"No Day Of My Life...."

        Ronald Reagan could not right this ship of state. George Washington could not buy us another day apart from what God has alotted. Thomas Jefferson could not convince this moribund Congress of its illness. Benjamin Franklin could not shame this media into doing their job. Abraham Lincoln could not find words of wisdom to penetrate the cold, listless, Facebook mentality that paralyzes our intellects. Self-abasement and repentance are what is needed in America. We have done it before but we are different people today. We are more likely to demand that God admit a little culpability in our problems.
        It was probably the mid 1990's, I was listening to John MacArthur's radio program Grace To You, and he offered his listening audience a free book titled Valley of Vision. The offer slipped my mind and I never sent for it. I happened upon it one day while looking through a catalog from Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The full title is The Valley Of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, and it's edited by Arthur Bennett and published by Banner Of Truth Trust. It sits prominently on a table in our dining room and I use it as a dinner prayer book irregardless of who we might have over. It is one of my most valued possessions in life.
         The following is one of those prayers. I read it over three or four times before starting to compose this post. The reader does not know the author of the prayers. A dozen or so names from the past are given but it was intentional not to put a name to the individual prayers. Please consider meditating on the words of this prayer if only for a few minutes. Does your pastor pray in this spirit of humility? Do your own prayers prostrate yourself before God as this prayer would have us?
         
        
O Lord, No day of my life has passed that has not proved me guilty in thy sight,
Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart;
Praise has been often praiseless sound;
My best services are filthy rags.
Blessed Jesus, Let me find a covert in thy appeasing wounds.
Though my sins rise to heaven thy merits soar above them;
Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,
Thy righteousness exalts me to thy throne.
All things in me call for my rejection,
All things in thee plead my acceptance.
I appeal from the throne of perfect justice
To thy throne of boundless grace,
Grant me to hear thy voice assuring me:
that by thy stripes I am healed,
that thou wast bruised for my iniquities,
that thou hast been made sin for me,
that I might be righteous in thee,
that my grievous sins, my manifold sins,
are all forgiven,
buried in the ocean of thy concealing blood.
I am guilty, but pardoned
lost, but saved.
wandering, but found,
sinning, but saved,
Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,
Keep me always clinging to thy cross.
Flood me every moment with descending grace,
sparkling like crystal
flowing clear and unsullied
through my wilderness of life.

Anecdote

      
       Most everyone by now knows of the new book that is out by a retired member of the Secret Service titled...Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate, by Gary J. Byrne. One of the key issues Byrne deals with in the book is Hillary Clinton's violent temper and therefore fitness to become the President of the United States.
       While I was doing a little research today on another topic, I came across an anecdote that supports the concerns of Gary Byrne about Hillary Clinton. It came from a 2015 article from the Huffington Post titled Scenes From A Marriage, The Worst Relationship Between a U. S. President And An Israeli Prime Minister-As Autopsied By The People Closest To Them and was written by Amir Tibon & Tal Shalev. The anecdote revolved around a meeting that you may remember between Netanyahu and Joe Biden where an Israeli municipal announcement was made just previous to the meeting about the "construction of 1,600 new housing units....beyond the 1967 borders." Barack Obama was furious and assigned Hillary Clinton to make the phone call to Benjamin Netanyahu expressing the administration's anger and demands.  The call was made and a short description of it was given in the article but some comments made by observers of the conversation precipitated this preface to the following post which is very recent. Those comments obviously also caught the attention of the Huffington Post for they placed them in bold print in the middle of the piece. Here it how it appears in the article:

                             ONE ISRAELI OFFICIAL
                              DESCRIBED HILLARY
                               CLINTON'S CALL TO
                         NETANYAHU AS "VIOLENT."
                            ANOTHER CALLED IT "ONE OF
                               THE MOST SHOCKING
                            MOMENTS OF MY CAREER." 

We Are Hillary Clinton   

          I've seen various pictures of Hillary Clinton over the last few days where she is standing in front of a crowd with her arms raised. The title of the article accompanying the photo from the lead headline on Drudge as I write has something to do with the word 'Goddess' and the photo itself was enhanced with colorful graphics for effect. The faces in the crowd behind her were hard to make out but one women's face was discernible and I became fixated on it because of the woman's adoring smile.
          All politics aside, for this post has nothing to do with politics, given Hillary's 25 years in the public eye of our nation, given the documentation on one failure or scandal after another, and given the barrage of testimony describing a ruthless, self-serving, greedy and corrupt individual, how can she possibly even be in contention for the nomination for president let alone have adoring supporters?
          Hillary Clinton is not the issue for she doesn't own the patent on corruption. The issue of concern is the American public. We know what greed can do but it's not greed that drives a Hillary supporter. It also has nothing at all to do with America or any ideology. The rest of us read or hear her words, follow her antics and observe a political life with no content at all. Her speeches are empty phrases, her smiles are waxen and her laugh is staged and mechanical. She is a past president of the world's liars club and probably current world record holder for most consecutive years without a sincere comment on anything. She is as real as the laughing lady at a carnival. Yet American citizens in large numbers seem to worship the moving statue. They actually commune in spirit with the idol.
         So how does something like this come about? Are we tranquilized or bewitched? Could it possibly just be intellectual laziness? Surely it's not that we have been deceived for a deceiver has to have a gambit and Hillary has no content to even mull over, and no plan to follow. She merely offers herself.
         Psalm 115 is the ninth Psalm in Book Five of the Psalms. Are you aware that the Psalms are divided into five 'books?' The fifth book has been described as one of consummation....or the completion of the kingdom of God. This particular Psalm begins with a question...."Why should the nations say, Where is their God?" The Psalmist is observing a world that doubts God's marvelous works in creation and His power in defense of the Israelites. The Psalm continues in describing the nations:
Their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses but cannot smell.
They have hands,
but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk.....
Those who make them are just like them,
as are all who trust in them."
         Here is part of the answer to the question I posed as to how someone like Hillary Clinton can have come about. We, as a people, created her. She cannot express truth or sympathy or genuine concern....and neither can we. We are a robotic people creating robots. We are artificial intelligence creating artificial intelligence. We are Hillary Clinton. The Psalmist follows these verses with a command to all who seek His glory.....trust in the LORD.....trust in the LORD.....trust in the LORD!

Highly recommended.....The Flow of the Psalms...Discovering Their Structure and Theology.....O. Palmer Robertson

Time-Release

         As I have written many times in the past, unless you are of the fortunate few, you will get little to no news worth digesting from your local newspaper, nor from the evening national television news. Yes, they do have to cover topics such as Brexit but their choice of articles and editorial opinion is designed to make you think that you are being informed, most likely because they do not have a clue themselves. Don't believe me? Take the Drudge test. Matt Drudge merely gathers news from anywhere and everywhere and links it to his page. So you get a title and if you wish to read it it's only a click away. Read the 'titles only' for a week, a few times a day. These titles alone will shake you to the core. Case in point...As I write Drudge has this as his main headline under a photo of Angel Merkel:
                                  RISE OF GERMAN SUPERSTATE
                             EU MEMBERS TO DISSOLVE ARMIES
                                  SURRENDER ECONOMIC POWER
         This article announces a plan that some technocrats in Europe have for a superstate.....a federation. Even if it doesn't make headway it makes it very clear what their hopes are and also that they are in panic mode. This concept put forth doesn't surprise me, in fact the Bible has already announced a final superstate in Europe. What I want to relate to you in this post is not this news per se but the reality that everything that we consider solid and stable can change in a matter of days if not sooner. Whatever happens in Europe it will be a major paradigm change for not only the citizens of Europe but for everyone in the world. Brexit was and is big news. We're not dealing with mid-level players such as a US President or British PM, we're dealing with the real powers...the money powers. They think that they own the world. Kings and presidents only manage it for them.
         Stay uninformed if you have a weak stomach, as many Germans and many other Europeans did while Hitler built up his army, and as many in America did while Communism patiently infiltrated many of our professions in order to dumb us down. Common Sense 101 says that if it happened in the past it can happen again.
         There is a time-release mechanism that God has included in His Word. Most Christians reading this post can affirm that a Biblical truth out of God's Word first came to them when they needed it most, even though they may have read certain passages dozens of times and decades before. God's will and His Word are perfect in accuracy and in power and in timing. His prophetic Word is no different. The words of prophesy are for Christians in every age, but for those in that age it is for them specifically....Revelation 1:3....."Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."

