"...As Never Before"

         The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in its November issue of Decision Magazine brought back a warning from Reverend Graham from 1957 to American Christians. I'll give just one phrase from that article and it is pertaining to reading God's Word..."Begin reading....as never before." Those words jumped out at me....."as never before."  The entire article can be read on the ministry website. 
         I have never sought to have readers come back again and again to read what I have to say. I have only wanted them to read enough to see that our nation is in deep trouble, that its very existence is in peril, and that if our enemies succeed, which they are doing, they will have been commissioned by God as judgements upon us. Once anyone becomes aware of this then it is God's Word where our eyes should be affixed... everyday...throughout everyday. Thus I often bring back older posts because of new visitors. I will add this though...if you are coming to see that the dangers of these days are like no others and that God has been specifically warning us for well over fifty years then please consider passing this web address on. The following are three short posts from the past:

...Nor Should We Want It To

          In my opinion this great American Experiment, as it has been called, has ended. That which we once possessed we no longer possess. The reasons of which are for other posts but we, as a people, no longer have the ability to think with discernment and wisdom or even at most times with common sense. In spiritual terminology... God had blinded our eyes. We will never return to the global hegemony that we once had nor should we want to.... if such a nation parcels out baby parts as if we were a human butcher shop and sacrifices many of those who do survive pregnancy to our own goals and desires for personal autonomy regardless of God's laws.
          Our hope is actually much greater than returning to what we were! God's judgement upon America has long since begun, the primary instrument being Barack Obama. We have already been greatly humbled, we just don't realize it yet. If we do continue on as a nation, and if Jesus Christ tarries in His return, we will of necessity be a God-fearing people once again. Our entertainments will have been greatly moderated, our riches dispersed by the winds of war and economic collapse, our arrogance deflated and our reverence for He who blessed and sustained us as a people for over four centuries.....renewed.
          Nonetheless, those of us who realize that we have brought this all upon ourselves must carry on. We cannot quit. Whatever time God gives this nation that is in the throes of a suicide attempt must be used in sober-mindedness, seeking to rebuild walls, restoring pillars and shoring up foundations, uncertain if God will bless the effort but assured that His will is perfect whether it be accomplished with a rod or a staff.

Irreversible

         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 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!

Numbers

         "So what are we supposed to do Special Dog or whatever your name is? Yes we are in trouble but there's nothing we can do about it." Millions do not vote because they look at one single vote and think that it doesn't matter. I'm not referring here to voting but praying. The same illogic exists here..."What is one man's prayer going to do?"
         If you look at it as a Pythagorean...... Then numbers alone tell the story, but with a Christian it is not the number of prayers...rather the source of prayers! So pray Christians.....fervently and throughout the day. Pray for mercies and discernment. You do not know that God is not moving in multitudes. It is not an issue of numbers, but of God's will.
         Ask of God and He will open your eyes. Rely on your own resources and you will see only numbers.
         

Today Is The Day

  The following is a post from 2014:    

          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.

Opinion Reaffirmed

        The following post was written about this time during the last general election. I still hold to what was written in it. Barack Obama may flee this country after enough Americans realize what he has done. Secretary-General of the United Nations would be a logical gig. As of today the media is still on board with his agenda while the super wealthy are moving on to their next patsy as president. Mainstream America did 'wake up' as evidenced by Donald Trump but it looks as if the 'division' that I mentioned may destroy the power of their block. I'll answer the question that I posed in this post from 2012....half tried and failed.....while the other half failed to try.
         These were my 'personal opinions'. The fourth paragraph was not opinion. Whether it be mercy that is in store for us through national repentance....or our demise.... it will be to God's glory!

Son.....I Failed To Try?

         It is my opinion that before this is all over, and by that I mean the Barack Obama era of either a four year or eight year period, he may flee this country. Whether indictments will be part of it or not I don't know but after Americans become aware of the full extent of what this President has done to our nation, to our national and domestic security, of his real intent as opposed to the fictitious constitutional scholar on the covers of Time and Newsweek throughout 2008, and without the media protection that is already starting to crack, he will eventually, more likely seek the approval of those outside this country who, although not totally in sync with his anti-colonial spirit of redistribution of wealth, appreciate his larger vision of a ...smaller America and his strong case for a weak America.
         If the media does not turn its concern towards its own nation and its own families, as opposed to its own liberal reputation in its own mind, then Barack Obama may indeed sneak into another term. He indeed has his strongholds that will continue to give support, those primarily being the special interest groups who have profited well from the liberal entitlement party. There is really no love, either way, between the man and these groups for it is a simple contract where one party promises a remuneration for the other party's support and the second party will essentially sue, by threatening to withhold that support, if the promises are not kept. The motivations are power...and greed. A second support group is more international and involves the many who have great wealth. These elites will support either a Democrat or Republican who permits them to remain the dominant party in setting coarse for the world's economies.
         These two forces alone cannot keep Barack Obama in power nor replace him with another choice without either significant support from mainstream America or a division in traditional America that would essentially destroy the power of their block, and that is where the media comes in. They are a secularist faction that does not necessarily receive any monetary remuneration nor does it hold passionately to any particular economic or political philosophy. The only threat to the world that they have created on the pages of their print media and screens of broadcast media is religion, and even there it is not Islam, liberal Christianity or Judaism but Biblical Christianity.
          Having said this ...having given these purely personal opinions, I need to reiterate as I have done consistently in this blog that any of our schemes and all of our schemes, whether they be noble or ignoble, sound or unsound, cleverly devised and painstakingly developed or simply mob induced, will indeed either fail or succeed but not without God's staying hand or lifted hand. We cannot go one way or the other apart from His permission which will ultimately lead to His glory and the benefit of those who trust in Him. 
         We do have a cause, that being a future for us and our children in a nation that insures freedom and liberty, and acknowledges that God is not only the source of all blessings but the author of all truth. The hard reality is that that may not be what's in store for our children. They may look at us one day and inquire as to what we did in the final days of the constitutional republic of the United States of America. Our answer will have to be either we tried and failed to protect that heritage, or we failed to try. Returning to the first political block in this whole equation, mainstream America, it will either wake up, as there are signs of, or return to a deep sleep, either of which will be as God sees fit to permit, for his ultimate purposes and to His everlasting glory

