Is This You

The following is my Lord's Day offering:


          It's my opinion, after roughly thirty years of observation, that many men want what other men seem to have in their Christian faith but haven't the slightest idea of how to find it. There is an angst that eats away at them but the confusion and the fears seem too much to navigate. They are almost right. A man in that situation cannot navigate around the shoals and through the tempests of this world, not without trust in the One at the helm. The following post is from October 4 of 2009.

Is This You?

          So you are over 30 years old... a husband and father, You are established in your job and there is a regular crew of friends that you and your wife get together with on weekends. You have a church that you are members of and attend regularly. The kids have their Sunday School. You are living the American Dream, but there are a couple of problems that are nagging at you more and more. The first is that the American Dream may turn into a nightmare. You can handle this but it is your children that you are worried about. It gets worse. The second problem is that you are coming to believe that there is more to this God thing than you had always believed. Sure, you never considered denying God, that wasn't necessary. Nothing in your life was so compromising that you were forced to either become antagonistic towards religion or change your life. There is a peace that comes over you when you consider Jesus as Savior and not just a name. There is something rock solid about that Bible you pick up when alone but that peace vanishes when you think of how you could be lumped with those weird born again if you take this any further.
          There has to be a middle way. No, you know that there isn't for you have been living the middle way and there is no peace there, no Savior and no Word of God. This problem has been going on for a while. You tried the conservative politics way where you openly deplore the anti-God people, thereby placing you in the God camp, but that only increases the guilt of keeping God at arms length. You blame the Christian that you work with for not being perfect and you blame your wife for not dragging you further towards this Christ, thereby making it a little bit easier on you, but like Jimmy Buffet's song, the excuses don't work and you know that it is your own fault.
          Here is some advice to consider. You start by being honest. Ask forgiveness of your wife for not being the head of the family and insuring that God was the center of your family. At the very next family meal, you tell the children that as a family you are going to thank God for the food on the table for it is a blessing from Him. You tell them that from this day forward you are going to try to acknowledge God in every area of your lives. They are going to see you studying your Bible every night and when you have learned enough, you are going to teach them yourself.
          At work your task is a little bit more difficult. You wait for the first time that a negative comment is made about born again Christians, it won't take long, and you simply say I myself am moving towards these people. I've neglected God. I see myself in need of Him now and won't neglect Him anymore.
          As for church, this is the hardest problem of all. You know that you may eventually have to leave where you are but haven't the slightest idea where to go. In due time you will know enough to find a church with other Christians of like mind, most of whom have travelled the path you are about to take. Are you worried about the embarrassment for you and your family should you fail? I don't blame you for you have seen others fail and it's not a pretty sight. The good news is that it is God's task to keep you from discouragement such that you would fail, and He Himself never, ever fails!
          You know what trust is, right? Your children trust you in how many things? In this case, you are the one that must trust. How do I know this? I've been there. The day will come when you will thank God every day, throughout every day, for His mercies and for the joy He has given you. These steps that I mentioned are only personal advice, but what is not just advice is the trust. If you are having these feelings about God's goodness, the God whom you have neglected, then God is moving within you right now! If one could not trust God... then he would be no God. Do you have any plans on giving up on loving and protecting your family? Of course not, and you are but a mere mortal. Just one Scripture verse for you should you decide to set out for the Celestial City as Bunyan's Christian did in Pilgrim's Progress.... Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?

          Here's a valuable tool that was not available when this blog was written. You're navigating the Internet right now so you should have no problem with it... www.refnet.fm

Minority Report

       It was probably in 2002 and I was in the middle of an eighteen month curriculum working for a masters degree in Higher Education. I've related this story before. We were a cohort of twenty some students. Conversation in class amongst us on the many issues that surround university life was encouraged and we were in the middle of one such conversation about the culture that we exist in and the many varying opinions amongst Americans. I remember standing up for emphasis and doing my best to explain how these were not normal differences between say Democrats and Republicans... or liberals and conservatives; that there was a divide coming to America that we could not even imagine! What I saw then is exactly what happened for we are two distinct peoples living in America today, as different as night and day. There was a pause and then a couple of my fellow students politely disagreed and that was that.
       WorldNetDaily (wnd.com) has a story up about Christian psychologist James Dobson. In it he "...warned that Christians are about to face a new status as a 'hated minority' if the United States Supreme Court decides, as many expect, to mandate same-sex 'marriage'." I agree with his assessment of where we are going but want to expound upon it a little. Yes, Christians most likely will become a small hated minority, unless God so wills it to move upon our nation with great mercy which is our only hope, but it's the make-up of that minority that is at issue here. Let me give an example...a very high percentage of Americans say that they are Christian today in polls and surveys but a large percentage of those surveyed deny basic Christian doctrines such as the existence of hell. How can this be? And there are many more just such examples. The answer is that it is too easy to say one is a Christian today. This will indeed change. Same-sex marriage is but one issue that will eventually winnow out the wheat from the chaff. The final result, should God will it, will be the hated minority that James Dobson spoke about. Below is a short post from February of 2013. It is an example of how just this one issue can and will separate people:

Tough Love

         One of our United States Senators, who previously had been a defender of marriage being between one man and one woman, had recently and publicly changed his mind. The reason given was that his son informed him that he was gay. Most families in America have at least one family member in amongst aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins who proclaims themselves to be gay. The response of many in these families is what they consider 'compassion' emanating from 'love' that leads to a change of opinion on the issue of gay marriage. Going back to that United States Senator, what should have happened was this....the Senator should have been so angry at a culture whose tentacles reached within his own immediate family to take a son away from God that he doubled his efforts in defense of marriage being between one man and one woman and became even more vigilant in anything else that came between God and the people that He had blessed since their beginnings for His own reasons and to His own glory. This was not love that the Senator displayed towards his son but disdain for God. It wasn't compassion being expressed, it was arrogance. God is longsufferring towards each and every one of us but it is not to be presumed upon and He will not be mocked. The Supreme Court can issue a decision either way or in between on the gay marriage issues. God is not waiting with baited breath for our answer rather it should be us waiting to see His answers to our hesitation.

         Should events transpire like this it would be a very, very difficult experience to go through for it would not only be the aggressive atheist that we will have to contend with but that the 'not so conservative' conservative will equally deplore us. It will be friends and family who are against us in their ignorance of God's Word and failure to have been vigilant of lawlessness and deception.  At the present moment we all have more than enough company in our opinions. The largest block within the Republican Party is indeed social conservatives and the vast majority of them claim to be Christians but little winnowing has taken place as of yet. Without a general awakening and a reformation the dust from the winnowed chaff would be as a giant sandstorm across our landscape. On the other side of the ledger, I can understand why many do not respond to the Gospel today for we offer them a milquetoast faith. A winnowing would necessarily expose their condition, Christ's offer of salvation and the cost of true faith to them.
          James Dobson is correct and it would not take long for his prediction to come about, for this country is being driven into the ground at breakneck speed. I was reading through 1st Peter just yesterday and a couple of verses in it apply specifically to what may be ahead.....chapter 4 and verse 12... "Dear Friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don't be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you." and Chapter 5 and verse 8 begins "Be sober! Be on the alert!" These spoke to the believers of Peter's day and speak to Christians today. Don't be surprised should so many fall away, rather fervently pray that we are not of them! It's difficult to write a post with this foreboding content and my continuing prayer is that America humbles itself before God but there are no signs of that; while signs of a general apostasy are increasingly appearing.

Note: I completed that curriculum and purposely stopped short of a degree for it wasn't a 'paper' I was working for, rather some discernment.

The Bible verses are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Who Is Jim Quinn

       Note: I added an update to this post from April 25th at the end.

        KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is generally considered the world's first radio station. The first broadcast was election returns on November 2nd 1920 emanating from, as Wikipedia states it, "a shack on the roof of the K building of the Westinghouse Electric Company 'East Pittsburgh Works' in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania." Yes, that's the same 'Turtle Creek' mentioned in my post The Battle Of The Monongahela And The Tribulation from April 2nd of this month. Both of my grandfathers worked at that plant and at that time.
         I've always been a radio person. It's a small world and pleasantly ironic at times as this anecdote may show: My cousin is a creative genius in radio and that genius was written up in Time Magazine back in the 70s. He essentially built the top station in Pittsburgh, through his consulting, which employed, at one time or another in the decade of the 70s, a young man named Jeff Christie and another named Jim Quinn. The moniker Jeff Christie must not have gone over too well so he went back to his real name.....Rush Limbaugh. The other ex-disc jockey is the one that this post is mostly about.
         Western Pennsylvania is conservative, outside of Pittsburgh anyway, and moving more to the right all the time. One of the many reasons for this is that it had a powerful radio talker station and, in my humble but knowledgeable opinion, its local conservative talk show host was the third best in this U. S. of A. That's Jim Quinn. I listen to a lot of these hosts and they range from good to mediocre with a few that are just plain bad. Limbaugh and Mark Levin are far and away the best but next in line behind them was Jim Quinn from the The Warroom with Quinn and Rose, 'Rose' being Rose Somma Tennent, an established host in her own right, who sometimes fills in for Sean Hannity....and improves the show!
        I'm going somewhere with this post and will get to it in the next paragraph but first a little more on why Quinn was that good. He could tell the difference between what really mattered and that which just inflamed for the sake of inflaming. He had the discernment of Limbaugh and the passion of Levin. He picked out the news stories that others missed. He was rough around the edges but that only made the powers that be in the liberal media despise him the more. He often made comments on his morning show that they were out to get him.
        I was tuning in on my drive to work one morning in November of 2013 and Quinn And Rose were not on the air. The show was cancelled. I listened to his replacement for ten minutes and haven't tuned in since. I don't know the behind the scenes reasoning for the show's cancellation but I know this....it makes no sense money-wise to cancel a show that was hugely popular. So Quinn was gone but another surprise was just around the corner. It was an afternoon this time and I tuned in to hear Rush but lo and behold the station was playing country music! This powerful signal that I would always pick up just after passing through the tunnels on the Pennsylvania Turnpike heading home from points east.....this influence on all of Western Pennsylvania, was gone....another mystery. We were told not to worry because the same shows were just moving to another Pittsburgh station, but it turned out to be a much smaller signal that I can barely pick up, clearly anyway, in the car outside our home.
         So from the perspective of politics this was a very bad turn of events but there is a silver lining. Sean Hannity is often on my truck XM on the road home from work, for I tune in out of habit. There is very little intellectual stimulation on his show, as well as many other conservative talk shows. We are too often condescended to. Right now the topic is Hillary, and over and over again we hear of her many corruptions. The purpose is not to inform us for we already know it, rather the purpose is to etch the facts into our minds. This may be practical but it is not stimulating nor does it even exercise the mind. So the move of conservative talk from a big talker to a smaller talker in Pittsburgh may just force us to think on our own more, to do a little bit of the analyzing ourselves and to make our own conclusions particularly on whether or not to even vote Republican anymore if thy continue to belittle, disregard and downright deceive their biggest block. Okay I vented...
         So, I listened to Quinn and Limbaugh when I was much younger and I listened to them often over the past decade or so for an entirely different reason. I've been helped by them, but I can't help but think about their eternal souls. Politics, our government, our way of life, freedom, liberty.....these things are important....especially as they either help or hinder the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they should never be the main focus of our passions. Neither of these two ex-DJ...talk show hosts disparage the Gospel or the Bible or God, in fact they defend the importance of the fear of God as to the very existence of America but this is not salvation and thus as I pray for America I also pray for those who love America but know not Jesus Christ or their standing with God.

Note: Jim Quinn now has an Internet radio show and can be accessed through warroom.com

Note: Salem Media Group purchased a Pittsburgh AM radio station (WPGP 1250) and Rose Tennent now has her own time slot (8-10 in the morning) among other conservative talk show programs.

"What, Me Worry?"

         I readily acknowledge the fact that about six and a half years ago when I started writing in these posts about the seriousness of the threats to America's very existence, that it would be difficult to convince people. After all Barack Obama had just assumed office and even I thought that there might be some morsel of love of country in him; but it was as if we, America, were then only rolling on a down grade, whereas today we have suddenly dropped off into a chasm.
         I no longer hold to the opinion that people have an excuse not to discern the dangers all around us and the enemies lurking close enough to reach out and touch. If one cannot see the continuing collapse of America's defenses.... military, societal, family, church, the economy and on and on down the line then one is not paying attention. Have you noticed the comments, almost daily-certainly weekly, by various people of note whose concerns are.....well they are very close to where mine are? Probably not for the mainstream media does not like to bring out into the light evidences that they may have totally failed in their profession to give us the unbiased news as it happens. We, as a people, are more than willing to search diligently for anything such as health and technology products but researching say the opposing opinions on the ideological scam of man-made global warming, communism or Benghazi would be a bit too much to ingest.
       In the devolution of a thought, it was Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry who spoke during the War of 1812... "We have met the enemy and they are ours." It was that cute little Pogo who Walt Kelly gave the phrase "We have met the enemy and he is us," but today our Twitter line is taken from Mad Magazine and another comic character....."What, Me Worry?"

Irreversible.......April 3, 2015     


         Simply put, there is no undoing the damage to America that we have done to ourselves but most particularly the damage Barack Hussein Obama has inflicted upon us in the last six years. From a purely secular perspective, it is irreversible.
         He has weakened us, torn us apart, aided and motivated our enemies, destroyed that which was good and force fed us that which is evil. He is a man without a country, an emperor with no clothes and a book with no truth not even words or pages, only two covers with a hammer and sickle on one and a star and crescent on the other. And the price of the book?.....your country, your family and your soul!         
         Race and sexual orientation issues are for political expediency and revolutionary impetus and nothing else. He fills out a March Madness bracket, not because of his interest in the tournament but to focus the American's public's attention on themselves and not the war being waged upon them.
         God's judgement upon America has begun. How the mighty have become fools! How the powerful have fallen upon their own swords! How our shepherds have failed to protect their flocks!

Jonah Or Nahum

         In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus God gave the the people of Israel specific instructions to prepare for a very special event. He was going to come down to His people at Mount Sinai and He would give Moses the Ten Commandments. In the fourth chapter of Amos God told them once again to prepare. He told them very clearly, through Amos, that He had given them warning after warning in the form of punishments and concluded each time with "Yet you have not returned to me." Then came His ominous proclamation "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
         In the book of Jonah, as we all know, God, through Jonah, gave Nineveh forty days to repent. The king and all the people did just that. Over a century later God sent another prophet to Nineveh, Nahum. There was no warning this time, only a proclamation of impending judgement!
         A war is raging in America. You are in the midst of it. Can you not feel the tremors of the battle or hear the thunder of the canon fire? I wrote the following words in a previous post, for much of America despises God and cringes at the mention of His name or any legislation or public policy that even acknowledges His very being: Terror, thy name is Jesus and thy weapon is truth. We will make laws to protect us from you. We will isolate those whom you send to us. We will ban your book. You have disquieted us, your words upset us. We do not recognize your holiness. You are not our king. We will not pay you homage. You are not our God for there is no God. We were your slaves but now we are free. If you desire to live here, you will do our bidding.

          'Prepare to meet your God, O America' would go in one ear and out the other to many in America. For the rest... Lord, send us Jonahs if it be thy will, and give us strength if your message is that of Nahum!

Rhinos, Hyenas And Jackasses....Oh My!

        I bring back these two posts from July and September of 2010 respectively for a little respite from the seriousness of most of my posts. 

