he will do it at the Shepherd's Conference....Lord willing....and if it does not coincide with every point in my eschatological belief system....then maybe....through God's grace....I will learn something?

Note: I believe that anyone can go to John MacArthur's Grace Community Church website....and stream these talks....live!

Post title....Proverbs 27:1

'I Know Him......You Don't......Stay Away From Him'......What else Can I Do?

                 The person reading this might be too young to have heard a story like this.....but at my age it has come up occasionally over the years....maybe in a movie or on TV or in a book or even in real life. It's a story of two brothers....(in fact I did a post on this once.....maybe I can find it)....where one brother is a normal young man....but his brother has been bad his whole life....always telling lies....caring only about himself....hurting people and laughing at other's misfortune.....with absolutely no compassion at all. Well they grow up....and the first brother is the only one who really knows what the other brother is like. They live in the same community....and the second brother has become 'successful'....and has deceived just about everyone in that they have been taken in by his outgoing and confident personality....and they begin to be friends with him....and even admire him....as he takes on positions of authority in the community or even in church. All this time the first brother can only sit back and watch his friends and/or the community and the church be taken in....for he cannot come out and tell people to stay away from his brother....for who would believe him anyway?
                  In that post that I wrote some time ago....Trump is that second brother....and I am as the brother who knows him.....because I spent the last ten years reading about his whole life....(110 books)....and his relationships with his family....and watching maybe fifty of his rallies....and checking just about everything that he said over that ten years....and applying everything to my extensive knowledge of cults. In reality it is not just me that knows who Trump is....but multitudes across America....even across the political spectrum. The older Democrats know Trump very well because they both came from the same culture....the liberal....Studio 54....tabloid celebrity culture. This is why they so often ask how it is possible that evangelicals can accept this man? They do not hold to our religious beliefs....but they know what they are....because we have told them all the time.
                   So I ask the same question....only I know the answer. What the average Democrat or the liberal 'Christian' does not realize is that the Christian is on a very perilous journey. There was....(and is)....a children's book from maybe thirty years ago with the title....Dangerous Journey. I gave it to our young son....and our son later gave it to his young son. This pilgrimage that we are on is fraught with dangers....to the left and to the right....and if we do not stay on the straight path....then we will pay for it. Bunyan told about this gloriously in Pilgrim's Progress. We might wind up in a legalist bondage....or taken in a trap....or decide to take and easier path and wind up in total depression....that can even be a fatal depression. We may have to go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.....and we definitely have to go through Vanity Fair....in fact we live in Vanity Fair. We in the church had few shepherds to protect us....and little to no preaching to strengthen us....and no warnings of Trump whatsoever! Thus Trump came in....a wolf in sheep's clothing....and today our bodies are strewn all over the place. 
                     So that young person today....for example....has absolutely no way to discern the dangers of Trump. The church grid that they may have been raised on is not a sound biblical grid. The talk radio grid today is not the same that it was thirty years ago....nor is FOX NEWS the same....'fair and balanced'....news media that it once was. 
                     When Trump talks of a golden age....or "winning....winning....winning"....or getting what is rightly ours through tariffs....or telling us how all illegal aliens must go....(except those maybe whose IT skills make them useful to us getting richer)....we suck it up like a stray dog at a fishing hole on a hot summer day. We think that this is great....making America great again....even though we know little to nothing about what greatness is. And we think that we are not only patriots....but valiant Christians....fighting the good fight....against the evil darkness of progressives and wokism. We actually think that what we are doing is part of revival!
                     We brought all of this upon ourselves.....as we played around with our entertainments and our sports. We passed through Vanity Fair....and bought properity.....and built our home on it. We hired the pastors and the teachers that we wanted. We put a carving knife to the gospel....getting rid of everything that we did not like....and thus we are where we are....cheering a man....who the Apostle John described as an....antichrist....an enemy of the gospel!
                      Here is an axiom....a tyrant cannot help but do some things right....but he is still a tyrant. To some of us on our side of this mess....we know who Trump is....and what he is....so when he does something that should be done....we see it like it is....pouring a tablespoon of honey into a glass of tainted water....it doesn't change the water that will make the one who drinks it sick....but all that the rest of us see is the honey! 

DISPATCHES

I touch on this topic below....but readers here know that I not only pay attention during Jewish feasts and blood moons and solar eclipses.....but that I actually believe that God often....and regularly....uses these means to act....and to warn us of His acts....or that we can look back at them in retrospect to learn. For Example....Donald Trump....who was born on a blood moon....came down that golden escalator right smack dab in the middle of evangelicalism....(only to proceed to decimate it)....he came down that escalator in the middle of the famous 2014/2015 blood moon tetrad. More recently....Hamas attacked Israel at the end of the Jewish feast of Sukkot....or the Feast of Tabernacles. Well we just had a rare blood moon....and a Jewish feast....Purim...as this current war started! I took screen shots of the headlines on news media sources just as the blood was in totality....one headline was...."WAR SPIRALS." These things are not even surprising anymore.

It appears that literally all of the warnings from God's Word about depending on princes and men and horses and armies.....are gone! It's really astonishing how exactly we follow the script. If one has eyes to see....then the weakness of man appears in glorious horror....and that alone should send us to our knees in a renewed fear of the wrath of God.

Surely....beforehand....as they sat at their strategy table....the question was brought up....what to do if Russia says that military transports are on the way with supplies?

Either Humble Ourselves....Or Be Humbled By Others.....It might be wise if we all did some thinking on what could happen to a person....or a government....when it came to the point that all you had to do was put coordinates into a computer....and then push a button....even from hundreds or thousands of miles away....and send off a ballistic missile. We are getting in the habit of doing that...and then posting the video for everyone to enjoy. One problem is that the person pushing the button never sees the blood and mangled body parts. Another problem....for the man at the head of the government....is that he might begin to feel like God. Another problem might be over-confidence....for you can easily take out a naval vessel....and even a nuclear research site....but a biological warfare research site is another story. If we do not humble ourselves....then it will be much worse when we are humbled by others.

There is an unsettling lack of humility or dependence upon God in the decisions made in this war.....in immigration and tariffs....and in just about everything that our government does these days. It is an ungodly braggadocio...and I know why....and where this comes from. Meanwhile our pastors say nothing.....for they hardly have a clue anymore on what God had called them to do. Here is a theorem that they might want to just consider....when they are in the pulpit....and the people are pouring into the pews....laughing surely as they always do....even in a medium size church....there will be some...maybe many....who are as at the end of their rope....and some who have actually...."come out from among them"....and are struggling not having many with them. Forget about all the people laughing and enjoying the fellowship....and concentrate on those who surely are present who need a shepherd to gloriously bring God's Word to them....the good and the bad and the ugly. Why are you wasting your time encouraging all those who are laughing....for they appear to not need anything?

