Roundheads Vs Blockheads

        That's odd, I'm sitting here about to write a post that begins with a quote from a conservative radio talk show host and lo and behold he's talking to me through the radio on a commercial about back aches. Well anyway here's the quote about the recent defeat of the Obamacare bait and switch by people with principles..."If that is the case, what we have here is another conservative example of purism and principle damaging another major opportunity to do good."  That's the talking point of the past week...purists and purism...are destroying America. Google 'purism' and you can read all about us. This is all carefully crafted rhetoric of course. These people aren't looking for a fair compromise.
        I was Pentecostal at the time and just as today a big reader. I was in Christian bookstores all the time....and later owned one by the way. From one to another I would go. I was in a bookstore today and actually didn't buy a book! So anyway I would read a lot of Christian books and eventually came across some that....how do I put it....sobered me....and profoundly affected me. Finally I put two and two together and noticed that the books that affected me had this little robed character on the spine of the book. So being the intellectual giant that I must be, I started looking for books with this little robed character on the spine.
        Time passed......Bill and Hillary began their Progressive assault on everything good in America....and I found myself owning a bookstore that sold a lot of books with this little robed guy on the spine. What's more....I found that I had turned into a purist! Well actually the word would be Puritan. I don't like to see anyone having a good time! I am solemn and never tell a joke! I want to force everyone else to believe what I believe! I only wear dark colors...well actually I don't wear anything but dark colors but that's because they make me look thinner. That's how they describe Puritans anyway. They couldn't be further from the truth and if you visit my humor page you will see that I would have been a lousy Puritan as they are perceived to be....a lousy comedian and a lousy Puritan. Let me add a disclaimer here before I go any further. I couldn't carry the buckled boots of the real Puritans. I'm only a cheap knock-off who loves what they gave us.
         So who were the real Puritans? They were late 16th and 17th century English Christians who saw the church of their day as pretty-near worthless....Laodicean in nature....and foiling the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So consequently the Laodicean church of the day that was foiling the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ called these dangerous' people...Puritans....which immediately became a dirty word. Oh, did I mention that the Puritans were divisive. Everything....everything in the church had to be according to what the Bible said! How intolerant!
         They were political also. The establishment folks of the day were opposed by most of the people but these establishment folks had the fancy uniforms with big plumes in their hats so they naturally became the rulers. Fortunately for England the Puritans had Oliver Cromwell. When the church and government went one way and the Puritans were in charge England did very well but Reagan died....did I say Reagan...I meant Cromwell died and many of these Puritans and others who held too tightly to God's Word left England. They would head to the cold forested land across the sea and gave a start to another terrible country....America....which would become the United States of America....and everyone in school now knows that America has been very bad for the world.
         So I read about these Puritans and more importantly I read the books that they wrote. You know I could have had a lot of money today and owned what I've wanted to own my entire life....a sailboat....a big sailboat with a cabin and teak decks and a lot of ropes and heavy metal thingamajigs! Is there a more exciting life then cranking this sail up and moving the boom somewhere or other and gliding across the greatest source of power in God's creation? Maybe you can tell that I don't know the slightest thing about actual sailing but I have enjoyed  the thoughts of it most of my life. Which leads me into this wonderful confession....I would not trade a lifetime of pursuit of that which gives the most wonderful happiness for the joy of knowing of the magnificence and righteousness and power and glory of Jesus Christ as the Puritans taught and preached from God's Word. I would not sell my birthright in this nation whose origins were with the Puritans or knowingly soil the memory of those who sacrificed to give us our liberty for all the money in George Soros's bank account. I would not give up my principles in exchange for tax relief or a cushy seat in our once illustrious House of Representatives....and although I will not accept the descriptive of Puritan for I do not deserve it, I will gladly be called a purist by these folks who sit in the seat of judges but rule as from the men's and/or women's room on an elite college campus.
         This principle of actually believing in something good and trying your best to promote it for the benefit of your nation is today roundly criticized and ridiculed! The Freedom Caucus is dangerous because it actually has principles. When you own the gavels you rule the people and when you own the media you own their minds. This past election cycle was actually won by those with principles but the establishment has the gavels and the media.
         We have something else.....those of us dismissed as religious purists....we have the sure hope of our salvation and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in great power and glory! We'll do our best with governments and justice while we are here, meager as our efforts may be, but there will be a day when righteous rule covers this earth, and He with the gavel will be the purest of the pure purists!

I intended to write more about the Puritans but my fingers wouldn't listen to my brain so instead I'll recommend a wonderful book about the them....A Quest For Godliness, The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life by J. I. Packer.

The publisher that I described as having a little robed man on the spine is the Banner of Truth Trust.
        
        
     

There Will Be A Cost

           One of the failures of today's evangelicalism is that we fail to mention the cost of discipleship when we evangelize and I have been guilty of this as much as anyone. I put a couple thousand miles on our vehicle recently and that usually means listening to a few more sermons from R. C. Sproul than I usually do. I had to go back into his archives a little bit to find one that I had not heard and I'll give you easy directions to listen to it at the end of this post. Need I add that what you will hear will be eons in wisdom and knowledge beyond what I can type out?
          You have close friends....maybe you have a wife and children....maybe even grown children. If your plans are in just joining into fellowship of a church because it's something that you think that you should probably do...don't worry about the cost of discipleship. You may annoy a person or two, and you may even offend someone, but you probably won't find that there is a quantifiable cost to you involved in your decision to become a Christian. Of course you'll be pretty much useless to the spread of the gospel but hey....you get what you pay for.
           Your parents...whom you deeply love...may show deep disappointment in you. R. C. had this happen to him with his mother, and I experienced the same thing. It's very difficult and in my case it turned out to be decades of praying for wisdom in presenting the gospel to my mother....and asking for forgiveness for the times that I felt that I failed miserably. It would have been so much easier to avoid the topic....but them I'm one of those strange birds who actually believe that one has to be born again....and I loved my mother too much to let a little thing like her disowning me stop me from telling her about Jesus Christ,
           A good friend will stay your friend but you will wind up either....one....letting him alone in his life without Christ....or two....you will try again and again to present the gospel to him and thus you may find that although you are still friends....you really don't have much to talk about anymore. Still, unless your parents disown you and all your friends avoid you like the plague then this also does not appear on the cost ledger.
          Doctrine does come with a cost. The word doctrine is simply a biblical truth that often is not simple....but often essential in becoming a Christian. If you stay with the basics then there will be little to no cost to you. Do you have a serious hobby? Most people do. Is there something you have worked at for years and you excel at? Maybe your a scratch golfer? I was a scratch golfer....I'd hit the ball and have to scratch my head but maybe you actually know how to play the game? If you apply yourself to the Word of God in like manner then it will most likely cost you....because people generally have their own doctrine that is very palatable to their specific tastes. You may have to leave the church that you love. Other Christians may consider you divisive.....but there is One that will not abandon you.
          These are really minor costs compared to what others have paid. Your wife may wind up leaving you. Your kids may hardly ever bring the grand kids over.  I've witnessed these things with friends.  We have all read stories in the news where Christians lost their business or their livelihood because of their Christian faith. Every one of us should never allow much time to pass without thinking about and praying for Christians around this world whose cost to them was their lives or their families.
        These words were brief and not very profound. My intention was not to make a list of things that will cost you but rather to point out that we fail to mention any costs at all as we ....'share the gospel.' This sets the person in question up for some rude awakenings that may result in their abandoning their faith. This failure to mention a cost also winds up adding enormously to an American church filled with people who have never been born anew....born from above.....nor do they even know what that means,
         I really cannot just give directions to R. C. Sproul as a post. I have to at least describe what I'm trying to lead you to. And I've done that....so please consider listening to this sermon to straighten out what I may have brought confusion to.