Disintegrating

        I'll give you three specific examples...I'm one of them. In the first, my brother-in-law works out of an office. He's very good at what he does while his office is very professional and comfortable. It's primarily decorated with sports paraphernalia and family photos. It always has seemed like a tiny museum to me. I have another friend who works out of the ubiquitous American workplace cubicle. It's also very professional and very personalized with some patriotic messages and pictures including one his daughter with then President George W. Bush.
        As for me...I've been a locker guy my whole life. It's never been very orderly. I have a running joke with a few friends where when they come over to talk and my locker is open, I get serious and say....."Don't look in there!" They know what I mean....it's a mess, but the outside is different. I have a picture of Thomas Jefferson with a quote, an electronic timer with the number of days to my retirement, a Bible on a plastic rack, an old 'Duncan Hunter for President' bumper sticker, a calendar with a picture of Arlington National Cemetery where my father is buried, a poster on the importance of reading, copies of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, and a few Bible quotes on Post-it notes.
         I also have a picture of a rope that is taut and unravelling with only one strand left. The word America is above the rope. I've used that word 'unravelling' in posts for many years. I see it often today in political commentary on our nation, but a new word today dominates my thinking.....disintegrating!
         America is disintegrating before our very eyes. No area of our society has been left untouched. Higher education other than certain physical sciences is a dung heap. Our government is treasonous on the upper end and treacherous on the lower end. Our entertainment is pagan, our enemies have drawn their swords as we fill our sports arenas, the pejorative 'McCarthyism' has scared us away from using the word communism. I'll give you this title heading from the Drudge report as I write..."OBAMA...'There's little difference between Communism and Capitalism....just choose what works'..." And through all of this the church sleeps....refusing to disturb the peace and bliss of those in the pew.

Addendum to this post: If we are fortunate enough, meaning if God has mercy upon us, to make it to this November as an intact nation; and if we are fortunate enough to have a national election, meaning if Barack Obama and the world money powers that be do no manufacture an emergency that would preclude elections; and if the Republican establishment, meaning the ethically corrupt who haven't a clue as to their culpability in the actions of this our Marxist president.... if they are not successful in neutralizing the American democratic process, we would then at least have a president, in Trump or Cruz, that we could pray for, something that we do not have now, for Barack Obama is not just misguided or inept...in need of prayer, he is skilled and determined in..."fundamentally transforming the United States of America.  

In Awe Of An Empty Tomb

         I have three books sitting next to me on the table as I write and I wasn't in the bookstore looking to find another but the title sort of jumped out at me and then after reading the rather incredible bio on the author...I bought it, a trade paperback, and went home and read it. The title and the author's name do not matter for this post is not so much about scientific calculations as it is about gospel miscalculations.
         I will say this about the book....it was very good. A top tier scientist in America was defending through scientific inquiry not only the existence of God but the omniscience of God. It was remarkably well written and I'll probably pass it on. In fact I had a good friend in mind when I bought it, for this is a topic that is keeping him from considering the Bible.
        So where's the problem? What I saw in amongst this author's professional litany of eloquent, often profound evidence on the existence God, was a few troubling statements that indicated that something was terribly missing. Nor could I find that which was missing on the author's large web page. I'm purposely being vague because the point I'm trying to get across is that the doctrines of creation and salvation are not....six of one...half dozen of the other. One might err on the first but dare not err on the second!
         I felt that I needed to write this post. All Christian belief is in vain if one is not born again or born from above. All the assent a human mind can give to the existence and even majesty of God is worthless without regeneration. What saddened me in the book was that knowledge itself seemed to be pursued, even glorified, as much or more than the God that that knowledge affirmed.
        So...to the college student that does not lack in theological confidence even though there has only been a few short years since they were building with Legos.....to the engineer who can build a bridge of steel but not one from sin to redemption....to the lawyer who understands the law, who can at times seek mercy for a client, but has never seen his own need of mercy.....to the scientist who feels that a great intellect in the study of the heavens automatically transfers to a study of heaven....to these and anyone who has not at first trembled before a Holy God....who do not open a Bible as one would a treasure chest....who do not run back every day to see the jewels....who do not know that love for your neighbor includes weeping for them to come to a saving knowledge of Christ....to these readers....they should know that today is the day....that tomorrow may never come.....but that a judgement will!
        Know this also...He turns no one away who truly seeks Him. You need not fear that.....rather fear the heart of fallen man....and take the new one that is offered.....by grace alone....through faith alone....in Christ alone!
        Golgotha was under the vast and magnificent canopy of stars on that day..... yet even the grandeur of the universe pales in comparison to the emptiness of a nearby tomb!
        

All Is Lost.....Or Is It?

          The further one's mind is from God on a daily basis the less one will feel imminent judgement upon a rebellious world. That is to say that if you have filled your glass up with sports and entertainments and accumulating riches, do not expect the remaining space in the glass to hold much in the way of discernment. The Bible was once an American's most valuable possession. Today it is either an artifact, a talisman for prosperity, or a rather large and bulky ticket one must have in their possession to enter heaven...should heaven really exist. In reality it is the Omnipotent God's Word to fallen man, the greatest treasure on earth, which brings the greatest joy, draws forth the most ardent love and applies a devastating guilt followed by a torrent of mercy that elicits praises upon praises for mercies undeserved.....all given because of faith, faith alone, in the One who took our sins to a tree on Calvary. If my words seen overly pious or even syrupy, might I suggest that there may be an underlying cause for your hesitance to shout praises yourself; or if the Bible does not captivate you as God's Word to you, you might never have truly seen the words therein.
          The following post is political and temporal yes, but only in as much as we are citizens of a nation who God blessed for a purpose, which may very well have completed its course.