OpenAI vs Anthropic....I am only a quarter of the way through Karen Hao's 2025....Empire Of AI...so I am right now limited in my knowledge of this particular corporate relationship. This whole issue of the safety....or extreme lack of it....of artificial intelligence....is complicated and delicate. I've been reading and warning on AI a decade....as it has definite biblical prophecy end-times implications. The book focuses on Sam Altman and OpenAI. What is immediate is that our Department of War took the side of one of those competing companies....OpenAI. Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei is sticking to his proclaimed fundamental demand that if he deals with our government then they will agree not to use AI in surveillance of our people or give AI a free hand in military use. The government says that it cannot agree to that.....and that the safety of America comes first. Hegseth also ordered that companies that deal with the government cannot also deal with Anthropic!  

Department of War Secretary Hegseth also ordered that military personnel within the Department of War are not permitted to attend "elite" universities! His position is that there is a good reason for officers to go to graduate school....and that reason is not what most people would go to graduate school for....and there are bad consequences if the officers go to universities that are not....patriotic. The somewhat hidden problem here is that therefore....there must be universities that agree with the policies and ideologies....(politics).... of the Department of War. We are seeing this same heavy-handedness in education and the news media and entertainment and in Corporate America! If you do not believe and act and influence.....as you should believe and act and influence....then the powers of the government will be against you.

Six-Planet Alignment....In July of 2022 there was a five-planet alignment....or parade of planets as they call it.....and in March of 2023 there was another....and I was up on the highest hill near me at 4:30 in the morning to see it. Tonight there will be a rare six-planet somewhat curved alignment....four can be seen with the naked eye....while the other two would need telescopes.

Solar Eclipse....The was a solar eclipse last week in the Antarctic that was visible to only about 2% of the world's population. On August 12 there will be a total solar eclipse that will have a small path starting in the Arctic and moving down to Northern Spain. This Tuesday....actually early Wednesday morning there will be a total lunar eclipse.....or blood moon....that NASA said should be "spectacular."

Blood Moon & Purim.....Sunset on Monday....March 2....also begins the Jewish 'celebration' of Purim. (Mordecai and Ester and Haman) The last blood moon ....in 2022....was also on Purim. The next after March 2/3 will be December 31, 2028.

Thirteen Years Is A Long Time.....In February of 2010 I had a long post on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announcing that Iran had accieved....breakout capability....where they had supposedly produced their first product of 20% enriched uranium.....in effect on their way to producing a bomb. I stated at the time that our intelligence agencies estimated that the earliest that Iran could produce a nuclear bomb was around 2013....while some 'experts' believed that they had one already. That's thirteen years ago folks. Israel is roughly the same distance to Iran as Boston is from Pittsburgh. I researched at the time how long it took countries like North Korea to finally get their bomb. With all the help that Iran had available to them....thirteen years is a long time.

I Can't Imagine Why?

                I can only imagine....(I actually typed that before realizing that it was the title of the film)....I can only imagine that many readers....particularly some of the college students who visit these posts....will be flabbergasted to read that before yesterday I do not even remember hearing of the Christian music group....MercyMe. In the early days of our Christian walk.....the 80s....maybe into the 90s....we went to dozens of Christian concerts....seeing many of those well-known singers and groups even a couple of times.....but as time moved on....contemporary Christian music concerts became less and less. 
                So this afternoon we went to see the newly released Christian film....I Can Only Imagine 2....implying that there was an....I Can Only Imagine...1. There were actually some great elements to this story....and it was to me a big surprise how much we were moved by the film.
                There were six people in the theater....my wife and I included....and I just scanned through the showings tomorrow and Saturday.....and there were only six seats total reserved? Maybe there is something that I am missing here....as I thought that it would be the opposite....with everyone going....and me being disappointed in a movie about a Christian musical band?
                 Oh well....maybe last week....the first week....was well-attended. Either way I give my recommendation to see the film....for there were a lot of edifying moments....in a church age....that is starving for such  edification.

You Don't....Really Know How It Can Be Done....Until You Have Lived Through It

               I remember the diligence that I paid in class....listening to Professor J. J. Zasloff at Pitt in 1973....for he was a world renown expert on Southeast Asia. Just last night I ordered on Amazon a particular book that I wanted....on Southeast Asia! So it has been over fifty years of interest in and studying not only Vietnam....but Russia and Germany and England and Israel and the world actually.
               I had....previously to a few years ago....thought that I had at least a handle on how a Generalissimo or a Fuhrer or a Comrade Chairman could come into power....but in retrospect since Trump....it was only theory. In Trump I have witnessed first hand....since he took office in his second term a little over a year ago....how it takes a daily....morning....noon and evening....every day of the year....barrage or blitzkrieg of in essence purging....of everyone and everything and every symbol and every picture and every remembrance of whatever it was that came before.
               I just started book number 110 on Trump....an oral history of January 6.....2021....in fact that is the subtitle of the book.....Storm The Capitol. Whether you call them the proletariat or the patriots....or Les Misérables....their minds have to be kept occupied all the time! That is why Trump is tweeting....or whatever it is called today....everyday....and almost every hour of the day!
               I could go on in my description of this....but to my evangelical friends....who have been totally taken in by this tried and true combination of intimidation and agitation and flattery and distraction....do you at times have trouble even recognizing yourself anymore? I talk to you and hardly recognize the person I once knew. Your compassion is muted....and you are constantly trying to find excuses for a false prophet....an actual enemy to the Lord  you once served with passion as you now serve princes and power.  Does that sweet love of Jesus....that first love of the gospel....seem only a distant memory....replaced by demands for what is yours....and anger....and laughter at ridicule directed others? If you but decide to renew your mind....and turn it to Christ....this bondage will be broken....should God will it....and vision and discernment will return....along with hearing to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd....and identify the wolf in sheep's clothing!

Yes.....What You Saw Last Evening....Was Indeed....The State Of The Union!

