'Till The Stock Of The Puritans Die'

       I've always had a fascination with Harvard University. Over forty years ago I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in the dorms and attend a Progressive conference on 'Peace and Conflict Studies' believe it or not. I spent most of my last evening in a local bar that John F. Kennedy, a hero of mine, is said to have haunted. Later that evening I took a fully clothed shower in the Harvard dorm with a bag of fresh vegetables in my hands....presumably purchased for us to concoct a stew somehow. I would not if I could choose to erase this episodic memory.... or the other couple dozen (hundred) regretful memories from my prodigal and wastrel early 20s.... a number of which were actually a threat to my life....for they elicit from me praises to our merciful and trustworthy God whose hand was inexplicably upon one such as I... and they open the floodgates to a stream of joy and thanksgiving to Him for not calling me to judgment at that time of my life.
        Puritan founded Harvard University recently pledged to drop the last line of it's heralded alma mater Fair Harvard. The Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging can no longer stomach these words being sung at commencement....'till the stock of the Puritans die.' Ironically the hymn seems to be saying that truth and the "freedom to think" will continue to prosper at Harvard...till the Puritans all die off. Well, that happened a long time ago. How long will it be until they change the name Harvard itself and erase the memory of that godly Christian Puritan John Harvard? The following posts are related to this communist cancer in our society where we attempt to erase our past if it poses any threat to our utopian socialist future. The first post is a few months old and the second post is from July of 2015. I'll bring them back for a day as yesterday the first of four Confederate memorial statues were dismantled in New Orleans.

Yale Lapdogs....Best Of The Show

         Yale President Peter Salovey said in a recently released statement "As a national leader, Calhoun (John C. Calhoun, our seventh Vice President serving under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson) helped enshrine his racist views in American policy, transforming them into consequential actions." He added this..."Yale has changed magnificently over the past 300 years and will continue to evolve long after our time; today we have the opportunity to move the university forward in a way that reinforces our mission and core values."
         This was part of the statement given by the President of Yale as he announced that the name of its Calhoun College would be changed. I'm sitting in my recliner in the early morning sun sipping Gevalia coffee and reflexively chuckled out loud when I read his choice of words....."changed magnificently." Here is the third ever institution of higher learning in America (1701) that was founded to train ministers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has since renounced that heritage and become a bastion of Progressivism, anti-God thought and social engineering, yet its president describes this fall from wisdom as magnificent change! The phrase should be... ignoble plunge... and a more appropriate transitive verb would be devolve not evolve.
         They already have a new name for the college but a better one would have been Joseph Stalin College after Stalin's penchant for airbrushing people out of older historical photos. The Ivy League still fills law firms, corporate boards, government bureaucracies and university faculties across America but it is but a shell of what it once was, where if one would put that shell up to one's ear the only sound would be a ethereal even eerie echo of the turmoil of 1917 Petrograd. As a trainer of young minds and bulwark for American liberty, Yale University today could not hold a candle to any one of the numerous Christian colleges dotting the American landscape, but alas....the core values of higher education today have little to do with absolute truth, strengthening young minds or building character.
         Change a name...maybe tear down a statue or divest from Israel...but that's not where the stench is coming from. It's emanating from the musty books on your shelves....Das Kapital...The Communist Manifesto....and The Humanist Manifestos. It's sticking to the heels and soles of jackboots that wander on and off your campuses to cause trouble, and it's coming from the whitewashed tombs of ivory towers while the academic regalia worn by those involved in the war on capitalism through global warming hysteria often reeks of manipulated data and falsified research. A more suitable change for the university would be to replace the bulldog as a mascot with any one of a number of small....coiffured....best in the show...lapdogs, for that is what the Poison Ivy League has become....lapdogs fit for Kings and Queens and globalist elites.....and mascots for every ideology that seeks to end this American Experiment.

The following post is from July of 2015:  

Airbrushing Our History

         A Breitbart commentator hit the nail on the head when he likened the attempts to purge America of Confederate symbols to Stalin airbrushing people out of photographs. If one fell out of favor with Stalin, and after that person was 'eliminated,' censors would remove him from photographs where Stalin was present.  I'm looking at one such photograph right now. Stalin is on a ship's deck with two men to his right and one to his left, Nikolai Yezhov, who fell from Stalin's grace and was executed. The accompanying photo has the same smiling Stalin flanked only by two men to his right. Yeshov is no longer in the photo to Stalin's left, just the ship's rail and the sea! I want to emphasize here that what we are experiencing today in America is the same purge mentality.
         This is pure...unadulterated... Communism, as it will seek to eliminate even the remembrance of that which poses a risk in any way.  The American public of today, in general, would fare miserably in comparison to both the North and the South during the Civil War. We do not have their thinking or analyzing acumen. Their logic and reasoning was intact whereas ours is practically non-existent as evidenced by the chaos and absurdity with which the 'politically correct' so easily smothered our culture.  Our priorities are inundated with the narcissistic and the trivial. We understand adequately neither the issues that led to the Civil War or the character of its participants on both sides. The attacks on Thomas Jefferson are meant to further erode any ties we have with the founding of our nation.
         You could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of men in our government today who would not wilt in comparison to a Robert E. Lee or a Stonewall Jackson in honor, integrity, greatness and godliness. We are not worthy of the Lincolns, the Lees, the Jacksons or the Chamberlains and many others from that time period. That is....we as a people.... for our military has indeed carried on that tradition, but it also is being marginalized from purges in leadership on down to cultural engineering in the ranks..

The Age Of The Image

           Airline employees made video news again over the weekend. This time it was American Airlines. I didn't see the video of what happened nor did I read the particulars other than an airline employee yanked on a stroller and almost struck a baby in the process. The owner of the stroller and baby's mother was in tears, and a male passenger confronted the airline attendant which almost resulted in a physical altercation. Forgive me please for not paying more attention to exactly what happened for my mind concentrated on what was yet another smart phone video that made news.
           Fifty years ago this incident would not have made the local news but today it seems that our iPhones are always at the ready to record someone making a fool of themselves, and we are happy to share that with the world. Were there any extenuating circumstances in this incident on American Airlines? Who cares? Time doesn't permit fairness and objectivity in a viral video world. Are there exceptions to personal video news stories such as this? Of course there are as there have been actual heroes taking videos.
         This morning a minister in our service was in the middle of a prayer from the pulpit when the siren of an ambulance was evident behind him coming from the his right and then passing off to his left. His prayer stopped as the siren increased and then decreased. Was he just waiting for the noise to stop before continuing with his prayer or was he praying silently for someone outside of our church that was obviously in serious need of assistance. I believe that it was probably the latter, for that was what I was doing, and I'm sure that many in the church were doing the same thing. Someone.... somewhere.... somehow..... was in trouble and in need of emergency assistance.
          These are two competing responses in today's world to an incident or an emergency. I am very confident in that while in both of these recent chaotic airline incidents with shouts and crying all around, and cameras recording what was happening, that there were also passengers in deep and earnest prayer. I know that this is the case, for I know my brothers and sisters in Christ. Our memory precedes our compassion, for at one time we were that person in need .....and therefore we now pray for others in their time of need.
         Videos are instant recall presented in real time.....but they possess no memory before or after operation of the shutter....and that is the real issue.....and it is not new.....it's a variation of worshipping the image which requires much less from our mental processes than the written word.
         Content creation has moved swiftly into the digital world. These posts of mine are content creation. The Federalist Papers were content creation. The Communist Manifesto and the Humanist Manifesto were content creation. Content creation can contain truth and lies and a mixture of both. 
         The quintessential example, in my opinion, of how an image by itself can do great harm would be the Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a Saigon police chief summarily executing a Viet Cong insurgent in February of 1968. This Viet Cong captain who appeared to be just a scared young man had hours earlier, along with his unit of saboteurs, captured a South Vietnamese Lieutenant Colonial and his wife, six children and his mother. He demanded that the officer teach him how to drive the tanks they had captured in the attack. The South Vietnamese officer refused and he and his family were then murdered by cutting their throats. Of course none of this information came with the photo which greatly hurt America's efforts to defend this nation against communist assault and it aided our enemies in their future attacks on our own military. The photographer has long since realized this and regretted what his photo had done to our efforts in Vietnam and to the South Vietnamese chief of national police who was harangued in America for the rest of his life.
         The image has taken over from the word and Facebook is part of this assault. Is Twitter the word or and image? I submit to you that it is more image. Donald Trump's incessant tweets bolster an image and do nothing to generate thought. The image of today's pastor in the pulpit has diminished the words that emanate from that pulpit. Contrary to this, conservative talk radio is the spoken word and that is why it has been so effective in disseminating facts and truth although it can at times be nothing more than repetitious cheers as if at a pep rally.
         Our conversations today show the effects of a word diminished culture. An extended vocabulary only gets in the way of a quick text. In politics the sound bite and talking point have limited genuine debate. Platitudes often dominate Christian conversation and even doctrine. The law has become an assortment of loopholes in no need of discerning right and wrong. Elementary education has become the succession of one failed visualized fad after another. Even televised sports has had to resort to camera techniques that alter reality and perception to keep up with the constant need for something new in the age of the image.
        