Special Day For Special Dog  

         I wanted to write about this while it was fresh in my mind. Our son, our only child, was married today. He married a wonderful young lady who grew up in a house close enough that I could hit it from our house with a golf ball. If you knew how I played golf, you would realize how very close that must be, and if there was a golf course next to it that I could play, I probably would have hit the house many times.    
         He's two years older than her and for many years they, and the other children of the neighborhood, played release in the evenings until, one by one, they were called home by parents. I assume that release is similar to the tag of my day but never did ask for a description of the rules. I just heard the laughter and shouts until they quieted down for the night about the same time that the chirping of the birds did.
         Both are young Christian adults. I remember the day when I commented to my wife on the change in this little girl running around. She was becoming a beautiful young lady. Our son noticed too. By the high school years they were dating. He went off to a very good and a very conservative college.  Two years later she went there also, and one after another they graduated. He went to law school and they set a wedding date after her graduation from college and his second year of law.  I'm the type of person who likes to be in the background. I merely want to help the politician or to help the pastor, but in an odd quirk of personality, if they do not do the job, I'll tell them that. So being the father of the groom, and having attention as such, was a little bit difficult. I'm sure I would feel much better advising the father of a groom. 
          It was like I was on a cloud for the last two days. God has blessed our son with fine young Christian friends. To someone like me, this is more valuable than a million dollar lottery win. I watched the young folks laughing and enjoying themselves at the rehearsal dinner, and was very humbled at blessings given. Tonight I saw them dancing with abandon, all good clean fun and certainly the type of wedding celebration God designed for His children. Years ago, when we dropped him off at his freshman dormitory for the first time, I had real difficulty with emotions. When we moved him into his apartment at law school, it was even more difficult. Today was different and similar. They were no tears at his leaving us. It was pure joy to see him join to another in God's plan, but there was one moment when I almost lost it. The pastor of the church, in his accompanying sermon, looked to our son and made this comment, or one very similar to it: You requested only one thing, that I preach this sermon with a very clear definition of the gospel for all those attending to hear... Our son wanted all those who came to his wedding to hear Christ preached.
         I was never more thankful! I danced two slow dances tonight. I think that makes three in my life.  And I liked it! I also was probably the first and only man, ever, to attend his son's wedding with a tennis ball in his pocket. It's a long story, trust me, I make mistakes like this, and I took great joy in seeing my wife have such a wonderful day!

Rhinos, Hyenas And Jackasses....Oh My!

         Our son was less than a year old when one day I saw him sitting in front of the television set, staring at it with his eyes as wide open as they could be. I walked over and said "Son...Son, and then passed my hand between him and the television and there was no response. Well, the television was put away that night and we were a television-free home for the next nine years. We were sitting in a sandwich shop one day that had posters as its decor. The one next to our table was of the animated television character Alf. He looked and looked at it and finally asked, "Dad, What kind of animal is that?" To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure but said "I think it's a dog son." His response was "That's no dog!" I was never much for fairy tales but if I had been one to tell them, one would probably be something like the following.....C. S. Lewis need not worry!

Rhinos, Hyenas and Jackasses...Oh My!
        The lampshade rotated slowly in the still and quiet room. Emanating from the top were two beams of light casting a glow on the planets on the ceiling. As the shade further turned, Buzz Lightyear appeared on the wall and slowly circled the room, wobbling over a Pittsburgh Penguins pennant, a Sydney Crosby Jersey, shower curtains revealed through the open bathroom door, two windows and an autographed framed photograph of President Ronald Reagan; not a standard decoration in the bedroom of a six year old boy, but still appropriate in a world where most entertainments for children involve violence or some shaman witchcraft a la Harry Potter. The door creaked as it inched open. Dad would never oil that door for at night he wanted to know every time that it opened. The invading light made it appear as if Buzz was passing from out of the earth's shadow.

"Anyone awake?" He whispered hoping not to hear a response.
"Just me dad. I can't sleep."
Raising his voice to normal..."How about a fairy tale?"
"Yea!" came the reply.
Dad came in and sat on the lower bunk, the top reserved for a brother who had not shown up yet.
"How about Hanzel and Gretyl?"
"Nah."
"The Three Bears?"
"Oh sure, bears that talk! Come on dad!"
"But that's what fairy tales are supposed to be son. They free your imagination to think of strange things....like Little Red Riding Hood....a wolf in sheep's clothing...come on....huh?"
"You said that that women named Hillary is a wolf in sheep clothing."
"Well, that's true but that's what called a metaphor."
"A What?"
"Tell you later. I know. I have a story about scary Rhinos. Only they are scary for different reasons."
"Wow. A rhino could scare anyone!"
"These are different types of rhinos. Some of them are very small. Susie the rhino is about mom's size and Olympia the rhino carries a purse. Some are strong with very big muscles like Arnold the rhino, but as soon as Mrs. Arnold comes out, Arnold the rhino sneaks back into the bushes."
"So why are these rhinos scary?"
"Well, they are scary because they are pretending to be elephants. They're very dangerous to little children and babies not born yet because they are always stomping around. They like to live in big castles but when wolves come around they open the castle gates!"
"Why do they do that dad? Don't they know that the wolves will come in and eat them?"
"Well, part of the problem is that they do not have very good eyesight. They look at the wolves and think that they are cute little puppy dogs!"
"Wow!"
"And they don't hear very well either. You can warn them that there are bees buzzing all around and even yell 'Look out! The bees are going to sting you!' but they just keep on stomping on baby carriages and school books...so anyway, one day little bitty tea cups hopped up to them.."
"Oh come on dad, tea cups that hop?"
"Use your imagination son. The tea cups hopped up to them and told the rhinos to stop chewing on the animals constitution."
"They were chewing on the animal's constitution?"
"That's right son, chewing on it and spitting it out for there were two much trans fats in the Constitution and not enough fluoride and Prozac."
"What?"
"Never mind, I got carried away; but they chewed and chewed and said that they were going to make their own laws over the animal kingdom. All the other animals were scared because they knew that the rhinos would get big and fat and eat everything in sight, including all the other animal's food. That's why this is such a scary story."
"Wow! What happens then?"
"Well, one day the lion, the king of the jungle, came back and he was not very happy. He told the rhinos that they were not elephants, they were rhinos, and they were more like jackasses."
"What did he do then?"
"He roared at the rhino castle and it fell down, and he roared at Lisa the rhino and she cried, and he roared in Spanish at the rhino with the white hair!"
"Wow! How did he roar in Spanish?"
"He rolled his R's...anyway he put the tea cups in charge of the constitution, to protect it."
"And what did the elephants...I mean the rhinos...I mean the jackasses do?"
"Well, they cried for a while but then they said 'OK, so we're not elephants...we are really hyenas!' and they laughed this crazy laugh. And then they said that they were going to huff and puff and blow the tea cups away but they didn't have any lips to blow with......then they became lobbyists."
Yawn! "That's a good story dad. I think that I can go to sleep now."
"That's good son."
"Are you going to bed now dad?"
"Soon son... but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep...I'll explain that tomorrow."
He kissed his son on the forehead, put Buzz back into orbit and tiptoed out the door...creeek!