Preface:  It's 9 in the morning....and after all is said and done concerning the State of the Union....those who watched the shameless demonstration....witnessed a severely psychologically ill man....yet a potent manipulator....do what ultimately he does best....and that is destroy. The Democrats....for roughly forty years now.....since they no longer became Democrats as those my age grew up to know....a party that visibly rejects the God of the Bible....they seem to sit there in shock more than anything else. They played a game for decades....and were devoured by a spiritual force that actually gave them their power to begin with. As for the Republicans......"Faithless Israel has proved herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah....(Jeremiah 3:11)....for as bad as the Democrats turned out to be over the past few decades....it was us that went beyond mere idolatry....to an idolatry of greed and power that uses God as its banner. We went beyond abortion and LGBTQ....to in some cases....'worshiping'....a blatant false prophet....who tells us exactly what we want to hear....and laughs his way through the deception and delusion. The following....preface and paragraph from a 2023 post....were posted last evening about 9:30:

                 Preface: I wanted to post the following paragraph from May of 2023 right now as I sit with the television on in front of me.....muted....and Trump about twenty minutes into his speech. I've been in the exact same situation before....many times....mostly over the past ten years....when I watched our president.....whether it was Trump or Biden....or Trump again....enter this hall....and witnessed one standing ovation after another....and felt....deep in my heart.....disillusionment....at how far a nation can lose its way. I'm looking now at the  woodwork on the walls of the first level....and the gray wall-papered balcony....and wondered on which one....should Almighty God command it....would fingers of a hand appear....writing...."Mene....Mene....Tekel....Upharsin?" Woe are us....who in almost unimaginable pride....especially considering the circumstance of a nation either in utter rebellion to God....or blasphemous presumption....to act like this....and celebrate like this....and cheer as a kingly speaker claims that we have entered a golden age....when the King of Kings has made it clear for anyone with eyes to see.....and ears to hear....that before this judgment is over we will throw our worthless gold and silver into the street! Later tonight....Lord willing....I will go over the transcript....and read the commentary....and probably fast forward through a recording of the speech.....but for now....I can only pray for God's mercy on us.

From a post titled...."Thank You God....For The Winds That Warn Us"

                    "Our pastor began his sermon as he stepped into the pulpit by thanking God for the gorgeous day. Probably nine out of ten pastors in Western Pennsylvania began their message with that comment. There is nothing wrong with it....in fact thanking God for his blessing in the weather is wonderful....and I have said the same thing many times....but today the words hit me a little bit differently. My thought was that I would rather have had a windy day....with cloud cover....and ominous darker clouds on the horizon. I would rather see the brothers and sisters in Christ hurrying from car to church....grasping more firmly the hands of their children and anything they might be carrying....and only upon coming through the door of the sanctuary breathing a sigh of relief and thanking God for the reprieve of being in the church. The 'gorgeous' day....with the Antichrist....[whoever or whatever or wherever he might be]....plotting even as I type....and the world barely holding sway against world war....and the church of Jesus Christ....so many of us....thinking about their day's activities as they sit in the pew....in these troublesome times we do not benefit from a....'gorgeous' day. I would rather the pastor have the opportunity to  begin with....'Thank you Lord for the winds that warn us of the approaching storm....and the reminder that only in Christ is their shelter from that storm.' " 

Addendum: Trump added this in his concluding remarks...."and when God needs a nation to work his miracles....he knows exactly who to ask." This blasphemous comment alone....should send the Christian to his and her knees....seeking mercy and forgiveness. 

Professional Idolatry

                  "It's been a brutal winter so far in Western Pennsylvania....-5 degrees as I type at 4 in the early hours of Monday morning....after tossing and turning for hours over the condition of the American church....but then it has been a particularly rough weekend....as the Olympics began....in Italy....and people rushed home from church to sit in front of the TV....until the Super Bowl began....and here it is 4 AM....but 10 AM in Milan....so we can turn on the TV as soon as we wake up to see what skier or skater is making news! So It's like a lost weekend."

The above paragraph is two weeks old. The Winter Olympics closing ceremony is going on as I type. From what I read....the gold medal hockey game was one of those classics....an overtime win for the USA....and I'm guessing a little bit here....but that game winning goal was probably scored....with millions of American evangelicals at home literally jumping out of their seat in joy....just as tens of thousands of pastors were in their pulpits giving a benediction....something like this...."The Lord bless you and keep you...the Lord make His grace to shine upon you and be gracious to you...the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace."

I take it also that Spring Training games started two days ago....with opening day in late March. March Madness starts in a few weeks...and the Masters kicks off the 2026 golf majors in early April. The Stanley Cup playoffs take up most of March and April...and on into May....and we will start hearing about the Summer Olympics about that time. Sport itself is good. It can be restful.....or character building....but this isn't sport in America anymore. It is professional idolatry....if I might attempt to coin that term....and it has reached this peak just as Jesus is about to return in righteous judgment. There is nothing new under the sun. We didn't invent this ignoring of God's warnings....but we are definitely an inductee nominated for the Hall of Shame.

Tens of thousands of our American service members are in the vicinity of Iran right now....kept busy with PT and meetings throughout the days....to keep their minds active...and quell the natural fears that come as they wait anxiously for the call to fight....or to go home. Just yesterday....while weeding out my books....I pulled a copy of Edward Gibbon's two volume The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire....to give to a library's book sale....for there's nothing more to learn from it....or to put it more succinctly....we never learned anything from books like this....nor from Isaiah nor Jeremiah nor Daniel nor Revelation....nor anywhere else in God's Word.
                 
The word is....ICHABOD....the glory has departed. I used it many times as titles to posts. Evangelicals do not want Jesus to return. They want their country back! They are ignorant of....and it wouldn't matter anyway....that that country they want back....is the same one that God's faithful shepherds had given warnings to for the best part of the twentieth century. Let me say that again....in a different way....to try to make it understandable....when we say that we want to make America great again....that same country that we want to go back to....was under God's judgment! We have been on a....fool's errand....sent off to bring something back....a 'Christian nation'....that did not exist....and if it were possible to go back to an America when there was legitimate revival....and a genuine holy reverence to a God that we would prostrate ourselves in the presence of....or collapse in fear of His holiness....we wouldn't want to go back to that....for that was an old outdated gospel....before we became so enlightened!