January of 2013

          It was heroic at times and trying at times but always set apart by a common creed.…life as an American in these United States of America. God blessed this endeavor from the beginning as pilgrims left their homelands where tyranny had enveloped even the church and they saw this new land of America as a new beginning for them and an extension of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the new world. The long distance from the heavy hand of the King of England encouraged them to see beyond being merely a colony or an extension of England to being a nation unto themselves.
          Liberty is a powerful force and freedom empowers one to reach beyond what would otherwise be available. In the mid-eighteenth century, after the First Great Awakening, the Gospel began to wane as great political minds filled the void and a secular government…that nonetheless proclaimed its dependence upon God…. came forth. Economic growth followed as the frontier was conquered but we faced an enormous stumbling block, the separation of two peoples in two different geographic areas over the issues of state’s rights and slavery. God’s heavy hand of judgment came upon a nation that had forgotten who had bestowed upon it its blessings. We turned to Him momentarily but a brand new frontier of industrial growth drew us away again only this time our educational institutions followed. An already weakened church was at that time under full scale attack from European theological liberalism. God’s judgments now began to come upon the entire world in wars and economic collapse. We retained the sense of being Americans, of being free and of having liberty and defending the liberties of others while the Gospel went throughout the world... and then we hit our peak.
          We were the most powerful nation on this earth both economically and militarily. We had a creed that bound us together as Americans. We had heroes and causes and confidence. There’s a scene in the classic Marlon Brando film The Wild One where a girl asks the young Brando what he is rebelling against. His answer was “What do you got?” This became the hidden mantra of the 60s generation…my generation. Everything was available to us and little of it was good. America found itself in smaller wars, trying to do what it had done before but the mantle was gone. We were then a lost generation when a former“B” actor in Hollywood revived the memory of that which was good in us but the rebellious generation of the 60s had produced our college professors and they in turn trained our media, the source of most information and news. Our creed that once bound us together was being hacked away at. We were now not only ignoring our heritage, we were attacking it, ashamed of it. Old heroes are old news. Heroes today are created for a purpose irrespective of what they might have done…good or bad. We were no longer “one” as a people but groups, each one out only for themselves.
          God had watched all of this. The Billy Graham evangelical became the Ralph Reed evangelical which ultimately became the Karl Rove evangelical. Our pulpits, no longer capable of preaching Christ, preached whatever they thought would bring people in. The Democratic Party fell first, taken over by Progressives and then Communists. The Republican Party fell next, taken over by political machinery without a soul. Our country essentially lies in ruins, the demolition notice just hasn’t been served. Yet most of the people party on but that's not unusual, for history is replete with empires that fell while it’s people were oblivious to its nearing demise.
          All is lost! Or is it? From the vantage point of observation and reality it is. Common sense and truth are utterly impotent in the postmodern mind. The blessing of capitalism became the God of capitalism and then a scourge of profiteering. We pray to it but it does not answer. Our culture is in shambles. We have disasters ahead and we may as well know it beforehand. Fill in the blanks on what they might be. God’s hand had departed from us long before we even heard the name Barack Hussein Obama. If His will is to awaken us one more time it will not be within a political party but over all the land and upon all those who suddenly see what we have done...and who we have become....a people who have forsaken their God. Should God open our eyes and revive us there is no power on earth that can stop it. Those on the outside will utterly abhor what they see happening.
       This is our hope. It always has been our hope. Apparently we have to reach bottom to see this and we are not there yet. May God have mercy upon us once again and do so entirely for His glory alone.

A Sea Of Red

        Youth....aah....the blossoming imagination....the burgeoning brain power....the billowing egos sailing off to uncharted seas! Hey, I was there once....you were too. Oh, I had my passions. Robert Kennedy was one. Racial equality was another. I'll relate a little story on the latter:
         It was the summer of 1970... I was in the army and stationed for a month only at a small training school just north of San Fransisco. We were headed to Vietnam. The small group of us were sitting in the enlisted man's club downing beers and talking about, well I don't remember what we were talking about but all of us were white except for one black man. Remember, this was the end of the 1960s. As the hours passed he was the center of attention from everyone but me as I equally distributed my questions and comments. It must have looked as if I tried to take the attention away from him. Not that he wanted to be the center of attention but my actions made it seem as if I didn't like him being there. I don't blame him for thinking this, I didn't construct the situation, I just did my best under the circumstances. The talk and laughter came to a sudden halt as he looked at me and said...."What's the matter....don't you like black people?" I told him that treating a person special and fawning over them solely because of their color was condescending and actually treating that person as if they were not an equal. I wasn't going to do that. We became good friends.
         A similar situation is playing out today on our college campuses but not without instigation. I've never lost that passion for racial equality, in fact it has only heightened in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I have been called a racist. Communism calls anyone a racist or a xenophobe or a homophobe or intolerant, who does not tow the line, for such charges are a great means to divide a nation and further their revolution. Civil Rights leader and author Jesse Lee Peterson has described the radical group on the University of Missouri campus as "A bunch of little communists in training." The college campus of today can be described as 'giving' candy to babies.' The parents are gone, replaced by new authority figures. Give them sugar until they are sick and then force feed them the Rx.....socialism.
        Bullying is all these people know. You can see it in the Climate Change scam being perpetrated upon us.  You can see it in the absurd defense of Planned Parenthood. You can see it in the blitzkrieg of the Gay Agenda and you can see it in Obamacare and executive orders that circumvent our constitution. These people are the least tolerant of all. A very recent poll states that 27% of Democrats are in favor of prosecuting those who do no agree with them on global warming!
       This current situation on the University of Missouri campus is so manipulated.....so obvious in the intentions of its designers that it may raise more questions than was anticipated. The answers to which can be found from Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin to Saul Alinsky and Barack Obama. These are not uncharted seas, rather every nautical mile on this sea of red is documented.... every fathom down into the abyss of totalitarianism logged.

Mr. Peterson's latest book is The ANTIDOTE: Healing America from the Poison of Hate, Blame and Victimhood and his website can be visited at bondinfo.org. 

So, You Are In College...

      
               You are in college....with your whole life in front of you...facing the same problems and stresses that previous college students have had to deal with....some problems of great distress and some rather insignificant. This is most certainly not a dull age but the everyday news excites rather than mortifies as it should. It tweets a song that may pique interest but it should be terrifying to anyone who has any discernment at all! This election is viewed as entertainment with participants Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, a self proclaimed socialist, a born again Christian...a gentle neurosurgeon and a Mouseketeer? Could it get any better than that? It's going to be a very interesting eight months! Or so we have been duped into believing, and unfortunately it is of such a false hope that we have en masse chosen to take refuge within.
         In truth this election cycle is the 'oldest established, permanent floating Crap game' in Washington D. C., a mob scene that only God can bring order to. That order would have to start with us. We would recognize that no man, no prince, no military might could possibly right this country of ours. We would recognize most of these candidates as the con-artists that they are and the news media as complicit in their con. It was our indulgence of every destructive desire and every charlatan claiming to be our friend that turned our constitutional republic into a banana republic. It could only be a national humbling and repentance that might at least set us on our feet to face what is ahead.
          So, once again, you are in college. If only you knew what higher education in America has devolved into! If only you could fathom the national debt, smell the odorous fumes of our culture, hear the tumult in the streets, feel the earth shaking and see the totalitarianism approaching from just beyond the horizon! More importantly, if only we as a people would heed the words of the Psalmist in..."let the humble hear and be glad....Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"
         

Something New

         I have been doing something new for the last few days...bringing back older posts every six hours or so.  I don't publish a post every night but there are very few days when I'm not working on one....even when on vacation....even when under the weather. 
         Barack Obama literally despises the nation that he leads as president. His mind and heart are with another political system, another economic system and another religious system other than Judeo-Christian. Yet....yet....his schemes remain undetected! Hillary Clinton.....well if you have stayed with me this far you probably know who and what she is. Yet....yet...Hillary Clinton may indeed become President Hillary Clinton!
         China....with its humongous population....is led by a small communist minority. For various reasons, it cannot sustain itself for long and it will either change out of necessity or return to Communism's militaristic solutions.  Iran....Barack Obama gave them time and more to build weapons that will be used in one way or another against us.
         Our national debt will bring us down if something else doesn't do it first. Our pagan culture almost sacrilegiously still claims the word...American. We do not have the will anymore to even defend ourselves, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Rand Paul etc. notwithstanding. Thanks to the Obamas, Clintons and the Republican establishment we are but fatted sheep ready to be shorn....and worse.
         God had a purpose for this nation, to proclaim the Gospel to the rest of the world and protect the rights of people of other nations to do the same thing. That's why we exist.....no other reason. Today our government actually hinders the proclamation of the gospel. God's hand has been lifted from upon our nation.