"All She Has Is Her Principles"

         Why bring a post from September of 2011 back that was about Christine O'Donnell? To paraphrase the Canadian theologian J. I. Packer on the Puritans of whom he is an expert; it's not that they were giants in the faith, rather that we today are anything but giants in the faith so they appear as giants. Correspondingly, it's not that Christine O'Donnell would have been a 'giant' in the Senate or as a statesman but that if she were in the Senate today she would seem as a giant. I'll tell you were she was a giant though.....she stepped out of the comfort zone and took all the arrows and more that the Republican establishment and their contracted henchmen in the mainstream media could sling at her. Heritage Foundation President and former Senator from South Carolina Jim DeMint is and had been a legitimate giant among knaves in and about our government. This post is about them and the defining characteristic in men and women like this:

"All She Has Is Her Principles"

         Feudal lords in the upper echelons of the Republican Party treated Delaware Republicans as vassals as they worked against the candidacy of Christine O'Donnell while labeling her  as a troublemaker. How dare her challenge their dictates and not only run for a seat in the United States Senate but beat their handpicked candidate in the primary! O'Donnell titled her newly released book Troublemaker and I highly recommend it to you. She is not only the essence of the Tea Party but also of the overall resurgence of conservative America.
         America's political transformation was jump-started by women.... mothers who were not going to turn their children over to the state, and the Christine O'Donnells who showed the feminists what real womanhood was. I don't have the exact quote before me for I quickly passed her book on, but it was essentially this: Mike Castle, her primary opponent in Delaware, brushed off her challenge to him this way "She has no money, she's never held office...all she has is her principles." South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint has a seat amongst these same feudal lords and they don't particularly like it. A recent CNN report quoted him in "I don't have the support inside Washington or even inside my own party." The report continued "DeMint took hits from leaders in his own party when Republican incumbents and establishment-favored candidates were brought down by his tea party favorites. This summer, he proved to be one of the most intransigent members of Congress, refusing any compromise with the Obama administration in debt-ceiling negotiations." DeMint is quoted again in, "I was lectured in front of the whole Republican Conference saying, 'DeMint, you don't understand how this place works. It's not about principle, it's about the numbers.' "
         Thomas Jefferson wrote "In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current." Principle is when the corporate executive resigns rather than swim with the current. It's when the incumbent says "If I lose, then I'll go out and get a real job once again." It's when the teacher says "My primary pension will be the responsible citizens, functioning well in our society, who were taught in my classroom." It's the minister who says "I preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." It's the editor who says "My job is to inform not instruct."
         Abraham Lincoln wrote: "Important principles may, and must, be inflexible," and that thought is an anathema to the professional political strategist of today. O'Donnell's book is a quick read and an enjoyable read as she is personable, humble and honest. Read it and you too may become a troublemaker to the fiefdoms whose 'castles' continue to crumble.

Mutiny From The Bounty

          John McCain, Jeb Bush, Hillary, all of them......they are all bit players now and politics itself is just a play on a stage. The chaos engulfing this world is ruling events. Whether it be in the minds of fanatics with a fuse and primitive nuclear device, or Greece, or our Congress or Wall Street or society in general, order has given way to chaos.
          There is no one who can tame this beast, no team of scientists who could contain this meltdown and no media cartel that can disguise it anymore; but this is what we wanted, or more accurately...this is what our wants, desires and demands have brought on ourselves. Law? We got rid of those handcuffs years ago. Patriotism? That's a mental disease isn't it? And God? The divorce is final now and we may marry whoever or whatever we wish. Barack Hussein Obama's actions have unleashed lawlessness everywhere of which even he has no control.   
         The following post was written two years ago and hardly does justice to the chaos we are living in today.
        
         Merriam-Webster defines maelstrom this way: a powerful often violent whirlpool sucking in objects within a given radius. Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe had written of maelstroms as had Homer (not Simpson) in his Odyssey. The Bible has references to a whirlwind, a different type of vortex, and Merriam-Webster defines it as a violent or destructive force or agency. We are living in a vortex of our own making, a maelstrom brought on by our dismissal of God as irrelevant.
         Life in America has become as that old carnival ride the Rotor where all we can see is the person on the other side of the spinning drum as the bottom drops out and we are held motionless by the centrifugal force. The spinning drum is the delirium of our amusements and the person on the other side is our own reflection on Facebook.

Mutiny From The Bounty

         It was only a few posts ago that I gave my thoughts on the single-most discernible reason that America is collapsing, and it is indeed collapsing. America is divided along the lines of the most basic division of mankind. Roughly one-half either demands self-autonomy-void of a god, or is agnostic to the extent of ignoring even the possibility of the existence of God, or accepts a false god that they themselves have constructed. The other half either directly looks to Almighty God for sustenance in every area of life, albeit imperfectly, or at least believes in God enough to recognize when His protective hand is departing. This is what is happening in America today.
        Twenty years ago seems like a hundred years to me on this issue. There were separation of church and state issues that could become more than contentious but today the disparity has evolved into two distinct peoples living within one nation. When the former becomes the predominant opinion and when the government joins in, then man has achieved what he wanted, his autonomy, and God will stand aside for us to reap what we sow.
         Every area of our society, of our government and of our national security has always been, is, and will always be, dependent upon the mercies of Him who gave us our beginning. Therefore every one of those areas is in extreme jeopardy right now. These things I believe to be so. What I do not know is whether or not we, as a people, will see on our own that we are lost, and humble ourselves before Him, and seek His protective hand upon us once again. We have mutinied and set our own course in an attempt to escape His presence only to find that even the stars to navigate by proclaim His glory!

      

Carbon Copy

          There are two very similar warnings given within twelve verses of each other in the fourth chapter of the Old Testament book Hosea. The first one in the sixth verse and addressed to the "priests" and "prophets" is....because of them.... "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." and the second in verse 14 is "people without discernment are doomed." (HCSB) Both presuppose that some kind of information is lacking. These prophetic Old Testament books were indeed written primarily to the people of Israel and Judah but it is clearly as if God added a 'cc' with our names today listed after it. If you doubt this, try adding a few chapters a day to your Scripture reading. What you will find is an interesting mixture of intended recipients, often back and forth throughout the book. The words will clearly address the rebellious Israelites of the day and then the context will change slightly and they are speaking of the last days. What's more is that you will see us today in your reading.... our habits and pride and rebelliousness and even circumstances. These books are as alive as others in God's Word!
          The following is a post from late last year:

Today Is The Day!       

         We have no one to blame but ourselves. We let it happen. Some are more to blame than others but no one is left unscathed. They came in waving their diplomas given to them by the Wizard of Oz and we let them set the coarse for teaching our children. They tapped us on the shoulder getting our attention long enough to tell us that God was dead and we ignored them and went back to watching our sports. They told us that a pre-born child was only a fetus so we let them kill as many as they wanted. They taught in our universities that there is no truth....and then told us that that was the truth, said that there is no good and no bad, no right and no wrong, and that if we agree... that's good, but if we disagree... that's bad, if we follow...that's right and if we don't...that's wrong. They called us intolerant as they swept away piecemeal our identity as a nation through courts whose judges they had strategically placed into position while we naively thought that politics could save us.
          Meanwhile we opened the gates wide as they dragged in the Trojan Horse with the colossal hologram of Barack Obama sitting atop it saying "peace...peace." The barbarians slithered out of the seeming abyss of its belly and began to take apart our Constitution and destroy the American family. They lie as easily as they breath.
         We now sit here and watch as hardly a day goes by without another assault upon sanity, another mockery of law, another battering ram thrust upon our bulwarks....from the inside, another swing of the ax laid to our moorings and another pyre constructed of old books and documents and histories and pews and pulpits, readied to lay upon it our Constitution and be lit by the fires of hell.
We knew more than our parents and they knew more than their parents and they knew more than theirs. The final result of this antithesis of wisdom has produced the 140 character text, the tweet, that tests the limits of our analytical skills.
          O where to go to when we finally see how far we have fallen, when we gag at the stench that permeates our very being, when we sob when we think of the future of our children and clench our fists in anger as we look into a mirror and see nothing....absolutely nothing.
          Well, we're not there yet. We haven't hit bottom, but we will. We aren't gagging because we have been conditioned to savor the fetid stench of communism, and why look into a mirror when one has Facebook!
          Many have penciled in God for late in life, an insurance policy to be purchased upon retirement. How foolish, yet how perfectly inlaid into the urn awaiting our ashes.  Look around and see the house that we have constructed where Jesus Christ is no longer the cornerstone, where His Word is packed away in the basement in a box labelled...'books.' Today is the day to humble ourselves before God, to kneel and weep at the foot of the cross, for there is no guarantee of tomorrow, not for individuals or for nations.