Request

If you even somewhat agree with the content and the warning of these posts, or even if you think they merit discussion in a wider audience, please pass 'specialdogg.blogspot.com' on to anyone that you think might be interested. 

I Know Whom I Have Believed

I chose the following from August of 2009 for my Lord's Day post:

         I walked into a Christian book store for the very first time early in 1982, browsed the shelves for a little while and wound up buying a book that peeked my interest. It was Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell. God had already been working upon my heart and my mind even as I had just finished reading the Pulitzer Prize winning book Denial Of Death by Ernest Becker that made a good case against religion (general non-fiction 1974), and also Eric Hoffer's small classic The True Believer that was a powerful work against anyone that believed anything passionately. I had torn the Denial Of Death in half so that I could carry some of it with me until I had completed reading it.
         Then came Evidence That Demands A Verdict. It wasn't McDowell's intellect that effected me, nor even the truths in the book, for many could have read it and not been affected. It certainly was not my decision to believe, for I might have fallen for any powerful philosophy at the time. I was a man with a void in my life. Were there were any true purposes in this life? I was altruistic, or so I thought. It hadn't been that long since I volunteered and phoned an entire community of Democrats in support of Edward Kennedy's Pennsylvania primary campaign.
         God then took a layer of veil off of my eyes. I had a glimpse of His majesty and I saw my purpose in life to become one more person to bathe in the sin cleansing blood of Calvary. Had I known then the long path that I would have to take to even understand the gospel I would have been severely discouraged. If I knew today my specific limitations and the errors in my thinking I might be very saddened but not discouraged, for I now more fully understand that we indeed are pilgrims. His promises are true or I would not have made it this far.
         This may sound naive but when I see an elderly person, feeble and wrinkled, a person who was young and attractive at one time, it consoles me greatly, for though I see the reality of a quickly passing life, I also see and understand what Paul wrote in his second epistle to Timothy... "...for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."
         Take a peek at your watch. You cannot stop what that second hand, moving before your eyes, represents. Do you have arguments against God or even His existence? There is hope, and that hope is that the veil over your eyes can be lifted, and in Him who is willing to do so, for He turns no one away who has desired this!

A House Divided

        If one is born into a cauldron then violence and chaos are the norm and any increasing violence and chaos slowly but surely becomes indiscernible. America has been such a cauldron for the last twenty-five years. Half of its people are being cooked and couldn't tell if there's a new chef or even if the heat is being turned up. The other half, having experienced the extreme discomfort, has determined that the destruction of our city is imminent if something is not done.
       Our discernment is so weakened that Barack Hussein Obama, a man whose past is clouded such that no profile can even be attempted, a past shrouded in secrecy as to whether an Islamic faith lay dormant or whether his communist mentors that shaped the anger within him are still his guide, a man who regularly spews disgust at Christianity and at America....a man like this we not only elected to be our president but after four years of epic failure, deceit and treachery bordering on treason....we elected again.
       Our inability to decipher the message that Islamic terrorism plainly gives to the world that if we do not let their infiltration go on unimpeded, if we attempt to subject them to any scrutiny beyond that which a Boy Scout would get, and if we do not permit them to not only enter but allow them to substitute their law over ours, then they will continue to kill and main with abandon, with no accompanying guilt whatsoever, for their views on right and wrong, and life and death, are so dramatically irreconcilable with ours.
       That Scotland, once united with the European Reformation, and once a bulwark against apostasy, would threaten the United Kingdom with cessation in order to unite with European apostasy not only from liberty but from reverence to a Holy God... this evidences that this house, the West, is truly divided and will fall. This world is hastening towards a confrontation with the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and the author and finisher of the faith of those who look to Him!
       

Brussels Sprouts

         How would you describe it...another realm....a parallel world? What term would best describe them...the ultra rich...the global elites...one book author called them the superclass. They struggle with the same money issues that we do although we may be short a couple thousand in hand money for a project whereas they may be short a couple billion for their project. We lose a day's pay and it's a couple hundred dollars... they lose a day's pay and it's in the millions. We both depend on our government for order and security. Let me expand a little on that. When we refer to 'our' government we refer to the democratically elected parliament or congress led by a prime minister or a president. The pronoun 'our' is possessive only in that there is a particular government that rules over us. With them...the superclass if you will... the 'our' is possessive in terms of ownership....they believe that they own the governments!
         What happened yesterday in the United Kingdom's referendum vote was that the former...the voters...dramatically altered the course of their government...the UK, whereas the latter viewed the voters as dramatically altering the course of the government that they, the globalist elite, owned. Their money and influence is such that politicians can be little more than employees and governments little more than shareholders... where the board of directors...the superclass...repeatedly have to move in and out in their roles of teacher and taskmaster.
         They are not going to take the combined $128 billion they lost today sitting down. To be fair they are not all alike. One the one end there may be someone who thinks that by giving away one billion of their twenty billion they will surely get into heaven as a philanthropist, and on the other end there are those who will layoff thousands to turn their 20 billion into 21 billion.
         What worries the globalist elites most is that the UK is not an isolated rebellion. The full scale revolt in America against the Republican establishment is every bit as bad if not worse. Other European nations are threatening referendums to leave the EU. They are also worried because their tricks are often not working anymore. They threatened the British, and historically that's not something the British take kindly to.
          I listened to an interview today with an EU insider who appeared to be in denial that massive and unrestricted immigration into the open borders of Europe precipitated the Brexit, and that in their money lust for cheap labor they endangered the security of whole societies, and that from an early economic EU they sprouted out into a political and ideological EU which was a major and monumental mistake. Their lack of humility and failure to admit mistakes portends some form of retribution, possibly accepting even much heavier financial losses to regain control, and maybe even instigating instability in order to subdue the revolting peasantry.
        

High Places

         The following post on the topic of Facebook is only a week old but it is all over the news again. This from the Boston Globe and Hiawatha Bray..."Someday soon, you'll come home from a hard days work, flop down on the sofa, switch on the TV and watch a little Facebook." You can now transmit live video to your friends, as Mr Bray notes..."from the beach or (your) favorite nightclub." This is not new but Facebook is adding some changes where a user can notify all his 'friends' that he is on Facebook...live with video. The news media is already utilizing this service app. the Democrat 'sit-in' was broadcast on Facebook. Breitbart London reports "The number one trending story on Facebook on the day Britain votes on its membership of the EU is radical hate preacher Anjem Choudary lending his support to remain.' The Financial Times reports that social media is taking over advertising.  And these are only the latest news items.
         It should not have to take a futurist to see that all civilization may eventually revolve around this medium. It should not require a prodigious imagination to picture the darkness to where this may lead. It should not take a Bible prophesy 'expert' to see that these are not end-times indications but end-times blueprints. On a personal level Facebook and its competitors are dismantling the individual and reconstructing him into an automaton devoid of free thinking, inquiry and often even reality. To the Christians, it is setting them up for a fall where their involvement and fascination in social media could obscure warnings from God's Word that would normally be discernible, and this may already be happening. To all citizens it may become Big Brother.
         We certainly cannot stop this but we can refuse to be a part of it, and even there the economic pressures and possibly even the legal strictures may make non-participation next to impossible. What we can do is pray for discernment as if we were praying for our daily sustenance. We are setting up this particular technology on the high places, and worship may not be far off if it in fact has not already started.