Communism....Under New Management

         My posts were probably laughed off by many when I started writing about the Communist threat to America....but not so much anymore. Indeed our communist president will be in Cuba tomorrow. Communism weaves its deadly web in our universities and in protests on our streets. It has done a fine job in destroying our heritage. It could never have done it without its many dupes...people who searched for a cause to fill the void left by their rejection of God. They bought into the lies of Communism. Are you willing to read the evidence of how Communism has worked, is working, and even as of now...winning, in America? Please consider reading the following book review!

September 15, 2011

         The relationship between the American Progressive and Communism has always been a dysfunctional one, the Progressive longing for someone to look to as a hero and the Communist not only abusing that adulation but sneering at those so gullible as to think that there is anything compassionate or caring about them. The Communist knew the extraordinary weaknesses of the liberal American mind and had taken advantage of it from the beginning, for a century now! It has a new face today, hiding behind a semi-capitalist veil, for it retreated and reinvented its outward appearance.
         This generation will never be able to say that they were not told, not warned, for the evidence is everywhere if only we would look. I've reported on more than a dozen outstanding books on the deteriorating condition of our nation and its causes in this blog of almost three (over five) years but none of secular content more needed than the one I put before you today. I do not believe that any liberal can read this book and not be concerned that they may have been duped. One might very well read a chapter and then throw the book away, or skim it and not accept its message but if one reads this book through they will view our political landscape differently. The title of the book is Dupes, How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives For A Century.
       I'm very familiar with the author for I had read a few of his previous books and I admired him as a Professor of Political Science at Grove City College in Western Pennsylvania, one of America's finest colleges. This is a monumentally important work written with clarity, and systematized in such a way to take the reader on a trip through American history and awaken the reader in the process. Professor Kengor filleted the meat of Communist propaganda so expertly as to expose the rotten flesh and release the stench that permeates liberal politics, higher education and the mainstream media. You have to read this book...if you care about America. A blurb from Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute says the same thing: "Face it. You are going to have to read this book." Why...so that you can show your knowledge of Communism in some future conversation? No, rather that you can read it and weep and hopefully sound your own alarm in that future conversation. In another blurb, Fred Barnes wrote that it left him "amazed and a bit frightened." The Weekly Standard's Barnes has been sounding an alarm for decades yet it still made him a bit frightened!   
         Reading the book was a culmination of research that I had already been doing, that the Communist has reappeared in America in a new guise, and yet I was dumbfounded by the volume of evidence and not a little disappointed in being reminded of my own history of being duped in the late 1970s. Kengor is going to take you back to September of 1919 in Chicago where Communism first began its assault on the American mind. You will see the essence of class hatred in it from its beginnings and recognize the tactic from the Left today. You will see one celebrity or person of note after another taken in by the lies, many waking up later angry and indignant. Even the most ardent admirer of Franklin Roosevelt will have to reassess that admiration as Roosevelt was taken in by Uncle Joe Stalin thanks to the leftists all around him. Read and weep at how much of our media was not only taken in but even today ridicules those who are not duped. Will they have the character to admit they were wrong, if and when they also awaken, as many of their predecessors did? You will see heroes and you will see buffoons who were, and are, very useful idiots for Communism, and too many who were out-and-out traitors. You will see how Hollywood was used and many of the biggest names duped. Compare this to the stars of today while you read. And you will see Ronald Reagan as a liberal Democrat and head of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947, admittedly himself duped for a time, and recognize his courage and greatness on display even then! No one made this man and he was no late bloomer.
          Communism has a new face but the essence remains the same, for God is still banished and revolutions are still started, as despicably as ever, through hatred and propaganda. Lying is as common as breathing. One class is pitted against another. Educators are still sought for their influence on the youth. Unions are still infiltrated as are the arts. College students are intellectually brutalized and the news media is still wooed with dreams that they might actually be more important than the news they report. The SDS mentality (Students for a Democratic Society) that the Communist so effectively used against our military's efforts in Vietnam is alive in many of its former leaders who have grown up, quite naturally, to become college and university professors, and in the case of Bill Ayers, prepare their comrades, and those they mentor, to run for elective office, even the presidency. Communism is alive but not well because it can only remain beneath the surface for so long until the rains of tyranny expose the caskets of dead ideas, tyrants and false promises. Paul Kengor lays it out very clearly for the reader how lies told about George Bush's intentions is Iraq and how accusations of a warmongering, racist, America that has lured the college student, the idle and the malcontent over the past thirty years, are just reheated deceptions dusted off from older Communist scripts where only the names have changed.
         Who is Frank Marshall Davis and why was the media silent on this Communist mentor to our current President? Why is Jimmy Carter still a dupe? How was Edward Kennedy, who I had volunteered for, one of the biggest dupes of all? One need not be a card-carrying member of the Communist Party to be a Communist as Kengor points out, and one can think of themselves as a patriot and yet be a prize dupe! Kengor says that they will continue to call us scare mongers and McCarthyite fanatics but this is just another tried and true tactic from the bowels of Moscow's Comintern. He concludes his book with these thoughts: "The most mordant irony for the liberals who lend cover is that while they laugh at the anti-Communists, they seem to have no idea that the loudest howls have always emanated from the Communists who take them as dupes: gullible fools to be used to advance the Communist cause."

         Professor's Kengor's follow up book is more specific to Barack Obama. Its title is The Communist, Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mentor.