Just Google....R. C. Sproul, The Cost Of Discipleship

"Woe To Those..."

The following post is from August of last year. When you criticize a man because he has principles you are calling good evil! When you try to finesse with tricks and lies you are putting darkness for light. When you say that marriage doesn't matter but votes do you are putting bitter for sweet, and when you desire your own counsel over God's you are to be pitied.

"Woe To Those..."

        One of the many pitfalls to an election year is that by the very nature of it people can either neglect or outright ignore the even weightier matters of this life as they concern America. This presidential election is not meaningless...but it is close to it. Now that statement would send many conservatives into orbit! That's because they can see no further than a President Hillary Rodham Clinton. From a purely temporal perspective it can be called 'life or death' but the temporal is the junior partner in our existence.
        My writing on America... from these posts...to letters-to-the-editor...to mimeographed newsletters sent out to anyone and everyone that I knew, go back well into the 1990s. I was Tea Party before there was a Tea Party. I can hardly be accused of ignoring politics and how it affects our nation but consider just this one verse from Isaiah....

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
and put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter,
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight....

         Friends....this is us! Politics is indeed part of our problem but God has been both warning and afflicting America for many years and we have not demonstrated the slightest inclination of turning to Him. Instead we look to Donald Trump...a man who has shown little to no concern for the things of God. Have our entertainments changed? Have our idols been put away? Have our pulpits even mentioned God's warnings beginning with...Woe to those...? Even the great and disastrous issues of abortion and same-sex marriage, if thwarted, would but dampen the fires of our wholesale rebellion against God.
         I have written and will continue to write on this election...Lord willing... but it cannot stay God's hand of judgment upon us! All it could possibly do, should God even have mercy upon us, is to put a government in place that may recognize our culpability in our distress. This would be valuable, and for this we should work, and Donald Trump is the only alternative, but as to.....making America great again.....this election is utterly meaningless!!!
       

Dinner With Louie De Palma

The following post is from this past November but I did change the title:     

        The Christian walk is difficult, most of us can agree on that. From the earlier days to the latter days there is a challenging, to say the least, array of twists and turns. There are so many of them that it doesn't really matter that some Christians are exposed to certain trials while others may experience a completely different set of difficulties for there's plenty of roadblocks to go around and detours to navigate.
         I know for a fact that this is not a matter of survival of the fittest, the most determined or the most faithful, for if it was I would have fallen in the valley of the shadow of death long ago. The new Christian has to know this.....and I have to remind myself of this often. In the course of evangelizing, an honest inquirer, if that inquirer is properly evangelized, he is surely going to know that this pilgrimage is going to be difficult to say the least.
        We trust in God not because we are gullible people. We trust in God because from the very beginning He proved Himself. The burden of our sin was off of our backs as His Word said that it would be. The joy has been consistent and increasing, non-existent only when we ourselves depart for a time from God. The Bible, God's very words to us, remains and will always remain, full of mysteries and hard to conceptualize passages....but at the same time we will be given more in the way of clarity as time goes on!
        Let me take a guess at where you are at. You would like this Christian thing to be true but it would take a lot of proof before you would commit yourself.  Consider two meetings that Jesus had with individuals....almost one right after another. In the first a rich young ruler, probably a very nice young man, asks Jesus what he would have to do for eternal salvation. You probably know the answer that Jesus gave.....sell everything and give it all to the poor. Shortly after this Zacchaeus appears. I picture him looking like Taxi's Louie De Palma. Jesus is walking by and Zacchaeus wants to see him but can't so he climbs a tree. Jesus calls him down and says that he wants to eat at his home that night....Zacchaeus got excited and later told Jesus  "I'll give half of what I own to the poor..." Jesus responds positively to him. What's up with this? Jesus drives a hard bargain with with a nice young man and then goes easy on a crooked tax collector who only promises to give half.
        Are you the rich young man my friend. It doesn't matter if you have money or not, if you are asking for worldly proof then you will wind up walking away sad like the rich young ruler did. This young man wanted to follow Jesus but did not trust in Him. Zacchaeus is Louie....not exactly someone you want your daughter to marry. Friend, the proof comes later...the change will come later....trust is to come first. Louie...excuse me....Zacchaeus....crooked tax collector that he was....trusted in Jesus that everything would be all right. The rich young ruler on the other hand... loved his riches...yes....but he also did not trust in Jesus that everything would be all right.

         Peter trusted and began to walk on the water, then his trust wavered and he began to sink. When our trust in Christ today is transferred to trust in government and politics then we also will begin to sink when we see our predicament. Matthew Henry commented that Jesus was not only displaying His power to Peter but was making Peter aware of his own weaknesses. He added that we are often allowed to follow our own choices in order to humble us in our error. If you read this passage beginning at Matthew 14:25 from biblehub.com you can scroll down for Matthew Henry's commentary.
         Psalm 91:2 "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress; in Him will I trust."

A 'Titanic' Ego

         Not many Progressives are going to say it. I'm referring to the film Bridge On The River Kwai and the last words of British Colonel Nicholson after he realized the horrible truth of how wrong he had been in building the bridge for the enemy. Those last words were....."What have I done?" I suspect that there are plenty of conservatives and many Christians saying those words about their support for Donald Trump in the primaries over other good candidates that were available to them....and that number is only going to grow.
         As I mentioned in a recent post, there was no normal developmental metamorphosis observable in Donald Trump over the years. This is extremely problematic. Normally one goes through a period of consternation as one's political, ideological or religious views change. Trump didn't! He apparently changed because his personal 'tower' wasn't going to be built from plan A so he went to plan B and if he has to go back to plan A he will. To say that he talked a good game is an understatement but when you see how he operated for the past four or five decades it becomes clear that the man is an opportunist first...and who knows what after that. He wants this tower built and will dump the people who put him in office if needs be to do it. Of course he will tell you that he's doing it for America. Expect back and forth nonsense in the near future and plenty of schmoozing of which many will be bamboozled.
        Here's an interesting thing. Donald Trump's son-in-law....Ivanka's husband...Jarod Kushner.....fresh from his skiing trip to Aspen while everyone else was pulling their hair out on Capitol Hill....is being assigned a new and innovative responsibility. This from the Washington Post...."President Trump plans to unveil a new White House office on Monday with sweeping authority to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and fulfill key campaign promises......to be led by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior advisor....the former real estate and media executive will continue to wear many hats, driving foreign policy and domestic policy as well as decisions on presidential personnel. He also is a shadow diplomat serving as Trump's lead advisor on relations with China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East."  Is anyone out there nervous. I hope so!!!!!
         Here is the crux of the problem. Donald Trump is and always has been a godless man. Conservatives should have recognized this or maybe they did but didn't care. The problem with Donald Trump is not one of pride for there is no pride involved in building casinos and towers, and selling them and making deals for bigger towers...and writing books to tell how great you are...and hawking your name everywhere for a few bucks and then leading decent people on to further your own plans. No it's not pride....it's ego....a titanic ego...reference to the doomed ship intended.
         This man is going to be making monumental decisions that neither George Washington, Abraham Lincoln nor Franklin Roosevelt were charged with. You may want to forget the 'make America great again' mantra and pray....perspiratory prayer....throughout the day....every day....and every hour of the day!