     

"We're Gonna Put Our Dark Glasses On"

         When this latest revolution started out, conservatives on the whole were generally an enlightened and respectful group of men and women, fathers and mothers, who spoke rationally yet confidently about the abuses of the Obama administration, the corruption of the Clintons and the back-room deals of the Republican establishment elites in Washington, but behind the debate that raged on conservative talk radio and within the movement itself was a simmering uneasiness. Social issues were part of it but not the whole story.
         Would the movement hold together to prevent Hillary Clinton from becoming president? Well of course it did and we all celebrated on November 8th of last year, and we probably would have held together to this day had it not been for Donald Trump's abandonment of the core of his base....not all of his base but only those who wanted transparency and an honest president. The picture on this brand new puzzle is not as of yet coming into focus. The edges have been completed and the remaining pieces have been separated by color but it does not appear to be a serene scene that is developing, for their are too many dark and stormy hues.
         We were the movement of principle and of America's heritage. Everything was the constitution. We had right on our side....most of us anyway.....enough to put Donald Trump in office....but victory brings with it the spoils of war. We once wanted a birth certificate but now could care less about tax returns. We demanded truth but that's no longer important. Obama lied and we protested....Trump lied but even Rush doesn't seem to care. Where we once pleaded for logic and common sense, we now just belittle those who disagree. We questioned an entitlement culture but now its our turn to get what we want. In other words, we are slowly developing characteristics of those that we rightfully criticized for the last eight years. Folks, this is not healthy.
         I can hear the distant thunder in our conversations on conservative talk radio. There is an extreme callousness in many of the callers supporting the president where it once was more principled determination and honest debate when we were supporting his candidacy. Those of us who have the audacity to question the president's egregious backslidings on many issues have all of a sudden become the enemy. We're used to this for that was what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were all about but it is unnerving at the same time. In the common parlance of the day, it seems as if this movement is slowly losing its soul, with many of its members becoming that which they once were outraged by, but in reality the divide that was always there in conservatism is just becoming more pronounced. The question that many are now faced with is which side will they choose to stand on as the fissure widens? I'm reminded of a few lyrics in a famous song from the year of our bi-centennial...

"say a prayer for the pretender
who started out so young and strong
only to surrender"
        

The Coming Storm

         The globalist looks at the communist and says "I would have completed this job twenty years ago if I were in charge!" The communist responds "You're in charge of Europe...did not have Americans to deal with...and you can't even handle that job!" Not to be outdone, the globalist continues "You had your guy in there for eight years...eight years....and what do we get....Iran has nukes and there probably going to aim them at us!" Another communist response "Nice candidate you nominated to replace our guy! She couldn't sell a fake passport to a terrorist...and she probably tried."
         They're blaming each other now for Donald Trump. The globalist first..."I got a plan for him...our media is going to hammer him everyday until he leaves!" The communist..."What good will that do...you did that the whole campaign. Besides even if you get him out you put Pence in. The very last thing we need is a Christian president of the United States!"
          If only they were complete idiots like this...but they're not.....except for the media....for it seems like the least perceptive of our young people, lacking a traditional liberal education that would have strengthened their mind, with no idea of what is going on in this world around them, gravitate to the media professions and are then hired providing that in interviews they showed no independent thought or quest for actual truth.
         Both were successful...the globalist and the communist. It was a good try.... but the Americans....who woke them up anyway? The globalists know that most of their power is gone...all their knights and rooks are off the board. So it's mostly up to the communists....they're not worried about Americans waking up....they're worried about Americans looking up....to heaven....for Communism has always been seen as the lie it is under the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The following post is from 2015:     

         Their economic system was worse than terrible, although it did always fulfill its promise to bring the classes closer together, but it had to lower almost everybody to near poverty level to do so. By 'almost everybody' I mean that the tyrants and their sycophants keep their dachas and daggers but everyone else suffers. That's Communism! So anyway, they hated us because we were proof that their theories were lies and we hated them because they killed millions of people. Our university professors (most of them...not all of them) had a tough time figuring out who had the better argument, but since we believed in God and the communists didn't....Communism was given a pass.
          So the 'war' began. Our weapons were a constitution, laws and honor, and they, well they were very inventive in devising ways to torture, murder, maim and deceive. Our strategy was to wear them down, meet them in every challenge and stay on the field longer than them. Their strategy was to establish a 'fifth column" here on our turf in every profession that had access to our minds. They went for the children, families, the entertainment industry, unions, higher education, the media and Congress. We won on just about every foreign battlefield.....wore them down.....and then they quit! We then had a big party. They changed their name and shaved the mustaches so as not to be recognized on their return. One of their own, Barack Hussein Obama, became our king...actually our president but he put a crown on anyway and began to dismantle our Constitution, weaken us internally, and tear down our defenses. A finger appeared on the wall writing Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin but we have no interest in seeing what that meant.
          I came home this afternoon and turned on the television. PBS was broadcasting a travel documentary on Vietnam and the host almost gushed over North Vietnam's successful war for independence. That's what we have come to! Vietnam did not defeat the one who invaded them! It was Communism that invaded them. This was not their war for independence....it was their Waterloo.....and they lost!
        Communism played on our weaknesses. If we were to lack vigilance for only a moment they would grab a foothold in our land and never give it up. We gave more than a moment. They took more than a foothold.
        The hedge around us was no longer; not the hedge of armies and missiles but of the fear of God. Our discernments had been ravaged. We could no longer live with liberty for we no longer understood it. We sought to atone for our ignorance by tearing up the evidence of that we which were ignorant of. Truth became an anathema. Jesus became an anathema......"The way, the truth, and the life"... became an anathema to our hardened hearts!  Here and only here is our hope, for if we return to Him, He may....He may...have mercy upon us once again.... not in returning us to our exalted position.... but in keeping us through the coming storm. 

Whose Move Is It?