Nebulous To Some.....Perspicuous To Others......December, 2015         

         Astronomers once called everything outside of our own galaxy...nebula... or nebulae in the plural tense. Today the word is properly confined only to interstellar dust and gas clouds. If a concept is cloudy and hard to decipher we might describe it as nebulous.  When Jesus Christ returns to earth with His mighty angels, I presume that the very first sightings of His army will be classified as some sort of nebulae. As He comes closer and a form of sorts begins to take shape, the classification may change to UFO. At the point when men finally recognize that it is the God King of the Christians and the Messiah of the Jews, this from what the world's greatest selling book has always proclaimed, and as every conceivable means of what would then be clearly seen as punishment wreaks havoc upon the earth, men will call on the rocks to fall on them and end their misery.
           Today it is the concept God Himself that is nebulous, even to most of Christendom, and unfortunately to much of Christianity. Although this is certainly true of God in His infinities, it is much the opposite as it relates to God's very existence and also to what should be our self-awareness as His creation, but only the Christian can see this. God created the physics that we try to disprove Him with and the logarithms that we try to replace Him with. He created the measure that we use in an attempt to prove our own autonomy. He created the mind that we refuse to think with, the sight that we refuse to see with and the hearing that we refuse to hear with.
         God is not nebulous in His holiness or His power or His glory or His majesty or His might. His warnings, His righteous judgements, His love and His mercies are not concealed. We are groping around only because we have run from the light.

In My Mind's Eye.......December 2015

         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!

Siri.....Will Hillary Be Indicted?

         I wasn't planning on seeing the movie but it was given such bad reviews, reviews that were almost dripping with venom, that I thought.....OK....if the liberal media hates it that much it's probably good, plus....London is one of my favorite cities and is a city that was so important in not only spreading the Gospel but in restoring it.
         London Has Fallen is the film. Terrorists plan to change the world and they plan to do so through destroying London, not with a nuclear device but by putting so many terrorists in bobbies uniforms that they can not only bring down landmarks but kill world leaders gathered for a state funeral at the same time, their prime target the President of the United States.
         The first half of the film is drama like a Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford movie where the hero is a Secret Service agent. The rest is more Arnold Schwarzenegger. The aerial photography of London is very good and in spite of the criticism I thought the special effects were realistic, although I haven't gone to many of those type of films.
         This post is not a film review. The film itself is a lead-in to what I have to say. London has fallen...past tense...and America is about to. Since we the American people are so sports minded, I'll put it this way...In the biggest come-from-behind upset of all time...Communism has defeated its archrival America. This war is only beginning to reach the media, so let me switch from sports to political jargon....with four percent of the vote in...CNN has named Communism the winner.
         Lest you think that my comments are trite, I have to ask you to consider the topic matter from these posts of over seven years. Actually my admittedly weak efforts in writing go back into the 1990s where I agonized for America's future, at times pleading for people to wake up. My comments today are for effect only...my eyes are as moist as ever.
         If by any chance you subscribe to XM Satellite Radio, tune in to channel 125 at 6 AM on a weekday when Breitbart begins its daily call-in talk show.  What you will hear is one informed and intelligent caller after another. If this were America we would not be about to go over the falls, but this is not America, or enough of it anyway. We are more Modern Family, Super Bowl Sunday and Saturday Night Live. We don't even care to know anything about communism.
          A week or so ago I texted my wife on my iPhone...."Siri...text my wife...are you at work right now?" Siri replied...."OK Special Dog...I'm texting your wife...are you." She missed at work right now. With my rapier quick mind I jumped back in...."no...are you...at...work...right...now?  Siri's reply to me was..."We're talking about you Special Dog....not me." I felt like I made a pass at Siri and got rejected. My point...at least Siri doesn't lie. Hillary Clinton....another mechanical voice... is hard-wired to lie! This is America.

         I bring back the following post often:

America....Free....Free Fallin'

  The following was first posted in January of 2012. I have republished it over a dozen times and even as I read it today my hands comes up to my eyes as if to suppress the forming of a tear. Not because of the words but of what they describe. This once great country, this bastion of freedom and liberty, this defender of the weak whose people over centuries openly proclaimed the glory of God and total sovereignty of His very being over all of creation......this country has been ransacked and pillaged....its heritage plundered and mocked.....and much too high of a percentage of its people dulled and defenseless in their lack of discernment and wisdom.     

America.....Free.....Free Fallin'

          Dawn breaks and pull by pull the flag rises until its stars and stripes blend into the red sky. The 21st century America cold front collides with the warm heritage of American liberty. Dark clouds form above the eagle perched atop the pole and the flag snaps as the winds begin another day of adding to the tatters and waiting for the rain that month by month fades the blue and red hues that Americans have savored as the taste of freedom for so long.

          An icy chill settles in the bones of the one raising the flag for he knows that its stars and stripes will be indiscernible before long. He looks down to see if the cracks in the foundation supporting the pole have widened from the tremors that increasingly shake America...they have. He steps back, standing as erect as he can under the burden of seeing his nation collapse, and salutes; a tear forming as he knows that he may be the last to perform this duty. His mind wanders from, first... the drum and piper escorting the newly created flag, to the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's poem, to the charging Union soldier picking up the banner dropped by a fallen comrade in arms, to the lifting of the flagpole on Mt. Suribachi, to the camo flag on the fatigues of the grunt in Vietnam, to the brilliant contrast of red, white and blue with the gray mountain of fallen steel, brick and mortar of the World Trade Center, to the lone flag now raised in the Green Zone of Baghdad.

          In only a few hours cheers and shouts will be heard off in the distance, not for returning heroes, not as a President passes by, not as a war ends in victory but for the beginning of a football game. The     Star Spangled Banner will play and be sung by the latest celebrity seeking a national spotlight but not a word of its lyrics will resonate with the power it had since Fort McHenry. We are not as the Roman Empire falling, we are as the Roman Empire beginning whose gods are numerous, whose Caesars consolidate powers given by a populace that only wants another day at the Coliseum. God's hand is being lifted and the exhilaration of choosing our own destiny emboldens us to stare into the eyes of Caesar and say not, "Give me liberty or give me death" but "Give me liberty to choose my own death." All the while the remaining Christians gather in their catacombs wondering if God's mercies on America are over; imploring of Him one more time for America to be a beacon to the nations, a people that not only openly proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind but evidence the beneficence, mercy, majesty, power and glory of Him who created the universe and without whom not one molecule would continue to exist.

          It was a marvel and a wonder while it existed in its original form....these United States of America, but now they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd. They are a people once different as night and day in their habits and their speech that bonded together as a new entity...Americans, freed from the tyranny of kings, freed from serfdom and most importantly freed from the lie that man is the master of his fate, the captain of his soul, but that freedom, once defended, is now merely petted in the lap of luxury, "Free" as the famous rocker penned..."Free Fallin'." The American Creed, never spoken but always evident, is now but a liberal screed against God, against tradition, and against history itself.