Moral Equivalence.....June 15th

        Facebook is a monster that we welcomed in with open arms. Hardly more than a few days go by before Drudge will have yet another report on some sort of suspected abuse by Facebook or research on the negative effects of social media in general on a person's psychological or mental health. They don't mention spiritual health but I will. It cannot edify. God doesn't need social media. We actually support Facebook through participation while not only failing to warn others but encouraging them in their participation.
         The moral equivalence fallacy is employed often today in polemics...and many buy into it. For example, if a conservative would bring up the Clinton's decades long, disgusting, possibly criminal and maybe even treasonous lust for cash, all a liberal has to do is bring up one example of Republican greed and corruption. It then becomes an everybody does it kind of thing with no mention of, or concern for, the degree or consistency of the offenses. I can see a similar fallacy employed in the defense of social media.  As I write, the Fox News headline is "BREAKING NEWS: Orlando terrorist's chilling Facebook posts from inside nightclub during rampage." Maybe you have heard of the recent horrific terror attack 35 miles north of Paris where a terrorist stabbed to death a police chief at his home and then tortured and murdered the policeman's wife....on live streaming Facebook? God does not need Facebook to evangelize. The intellectual and emotional slavery of social media and Facebook cannot simply be countered by positive results from Christian ministries attempting to turn something bad into something good.
       I'm bringing back the topic of  Facebook because of an article on Drudge right now titled Facebook is predicting the end of the written word. Nicola Mendelsohn is Facebook's operations chief in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In an interview she said that in five years Facebook "will be definitely mobile, it will be probably all video." According to the article she suggested that "stats showed the written word becoming all but obsolete." Apparently there was some uneasiness in the room as she made these comments so she added that the written word will not entirely disappear because "You'll have to write for the video."

Brexit

         Within a few hours Britons will be going to the polls in what may be their last chance to vote to leave the European Union which they have been been a part of since 1973. I paused just now in an attempt to even imagine America in such an alliance of nations. Can't do it....we're Americans....no trade bait to put a few extra bucks in my pocket, and no cool take a trip to Paris with no passport would ever entice me to have even considered such a situation in the first place. I like paying for my pizza delivery with a couple of Alexander Hamiltons and slipping the delivery person an Abe Lincoln. I've grown accustomed to Washington D.C. being the center of corruption in my life. I'm kind of fond of our Constitution. I don't want any other flag flying on or near our government buildings and I'd rather we make our own laws to live by.
         The real British are putting up quite a fight in this referendum, just as we are with our Marxist president, socialist Democrats and Vichyssoise Republican elites. In fact there is strong resistance building all over the globe to establishment and globalist wonks who pay great detail to their projections while totally ignoring their past string of failures, ill-conceived immigration policies, and the resolve of peoples to retain their identity and individualism when under the threat of losing it.       
         May God have mercy on the people of the United Kingdom in this vote, and on other nations challenging the globalist elite, and upon us in America who seven years ago sublet our White House for a mess of pottage. More than that, may His will be done, with all glory going to Him, whether it be in our demise, or in mercies given to return from the pigsty of our radical secularism. This following post is from June of 2010:

Never, Never, Never Quit!
        
         I recently switched cars with my son and dropped my money clip between the seat and console, a very tight space. I retrieved it along with a metal bookmark that I had given him with a quote etched on it. The words read "Never, never, never quit-Winston Churchill." One word, thrice repeated, does not sound very poetic but it does deliver the message. When utilized in the Bible, it means what it does today...extreme emphasis. I don't mean to sound trite but a saying like that needs pondering over, even meditating upon. Churchill's actual words delivered in October of 1941 were Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

The Lion And The Lamb

   It may be that as I write this a roar is going up at Oakmont Country Club, which is a little over thirty miles from where I write, as the final putt rolls into the cup at the U. S. Open Championship of golf. I really don't even have a guess as to what the greatest roar of celebration may have been upon a victory in sports. A world soccer championship win for the home team comes to mind. An NHL Stanley Cup last second goal or a Super Bowl touchdown as times expires are two other possibilities. Bill Mazeroski's ninth inning home run in the 1960 World Series...in Pittsburgh...might be up there.  
         As an anecdote, I was ten years old at the time. My mother and I lived in a basement apartment in Buffalo, New York and were watching the game with a young Yankee fan friend of mine. I was so nervous that I had to walk outside. The next thing I knew my mother was literally throwing my friend out the door in celebration. I missed the Maz home run but saw video clips of that celebration many times.
         You get my point I'm sure, but the roar of celebration is not limited to sports. Nominating a candidate for president at the national convention could cause a tumult of celebration. I'm sure that there have been weddings where upon some cultural tradition, a breaking of a glass maybe, that the family and friends let out a roar of exaltation that shook the hall of celebration. There are so many other possibilities that you could come up with, but all of these combined would be but a drop of water in the ocean compared to what the Apostle John describes in the nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. Read these words and try to imagine what John saw and what will indeed happen in the future, and in what is probably the not too distant future:

       Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelu-YAH For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." 

       Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what we shall be in attendance for! There is nothing that can stop it or even delay it. Should we not, with John's scroll serving as a virtual YouTube, celebrate what is more sure than anything we can even see with our own eyes today? Was not this vision given for that very reason? Rejoice even amidst the chaotic news all around us... for the lion will indeed one day lay down with the lamb....this because the Lamb of God was slain....and the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book...."      

A Greater Fear

        Note:  In a little over two days Britons go to the polls in a referendum on whether to remain in the European Union or to leave.

        All religions of this earth apart from Christianity address the issue of either salvation or conditions in a future state of being as directly corresponding to how one lives the present life. In common doctrinal terms it would be described as a 'works salvation.' If one is good, God will be fair and reward accordingly, and if one is not good, God will punish accordingly. This reasoning is natural to the human mind. How could one even possibly question such a supposition? But God's Word to man describes something altogether different. Salvation is by grace (alone) through faith (alone) in Christ (alone)!  We ourselves do nothing to merit this salvation...not even our repentance or our faith, for even these are given to us.
       Islam is a religion of works along with all other religions. Here one can work and sacrifice and earn and eventually be rewarded. Christianity is mercy given, regeneration extended and only then is one able to even have faith unto salvation. The immediate reward is in knowing that one is forgiven, and knowing the author of that salvation. The works, necessary as they may be, are offered in thanksgiving for even the opportunity to be of use and to bring rightful glory to the author of all that is good.
       Certain countries in the West fear Islam and Sharia law being forced upon them, for at the very  least their culture would then change, but there is an even greater fear in these countries, that of a holy God, a fear of God not based on reverence but on pride. If they turn to Him that was the God of their fathers, not only would their cultures change, but the peace of mind they have in their reasonable religion would be shattered. Consequently they may take their chances with the fast encroaching Islam.
       You may profess confusion here... for the West is Christian isn't it? The West is Christendom...not Christianity. There is no holy God on a throne, rather a name and a book lay on some table nearby, and only a vague memory exists, and it is not valued. This is a hard statement but over a century of invention and progress mixed in with world wars and topped with money and an entertainment culture to spend it on have taken its toll. So it is a conflict between Christendom and Islam with Christianity on the sidelines.
       England ....your journey was long and arduous, fraught with temptations, many of which you succumbed to, but your victories were many. You gave us a standard of honor that although we rebelled to go our own way we had you to thank for our character and Christian faith. You gave us standards in the faith that still rule the minds of Christians all over this world. You are struggling now in your rebellion to God. May He remember those from your past from what is now the United Kingdom, who looked only to Him, who relied only upon Him, and may He draw you to Himself in humility once again.
        Germany....you changed the world. You rescued the Word of God. You uncovered a diadem in 'faith...alone.' You then paid a steep price for turning from Him. May
he give you a Luther to awaken and princes to protect him as He had done before.
        To much of Northern Europe, we owe so much to you. You were the heroes and the defenders of olde. It's from your ports that the pilgrims departed, and from your printing presses that the Bible was distributed in the language of the people. May God renew in you a burning faith. May the smoldering embers that must surely be there ignite the parched faith that once lighted the world and rescue you from darkness of the modern mind.
         O America....you beacon in the darkness, you harbor in a tempest, you flame of liberty, you haven for the persecuted seeking freedom....you have lost your way, your compass is broken, your sails no longer hold the wind, your flag is tattered beyond recognition, your hull is breached, your cargo spoiled, your rudder frozen as your ice-cold heart, your captain incompetent, your ship's officers admiring themselves in mirrors as an enemy ship pulls abreast and lowers its cannon.
          Have you forgotten from whence you came, of whom you always sought guidance, and of whom you relied for your daily bread? Of course you have! That is why you are reeling, why you have no leaders and why your security is compromised. Few of us in America are without blame and I am not one of them. May we read anew the message to the church at Ephesus and harken to its command to return to our first love that we had before we even became a nation unto ourselves. If we now believe that we will be rewarded for our 'good works' then we will be as all the rest who labor in vain, who rely on ourselves apart from faith in Jesus Christ, and whose end will be quick and final.