NOTE:  There was an article on Drudge yesterday that conservatives need to read. It's gone now but you can find it by Googling Ivanka Trump, Jarod Kushner:   Rising Powers At White House

As Soon As The 'Contribute Now' Button Pings

         The following are five vignettes originally posted in 2009 from a book referenced at the end of the following post.  Following these vignettes are five of my own.
         If you have followed these posts for any amount of time you may be tired of this anecdote; Martin Luther was asked what he would do if he knew for certain that the Lord Jesus was to return the very next day. Luther's answer was "I'd plant a tree."  It would be irresponsible to our families not to plan for the future and it would be irresponsible as citizens not to pray for wisdom and discernment...and strength....in at least attempting to elect wise and honorable leaders but there is also reality to face.
         Our nation and society are utterly collapsing. Surely...surely even conservatives who are pumped up over a President Donald Trump are once again becoming unnerved at how despotically corrupt this former administration was and is in its what is being referred to as 'Deep State' revolutionary mode. Please pay particular attention to Hugh Latimer's comment on what England's "well-being" depended, that is if you read that far. I wrote in 2014 as a preface to the following post..."It is the height of absurdity for us look to this year's elections or next year's presidential election as if they hold the key to our survival. It's beyond presumption to think that we can stop our fall or even defend ourselves against our enemies without national repentance and God's mercy upon us. But we, as a general consensus anyway, no longer attribute our existence to Him.
         Difficult days are ahead and that is even with God's mercy. Yes, plant that tree...make those plans.... always adding "should the Lord will it," but be prepared also for God's judgement upon our nation for we have gone beyond tempting Him to punish us....to goading Him and mocking the mere mention of His righteous judgement upon a nation.
         These vignettes occurred only a few short years before two calamities devastated London. The first was in 1665 when an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague killed 15% of England's population. The second disaster occurred a year later in the Great Fire of London that destroyed four-fifths of the city but had a purifying effect in the disease ridden neighborhoods.
      

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Addendum:

        Pastor John Doe lived through the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations and now is in the glorious administration of Donald Trump. He is known for his personal prayer ministry with this as his ministry plea.....
       'As soon as the 'contribute now' button pings....the iPhone in your pocket rings.'

       Pastor Wanabee lived through the same period and was called to be a guest of the lady's on The View. Being advised against appearing he said..."What will you have me do....I'm 55 years old and this is my last chance at a major television ministry.?

       Pastor Shirley wrote...My wish is, that men may write on their hearts that the well-being of America depends on the stock market, and Republican politicians, Facebook, gold, silver...and on the maintenance of the principles of the Reagan revolution.

       Pastor Ripley of the Believe It Or Not Church was the chaplain to the United States Congress but ran afoul of Stephen K. Bannon and wrote upon his departure...."Farewell Congressman Ryan...trouble not your heart... Obamacare may be over but Ryancare will go on forever.

       And then there is the Reverend Billy Graham who was roundly scoffed at for forewarning America of God's imminent judgements upon it. He wrote this, the last three words of which are the title of his last book......."When I die, tell others, that I've gone to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-that's Where I Am."

"All Is Vanity..."

         Donald Trump has built a lot 'towers' all over the world. He became obsessed with what would become known as the Trump brand. If he could put his name on it he went out of his way to do it. He thus had to delegate authority many times over many decades. There were quite a few failures but probably many more successes. He seems, after reading an in-depth biography on him, to have a penchant for forgetting past failures and even describing them in ways that make them appear as if they were not failures. He certainly has a problem with holding a grudge. There is no discernible ideological metamorphosis with him that I could detect. His campaign rhetoric seemed similar to rhetoric he used when advancing a major construction project with all positive thinking and arrogance that recently was interpreted as patriotism. Whereas Barack Obama's mentor was the communist Frank Marshall Davis, Donald Trump's, apart from his own father, was Norman Vincent Peale.
         Not many of us would have picture perfect life summaries and I certainly do not. How do you explain a complete change in religious beliefs of a new Christian other than in how God's Word describes it....being born again...born anew...born from above? Absent of this one must look elsewhere. Nothing jumps out at the reader of this particular biography. Donald Trump was building and said these things...and then he was running for president and saying other things. Compare this to Barack Obama who was nurtured, piece by piece, over decades.
          I write these things as someone who not only voted for Donald Trump in the general election...although not the primary... but celebrated with millions of other voters who successfully stopped the Obamian Captivity of America from being followed by what would have been the Belshazzar's Feast on the Potomac.
          After nearly fifty years of building, Donald Trump needs to lay the Trump brand to rest. It would help if he would read Ecclesiastes and see what the author thought about the Solomon brand that he worked on  for much of his life. "...Fear God and keep his commandments..." was part of the eulogy of sorts he wrote for himself.
          Even with all the evidence from President Trump's storied life that would lead one to believe that there is little hope that all of a sudden he can develop wisdom, I still hope and pray for that. He has access now to information that should humble just about anyone. Surely he realizes that he has at least 300 million people's lives in his hands whereas before he had a few thousand employees futures in his hands at most in any particular project.
          We....Christian conservatives....have to get away from the 'make America great again' mentality that has turned our attention away from our only hope....Jesus Christ. We are only adding fuel to the pyre of the 'burning man' phantasmagoria on display every day in our society and our culture. It was hard to pray for Barack Obama, impossible for me, for he was on a mission. Donald Trump is not on a mission. He's....hopefully..... still just the man who saw his father building and wanted to build even bigger and better. Lord have mercy on this frail and arrogant man...and by that have mercy upon us.... who are also in need of wisdom, forgiveness and mercy.
        
  
       

The Republican Party And Its Discontents

The following post is from March of 2014 and I bring it back because of what has been going on in the Congress the past few days. Last year Business Insider reported these words from Donald Trump in 2013...only a few months before this post....and while conservatives were opposing the policies of both Barack Obama and the Republican establishment....just as they were today..."In this case the solution is clear. We will have to leave borders behind and go for global unity when it comes to financial stability."

         In the beginning of the English Civil War the Earl of Manchester was Oliver Cromwell's superior. Cromwell considered him slow, indecisive and lacking enthusiasm in opposing the tyranny and incompetence of the king. Manchester, for his part, was more concerned with Oliver Cromwell recruiting men of 'low birth' for his army....uh, that would be men like me. Cromwell's philosophy was different as shown here in a quote from a letter to others in the Parliamentary forces, "I beseech you be careful what Captains of Horse you choose....a few honest men are better than numbers....If you choose godly honest men to be Captains of Horse, honest men will follow them."
          The 1970 film Cromwell starred Richard Harris as Oliver Cromwell and it depicted a confrontation between these two men. The Earl of Manchester was showing hesitance in opposing the king. Incensed, Cromwell promised something like this, "I am going defeat this king's army, even if I have to go through Manchester first!"
         