The following is the end of that post from two weeks ago....a paragraph from that I began this post"

                  "We lost our power for a little while over the weekend....and I have a solar-battery generator.....but we did not have to use it. Folks....brothers and sisters in Christ....God's Word speaks of the battery power more as oil in a lamp. How is your oil? Maybe you had better go and get some more....or when things start to unwind....as Jesus is returning....you may find yourself in a pickle....or on a pickleball court?  Here below is where you can go to get some oil! This is only one of six parts of this series. You can easily find the other five parts. This teaching series by R. C. Sproul was listened to or watched by just about all evangelicals back in the 80s....and that is one reason why there was as strong movement of God at the time."                                             

DISPATCHES

Preface to DISPATCHES....If you are interested in reading a good book on the Russian Revolution....then I highly recommend a 2016 book by Helen Rappaport....Caught In The Revolution....Witnesses To The Fall Of Imperial Russia. I'm sure that you can get it through any library. I started titling these posts as....DISPATCHES....after reading it.....because the author's main sources were dispatches from journalists....from Russia. I consider these posts to be dispatches of sorts....as I am out there in the middle of what is going on....through my constant reading and researching and observing....and simply sending back those observations as dispatches. ave Israel if they want to. Canada and Australia also started to remove their diplomats.

Anitsemitism.....It was totally expected that antisemitism would rear its ugly head in these last days.....but what was unexpected....is that antisemitism has appeared in evangelicalism....and in some cases right in the middle of the church....right along with racism! So one question might be....why? Well....when you give up all integrity and ethics in order to put a man into office....then this is one of the results.

If He Walks Like A Duck....When someone wields absolute authority.....whether it be the head of a family....or as a CEO or the leader of a country....and there are signs of mental illness....but there is no recourse to examine that person....then that is big....big....trouble....and that is what we have in America today. There was a prominent Democrat union leader back in the 1950s....who in testimony admitted that he could not prove that a certain person was a communist....but famously said something like this...."If it walks like a duck....and talks like a duck....and hangs around with other ducks....then I assume it is a duck." It is true....Trump has not been clinically tested as to whether he has severe mental illnesses....but then...."If he walks like a duck...."

Fiery Red Horses....You probably saw the news of all the celebrations of the Chinese lunar new year.  So what is the animal this year? Well it's the horse....but a little more detailed than that....for it is the year of the fire horse....thus the celebrations all had some sort of fiery red horse. It's the first time in 60 years for this fire horse. The Chinese Zodiac has only twelve animals....but each animal has five modifiers....so every animal comes along every 12 years....but every animal with a certain modifier....every 60 years! Of course God's Word speaks of a red horse also....in Revelation chapter 6....as the red horse follows the white horse that came out...."Conquering and to conquer." Revelation 6:4 NKJV...."Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted on the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword."

Signs In The Heavens....A 'Ring of Fire' eclipse occurred early this morning primarily in Antarctica. Only about 2% of the world's population saw it. There will be a....'spectacular'....as NASA has labelled it....Blood Moon on March 2/3....and there will be a total solar eclipse on August 12.....visible primarily in Greenland and Iceland and Northern Spain.

Aliens Are Not Real....Here Are What Is Real!   They asked former president Obama if aliens were real.... and he said...."They're real." Here is what is real...... Demons are real!..... Bible prophecy is real!...... End-times...."signs and wonders so as to deceive.... if possible.... even the elect".... are real!

Trump is and has always been....a destroyer..... He is either purposely destroying others in revenge....or they are destroyed just by flying too close to his flame. Much of it is collateral. He moves on....and when he moves on....there is always someone new lured by the promises of golden goblets and silver stick pins.

Voter ID and White Privilege..... theoretically.... requiring every voter to produce identification.... would make for the fairest election. There would be less voter fraud. It would also disenfranchise low-income voters and minorities. Trump will claim that he is for fair elections.... but disenfranchising many voters is just another way of not having a fair election. Many of us have no idea.... or have forgotten.... what life in poverty or near-poverty is like. I come from the latter.... and I remember. We had trouble paying the rent and every utility bill. I cannot pinpoint the reason for the lack of mental acuity.... or a healthy situational awareness. I just know that it exists.... because I lived it. I am a benefactee of white privilege. I would not have escaped had my mother not found.... (I continue to praise God for His mercies).... a cheap apartment right smack-dab in the middle.... of middle America. Of my friends.... (their houses no further than thirty yards from our duplex).... three became university professors.... (Pitt, Carnegie Mellon and Clemson).... another was an economist... another an architect.... another a child psychologist.... and another a government official. I came in on their coattails. From what I have observed.... when evangelicals.... (friends of mine who for decades have been the most loving and compassionate of Christians).... when evangelicals are presented with problems like this today.... amazingly they seemed to have lost all compassion. They see no further than the first sentence in this paragraph.... because Trump's world that they live in.... has told them to go no further.... and they obey. Much of Christian Nationalism today is that church in Ephesus from the second chapter of Revelation.... who "cannot bear those who are evil".... but have...."left [their] first love." Revelation 2:5a...."Remember.... therefore from where you have fallen.... repent.... and do the works you did at first..."

Trump promises another executive order to force voter ID if the congress doesn't. There was a day.... long ago.... and in a different country..... when conservatives would rightly be against something like this.

We Knew There Would Be A Falling Away....We Just Didn't Know That We Would Be Part Of  It......The following is from an October post....OK.... we know this.... that before the Lord returns.... there will be a falling away.... (1 Thess 2:3).... that is the church folks..... us.... there will be a falling away.... in the church! Matthew tells us the same thing.... in the words of Jesus.... in the Olivet Discourse.... 24:10...."at that time many will fall away." I submit to you that what we see in the church right now..... with Christian nationalism reigning over the gospel of salvation.... is part of the falling away.

"And If Any Man Shall Take Away From The Words Of The Book Of This Prophecy......The following is from a January 15 post....What about...."Not by might or by power but by My Spirit?" (Zechariah 4:6) What about "come out from among them and be separate?" (2 Corinthians 6:7) What about all the admonitions to stay vigilant and awake and alert? What about all the warnings of false miracles and false prophets and a great delusion and a falling away that is coming.... so strong of a delusion that even the elect.... that is you and me folks.... that even we can be taken in.... if it were possible.... which means temporarily.... which is already what has happened to so many!

Love has grown cold on our side.... and lawlessness abounds!

The 1933.... Enabling Act....allowed the Fuhrer to make laws without the Parliament.... and Germany was transformed.