   

Odd Attraction

          If you listen to either Rush, Hannity or Mark Levin on a regular basis you may have noticed that their criticisms of Barack Obama have been taken up a few levels. If you have SiriusXM and listen to Breitbart in the 6 to 9 AM hours you will find the same thing. By being taken up a few levels I mean that there is an urgency in their voices that is palpable. They are no longer just radio talk show hosts that take a strong conservative stance on important issues. They are up to their shoulders in flood waters, calling out a MAYDAY to everyone within earshot. But that...'within earshot'...in itself explains part of the problem.
         I was sitting with two friends today and all three of us were occupied with minor personal matters. As usual my mind cannot go too long without at least visiting the more weightier matters of the day that we live in. I looked over at my two friends who I know very well and of whom I also know that their sources of information.....the news.....comes from two very liberal newspapers, occasionally the evening television national news, and a 60 Minutes now and then, ergo they have absolutely no news and analysis capable of waking them up even as the roar of battle is all around them, the treachery of a United States president threatens all of their liberties and freedoms, and the collapse of the nation that I'm sure they love is imminent!
         Possibly you have noticed that the countenance of Barack Hussein Obama has changed as of late. Where it was once one of smug arrogance tinctured with a smirk, it is becoming increasingly more of a nervous tic, facial contortions and even occasional stuttering as he knows that the American people are within one honest mainstream news anchor from awakening to a man in their White House who has had an ulterior motive all along....to weaken America and strengthen its enemies.
         Only the latest from a long laundry list of dirty linen in this administration is the forced immigration upon us that is nothing more than a caravan hiding terrorists in amongst the hastily gathered immigrants. How long can he go on blaming guns for terrorist attacks in our nation before even liberals demand the borders be secured and the FBI unleashed on the terrorists....real terrorists? How many more times can he ratchet up a defense of Islam when in reality the outrage is directed towards radical Islam....without even the dullest of observers noticing an odd attraction to a religious faith, one other than his own professed faith, that borders on subservience to it? How many more executive actions can he get away with without one Democrat Senator or one liberal Supreme Court judge or one national news anchor saying enough is enough, or even one Republican establishment elite like Paul Ryan looking up to heaven and in stark terror asking himself...what have I done?
         The rubber bands of deception are unravelling on the golf ball that Barack Obama shanked into the parking lot from his 300th round of golf while the world reels from violence and staggers in chaos. No, he is confident no more and it shows. His little game of hide the Communist Manifesto within a morass of lies is falling apart. May God have mercy on us and enable us to see what we have become and to look to Him once more in humility and repentance seeking only his will, for ours has proven self-destructive and suicidal.

Note:  It is mind-boggling in arrogance and scope. You no longer will have the excuse of claiming ignorance or naivete' on the radical transformation of our government that has been in progress for quite some time and is quickening and expanding rapidly. The latest is this....our Obama appointed Secretory of Defense has put forth a plan where, if approved by Congress, our military may hire officers as high as an O-6 pay grade (colonel) from off the street! They may pick men from any profession, and women of course, and consider them to be future general materiel. And who do you think would be giving the promotions? After all, the tradition of our military growing its own leaders is not written in stone is it? Folks, will their plans of infiltration stop anywhere? Apparently not. At the present time a Dentist or a lawyer may be enlisted and commisioned as high as a major. Proponents say that 'cyber' officers are needed now but admit that they do not know what might be needed in the future. I can make some educated guesses.

      

'A Sacred Fire'

The following post is from November 2010. I bring it back because any step into the past is valuable in this age of deconstruction and renunciation of America's past in favor of what our modern Deweyesque (John Dewey) educational system has produced in the form of a younger generation all too often fit for the purpose of following and not thinking for themselves, and joining the group rather than becoming an individual.

'A Sacred Fire' 

         George Washington was born on February 22nd 1732 on the family plantation in the house known as Wakefield in Westmoreland County, Virginia and died December 14th, 1799.  Technically he was born February 11th (today) 1731 in what was the Old Style dating system of the Julian calendar before the Gregorian calendar was chosen two decades later where the dates were adjusted. Attendance at Christian church services were at low ebb at the time of his death and that is putting it mildly. American Christianity had  been in a steady decline for decades as the passions of freedom and liberty overwhelmed the more mundane concerns of eternal life. We were not founded as a Christian nation but neither were we founded as a deistic nation. It's important to understand the religious beliefs of our Founding Fathers to the greatest degree that we can discern it and George Washington is a good place to start. The following post is a book review from November of 2010:

George Washington

        How many of our Founding Fathers were Deists? I don't know.  Deism was a popular belief system where there may be a God but he would be a very impersonal one that does not involve himself in the affairs of man, there would be no Holy Scripture for man to refer to and certainly no atonement. But what about George Washington, the Father of our Country? How do the historians weigh in on him?

         Peter A. Lillback is an historian but he is also a theologian whose 725 page tome Sacred Fire, with an additional 232 pages of appendices, came to a different conclusion than most of the secular historians. Lillback has a distinct advantage in the area of our first President's life for he knows what the gospel is. Much if not most of secular commentary on Christianity today is given from people who are incapable of understanding the Gospel in its fullest (Scriptural) sense.

           Lillback's book breaks down the issue into various areas such as the religious historical setting of the day, Washington's early life, his church and family life before and after the Revolution and his presidency, the testimony of others who knew him well and of course his connection to Masonry. One thing that you have to know about George Washington to even begin an examination of this question is his character and personality, for these traits may effect the impression others will have of his religious belief. Personal honor was everything to the man! If he was going to do anything at all in life it was display a strong character and integrity and let his observers do what they want with it. Lillback gives evidence upon evidence here on Washington's fanaticism in this area and the extreme pains he took to guard it in his life. How does this relate to the issue of his Christian belief? Deist belief is not a hazy agnosticism that one could weave in and out of. It was distinct. Lillback makes the case, and I wholeheartedly concur, that one could very well be a deist and be a churchman; but one could not be a deist, a churchman of Washington's level of involvement with orthodox Christian churches, and prize honor and integrity anywhere near the level that Washington did without being a complete fraud!

          It's not the total answer to the question but it's a beginning and all in Washington's favor for he could not have taken the vows he did, constructed the prayers, espoused the Christian causes he did, and at the same time deny the essence of Christian belief through an actual embrace of Deism! George Washington had a knowledge of the Bible and documentation proved that he read it and valued Holy Scripture from his youth to the day he died when an open Bible was beside his bed along with his Christian wife who had the hope that she would see him in heaven.

         I understand Lillback's description of Washington's intense personal peculiarities for I hold to many myself. I will not look to the left or the right of the pulpit during a worship service. I will not let any intrusions or intended aids to the preached message enter my mind for I spent my first years in the Christian faith studying "Christian cults" and aberrant theologies and know all to well how easily we fall for man's, often well-intentioned, motives!