          The Communist Party of China is on the one hand firmly in control of China's foreign policy ambitions and economic plans for the future but on the other hand they know that they are walking a tightrope where a misstep or unforeseen emergency could jeopardize their own future. Buddhism will not disappear, nor will Islam in their northern provinces. Other religious beliefs refuse to go away and pose problems but it is Christianity that is their main concern. It grows....in spite of persecution it grows!
          What are they to do? The economy has to grow or they face internal insurrection from the people where they would have to use force...and you know what that means. If they can take advantage of President Trump for economic benefit it may secure their power for quite some time. Otherwise there would appear to be only one answer and that would be to inflame nationalism and a return to Mao's strategies.
           So where does Kim Jong-un come into this? The relationship between the two communist countries is frayed because North Korea is making a difficult domestic situation in China even more difficult but there is another aspect of this whole thing that if push comes to shove may determine what happens. Communist China surprised everyone once before in 1950 by sending 300,000 soldiers across the Yalu River in support of the communists in North Korea. Do they just walk away from this history? Do they coordinate a coup against Kim Jong-un to diffuse the situation and retain a communist neighbor? Or will circumstances dictate something even more drastic?
           Russian President Vladimir Putin has his own problems and will have to decide on how to commemorate the centennial of the October 1917 Revolution. Putin no longer uses the word communism but the mindset is still there. Both Xi's China and Russia have moved military forces to the Korean border.
           No one knows for sure if Kim Jong-un is crazy enough to use nuclear weapons or to wage a new Korean War. No one knows for sure what the generals under the dictator will do in a power struggle.  If you play chess then you know that a game can go on and on seemingly headed to a draw but can with one move turn into pieces falling everywhere with one king coming out on top.
         The book of Revelation is an endgame. I hesitate to use the word game, for God's plan is not a game, but the last few years before the return of our King will see pieces falling everywhere with only one victor...the "Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End"...Jesus Christ!

Visit My Facebook Page.......When Cows Fly

         We have a new grandchild.....and he's our first grandchild! When the guys at my work used to come around with pictures of their grandchildren, I'm retired now, I would smile...seem interested in the pics...and make nice comments. I now know what all the excitement was about! But wild horses....wild horses couldn't get me to look at a Facebook page even with pictures of our precious grandchild on it....such is my utter distaste for that social media from it's germination on Harvard's campus to its social media hegemony throughout this world. I'll wait for the Pony Express riders to come in with the mail before I partake of that medium.
          Have you read the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the Harvard twins...whatever their names were...and the Napster guy? Have you read any of the enormous amount of research on the harmful effects of Facebook? And the word 'harmful' is an understatement. Have you ever just sat down and thought about what Satan might possibly come up with if he wanted to somnabulize the entire world? Well, you don't have to...he already did! Have you  considered....even for a moment or two....the potential tyranny for such a monolithic entity that Facebook has become?
          So what can we do? Nothing....sorry to say.....absolutely nothing.....except avoid it....not be a part of it. But alas there are so many good things associated with Facebook! Let me count them.........hmmm.........OK there's nothing good about it. But what about the person who may come across Ligonier Ministries through Facebook where they might never have elsewhere? 'The world is awash in a narcissistic trance but a number of people get saved'....even Donald Trump wouldn't go for a deal like that!  You are essentially telling me....are you not....that God could not find those people without Facebook?  God whittled 32,000 of Gideon's men down to 300 but this is different...He needs Facebook.
          Hardly a day goes by without an horrendous news story coming out on the 'abuses' of Facebook. Folks, these are not abuses, they are natural outgrowths of the phenomenon, and they will only get worse and worse. Drudge has two articles on Facebook as I write this...."Facebook gives staff green light to protest President" and ""Zuckerberg schemes world manipulation....'mind -control' confirmed....future of 'staring at walls.'
          Time alone will have to prove this out. Actually it already has....but more time will be needed. In the hands of a Christian ministry Facebook poses no immediate problem....R. C. Sproul shares the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in a marvelous way....if only that were the extent of it but it also encourages people with their participation on Facebook....along with their children or friends. In other words it perpetuates the problem instead of identifying it and warning of the many and varied potential disastrous consequences to not only individuals but entire nations and the entire world!
          I'm not wasting my time with this post on an issue that nothing can be done about, if the reader sees a serious problem and then at least uses the medium circumspectly, and then passes this warning on to loved ones.
        
      
     

Been There....Done That....Got The T-Shirt

The following post is from of 2015:

       They knew that if they were patient, gave us a noose and kept us in lattes....that we eventually would hang ourselves. They were right. We have that noose around our neck right now and are jumping up and down shouting and singing Y M C A on the trap door!
        It's known as a Fifth Column but they didn't need an army of them...only a relatively small cadre of dedicated rabble-rousers, a committed fraternity of malcontents in academia, and a varied assortment of carefully placed operatives who were patient in attempting to work themselves up the ladder.. Their expertise came primarily in two areas. They could stir up hate and they could flatter, thus they preyed on the weaknesses of a republic whose citizens found out that they could vote in anything their little hearts desired.
        They knew that a newspaper editor was far more valuable than a congressman. They knew also that an uneducated miscreant could be more effective than a scholar, that unions could be of great use and that a good screenwriter was worth more than a shipload of Valium. They knew Americans better than we knew ourselves.
        It's not that they didn't have opposition, for the American that went through school before the politification of our educational system, or that was homeschooled or was fortunate enough to live within the boundaries of a good school system, was not going to simply believe and obey. The patriot would be a threat to them and their whole effort. The mother who did not buy into the lies of feminism would not relinquish their children to the state, and the father who lived for his children would also fight to protect them. No, they could never convince Americans to give up, they had to make enough of them believe that they were winning when they were losing, and that good was bad and bad was good.

Been There....Done That....Got The T-shirt

         This is my resume. I have almost a half a century of experience as an adult to write these posts. I was part of the 60s generation. I saw JFK in person and shook Jimmy Carter's hand....twice. I've been a Democrat and a Republican. I can compare the Cuban Missile Crisis with Communism today. I was Pentecostal in the beginning. I lived about a third of my adult life without Jesus Christ. I've been in the military. I've been a union member for over 35 years. I've been in college in the early 70s and the late 90s. I've studied world history and American history and church history. I've heard every imaginable form of Christian preaching and have the past to compare it to. I've lived through lean times where we struggled to put food on the table and fat times where I feel guilty after paying so much money at a restaurant. The following post is from June of this year:

          It's really rather amazing....the older one gets the more complete a picture appears of life and this world that we live in......it's more complex but paradoxically more clear at the same time. Now age in itself guarantees nothing as to wisdom for it is just a help that may be utilized or may be wasted. I have many legitimate memories of the 1950s and the accompanying lifestyle of my parents and their friends with their entertainments... all culminating in those '13 days of October 1962.' The 60s were something else altogether and I lived it as part of that generation that spawned idols and tragedies as America deteriorated in the process. I experienced the Vietnam years...from Vietnam...18 months anyway.
          I know what the 70s felt like. I've experienced lean times and fat times. As I grew up I watched my mother struggle to put food on the table and now I buy more food than I need. I backed political candidates from both sides of the political spectrum as both a teenager up until now a senior citizen. Most importantly I once knew not Jesus Christ and I still tremble at that. I once thought that this life was the only thing that mattered and certainly did not want to even meditate upon what would happen when it was over. I now know that there is meaning in life and that meaning is in Jesus Christ......and somehow He painted us into the picture of calling others to Him. There is now not only 'meaning' to life but 'life' to life. I don't think that I can adequately convey the difference in these two periods of my life but combined together they offer an additional perspective.
         There is a downside to experiencing this world over so much time... as one sees decades pass with no lessons learned. I've lived on both ends of a fifty year spectrum and we are far far worse off in just about every imaginable way today!  As every year passes I see more and more how frail and weak man is and would wonder how he lasted six-thousand years if I did not already know that the answer to that is that nuclear weapons have only been around for 70 of those years. Wisdom is rare and truth is obsolete today. I read simple letters of correspondence written centuries ago and marvel at how we have digressed in language and analysis and thought in general. We are taken in by every scam hatched in the nursery of our narcissism and greed. We have a Communist president and could care less about it because we have no idea what Communism is.
         No, man has not progressed even though he constantly grades himself with an "A+." Every evidence points to a cataclysmic end to Western Civilization but this courtroom takes no prosecutorial evidence...only testimony from the defense on how they are the true victim. There is no judge, no jury and no oaths to take.
        I take you back to the rise of the Persian Empire and the book of Ezra. God had moved mightily upon the heart of Cyrus The Great who decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. The 70 year Babylonian Captivity was over. Tens of thousands of Jews returned and began the work only to be delayed because of opposition from the peoples who had since taken up residence in the area. Eventually their permission to build was verified. Ezra then returned and found that the people had fallen away from God as if nothing was ever learned! Great remorse was offered to God and reforms were instituted. Nehemiah would return as governor of Judea shortly after and once again great remorse had to be made and reforms instituted. Finally the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt! I can see a similar progression in our own nation....America. It is as if we attempt, albeit through much opposition, to rebuild what we once had but just as the Jews had done, we utterly refuse to separate from the surrounding pagan culture. We are indistinguishable in our conversations, our entertainments and our pastimes. Yet we in the church also grade ourselves with an A+! We would be more than satisfied and consider it a great victory to have a Republican Party led government where little change would be required of us.
         Should God send an Ezra or a Nehemiah to America there would indeed be rending of garments, but He has instead sent Jonahs and now Nahums who are ignored.   