Veils Are Being Lifted.....Like Pages Blown By The Wind Of An Open Book....If an interviewer would ask of a research scientist....in any field of science....if after say fifty or sixty years of research....and numerous accolades from the scientific community....maybe even a Noble....if  the interviewer would ask if everything has been discovered that can be discovered....that scientist would obviously be taken aback....and probably say that only the surface has been scratched. The Christian's study into biblical prophecy would be similar to that. In both science and prophecy.....God removes veils according to His perfect timing....for His perfect purposes. There were many times when scientists had to admit that the textbooks would have to be revised. I've seen that quote numerous times over the decades....and with prophecy....speaking from my own experience....there have been times when I had to change an opinion and admit to it....and there will be more times like that. That is not necessarily bad....but a glorious reality....as the revision is usually seen to be much clearer....and therefore much more glorious. Veils were lifted slowly over the centuries.....even millennia.....but they are flying away today like pages blown by the wind of an open book.

I posted the following on October 2, 2018: "United States dollar became the world's chief currency after the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 and it developed into the world's reserve currency after President Nixon made a deal with Saudi Arabia on its oil sales. Being the world's reserve currency enables the United States to more freely print money. It is therefore an advantage the world gives to the United States. President Trump's hard line approach with everyone over trade disparities...unpaid bills....and unfulfilled promises....has many of these countries saying....'wait a second....he's complaining that we have an advantage on trade but they have a greater advantage on having the chief reserve currency." There is definitely a move on to replace the dollar as that reserve currency. This movement has been making slow but steady progress where it would take years to replace the dollar....but there are plans in the making that could upend United States hegemony with a quick succession of moves."

Update on the above: China has made some very real moves recently in an attempt to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency. (Trump never mentioned to us that the world's making the dollar the chief reserve currency was a great benefit for us....as he told us every hour of every day how the rest of the world was stealing from us) This we saw coming for a long time....but what is new is that Trump is working against the dollar now. You see....whether it is the dollar....or crypto....or gold....or oil....or AI....if Trump sees a way to manipulate....and make a bundle....he will do it....and it doesn't matter what the collateral damage might be to us or anyone. This is but one of the areas of Trump's character that evangelicals are not aware of....but they need to be aware of....to make a decision on whether or not to support him.

Three Mile Island....The Trump administration is helping those who want to restart the nuclear powerhouse....Three Mile Island....not because of how supportive they are for nuclear power....but because of AI....which is more important....and will need the monster-loads of power.

 

O Say......Can You Hear....

              Preface: God gave Daniel visions of things that would happen in the end times....and they made him physically ill....even incapacitated for a while....but God strengthened him. Few today have experienced that temporary incapacitation....because not many have any idea of what is ahead....because even less have desired to know what was ahead. The following post is from last November:                  

                   For what it is worth....my forty-three years of hearing sermons have produced this opinion. Expository sermons....explaining the true meaning of the text....necessary and helpful and a blessing as they can be....is like basic training. When the LST is loaded with troops and tanks....and the command to weigh anchor is given....and the secret destination is heard by those on board....then the Holy Spirit must guide the chaplain....or in our case the pastor....on what to preach. I've found that a rigid schedule for preaching months at a time....on one book....inhibits that guidance....and in the case of the church in America....prevents us from hearing the warnings that are needed to hear....in our particular time and in our particular place.

                   Charles Spurgeon's primarily topical preaching enabled him to listen to the Holy Spirit on what to preach....and hence he became known as the Prince of Preachers. The blessing of his preaching is as strong today as it was in the latter half of the nineteenth century....as pastors and believers everywhere still read his sermons....and as I just this morning....before our own church service began....listened to a sermon of his from 1877.
                   Ready or not....we are out of basic training. We are on that LST....and we have to know what is ahead. My father was on a ship like that in 1944....on the way to Okinawa....when kamikazes attacked....and he was seriously wounded and spent months in the hospital. We can and usually are....'green'....as the inexperienced are described on something like this....on a spiritual beachhead so to speak. I personally know a few Christians....usually missionaries....who are no longer 'green'....because of what they have already been through....but not me.....I'm still green....and I need this preaching....and these warnings....and this preparation for that spiritual beachhead that I know to be just ahead....for word got out....for anyone with ears to hear! (O Say....Can You Hear)
                   In 1969....after my basic training in the army was completed....and in the midst of my training in signal intelligence....they gave us what was called a....dream sheet....to fill out.....asking us what our preference would be for our first duty station. We all laughed but filled it out anyway. I think that I may have written in....Germany. That sounded good. I'd like to go to Germany. They sent us all to Vietnam. We may put one thing on our Christian dream sheet....but word has gotten out for those who have ears to hear!
                   So there is a pastor out there who is on....oh say....week nine....of an....oh say....thirty two week series from....oh say....Ecclesiastes....or 1 Samuel....or Philippians....if they would but just put down that schedule that they made that fit in nicely....between the end of summer and the beginning of the new year....and plead with God for words and warnings that their sheep need....they might just winding up preaching on....oh say....the ninth chapter of Daniel....and Daniel's prayer....which is a prayer that we in America need to pray....right now!

 "Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession saying, 'O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you, To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the LORD our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity...." 

Daniel 9:3-12a

Addendum: My habit is to Google a Spurgeon sermon....and scroll down the offerings until I come to a sermon that I had not already heard....which is taking longer and longer since I have heard so many. So a few days ago I was doing this and clicked on an 1877 sermon titled....Remember Lot's Wife....only for some reason that particular YouTube had no volume? I tried it again a few days later and still no sound....but by now I really wanted to hear that sermon. So early this morning I found a different offering of the same sermon....with a different man reading Spurgeon's sermon....and this one worked fine. The sermon was so good that I'm adding it hear if you are interested....

Note: Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached sermons often in a series....and he was an expository preacher....but I noticed that he would often deviate from that schedule when he felt the

 necessity to preach on urgent matters.

The College Chapel Service

      

Preface: I got my BA from Pitt back in 1976. Twenty-four years later I went back to college to work on a degree in....Higher Education. I wasn't looking to change jobs....I wanted to know more about what college was like....circa 2000....because our son was beginning to think about college. I have visited college campuses every chance I get since then. Sometimes I talk to people....and I always gather up as many student newspapers that I can. Today was one of those days. Most of my posting has to do with how evangelicals need to supplement their weekly sermons....with sermons....from preachers of the past....until God might.....if it be in His perfect will....awaken the men in our pulpits today. As for the college age evangelicals....they are being heavily recruited by politicians....in the name of the Christian Faith. They need that chapel service from the past. They need something to keep them reverent and sober-minded....for that same reason....until the Holy Spirit might move mightily in our pulpits again. The following post is from January of 2025:                                                              

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

                                                                             

             

"Not A Famine Of Bread.....But A Famine Of Hearing The Words Of The LORD"