         One of Washington's creeds was actions not words and consequently he came up short on the words as a result. This is evidence enough for someone who wants to come to the conclusion that George Washington was a Deist. I understand this situation. Washington's usage of words such as Divine Providence, which was his norm, is further evidence for some that Washington viewed God as simply a grand architect, but he also used the word God, and the vows, prayers and teachings that he was officially involved with were evangelical. Whether a young soldier, a general or President of the United States, Washington could not possibly have held to his personal convictions of honor and integrity and continued to hide his deist beliefs.

         His library was voluminous and he paid great attention to the books he bought, kept and cherished. Many Christians books are included here, as well as sermons, yet no books, of which their were many in existence, that proclaimed Deist belief. Washington relied on others to raise the children in his care and under his sphere of influence. He took great care in this area also and chose Christian teachers over some well respected teachers and professors who were known for their secular emphasis. Lillback gives us one of those biographies that searches out and tackles all the arguments against the main premise. So you'll find chapters on mundane areas of Washington's life as well as rumors that were in existence. All of these are satisfactorily answered.

         The biggest question of all in this examination of George Washington's religious belief, and it's the one question that many seem to answer even before examination, is concerning his well-publicized membership in Masonry. I had this question in the back of my mind as I read through the book, eagerly looking forward to how Lillback would handle it. I've read a fair amount on the Masons, particularly many years ago, but Lillback gave some thoughts to ponder that I had not read. The essence of his defense of Washington is this. Masonry underwent a fundamental change beginning in the late 18th century, a change that put it directly at odds with Christianity, which has remained to today. Previous to this faction coming to the fore, and according to Lillback, Masonry was attempting, in albeit a very unwise way, to advance the Christian religion with the help of Masonic characteristics of order. Before the change in Masonry, a heated debate existed as both factions fought for influence. One prominent Christian minister was recruited to Masonry for this purpose, to halt the slide into an unChristian, even anti-Christian mode. He wisely refused for none of the discerning Christian ministers of the day would have taken the path the George Washington earlier did. Washington himself was warned in a letter against the influence of the European Illuminati. His response was that he did not feel that such a precarious influence existed here in the United States, yet added that he had only been to two Masonic meetings in the past thirty years.

         George Washington's eternal soul is not dependent on the opinion of historians...either way, but it is a legitimate endeavor to see where this giant of a man and maybe the most illustrious and most influential of all our Presidents stood. After reading Lillback's book I still do not have a definite opinion on this but do acknowledge that this man who had so many qualities and abilities may indeed have been a Christian. Certainly, he was no Deist! The fact that he had weaknesses effects me only as long as it takes me to look in the mirror. The gospel cannot be compromised in any way. Works play no part in the regeneration of a person's soul. If George Washington believed that one does, in effect, work his way to salvation, it would be to his eternal demise.
         Our hope is not in America's might or its continuing display and defense of liberties and freedoms, yet many have fallen for just that fallacy! This book should only be used as an historical biography concerning the religious belief of that historical figure. George Washington may indeed have been a giant among governmental leaders of his or any day but he was a man nonetheless and my interest in his eternal salvation is surely there but ultimately no greater than of the person who checked out my apples, coffee and pickled eggs at the Giant Eagle this evening.

Panic And Chaos

         This world has been ruled by what can be termed an establishment for over a century. Merriam-Webster defines the word 'establishment' as it is used here as "an established order of society....a group of social, economic, and political leaders who form a ruling class.....a controlling group.' This is not to say that there haven't been challenges to that establishment, for Communism and Hitler's National Socialism had sought their own world rule and were responsible for well over a hundred million deaths through wars, famines and extermination.
         These people, globalists if you will, regularly meet in their secret conclaves around the world and make their plans. Government leaders, bureaucrats and think tank experts would then leave to do their part, bankers to do theirs and the mega-rich to do theirs. It always worked, for the media is owned by these mega-rich.
         It didn't really matter what specific challenge came up to their political and economic hegemony because they had vast resources in money and power to deal with it but today they are panicking and with good reason. One hundred years of plans gone awry and decades of complete and utter failures have put them behind the eight ball. Their monetary schemes have run their course and can no longer buy them time. The American public may no longer let them bail out the losers. Americans are carrying around pocket versions of our Constitution. They are about to lose the White House which they have owned since 1989. England may leave the EU and Italy may follow. Their global warming scam is a bust. Celebrity endorsements of their schemes are worthless and no one believes the media anymore.
         This is not to say that these people will give up. What it  means is that drastic measures may be necessary to secure their lifestyles lived in Alpine castles, metropolitan penthouses and on private islands. This is also not to say that the collapse of the world's ruling class holds any hope for America. China and Russia may make their move on the globalists while radical Islam may find a way to take the drastic decisions out of their hands. Chaos is everywhere except in God's design.
         The world's schemes only amplify our problems which are spiritual in nature. There is an interesting passage in the gospels of Matthew and Mark where Jesus, after making His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, retires outside the city for the evening and the next morning He is hungry and sees a fig tree in the distance. Upon approaching it He sees that its leaves are out but it bears no fruit. He curses the tree with these words...."May no fruit ever come from you again!" The fig tree withered. When the disciples asked Him about this He said..."Have faith in God" and then gave that often quoted verse about commanding a mountain to throw itself into the sea...and believing that what you pray for will happen. What part of this discourse might interest you the most....the symbolism in the tree as it relates to Israel...or the command to remove a mountain and it will be done....or asking for and receiving the desires of your heart?
         What interests me the most is that this was near the end of Jesus ministry and after leaving the temple the next day He would give His famous discourse on the end times in answer to a question from a disciple. (Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21) I believe that the fig tree is indeed Israel but I also believe that there is a message here for us today as the veils are being lifted as to the day and age that we live in. There may be mountains ahead of us barring us from where we will need to go and what we will need to do. Our desires may be for strength amidst the tempests and faith amidst the temptations.This is what I find myself meditating on. My comments are merely as if we were sitting at a table drinking coffee and talking about God's Word as we look at the pandemonium in the world around us and contemplate the seeming nearness of the return of our Lord and Savior as King and as the Judge of this earth.
        
      

'Next Lord's Day At The Foot Of The Cross'

         "Next year in Jerusalem!" It may have been a rallying cry at one time but today its meaning  depends on what Jewish person you poll on the subject. The phrase is still repeated in ceremony two times a year at Passover and Yom Kippur. Even after researching it I still don't have a handle on the importance of these words to the Jewish community. I bring this up because I do understand incorporating a saying into your life that has great meaning....even if only to you.
          If the American people are ever to awaken to our predicament and our culpability I would think that it would have to begin on a certain day. Even if it would turn out to be a long process it would still have to have a beginning. Would it be in response to an event? Would the American people be shocked into submission to the God they acknowledge but keep at arms length? If so it should not be a day that we would forward to.
          Or would God have mercy upon us and awaken our pulpits that have lain dormant for so long? Would pastors put aside the church growth mentality and preach the Christ of the book of Hebrews, and the salvation of the book of Romans, and the worship of the Psalms, and the judgment of Revelation? Would the Holy Spirit then work through these pastors on our cold hearts? Would we then respond? Would I then respond?
          As this world hurries to judgment and another Lord's Day passes with no sign of a quickening of the church I sometimes say to myself.....maybe....maybe it will be....next Lord's Day at the foot of the cross.

When Not To Expect Discernment

         I had a conversation with a good friend earlier today, a Christian brother, and we talked about the nearness of the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...my friend of the 'there's no indication of when that might be' variety, and me of the 'surely it must be soon...come Lord Jesus' variety. We have these conversations often and they are always edifying.
         He asked me a question, the exact words escape me, but the essence was...'why do you see this and others do not?' I answered first that others do. I was holding a half-filled bottle of polar water and used it as an example. Suppose, I asked, that someone offered to fill the other half of this bottle up with gold in its liquid state....impossible of course but the example survived....then suppose that I poured out the water and he gave the same offer? In theory I would get twice as much gold.
         I added that if the Christian mind is half-filled with the baubles of this age such as entertainments, that Christian should not expect full discernment in return. This conversation from earlier today may have led to the previous post on sports of only a few hours ago. Sports and other entertainments once dominated my life, and I knew nothing of God's ways then. It later merely shared a room with my Christian faith, and I subsequently thought that I knew a lot....but I was mistaken.
         I once abused alcohol rather severely. It's been 37 years since I had more than one beer in a day but have enjoyed that one beer very much....every time. I used to be immersed in sports but enjoy it more today through a few minutes of reading a newspaper than I once did while letting it dominate my time.
        How much liquid is in your bottle right now? How much room is there in your heart for wonder and awe as God reveals more of Himself to you?
        