I'm A Prepper...He's A Prepper...Wouldn't You Like To Be A Prepper Too

         I read an article on the book at worldnetdaily.com, picked up my cell phone and ordered it from Barnes & Noble. It came in today and I just finished it. Now I've made comments like this before on reading books in a day and it's time to explain why I might mention this in my posts. Is it because I'm bragging? Maybe you have noticed that I often write in a way that an average visitor might be very turned off. If nine are turned off and one ventures further, then I'm satisfied. These are serious times we are living in right now and I personally choose not to worry about turning people away who have absolutely no intention whatsoever on coming to grips with or even addressing what is happening in America and the church. We don't need any more 10,000 seat churches. We need filled 200 seat churches.
         I mention reading a book in a few hours or a day so as to encourage you to reflect on how concerned you really are on what is happening in America, which is exhibited in how much effort you are putting in to find out what is going on. This life is short folks. I know all about the Penguins third consecutive win in the Stanley Cup playoffs last night. It took me about 60 seconds to see who scored the goals in the paper. There I go again....making a controversial statement.
         The book is Spiritual Prepper, Tapping into Overlooked Prophesies To Prepare You For Doomsday by author, former pastor and ministry leader Jake McCandless. I wish that he had chosen a different sub-title. Even I don't use the word doomsday. It's a very mainstream Baptist America type of book where in it the author references well-known authors such as D. A. Carson, John MacArthur and John Piper.
          Now I don't know much about the author. I highly recommend this book even though he might very well distance himself from my writing. My purpose...and the author's I'm sure...is to awaken as many as possible to the extraordinary dangers that may lie just ahead.....and to encourage them to prepare....all of this with incontrovertible scriptural references!
          Preppers, as they have come to be known, prepare for disasters of any kind....of which might be as normal as hurricanes or dystopian as a total breakdown of society. The author wants people to become Spiritual Preppers who prepare now for not only the dangers that are in every Christian life but to prepare for a world whose hate for Christians is accelerating at a rapid pace. That's what I've tried to do in these posts. I don't want 'followers," I only want to stand at a crossroads and point passers-by to the right paths to take.
          The author highlights Revelations 'Seven Letters To The Seven Churches' as well as John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, both of which I have highlighted in these posts over the years. It's a 219 page softcover and very easy to read. The retail price is $16.95. Come on! That a large pizza with everything. You will be edified!!!

Jeremiah 6:16..."Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."

Golden Hair Calf

        The following post was written three days after the Republican National Convention this past July. Donald Trump formally began his campaign as the Republican candidate by humiliating Ted Cruz at the convention....but no one really cared. That's who this man is...that's your champion. Since taking office he has proved that he is not a man of his word. He'll make ten promises with no intention of keeping five. It's all part of the art of the deal. I commented in this post from last July on how the Establishment was already back....at the convention.....and indeed they are.....with a bang! The problem in America is and has always been....to one degree or another....us....the one place we never looked. So we are happy with the golden calf that we constructed!

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 and 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 what has become 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 LGBT (Q?) 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.

No Time To Go Back To Sleep

  
          If I remember correctly, Steven K. Bannon used to say to the callers on his Breitbart XM radio show..."time to put your thinking caps on." I am though sure of this one, that on trying to make a difficult point to a caller he would say..."here's a fastball comin at you." The biggest difference of all between Steven K. Bannon and Donald J. Trump is that Bannon, whether right or wrong, was 100% truthful on his radio show, whereas Donald Trump in his storm of a campaign was somewhere deep on the lee side of 50%. Put your thinking caps on folks.....after less than three months in office Donald Trump has proven.....proven.....that he cannot be unguardedly trusted! He's playing you!!!
          If you buy into Jared Kushner as an acceptable choice for a senior advisor to the president then you have been royally duped...and that goes for Ivanka also. Defend Donald Trump all that you want but you will eventually choke on this one. President Trump....after all the promises on repealing Obamacare....knowingly tried to pull one over on us and was caught. If you can't see this then it's your fault. Did you forget his declaration of war on the Freedom Caucus? Think this through folks. An army overthrows a dictator and puts a new king on the throne who promptly attempts to overthrow the army!
          The latest egregious reversal in only the first three months of this administration is the most important so far. Now I know that you love him folks but wake up. The suffering of the people from the chemical attack in Syria was not the reason America flexed its muscle. That's all words folks. It's a geopolitical agenda....this is the war party as opposed to the Reagan party....the very party that candidate Donald Trump ran his campaign against! Yes, this president is giving you Jeff Sessions and Neil Gorsuch and making various other good decisions but robbing your house while you are out at his rally.
          Wherever you are reading this please pick a point thirty miles away. That's the distance from Korea's DMZ and South Korea's capitol Seoul with a population of 10 million along with 28,000 US military personnel in country. China....Communist China....is not to be trusted on any future military moves on North Korea! What they eventually do we will find out but their help is not to be relied upon and their support for North Korea is not to be discounted. There is no doubt whatsoever that something has to be done with Kim Jong-un....but it's extremely dangerous and Americans have to be prepared in advance. Otherwise the liberal media, supported by every other Hollywood 'patriot' will go right to work in criticizing only our own military that is protecting our own people.
          What I'm saying in this post and all the posts that I've written critical of Donald Trump's many reversals is that we are not to be what is commonly referred to as lemmings where we simply follow the leader. The common sense and reasoning abilities of at least half of America has been awakened and nourished over the past eight years. This is no time to go back to sleep!
        