                Social Security.....for example....can be a....means of support. With a lot of people it's their only means of support. Well....theologians have a job to tell us everything in the Bible that we can't see on our own....and one of those things is that listening to a preached sermon....is a means of grace.
               Let's go back to those people where Social Security is their only means of support. They are not going to eat very well without it....consequently they are not going to get the nutrition that they need....but I heard an infomercial just today that said that obese people can and usually are....malnourished....because they become obese eating a lot of food....but its the wrong kind of food!
               Folks....it's the same in our Christian walk. We can get all kinds of sermons....and yet be totally malnourished. That is what we have today in evangelicalism. You see the reason I know this is that at about the age of forty-five or so I was just walking the concourse of a shopping center....the Northern Lights Shopping Center in Baden, Pennsylvania actually...and I stopped into this restaurant that had food that I had never eaten before.....(actually it was a Christian bookstore that had books that I had never seen before....and the name of the store was....It Is Written.) All the energy in these three-thousand-some posts over seventeen and half years....and the pleading and the warnings and the hopefully encouraging....all of it....comes from the preached sermons that those books in that bookstore over time led me to. I overeat....I admit it. I listen to on average two to three sermons each and every day....each and every week....each and every year....(for quite a number of years anyway)....of my life! I binge sermons from these men who God has used so mightily.
                 And because of this sermon binging....or binging the means of grace....I cannot stop telling people so many things....that Jesus gave us the greatest gift that any man could ever be given....and that God is loving and merciful....but also just and righteous....and that we are like sheep....always going astray....and that Jesus keeps His sheep....with either His rod or His staff if necessary....and that this world has run its course....and we are Noah all over again....the following few sentences are from an earlier post...."If you read the Genesis account in chapter six you will find that...."[men]....took wives for themselves of all whom they chose." In the next verse we see God's response in...."And the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever...'." A few verses later we read "for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." (This is transgenderism....this is everything today folks....and avoiding our culpability...and blaming everything on the Democrats....will not get God's ear!) And once again a few verses later "....the earth is filled with violence."....but no one will see any of this if their passions are on things of this world....things that withereth as the grass....and fadeth as the flower!

                 Here is a verse of God's Word that should make our hair stand on end....from the prophet Amos....eighth chapter....eleventh verse....this from the ESV...." 'Behold....the days are coming'....[they are here folks!]....declares the Lord God....'when I will send a famine on the land-not a famine of bread....nor a thirst for water....but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD'."
                  I do not even know you so I can't take you by the hand....and that is good....because we live in an evangelical age where everyone demands to be led by the hand....'won't you please come to this Bible study'....or....'Won't you please join this cell group'....but it's long past time for each of us to take the bull by the horns....or put our nose to the grindstone....and push everything else away....and find out once and for all what all the fuss is about with some Christians!
                   I have posted so many times on this over the years....and I usually use this phrase...."preachers of the past....[such as Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones]....or preachers today who preach like preachers of the past....[such as John MacArthur and R. C. Sproul and David Wilkerson]....this is what you need.....and it would be easy to do....it just takes a passion....a passion to finally know what all this is about when some talk about...."the preciousness of Christ!" "Preciousness".....who uses words like that today. Well Christians who are fed by His Word....by....preachers of the past....or preachers today who preach like preachers of the past....they use this word....and other humble and joyful words like it!

I have offered this wonderful movie many times. Take the bull by the horns....finally address this nagging that you must have....and watch it....

                                                                                  

Twelve Days To The Shepherd's Conference!

              I've posted around this time in February for the past few years about John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference....with the hope....pleading with at least inward tears....that God's Holy Spirit would move mightily in that conference of pastors in Los Angeles. 'No more nice conference talks....almost like a vacation'....I would plead....and I plead it again now as the 2026 Shepherd's Conference....'is scheduled'....(for only God knows what a day might bring)....is scheduled for March 4 to 6. It so happens that this year's conference begins just after a blood moon....O God....may that be a sign that you are about to work mightily in our hearts....in my heart! 
               Well God has taken home or in some way removed those who seem to be His mightiest and most faithful workers....but a few remain....and one of them is a remarkable preacher named Paul Washer....who is scheduled to speak at that very influential conference. Quite frankly....he preaches so boldly....and so fearlessly....that I wonder why evangelicalism has not banished by now....let alone invite him to conferences?
                So the following sermon was given primarily to young people. I was....am....working in my basement as I am listening to it....and I needed encouragement....for my own sins often bring me down to discouragement....and I am typing this before....(about 10 minutes)....before the sermon even concludes!

                                                                          

Facebook Was Wicked From The Drawing Board

               I had been posting warnings about Facebook and social media in general since close to the beginning of these posts in 2009. Facebook was started with the grand idea of humiliating college women....and it was followed by backstabbing partners. It has been an evil concept since the beginning. My initial concern was in what it would do to Christians....as they spent their time following others....to see what was new and exciting in their lives...and then try to show others how exciting their own lives were. All of this is the exact opposite of what Christians should be doing....and social media has turned out just like this....only about a hundred times worse....as new ideas for social media developed.

              Christian ministries should have seen through this but did not. They only saw how they could use Facebook et al to proclaim the gospel even more. The fundamental mistake they made was that they did not realize that God did not need them. They thought themselves too important. What they did in effect was encourage and add to the popularity of these companies and new social media ideas. They actually led their sheep into the Facebook culture. They may indeed have increased their viewers....but they wound up working against the gospel that they only wanted to proclaim! 
               The initial excuse given by many Christians was that it made it much easier for their children to share new photos of the grandchildren. Well congratulations to them.....for they certainly can do that....but in the process they made it a much more dangerous world for those grandchildren!
               The problem extended into other areas....as the charge against many of the social media companies is that they planned and developed their companies with the express purpose of causing addictions in young people. The problem gets even worse as AI entered into the picture....but all of this is what man does....as he tries to become rich....and then richer.....and powerful.....and then more powerful. God's Word warns us of all of this....but we in the church.....in evangelism in general....have long ago redacted just about all of the warnings in the Bible....to clear the way for us to pursue our personal desires....and to have this new....fast food....gospelburger....done our way.         
                  

'Boots On The Ground' Praying

                 Roughly three million Americans served in uniform in Vietnam....with over fifty-eight thousand who died....and there are enormous numbers who were seriously wounded....or 100% disabled. Over seventeen thousand of those who gave their lives for our country were married. All the statistics together point to tens of millions of wives and children and parents....who were praying.....boots on the ground praying....as opposed to rally around the flag praying. Consequently....it was in the middle of that war that stirrings of the gospel began among young people....and it was around the end of that war that the gospel movement in America literally took off....lasting at least a decade....and possibly two decades before it had almost totally waned. All of that was surely part of that....boots on the ground praying.....and that is what we need today....and that most likely is what is ahead of us!