Win It Tonight!

         It may lack the emotion as is times past but still I have never wanted a team to win as much as I do tonight. The Stanley Cup is like a Super Bowl trophy in a number of American cities and Pittsburgh is one of them. In a few minutes the Pittsburgh Penguins take the ice in the fourth game of the Stanley Cup finals with a 3 to 1 lead. Win tonight and they are the Stanley Cup champions. Sydney Crosby will hoist the cup over his head and skate around the Consol Energy Center in celebration, and just about all of Pittsburgh will go wild. I want the Pens to win as bad as I have ever wanted a team to win.....but not for the reasons you might think.
       From the farthest heavens to the tiniest nanostructures within the atom, the design of the Creator of this universe has mystified and awed some of the greatest scientists in all of God's creation. The placing of this beautiful rotating ball in a universe of galaxies keeps even agnostic and atheist scientists of today enraptured in their search of answers to its origin. The functional magnificence of this mass of tissue within the cranium of man explores the wonder of everything from art to engineering and from invention to imagination. What the aforementioned agnostic and atheist scientists do not realize is that they are the created....examining creation....as if it merely evolved. Those scientists who do acknowledge a design, and there are many, appreciate with reverence the enormity of brilliance that must somewhere exist.
        There is more to design than molecules and gases and elements. There is metaphysical design, and a most unique and wonderful part of that design is time itself divided into years and seasons.....and weeks! One would need not go further than the first book in God's written Word to man....the book of Genesis in the Bible....to see the delineation of weeks into days and the importance of one of those seven days over the the other six.
       God gave man six days to pursue his interests and one day to pursue his creator. Do this and those other six days will see order and productivity. Ignore the day set aside for their creator and man will reap chaos and futility in his endeavors commensurate with his knowledge verses ignorance of God and humility verses pride within himself.
       It is now a little after 9 O'clock in the evening and the Penguins are probably playing in the second period of the game that I oh so badly want them to win, but I want to get this post off first. I want them to win for two reasons, one trivial but acceptable in God's sight....I'm a Penguins fan... and the other important in accordance with my own worldview and observation of the world that we live in. If the Penguins lose tonight there is another game scheduled for 8:00 in the evening three days from now.....Sunday! Most of Pittsburgh will do what it has done today, wait in intense anticipation for the game and maybe the Stanley Cup. This will have been their Lord's Day in these dangerous and seditious times. The hedge of protection that God has given in observance of the Lord's Day will have been cut down so low that a child could crawl over it. If the Penguins should win that Cup in a few hours from now, many Christians will at least have one less obstacle to God's blessings in His gift of one day in seven to man.

Note..... June 11.....The Sharks beat the Penguins and the two teams will play again Sunday. In my novella that is on the 'Isaac Crockett' link on this page, there is minor league hockey championship game played. Isaac Crockett is a big fan of the local Sharks (I chose this name 16 or 17 years ago when I wrote this short novel) His comments about the Lord's Day were well known, for he was one of the biggest names in Rock music which he left to pursue his Christian calling. Apparently many people in his home town took his defense of the Lord's Day seriously. Attendance was down and the Sharks lost the game. The following is some of the dialogue from the aftermath of the game:

Isaac Crockett.....Chapter 29:

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

      The Sharks championship game was now history with a 3 to 2 loss to the Providence Wings. There had been a number of articles in the newspaper on Isaac's beliefs on sports and Sundays. The radio talk show had also found an audience for the topic. A rather remarkable thing happened the night of the Sharks final game, there were quite a number of empty seats in the arena. Not only was this a loss of money in receipts but the crowd noise was diminished. One sports writer opined that maybe Isaac Crockett's 'crusade' had some affect on Christians who were fans of the Sharks, and there were many. This confounded Isaac for he had only answered questions as they were asked of him and certainly did not seek publicity.
      It was the Saturday after the big game and Isaac was in the bookstore building a new display......
Dave Thomas was the owner of the Sharks. He had owned the team for eight years and spent a lot of money developing it and this was the first year that the Sharks started to pay dividends. He had met Isaac on one occasion and was delighted that this rock star was such a big fan. Dave Thomas was flamboyant and outgoing but he also had a bad temper and would often get into shouting arguments with sports writers who he didn't think were giving his team a fair shake. He walked into the Law And Gospel Book Shoppe.
      Isaac looked over and immediately recognized him. He was happy to see him and the attendance in the final game did not register with him.
      "Hello Mr. Thomas." Isaac said extending his hand which was ignored.
      "Crockett, I want to thank you for steering people away from the game!
      This took Isaac by surprise. He purposely delayed his answer to give Dave Thomas a few moments to settle down. It didn't work.
      "Mr. Thomas, I didn't try to influence anyone."
      "Bullshit! You were all over the media telling everyone how they weren't supposed to play sports on Sunday!"
      Isaac looked over to the young lady and her two children and then back.
      "I never brought the subject up. I only answered questions that were asked of me."
      "You're lying Crockett. I heard you with my own ears...the Lords' Day this and the Lord's Day that!"
      "My belief is that Sundays are to be for the Lord. I won't deny that. It never occurred to me that anyone would even care about what I said."
      "You got a million bucks in the bank and can afford to close on Sunday...and you got that money in rock and roll. Now Mr. Holy Man, your sticking it to me."
      The people in the store had gathered in one section and others passing by outside stopped to see what was going on.
      "There is no...crusade...on my part.... Mr. Thomas."
      Anne had just put a poster from the movie Chariots Of Fire up in the front window and used her artistic talent to fashion the window with poster paint... the Olympic symbols of five intertwined gold rings. Inside she painted the five solas of the Reformation. The Olympics were coming up and Isaac had asked her to work on it but wasn't aware that she had already done it.
      "There's no crusade Mr. Thomas, that's all I can tell you."
      With that the Sharks owner turned and pointed to the poster.
      "Yeah, well what's all this Olympic crap about a some guy who wouldn't run on Sundays?"
      Isaac knew that he had a point.
      "I guess that you have a point there. Maybe I was a little bit naive in thinking my thoughts wouldn't affect anyone. The Sunday issue is important to me. In fact I think that our fascination with sports on that day is one of the biggest reasons that we are collapsing as a nation, that we have lost all discernment and common sense.. but I was still surprised by your low attendance."
       "And now you're going to plaster all this crap over the Boardwalk and use your name to ruin my team."
      He took a step towards Isaac as his voice grew louder. Dave Thomas had played minor league hockey and was an enforcer with a reputation as a tough customer.
      "Let me tell you this Mr. Crockett....you shut your mouth or I'll fill it with my fist!"
      Isaac remained calm but he could see that the issue had to be addressed right then. He had to make it known that he would not compromise his beliefs. He walked over to the window and picked up the torn poster and gently reattached it to the window.
      Mr. Thomas...you know that I enjoy hockey and I look forward to going to see the Sharks next year. I will tell this, I won't bring up the subject and will demand accurate reporting of any answers that I may have to give."
     Thomas was not appeased at all and was incensed by his putting the poster back in the window.     
     He overturned the display that Isaac was working on and grabbed Isaac by the shirt.
      "Not good enough Crockett!"
      "Please take your hands off my shirt Mr. Thomas."
      "Sure!"
      With that he let go of the shirt and gave Isaac an elbow into the rib cage sending him to the floor. As Isaac tried to regain his breath Dave Thomas walked out of the store.