Message In A Bottle

Message In A Bottle.......April of 2014

          This news item caught my attention and then generated this post. A German fisherman found a bottle with a postcard in it and the date May 17, 1913 was legible over the stamps. Researchers were able to identify the author through the address on the postcard. It's believed the bottle was thrown into the Baltic Sea by a 20 year old man on a nature hike and then it floated on the cold waters for 100 years. The message on the postcard reads "Please state where and when this card was found, and then put it in the nearest Post Office. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our object is to find out the direction of the deep currents of the North Sea."
          Romance writer Nicholas Sparks wrote a novel which was turned into a film titled Message In A Bottle where a man who lost his wife writes a letter, places it in a bottle and tosses it into the waters off of North Carolina. The bottle is found shortly afterwards and what follows is the plot of the book and the film. We have been vacation people who have loved our many trips to the beaches of the East Coast and are hoping to return to the Outer Banks of North Carolina again this year. The photo you see on this page is from a recent trip to Hilton Head.
          I can't remember how old our son was, I'm guessing maybe eight or ten, when we started a little tradition.You can find them in just about every store on the boardwalk.....little bottles about two inches high and half-filled with sand and tiny sea shells. I would buy about a half a dozen of them, pull the cork, and place an evangelistic message of some sort inside and then our son and I would walk the beach and toss the bottles into the waves. Surely after so many years some of them are still floating. Maybe five years ago I started putting a little Christian message card with this blog's URL on it in those bottles. Yes, I still throw them into the sea today. If our son is along we do it together, and he's twenty-seven years old now.
          It's been debated for centuries....does God elect us or do we choose him? I believed the latter for the first ten years of my Christian walk but then came to see that it is impossible to choose Christ with a fallen nature, and that God, in His infinite mercy, elects some who after regeneration do indeed see their fallen condition and cry out for the Savior. Many just do not realize the chronology of events but all rejoice in the opportunity to tell others of Jesus Christ who redeems the lost, loves the most unlovable and then uses them, in many different ways, to put their own message in a bottle.

Note: My wife and I visited her brother and his wife in Florida a few weeks ago. I bought one bottle, put my card inside and tightly pushed in the cork, but I forgot to toss it into the waves. My brother-in-law found it in his car and kindly did the honors for me.

         

Let There Be Light

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

The Battle Of The Monongahela.... And The Tribulation

     

The following is meant to be a very practical post for the Christian today. The first five paragraphs are only a lead-in to what I'm trying to convey: 

The Battle Of The Monongahela And The Tribulation 

  My father was raised in a small community in Western Pennsylvania called North Braddock, which is on the Monongahela River only a few miles from Pittsburgh. The house that he was raised in was on the site of one of the most important battles ever fought on American soil. Never heard of it? Don't worry, most people living in that area never heard of it either, at least they aren't aware of the significance of it. The battle really doesn't even have a name but is generally known as the Battle Of The Monongahela. George Washington was an aide to General Edward Braddock who was the 'Generalissimo' of all British and American forces in Colonial America, and who was mortally wounded in the battle. Daniel Boone, before he became famous, drove a wagon in service to the British soldiers in the campaign, and many in the campaign fought a few years later on both sides of the American war for independence!
         In the 1750s the French had their sights on the territory west of the Allegheny mountain ranges. The forks of the Ohio River which is Pittsburgh today was a key focal point for their strategy. The British knew this and assembled what would be the largest British military force ever gathered in the colonies, over 2000 British and American soldiers, and put them under General Braddock to drive the French from Fort Duquesne. They, the Braddock Expedition as the force was called, were to hack their way over the mountains and up the Monongahela River. It would turn out to be more than a disaster. The British in their bright red uniforms and the Americans in their blue uniforms crossed the Mon (as we know it in Pittsburgh) just past the Turtle Creek and then shortly after that, to the cadence of the drums, they marched back across the river (it was only knee deep at the time). It was here on the east banks of the river that they were ambushed by the French and Indians.
         Thomas E. Crocker, author of Braddock's March, How The Man Sent To Seize A Continent Changed American History, described the battle as pure pandemonium among the British and Americans, almost 500 of whom died in the battle. The enemy lost only 11! The British would like to forget this battle... one of the worst defeats in their history.... and Americans were not that interested in remembering it either.... but the importance of what happened in that battle cannot be overestimated.
         As a child my father had played on those streets below the bluffs from which the French and Indians had descended upon the British and Americans. My mother went to dances on what was at one time a battlefield, and later met my father at Braddock Hospital where he was recovering from injuries sustained in the Pacific in World War II? She passed away last year but only a few years ago we visited the house that she grew up in which was only yards away from the bluff where one could see most of what had been the battlefield.
         George Washington's reputation as being invincible began at the Battle Of The Monongahela as he survived with bullet holes in his coat and horses shot out from under him, but this post isn't really about George Washington...or the battle itself as history....but rather the battle as a study in chaos and pandemonium. The British and Virginia officers stood their ground but could not bring order to the men who could not see their enemy who hid behind the trees. Many were killed by friendly fire. The British had all the skills and all the knowledge and more than enough firepower but were decimated because chaos was all around them. That is the reason for this post. Christians will one day experience such chaos and pandemonium....and that day may be in the very near future. We need to know this...and we are not being told!
           Mankind hasn't changed. As brilliant as he can be, he can be just as foolish. We read in Scripture about the very last of the last days and think that we have it all down pat. An evil man arises and takes over the world....he demands that everyone have a mark placed on them in order to buy or sell anything.....Christians say no....he kills many of them....and then Jesus Returns. Only it is not going to be as easy as just recognizing the Antichrist and saying no, for just as the British and Americans experienced chaos and pandemonium on the banks of the Monongahela, so will Christians in the great delusion of the last days. Family and friends will be taken in...making it much harder! "This...mark... is just technological progress in a digital age" they'll be told. 'Friendly fire' will be everywhere. Confusion will reign supreme. Friends....we fall for just about anything now...and this deception is minor compared to what the church will one day experience!
          From personal observation of end-times conversations over the past thirty years, and even recollections of my own thoughts when I held to a Pre-Trib Rapture, I don't remember the topic of the Christian experiencing chaos and pandemonium being at or even near the top of the list. That's probably because the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory tends to make Christians a little less worried about something they won't even be around to experience. That's the short message of this post...if our Lord's return is near, the pandemonium and confusion ahead may be so great that we may even question our own decisions! Whatever generation experiences this will need to know....beforehand.... what God has written to us about those days.... and discernment does not readily come while while one's main interests and passions are on the baubles of this world and not on God's Word

    

Electing Good Leaders Would Follow, Not Precede, National Repentence

     
       The real import in Ted Cruz's announcement today is not in what he could do if elected as our president. The real significance in his election as president would be that a change would have had to occur in the American people, for if America were to elect someone with such an overtly Christian message as Ted Cruz gave today it would signal that we were breaking the bondage of special interests groups and that greed no longer dictated our vote. To elect Ted Cruz would mean that maybe we were beginning to humble ourselves before our Creator.
        Almost from day one in these posts I've given my opinion that neither politics, nor governments, nor armies can stop or even postpone God's judgement upon our nation unless we first do exactly what Israel had done from time to time, that being repenting and returning to Him. Ted Cruz... Jim DeMint... no one, not even our best, can rule or legislate away God's judgement. The electing of a strong and wise president would not come first but rather first would come the repentance which would pave the way for choosing good leaders.      

        The following are five vignettes from a book, the title and author of which are listed at the end of this post. If you have followed my blog for any amount of time you may be tired of this anecdote; Martin Luther was asked what he would do if he knew for certain that the Lord Jesus was to return the very next day. Luther's answer was "I'd plant a tree."  It would be irresponsible to our families not to plan for the future and it would be irresponsible as citizens not to pray for wisdom and discernment...and strength....in at least attempting to elect wise and honorable leaders but there is also reality to face.
         Our nation is collapsing from within. Every pillar is under attack. Please pay particular attention to Hugh Latimer's comment in the following post on what England's "well-being" depended, that is if you read that far. It is the height of absurdity for us look to elections as if they hold the key to our survival. It's beyond presumption to think that we can stop our fall or even defend ourselves against our enemies without national repentance and God's mercy upon us. But we, as a general consensus anyway, no longer attribute our existence to Him. Difficult days are ahead and that is even with God's mercy. Yes, plant that tree...make those plans.... always adding "should the Lord will it," but be prepared also for God's judgement upon our nation for we have gone beyond tempting Him to punish us....to goading Him and mocking the mere mention of His righteous judgement upon a rebellious nation.