One Day Closer

       Emma Morano died and we lost our link to the 19th century. Emma, born in November of 1899, was 117 years and 137 days old when she died recently at her home in Italy. According to a group that keeps track of these statistics, the oldest person on earth today is a Jamaican women who was born in March of 1900. She's 117 also but more than the 'oldest person' baton was passed.
       How many years does the Bible consider a generation to be...20...40...70...100? Today we label generations by outside influences upon them and characteristics that they may have developed. So I'm a baby boomer. Our son just yesterday visited Arlington National Cemetery where he took a picture of him and his newly born son at my son's grandfather's, my grandson's great-grandfather's, and my father's, grave. So, represented in the picture was the greatest generation, the millennial generation and an as yet unnamed generation.
       Luke Martin Jr. died in January of 2015. I wrote a post on his death back then because his father was an escaped slave who was born in the year the Alamo was fought and he served in the Union army in the Civil War. To me he represented an amazing connection to America's heritage. Why don't they write news stories on people such as Emma Morano and Luke Martin Jr. before they die? Well I guess that they do but the stories don't make national headlines until they are in the past tense. I would have liked to have written to Mr. Martin but probably wouldn't have had the courage to.
        A friend took a picture of me today firing a handgun at a shooting range. When I saw it I thought...man that guy looks old... but the concept of old age is marvelous, beautiful and very instructive if we will let it be. It's marvelous in that God is so faithful to take one through so many years in this world of wars, violence and many illnesses. It's beautiful in that every single day and every single age wrinkle, ache and pain point to one day closer to standing before Jesus Christ in all His glory!
       Old age is instructive in that God did not design man to age. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics points to the eventual decay of...everything. Adam was not created to decay....the fall accomplished that, and man's body will thus continue to age in spite of what some celebrated business moguls claim to be overturning.
        Which brings me to two beautiful words....born again! The modern church has marred this amazing grace in salvation. Today we only have to live fairly honestly, attest to a belief in God without actually being attentive to His commands and directions, and attend a church of our choosing according to our own desires on who God is.
        Being 'born again' is actually a wrenching strain in our lives at the very least where we discover that we were lost...and then we were found....we were dead....and now we are alive....and that the Bible was a book...albeit an important book....and now it is recognized as the actual transforming Word of God! The body will continue to decay but the spirit is not only alive but growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ!
        Yes, the picture of me today looked old but within that decaying body lives a soul regenerated, a mind that can praise its creator and redeemer, and a once forlorn soul that through absolutely no credit of its own it will eventually transcend time as we know it and experience an eternal existence in adoration of a Triune God of whom we will fully understand in God's due time.
          
      

Strength And Resolve

         Communism is a dialectic. It will change its outward appearance if it has to but it will still be communism. China's government is communist. It is not seeking a synthesis with America for that could never happen. It is seeking a synthesis with capitalism where Communism would then defeat America. Donald Trump may think that he's merely dealing with some pretty reasonable capitalists who happen to call themselves communists.
         Liberalism was founded on the concepts of liberty and equality but today it sees liberty only as freedom from God and it sees equality as only freedom from rules where everyone merely does what is right only in their own eyes. Meanwhile Communism plods on recognizing in us that which we do not recognize of ourselves. Strength is not enough if it is not accompanied by resolve. China does not question our strength, so displays of strength do little to worry or concern them. When we abandon our previously stated principled beliefs.... and in doing so attempt to make deals with them..... we show the embryo of a lack of resolve.
         Big bombs and missiles are not a show of resolve...they are a show of strength. Irrespective of North Korea, Communist China now knows that Donald Trump doesn't really have a problem with Communist China. North Korea has to be stopped...we've known this when Donald Trump was still firing people on The Apprentice, which wasn't that long ago. Iran also has to be stopped. We need transparency and integrity here more than ever before, but we now know that Donald Trump's words and promises spin on a roulette wheel....where the ball will stop....nobody really knows.
        
        

You Can Keep Your 'Participation' Trophy

         America is what it is today because of two primary influences....the modern Christian church and our educational system.....and that's not intended as a compliment. It's the latter that I want to address today. I was finally able to settle in to my chair about 6 o'clock in the evening. I booted up my computer and turned on Mark Levin who said that he was going to focus his program on education. I wanted to change topics from recent posts so I'll do the same as Mark with this post from July of 2016.
         My own primary and secondary education was in Catholic schools. There was plenty of discipline, God was referenced, the Plymouth colony and Jamestown were honored, George Washington was a wonderful man, Thomas Jefferson was a genius, Benjamin Franklin was wise, Davy Crockett was brave and both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were great generals. They didn't teach me anything about sex except biological information. President Kennedy was assassinated and there were no counselors in school the next day. I got cut from the baseball team, and there was a valedictorian who did better than everyone else.         
         Our son had a similar good experience and education in his Christian elementary, public high school and a conservative private Christian college. He's never had any problem with logic, rational thought or analysis. In fact when he went to law school he excelled. Unfortunately, the American educational experience is as split down the middle today as we as a people are split in our political opinions. Hmmm. I wonder if there's a correlation? You bet there is!

         Crimes Of The Educators, How Utopians are using Government Schools To Destroy American Children is a book written by educator Samuel Blumenfeld and journalist Alex Newman. The Progressive education of most today is a totally different animal than that which all American children experienced up until the beginning of the twentieth century. Most conservatives are very well aware of this but this book will shock even the better informed!
         Admittedly, if one is not already concerned with our education system to begin with, then they will have no interest in reading the book and probably exited this post after merely reading the book's title. I'm familiar with Samuel Blumenfeld for I read his book NEA: Trojan Horse In American Education back when it was first published in 1984. Some readers are already familiar with him from his books and expertise on the homeschooling movement.
          Here's a Thomas Jefferson quote that prefaces the entire book "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God; that they are not to be violated but with His wrath?"
          We know who John Dewey is right, at least those of us fifty years and older? Well, actually we don't, even though Barry Goldwater gave this warning over a half century ago in his book Conscience Of A Conservative..."In the main, the trouble with the American education is that we have put into practise the educational philosophy expounded by John Dewey...responding to the Deweyite attack on methods of teaching, we have encouraged the teaching profession to be more concerned with how a subject is taught than with what is taught...(and)...we have forgotten that the proper function of the school is to transmit the cultural heritage of one generation  to the next generation as to make them (the students) capable of absorbing ancient learning and applying it to the problems of today."
          Dewey's purpose in life seems to have been to dumb down American education in order to make the populace less individualistic and more controllable as a socialist utopian society is pursued. This from the book..."The method of achieving this was by simply changing the way children are taught to read in their schools. The utopians got rid of the traditional intensive phonics method of instruction and imposed a look-say, sight, or whole-word method..." There it is! The book is filled with SAT statistics, pertinent anecdotes and teacher testimonies, descriptions by neurologists on how the brain functions in reading, historical failures from 'fad of the year' teaching methods, the disaster of psychotropic drugs to cure ADD and ADHD, Big Brother and data collection, and concludes with an appendix of an article written by John Dewey in 1898 proving the Samuel Blumenfeld and Alex Newman's thesis.
          President Obama's answer in 2013 to the latest...dismal at best... national test results was, according to the authors, "to give all US three- and four-year olds access to 'high quality' preschool education." Their comment on this was..."The new program would be run at the state level, with federal oversight. In other words, the dumbing down would begin earlier." Big surprise here, huh?
          There are dozens of references to Communism, Karl Marx and Socialism in this book of 321 pages, for as the authors write..."Socialism's objective had been from the very beginning to remake man from the competitive individual of a capitalist society to a cooperative being in a collectivist state." Chapter 14 is titled Cooperative Learning: Communist Ideology In the Classroom. A quote from H. L. Mencken is given..."There is no idea so stupid that you can't get some professor to believe it." This is part of Communist methodology...and we can see it in the global warming scam.
          So the book is there for those who are interested but quite frankly it takes time and effort to read and investigate like this and few seem up to it even though our nation collapses more each and every day right before our very eyes. It's so much easier to just vote for Donald Trump.

A Question About The Gaffe

        I'm sure that I could come up with a meaty list of verbal gaffes that I've made in my life. Usually when we make errors like this it's funny and you laugh it off and go on, but the first of White House press secretary Sean Spicer's two gaffes today is a concern. 
        In that gaffe, while defending the military strike on Syria, Mr. Spicer said that Hitler..."didn't even sink to using chemical weapons." When questioned later on this absurd statement he stumbled again. My question is this...was the name Hitler mentioned in a pre-press briefing briefing...or did Mr. Spicer just terribly ad lib? If it was an ad lib OK....we all make mistakes...but if he was told that he might mention Hitler in the press briefing if he gets the chance then we have yet another problem with an administration condescending to us as if we were just les miserables.
        Gaffe number two was definitely a verbal typo. Mr. Spicer came back out to explain his first gaffe but made another in saying that he did not want to distract......"in any shape or form the president's decisive action in Syria and the attempt he is making to destabilize the region."
        Let me make this clear...it is not the attack on the Syrian air base in itself that is the main issue.....it's the people behind the decision-making that is the issue. A number of talk show hosts are going ballistic defending the decision on Syria but in doing so they seem totally oblivious to the people that are around Donald Trump....the people that he specifically chose to be around him....that will be part of dozens if not hundreds of equally major decisions in the future. They say that we are abandoning the president at the first sign of trouble.......we say that they apparently gave up thinking on election day.
         The following is an opinion post from Michael Goodwin that will probably be in tomorrow's New York Post.....When I asked the President Tuesday afternoon if he still has confidence in Bannon, who took over the campaign in mid-August, I did not get a definitive yes. "I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”
         Folks this is typical Donald Trump. His statement is flippant...arrogant...and adolescent. He would be signing a book deal and starting a new TV show now without Steve Bannon. Pack your bags Steve...either that or buy a good pair of hip boots.
        