   

Lord Willing

        OK, here's what happened. My wife and I both gave items to be sold at a fund raiser, and I went to the fund raiser to buy something....anything....to help out in that way also. I came across a music CD of a group that I like. My wife later asked me what I bought and I showed her the CD with a certain sense of satisfaction. She rolled her eyes and said "That's the CD I gave you for Christmas a few years back. It's been in with our other CDs since then. You didn't like it!" I said that I never saw the CD before. She countered that she donated it a few days ago. Still suspicious, I listened to it again. Same CD alright.... and I didn't like it this time either. Oh to have that memory of youth again.
        December 17th, 1971....I do remember a little bit of that week for I spent it in Sydney, Australia on my second R&R from Vietnam. Sydney has a Mediterranean type of weather all year round and December would be the beginning of their summer. I'd like to relate this little story from that trip. The Sydney Opera House was in construction. It would not officially open for almost two years but it was still a magnificent site at that time. I was standing on a bank to what would be the left of the Opera House if you were looking at it from the harbor. A middle aged man came up to me and introduced himself as a local Baptist pastor. He had a request for what he knew to be an American serviceman on R&R. That I was on R&R would have been very obvious. He asked me if I lifted weights and I told him that I did. His church had just purchased a new set of weights for the youth group and he said that they would really appreciate an American serviceman giving them of few tips on beginning weightlifting. I politely declined the invitation. He paused and then asked again...for the sake of the youth. I paused and declined again. I had $500 burning a whole in my pocket. That decision of mine has haunted me ever since. After the Internet came into being I researched Sydney Baptist churches a number of times in a vain attempt to locate the pastor.....twenty to thirty years after the fact.
         This post is a trip down memory lane, not mine per se but America's. The Decades television channel just aired an interview from the Dick Cavett Show with then California Governor Ronald Reagan from that date in 1971, and it got me thinking of where I was when it aired. Ronald Reagan and America are the topics of this post. The interview was broadcast because Reagan died on June 5th, 2004.
         Our collapse as a nation had already begun when the interview was first aired. The 60s had decimated our youth. The seeds of Watergate would be planted in the minds of President Nixon's advisors within of month of that interview. The Watergate scandal which led to the resignation of a United States president, as serious as it was, was nothing....absolutely nothing compared to the corruption we would experience in the Clinton administration and the treasonous deception of the current administration. We were outraged as a nation then.....but could hardly care less today.
         I watched Reagan tonight and even though he was a little uncomfortable on the show, for there were half cheers and half boos when he was introduced, his genuine love for America was evident as I sat here watching in what are the ruins of that great American Experiment.
        We may elect them or they make take power by force but God gives nations its leaders. It may be to strengthen the nation and it may be to destroy it. Reagan was given as a reprieve. There was a certain sense of maturation in the Christian church at the time, remnants of which are still with us, but it withered away under George H. W. Bush. We were outraged by the Clintons but also oblivious to our own culpability in what we were becoming. September 11th shook us to the core. George W. Bush responded as he should have, and our military was faithful and gallant as they have always been, but as in Vietnam we were a people half iron and half clay. We were then given Barack Hussein Obama.
       This campaign has become a curse in that it gives a false hope and it keeps us from falling on our knees in mortification of what we have become. There was one line in that interview with then Governor Reagan that took my breath away in its humility and its sincerity of reverence for Almighty God. He was asked if he would run for president in 1972. His answer was...."No...Lord willing...I'll complete my second term as governor." Oh, to hear government officials use that phrase again! Lord willing....this election will even come about. Lord willing....we may survive as a republic. Lord willing....mercy will be extended for yet another year. All other thinking is but vanity and futility.
        

Hot Buttons

I'll leave this post up for a few hours. It's an example of what you will find on my humor posts:

Hot Buttons.......October 2010:
Joey: Hey Gramps.

Gramps: Hi Joey. And for what reason do I have this pleasure?

Joey: I was wondering if you would do me a favor and help with a school project?

Gramps: Sure. What is it?

Joey: Well, it's for my Civics class. Mr. Horton's assignment is to ask three people their opinions
on who was America's best president and who was the worst. They have to be from three different age groups, for instance I can have one young, one middle age and one elderly.

Gramps: I'm in, Who are you getting for the young person and the elderly one?

Joey: Uh....Well I asked Uncle Tim....and I asked Jimmy Jones who graduated a few years ago..

Grampa: Hmmmm. So that makes me...the....uh....elderly?

Joey: Well, yeah...elderly or senior citizen I guess.

Granpa: Joey. I'm 59 and 3/4 years old. Did you know that Gordie Howe played
professional hockey until he was 51 years old?

Joey: Gordie who?

Gramps: Not "who"..."Howe."

Joey: How what?

Granpa: Never mind.

Joey: Wow, you knew a lot about sports when you were young!

Gramps: So, do you just want me to name the presidents?

Joey: Well, you're supposed to give your thoughts on why you chose them.

Gramps: That's a cinch...... what do you mean "when I... was... young?" Did you know that Tom
Watson, he's five months older than me by the way, led most of the way in last year's
U. S. Open?

Joey: Was that the "Senior" league?

Gramps: No that wasn't the Senior league! Well, hey anyway. If there's three things I got to
give...it's opinions, opinions and opinions.

Joey: Great. I've got a recorder here, so you can just talk and I'll write down your answers
later.

Gramps: Ok, here we go. By the way. Did you know that Grandma Moses didn't start painting
until she was in her 70s? That 7...zero...70s!

Joey: Was she my great-grandma?

Grampa: No. Never mind. You know, I was thinking, the name "Gramps" makes one sound old....
now you can't really call me Wilbur?

Joey: Did you have a nickname when you were....uh....real, real young?

Gramps: Well, yeah. They called me "bolthead" because I liked to fix cars so much.

Juey: Bolt......head?

Gramps: Not, bolt........head, bolthead, the girls loved it.

Joey: So you want me to call you Grampa bolthead?

Gramps: Lets just forget it, back to this assignment...take a seat and fasten
your seat belt for you hit on two hot buttons today.

Joey: Hey, you got a lot a "hot buttons", how bout if I call you "hot
buttons?"

Gramps: Hot buttons huh? Yeah that'll work.

Joey: Did my dad have a nickname when he was young?

Hot Buttons: Yes he did but I think that he should be the one who tells you...if he wants to.
Ok. here we go.....cough cough...ah...hem! I've actually thought about this before.My vote for our greatest president was the Gipper.

Joey: The What?

Hot Buttons: The Gipper. You mean you that you didn't know that Ronald Reagan's nick-
was the "Gipper." Well, let me tell you something else that you might not have known.
Reagan was a couple of weeks short of 70 years old, that's 7...zero...70 when he was
inaugurated our 40th president. Anyway, I look at three areas when trying to make a
choice like this. How did the economy do during the presidency, how about our foreign
policy and national defense....and was the American public changed in any way while
he was in office? On the economy, America prospered, primarily due to tax cuts for
the American people, after the malaise of the Carter Administration. Do you know what
"Malaise" means?

Joey: No!

Hot buttons: Neither do I but put it in anyway...it sounds good. Anyway, Reagan strengthened our
military, that and our growth was a death knell for the Soviet Union. As for the spirit
of Americans...his words, always beautiful and profound, inspired, they motivated,
they instilled a confidence in the people, they melted even his stronger detractors.
He was the quintessential example of leadership. Do you know what "quintessential"
means?

Joey: Yeah.