Of No Worldly Tyrant Be Thou Dread........2009
        
         John Hooper was a bishop in the Anglican church during the reign of Henry VIII and the glorious reign of Edward VI. He lived through the beginnings of the English Reformation and struggled, preaching often three and four times a day, against the forces that worked against the Gospel. He was burned at the state for his faithfulness in 1555 during the reign of Queen Mary. He is attributed with writing this poetry with a piece of coal on the wall of his jail cell:

Content thyself with patience
With Christ to bear the cross of pain;
Who can or will recompense
a thousand-fold, with joys again.
Let nothing cause thy heart to fail:
Launch out thy boat, hoist up thy sail,
Put from the shore;
And be thou sure thou shall remain
For evermore.........
Do not despair;
Of no worldly tyrant be thou dread;
Thy compass, which is God's Word, shall thee lead,
And the wind is fair.

Rowland Taylor was a pastor during the same period and was called to account as a villain for preaching the Gospel. When friends advised him not to report his response was:
What will ye have me do? I am now old, and have already lived too long, to see these terrible and most wicked days. Fly you, and do as your conscience leadeth you. I am fully determined, with God's grace, to go to the Bishop, and to tell him, to his beard, that he doth naught. God shall hereafter raise up teachers of His people, which shall, with much more diligence and fruit, teach them than I have done. For God will not forsake His church, though now for a time He trieth and correcteth us, and not without just cause. Rowland Taylor was also burned at the stake.

Bishop Hugh Latimer wrote: My wish is, that men may write on their hearts that the well-being of England depends not on commerce, or clever politicians, or steam, or armies, or navies, or gold, or iron, or coal, or corn, but on the maintenance of the principles of the English Reformation. Before being burned at the stake he turned to another martyr and famously said: Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.

In 1552 John Bradford wrote of his time period as similar to that of Noah and often forewarned the people of the plagues which would be brought to pass. He also was martyred and wrote: When I consider the cause of my condemnation, I cannot but lament that I do no more rejoice than I do, for it is God's verity and truth.

Nickolas Ridley was a chaplain to Henry VIII and later the Bishop of London and also ran afoul of Queen Mary for preaching the Gospel. In a farewell letter to prisoners he wrote: Farewell, dear brethren, farewell! And let us comfort our hearts in all troubles, and in death, with the Word of God: for heaven and earth shall perish, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.

I write this post, originally posted in 2009, as encouragement to myself as well as anyone else! In order to secure our blessings today we must know what transpired in the past, and we ignore the sacrifices of others to our own peril. How trivial are the entertainments of today when compared to the sacrifices and most of all the faithfulness of those who came before us.


Referenced: Five English Reformers......19th century Anglican Preacher in England J. C. Ryle. Available at www.cvbbs.com 

Eye  Of  The Hurricane

           I bought a piece of artwork the other day from Ollie's Fine Art Gallery...well actually it was Ollie's Bargain Outlet and I paid $9.95 for it. It's a photograph put on canvas and is hanging on the wall in front of me as I write this. It's a theme that's never far from my mind... a sailing vessel navigating an unruly sea. The camera was placed just off of the wooden deck and is level with the horizon as the ship itself dips close to the waves off of the port side. I think that I was a sailor in a former daydream but this life is no daydream and Christians should always be navigating the seas, checking the sails and taking soundings with a firm hold on the rudder. The stock market is at a new high but it's in the eye of a hurricane, and that eye has just reached land. The people have come out to inspect the damage and make plans to rebuild unaware that the rear of the eyewall is descending upon them. The following blog is from March 24th of 2013. In retrospect, if only it were just a hurricane, but these are tremors shaking us enough to set the continental plates moving once again.

note:  There's an article on the Drudge Report as I write where investment trader Paul Tudor Jones spoke these words in a talk reported with the headline titled Paul Tudor Jones Warns this "Disastrous Market Mania" Will End "by Revolution, Taxes Or War"...... Here are some of his words, "We're in the middle of a disastrous market mania.....one of the worst of my life.......this gap between the 1 percent and the rest of America, and between the US and the rest of the world, cannot, and will not persist....historically, these kinds of gaps get closed in one of three ways: by revolution, higher taxes or wars....."

         I sit here and just wonder what percentage of Americans are becoming unnerved as the days wear on and chaos seemingly envelops so many areas of our society. Surely even the most skeptical can see that we are in much more than just another economic downturn, that we are dealing with catastrophe and not just difficulties in our foreign policy, that we on the verge of anarchy followed by tyranny rather than just political division, that we are becoming not only increasingly violent but suicidal, that we are almost breathless at times at what we read in the news, and in what is supposed be the Executive Branch of the United States of America... a Constitutional Republic.
         I have to believe that whatever the percentage is, it is increasing but I don't want to get too excited because I've felt this way before. I thought that surely the American public would overwhelmingly reject the Clintons but it didn't happen. I hoped that 9/11 would unite America...but it didn't. I thought that the economic collapse might convince Americans that Wall Street was not going to be the answer to our problems...it didn't happen, and I thought that the vast majority of Americans would be outraged that its Constitution was being dismantled article by article but as of yet, it hasn't happened.
         We have all probably seen a rope that was supporting something begin to look dangerously taut only to unravel and break before our very eyes. We are beyond a weakened rope holding up America and are in the unravelling process. This great empire is in its last days. My prayer has consistently been for God to allow 40 more years...one more period where we would be a source of stability in the world, one more generation added to a storied past of spreading freedom and liberty, one more testimony to the rest of the world that God upholds nations who trust in Him. I hope only for 40 years because of human nature. A couple decades of trusting solely in Jesus Christ and we surely would begin to fall away again. Pessimism, you say? I look at it as the opposite for it is only God's mercy and grace that permitted the world to reach this stage and God is as real today as when He, time and again, humbled and blessed repentant Israel.... as when He sent His church throughout the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.... as when the Reformation of the 16th century exploded in the hearts and minds of peoples and nations.... as when he guided the Mayflower to Plymouth Rock and as when He crushed the occult Nazi Third Reich.
         We will turn to Him as a nation...should He will it. And if we do not then that is also His will, also glorious as it would be His plan and maybe...maybe...a precursor to His Second Coming in power and glory, the fulfillment of all of history and the final triumph of good over evil. As bleak as the future of our nation is it is within one word of restoration and that word would be spoken within the Godhead. If you are not overly concerned right now, any words that I write would surely seem ridiculous. If you are, then we are two of hopefully many who are petitioning God for one more manifestation of His power in mercy and blessings upon our nation...and therefore the world.