Darkened Halls Of Power

          Why would the elites of the Republican Party use 'a scorched earth policy in the war on its base? Conservatives have been the largest block in the party since the early eighties. It's been a stabilizing force, a breath of fresh air and a taste of sanity in a world run amok, not to mention the primary reason for many Republican victories. Ronald Reagan was a part of it, the leader...yes, but also a part of it. It's by far the most passionate and dedicated block.
          What may have precipitated the turn on the conservatives is that they began to see just what the establishment wing of the Republican Party really is. Angelo Codevilla is a Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Boston University. His opinion is that the Republican Party operates as nothing more than "junior members of America's single ruling party...the UniParty," and that there is little difference between them and the Democrats. He is absolutely right!
          Politics has blinded these elites as to the level of danger that our nation is in. They talked a good game for so long that they have come to believe the power of their own verbiage and loquacity..... thus conservatives have become expendable. They'll be replaced with deserters from the Democrats, independents and anyone else who the elites can promise something to.....emulating the same essential strategy as those Democrats who they oppose before the cameras but hobnob with in the sanctity of their inner rooms.....and surely conservatives wouldn't really go far away and let Hillary become president!
          Well, they are as wrong as they could possibly be. Their very first mistake is that they believe that they themselves matter. Our problems in America are far beyond legislative fixes and the Republican Party does not have the wherewithal or the dedication to stop the hemorrhaging in our nation and society even if there was a remedy. So with either the Republican elites in charge or Hillary.... America unravels. The threat of Hillary Clinton is moot!
          Their next mistake was to think that conservatives will eventually fall in line. We have been burned badly. Our nation is collapsing before us. Barbarians are at the gate and inside the gate, even inside the beltway.
       
          Mr. Boehner...and Mr. McCain...and Mr. Mitchell....and Mr. Graham....and Mr. Rove...and Mr. Bush.....we are not alone. We are Americans who trust in their God and recognize His hand in all of creation, His omniscience and omnipotence in forming this people, His power in sustaining us though we often strayed far away, and also His warnings to us after years and years and years of our increasingly ignoring Him..... the continuance of which you are advocating..... your third and most egregious mistake. You have become impervious to common sense, to wisdom or to any light in your darkened halls of power.
          America's future does not lie in these elections that the Republican Party is selling more than its birthright for; and the winners of these elections will have no power that God does not permit and no wisdom that God does not give, for His purposes and to His glory! Our duty is to elect God-fearing leaders and pray for God's mercy knowing that His will is perfect, and that it may or may not include the United States of America as a source of stability in the world or even an entity in itself.
          Celebrate your polling figures all that you want. We'll celebrate a risen Savior and a returning King. Yes, we'll follow Luther's advice to 'plant a tree,' to continue to work, even if we knew for certain that Jesus was returning the very next day, but you might want to take notice of Oliver Cromwell's words to the 'establishment' of his day in:
          "I had rather a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentleman and is nothing else."     

It's Not A Champion That We Need

        Here's what happened today with the health care bill. The Republican elites thought they had an opportunity to keep their donors happy and pull the wool over the eyes of the American people once again. A few courageous members of Congress stopped them. That's it!
        The following post is from this past July 22...the day after the Republican National Convention ended in Cleveland. I alluded to Ted Cruz and Mordecai in the post and want to explain that because the convention was a distant eight months ago. Ted Cruz was given time to speak to the convention before Donald Trump accepted the nomination, and in his speech he did not endorse Donald Trump which should have been understandable to even the Donald Trump people but it became ugly. Donald Trump then knowingly entered the auditorium while the Senator was still speaking which exacerbated the problem. This is typical Donald Trump.

It's Not A Champion That We Need

        If you could only step back and look at this Republican National Convention from a distance, apart from the hoopla and the celebrations, and use your analytical skills exactly like you have been doing for the past seven years as you opposed Barack Obama and the Republican establishment you might not be so enamored with Donald J. Trump, and you might not be so angry with Ted Cruz.
        Let's start from the beginning. We knew from the get-go that we had a socialist president but quickly found out that he was also Marxist....and maybe even more than that. Czars and executive orders were circumventing our constitution and few in Congress were putting up a fight. Ted Cruz was one of them. Israel was stabbed in the back while Iran...and Cuba...were given a new lease on life. Donald Trump was probably checking the ratings for The Apprentice at the time.
        Where was our Republican leadership? They were yakking about Obama and Pelosi and Reid in front of the cameras while yukking it up with them in their fancy beltway parties and balls. They didn't like Ted Cruz from the beginning. I wonder why? So as this convention comes to an end...Ted Cruz...who many times was our staunchest defender...has been mercilessly belittled....while Paul Ryan was prancing around the dais with a smile that would make Alfred E. Neuman jealous. They're back folks!
       A few years ago the Tea Party and other movements started sweeping grassroots America. What it needed was a loud voice that didn't have to follow political protocols....and Donald Trump....to his credit...was the man. Nothing he has said was new.....he was our voice. The Republican elites as a group were decimated in the primaries....and to say that it was well-deserved would be the understatement of the year, but they're back, while Ted Cruz, who helped keep us afloat, has been banished! Congratulations Mr. Trump. You managed to humiliate Mordecai while inviting Haman to a seat at the dinner table! And some wonder why I'm not excited?
         This political battle, up until very recently, has been the Tea Party/Conservatives vs back-stabbing, smoke-filled room deal making Republican establishment, or as Professor Angelo Codevilla described them...'junior members of America's UniParty.' It was obvious there would be continued problems when John Boehner was unceremoniously given his walking papers but was succeeded by his Mini-Me Paul Ryan who our Republican Vice President nominee astonishingly described on the dais last night as a "great American leader"! Donald Trump appealed to supporters of Bernie Sanders but thinks that the problems with Ted Cruz supporters are 'no big deal." Also conspicuous by its absence was concern for what this administration will do in the next six months. The Republican establishment leadership should have been given notice, in no uncertain terms, that its days of inaction are over... but then...unity for the coming election is what's most important isn't it?
           Here is the crux of the concern over Donald J. Trump. As I have written on a number of occasions, he is a powerful speaker, his promises are based on not only common sense but on verities of our American heritage, but go back if you will as I mentioned in the first sentence of this post to analyzing beyond the strong talk and the celebratory histrionics, you may find that our problems are far greater than poor leaders, than political correctness, than the many regulations hampering businesses, and than even our military with its Army Corps of Social Engineers!
          We have poor leaders primarily because of our own individual failures but this convention was oblivious to that, and Donald Trump's promises were bereft of any introspection. Mr. Trump paid more attention to the LGBTQ community than he did to the Creator of everything that exists, the Redeemer of all those who have placed their faith in Him, the Benefactor and Sustainer of this nation for over 240 years, and the coming King of whom Mr. Trump will then suddenly pay attention to.
         Last year, Hillary told 1300 fast food workers..."I want to be your champion. I want to fight with you every day." Tonight Donald Trump said "I want to be your champion in the White House.....I want to be America's champion." You know what? If I want a champion I'll pick a NASCAR driver and put his number on my truck's rear window.  We don't need a champion, and we don't need Hollywood good looks everywhere we turn. We need some good old fashioned wisdom inside the beltway. The prophet Jeremiah relayed this..."Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches." So might it be applicable not to boast on what we will do this coming January but rather humble ourselves for how we have lived since last January?
        Should the Lord tarry in His return, and should He give this nation and me more time, I will most likely cast my vote for Trump, and I'll certainly often pray wisdom for this man while I plead it also for myself. I'm concerned that we are constructing a golden calf in Donald Trump as we sing and dance around him? Let us hope not, and let us pray for discernment.