So Where Do We Go From Here

          So where do we go from here? The 'champion' so many expected didn't materialize. Friends, President Trump gave you Neil Gorsuch but I suspect he couldn't care less who he picked but he knew that he absolutely had to come through on this. He's overturning a lot of Obama executive orders but most of these further his economic plan anyway. He tried to pull a fast one on us on health care and it didn't work. And now he may initiate a major war or wars.....wars that may indeed be inevitable but there are right ways to do things and terribly wrong ways. Congress has to not only be notified in advance but they have to be on board, the people have to be honestly informed as to the potential serious consequences, and the reasoning for the actions have to be fully explained well in advance in order to be adequately considered. In this case the first is unlikely, as would be the second, and the third is not going to happen, in fact a well constructed subterfuge is already in place.
          NBC news is reporting what the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported a few days ago in that Eric Trump let it be known that Ivanka was "heartbroken and outraged" over the events in Syria and that President Trump was swayed by her compassion. First of all this lady has absolutely no business being in the West Wing of the White House. Secondly, this is a ruse and an idiotic ruse at that. Donald Trump bombed Syria because of an agenda of President Trump's and the people around him...which includes his daughter Ivanka.
         So to reiterate...where do we go from here? At this time most of the base that put Donald Trump in office fully supports, and unfortunately believes, his words. Rush Limbaugh is, in my opinion, stumbling through every show trying to justify most of the president's actions while almost ignoring what is going on in the Oval Office and NSC. Sean Hannity is trying his best to hold things together while Mark Levin seems to me to be struggling with what is happening. Breitbart, Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter haven't missed a beat from staying the course on the principles that this whole 2016 election was all about.
         Now if you have read anything on what these posts of mine are all about then you know that I, and others of like mind, see our situation somewhat differently. Yes, we all agree that we have to return to our constitution and the principles of liberty and freedom that America has always stood for. In that regard great strides were made but Donald Trump left us and thus we are to continue as we have been in standing for truth and honesty in government while searching for leaders that feel the same. On the other hand we know that not only our beginnings as a people on this continent but the protections upon us over every minute of every day over four centuries have come from God alone! Not only is it not because of who we inherently were but it was in spite of who we oft times were and are.
         So ultimately the question is not where do we go from here but what are God's plans for us. His judgements have been upon us for quite some time and are getting stronger. We arrogantly said that we were going to make America great again, and this without returning to Him. Well...we should now be able to see where that got us. If you still hold to trusting in our own powers and our own wisdom then you have somehow missed the continuous hailstorm of evidences that has marred any beauty we might once have had.
         The church needs to put aside the hindrances that keeps it from hearing God's words to us at this time. If God is to have mercy upon us then we will humble ourselves and He will be with us in what is ahead. If we continue to attempt to hold Him at arms length then He will simply let us go in our own wisdom which so far has resulted in Donald Trump.
        

Securing The High Ground

Folks, where do you stand on this issue of the Syria missile strikes? If you agree with the concerns in the following post, and the concerns over Donald Trump in general, then please pass this on.....or write a better one yourself....but please don't stand on the sidelines! This post is from last week but I want to keep it closer to the top:
   

         The conservative radio talk show hosts that I heard today seemed to be split down the middle on the Syrian air base attack but it's Mark Levin 's comments that I want to respond to. He was unrelenting in his criticism and verbal attacks on those of us who do not automatically support this military action. It is not the missile attack in itself that causes us to not just immediately jump on board and celebrate America's power. It's much more than that.
          Some of us are seeing signs in Donald Trump of an egomania that transcends the patriotic feelings that he may have. Some of us have seen this from the very beginning. How does a man change so drastically in his political beliefs, from liberal to conservative, in such a short time? Well maybe Donald Trump hadn't really changed to begin with? He ran his populist campaign on being anti-establishment but he seems to be embracing that which he condemned not too long ago. This type of crass political behavior does not usually inspire confidence.
          I am by no means convinced that his decision in Syria was a result of emotions after this chemical attack....I believe that he may have used the chemical attack....that he and his new advisors saw the opportunity to make some strategic moves in the Middle East and took advantage of it. If a church is burned in Nigeria tomorrow with the same amount of loss of life will he then be just as outraged? Are the photos more horrible than hundreds of burned bodies of men, women and children or dozens of decapitated Christians?
          Did the Chinese president's presence in the United States have anything to do with his actions? Was it meant as a warning to North Korea? The answer to both is probably yes. It also took away a lot of the heat he has been taking for his moves towards the establishment. We are talking about moving our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Why...other than that he promised it in his campaign? There is no biblical mandate for this...none...it's political.....and dangerous.
          It's one thing to care little to nothing about the atrocities occurring in Syria...perpetrated by both sides....and yet another to simply question a man who has as of yet given little evidence of any wisdom. It is also one thing in not announcing military plans ahead of the actual moves because it is simple common sense....and yet entirely another in using this welcomed logic to possibly start a war without even consulting the Congress. And lastly it is one thing to defend the weak even at danger to yourself and yet another to put our military in harms way over some think tank's plans on restructuring the world.

          The following is a portion of a March 2012 post.

          "There's a scene from Ted Turner's Gettysburg where Brigadier General John Buford, played by Sam Elliot, scans rocky heights and farm land that would in one day become a battlefield and he literally spews out these words as he foresees carnage in the Union army if the politicians and generals play their war games as usual, afterwards men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chests and say 'what a brave charge it was'..... I've never seen anything as brutally clear as this.... It's as if I can actually see the blue troops in one long bloody moment....as if it were already done....as if tomorrow already happened and there ain't nothin you can do about it..." 

         Those of us who will not so quickly 'thump our chests..." in pride... will not do so because there is too much evidence from the past where we initiated military action, and military personnel died, when it was later found out that circumstances where not quite as we were initially told. Brigadier General John Buford succeeded in securing the high ground prior to the main battle of Gettysburg. The 'high ground' for America in what is ahead would be humility, repentance and reverence of God who has sustained us as a people on this continent for over four centuries. Failing to do this would mean that we are on our own in what is ahead.

Brave New 1984

         It's pretty common to hear 'Orwellian' and '1984' nowadays. There's been discussion over the years on who was more accurate in describing the coming tyranny... the drug em' up and keep em' sedated tyranny of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World or the newspeak, censorship and thought police of George Orwell's 1984, but these two scenarios are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
         There is a world that is in bloom before us, only it's not a spring of tulips and daffodils. It's a beast of a world full of algorithmic tyranny, robotic revolution, genetic experimentation and many more user-unfriendly inventions and discoveries.
          Orwell's 1984 is a hard book to read, in my opinion anyway, because there are so many similarities to our world today. Nothing but the Word of God can describe how man can so blithely reverse facts and rewrite history as did Orwell's Big Brother and as we see evidence of all around us today. The surveillance in Oceania from 1984 was probably at one time too unbelievable to even fathom but it would hardly raise an eyebrow upon reading it today. Winston and Julia, godless, are entirely believable as they wander about hating the tyranny they live under but having absolutely no where to go for truth.
          There's one passage in 1984 where Winston is desperately trying to find out what London was like before the revolution. He spies a crotchety old man at a pub and fills him with beer attempting to coax information out of him but fails. Thinking back on this I can only add my own passage in which someone secretly, for it would have had to be secretly, comes up to Winston and covertly hands him what in Orwell's 1984 would have been banned and destroyed, a Bible, and then asks of him..."May I tell you of God's Son, Jesus Christ, My Lord and my Savior, and His offer of eternal life if you should but believe in Him?
         Aah but George Orwell was an atheist as was Aldous Huxley. It may have been their atheism that enabled them to envision their dystopian worlds, for without God there can be nothing but tyranny. And that is also our problem today.