          In the Christian publishing world if the spine of the book has a little robed man holding up a Bible then no investigation is needed for it's Banner Of Truth Publishers and I trust their discernment implicitly. In the secular world it's a little almost castle like building with two arches for doors and white specks as windows throughout.....Regnery Publishing. I bought such a book a few days ago and did page through it and therefore knew where the author was going with it and even though I'm not on board with his thoughts I bought the book and finished it over a few days.
         Shawn Dubravac must be very smart for he taught at three universities named after great people....Mary Washngton, her hubby George W, and George Mason. Plus he has a Ph. D.; that means he's a doctor who makes people sick rather than making them unsick. A couple of the big chiefs associated with Apple and Google have blurbs on the back so it's a done deal, this guy knows what he's talking about. Add Regnery into it and I should be able to turn my 'discernment' button off and just enjoy.
          The book is Digital Destiny, How The New Age Of Data Will Transform The Way We Work, Live, And Commniscate. It's not that I disagree with the new world described in detail by the author. He's the expert here but I'm reminded of a few words once uttered by Charleton Heston that went on to be a rallying cry for millions of Americans....."From my cold dead hands..." Heston's cry was about taking away our guns but Dubravac never entered that arena; in his world they will be taking away our steering wheels. along with possiby our hearts, souls and maybe even our freedoms and liberties.
         Threre's no stopping it! Argue all you want and protest but the natural evolution of technology helped along by the economics of business will find a way just like other paradigm changes throughout history have. I don't see this as a futurist's book giving educated guesses on where technology will go. Rather it's more of a brochure on what is happening now. I could list thirty or forty areas where your life is in the process of changing right now. You would probably already know about 90% of them anyway. My interest in this book revolves around a paradigm change that not only I not do not want but if there is any hope that these people who are drunk on profit making and high on their own perceived genius then the issue in general has to be dealt with today.
         Let me give you just one far ranging example. We have all read about the car of the future that will have no human driver. It's expected that some automobile manufacturers will have a driverless car on the road in two or three years, with other manufacturers varying the dates four, six and eight years after that. I write 'far ranging' because it will take time for most everyone to have these automobiles. Why do this? They tell us that it will save lives. WEll, it's har to argue with that.....but not impossible. First I would question if that is the real reason or a handy excuse to clear their paths. My thought upon reading about this in Shawn Dubravac's book was what will happen to those who cannot afford these cars. Dupravac writes that before too long the cars may sell for as little as $30,000. I can afford a $30,000 car but there are tens of millions of people who cannot. What about them. Are we to return to a society where the serfs bow alongside the road as the carriages of the aristocracy amble across the bridged moat into the castle? SO, I set the book down for the evening only to check the Drudge Report out in the morning to see this headline "Musk: Someday driving a car will be illegal."

Grace Is Word....Is The Word....Is The Word

        "But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.........Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the end of time. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who who are wise shall understand. (Daniel 12:4,9,10 ESV)
         John Gill was a Puritan English pastor and theologian who preached from the same pulpit that Charles Spurgeon served his congregation from 100 years later. Gill's commentary on these verses are interesting:
"many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased; that is, towards the end of the time appointed, many persons will be stirred up to inquire into these things delivered in this book, and will spare no pains or cost to get knowledge of them; will read and study the Scriptures, and meditate on them; compare one passage with another; spiritual things with spiritual, in order to obtain the mind of Christ; will peruse carefully the writings of such who have gone before them, who have attempted anything of this kind; and will go far and near to converse with persons that have any understanding of such things: and by such means, with the blessing of God upon them, the knowledge of this book of prophecy will be increased; and things will appear plainer the nearer the accomplishment of them is; and especially when accomplished, when prophecy and facts can be compared together: and not only this kind of knowledge, but knowledge of all spiritual things, of all evangelic truths and doctrines, will be abundantly enlarged at this time; and the earth will be filled and covered with it, as the sea with its waters..."
         These words of John Gill were probably written in the mid 1700s but they accurately describe today, yet so often we hear skepticisms about end-times prophesy, that it has always been been with us and has always been premature and has always been wrong. The opposite is the case. Yes, the words were always there in Scripture but John Gill's description of that appointed time when "prophesy and facts can be compared together" has greatly increased in the past fifty or so years. Man developed nuclear weapons, Israel miraculously became a nation.....and now has its back up against the wall thanks to the betrayal of a man who was supposed to be an ally, the world is in absolute chaos as greed has grossly distorted capitalism, violence has run amok, God's earth has been deified as a goddess, lying is the norm just about everywhere, liberty and freedom that enabled Jews to return to their own land is disappearing while homosexuality is the new cause celebre in defending liberty and freedom, good is seen as evil and evil as good, hatred for Christianity abounds and man has finally become master of his own fate as God's protections are being lifted. The meaning of Daniel's prophesy was hidden and remains hidden but it and the rest of apocalyptic Scripture was and is for this day that we live in and will be fully revealed in God's good time. 
          In the Christian publishing world if the spine of the book has a little robed man holding up a Bible then no investigation is needed for it's Banner Of Truth Publishers and I trust their discernment implicitly. In the secular world it's a little almost castle like building with two arches for doors and white specks as windows throughout.....Regnery Publishing. I bought such a book a few days ago and did page through it before I bought it and therefore knew where the author was going with it and even though I'm not on board with his thoughts. I bought the book and finished it over a few days.            
          The book is Digital Destiny, How The New Age Of Data Will Transform The Way We Work, Live, And Communicate and the author is Shawn Dubravac. It's not that I disagree with the projections for a new world described in detail by the author. He's the expert here but I'm reminded of a few words once uttered by Charlton Heston that went on to be a rallying cry for millions of Americans....."From my cold, dead hands..." Heston's cry was about taking away our guns but Dubravac never entered that arena; in his world they will be taking away things like our steering wheels, along with possibly our hearts, souls and our freedoms and liberties. Of course he doesn't see it that it that way, rather most of what he envisions benefits mankind. Regnery must feel the same way. One of us has discernment on this and one of us does not. One last thing on the book which I do recommend. This digital future is not the distant future. Much of it is occurring right now and we see it all around but much if not most of it is only a few years away. This paradigm change (you have to read the book to even have an idea of the full extant, and you will be impressed by its scope) is a world designed for the Antichrist.
          The Christian today needs to read into Biblical prophesy with the same passion to learn that John Gill described. Despite the great popularity of prophesy, the studying of God's Word on the day and age that we live in is not indicative of the Christian life today. As I write, March Madness and multiple and varied other entertainments command our passions. Politics is our hope. Much of what we have accurately discerned as to this day and age has been negated by the Pre-Trib Rapture doctrine that clouds the very reason for God's warnings to us, repentance and preparations, for His promise is to take us through this tribulation and not take us out beforehand.
         Do you disagree with this statement or maybe are you inclined to doubt it? Then read....read and pray....read and pray and study. Yes, there is error all around but that only highlights the fact that God is removing veils and we, as usual, want to rush ahead of Him. Is prophesy to eclipse the Gospel itself because of the day and age that we live in, which it often does? Of course not. Prophesy points to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
         The words to Barry's Gibb's Grease begin, "I solve my problems and I see the light" and it ends with "Grease is the word...is the word...is the word" but we ourselves solve no problems though we see the light....and truly.....Grace is the word...is the word...is the word!

Special Dog's Three Blogs

Special Dog's Three Blogs         

          A young man who happens to be one of America's top Rock n' Roll stars and also happens to be a very Reformed Presbyterian Christian meets and falls in love with a young Roman Catholic lady with a very Roman Catholic father. His life is in the midst of change as is her life as they grow to know and love each other. This short novel takes place mostly in the boardwalk town of Ocean City, New Jersey but also in Easton, Pennsylvania. You can read this at isaaccrockett.blogspot.com. I also have humor and short story posts at specialdoghumor.blogspot.com. My regular 'The Christian and Politics' posts begin below.


Race Baiting          

             The Communist of today, dressed in the clothing of the Progressive while claiming to be just another Liberal, all too often strongly insinuates through their mouthpiece the mainstream media that we dislike Barack Obama because of his race. There is a phrase for this.....race baiting. The Conservative Right is not racist. Blacks may be of the same percentage of us that they are in the entire population and they are of a much higher percentage of our strongest leaders and best minds but this means nothing to the Left.
            I don't know a whole lot about Ben Carson and he is not in my top two potential Republican candidates for president but I would be honored to call him my president! Allen West, Thomas Sowell....the list would go on. There are problems within the Black community today....yes....but these problems were structured and nurtured by the same ideology that gave us most of our problems. The following partial-post highlights a song from the 1960s. The strong Black father of today is stronger than his counterpart white father, for their challenge is greater. If there are heroes, they are at the top.