"I Blew Out My Flip Flop....Stepped On A Pop Top"

         What did we do before hiking shoes? I'm referring to someone like me, the casual hiker, who purchased my first quality pair only a year ago. I've walked a lot of hills, rough terrain and rocky paths in my life and even in boots I still thought of my feet as vulnerable, but with the support of a good hiking shoe I'm confident of the steps that I take. From the moment that I put them on, before I even lace them, I feel secure.
         The very direction of America may have changed over a good pair of boots. If you remember the opening scenes to the film Gettysburg, Confederate troops under General Henry Heth are marching towards the city of Gettysburg where they were confronted by Union cavalry under Brigadier General John Buford. The Confederates were primarily in search of shoes. Buford held his ground and the Union Army was then able to defend the high ground. Had not General Heth decided to stop off in Gettysburg the outcome of that war might have been entirely different.
         Christians are on a pilgrimage and headed for Bunyan's Celestial City. It's a long path...straight...but at times rugged....and yet at other times it's a battlefield. We need firm footing! The Apostle Paul thought it important enough to include this in the Christian's armor, "...and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace." The gospel is our foundation and with a sure grasp of it our feet will have a sure footing on the ground that we walk on.
         If one does not understand how atonement was accomplished and how one procures salvation through faith alone...by grace alone...in Christ alone... then one walks essentially in flip flops. Paul prefaced his list with this..."Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm."
         You have been confronted with your fate and you head straightaway to the light on the horizon but as did Bunyan's Pilgrim you may quickly sink in the muck and mire of this world. Have patience and walk slowly at first until you have been outfitted for your journey. I can think of no better outfitters than the Westminster or Heidelberg Catechisms....or if you would rather 'order' online...try ligonier.org!

Tra La La La La

        What I have tried to do in the eight years of these posts is put before the readers, not a scenario but a birds-eye view of the tremors not only in America but around this world, and not only in governments but whole societies, and also the lack of serious discernment of these tremors in the church.
         I've given this anecdote before. It was roughly sixteen years ago and I was part of a cohort doing graduate study at a local college. We were walking this path together and knew each other. The particular topic that day led me to stand up and attempt to give a warning of sorts to these mostly much younger students. I saw a division coming in America that was beyond what we could even imagine. I wasn't successful in awakening my classmates but what I saw coming has arrived.
         I bring this up again in this post because what is ahead of us is even worse. Our political process is not functioning. I'm pointing to our entire constitutional republic being rendered powerless in what it was designed to do, which includes defending our nation! These are not just words that one might use on a campaign trail. Our entire government is in danger of imploding.
         It's referred to as the 'deep state,' those ensconced in the State Department and other bureaucracies. They have the potential of warring against any or all of the three branches of our government. Add Barack Obama to the mix and you have a coup on your hands. 'Oh come now...coups happen in third world countries' you say? Think again my friends. It would be near-impossible with a free press and functioning media but we have neither. Fox News is there but the other sources put out every fire that is reported. Alternate conservative medias inform the rest of us but this only makes the absolute division in our country more acute.
       Let me add this here. When we talk about America being divided the normal tendency is to think of two equally sincere yet different ideologies or philosophies of life opposing one another....unfortunate yet manageable. This is not the case in America!!! And this is a key that has to be understood. I'll give but one example of many. When you look at what is happening on our college campuses...particularly on those campuses who mistakenly consider themselves to be elite...it should shake you to the core. What is evidenced on these campuses is not merely an opposing view...or a different opinion. It is a breakdown in the cognitive processes. To be more specific it is nothing less than a communist revolutionary spirit. These young people haven't a clue. Their Progressive education has rendered them utterly defenseless to outside influence!
       Our pulpits should be warning us not only of societal collapse but that this is God's judgement upon us. Peter warned the believers as did Paul as did John as did just about every prophet in the Old  Testament but we are too sophisticated to delve into such awkward and uncomfortable topics.

           Lord wake these men in our pulpits up...wake us all up...for thy name sake alone! This man in our White House Lord...profane and aloof as he is to thee...give him wisdom enough to navigate a tempest of which he has no idea its real causes. Do this Lord, not to extend our perceived greatness but to restore our usefulness in proclaiming the gospel to an expiring world. Have mercy upon us Lord for those who have not departed from thee...for those of us who have yet seek to return...and have mercy upon us Lord only if we as a nation are to turn our eyes once again to Thee....our Righteous God...our only benefactor...and our only refuge and strength in a time of trouble.

The Hope We Have From This Past November 8th

         I wanted to bring this older post back because the situation has become more acute. We are more defenseless now as a people than we were before Donald Trump was elected. This cannot be seen on the surface for on the surface we are turning things around. If our defenses depended on our military might then this would not be the case. The situation is compounded because the Marxist Obama administration literally enabled our enemies and further destroyed any semblance of a self-defense mechanism in upwards of one half of the American public thus we have the military means of neutralizing our enemies but our own people will likely turn against us should we try.
          Our pulpits have utterly failed us. If you want a happy worship service then you are in business but even a quick glance at the 24th chapter of Matthew would show that Jesus had something else in mind as he told us time and again to watch and be alert. The only thing that we're alert for today is a passing thunderstorm that might send our picnic indoors.

The Hope We Have From This Past November 8th:

          What a difference a day makes. Before the election of this past November 8th Christians, generally or seemingly the majority anyway, had a great concern for their nation....for Barack Obama had beaten it down so. The shadow of Hillary Clinton loomed large and menacing, the specter of societal collapse permeated every day's end, and the hope for a nation once so greatly blessed dimmed as a room whose candle was down to the pewter. Yet there was hope in the knowledge that God causes nations to rise and to fall, and that nothing could befall us without His permission, and that if only we would return to Him that His hand would be upon us whatever lie ahead.
          But lo....a reprieve was given in the election of one who promised a return to greatness. No more would we invite our enemies in to do violence to us. No more would we squander our blessings or trample our heritage. We would build ourselves back up, strengthen our arms and once again provide an opportunity for any American anywhere to attempt anything and to succeed if he had the abilities.
          The concern for America vanished as fog in the valleys with the rising of the sun. The problems...great problems... remained...but time was given us whereas before there was little to no time....or so we perceived it to be. How have our prayers changed? Do we still plead mercy...those who knew that only God's mercy could save us? I don't know these things but our countenance has changed....and not for the better.
        The urgency, whatever level of urgency we had, has at best been put on hold and at worst totally forgotten! This is the down side of November 8th but there was no alternative. Nothing has changed as far as America's ignorance of or willful neglect of God. God doesn't read the newspapers. He doesn't wait to see what the pulpits will proclaim. He knows our every action before we move and our every thought before it is conceived.
         November 8th changed this and this alone. Should we awaken...should we once again see our predicament...should it bear down on us so heavily that we do indeed repent...should our pulpits once again preach Christ with the power of the gospel...then we will have leaders in power....some leaders.... more than before....that might make decisions that acknowledge their Creator. This is the hope from this past November 8th.
        