Hot Buttons: Good. Tell me later. So that's my choice for our greatest president. As for the worst.
Joey, this is sad in talking about for it's our current president. I knew from the
beginning that I disagreed with his policies but I wasn't prepared for what transpired,
and it continues almost every day. The bailouts, admittedly started by his predecessor,
and the stimulus packages that put us so deeply in debt that we will never overcome
this burden, the attack on "business" in general that appears to come from deep
inward hostility towards America's worldwide economic prowess, and the taxation
that will make "all" Americans totally dependent on what their government allows,
these things, and others, make him America's worst president on our economy. The
national defense and foreign policy are even worse, if possible. Our longstanding
advantage in military capabilities is being eroded. Aircraft and navies of governments
who are not friends of ours, are catching up and may surpass us. Our allies are on
"pins and needles" as they try to determine what we will do in an emergency. Lastly, the
American public has become two peoples in one nation, one still resembling America's
heritage and the other being an assortment of......groups.....seeking only benefits for their.....group. This president plays to our weaknesses instead of challenging us to think.  He's undoing much of what Martin Luther King accomplished. He lumps honest dissenters in with terrorists and lumps
terrorists in with honest Muslims. And we are only 18 months into his term! Well,
that's about it.

Joey: Thanks a lot Hot Buttons. I'll tell my dad how much you helped me. He's the one
that recommended you for the el...der..ly person.

Hot Buttons: Squiggy!

Joey: Squiggy?

Hot Buttons: Yeah...Squiggy. That was your dad's nick-name. Tell Squiggy that Hot Buttons says,
"you're welcome!?

"High Noon, June 4, 1989"...Poland

        Fox News columnist Todd Starnes is reporting that a California public school dispatched a deputy sheriff to the home of a 7 year old because he was handing out Bible verses at school. His parents were given a friendly warning. How many times have you heard a ridiculous story like this....hundreds? Smell the flowers, go to the beach, make plans.....I do....but it doesn't change things. There is a sickness in the heart of America and no amount of peripheral normalcy can hide that.
        Gary Cooper won a best actor Oscar for his performance in High Noon in 1952. Most everyone has seen the film but probably very few know about its reception over the years. John Wayne called it "the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my life" but it was the Duke's buddy, Ronald Reagan's favorite film! The Soviet Union called it "the glorification of the individual" but the Left in America believed the director portrayed the townspeople as those in Hollywood who would not stand up to House Un-American Activities Committee! Somebody's confused here.
         I've been aware of these controversies for a long time. Was it communist propaganda showing America's and capitalism's wretchedness or was it just another film about an American hero? I've always leaned towards the latter but recently the film's meaning to me has shifted. The bad guys, particularly the Clintons and the Obamas, have a lot of power. Their friends in the media alone can make a member of Congress out to be a fool if they get too patriotic. Elite universities can keep 'the wrong types' out of their faculties. The military can end a career with a bad report. Hollywood can ignore you at awards time. It has gotten so bad that now professional sports is becoming a lapdog for the Left.
          Ask Anita Bryant what to expect, she's 76 now, if you stick up for family values. Ask Clarence Thomas about being Black and a conservative. Ask Sarah Palin what happened to her for calling feminism what it is. Ask Ted Cruz what it's like to stand up for the Constitution. Ask Donald Trump what it's like to try to secure your country's borders. America....in its metropolitan areas and its cultural districts has become the cinematic town of Hadleyville, New Mexico from High Noon.
          It was the Spring of 1989 and the Communist government of Poland was forced to legalize the Solidarity movement and the Polish people were about to vote in elections! The success of this brave people spelled doom for the Soviet Union and it's variation of Communism. Lech Walesa and Solidarity had stood up to the communists and won! A High Noon poster of Sheriff Will Kane was graphically turned into a Solidarity 'get out the vote' poster. It read...." At High Noon; June 4, 1989!"
       

Living As In A Cloister

      We react as if we are merely watching a movie. We may as well be sitting back with a bag of popcorn and a Coke. After all, anything can happen in the movies today. Nothing shocks. As a matter of fact, if it doesn't stretch the limits of violence and sex then it may not do well at the box office. No murder is too gruesome and no act of debauchery is too depraved to be put on film. So might we have lost touch with reality? When will this Armageddon film being played out all around us finally end and be followed by an animated Disney movie? I should add this, if the only news that you get is from the local newspaper or the nightly news then you are insulated as to knowledge of the progression of tyranny in our nation and the actors in this coup, while our Christian heritage has been deemed news not fit to print.  You may as well live in a cloister or have your permanent residence on an Oasis class cruise ship where news of World War III would be hard to come by.
       That often quoted warning from Benjamin Franklin comes to mind; the deliberations and determinations of the Constitutional Convention had just ended and Franklin was asked upon leaving Independence Hall..."Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" He answered "A republic, if you can keep it." We kept it for nigh upon 220 some years, an amazing fact in itself. We did this because of one reason alone....although we greatly faltered at times and strayed from God, we did not totally reject His lordship and His commands. That is until recently....and this under a president who golfs as the world burns, proves Vladimir Lenin's dictum that "A lie told often enough becomes the truth", and displays utter disdain for America's heritage while in his last year he is reenacting another revolutionary dictum of Lenin in..."There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen."
        Folks, Barack Obama could care less what bathroom someone uses. He doesn't give a hoot about any of the issues behind the executive orders he signs. His endgame mission is to incite, inflame, ferment and foment....period..... hoping for an excuse to expand this sabotage of our Constitution and even extend the subversion of our republican form of government, for he knows that after leaving office that repressed voices from the Department of Justice to NASA to the military will be free to expound on their experiences of the previous eight years.
        

Batten Down The Hatches

         I usually turn the volume up and listen intently to the lyrics when Gordon Lightfoot's hit song of 1976 The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald is played on the radio. We had just celebrated our bicentennial in America as the song was released. Bruce Jenner had won Olympic gold as  'the World's Greatest Athlete,' I shook Jimmy Carter's hand as he campaigned in Pittsburgh, and I was only weeks away from getting married. The Edmund Fitzgerald had sunk to its watery grave in Lake Superior less than a year earlier in November of 1975.
         We call them hatches today but they were formally called hatchways. A ship's hatches were not sealed and when a storm brewed the crew spread a tarpaulin over the hatch and secured it down with what were called battens. Thus we have had the term batten down the hatches. In Lightfoots original release of The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, one lyric went "at seven PM a main hatchway gave in." The singer/songwriter was intrigued by the media coverage of the loss of the American Great Lakes freighter and thus the wreck was immortalized soon after the ship went down.
         On another topic, have you by any chance noticed how Billy Graham seems to have been going off the deep end for the last few decades with book titles like Approaching Hoofbeats, The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse and Storm Warning which was first published in 1995 and revised in 2010.   He's even received some criticism for the severe tone in what has been billed as "his final work" Where I Am, Heaven, Eternity, And Our Life Beyond.  One reviewer reported that it was "a significant shift from the approach he took after the first decade of his ministry..."
        Billy Graham of course has not gone off the deep end. I think that many years ago I experienced a similar "significant shift." God seems to be removing veils as of late. You might be saying, 'Oh He's been doing that for the last forty-five years starting with Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth.' I agree somewhat but with a qualifier. Those early years and those books were dominated by events and how they might fit into Biblical end-times. We are still preoccupied today with events on earth and in the heavens. What is needed and what they cannot do is to mortify, and therein is the 'shift' noticed in Billy Graham's writing.
         What we are seeing today in many ministers of the Gospel such as Billy Graham is an extreme soberness. Soberness in that these 'events' are no longer just a 'connect the dots.' This collapse in everything that we hold dear is more than unnerving! It should drive us to our knees. That others cannot see the full extent of what is happening in America and in the world should be no surprise at all.
        I've used a number of nautical terms in these posts of over seven years. I'm adding another today. Batten down the hatches! I think it high time to batten down the hatches.....close off those areas where sea water can enter....secure the cargo and set a even ballast, for the waves in this coming storm will be merciless, the winds revengeful and the sea unforgiving.
        We do have a safe harbor hemmed in by the mountains of the righteousness of Jesus Christ where we can tie onto the dock with 'cords of kindness, (and) with the bands of love' but we have sailed willfully into this tempest.....for we are as those of whom it is written in Psalm 107:

"Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
(who) see the works of the LORD,
And His wonders in the deep.
For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea....
Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble,
And He brings out of their distresses.
He calms the storm,
So that it's waves are still....
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!