          The sun, obscured throughout the day by clouds, sets in the West. The rain that would normally give life to the fields, runs off of the frozen, barren and lifeless ground. The flag is lowered and gently folded into the shape of a tri-cornered hat, one of the last vestiges that remain of the fight for independence. No Taps is heard, only the music of the night coming from wherever the revelers gather after the game. The winds die down, no longer needed, for the flag has been taken down, while angels sent by God prepare to blow their trumpets!            

      
       

Critical Period

       This Supreme Court nomination is a big problem. A possible brokered Republican convention is a big problem. Both of them are probably somewhere around sixteen and seventeen on the list of big problems that America faces. The number one problem is that American conservatives and most Christians think that problems number sixteen and seventeen are problems number one and number two.
        If these days were not troubling enough we are entering an extended critical period. Steam turbine electric generators when coming online ramp up their speed to get through a critical period where the mechanics of the materials can cause excess vibrations. We cannot ramp up time to get through this election period. To make matters worse, March Madness is just beginning, opening day for baseball is a only couple weeks away and Spring is in the air. We are not exactly in an all hands on deck and man your battle stations mode.
        Although it is not an accurate assessment, Donald Trump represents the worst fears of the global elites, communists and anyone and everyone else who have been stymied in their goals over the years by America. Barack Obama represented something altogether different...an ally in this fight against these freedom loving, liberty defending, traditional.....God fearing....people. In their eyes...Trump has to be stopped. They are not going to go back to the 1980s! A global economic meltdown would not be as bad as a rejuvenated America.
       I wouldn't want you to think that they have everything under control. They have nothing under control! The Chinese economy is a mess as they embark on yet another communist five-year plan. There's a nuclear nut in North Korea. The cheap labor migrant scheme is backfiring in Europe. There's too much chaos for even the global warming scam to help. The United Kingdom is less than 100 days away from possibly leaving the European Union. Brazil is in trouble. The constant turmoil from the past in the Middle East is like a genteel soiree on a Tuscany beach compared to what broils on those searing sands today.
       Ted Cruz would be a bigger problem to America's enemies because he's not only a God-fearing man but a Christian, but they don't know that. An Originalist jurist replacing Antonin Scalia is very important. A brokered convention, if the Republican elites would get their way, would mean that there would essentially be no electoral process in America anymore.
       We need to be sober-minded. It would be nice to be somewhat aware of what is going on. Should that ever happen we would need to be resolute in our Christian convictions no matter what  transpires in the days ahead for if the Lord's return is indeed near, the deception will be such...."so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect."  

"God Gave Us Barack Obama"

June, 2014

           I chose the New American Standard Bible for this verse from Hosea 9:7... "The days of punishment have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented, Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great." Those faithful preachers who weep in their pulpits....who weep for America, for their children and their children's children, and who weep at what the American church has become, are thought of as country bumpkins, fundamentalist fools and worse. Such is the state of the American mind in this age of rampant rebellion and toxic temperance towards godlessness as our nation surrenders on every hill. Such is the hostility to anything that might interfere with plans and goals.
          There is no excuse for not seeing the imminent peril our nation faces. There are reasons but not excuses. Our nation's leaders are the beginnings of our punishment! In speaking to a church congregation this past week, New York Congressman Charlie Rangel made this statement..."God gave us Barack Obama." He probably never spoke truer words.
          There has never been a perfect storm as is brewing today and we are rapidly becoming a police state as it is about to hit. Yet we party on. Billy Graham has been consistent in his warnings to America. John MacArthur has been consistent also, but we don't have ears to hear, and we don't have eyes to see. We are deaf to the Approaching Hoofbeats of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, to use the title of a 1985 book by Rev. Graham
          Fervent prayer, steeped in humility and salted with our sweat is our only hope, our only defensive weapon.

         The following post was written on November 30th of 2008. Barack Obama would soon be inaugurated president

          I agonized for a long time over how the Christian is to deal with politics. I read books on the subject and certainly went to Scripture. I've been on both sides of the issue. Edmund Burke wrote "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Burke was not a Christian, and I am not "good," but the concept and the logic still hold weight. Our nation is crumbling fast and most of us are the proverbial frog in the kettle. The local news from the metropolitan city that I live near started their telecast last night with three different killings among young black people. Yesterday's paper had a picture of two beautiful young children joined at the head while the surgeons were dismayed that nothing could be done for them. Every day the sufferings of people are there to remind us of the fallen condition of this world. We say that we yearn for Jesus to come back but do we?
          Martin Luther once said when asked what he would do if he knew that the Lord was coming back the next day, "I would plant a tree." In the final analysis, we cannot quit on this nation. If people's sufferings are to be alleviated, if we are to return to at least being a "God-fearing" nation we have to seek God's mercy and try our best to be good and responsible citizens. This blog title has the word "conservative" in it to get the attention of who it is meant for but conservatism itself will save no one! Our hope is not in princes or their military power. Christians, who have been relegated to being part of the "religious right," must remind themselves of this every day. This does not mean that we do not support a political party of ardently work for its success but it does mean that we never alter our ethical beliefs or compromise that which is our only hope... the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
          We lost our moorings in this long before we lost this last election. Our churches are too often social gatherings, some with political causes meant to assuage the guilt of not knowing who we really are in Christ. Our pulpits mention Jesus every week but rarely preach His cross for they have lost faith in the power of preaching the blood shed on Calvary, instead preferring to give biblical advice on how to live. I stumble into church every week to hear the atoning power of the blood of Christ and of what He has done for me and how He will keep this poor wretched sinner despite my gravitation to dally with the world. More than anything we need to pray that ministers enter their pulpits, look over the congregation, and set forth to lay out the glories and majesties of Jesus Christ present in every book of the Bible. Only having done that can they begin to exegete the passages on how we are to live.