The Donald Trump Club

        A president of the United States picks his Hollywood glamorous, perfume and fashionista daughter, to be one of his chief advisors on issues that might include decisions such as... attacks on Syria....North Korea....abortion....you name it.....and this president also names her husband as a 'senior' advisor who may be the single most important advisor in the Oval Office....while this man....who has a liberal background....  has no qualifications other than as a real estate mogul son-in-law to the boss. Do you know what goes through my mind when I focus on this?  Rome! The Rome of the Circus and gladiators where the emperor put only those near him who he was sure would not betray him....regardless of their lack of qualifications.
         I watched a video recently where a mainstream news media personality...I can't remember her name....questioned Ivanka some time ago in that some people on the conservative side were concerned that she might have too much influence with her father if he becomes president. Her response was rather cutish and humble in that....she was only going to be a daughter.
         Donald Trump pushed another button over the weekend where yet another NSC advisor, K. T. McFarland, was ejected. The fact that there was a power struggle between Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon is like a power struggle that might have occurred at Disneyland between Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney.....where Mickey won....and Walt was given his walking papers by Donald Duck.
         Friends, we criticized liberals for years for mindlessly believing anything that Barack Obama or the Clintons or the Pelosis or Harry Reids said.... or the talking points that the mainstream media regurgitated. Have we now become as they were?

Rush flailing Away From The Sand

         Rush was livid as he went on and on and on describing how the liberals may have hijacked a conservative stronghold. Last night was the last straw! No, I'm not talking about President Trump filling the Oval Office with liberals, progressives, establishment types, neophytes and glamorous women. Apparently Rush watched last night's season finale of Homeland where....it appears...that next year's scripts are going to go in another direction.
         I've never seen an episode so I may not know anything about Homeland but I'm told that the Fox show '24' was similar. I did watch quite a few of those since they were on basic cable but I remember being a pain to my wife as I continuously commented that we better not let television producers, writers and directors influence in any way our own personal beliefs. 
         The Word of God must dominate our mind on every issue and in every situation of our lives, or to the degree that it doesn't we are on our own as to discerning the world and the perils all around us. Rush Limbaugh can analyze the political scene with the very best of them and he can then describe clearly and logically to his listeners what is actually happening better than all of them. He has been nothing less than a tour de force on radio and in the American conservative mind but he may be surprised that many of us had not enlisted him as our swami or our guru but as a news and issue commentator. He talks...we listen...and if he can convince....which he usually can...we are then more of an informed citizenry than we were.
         Rush can make mistakes and he is in the middle of a big one right now. He permitted himself to become so vested in a successful Trump presidency that he has been shanking just about every shot for the past few weeks. Whereas usually his analysis flows along a stream of logic it has lately been strikingly contorted, dull and at times inventively servile to the image of Donald Trump that he helped build up.

Too Much Gloating......Not Enough Prayer

I wrote the following words on June 4th, 2015 in a post titled "When The Power Is gone."

           At this moment in time Barack Obama holds all the cards. He has his thumb on the military, the Justice Department and every cabinet department, law enforcement and intelligence agency in our government. His small coterie of like minded 'advisors' direct the Democrat Party and much of the media. "Fellow travellers" of his Marxist ideology head governments around the world while 'dupes' dance in America's entertainment industry and educational system to his piped rap rendition of The Internationale; but should we survive this tsunami heading our way he will be out of the game and the spotlight will be turned on all of these people who unquestioningly followed his directives as our nation crumbled.

I also wrote this a few years ago...

         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.....

         Susan Rice, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others will have tough times ahead without their own personal Attorney General and various cabinet heads carrying water for them. It is important that these people are held to account for what they have done to America, and that their continued efforts after Barack Obama left office are stopped, but the partying atmosphere over the Susan Rice and Emily Farkas revelations, along with the daily cheerleading for Donald Trump, only keeps the most pressing problems that we face on the back burner...if on the stove at all.
          We need as many in the nation as possible praying over the situations in North Korea and the Middle East to name but two very serious problems. The surveillance issue will continue and take its own course. We should be more concerned with some of the people who are 'advisors' in the West Wing of the White House right now than those who were once there but are gone!
        
  

"Therefore....Let Us Throw Off Everything That Hinders..."

         I wrote the following post in late November of 2008! Wow...I've been at this a long time. Tim Tebow was in his last year at the University of Florida. I've written a few more posts on him since then and the message has basically been the same....'Tim...quit fooling around with professional football and run for Congress.' I've felt that way when he was kicked around the NFL and I feel it now as he tries baseball. The media doesn't like you in the pros Tim. They'd hate it if you would succeed in anything. So tuck the Constitution in and run right at them like you did at Florida. And on your first day on the Capitol floor, Lord willing if we can make it that far, put that Heb. 12:1,2 eye black on once more!
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         There's a entry in my 1981 Complete Runner's Day-By-Day Log and Calendar by James Fixx that always brings a smile to my face, Saw Chariots of Fire tonight. Below that is an entry that doesn't bring a smile, weight 160 lbs.. Eric Liddell's dedication and honor to this religion of his meant a lot to me when I first saw the film. I don't know a lot about Tim Tebow because I don't follow college football that much other than to read an article here and there but I did see a few minutes of yesterday's Florida vs Florida State game. Tim Tebow had Heb 12:1,2 in the eye black below his eyes, something that's normal for him I understand.
         I have to say that I never heard announcers give accolades quite as exemplary to anyone as they did to this young man yesterday. He must be an extraordinary leader athlete and in the future will undoubtedly cause many young athletes to reassess the Christian message and to encourage young believers
         Should he decide to play in the NFL then I'm sure that he will have many more opportunities to express his faith in Jesus Christ, and will have an effect on some; but the greater glory to Christ would be to say no to professional football that's played on the Lord's Day.... because of what this national pastime has done to America and to the church. From what I've read about this incredible young man, if the historic and scriptural evidence of the Lord's Day is placed before him, I wouldn't be surprised if he passed on the NFL and sought God's will in his life.