               If you by chance had read some of my recent posts....on the Super Bowl and idols of all kinds....you would have read some very bold statements. We evangelicals do not like these kinds of statements. We want no more than what we get in our churches....which consists of encouragements....with no real warnings of any kind.....nothing to bring us down before we leave church....mild Bible studies to assuage our conscience....and various ministries to partake in to mask the cost of discipleship that always brings rejection and ridicule and even persecution.
               Well it matters not what the prophets of today say....that great things are ahead of us....for even though we walk around today as if with blinders on....the collapse....or the landslide....or the avalanche or the tsunami....however it might be described....is already in full swing....and boots on the ground praying....will be beginning according to God's timetable and perfect will.

I Don't Function Well In Groups Of......Over Two

                     The general opinion of Puritans in America over the past century is that they were dour people. The quote....correctly or incorrectly....is attributed to H. L. Mencken...."Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone....somewhere....may be happy." Mr. Mencken had strong opinions....and they were not Christian opinion. He got it wrong with Puritans but might be excused because he did not know who they were.....but he got it right on J. Gresham Machen....because he knew a lot about the Calvinist scholar once of Princeton. On the surface he would disagree with the Fundamentalists of the day....but then he saw Machen....whose intellect he greatly respected....defending fundamentalists against Modernism....and thus the last words he wrote in an obituary/article on Machen were....(this in January of 1937)....as Machen's fight against Modernism in the church ended...."He failed-but he was undoubtably right." I personally like to laugh. My wife and I laugh all the time....(when I'm not crying.) I look every day at John Piper's desiringgod.org ministry website to see if Greg Morse had contributed an article....and today was such a day....and I laughed as I read it....(I usually cry when I read his articles)....because he talked about someone like me....and apparently himself....someone who does not feel comfortable in crowds. On occasion a friend might ask me to attend a reunion....monthly breakfasts actually....of guys that I worked with for almost four decades.....and I never go....because I prefer to talk to someone....one-on-one. Greg Morse humorously in the article told of a tee-shirt that he likes....'Sorry I'm Late....But I Didn't Want To Be Here.' I used to tell friends that I don't go to reunion gatherings....because I do not function well of groups of....over two." I cannot put a YouTube up of Greg Morse's article....(he reads them aloud)....for it is too soon....but you can go to John Piper's website and it will be right on top....titled...."A Shy Guy's Guide To Big Groups."  I won't keep the following post up long....it is from December of 2015. 

This Is Me

          I guess that I started dressing this way over a period of a few years. Brown is my favorite color and my wife can attest to that.....just about any shade of brown. In all my shirts I simply look for a XXL tag. Now my size is more of an XL but I like the shirt sleeves real loose with maybe a six or eight inch cuff. I'm not really particular about the color of my knee high stockings held up by black garters at the bottoms of my baggy britches which are in turn held up by a leather belt with a big buckle. I like buckles! I'll cover the shirt with a tight fitting button-down vest and then wear a more colorful doublet, maybe blue, over it. You know what a doublet is don't you? It's kind of like an outer vest that a hunter might wear while rabbit hunting. Any old brown leather shoes will do....as long as there is a big buckle on them. I then like to fasten a fluffy ruff around my neck. You know....like the Dutch Masters used to wear. And everything is topped off with a tall, wide brimmed hat with a leather strap and big buckle on it. Give me my cape to cover my Bible from the rain, and a cane, and I'm ready to go. So...this is what I look like.....

....in my mind's eye anyway!
         In reality... my thoughts, opinions and habits over the period of a few years seem to sway towards these men that were given the derisive sobriquet...Puritans. In the pietistic early days of my Christian walk I refrained from beer and tobacco. I had a vision of what meek was supposed to be and tried to be such but it wasn't my personality. I struggled with this for a while until I saw that meekness was not necessarily in the tone of your voice or what one imbibed or didn't imbibe. Meekness was a deeper attribute, one that viewed others as more important than oneself. A psychologist today might want to cure you of it but this fit my personality.
         Much of my reading was Puritan literature and it was humbling to say the least. Their knowledge made mine seem undetectable. Their dedication made me feel lazy, and their love for one another transcended the temporal that we cue in on today. They were immovable in defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in His written Word to us. They were ideal citizens, fathers and mothers. They laughed one moment but could be as serious as a dead rat the next. They loved their beer and laughter. They did not care what anyone thought of them, only what their Lord and Savior thought of them. This life was a pilgrimage to them...and it was something they were good at.
         I would never....ever....try to emulate them, and I could not have if I tried, but as time passed I saw vague similarities in my thinking...not nearly as honorable or true....but just similarities. I noticed some of this in my own writing, for I can try my best at humor in one post, and in the next write of the awesome immutable majesty of God. I don't see a contradiction here, in fact it seems so natural to enjoy life one moment yet be sober as a pilot the next. I can laugh and converse with a friend one moment and then when we part... pull out my Bible and become transfixed in awe as I read of the glory due God the Father and His Son and His Holy Spirit! I felt that I needed to write this post, for often I thought that the reader might see this odd mixture and wonder how it could be. Whether I have explained it adequately I don't know but at least I gave an attempt. Thank-you for your indulgence.

note: The sculpture is Augustus Saint-Gaudens....The Puritan!

DISPATCHES

Cruise Down The River Styx....If you are around 40 years old....an adult for say twenty years....then the last ten years of your short twenty year adulthood had been a graphic novel...TV reality show....tabloid....true crime....seedy stateroom cruise down the River Styx. You have never experienced the America that once was....even in its last few decades....and you have never experienced the gospel as a mainstay in the church....or preaching that mortifies man and glorifies God. Read Daniel 9....and see what a prayer for national repentance is supposed to sound like.

We live in abject fear....petrified at the possibility of a Harris presidency....or some other progressive. Without that fear Trump would have been given the heave ho years ago....but he perfectly and diabolically plays that fear to his advantage. We should rather live in abject fear of standing before a Holy God....after ignoring His clear warnings....and going after other gods!

"Any Republican, in the House or Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!" We all know who typed this text out....for this is ten years running....and getting worse all the time. This is a cult leader. And to those who read these threats....and think that they are good....he will come after you some day....if you dare to disobey him....or stop taking your Trump media....(formerly conservative media)....medicine.