The Cauldron That Awaits Us

             The political upheaval today is similar in principle to what happened in the American colonies in the first half of the eighteenth century during the Great Awakening. There was the ruling class of sorts, those who held all the power.....the establishment if you will....some in the church and the rest in the government, who thought that they knew everything that there was to know. They would therefore quite naturally lead, and everyone would quite naturally follow, for they had been ordained as God's ministers....fair and square....and would in no way relinquish that power over the souls of men; as for the people, well their job was simply to listen and obey.
          As always happens, and always will until Jesus Christ returns, the people had once again failed to remain vigilant in their faith and colonial America's light had dimmed, but once again God had mercy on a wayward people as He raised up men like Jonathon Edwards, George Whitefield and Samuel Davies who would, through much opposition, proclaim the glories of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a fallen world. The religious tyranny would end as would decades later the tyranny of the king.
         That colonial American had a pedigree, forged in the cauldron of persecution of the religious tyranny of 17th century England, for Puritans and Dissenters who had known their God did not recognize the voice then emanating from the pulpits. These people who were well versed in the scriptures that God had given them thus recognized wolves in bishop's clothing. They rebelled against the religious darkness of the pulpit elites but were legislated against with their light then being confined to meeting in the meadows and forests. Ultimately many came to America where they would build a city set on a hill whose light could not be hidden.
         That city is today but an archaeological ruin or at best a homestead to be visited occasionally as is Mount Vernon or Monticello.  The hubbub in Iowa and New Hampshire which is only the beginnings of a spring and summer of political frenzy exhibit the pedigree of 1776 but the results of this election cycle, necessary as it may be, will be inconsequential as to the immediate future of America, for there is yet another cauldron awaiting us which will either prove to be a witch's brew or a purification process where we will be refined as a people who once again call out to their God. The candidates elected, should God give us time to do so, will be but some of the ingredients in this cauldron. Therefore, and for this reason alone, we must choose wisely.

The Gideons

        The following post is from May of 2010. I hope that the stark contrast in America from even the tumultuous 60s to today effects you as it did me when I reread this post tonight:

The Gideons

         The Apollo 8 mission in 1968 saw, for the first time, man leave the gravitational pull of the earth and come under the same force of another heavenly body. Frank Borman commanded the mission that included James Lovell and William Anders. On Christmas Eve, on the ninth orbit of the Moon, with the world watching on television, Commander Borman read the first ten verses from the book of Genesis:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
The earth was without form, and void; darkness was on the face of the waters.
Then God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Then God said; "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. (NKJV)

         There was a Japanese correspondent watching this on television from his hotel and called NASA for a copy of the script that the astronaut was reading. He was asked where he was calling from and told to look in the desk drawer and he would see it in the first ten verses of the first book, Genesis, of the Gideons Bible that would be there. The correspondent was impressed that NASA Public Relations would leave him an advance copy of the script! (this anecdote came from a Sunday supplement section of a newspaper)
         In 1982, as a new Christian, my wife and I were on our first cruise. As we rounded the western end of Cuba there was a storm that rocked the boat so much that the passengers could do nothing but sit in their cabins. Too new of a believer to even bring a Bible with me, I opened the desk drawer and there was the Gideons Bible. I opened it and read the first verses that I came to. It was the 93rd Psalm. As the boat rocked.... I read:

The Lord Reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed, 
He has girded Himself with strength. 
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice; 
The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier 
Than the noise of many waters, 
Than the mighty waves of the sea.
Your testimonies are very sure; 
Holiness adorns Your house,
O Lord, forever. (NKJV)

         I'm writing this blog from a motel room and the ever present Gideons Bible is in the drawer. They have distributed over 1.5 billion Bibles since 1908. (as of their website tonight the figure is 2,014,581,853 and counting!), and I am reminded of Romans 10:15b:
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. (NIV)

gideons.org

If Only That Our Children....

          A very young girl sat in the pew in front of me today. She listened to a most wonderful sermon, in between the squirming and wriggling, and at the end sang out loudly the doxology of praises to our God. I thought how so very wonderful to be able to bring our children to Jesus.

          If we had a legitimate media in the United States they would have reported the disturbances at Donald Trump rallies over the weekend something like this....paid professional protesters disrupted Donald Trump rallies...... They would have reporters working 24/7 on who these people were and where their orders come from. One man at least sees our enemies enough to shout out an alarm yet we set forth to quiet him.
          This contest for a New World Order between Communism and Globalism is being seriously interrupted by this billionaire real estate magnate who no one really took seriously at first but who now is the odds-on favorite to become the next president of the United States. These people are not going to take this sitting down. Orchestrated protests, important as they are in disrupting our electoral process, are only a small part of dangers that our nation faces from these groups.
          The globalist and communist share some objectives, the chief of which is the dissolution of borders. Both utilize deception and both play upon the fog in the mind of our media and much if not most of the people who have lost the ability to either inquire or analyze. Both ultimately fear but one weapon used against them....the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
          God has called forth these enemies, clouded the mind and destroyed the discernment of many Americans....for His purposes. Which brings the focus of this post to the reader, most of whom are Christians. Do we no longer believe that...the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much? Should we not then know how to pray for America? Have we forgotten this....If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.....or are we saying that we do not lack wisdom?
         Whether there be wisdom or not in this prayer decide for yourselves.....Oh God....open our eyes....to our own sins and that of our nation....permit us to see the wolves all around us. Give us more time only if it is to be used to your glory. Restore our nation only if we first relinquish all control to you. Give us strength to fight this tyranny if only so as our children might not be kept from You. You have delayed our understanding of much of your prophetic Word; should your return now be imminent, remove those veils that we might not become drowsy and fall asleep, that we might not miss the trumpet sound of the Bridegroom. Fill our lanterns with oil. Shine your light upon our path. Give us but a glimpse of your mighty angels. Permit us to hear, if only for a moment, the encouragements of those gone before us. As our faith has not yet been perfected...."Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Complete that which is lacking in us....that we might walk as the wise....."redeeming the time, because the days are evil."

My Quest

        It was Robert Kennedy's favorite song. When sung by Jack Jones in 1966, it topped the Billboard charts...for one week anyway. Most everyone is familiar with it. It's the kind of musical composition that many people just have to stop what they are doing and listen. Man Of  La Mancha ran for 2328 performances on Broadway in 1965 and was brought back to the Great White Way four times after that. The song of course is The Impossible Dream. The musical based on the classic Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. The following are some selected verses:

        To right the unrightable wrong
        To fight the unbeatable foe        

        To be willing to march into hell
        For a heavenly cause

        And the world will be better for this
        That one man, scorned and covered with scars

        I may have lived under a dream like this in my younger years. I had enough influences to do so anyway. Again...Robert Kennedy....my hero as a teenager....he quoted poet Robert Frost in his address to the Democrat National Convention in 1964 in Atlantic City. Referring President Kennedy's admiration for the Poet Laureate, RFK recited.....

        The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
        But I have promises to keep        
        And miles to go before I sleep, 
        And miles to go before I sleep.