A Prayer For President Trump

The following is a prayer for Donald Trump that I first posted in January and hope to bring back regularly:

         Lord I lift this man up to you who is to become our president.... for mercies upon his soul Lord and for wisdom that might in turn lead to mercies upon we your children. I see myself in him Lord, not the fame or wealth or great abilities in business but in his blindness and even arrogance. I see myself when I was cast off from your blessings of grace and knowledge of your majesties....I see myself even now in need of the same mercies. Lord, you permitted him to attain that which this world calls great success...show him that it is but a dung heap. He finds himself in a position that he believes talent and purpose has brought him....maybe even fate as he perceives fate to be. Surely his countenance of supreme confidence must dissipate at night when he has nothing to do but lie in bed and contemplate what has happened to him in the last year. Surely Lord the responsibilities must unnerve him. Does he marvel Lord? I pray that he doesn't for he would not marvel at what you have done for he has shown no inclination to consult you, therefore he would have to marvel at what he perceives he himself to have done....just as Nebuchadnezzar had marveled. In whatever is in store for him in this exalted position he is to assume I pray that if it be thy will that his eyes would be opened to the realities surrounding him...the realities of a world that has rejected its Creator and will therefore be judged by its Creator...and the reality that he also has fallen under this prideful self-exaltation and is in need of the mercy of redemption. Cause him to tremble Lord....at your holiness....at his sinfulness....and if it be in thy plans to have mercy upon us then cause him to humble himself before you just as you did so with us.... and that the accompanying eternal and unsurpassable blessings would also be his as they are ours. I ask not Lord for him to be the champion that he projects himself to be, for you alone Lord are our champion...our captain...and our king. I ask not Lord that our nation would merely be granted more time to move further away from you... but that it would, in whatever time you give us, display clearly to the world a refusal to follow the schemes of those whose plans are for building a new world in total antithesis to you its Creator. Lord, this man is not alone in need of mercy for we ourselves have failed miserably. Show us this Lord...and set us apart once again....for your purposes. If you should will it that we return to you then no force on this earth or in the heavens can thwart our return. Lord, this man has advisers all around him. Some acknowledge that only you cause nations to rise and to fall but most do not acknowledge you. Blind this man who will be called the president to those that are blind to you Lord! Give this man no strength apart from trust in you Lord, for any other perceived strength is worthless and deceiving. Then should turmoil come, we shall have perfect peace Lord...not necessarily peace as man views peace...but peace in the midst of travail....our minds set upon you who not only created the heavens and the earth but controls everything and everyone in this your creation.....and if peace should come....as man views peace....we could do nothing but gratefully acknowledge that you have brought order out of chaos for thy glory alone.

Is It At Least Possible

         It may be the single most valuable Christian ministry in America....well that's my opinion anyway.... and they have a home conference coming up that they call The Next 500 Years. They are alluding here to it's having been almost 500 years since Martin Luther's writings began the 16th century Reformation. So it's natural to take the opportunity to envision what can be done in the next half millennium.
         I understand the message but what went through my mind upon hearing of the conference title was.....next 500 years? How about the next 500 days? Or even the next five years...or maybe even the next 500 souls surrendered to Christ...or even the next 5 million souls surrendered to Christ? I just don't agree with the emphasis on the next 500 years when, if I might use this expression in a very literal sense, all hell is breaking out in this world.
         What it boils down to is this.....some people see events in one way...and others see it in another way. So I'll be part of the first party here. This is not normal what we are seeing. This is not problems with a Third Reich and an Imperial Japan.  This is not a Cuban Missile Crisis. There is no America to defend the world anymore. We're dealing with nuclear weapons in the hands of maniacs...maniacs who actually want nuclear war... and we can't even come together to deal with them.
         Nothing is holding together! Do you read the news? I'm not talking about that worthless paper delivered to your door every morning....I'm talking about Drudge. He's where he is at because he actually links to real horror...and that's what it is....horror! A kid walks out of his house a couple days ago holding his mother's head in his hands! And this horror happens every single solitary day! And even if we somehow read about it it's a shake of the head and page over to the sports or weather.
        Now the second party here happens to be the vast majority. By the way I'm only referring to Christians here whether the first party or the second. Wonderful Christians! I'm but a gnat compared to any one of the dozen or so speakers at this upcoming conference. So what have we become...a church where only the well known are to be heard. I hope that we can still give an opinion.
        It's not only war...the people with all the money want a one world government...and they want it bad! We do know what that means do we not? One half of our nation...one half of America...are blind to just about anything. I listen to them on the news and marvel...marvel...at how little the human mind can at times comprehend.
        The same men at that conference will admit that we are now pagan. We sacrifice children! New technologies are entering into areas that make the Tower of Babel look like child's play. The last one hundred years has been one warning from God after another.
         I am not alone in this by any means. There are atheists out there...Stephen Hawking for one says that "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Here's a man with no concept of God who sees what most of us don't.
        The first party reads Revelation or the Olivet Discourse and sees a message that after nearly two thousand years may literally be to them. The second party reads the same words and says... "Uh...be careful there...don't want to be a date-setter!" Can anyone read my posts and think for a second that I have given up on proclaiming Christ? The crux of the matter is whether one can see disaster on the horizon...warn about it...and still trust God. I say that they can....in fact that seems to be what Scripture tell us to do. I would question others on if they trust in God so much why don't they trust in His warnings?
         Let me ask this question to the majority that I alluded to a few paragraphs back....do they even think that it is possible that they may have made a mistake....that they may have actually come up short in this area? I'm just asking and honest question and I'll put it in the first person....I know how accomplished you are and how much good that you have done...and I praise God for that! I've admitted that you tower above me....but is it possible that you may have erred....is it somehow possible that an Arminian....such as Billy Graham....not educated in a Reformed seminary....or another who may wear an ill-fitting suit off the rack at Sears and dangle his misplaced modifiers...is it possible that he might have discerned what God is saying and you may not have?

  

Foreign And Domestic

           The general consensus seems to be that the so-called Populist Movement took a hit with the failure of Geert Wilders to win in the Netherlands. European politics is certainly not my area but I'll offer an opinion. Europe is so far gone as far as to surrendering its sovereignty to other governments and other cultures that as the immigration situation continues to implode, had Wilders won he would have taken the blame, as things would have been said to have been bad but tolerable until he came along. These folks in the Netherlands who mistakenly consider themselves to be so compassionate will soon be tested with no one now to blame but themselves.
            On domestic matters, particularly the Health Care debate, President Trump last night sounded like a kindergarten teacher instructing the students on how many stars (Republican Senators) on their forehead they need before they can take a field trip to the zoo. Mr. President, with all due respect, we know the political demographics, if you think that you are going to successfully condescend to us just like the others did you are mistaken. We were defending freedom and liberty while the biggest problem in your life probably revolved around a croupier strike. Welcome and thank you for much of what you are trying to do but we prefer our heroes to be nominated after they have done something...not upon being inaugurated. Just do what is right.