Boiled Spaghetti.....November, 2009

              I think that everyone realizes that music can have a powerful effect in a person's life. I am more of a Jack-of-all-trades when it comes to music. I know a little bit about many types but I'm not even near an expert in any of them. I know that Richard Wagner's compositions are stirring in a militaristic sort of way. The scene from Apocalypse Now where the helicopter gunship advances on a Viet Cong village, blaring Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries from speakers, is chilling. When I listen to Ralph (Raif) Vaughan Williams I can picture myself sailing through the whitecaps on a tall ship. Individual songs can immediately transport me to a specific time and place. When I listen to the Fifth Dimension's Wedding Bell Blues, I am laying in my bunk in basic training at Fort Dix with Tom's transistor playing loudly in the next bunk. I am in an EM Club in Vietnam when I hear Roberta Flack singing Killing Me Softly With His Song. I'm sure you experience the same type of moments. I heard it said that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin wrote the number one rock song of all time Stairway To Heaven while in a trance-like state and on the opposite side of the spiritual scale I believe that George Frideric Handel described a similar writing method with parts of his Messiah. 
           It was a song I heard again today that reduced me to boiled spaghetti, as it always does, and that brought me to this topic. The Winstons were a soul, funk group from the 60s and they went gold with Color Him Father the lyrics start out this way:

There's a man at our house, he's so big and so strong
He goes to work each day, stays all day long
He comes home each night looking tired and beat
He sits down at the dinner table and has a bite to eat
Never a frown, always a smile
When he says to me "How's my child"
I've been studying hard all day in school
Tryin' to understand the golden rule
Think I'll color this man father
I think I'll color the man love, yes I will

       

Nineveh

The following post is from July of 2014:

        By using two small mirrors and a movable armature, seafarers of old could determine the angle between the horizon and a celestial object and therefore their latitude. The device was called a 'sextant.' I often also travel by the position of a celestial object...the sun. For instance if we are travelling to a beach on the East Coast I'll locate the morning or afternoon sun and if it's positioned to the right of our vehicle then I'm happy. We are at least going east. We'll hit the Atlantic Ocean before we hit the Pacific! My wife prefers maps and the GPS. Her method gets us there quicker but mine is a whole lot more interesting.
        Christians are not to pass through life that way though, with no fixed horizon with which to calculate the angle to the Celestial City to which they are headed. Unfortunately that is exactly what America has chosen to do. We no longer have fixed laws to position in the one mirror of our sextant and no truths to anchor the other position. Our ship of state has set it's sights on......"wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever." (Jude 13)

Nineveh..... Redux

         God's word to Nineveh, given through Nahum, was unrelenting. It wasn't a warning, it was a proclamation. The warnings had already been given and gone unheeded. Nineveh was a "bloody city.....full of lies and robbery"....and a "mistress of sorceries." It had been great and powerful whose "merchants" were multiplied "more than the stars of heaven" but now its "shepherds slumber" and "the gates of (its) land (were) open for (its) enemies."
          It's a dichotomy. On the one hand is America's heritage....the greatest nation on this earth, that God used to spread His gospel and secure freedom and liberty for multitudes of people. On the other hand many of our laws now mock God and attempt to keep our children away from Him. We wantonly kill the preborn and then celebrate how liberal we have become. The coup de gras is that in the future our children, in every way imaginable, through entertainments and education, in every facet of everyday life, will be coaxed, prodded and even threatened to deny God's commands to us concerning homosexuality.
          Oh yes there is still a remnant, you can see it in many churches, in our military, in young mothers who will never turn their children over to a village chieftain, in hard working fathers who teach their children to work and not to demand handouts as rights, in older generations who know of America's heritage, of God's protective hand upon it, and consistently remind and warn everyone who will listen of its unravelling, in immigrants who saw our Constitution and laws, and loved what they saw, and came here to help us defend them while becoming part of us.
          We have had forty years of Jonahs, we've had a hundred years of Jonahs, we've had a hundred and fifty years of warnings but we interpret that longsufferring of God towards us as evidence that He hasn't the will or the power to bring judgement.


The Road Most Travelled

The following is a montage of thoughts and I present them as if we were sitting across the table over a couple cups of coffee:

        Their system was very effective. They were seen almost as heroes, dashing revolutionaries who would stop at nothing to eliminate the inequalities in society. They played Pan's flute and were followed by college students, malcontents, the idle rich and many connected with Hollywood.....all the usual suspects really. If one has no moorings in life, no country that they love and no God, then they are perfect specimens to be molded and further brainwashed into communist operatives and dupes.
         That was the situation in America in the 20s, 30s and even the 40s. The communist underground was extensive, ultra secretive and very successful. All of this came to light through Whittaker Chambers and others in our Congress but the America outside of this revolutionary underground had also changed. When did it change? I don't know. Maybe it was during the Korean War or maybe even before that. We didn't want to hear about communists we wanted to hear about television and Disneyland and Buddy Holly.
         Sputnik changed a few things...."Maybe we should pay attention to what's going on in the Kremlin?" The line was drawn in Vietnam but that nasty system of dashing revolutionaries, this time emblemized by Che Guevara, were busy again in the colleges. In what to me to this day seems almost inconceivable, Viet Cong flags were flown on college campuses and Jane Fonda travelled to North Vietnam to have her picture taken on an anti-aircraft battery. The Tet Offensive came along in early 1968 and what with assassinations, riots, Charles Manson and the Democrat Convention in Chicago, we gave in.....'get the boys back, make a peace treaty that we have no intention of keeping as far as defending the South Vietnamese government and get back to the business at hand....doing nothing of substance.'
         Then along came a cowboy named Reagan coinciding with a spiritual renewal in the form of the evangelical. The Soviet Union, the Evil Empire, was taken on and eventually came crashing down. The celebration was on but Reagan was gone, replaced by a New World Order devotee. But that wasn't good enough for us for we wanted a few more bucks in our wallet and Bill and Hillary promised that.
         You have to know something about the communist mind to even have a clue as to what became of them. One doesn't say "Oh well, communism is done...guess I'll see if I can get a McDonald's franchise." One goes underground in his own country and waits for their day to come back, under a new name if necessary and with a new plan but with the same tactics and goals.
          Once again they had to infiltrate but this time they had a head start for so many of the 60s college alumni who were never educated in American freedoms or communist atrocities settled in the universities and media. They weren't looking for a communist to lead them, they were looking for an excuse, and they found one in Barack Hussein Obama. If he succeeded then all their guilt of having no foundations, not even a post to tie their ideological horse to, would be assuaged. And that's were we are today only something as insidious as Nazism has arisen in radical Islamic fundamentalism. Just as Uncle Joe was appeased....so are they.
          Today the revolution is not in this band of intellectual lost souls but in the grassroots of America. They are the ones shouting 'no taxation without representation.' They are the ones pamphleteering now. They are the new Minutemen. They are the ones with intellects like Jefferson on their side. They are the ones going head to head with the Tories (a.k.a. RINOs) in their midst. The real question is whether or not God is looking for a revival of this play, but God is not a Broadway producer looking for another hit and we ourselves are not totally sold on the idea that God is even necessary.
          If you are a college student then I have some, what should be alarming, news for you. A would-be king has torn up our Constitution and demands that you bow before him. You may be allotted a fancy car and a condo if you tow the line but you won't have a lick of freedom or liberty to go along with it. Furthermore, should Jesus Christ tarry in His return and should He he even permit us to continue as a nation, your generation, along with mine, will have let down all of the other generations who sacrificed so much. We are in need of mercy from He who gave to us all of the blessings and freedoms and liberties that we had enjoyed and then abused. We are in need of a reformation more than a revolution, a George Whitfield more than a Benjamin Franklin and an open Bible even more than a constitution.

Witness by Whittaker Chambers is an extraordinary book that cannot but open the eyes of even the most skeptical on Communist involvement in our government in the first half of the 20th century.