        It's kind of a running tete-a-tete in our home....my wife will be retiring for the evening and I'll be working on a post....."Coming to bed?" she will ask......and I'll invariably answer with...."I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep."
        So where am I going with this post? This is not the Christian life, that of this romantic and idealistic errant knight, and I'm thankful that I became aware of this early on. We may indeed have an overwhelming passion. William Wilberforce certainly had one.....eliminating the slave trade in England.  Stonewall Jackson was consumed with victory on the battlefield more than anyone I have ever read about. Ted Cruz has one now, but these men were and are more than consumed with something else, that being following their Lord and Savor Jesus Christ. There is a big difference!
        It's not an impossible dream that we live. It is a hope as certain as the earth that bears our carbon footprint. Satan is not an unbeatable foe, for he has already been defeated. Any and all of our sins can be categorized as 'unrightable wrongs.' Wrongs that we cannot make propitiation for to the Father....but Jesus has already done that...and offers this glorious salvation through belief in His name! And it was Jesus who marched into Hell... to keep us from having to do so.
        The lyricist did have one thing right. Because of One Man.....scorned and covered with scars....the world will one day be a better place!

No Vision...No Wisdom...No Problem

      The following is from December 20th:

       What do you think.....would it be best to know or not to know of impending disasters? The Apostle Paul thought it better while visiting the Thessalonians to advise them of the persecution that was about to occur... even some of our more prescient politicians today go boldly in this where our ministers fear to tread. The following post is from December 22, 2015:

       There are a succession of scenes from David Mamet's 1999 film The Winslow Boy that show how affluence can vanish in a family's life. The film is great but its not the topic here, rather the message from the original play written by Terence Rattigan in the 1940s. Arthur Winslow's youngest son is accused of a crime and the entire film resolves around his father's accumulating legal bills for the son's defense. Furniture might disappear here or a painting there as items are sold off. See this film if you get the opportunity.
       American lifestyles are about to change. Whether it be that the return of Jesus Christ is near or not, we cannot continue as we are. We are an inglorious mess here in the United States. When you have tens of millions of voters ready to vote for Hillary Clinton....you are an inglorious mess. When your colleges and universities have billion dollar endowments but not two nickels of wisdom to rub together you are an inglorious mess.
        Our Congress just passed a 1.1 trillion dollar pork-filled omnibus spending bill and they could not possibility have read the 2242 pages let alone analyzed them, and this with us barely able to keep the lights on as it is!  You can kick the can down the road only so far for the road has to eventually end. Our economic system is going to implode, and this not in the distant future. Our television has become an electronic replica of the Weimar cabaret where you can get anything that you want. We no longer have the will to defend ourselves anymore for there has to be some kind of unity and we don't have it. The only kind of unity that we are close to is in stupidity.
         We have no vision as a people. I don't mean a vision for the future but rather vision of the present. If we did we would be sitting right now with our face in our hands, praying to God for mercy. If we did, church sanctuaries on a Sunday morning would be as quiet as a hospital emergency room. If we did pastors would be entering their pulpits thinking that this might be their last sermon for the congregation may refuse to let them give another with so bleak a picture of America's future.
          We would be a laughing stock to all, but those who see the consequences of what we have become are far more likely to shed tears of sorrow than of laughter. God help us... for we have fallen so far. This present insanity cannot go on. Morning follows every New Year's Eve party and the reality that will face the revelers this year will be at the very least stark, the months ahead treacherous and the seasons fraught with instability.

Objective Assessment

         I hear it all the time in conversation and on conservative talk radio.....'America is the greatest country in the world." I would not dispute that, rather I would advise to look closer at the world to see that this is not all that much to boast about. I would also point out that America circa 2016 is but a faded image of what the Founders designed it to be, and no where near the 'city on a hill' that the Massachusetts Bay colonists looked to begin. I would also thankfully admit that a remnant of our constitutional republic still exists in much of our military, and a remnant of that 'city on hill' in many churches and families.
         Let's look at the other side. We have sacrificed our children, and continue to sacrifice them on the altars of false gods. At one time and for much of our history, belief in and reverence for God was a cornerstone of our education. Today God has been issued a restraining order to stay away from the students! Education of our children and of young adults has been hijacked. From elementary school to the wasteland of higher education we mold rather than teach and too often curse rather than bless.
        We have sat back and let wolves come in and devour our children. As I write, Drudge has a story of two people being shot over a pair of the just released Nike Air Jordan basketball shoes. Whether it is violence or Miley Cyrus or even the occult, we permitted our children to be taken hostage. We look for explanations in psychology for the many and varied irrational behaviors...we look everywhere but where the answer is....we kept them away from God. We abort life whenever it is inconvenient. The greatest nation on this earth aborts its unwanted children.....by the tens of millions!
       So...I wrote in the last post that America has become a "stench in God's nostrils." Maybe your first thought was that this comment was extreme and unfair? I think it is an objective assessment.      
        Logic and reason are great gifts that God gave to man. It's a beautiful thing shared from the simple to the genius. Our Founding Fathers were greatly gifted in them. Our universities once thrived on them. Mothers and fathers raised generations of America's children in the home with these as pillars of learning, but where once logic and reason adorned the American mind, the politically correct now deforms it.
        Continue to think that we are so great if you want to, but stay away from reading the Old Testament prophets for it can be as if looking into a mirror. Israel was at one time an aroma and at another a stench, and so it has been with us. That aroma can only come back through our pulpits... which we now erroneously think can do no wrong, and where we defend ministers of the Word rather than the ministry of the Word.

Final Decree

          I'm a Ted Cruz supporter who almost hopes that he doesn't win, for he would be blamed for the judgement already decreed upon our nation. God has clearly, concisely and consistently warned us in America for over fifty years but we have done exactly what Israel had done many times when in the same position....we ignored the warnings of God and doubled down on our rebellion. For years in these posts I contrasted the prophets Jonah and Nahum. Jonah gave Nineveh a warning but over a century later Nahum pronounced a sentence! My hope was for another Jonah but it appears to be Nahum speaking to America today. If you do not see this it may be because you also do not see America as it is right now.
          Consider these words from Jeremiah 7:4...."Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'this is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD'." The people thought that temple services and a few choice religious words was all that they needed. Well, we have our own chosen religious phrase..."God bless America." Folks...it's worthless. It's been well over a century since we were a Bible believing people and today violence consumes us as we build our Tower of Babel. We are a stench in God's nostrils.
         Ted Cruz can't change this. Romans 1:28 reads "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind....."  Our government is run by two competing corrupt syndicates that treated an American heritage despising, lawless, Marxist president with kid gloves, and that would welcome Jezebel herself, but who are having conniptions over Donald Trump. What a President Ted Cruz would indeed be for America is that of a righteous leader in a time of great distress! God have mercy on America' should be our petition.