        

The Devil Wears Brand Trump

          Folks, this man our president is going to be making decisions that will effect the lives of thousands of our military, and millions if not hundreds of millions of people in our country. This has been the issue all along. Ted Cruz is a God-fearing man as is Rand Paul as is Ben Carson as were others.....Donald Trump is not!!! We were too impetuous in our rallying around the loudest voice in the house.
         This declaration of war tweet to those who put him in office from a few days ago has to be addressed and cannot be ignored for it shows Donald Trump's not only lack of character but complete and utter lack of wisdom. Yes, he has men around him who are as good as we have but he also has a Prada runway of the Elle and GQ politically correct who rose quickly to where they are because of their looks, gender and/or inheritances.
          Did we make a mistake in voting for him in the general election? Of course not! If he had proved to be who said he was we could have had hope that he addresses all the issues and confront all our enemies with wisdom but that hope is gone with the wind unless God intervenes.
         I have to return to this tweet because they may watch over him closer so that we do not get another peek behind the curtain of this Wizard of Manhattan. The 'tweet' as used by the president is a political gambit....keep 'em reeled in....feed em' the bait daily and keep em' showing up at rallies like carp on the spillway at Pymatuning Reservoir in Western Pennsylvania.
         Yes, he will make a lot of changes that he campaigned on but the establishment elites know very well that they have to give us some things. Repeal of Obamacare was not one of them and there will be others. Folks, support those in our government who are honest, and deal the best that you can with the others. They tried to finesse us and that didn't work, then they tried a head-on attack and that didn't work, next they may try to flank us. Keep the pickets posted!.
          Tomorrow is the Lord's Day. Donald Trump may pick a liberal church to attend to deceive you, and Rush Limbaugh will be on the golf course, but those of us who know that America has rejected the wisdom of God...and that His righteous judgments are upon us...possibly as the beginnings of birth pangs...will seek His forgiveness and mercy...upon ourselves as individuals who have failed him of whom I am the worst...upon the church for failing to remain vigilant while feeding the sheep with everything but the cross of Christ as our only hope ...upon this nation of ours that choose a mess of pottage over God's Word...and upon our leaders...some of whom will need wisdom and strength in the coming days but others who first need a humbling at the foot of Cross.

"Even He Is The Eighth, And Is Of The Seven"

The following post is from this past December. I bring it back because of reactions and some extreme remarks coming from European elites concerning problems that the European Union is facing:
   
         Many of the richest people on this earth will be reading this book because they know who James Rickards is.....and they know that he knows them....personally....along with their habits and the way they conduct business. If you read The Road To Ruin, the Global Elites' Secret Plan For The Next Financial Crisis you will see why I make this statement.
         It's no coincidence that Rickards chose Revelation 6:5-6 to begin his newest book. Certainly he chose it because it depicts the third seal in Revelation... that of the rider on the black horse that brings famine to the earth.... for it is the author's contention that an "instantaneous decline" and "catastrophic collapse" is most likely in America's future. There are a number of biblical references throughout demonstrating that this secular author is familiar with the Bible but it is my belief that God not only led him to that verse but supplied the gift necessary to understand the inherent defects of capitalism when ruled by greed.        .
         Donald Trump was mentioned just once in The Road To Ruin! How could this be considering the subject matter of the book? The answer given is that Donald Trump, or any President of the United States, is but a pawn on the chessboard of the global elites; although it should be mentioned that a single pawn, many a time, was the decisive piece in a chess game. The author gives this description of what happens behind the scenes of world economies..."They (the elites) control global finance and, by extension, global politics, because politics are constrained by finance." This concept coincides with my own thoughts on the rise and success of Donald Trump. In a previous decade he might very well have been able to restore somewhat of America's 'greatness'... but coming as he is today....at the latter end on the scale of market collapses....he may instead only be the catalyst that forces the elites to bring about their end-game.
         I'm forced to simplify the concepts in this book review because although I am not new to the general topic of world elites and their nefarious schemes, I am a novice in economics compared to the author and therefore limited myself to the major themes of the book. The descriptions may seem very short but if I were to write extensively on it you might then think that you have ingested the essence of the warnings given by James Rickards when you would not have. You would have had a...not only incomplete...but a feeble condensing of these very real and very serious events that must occur...in their proper time....which is in reality in God's proper time.
        The most notable economists in power and influence from the past and today have used what are considered the accepted methods in the handling of market emergencies. According to James Rickards, and supported by other experts in these fields, these methods may have been somewhat successful in the past but each case added to the rotting of the foundation which makes the next crisis even more catastrophic. In short, there will be no fixes available the next time, and to make matters worse, according to the author, the elites will use this coming extraordinary emergency to implement their New World Order. Let me remind you that James Rickards is a highly regarded secular economics advisor....not a Bible scholar!
         The market emergencies of 1998 and 2008 were caused by ignorance, greed and gross miscalculations by the well-known experts making the decisions. The overall problems for the world economy, as previously stated, intensified after each crisis. So where are we now? The adhesive is gone from the Band-Aids and there are none left in the first-aid kit anyway! The message given is clear...there is no getting out of this catastrophe that is ahead.
         The author used an analogy of Ian Fleming's fictional SMERSH that was based on Stalin's Red Army counter-intelligence organization of the same name. He's pointing to actual organizations, the names of which we would be familiar, doing the bidding of the elites. Rickards warns... no... he predicts that money riots will occur in America as our financial system begins to unravel. You'll learn a lot about economics and money in general in this book that includes a very clearly written history on what has transpired in financial markets over the ages but particularly in the past century. The names of those in power who brought us to this precipice are given with no holds barred. Keynes is there along with a dozen other economists, and Woodrow Wilson is skewered along with a dozen other world leaders. If I can understand the complex issues as they are described then you will be able to also.
         The author makes this statement...."Sovereigns don't go down without a fight. The response to money riots will be confiscation and brute force. Governing elites will be safe in their hollowed-out mountain command centers. Private elites will fend for themselves in their yachts, helicopters, and gated-communities, which will be converted to armed fortresses." Folks this is coming from a man who dines with the elites of this world and advises our intelligence community!!! He is warning that a "Neofascism  will emerge (which is of the Left by the way)....with liberty lost." In support of this he references a 2008 book by Jonah Goldberg titled Liberal Fascism, a book that I hyped in these posts as much as I am doing here with The Road To Ruin. The author has deciphered the agenda of the elites of this world and details every step of that agenda under this outline...."world money, world taxation, and world order."
        There was something in the historical context of all this that piqued my interest. Mr. Rickards named seven world orders up to this point...Rome....Charlemagne...the Holy Roman Empire....Westphalia...and the current United Nations, IMF and G-20 structure. Now that's five but he felt it necessary to include China and Islam in the mix. The eighth is what we are headed for. Friends...does that sound familiar? I had been meditating on and off over the years on the major economic systems and world orders we have had. James Rickards....as a professor would....gave precision and details to my own meditations, for it has been my contention for quite some time that this New World Order that the Bible describes would most likely need a catastrophe to precede it. James Rickards agrees and describes in his chapter titled Shock Doctrine a step-by-step process that could very well happen.
         Most of the book details past economic crises, why they occurred, what was done to alleviate the situation, how each one contributed to growing the next final collapse, why we have missed the causes, and how through the use of Complexity Theory we can get a murky but usable picture of what is ahead. I know that this sounds daunting in scope but the information flows easily and the message is understandable.  
         Near the end of the book the author offers some specific investing advice if you are interested. He mentions gold and various other havens. As an aside...he recommends that 5% of your portfolio should be in fine art. I'm ahead of the game on this. I have a real wing-dinger painting hanging in my computer room. It shows a brown Lab sitting on a dock overlooking a small lake at nighttime...and there are little LED lights giving it a beautiful glow. In reality the closest I'll ever get to fine art is if I buy a painting by a fellow named Fine, but the author does give advice that most of us can take advantage of.
         In his conclusion to The Road To Ruin, James Rickards describes an informal debate that he took part in at a theater in New York City. There were four debaters...two teams of two experts. The topic to be debated was whether America would 'ascend' in the future or 'decline.' The author and his partner argued for the latter with what in my opinion were very convincing proofs. The audience voted and the book concludes with this....."Then the debate was over. The audience voted; complacency won.....The elite bubble was intact, at least for the evening."

Note: What should be disconcerting to conservatives who are more than enamored with Donald Trump, is that many of his Cabinet picks are right out of the globalist community that James Rickards wrote about in his book. Meanwhile Mr. Trump made a point over the weekend in telling Fox News why he doesn't attend many intelligence briefings..."You know, I'm a smart person. I don't have to be told the same things in the same words every single day for the next eight years." Donald Trump may indeed be smart in a corporate sense but lacks wisdom. Half of his new advisers seem capable of supplying that wisdom but the other half do not. Herein is the problem...who will he listen to when wisdom is needed? My guess is the latter.