"Important Survey Enclosed....Do Not Fold, Spindle Or Really Think About"

Dear Constituent: We haven't heard from you on Paul Ryan's Health Care legislation. Comments welcome! 

         I haven't weighed in on the proposed healthcare legislation because it's the same pure unadulterated shameless bold-faced lying that the Republican establishment has fed us, their fettered constituency looked at as a great horde of unwashed...unshaven...illiterate...God-fearing...pick up truck...conceal carry Americans who couldn't pick Rachel Maddof...Maddow...whatever her name is out a line-up of Marvel superheroes, that they force-fed us in last-minute midnight 'this is the best we could do' votes for years. Unfortunately for these glad-hander but watch your back shysters, we have puked up so much of their garbage that the stink of their soiled capitol spa togas stashed in the briefcase that they try to pass off as containing actual important papers is such that we don't even want them near enough to attempt more lies.
        The answer to these photo-op carnelian-nosed plutocrats and their wimpy...'if you shut up and obey I'll take you off the sewers and flummage committee' acolytes is 'no'...the answer will always be 'no'! You've lied through one too many town hall 'let's humor the peasants' meetings.

                                                                                           Sincerely, Special Dog
      

"I Read Books"

        There's a line from the Robert Redford/Faye Dunaway movie Three Days Of The Condor that's pertinent to the following post. Redford who plays a CIA employee is asked who he is by Dunaway who he forced at gunpoint to accompany him to escape some men that are trying to kill him. She's the hostage and he tells her that he works for the CIA. Thinking that he's a spy of some sort she asks him what he does. He responds, as anyone would remember who saw this film... "I read books." That's it...he reads books....any books...anything he can find he reads. He's an analyst of sorts for the CIA who just reads and reads as he looks for clues....or any patterns that enemies may have put into a book in code form. The plot of the film is that he does indeed find an intriguing pattern and reports it. The real cloak and dagger people find out that he's on to them and that's where the action begins!
         I know a little bit about this kind of stuff. I had a Top Secret clearance in the Army and I once heard it described that we, the part of the army that I was in, were basically military hired hands for the NSA. I think it's an accurate assessment for we...listened...to anything that we could and if it was important then we sent it onwards and upwards. Well, there's another tie to me and this post. I'm retired and now all I do is read....and write of course. I have seven books to my right that I started and have bookmarks in and I bought another today at Barnes And Noble. It's an addiction....and I admit that I love it.
         So back to this post. With all these books next to me that need to be finished I picked up and reread for the second time Billy Graham's latest and probably last book Where I am, Heaven, Eternity, And Our Life Beyond....it's that encouraging. The following post from July of 2016 was my mini-review of Billy Graham's book and I have since brought the post back a few times trying to encourage my readers to read it... for it's a book for the day and the age that we live in.
         Oh, there's a third tie-in....when I was in collage a girl came up to me and said that I looked like Robert Redford. Now when I remind my wife of this...which is about once a year...for the last forty years...she rolls her eyes and sticks her finger down her throat...but hey...I'm not lying... I'm just recounting! And I probably should add that what with my beard and the hair and all....and Jeremiah Johnson being the movie that was out....

I Led Three Lives

        A blurb on the back of the book reads this way..."When I die, tell others that I've gone to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-that's where I am." Those last three words are the title of Billy Graham's Where I Am... subtitled Heaven, Eternity, And Our Life Beyond...his latest, and as he himself describes it, his last book.
        There was a television series that ran from 1953 to 1956 titled I Led three Lives. It was narrated by a man who, as Wikipedia describes it, was..."a white-collar worker, (had a) secret life as a Communist agent and...even more secret life as an FBI operative helping foil Communist plots." It amazes me that I can remember watching this on television for I could have been no older than six! As a sixty-six year old blue collar union worker (retired), husband, father, and Christian, I have lived three lives also.
        My youth was normal in many ways. Sports, girls and beer occupied the majority of my free time. I wore God on a chain around my neck. Today, as a Christian, I often mentally and physically visit the places of my youth because to me it has always been...'once a friend...always a friend'...and until I hear of our "common salvation" I will continue to take the opportunity to pray for that someone that I knew personally.
          I led the life of an evangelical in my middle years.  I was born again....born anew....from above....and I desired to tell as many people as possible of a merciful savior, the wonders of the Bible, and the majesties of Jesus Christ. I led the life of a pilgrim, had left the city of destruction, fell face first in the slough of despond, entered through a wicket gate, had my burden fall off at the foot of the cross on Calvary, ran into Giant Despair a few times, stumbled and took wrong turns at times, and lived and worked in Vanity Fair, but could not see the Celestial City nor even the river before it.
        I see that river today in my later years, the third part of my life, and can faintly hear the rejoicing emanating from the beautiful city beyond the river; this simply because the more one walks toward the light, the less one can hear the barkers and minstrels of Vanity Fair.
        My descriptions are but feeble attempts I'm sure, so I plead with you to obtain a copy of Billy Graham's book for he has walked much farther than I and he sent this epistle of sorts back for our encouragement...and with a strong warning, for it is obvious that he had met multitudes of people in his pilgrimage, many of whom gave woeful testimony of their self-destruction.
        Reverend Graham's ministry began in 1947. His book Where I Am, was published in 2015, sixty-eight years later. He seemed to write it as a last will and testament....with no holds barred. He has nearly seventy years of experience with presidents and kings, and movie stars and the working man to draw from. His outlook changed somewhat over the years. He, like Solomon from Ecclesiastes, looks back upon this life and can not only see more clearly the vanity but feel its heat and smell it odorous perfumes.
         Billy Graham's vision and hearing are impaired at his advanced age but his spiritual senses have only heightened. This book is in no way a theological treatise nor is it devotional or biography. It is more of a letter to the churches...a report on the enemy territory that he has passed through...with each and every book of the Bible visited for directions. Billy Graham stands at that river today...he turns and calls out to us for possibly the last time, both rejoicing and warning. Take advantage of his experiences friends...listen to this elder brother...for God may have prepared him specifically for this book!

Jonah Or Nahum

          Now I may not travel as much as you the reader but it has been consistent throughout many decades and I noticed something recently that saddened me. I had two overnight stays at very well-known hotels and for the first time there was no Gideon Bible in the room....and I have always checked!
          It was once very common to be flipping through the television channels and come across Billy Graham giving a wonderful gospel message. For about four days during his many evangelizing campaigns over decades America was inundated with the gospel.  It was hard to avoid. That's why Reverend Graham's face is so familiar to us!
          Our moorings have come loose and we are adrift in this nation. By using two small mirrors and a movable armature, seafarers of old could determine the angle between the horizon and a celestial object and therefore their latitude. The device was called a 'sextant.' We no longer look to heaven as the horizon or have the Bible to anchor our position. We today navigate 'hidden reefs' as we fix upon 'wandering stars' for our bearings 

The following is from August of 2014:

          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!