The New Testament....in various places....goes into great detail....on the type of person that the Christian must stay away from. That person is Donald Trump. Reading through Proverbs one can see Trump come up again and again and again. False prophets appear all through the Old Testament....with the same message of peace and prosperity to Israel and Judah....that Trump gives to evangelicals....but this information means little to today's Christian Nationalist evangelical....who thinks that defending America is more vital than defending the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we committed against the LORD our God?'....then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me.' says the LORD; 'they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law."

Evangelicals will at some point ask the same thing....'Why....the other guys were the bad guys....we were trying to stop them!'  God is not concerned with what the pagans of this nations have done....but what we have done....and what we have done is to go after other gods.. 

"Now all these things happened to them....[our fathers]....as examples....and they were written for our admonition....on whom the ends of the ages have come." 1 Corinthians 10:11

I offered a commentary on Jeremiah to a Christian brother recently....highly recommending it....but he was not too interested. Friends....Jeremiah and Isaiah and Daniel and all of the prophets are there for us....telling of all the things that the people of Israel and Judah had done....as examples for our benefit....so that we might see that we are doing the same thing!

Paul summarized these examples in verse 14...."Therefore....my beloved....flee from idolatry."

Trump is an idolator....and what he has led us by the nose into....is either pure idolatry....or tinged with idolatry....and yet we tell ourselves that we are trying to honor God?

We have become racists. Do you remember Trump campaigning in 2024.....at a rally....when he said....(I'm watching it again right now)...."I think that suburban women like me a lot....(cheers from the crowd)...."why wouldn't they".....and then he told them that he was keeping low-income housing away from their suburban homes! He was keeping criminals away. He thinks of low-income people as criminals! On that day....in August of 2024....after that rally....evangelical pastors should have totally disassociated themselves with Trump....but of course that did not happen.

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

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

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

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

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

Blood Moons....I Obviously Think That This Is Important....Or I Wouldn't Bring It Up So Often

Let me start with this paragraph from May of 2025:...

"There were at least three major book publications at the time of the 2014/2015 tetrad of total lunar eclipses....or blood moons. The first by Mark Biltz. The second by John Hagee....and the third by Mark Hitchcock. Most but not all of the articles written at the time indicated that the tetrad was a sign of a major catastrophe....of some sort....in the world. When the tetrad passed and there was no war or pandemic or any other major catastrophe....the blood moon theory was considered to be bunk....and forgotten. In May of 2022 I first mentioned that something extraordinary did indeed happen during the 2014/2015 blood moon tetrad....that being that Donald Trump came down that escalator and proceeded to take America by storm. I've also mentioned a number of times that Trump was born on a blood moon on June 14....1946. NASA noted....[concerning the tetrad]....that all four blood moons of 2014/2015 were visible in all or parts of America. So in summation....something did happen during that 2014/2015 tetrad....repeating it here....Donald Trump began his quest that is still dominating America and the world!"

                   So there you have it. After forty years of studying biblical prophecy....and fully aware of the history and the temptations to go further than what God permits us to go....I do believe that God most definitely uses the sun and the moon and the stars as signs....and I am forced to concede that this tetrad was one of them. It did point to a catastrophe....Donald Trump.

                   Here is something else that concerns me....Trump's first term was a disaster....where towards the end even his own cabinet was debating whether to invoke the 25th Amendment. After January 6th....everyone in the world thought....and rightfully so.....that he was done....even his own closest advisors....but from January 7th on....he lied and threatened and twisted arms and used fear and flattered and incited revenge...and it was all successful! 

                   This may be a second term but this is not the same man. He has come out from day one...."conquering....and to conquer." This is the emptiest man that I have ever come across in a half century of studying political science. There is not a word that he could say that can be believed at face value. It has been the greatest con game on earth for ten years now. He has developed a following.....yes....but world history is replete with stories of disastrous mass movements. The only thing different about this one is that it 'conquered'....through delusion....and an already weakened evangelicalism....that was ripe to be misled.

                   We have to be patient....for there is no way that we can know the specifics of what is going on in the world right now....but this we do know....there is a new world order coming! Trump has already divided the power of a unified West. Europe is being forced into becoming a new military power....and we do not know where that will go. So....if it turns out that Trump is not that rider on that white horse from Revelation six....then he may very well be paving the way for that rider. When half of the church falls for a false prophet....and the other half says next to nothing about it....that is part of a definition for what God's Word describes as a...."falling away."

For your information....if you are interested....the next blood moon will be on March 2/3....and the next one will not be until the last day of 2028.

Update: That March 2/3 2026 blood moon will also fall on Purim....the same as last year....2025. The follow....on that Jewish holiday....is from last year at this time:

 Purim And A Blood Moon            

               It may be the most joyous of the Jewish feasts.....Purim. It probably gets a little more than joyous....toward wildly festive. Jews will dress up in costumes....and celebrate....ostensibly anyway....how the Jews were given one day by the Persian king to defend themselves against those who hated them. They will give gifts of food to each other and do charitable works and read together the book of Esther.
               The holiday begins in Israel this Thursday....March 13....on the Gregorian calendar....(14 Adar on the Jewish calendar).....at sundown....which if that is about 6 PM there....then it would be about noon here in Western Pennsylvania....and the celebration would last until sundown the following day....March 14....or 15 Adar on the Jewish calendar. Of course Jewish people here will be using our sundown to sundown.
                Are you familiar with the story from the book of Esther? Hopefully you are. The king gave Haman an edict to kill all the Jews on a certain day. Mordecai found out about it and persuaded Esther....the queen....who kept her Jewishness secret up until them....he persuaded Esther to go to the king in an attempt to save her people. This was a very dangerous request that Mordecai made....because you just didn't go into the king on your own. That's where that famous...."If I perish....I perish" comes into play.
                Esther did go to the king who came to see that Haman was an evil man. He could not rescind his edict....so he gave the Jews that day to defend themselves.
                 It gets a little more complicated because most of those who hated the Jews were in the city of Shushan....and it would take more than one day for the Jews to defend themselves....so the king gave them two days....an additional day....in Shushan and other walled cities. In like manner today....in Jerusalem....a walled city....they celebrate a day later.....or our Friday March 14 to 15....and they call it....Shushan Purim....after the city Shushan.
                 Well that's the feast....that's the holiday....but it is harder to have a celebration in this time of war and uncertainty. Nonetheless....Purim....is only days away....and this year will fall on a....blood moon....the first blood moon since 2022.