Christian Books....The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

         A few days ago Family Christian Stores, a nationwide bookstore chain, announced that they will be shutting down all operations, but no date was given. They tried bankruptcy in 2015 but that wasn't enough to keep them going. My Christian walk began in Christian bookstores back in 1982 and I owned a Christian bookstore for two years about 15 years ago.
         Is the Internet the primary reason for not only Christian bookstores but all bookstores struggling to survive? Possibly, but the Internet would not get my vote in the case of the Christian bookstores.   Barnes & Noble gets a lot of business from me for I very rarely order books off the Internet....but I do have one being shipped to me as I write for it's hard to find The Evidence Bible... and I like to have one at all times to give away when the opportunity arrives... and I gave my last one away a few days ago.... but Barnes & Noble generally only stocks the newer books because they are limited with space and because people don't want older books anyway.
         Christian bookstores are in trouble because what is being published today is generally just not very good...and what is good is not recognized as such. That's the main reason. Yes, there are a number of books every year that sell well but they are usually novelties...crazy stories about trips to heaven or seven step plans for this or that. It's nonsense and most of the rest of the store is merchandise for the home. This is the foundation of what Christian bookstores have become. Not only is there no future in this but there is little good to help the Christian community let alone the nation.
          It wasn't like this back in the 80s. Yes, the bad books were there but so were good books! I found them easily and they were part of my life being changed. I watched the quality of literature go down as the years went by and opened my own bookstore with all good Christian literature. Why aren't I still in business you might ask? I ran a commercial on our local Christian radio station and people who knew what sound Christian literature was did travel even distances to get to our town but the local Christian community did not support the store. This because they didn't know what good Christian books were...and they still don't know...and that was my reason in opening the store to begin with.....to inform them. I was not successful in getting this message across but I did close the store still confident that Christians...churches...and consequently our entire nation...  would benefit greatly if only they recognized and took advantage of the great blessings in reading great Christian books. I still believe that!
         So what is a good Christian book? Everything that R. C. Sproul, or John MacArthur, or Michael Horton writes...just to name a three of many...is going to be a good and edifying Christian book. Any book with blurbs from these authors on the back cover is going to be a good Christian book. Anything from Banner Of Truth publishers is going to be a good Christian book, and there are other publishers. Anything bought, for example, at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Store is going to be a good book. These are only a few names and examples but there are many more. The key is finding out what is good and is what isn't, and what can strengthen and edify and what can only thrill or massage. This is not only the key but it's also the hard part, but if you start on books such as these they will lead to others.
         If you are confused or if you are happy with these books of today that you not only are reading but enjoying... books that I am insinuating are not good... then try reading...let me pick two...try reading Michael Horton's Putting The Amazing Back Into Grace...or John MacArthur's Ashamed Of The Gospel...and see if you don't at least wind up saying that these are a different animal altogether? John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is today thought of as a children's book! Charles Spurgeon read this...children's book...100 times during his life. Harry Blamires' The Christian Mind is over 50 years old, J. I. Packer's Knowing God is over 40 years old, and R. C. Sproul's The Holiness Of God is over 30 years old.
         To your left on this page should be a link...Isaac Crockett......Novella. It's a short novel that I wrote many years ago...probably twenty years ago now...that is about what I am addressing in this post. Isaac Crockett is a famous rock star...and a Christian...who quits Rock & Roll to find out what God really wants him to do in life. There are two themes in this attempt at a novel...and that's all it is...an attempt...a Protestant young man in love with a Roman Catholic young woman is one...and opening a Christian bookstore on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey is the other.      
            

Handle With Care

The following post is from October, 2010:

         Please consider this, that when you pick up a Bible to read, you hold in your hands words that are inspired by God. They are His words...to you! Without the movement of God's Spirit on us, they will be just words, but under the power of His Spirit their meaning not only begins to become clear but they reverberate every atom of our being and every neuron involved in our thinking.
         Consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If one wishes to remain in rebellion to God one would do well to not pick up His Word, for should God will it, it will make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy.
         On the other hand, if one (in sincerity and humility) desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule...... it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, a taste sweet to the pallet, a feel exhilarating to the touch, a voice soothing to the ears and a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even unto old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells (of the soul) and minerals to build bones. It is mental exercise, rejoicing, and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, intellect and emotion, humility and edification. It is oxygen itself to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. Its unity will bring division. Discerning this division will bring unity to the mind. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible... please know... that if you are not careful... an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life"

We Have Indeed Failed Our Children

The following are two paragraphs from a July 2011 post titled Son...I Failed To Try, and after that is a July of 2013 complete post titled....We Are Failing Our Children.. I still believe that "before this is all over "Barack Obama will flee this country." This is and has been a genuine... textbook... coup on our government. I think that if Barack Obama came out and said that he wants to see a communist government in the United States that our media would either ignore it or make some excuse for it. Such is the journalistic malpractice that has allowed this man to literally do whatever he wants for eight years, and the media questions Donald Trump as if they have an ounce of integrity to draw from. Few today know what Communism actually is, although that number is steadily increasing while Rush Limbaugh seems to use the word in some capacity almost every time that I listen to his show.

 Son...I Failed To Try....2011

          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 (I was certainly wrong here!), 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.....
          Having said this ...having given these purely personal opinions, I need to reiterate as I have done consistently in these posts 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 Are Failing Our Children....March of 2013

         There are horrendous exceptions of course, there always were and always will be, but a parent's love and protection for a child is a foundation of human society. We cannot say that it is something that elevates us above the animals, for we have all seen heartwarming videos of animals protecting their offspring.
           Those who traveled to America in search of religious liberty and freedom sacrificed greatly for their children... beginning with the voyagers on those three ships...the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery...that weighed anchor at what would become Jamestown in 1607. American parents have not ceased sacrificing since. How many mothers and fathers have worked two and three jobs and gone without even the basic comforts of life in order for their children to survive and someday live in a land of opportunity, with liberties and freedoms, a land that reverenced and trusted in Almighty God... the giver of all that is good? How many gave up their own goals in life for a new goal, the happiness and safety of those children? We've worried about them and prayed for them and taught them everything we thought they needed to know. Need I go on? We did do these things and continue to do them but ultimately we have failed them miserably!
           I'm writing here about the collective whole of American parenting today, specifically as it concerns our children's future. It's an area that we neglected to protect. We didn't think there was a real danger here but America's enemies worked while we slept. They were patient while we sought instant gratification. They grabbed leadership in education while we were more concerned about facilities for the sports teams. They became professors while we became financial advisers. They taught in liberal seminaries and read Rules For Radicals while we golfed and read The Godfather.       They became activists while we watched television. They took over unions while we filled the stadiums and arenas. They allied themselves with every special interest group that voted while we worked on our abs. They cheated while we played by the rules. They lied while we told the truth. They studied the game of chess while we hopped around on a checkerboard shouting out 'King Me!'
           No, we have failed our children! We let others take God out of everything. We'd sooner defend our enemies than the Bible. Our culture is toxic and our reasoning is warped. We believe anything told to us because that's what we have been programmed to do. We reach, as a child in a crib, for every mobile that Silicon Valley extends over us. We will provide our children with any piece of sports equipment they could ever want and chauffeur them anywhere to use it. Their clothing stores have overtaken ours. Then finally we send them off to college to be programmed to function as vassals of what is becoming a malevolent state, congratulating ourselves on a job well done.